July 23, 2012

1. Overnight Oats for Breakfast

When I remember to make it the night before, I love to eat Overnight Oats for breakfast. They are a delicious nutritional powerhouse and are so much more satisfying than cereal. Check out what kinds of add-ins I use to fix mine at the bottom of this post.

2. Morning Prayer on the Car Ride

I have a loooong commute to work. Three days a week, Big Tex and I carpool, which I love. The other two days I'm on my own and I try to make the ride a pleasant one. When I get off the highway, and I have about 10 minutes left in my drive, I like to say a prayer and get my head in a calm, positive, and grateful place for the day. Sometimes I get caught up in the music or talk shows and I forget to get centered with my prayer, but I always feel better when I do. Today, I ended my ride and started my work day on a good note with a short prayer.

3. Mailed Some Important Packages

I have a tendency to put off mailing packages til the last minute because I don't like going to the P.O. But at lunch today, I mailed my wonderful mom's birthday gift, as well as a baby gift for our dear friends who just had a sweet baby girl. 

4. Read (Almost!) a Chapter from Of Mice and Men

I like mind candy books. Ok, I love them. But I kind of miss my school days when I was forced to read a classic novel that I was convinced would be boring, and then actually turned out to be unforgettable (A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights). So I'm reading one of Big Tex's favorite books: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I've been hesitant about this particular book because I don't like bleak stories. This book has some gut-wrenching scenes, but I'm also seeing that George's relationship to Lenny subtly illustrates the human ability to love (maybe even unknowingly) in an imperfect, but still beautiful way. 

5. Yoga!

Big Tex and I went to yoga tonight and it was wonderful! I'm feeling stronger and more limber already :-)

July 22, 2012

1. Waking Up with Lemon Water

I read this article yesterday that discusses the positive effects of drinking warm water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed into it each morning. Since I'm always looking for ways to make my mornings less tortuous (I hate getting up in the morning), as well as tricks for drinking more water, it resonated with me. I did it this morning and it actually tasted good. A much cleaner feeling than the sweet, creaminess of coffee first thing in the morning. When I was done, I had a big mug of sweet, creamy coffee :-/

2. Healthified Sunday Morning Breakfast

Big Tex (my husband) makes the best blueberry pancakes and I have a total weakness for them (like I do with almost all sweets and baked goods!). So when he told me he was making pancakes this morning, I came thisclose to just throwing in the towel (on my healthy lifestyle journey that I re-start every morning because usually I break it at some point each day ;-)). But, today, I overcame the urge! Since it was Sunday morning and I love our Sunday morning breakfasts together, I decided to compromise. I had one blueberry pancake (whole wheat, thank you very much) with syrup and no butter. I also had a hard-boiled egg, an apricot, and a homemade pumpkin smoothie. Fruits, vegetables (is pumpkin a vegetable?), fiber, whole grains, and protein. YES. 

3. Laundry Room Progress

On my other blog, Widgapae, I've been documenting the Great Kitchen/Laundry Room Makeover of 2012 that is taking place in my house right now. Today, Big Tex and I made some serious progress in the laundry room. We finished installing about half of the paneling on the walls and it's looking great!

4. New Recipes

Today, I made two dishes that I have looooved for a long time, but have never made myself: moussaka and tzatziki. The moussaka recipe came from Rachael Ray, while the tzatziki came from AllRecipes. They came out awesome, and it was a good feeling!


5. I Made This Blog!
I've been thinking about creating this blog for a while now, and decided to just get on it today. Sometimes I get lazy and overwhelmed about trying to eat right, work out, read good books, be nice to everyone, wake up early, drink lots of water, do all my DIY projects...all the stuff that I want to do. So I thought keeping this log might help me make it fun and would give me a daily, tangible goal to associate with my larger, existential goal. You know, perfection :-)


It's a pretty huge goal to try to write on the blog every day, so I may not be able to expound on each of my Five Good Things each day, but I'll at least try to jot off a list!