The Little Things ARE Life #WIAW

First things first: Ramblen Reviews of Chicago have gone LIVE and they are by YOURS TRULY! There will be more to come, of course, but SQUEE!

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I was originally going to mention a few of these yesterday, but I didn’t want to compromise the message of yesterday’s post. Thank you so much for the fantastic response! I hope that it helps all of us to keep life, happiness, and big moments in perspective.

The Little Things ARE Life

I wrote that in a comment to my friend Baking in Yoga Pants and we both realized the truth of the statement. As I spoke of on Monday, I had a relatively low key weekend, but one that was fulfilling nonetheless. And why? Because it was filled will little things that make my  life feel full and happy (not the headache, obviously). I want to continue to come back to this idea, but first, let’s think about it with regards to little foodie treats that build up to the treat of our life. And since we are talking treats, I want to link up to Becky’s Treat Yourself Tuesday,

Merci, Becky!

as well as Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday. I’ve talked about the subject before,  but here are the little treats that I allowed myself this week/weekend! Beginning with this: It may not have been something that I ate, but it is filled with things that I will be eating (or giving to Alex)–going to the grocery store with him and having him carry the groceries home! I can’t tell you how nice that was–I am used to carrying the gallon jugs of milk and OJ home along with all the other stuff, and I can do it (I’m small, but mighty), but good lord, it can be exhausting. I also decimated the rest of this goodness. No Mas… No mas… But mas to come… FOR YOU!! You don’t want to miss Friday’s post, believe me 😀 I haven’t had a frappuccino in the longest time. Sometimes I feel a bit weird having them and then having ice cream later  (not because of the calories (I need them) but because it seems a bit redundant when I could have something a little bit more productive, diet wise), but mostly it is because of the $$$. But right now, Frappuccino Happy Hour is bringing the creamy cool goodness back, at least for a few days 😀 Combine with the simple pleasure of being outside, in sun, with blooms in sight, and it just felt like I was in an alternate universe. Another treat, not having my phone stolen while doing so. Cinco de Mayo? Well, sure, we could have gone to a Mexican restaurant. But I don’t have a death wish, thank you! Plus, my stomach was still a bit wonky, as I discussed the other day. I needed something a bit more chill than a heavy meal, and I needed something a little comforting as well. So Alex and I headed to one of our favorite nearby restaurants, D4, which we haven’t been back to since realizing they didn’t have my favorite salad anymore.  We had a great waitress (which you know that I like), had great drinks, and got a great deal–the perfect, non-financially scary treat that got me out of my funk! D4 One of the great things about D4 is that it may be a sports bar/pub, feel, but they have incredible cocktails and a stellar foreign and local beer selection. We may not have been at a Mex resto, but we got a margarita, and as soon as I saw this one on the specials list, I knew we had to get it. We also realized that we were just in time to get happy hour prices on what Alex was going to get anyway, so we ordered our food immediately.   Drinky Drinks (Little Sips for the Suz–lots of treats)

• Jalamango Margarita Jalapeno infused blue nectar tequila, mango puree, blood orange liqueur, fresh squeezed lime juice (This was great–not sweet, just enough heat, nice and bright and refreshing)
• 3 Sheep Brewery Baaaad Boy Black Wheat (Really liked it, reminded me of Xingu, so it had a darker taste, but a wheat weight)
• Off Color Brewery Scurry Dark Honey Ale (earthier, deep, not overly sweet. Ale weight, coffee finish)

The Little Things (to eat in mass amounts)

• Trio of Mini Sliders–Crab Cake habenero remoulade, Pulled Pork housemade bbq, jicama slaw, Black and Bleu Burger cajun spice, bleu cheese
• Sweet Potato Fries Chipotle Cucumber Dipping Sauce
• Chopped Salad  Romaine, roasted chicken, corn, tomato, avocado, chopped almonds, dates, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette (I love goat cheese, but I knew that would be majorly pushing my stomach to have it on there.)

I still miss my shrimp salad, and I will certainly miss it this summer, but the chopped salad is a great, super flavorful and HUGE substitute. Their sweet potato fries are a must. Non-negotiable, and you have to have it with the dip (I don’t think they are GF sadly). And the mini’s truly are mini, but each is a perfect size to have the 3 and then have allllll the fries. I also like them in the smaller size–D4’s burger is one of my absolute favorite burgers, and I adore their bbq, but the bbq is messy and hard to eat large-sized. The crab cake is a great blend of traditional mixed-cake and the purist all-crab, and the remoulade has a little heat to cut through it all. Simple food, superbly done. Always a favorite. I DID FOOD PREP FOR ALEX Last thing, I promise (for now, I think 😉 ): Alex let me do food prep for him. ::choir of angels:: You know we aren’t big food preppers. I’ve discussed this before: we like flexibility, we tend to change our minds, and who knows if Alex will actually get off of work when he thinks he will. Oh, and Alex tends to just finish things when there’s a little left. So, leftovers? Rarely. This time, though, was different. He tends to moan and groan ruefully regret poor late night food decisions, so I thought I would help him out. Plus, he is working 3 VERY long night shifts (the longest ones possible) this week, so it was the perfect chance to wear him down. It was a win for all–I finally got to use up some things I’ve been holding on to, and he got to eat something different than the same d@mn thing every day. Easy as pie, too 😀 And delicious, but not actual pie, sadly. Nothing but little bits of good stuff up in hee-ah: Roasted Sweet Potatos, Pan sauteed Green Bell Peppers and White Onion, Black Beans, Corn, Andoille Pork Sausage, Quinoa cooked with 1:1 Low Sodium Chicken Stock:Water and Garlic cloves.  Seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  I sent him with a little packet of parm, red pepper flake and tabasco. Don’t you wish I was your wife 🙂 I hope to see you all tomorrow for some fun randomness! A couple of people thought it would be fun to interrogate me, and you know that I love to talk 😉 What are the little things (food wise, this time) that made you happy this weekend?  What is your frap flavor of choice? Anyone go off the secret menu? I saw them advertising Cap’n Crunch, Nutella, Cookie Dough, all sorts of flavors!

Moving Beyond Fear and Expectation #ToughTalk

Fear.

What feelings are evoked when you hear that word? I would imagine a sense of anxiety, foreboding, physical discomfort and a visceral response, maybe even to the point of feeling physically threatened. When you are “scared,” you are experiencing fear or the notion of oncoming fear. You are emotionally, mentally, and physically beginning to anticipate the future threat, the oncoming adrenaline rush.

“Fear,” like “hate,” are extremely strong words that pack a major emotional punch, and yet these are words that have become part of our everyday vocabulary. Fear, especially, is a word that I have come to notice on a rather frequent basis in and around the blog world–this is the time of year that many of us experience major changes in our lives: graduation, the transition to summer, maybe a bit goal race. Regardless, we are anticipating major life changes that will result from a significant event, and, not knowing what lies beyond that event, or how that event itself might fare, we feel uncertain. Many have admitted to being “scared.”

But are we really scared? SHOULD we really be scared? Should we feel fear? Or, more precisely, should we feel nervous? 

On a particularly debbie downer day, when I was feeling snakebit and a bit lost both with regards to my physical progress but also upon coming down from the high that comes with making major decisions (and the inevitable OH SH*T that follows), that I didn’t so much need to “turn that frown upside down” or something belittling like that: instead, I needed to gain a new perspective: fear vs. nerves.

Upon further reflection, I came to an important distinction: Fear corresponds with a threat and maybe even regret. Nerves stems from a sense of excitement and anticipation. Like the line between genius and insanity. And we know which side of that line I am on (shutupshutup).

Last week, everyone’s favorite little ranchcookie spoke of graduation fears (the post that prompted me to preempt my scheduled topic for this week to talk about fear/nerves instead), and admirably spoke of how she was trying to come to terms with the notion of accepting “failure.” Well, as someone who has unsuccesfully attempted to gain paid employment in her chosen career path for the past 6 years (see why I changed routes here), and has been turned down/overlooked more times that I care to admit, let me tell you what, I know a thing or two about failure.

Here is what I had to say back to her:

I WANT TO GIVE YOU A HUGE HUG LIKE RIGHT NOW. ::TACKLE HUG::
You are going to hear people not to tell you to be afraid–that you’ll be great, get a job, and life will be hunky dory. And guess what? Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. Actually, I am going to write my next tough talk on this. Stay tuned. So, in order to tease you/not give away all of my secrets (yes, I’m evil), hear this: things may not end up the way you expect, or think that they should, or that you feel that you deserve for them to, but, and here his the big kicker: HAVE FAITH that AT THE END OF THE DAY, you will get to the place you will be. That’s cryptic–not where you need to be, but where you are. It isn’t for us to say what is right for us. But it is for us to decide how we react to what happens.
Don’t be AFRAID. Be NERVOUS. Fear–it brings with it tinges of harm. Nerves have an undercurrent of excitement. Enjoy every moment of every day between now and then, and after. They are all gifts. And you are a smart (ranch) cookie, you are beautiful inside and out, and you are learning everyday who you are. Continue to grow, and to allow yourself to grow.
You got this. I have great, great faith. But I’m always a text/email/call/tweet/carrier pigeon away.

Right now, I too am about to start over, to step out of the shelter of school–you spend all of your time waiting for it to end, so that you can start your life, but then, when you have your degree in hand, the pressure actually comes–pressure placed on you by you to get a job and/or to perform. To live up to the expectation you have set for yourself.

If you get nothing else from these 800 odd words, please hear this, a phrase so important to me that it is the tagline of my future business:

Life is about Moving Beyond Expectations.

And eating ice cream in compression pants. 😀

I challenge you not to belittle your feelings by saying, “oh, I shouldn’t feel scared, how silly of me!” But rather to acknowledge and then question them. Do you feel fear? Or are you feeling nerves? I think you will be surprised at how it changes you perception of the decisions you have to make.

When have you thought you felt fear but, in retrospect, were feeling nerves? Would knowing the difference have had any effect on your mentality at the time?

Tell me one simple (or epic!) way that you have moved beyond expectation (yours, others’) in the past week. Can be as simple as running without headphones, or as big as doing a 20 miler for the first time. Or maybe you cooked fish for the first time!

Caramel Popcorn x2 and UNICEF Tap Project #treatyourself

Quick random fact about the Suz–April 29th was my due date. I came 3 weeks early.

I hope that everyone is safe and dry, especially in the Midwest and southeast—I know you all have been put through the ringer in the past 36 hrs, and that we have quite a bit more to come. So please be careful, stay away from glass, and put new batteries in everything. And let us know that you’re ok if you’re in one of those zones getting hit the worst!

Much to my mother’s dismay (sorry, Mom), there are going to be 2 posts today. This first one is going to link up with my lovely fellow Chicagoan, Becky, of Olives N Wine, and the second will be dedicated to my Tough Talk series, as promised. Part of the reason that I am splitting up the posts today is that I am going to be getting my Remicade infusion today, so I thought that it would be a ripe opportunity for reflection and to write the post. So keep a heads up later today (say, early afternoon?) for that discussion.

So let us balance out a more inwardly reflective post (later) with some frivolous frivolity.

Merci, Becky!

Wow, Girls Gone Sporty Means BUSINESS! I am beyond excited not only to have all of these new friends, but also that so many of already favorite people are in #teamstellar with me–Salt, Ange, Courtney, and so many other amazing women. It is honestly overwhelming the breadth of #teamstellar, both in terms of the quality blogs, the instant energy and enthusiasm of the women, and the number of new stories and personalities to check out! It is going to take me a little bit to work my way through all of the blogs and to say hi to everyone, but I am willing to sacrifice myself for the good of the group.

Alex and I are trying to be careful monetarily these days while waiting for me to take the CPT test and get going, so the treats we do allow ourselves really do feel like treats even if they aren’t overly extravagant or indulgent. But it is always lovely to take some time for yourself, or to spend a handful of greenbacks to get something that really does put a smile on your face because it is rare little gift to yourself. Some examples from the weekend:

We all know that Friday was a bit…trying, but it wasn’t all sh*t. Biggest concrete, tangible treat? My GORGEOUS new phone. I. Dig. It. It was an investment, but I see it as one in my future–the capacity and the capability of the camera and editing apps will serve the blog in a big way. And I want a phone that will also serve my (future) CPT business by staying in touch instanteously as well as with personal training/client software.

Speaking of phones, I have something that I want to mention: one of the greatest ways to treat yourself is to treat others. Last night I was watching Real Housewives (hello frivolity) and saw a commercial for the UNICEF Tap Project. For every 10 minutes that you go without your phone (I would imagine with the app engaged), 1 child will get enough water for an entire day. Yes, we spend a lot of time on our phones, social media…but this is a chance to use our superficial desires to help the real needs of the world. I’m in, are you?

It was also a treat to be invited to the Sproing event and to be seen as a part of a bigger blogging world. And then to be really interested in the Sproing system and to take to the people behind the business as much as I did–what could have been a slog was an effortless pleasure. Plus, this happened on the way home:

Ohhhh Salted caramel popcorn FROYO, you are awesome. Also, I took the remainder of the Nature Box treats to the FACE. AND I got a new (to me) 479 popcorn flavor that is amazeballs–Chipotle  Caramel and Pumpkin Seeds. yesyes.

I also got my nails done twice this weekend, which we KNOW is a rarity. I say got them done twice–the middle finger (appropriate?) chipped so I wanted to get it redone. Oh and then I was able to peel off the entire lot of my nails yesterday. So THAT was a fail, but since I got a polish change, I paid like nothing for it and they did the cuticles and everything. SNAP.

Brunch on Sunday was awesome too–you know about the pancakes, and I got my fave brunch, the Carl’s Cool Creation. Ugh, the perfect brunch food (when you aren’t just waking up and need something more lunchy).

I love this meal.–Eggs, spinach, mushroom, grilled chicken, marinara, and an english muffin.  #POWERUP

Alex and I went to SideDoor last night for date night–get. pumped. for tomorrow’s WIAW–this place is gorgeous and delicious. A total new fave for Chicago.

Overall biggest treat for the past few days? Time with Alex’s family and then with the man himself. Biggest treat for today? Having a giant needle stuck into my arm and pumping me full of liquid gold.

No. Not that kind. More figurative. But amazing.

On that note, return later for for some more focused and thought provoking discussion. Have a great day until then! MWAH!

Tell me a food treat and a relationship treat from the weekend!

Anyone else love themselves some Velveeta when they were younger?

Please–readers please continue to introduce yourselves!