Foodie Pen Pal-August Reveal!!

UGH! I had scheduled this for release on August 31st-early a.m.....obviously that didn't work. I'm sorry Theresa (and Lyndsey)!!!

I'm totally in love with the anticipation of Foodie Pen Pal. Coming home from work and having that box sitting at my door makes me a little giddy, I'm not ashamed!

This month my pen pal was a reader named Theresa. She's a midwest girl like me so I knew I would be in for a treat (or two). And when she mentioned that she liked to bake-2 thumbs up :-) Thank you Theresa for all the goodies.

I was lucky enough to get some homemade 'healthified' banana bread...with a few chocolate chips thrown in for good measure! There were also some great dried snacks, mango and sweet corn. Now most of us have seen, and devoured, dried fruit but the sweet corn was new to me. Deeelish-who knew!

There was also some Chai green tea, a Fiberful bar, and some raw almonds. I immediately emailed Theresa to ask where she got these almonds. I already snack on almonds regularly but these things were out. of. this. world. Seriously. They were plump and just a tad salty, as if they had been soaked in salt water unit they puffed up into crunchy little bites of bliss. I stashed them in my pantry and eat a few at a time so they'll last. (Remember, the hubs calls me a food sandbagger-I'm totally living up to it!)

Check out what I sent to Kristin of Diva Dog Bakery. I'm trying to include something local every time, but these parts are not known for their healthy fare (WV is the 3rd fattest state in the country!) so I hope the peppers I chose were ok. I'm excited to see what she used them in/on/for.

If you'd like to join the fun, here is some more info on Foodie Pen Pals...or just click the button above:
-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents.

And just for fun...this is pretty much what my days looks like now. I'm loving every minute of it :-) Happy Friday everyone!

My New Training Buddy-Podcasts!

Some people swear by having a training or workout 'buddy', someone to hold them accountable either by meeting up with them or just talking about your workouts. I think it's even more common now to have virtual workout buddies. Through blogs, instagram, twitter, daily mile, etc. we can keep tabs on each other, but better yet-we can motivate each other!

Honestly, for the most part I enjoy my workout time as just that-mine. I like a good class once in a while but I've never met up with a friend for them or made running dates. I'm not against them, I just generally like to have those few precious hours each week to myself. Sometimes it's for blowing off steam, sometimes for quiet reflection, sometimes for thinking through a tough decision...and now sometimes even for learning!

I'm a voracious reader, I have magazines and books all over my house on all sorts of subjects-parenting, food, exercise, fashion, green living. I used to be one of those that read while walking on the treadmill (I know, I know!) but now that I run it doesn't work as well. In steps the podcast. I feel like I'm always the last person to get on board with technology trends and I know podcasts have been around for-ever, but I never thought I'd want to listen to people talk while I worked out. I was so wrong.

If you find the right one(s) it's kind of like watching tv with your eyes closed! You can really get into the subject, get 5 miles in and not really remember doing it! To me, that is priceless!

I totally went into this run doubting myself. I've never run 5 miles outside before and for me, outdoor and treadmill runs are two different beasts! I decided to run until my Garmin beeped for the mile marker and then walk counting my right foot falls 100 times, then run again until the beep. This actually worked brilliantly for me and I had a decent overall pace even with the walks. Week 3 of half marathon training in the books!

What also helped was listening to a podcast about running. I was really in the zone! So, without further ado-here are my new favorites (I use the stitcher app on my phone to play them).

• Another Mother Runner -these chicks will be your new BFFs, great running talk with some side notes of the struggles (and hilarity) of motherhood. Oh-and they have super cute tops too!

• Jillian Michaels-her abs face have made me buy so many magazines that I figured, why not? And I wasn't disappointed. With topics anywhere from losing weight to food additives to grieving a loss it turned out to be more life-coachy than I expected, but she's still very knowledgeable and I always learn something. 

• Balanced Bites-any Paleo-ites out there probably know all about this site and the new Practical Paleo book. I don't spend a lot of time not he site itself (yet!) but I do like to listen. I crack up every time because somehow these two remind me of the NPR skits that used to be on Saturday Night Live, but only in the best way! Serious science alert here though, you may feel like you've been at a college class when you're done but the info is great. And wouldn't you have liked to be able to work out while in classes in college, what a great way to avoid the Freshman Fifteen?

I still love a good playlist full of high powered man-bashing songs (that's what the hubs calls them!) but this is good for a change up and just one more way for me to multi-task. Hey-I bet there is someone podcasting about that... 

What do you do to pass the time during your workout?

Word of the Day: Compromise

This post will be short and sweet. No fancy photo collages, no links to other sites just a lesson to myself. Compromise is good. Do it. Daily. Repeatedly throughout the day if you must.

I mean that as a noun, not a verb. So I'm not saying to compromise something-like your morals, but to make compromises-to keep your sanity. According to Webster: Something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things.

I'm an admitted Type A personality-all the way. I like plans, I like to stick to plans, and I get anxious and edgy when said plans take a detour. Yes, I know, I'm no fun. The hubs tells me that ALL the time! But that is was me. The new mom me however, is quickly seeing that if I do not learn to compromise I will always be edgy and anxious and never truly enjoy anything.

Bottom line, get over yourself and get on with enjoying life (this is a lesson to myself remember-don't take offense!). Trade folding the laundry for 30 extra minutes of sleep, trade the clean breakfast you forgot with the leftover pizza you found in the fridge at work, trade an hour on the treadmill for a quick run up the (long, hilly) driveway so you can spend extra time with a baby who's firsts are passing too fast to count, trade making long posts to read in bed next to your favorite guy.

Setting the bar high is a good thing. Setting the bar so high that you are disappointed regularly is emotional suicide. Take a deep breath and say it with me...compromise is good. Feel better? I do. Now please excuse me while I follow my own advice!