The Next Chapter

Just less than 2 years ago, I shared with you my excitement and nerves as I announced Nathan and my big move across the country to California. As we approach our 2 year anniversary in the Bay Area, I’m excited to announce that we are going to be moving back to Baltimore! In a month, no less!

Oakland Bay Bridge on our first day in California.

Our time in California has truly been great. It was scary moving out here on one income, not knowing anyone, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. There were a lot of smiles, laughs, butterflies, and tears along the way, but I can confidently say we did it. I’ve never been one for change; I’m a creature of habit and change scares the crap out of me. But I quit my 9 to 5, moved with my husband across the country, made some friends, and started a brand new career.

We conquered Mt. Tam!

My experience here as a personal trainer has made me a stronger and more easy-going person. Sure, I knew how to work out on my own, but starting as a personal trainer in a place where I had no network was tough! And you can bet I don’t have a set schedule; not day-to-day, not week-to-week. I’ve built up to more than 20 sessions per week and I’ll definitely miss my clients and co-workers. It’s going to be tough to replace my work family.

Love this lady!

Marcus and I have spent many bright and early mornings training together.

Over the past week, as I’ve broken the news to all of my clients, I’ve gotten some amazing responses that has made me feel like this is the right job and industry for me. I started out flying by the seat of my pants and I never thought people would tell me they’d miss having me as a trainer! It makes me confident that I’ll find my place as a trainer in Baltimore.

It’s certainly going to be a whirlwind of a month packing up and hitting the road. Did I mention we’re driving this time?! It’s going to be a hell of a trip; we’re headed down to L.A. and San Diego for a few days to start, then over to the Grand Canyon, and taking a southern route back to B-More. We’re absolutely stopping in Memphis for some BBQ, too! If you have any suggestions on any must-see [or must eat.. or drink] places, I’m all ears!

Soaking it in.

I’m excited to move back to Baltimore and to be with family and friends again, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

The never-ending hike.

I definitely foresee some wine country vacations in our future.

As I look back on my 1 year in California post, it still remains true. Nathan is my best friend, California’s pretty darn cool, and home is where the heart is.

They’re not excited at all that we’re moving home!

Cheers!

To the next chapter.

And with that, it’s time to scratch things off of our California Bucket List! You can be there will be plenty of pictures on Instagram so don’t forget to follow!

Food for Thought

What would be on your bucket list?
Any suggestions for cross-country driving?

Life Lately

Hi, friends! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to kick off this week. Next Monday is Memorial Day so hopefully most of you will have a nice 3-day weekend next weekend. Just a little something to get you through the week 😉 Thanks for sticking with me through my lack of posting lately. I’ll get back to my normal routine one of these days, but for now, this seems to be working for me, so I’m going with it.

I’m still waiting to start my new job so I’m currently enjoying a little extra downtime. It’s nice to only be working at 2 gyms right now. Ha, never thought 2 jobs would be when I got to relax! So, where exactly have I been the past few weeks?

Well, Nathan’s sister came to visit for a week. She was here for his birthday which was spent at the Giants’ game. Birthdays and baseball go together like baseball and beer.. which, of course, we had.

Day 1! Drakes Brewery, straight from the airport. We don’t mess around!

A birthday win!

Finally made it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Photo-bombing my own picture.

One of our new favorite wineries.

We also celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary last week. It’s so crazy to think that it’s already been 2 years. And at the same time, it’s only been 2 years. I bet you wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that we celebrated with food and drinks.

Surprise picnic at work!

Aperol Spritz to take us back.

Oh, those porcinis and fresh pasta ❤

Holy Margherita!

We try to get back to our honeymoon as much as possible, so an impromptu picnic at Nathan’s office and Pizzaiolo for dinner had to happen. It was named one of the best pizzas in the Bay Area and it was definitely delicious; the crust was the most light, fluffy, tender crust we’ve ever had. That said, Il Casaro still wins for our favorite pizza since Italy. Next month, we’re going to see Book of Mormon. I called that the anniversary gift so we’re also planning on going to a nice dinner that night before the show. Any recommendations around the Orpheum Theater?

We’ve also made a successful foccacia bread at home [and by we, I mean Nathan..] which is HUGE for us! AND I’m dying over the fruit lately. Yogurt + cherries + nut butters [peanut and almond because I couldn’t decide] = heaven.

In the fitness world, I’m finishing up my 30 Day Kettlebell Challenge and have loved it. It’s been so refreshing to change it up and get my butt kicked in 25 minutes or less! Since I’ve just mainly been following that program this month, I’ve cut my cardio back significantly to typically one 30 minute run per week in addition to a quick warmup on the elliptical before my workouts. It has certainly helped me to fit my workouts in between clients. And speaking of clients, they’re picking up too! I’m searching for pockets of time but I’m so excited to have more clients these days. Only up from here, right?

My meal planning has been lacking a little bit lately, so let’s all get back to that, shall we?

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Nathan’s whole roasted chicken with roasted sugar snap peas and [sweet] potatoes
Monday – Coconut Honey Lime Filipino Chicken Adobo Skewers with roasted red pepper and zucchini chips
Tuesday – Balsamic Watermelon Chicken Salad
Wednesday – Jerk Chicken Kabobs with Balsamic Fennel Salad
Thursday – Leftovers
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What’s happening in your life lately?
Any restaurant recommendations near the Orpheum Theater in SF?

Let’s Chat.

I’m back!

After a 2 week blogging hiatus, I wanted to break the silence. Grab a cup of coffee; this could be a bit lengthy!

The break was totally unintentional, but absolutely needed. As you may recall, I had friends in town a couple weeks ago and while they were here, I decided I just didn’t feel like breaking out the computer.

Passing up on a few blog posts during their trip made me realize I was just going through the motions. Monday? Gotta get a weekend recap up. Tuesday? Link love. Wednesday? Pictures of food. There really wasn’t much behind it. And how many times can you look at a bowl of my oatmeal? I get it.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been working on figuring out a good balance with all of my jobs and as things continue be thrown up in the air, I just didn’t need the extra stress of needing to get a blog post up. Other aspects of my life were suffering; I was constantly exhausted from trying to juggle 3 different jobs, working some crazy hours, wracking my brain at different ways to get more personal training clients, cooking, cleaning, and somehow fitting in my workouts.

Thankfully, some changes have been made. Nathan is helping out with cooking and cleaning more [who knew all I needed to do was ask for help?!] and last week I gave my 2 weeks at Athleta. I’m swapping Athleta for another training gig, so while I’ll still be working at 3 different places, ideally, I’ll be cutting back on hours and make more dough. That would be lovely, yes? Good changes to start.

A Nathan-style dinner.. chopped rotisserie pork knuckle with roasted veggies.

But as I’ve been going through the motions with blogging, it seems I’ve also been doing the same with my workouts. That’s not a good look for me. I told Nathan the other day that I’m a rare breed—one that consistently works out and eats healthy [with the exception of when we have visitors..] and yet still continues to gain weight. It’s true. My friend told me I just look “a bit thicker.”

Let’s get really real here, shall we? I mean, we’re all friends.. Since moving to California, I’ve mostly ditched the scale. It was a good thing for me and I would occasionally break it out just to check in. Recently, I was feeling like my clothes were just fitting a little tighter and in general, I was uncomfortable. Well, when I say a couple extra lbs found their way back to me over the past 6 or so months, I actually mean 15. Ouch. That’s not a pretty number. So yes, thicker it is. And it sucks. But I’ve decided that the old saying rings true—you really can’t continue to do something the same way and expect different results.

So now it’s time for me to get back on the wagon, really put the effort back into my workouts, and figure out how to find the balance that’s right for me. The blog with fall into its place in time, but right now I know I need to put most of my focus on finding balance in my jobs and at home.

Thanks for sticking with me today; I’ve been looking for the words to write this post and it’s nice to finally hit “publish.”

No questions today, just thoughts.

Vegging Out

Have you entered my MealEnders giveaway yet?

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a great weekend. We stayed local and pretty low-key but definitely enjoyed the beautiful weather that we had.

Friday night, we kicked off the weekend with a trip to the gym…

…immediately followed by beer and delicious food at Cato’s, our favorite bar down the street.

The beet and feta salad with grilled chicken is my go-to. Extra beets, please!

 

Such a wild and crazy Friday! Which lead to an even wilder Saturday.

We saw this super cute dog in a hilarious onesie at lunch!

Saturday was the best. After lunch, we took a nice walk and then came home and totally vegged on the couch for the rest of the day. Dinner in and a movie was the perfect ending.

Sunday, I was making my way over to work around 7:45 when I saw the first Oakland marathoner running down the road. The race started at 7:30 and I was between miles 3 and 4. Holy hell, he’s fast!

And he was followed by lots more runners! It was so cool to watch everyone go by and cheer for them.

After work, it was time for lunch and groceries. Lunch was awesome! One of my favorite things about this restaurant, Southie, is that they will happily make any sandwich into a salad. So rather than the sandwich, I asked for the chilaquiles as a salad. BOOM! They made it happen.

The black bean mash was way more delicious than it looks 😉 And Nathan’s corned beef hash with poached eggs was equally as delicious.

How have we missed out on their brunch for so long? Aside from that whole work thing yesterday, it was quite a nice weekend. And now I’m looking forward to powering through this week. It’s a doozy but I think I’ll make it out alive!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Seared skirt steak with roasted potatoes and broccolini
Monday – Sticky Baked Chicken Pork with Apricot, Sage and Lemon Zest and Roasted Cauliflower Meuniere
Tuesday – Leftovers
Wednesday – Fennel-Garlic Pork Roast with roasted brussels sprouts and fennel
Thursday – Grilled chicken over Pear and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Maple Sesame Vinaigrette
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

How did you celebrate the weekend?
Have you or would you ever run a marathon?

Beer, Wine, and Sunshine

Good morning! Today is the last day to enter my Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts giveaway.. are you in on it yet? Also, I’ve announced the winner of my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway. Such excitement to start the week!

We had another fun-filled weekend with Nathan’s mom. Friday we went into San Francisco to shop. We were on a mission to find Nathan a new suit and were especially successful leaving with 2 suits! We also finally had success at Liguria Bakery. Our most favorite pillowy-soft foccacia bread has been on our radar for months and every time we’ve had the chance to get over to Liguria, they’ve been closed or sold out. Friday, however, we picked up a plain square and a rosemary garlic square. It’s just the best!

After a beautiful day in the city, we made our way to Jupiter in Berkeley for a little patio beer, pizza, and salad action. It was too nice a day to let it go to waste so we spent as much time outside as possible.

Saturday was another day of amazing weather and what better way to enjoy it than in Sonoma? We tried a couple new places—Gloria Ferrer for sparkling wine and charcuterie, Viansa Winery, Park 121 Cafe for lunch, and Meadowcroft Wines. While we don’t typically purchase any wine when we go tasting, we couldn’t pass up the cab franc and port. They’re definitely bottles that we’re going to be saving for a more special occasion. Two-buck chuck does just fine on a regular basis 😉

Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Homestead, a farm-to-table style restaurant that changes their menu daily based on the freshest ingredients they can get. Nathan and I had been eyeing this place for practically a year and had read great reviews so we were pretty excited to finally try it out. It definitely lived up to our expectations! I ordered the pan seared black cod, chickpeas, artichokes, grilled treviso, almond pesto; it was seasoned perfectly, the skin on the cod had a nice crisp to it and it was overall a pretty light dish. The housemade sourdough levain with housemade sea salted butter to start out was a real treat too. I probably could have eaten a whole loaf of that bread!

Nathan got the pork loin, spaetzle, grilled onion, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard. He agreed that the flavors in his dish were on point and it was also rather light.

Sunday was pretty much back to normal; we dropped Nathan’s mom off at the airport in the morning and I headed into work. Back to reality, I guess. Ahh, it’s gotta happen sooner or later, right? We’re currently guest-less for 2 1/2 weeks before my friends get here and while we’ve enjoyed having company and are looking forward to more, we’re definitely going to the enjoy the quiet and home-cooked meals!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes and asparagus
Tuesday – Burrito bowl with perfect black beans [<–the best!] and chicken
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Thai chicken satay noodle salad with coconut peanut dressing
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What I Ate Wednesday #126: We Ate It All

No really, aside from breakfast, we haven’t eaten at home in a week. If there was food to be had, we had it! [And then some..] But don’t worry, we all got in our 10,000 steps pretty much daily. Plus, I dragged Mom to barre again. It was a tougher class this yesterday than it was last Thursday and I bet she’s cursing me right about now.

Mom and Dad are heading home today and I’m bummed. I can’t believe a week went by so quickly and it was so nice having them here. Anytime I told people that all of our upcoming visitors would be staying with us, I got a “ohhhh, geeze!” But we loved it. It also didn’t hurt that my mom can’t sit still so she was always cleaning something up or putting something away! I’m so not ready to get back to real life but for their last day, we made sure to make it nice and relaxing.

[Post-Barre Breakfast]

Our first trip to Mama’s Royal Cafe on Broadway was delicious! They’re pretty well-known around here and now we know why. I got their special omelette, chock full of kale, sweet potato, and gruyere with a side of fruit, potatoes, ACME sour levain toast, and lots of coffee. We’ll definitely be heading back there for breakfast or lunch soon.

[Lunch]

Oh. I did say lunch, right? Well, after hiking through Mountain View Cemetary in Oakland [sounds bizarre, but it really is a beautiful place.. and much of a hike!] we made our way back to Cato’s Ale House for a brew and late lunch. I had the roasted beet salad with feta, candied walnuts, and chicken. More importantly, however, the 21st Amendment Kilt by Wildfire Scotch Ale is deeeelicious!

[Dinner]

Late lunch calls for a late dinner. We’d planned on cooking, but that didn’t happen once over the course of the week. Instead, we walked down to Ohgane, a Korean BBQ restaurant, for dinner. My parents had never been to one and this was our first time trying this particular restaurant. We went through multiple rounds of the little banchan plates along with the Galbee [short rib], chicken, and shrimp. The charcoal grill at the table was fun and gave the meat such great charred flavor. Another repeat restaurant, for sure!

Like I said, I’m bummed that my parents are on their way home today but it’s been such a fun week full of amazing food, lots of walking, and just great quality time together. I can’t wait for them to come back again.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be doing hours of cardio and eating boiled chicken and asparagus for the rest of week 😉

Food for Thought

Do you go out to eat with visitors or prefer to cook at home?

#MomAndDadInCali

I had every intention of having this post scheduled and ready to go early this morning. Until I fell asleep on the couch last night while we were watching House of Cards. I blame it on the beer all the excitement 😉

We’ve been having such a great time with my parents here. I don’t mean to leave you hanging, but hey, life just gets in the way. So let’s do a little recap so far.

Thursday

Post-barre muscles with Mom!

Farmers’ market lunch.

Mmm!

Salmon & Hamachi Kama. A new favorite.

Friday

Ooh that pizza..

WE WILL NOT!

Saturday

A fun trip to Oxbow Public Market. Let the drinking begin!

Sunday

Blue Bottle Coffee.. strongest in the world! Ha.

My 2 favorite Orioles fans.. right?

The best chick peas ever.

Sunny day selfie.

The beginning of the end.

The best ending to our beer-filled excursions. Our most favorite ice cream from Ici.

Now excuse me while we go drink and eat some more!

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite part of having company?

A Love-ly Weekend

Gooood morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and hopefully a nice Valentines Day too [if you celebrated.] Friday was a bit crazy for both of us and by the time we got out for dinner, all we wanted was something cheap and easy. Mexican it was!

It was the last dinner of my 2 week vegan experiment and what could be a better way to finish it off than with grilled veggies, rice, black beans, and lots of guacamole? Oh right.. fresh tortilla chips and salsa, too 😉

Saturday was all about taking it easy. In all of the running around that we’ve been doing lately, we decided that pulling the married card out and relaxing all day sounded like the best way to spend Valentines Day. We hit up the farmers’ market bright as soon as they opened to get the main star of our dinner—rotisserie duck l’orange. I guess we cheated a little bit in a way by not making the main dish like we usually do, but hey, it was hard to pass up! And such a gorgeous day, too. Which is why we took the opportunity to spend more time outside and walk over to the nearby rose garden.

Too bad we forgot that it’s still winter [yep, 75 degrees in February!] and there were only about 10 roses to be seen. Ha! We’ll have to make our way back over there in a couple of months.

The rest of the day was spent watching movies and having a few drinks on the couch.

Only the finest in our house! The perfect apertif while we were cooking up some roasted brussels & potatoes to go with the duck. We also popped open a bottle of Black Zeppelin, a 2009 Syrah blend, that we bought in 2012. It was surprisingly better than we had remembered!

Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on the rest of the food on Wednesday. Except for dessert.. a homemade personal pan blueberry square topped with Tahitian Vanilla gelato from Lush, down the street.

Sunday was for workouts, working, errands, and the start of the new day bed for all of our guests! Ikea is the best.. ish.

Don’t worry Mom and Dad, the room will be a little more put together in a week and a half when you get here! Looking forward to this week being a little quieter. And actually being able to do some real meal planning. I missed meat and seafood!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – 20 Minute Thai Basil Turkey and Lemongrass Rice Bowls
Monday – Kung Pao Salmon and Chicken with Sweet Potato and Broccoli
Tuesday – Leftover duck l’orange with citrus fennel and avocado salad
Wednesday – Smoky Chipotle Beet and Quinoa Burgers
Thursday – Burrito Bowls
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Did you celebrate Valentines Day?

Moving Weekend

Hell week is over! Somehow I came out of it in one piece and ready to tackle all of the unpacking to come this week. We lucked out and had a beautiful weekend for all of the running around and I think we’re already getting comfortable in our new place.

I’m loving the HUGE sliding glass doors that we have!

This place definitely has more character than our last. It’s a 2-bedroom which is really going to come in handy with all of the visitors we’re having this year. Not to mention, it’s in a great area and walking distance to so many amazing restaurants! So many new places to try again, it’s like a whole new adventure.

I’ve also started working at a new gym which is now right around the corner. Seriously, it takes 5 minutes to walk there. Amazing! We’ve started a new California chapter this past weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing where this year takes us.

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever lived?

Don’t forget to enter my She’s Losing It! giveaway!

We Were Just Babies!

Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you had as relaxing a weekend as I did. Friday kicked off with an awesome workout at a new-to-me circuit gym called Sweat. I went with a few of my coworkers and the trainer took us through 3 rounds of 8 stations of supersets. These exercises hit every single muscle and I was definitely feeling it all weekend, especially my abs! I can’t wait to go back again.. luckily they’re on ClassPass.

Saturday, Nathan and I took it easy and celebrated 11 long crazy years. I can’t believe we’ve been together for so long; we were just babies when we first started dating!

Check. Us. Out.

Saturday night was when we had the big plans for a nice dinner out. We’d been talking about going to Gather practically since we moved here and walked past it the first time. The price point is a little higher than our normal night out on the town so we knew it would be good for a special occasion, and it definitely was! We started out with drinks—a local red wine for me and a local black ale for him—and split 2 small plates. [You’ll excuse the lovely lighting for the pictures, yes?]

Rockwall sangiovese blend and fresh Acme bread

Crispy pork terrine with herbed buttermilk, hot sauce, pickled melon rind

Wild mushrooms with sweet potato, celery root, Treviso, crispy quinoa

Both dishes were so delicious and full of flavor but I think I ended up preferring the mushroom dish and Nathan went more for the pork terrine. No surprises there; boy loves his fried food 😉

There were so many appealing options on the menu for the entrees, one of which would be the amazing looking pizzas, but I couldn’t say no to the black cod. I hardly ever make seafood at home because Nathan doesn’t eat it, so I love to get it whenever we go out. The cod did not disappoint in the least; I ate it flake-by-flake and the skin was perfectly crispy too. I think I “mmm”-ed with almost every bite!

Local black cod with broccoli di Ciccio, celery root, Maitake, lemon

Zooming in for the close-up!

Nathan ordered the burger with fries which may not sound too exciting but he confirmed that it was a pretty damn good burger! And I can confirm that the fries were tasty too. We skipped out on dessert in favor of a couple peanut butter cookies we got earlier in the day; a nice little sweet treat to finish it out.

Yesterday was all about recovery from our big meal. Ha! We watched football, went to a couple grocery stores, and did lots of cooking and prepping for the week. We might have had a messy kitchen, but dinner was awesome!

That chicken recipe will be coming soon 😉

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Herb de Provence roast chicken, gouda smashed potatoes, and roasted brussels sprouts
Monday – Vietnamese pork bowl
Tuesday – Smokey chicken wing chili
Wednesday – Chicken bacon rice bowls
Thursday – Leftovers
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

If you’re married, do you still celebrate your dating anniversary?
Did you do anything fun over the weekend?