Category Archives: About Me

7 Random Facts

My review of Cavos, a Greek restaurant in Newington, was chosen as Yelp Hartford’s Review of the Day today! Check it out!

There’s a fun little chain going around in which, if tagged, bloggers create posts listing seven random facts about themselves. Liz of Southern Charm tagged me last week, and I’m happy to oblige!

Seven Random Facts about Caitlin

1. The only actual person who calls me “Cait” is my dad. Now, almost anyone in the online world who sees my blog’s name or my Twitter account calls me Cait, which is an easy assumption to make and something I definitely don’t mind. But in real life, my wonderful daddio is the only one who actually calls me Cait. It’s funny, because whenever I email him I always sign it “Love, Cait”, just because I know he calls me that.

2. I have a black belt in shaolin kempo karate. Growing up, I was not (am still not) very coordinated or athletic in terms of sports. Anything that involved a ball was not happening for me. So in 7th grade, I enrolled in karate because I enjoyed memorizing the forms/combinations and performing them. It reminded me somewhat of memorizing dances, which is probably why to this day my favorite group fitness classes involve step or dance of some kind. I tested and passed for my black belt in 11th grade, and stopped doing karate after that because by that time I had become much older than most people in the class, and the black belt had been my ultimate end-goal. Martial arts are a great active option for kids (or anyone) who aren’t skilled at your “typical” sports!

3. I have never owned any type of car other than a Honda CR-V. Funny enough, my fellow blonde-CT-blend-named-Caitlin also drives a CR-V! After getting my license in 11th grade, I got my cousin and her family’s 2002 navy CR-V (we traded them our old mini-van since they had just had a second child). That car took me everywhere throughout college, and my best friend Lidia even called it her “second home” because of how often we’d drive around town in it with nothing to do (those were the days…)

Image courtesy of quality-used-cars.co.uk.

When my sister got her license, the summer after my sophomore year of college, I was completely psyched to learn that I would be getting a bit of a CR-V upgrade – to a 2007! My sister got the 2002 (my little brother will be receiving it shortly, as his license test is soon). I LOVE my car and plan to keep it for a long, long time (as in, until it dies, because I’ll be buying the next one on my own).

My car now (minus the American flag…this photo isn’t actually of my car).

4. My first real job was at a bagel shop. Not sure if you could call it a real job since the owner was ever there and I spent any shift that wasn’t on a weekday morning eating. Still, it was a great place to go back to on college breaks (until the owner sold it to a less-than-desirable new owner) and provided the experience that got me my main job at UConn.

Inappropriate fun with a bagel stick and bagel at work.

5. My first salad was a Greek salad. I remember ordering it after a rare visit to the gym, back in high school, at Panera! I was shocked that I liked it, but I’m pretty sure the main component I loved was the feta. I used to order Greek salads in college and get no olives, and ask for extra feta instead. Ah, the Greek food lover in me was always there!

Image courtesy of RIT.edu.

6. I used to hate our family vacations to Florida – and all family vacations in general. Yes, it’s true! In fact, I was known for this in middle/high school! I was the weirdo who complained about going to Mexico. Now I know I was being an annoying pain in the ass, a high schooler who can only see her friends as important and nothing else. Plus, since I was still a super boring eater, I didn’t find myself getting excited at all about vacation eats – unlike now! I just wanted to be at home with my friends, so my parents even started letting me bring friends on trips or rack up huge international phone bills with long calls home while we were in Mexico. I think my views change once I got to college and began to appreciate relaxation. And how hard it is to come by as time goes on. And, you know, fun restaurants.

With the siblings in Myrtle Beach during my senior year of high school.

7. I’m getting two of my wisdom teeth out next Friday for the stupidest reason in the world. One of them started growing in before the other tooth on that side started growing in. Did you know that if there is no tooth exactly above or below another tooth, the first tooth will keep growing in and never stop? It’s true! Since once of my wisdom teeth grew in before the one above it did, it grew in too far. Its twin eventually came in, but if they only remove the one that grew in too far, then the twin will start growing in too far! So they both have to come out even though they’re in my mouth comfortably right now. Do you follow? No? Long story short, my foodie-days will not exist next weekend.

Dangit.

That was fun and way harder than I thought! Now it’s time for me to choose seven other bloggers who I’d like to see participate:

Tell me a random fact about you in the comments!

Love Your Body Day

Today, Wednesday 10/19, is the NOW Foundation’s annual Love Your Body Day. From NOW’s blog: “Each year NOW Foundation celebrates Love Your Body Day to send a positive message to women and girls that beauty comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. This year’s blog carnival will encourage women to come together to celebrate a day of self-acceptance and promote positive body image by contributing their unique voices.

I have in the past, and still do, struggle with loving my body. I think it’s a shame that most women do, but it’s also not hard to see why. People think they have the right to comment on others’ bodies (I know I am guilty of this) and give their opinion on how others look. Usually it’s not done to someone’s face, but if you hear others talking about someone else, it’s only natural to assume people may do the same about you when you’re not around. There’s also not enough media literacy around to combat all the messages our media sends us. I like to read “Women’s Health” and “Shape” as much as the next blogger, but you have to know how seriously you can take what those magazines tell you – more often than not, there is money motivating each statement they make, not just health.

I don’t know if it’s possible to ever really love your body fully – I know for me, at this point I feel like I’ll always be picky about any flaws I may see. But I also know that there are improvements I can make – starting today, and any day – on how I view myself.

So I was hoping everyone would join me today in listing five things that you like about your body that aren’t appearance-related. What do you appreciate about your body that is not evident from someone simply just looking at you?

For me it’s the following…

  1. I appreciate that my body can make it through an hour of lifting weights in Group Power, and more often than not, not be sore the next day.
  2. I appreciate that my body has enough coordination and muscle memory to help me nail almost every move in Group Step.
  3. I appreciate that my body’s feet can handle heels – and dancing in them – fairly well. Now, if you throw in a couple drinks, this is questionable.
  4. I appreciate that my body has healed the heart murmur I was diagnosed with when I was a kid on its own, so my heart still allows me to be as physically active as I’d like to be.
  5. I appreciate that my body has a pretty awesome immune system. I have never had the flu, and have not had strep since 3rd grade. I get colds, but who doesn’t?
I’ve still got a ways to go, but making these kinds of lists and thinking outside the box like this are ways that we all can learn to like ourselves a little bit more.

What are your five things? Feel free to do your own post (join the Carnival!) or answer in the comments.

What do you try to keep in mind to help you love your body?

This post is part of the 2011 Love Your Body Day Blog Carnival.

Quirky Eating Techniques

Eek, talk about a boring title! At least it tells you what this post is about right? Give me some time to get this title thing down, I swear I will!

The other day I got to thinking about weird habits we have when eating certain foods. I’m not talking about weird choices of food or odd combinations. I’m talking about quirky ways you eat some foods. I think it’s interesting to hear what others do and thought I’d share some of my weird ways!

How I Eat a Sandwich

When making myself a sandwich, I cut off the crusts. I usually munch on about half of them while I’m building away, but end up throwing the rest out. Once it’s time to dig in, I like to eat all the edges off of the sandwich first. I start at a random point and eat until I’m left with a circular-shaped sandwich. Then I kinda attack the circle arbitrarily, and my whole system goes out the window. But without fail, I must eat the edges first! I have no explanation for this, but have been doing so since I was 5 years old or so, which is when I started living off an average of three peanut butter sandwiches a day (this continued until age 18).

My rule probably wouldn't even have worked on this monstrous turkey sandwich from the food court at MGM Grand's Foxwoods Casino

How I Eat Pizza

I’ve got to start at the end, of course. Once I got caught starting at the crust, due to a blistering-hot pizza slice that I couldn’t wait to dig into, and got caught in the action. That’s how weird my friend thought it was that I was eating pizza that way.

Cheese slice at Giovanni's Brick Oven Pizza in Glastonbury, CT

But I swear that’s not the norm! I have to start at the end of a slice, stop at the crust, and set it all aside on my plate. Then after I’m done with the “heart” of the pizza (and you can be rest assured I’ll finish it all), I like to assess how full I am. Usually I have room for at least a few of those crunchy, delicious crusts. Sometimes I have room for all of them! But the bottom line is I like to fill up on the actual pizza portion of the pie first, and then do crust if I have room. Waste not, my friends.

How I Eat Pears

I like to hold pears (bosc only please) at the end with the stem, and eat what I call the “butt” of the pear first. I think that’s the most satisfying, “meaty” part! And I know there’s a little stem part at the bottom (not a stem, not sure exactly what it’s called) but I just eat that. And I often times end up eating some seeds when I get to the core, and I don’t care. As my friend Kim says, I let very few portions of the pear go to waste. My sister says it reminds her of an ice cream cone.

Picture a pear instead of an ice cream cone. Same thing.

How I Eat Kiwis

I eat the skin. No more explanations needed, right? You think that’s weird enough I’m sure. I really like the skin though and I bite into kiwis like they’re apples. I actually picked up that habit off of blogs.

How I Eat Salads

I MUST chop my salads into the tiniest pieces possible. I can’t stand picking up a huge spinach leaf with my fork and awkwardly trying to get the whole thing in my mouth (that’s what she said, I know) or taking a bite that just has WAY too much of one flavor in it. I love salads but always have to put a good two minutes (minimum) into chopping them up. Of course when a restaurant has a chopped salad, that’s even better, but it’s rare that a restaurant will satisfy my salad standards enough for me to actually order one.

Eyebrow Raising

And my weirdest quirk of all…my eyebrows. Let me explain. Whenever I bite into anything, if it’s a bite of ANY substance, I must raise my eyebrows. I don’t know why it happens. It’s not like they’ll pull my mouth wider or anything! But it’s just a natural reaction to taking a bite, and one all my friends poke fun at.

Caught in the act with a wild boar burger at Ray's Hell Burger Too in DC.

Are you guys as weird as I am? Share your eating quirks!

Why am I here?

AHHH! My first blog post! I have been talking about starting a blog for a few months now. I’ve been reading food blogs for almost two years. I am in love with and fascinated by blogging as a form of new media marketing. I love talking about things that I love (food…working out…clothes…movies…the list goes on…) and meeting new people. So why did this take me so long?

I guess it’s because my life tends to move at a million miles a minute. That’s how it’s been for the last few years and I’ve always waited for things to slow down, but it’s pretty clear that I won’t be letting that happen any time soon seeing as I just started working with Lynn on her blog’s social media, started my MBA, and have been working full-time since a month after I graduated in May.

So what better time than now right? Not sure how often I’ll be posting but I have TONS of ideas and I’m so excited to get started. My first REAL blog post will be coming soon…as in today or tomorrow!

For now, you can enjoy this representation of how psyched I am:

Greek lamb burger at BGR in DC.