Tag Archives: goals

Friday February Check-In

It’s been a week since I shared my two goals for February – not drinking when I stay in and blow-drying my hair once a week – and I thought I’d check in on this Friday to share how that’s going so far.

It’s…kind of going!

Monday night went well. After an hour of spin class I really wanted to reward myself with a glass or five of wine, but cooking dinner was the perfect distraction. Once Jeff and I sat down and started eating, we totally forgot about having a drink. Oh, and Courtney’s Spaghetti Pie turned out awesome, though more like a casserole since I didn’t have a pie dish to use. I highly recommend this recipe!

It also helped that we had a fun event to look for on Tuesday night – a pop-up at the fabulous Envoy Hotel in Boston’s Seaport, to raise money for the New England Center & Home for Veterans and promote the food and drink of Envoy’s restaurant, Outlook Kitchen & Bar.

The champagne was so good! I didn’t even bother with cocktails; just stuck to the bubbles.

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Less Boozing, More Hair Drying

I’m coming off an awesome weekend in Charlotte visiting my sister Hannah! She moved there over the summer and I jumped on tickets for a super-cheap flight a few weeks ago so I could finally check out her new home. I met her friends, saw her beautiful apartment, shopped, got a couple of workouts in, and of course ate and drank all the things.

Turkey burger on rye from Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, complete with rosemary ham, pesto, cheese, and an egg!

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My First Half Marathon!

I received a complimentary race registration from Zooma in exchange for blogging about my training and race experience. However I had already registered for the race and paid the registration fee before that arrangement was ever made, so I really and genuinely wanted to do this race – for reals, guys.

Well if you followed along at all with me on Instagram over the weekend, then you know that my week of resting my IT band (and perhaps getting it taped too?) paid off. I FINISHED MY FIRST HALF MARATHON and not only did I finish, but I did it faster than I thought I’d be able to – 2 hours, 10 minutes, 54 seconds. That’s roughly a 10 minute mile pace!

That time showing on the clock doesn’t take into consideration how long it took me to cross the starting line!

After facing terrible, awful, no-good, very bad traffic on my Friday late afternoon drive to the Cape, I pulled into Falmouth’s Sea Crest Beach Hotel to meet my mom (she did the race with me!), pick up my packet, and see Kelly. But first order of business – a Mayflower IPA, because it’s all I wanted after sitting in that traffic.

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New Life, New Goals

Hey guys! I continue to be extremely busy but am trying to find time to blog where I can. The good news is my cold is already almost gone and I hope it won’t turn into a month-long cough, which is how most of my colds end up. Now I haven’t done a check-in for awhile now on the goals that I set for myself back in January (also, searching for that post made me realize I’ve made a lot of goal–related posts, but am bad about following up on them). I’ve been having a stressful week so far, putting a lot of pressure on myself, doing a lot of future-tripping, and not getting enough sleep (not on purpose). So I think it’s time to re-visit the goals I need to focus on because to be honest, some have changed due to my recent move/job change, some are still out there, and some can take a back-seat for now.

1. My New Year’s Resolution: I’m still keeping this one and have definitely been slacking on it lately. Up until this past Sunday’s event my nails had been bare for a couple of weeks, I’d been wearing lots of sweatpants (actually the same pair, over and over…), and not making much effort to look very human. And it totally had an effect on my mood and body image. I’ve been spending time feeling bad about myself and not doing anything about it. It’s time to change that. My practically non-existent commute means I have plenty of time to get ready in the morning. Just because I’m going out for a quick walking errand doesn’t mean I can’t try to look semi-presentable. I will never ban sweatpants and Uggs completely, but they need to see less use!

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Cookin’ and Killin’ It

Don’t worry vegetarian readers, I’m not talking about killin’ an animal for cooking (see title). I’m talking about killin’ my goal to cook more meals at home. Yesterday I mentioned I was planning to get a Whole Foods salad after the gym. Well I got to thinking throughout the day as I was researching which recipes I wanted to use for food prep this weekend. I’ve eaten at home, without takeout, every night this week since Sunday. Why not make it a full week of weeknight meals at home, with no takeout? Why not go all the way and just kill it?

That’s just what I did! After the gym (where I got in a killer personal training session by the way, more on that later!) I went to Stop N Shop and picked up ingredients for the meals I plan to prep that weekend, plus some frozen veggies so I could make Tina‘s Creamy Laughing Cow Cheese Veggies. I already had the Creamy Swiss flavor at home though, so I just used that instead of Chipotle. I still kept the frozen broccoli, but I used frozen baby cabbages instead of edamame/spinach because I have never cooked with frozen baby cabbages and wanted to see how they’d turn out (obviously they wouldn’t turn out as good as the roasted kind). I also cooked up a pot of Goya chickpeas and black beans (with added garlic salt and cumin) on the stovetop. I combined the beans, creamy veggies, and some leftover meatloaf into a bowl for a delicious veggie and protein packed meal. Perfect for post-strength training.

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Psyched to Think Out Loud!

Confession: I get so psyched about Amanda‘s Thinking Out Loud Thursdays, AKA the perfect excuse for me to ramble about tons of different topics in a totally ADD-like fashion, that I start these posts a couple of days in advance. Like this one, which I am starting on a Tuesday. The draft of each post becomes a bucket for the thoughts that pop into my head between starting the post and hitting “Publish”.

Join her link-up if you are thinking out loud today too!

1. I watched the first episode of #RichKids of Beverly Hills and sorry folks, but I’m obsessed. The stars of the show kept saying all these really stupid, vain things that I so often want to say but cannot (without being judged)…or I’ll say them, but only around my closest friends. Seriously, these #RichKids are MY PEOPLE. I kinda want to hang out with them. Here are some of my favorite gems (plenty more here):

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Weightless Goals

Thanks so much for your words of support in response to yesterday’s post. Every comment, email, tweet, etc was read and appreciated. No matter how crappy I may feel about myself during my recovery, there are plenty of experiences in my now-fuller life that make this process and journey worth it. I may be tricked at the moment into thinking deprivation was worth the body I was happier with, but I wasn’t even satisfied with myself back then. And you will be happy to hear that this morning, I got rid of that shirt on Saturday night that caused me tears over it being too small. It may only be one article of clothing, but it’s a start. Enough of that for now, because I’m honestly a bit sick of thinking about weight and body image and pants and all that crap. That’s why when yesterday I stumbled upon a Mind Body Green article titled 10 Awesome Life Changes That Have Nothing To Do With Losing Weight, I was completely inspired to write goal-related post as if I don’t have any issues with my appearance, any anxiety about what I ate/am going to eat, or any guilt about “only” doing 20 minutes of cardio yesterday. No body-related ambitions, no diet-related wishes, no promises to cut out X or work out more. Let’s talk about something else for once! Appreciate More: I tend to focus on shortcomings and get lost in negativity. I sometimes kinda-sorta-definitely hate those people who wake up each morning saying “Man it’s great to be alive!” but at the same time while I’m feeling like Miss Grumpy Pants over their happiness, they are, well, being happy. The phrase “fake it til you make it” keeps coming to mind. For example, if I wake up on a Monday and don’t want to go to work, I can continue to work on reminding myself to appreciate the fact that I even HAVE a job. Plenty of folks out there would kill for my job even if I don’t always enjoy it. Eventually if I keep repeating that to myself (the fake it) then I think I’ll start to believe it (the make it).

This is also where my New Year’s resolution comes in. I may not be psyched about going to work, but I can try to improve my mood by setting aside time the night before to pick out a cute outfit.

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Resting Up For A Plank Challenge!

Oh what a weekend! Summer 2013 continued to deliver with fun activities like…

  • …taking my parents out for an epic night of cocktails and pizza at Krust in Middletown on Friday night (we’re already planning our next trip back)
  • …visiting the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of liquor stores in MA (Yankee Spirits) on the day they happened to be having a wine tasting gala
  • …attending the Glastonbury Rotary Club Lobster Fest yet again (blog post to come!)
  • …destroying a Saturday morning Group Power class
  • …my first beach trip of the summer!

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An Introvert’s Goals

I usually do Fashion Friday if I have time to blog on a Friday, but instead today I’m feeling some reflections on this morning’s therapy session (yes I go to therapy – have been since I started my recovery – and I used to be ashamed of it but now I’m comfortable saying it benefits me and I don’t know many people it COULDN’T benefit). I explained to Bridget that I’ve been feeling pulled in a thousand different directions and I thought that after I handed in my big MBA capstone on Monday I’d be feeling better, but on Tuesday morning I woke up in one of those I-hate-anyone-who-tries-speaking-to-me moods and last night I dropped some salsa on the floor, it spilled everywhere, and I started sobbing. So I’m still feeling lots of (non-MBA-related) pressure.

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Gastro-Goals

I hope the title of this post doesn’t scare anyone away.

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It’s more about the Goals than the Gastro!

In the healthy living blog world, I see lots of posts about accountability. Most involve staying accountable by eating clean and working out regularly. I truly enjoy doing both of those activities, but also have been known to take accountability too far, so I try to stray from making food or workout goals – at least, specific ones that involve “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts”.

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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