Everything is Better Roasted (with Bacon)

Roasting is quite possibly my new favorite thing in the kitchen. Not awfully surprising, considering that I LOVE baking. It's just so easy, and tasty (especially wrapped in bacon :). If you know you are going to be home for 2 hours before dinner, or maybe in the morning before work, ROAST SOMETHING! Prep work is minimal, favor is outstanding, and generally produces enough leftovers for days. Most roasted meats freeze well, too.

Okra with Tomatoes and Bacon

What is motivation?

Is it when a speaker gets up in front of a crowd and tells them that they great, amazing people that are capable of doing anything they set their mind to? Is it when your employer offers a good health plan? Does it come from posters on the wall touting a one word description of a person who climbed a mountain as an "achievement"?

After that speaker, did you set out to do whatever you set your mind to? Did you work harder because of your health plan? Did you set out to achieve more because someone climbed a mountain*?

Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

Long time no type! Lots of changes in my world over the past month; new job, new apartment (in less than 2 weeks!), new car, new phone, school semester finishing... It's been a little hectic! The new job has me in the car all day and traveling overnight one day a week. Getting ready to move and finishing the school semester has put quite a crunch on time. Shall I mention that I recently ran the Philadelphia Marathon?!? It was a lot of fun; good "bucket list" item to have crossed off :)

Better Way to Start Your Day

If I had to describe the word nutrition in one sentence, it would be "nutrition is the key to life". Literally! If we do not provide our body with nourishment, it will perish. However, there are several levels of nourishment that we can attain. Let's use the USDA Beef grading system terms to define. At the top, we have Prime nutrition where our diet and lifestyle provide us with the necessary macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals to thrive in this world. Next down is Choice nutrition where we have to supplement our diet and lifestyle to access all of the necessary macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals to sustain in this world. A step down from that is Select nutrition where we follow a diet and lifestyle to loosely progress towards better nourishment, however we are usually caught in the tangled web of nutrition information available and not sure where to go. Lastly, and I believe this is where most people fall, is the Standard nutrition. People's diet and lifestyle is providing them just enough nourishment to survive, and many have no idea how to access the higher levels of nutrition.

Mission Impossible: Pancakes

My mission: cook pancakes every weekend. Enjoy life :)

So this post is a long time coming! Thanks for being patient, those of you whom I've promised that I was going to post it. 

My favorite part of my weekends is pancakes. It started when I was a kid. My Mom, Dad and I went to the cafe at the golf course right down the road from my house every Sunday for breakfast. Mom got the Belgium waffles topped with fresh fruit and a side of bacon. Dad got the western omelet with toast and bacon. I got the short stack of pancakes. Everyyyyy week until I was about 16 (when I entered the official working world). It was great; Dad would read the "snooze"paper, Mom would read the USA Today, I read the Comics; we all ate together and chatted causally about life with the sun shining down on us (we ate on the patio), the golfers practicing on the putting green, everyone with a smile on their face... ahh, memories!

Venison Meatloaf Wrapped in Bacon



Last night at my CrossFit Box I had one of the most frustrating WODs (work out of the day) yet. It consisted my full foot box jumps (okay, no worries), push ups (one of my arch nemesis), and toes to bar (generally, no worries). Well, to my dismay, the push ups went over relatively fine, but the toes to bar literally held me back about 5 minutes. My kip (the swinging motion to gain momentum) was totally off and I  was so caught up in my frustration that I could not mentally get up on the bar. It was horrible. Yes, I scrapped two toes to bar because my toes didn't hit, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I was determined to finish. And finish them well. When I did, I felt better.

Frustration can be a very beneficial thing. Maybe not in the moment, but it is a total signal of something that needs attention. What is causing the frustration? How can the frustration be overcome? From here you can set goals and make plans. Starting Wednesday at our box we have been on a mission to identify and "beat" our "goats". Colloquially defined as "things you hate to do or need improvement on", they are the source of your frustration. I certainly have quite a few. The WOD we did yesterday identified a huge goat that I need to work on- toes to bar.

So now that I identified my goat I made a goal to complete 3 sets of 15 toes to bar unbroken by April 15. My plan is to work on my kip this coming week, then 3 sets of 5 unbroken, 3 sets of 10 unbroken, and reach my goal the following class.

That's nice, you're thinking, but what does it have to do with me? Well, I've just demonstrated a S.M.A.R.T. goal and given an example of an execution plan. First, lets talk S.M.A.R.T. goals. This should be the only way you ever set goals.