Yes, I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon.
I’ve been seeing these posts all over the blog world the past few weeks, and I’ve really enjoyed reading them. Basically you’re supposed to share 5 things about yourself that people might not know, and I think it’s a fun way to get to know your favorite bloggers on a little bit deeper level. I had been toying with the idea of writing one the past week or so, but when my friend Lara tagged me in her post yesterday I figured it was high time to do it!
I’ll admit, at first I was scratching my head a little bit at what to write because I feel like I’m a pretty open book and there isn’t a whole lot that people don’t know about me. One look at my Instagram photos pretty much sums it up–I’m a happy girl who loves traveling, my husband, living in Tahoe, my family, my dog, and food. What you see is what you get.
So what don’t you know about me? Here are five things I came up with:
1.
I am not a worrier when it comes to big things and I don’t stress out about major life changes. My husband and I have lived in four different states in the almost four years we’ve been married, and I’ve always viewed it all as an adventure. But on the flip side, minor details cause me far more anxiety than I’d like to admit. I have had way too many meltdowns over trivial things such as people cutting in front of me in line (anytime there is multiple lines/confusion about who’s turn it is next I seriously freak out) or my order being wrong at a restaurant. For example, when we were in Israel back in November during a time of conflict when missiles were being launched I honestly wasn’t worried at all…but I freaked out because I thought our hotel room wasn’t clean enough and made Cam switch us to a different hotel. Or this past weekend when we were in Dublin, I wanted to get green stuff to dress up for the parade. However, Sunday morning the bus route was different and we got dropped off in a spot where there were no stores open and so I didn’t have ANYTHING green on for St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and I seriously lost it. Which was dumb because I was in freaking Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, but all I could think about was the fact that I wasn’t wearing green. Trust me, I have more stories but I think you get the idea. My mom and Cameron are constantly telling me “Don’t sweat the small stuff” but I do. All the time. I’m working on it.
2.
I’ve never had my hair short in my life and I’ve also never dyed it. No highlights, nothing ever. A lot of people are surprised to find out that my hair is naturally this blonde, and it’s always been this color since I was young. I love being a blonde and I hope that my hair stays this color, but only time will tell I guess. That being said, I’m really not good at doing my hair at all. When I was a kid, I used to love to french braid my hair and do stuff like that, but now, I’m really not good at blow-drying and curling my hair the way some women are really talented with it. My hair is naturally really straight and I really never do much to it. Most of the time if I’m home I just let it air dry after the gym and keep it in a pony tail during the day. If I’m actually going out, I usually just blow dry it and that’s it. I kind of just bank on it being long and blonde and don’t really put in much effort with it. I’m honestly much more of a make-up person than a hair person. Also, my hair is crazy oily and I need to wash it everyday if I’m going to be doing anything where I’ll be going out in public. (I totally don’t wash it everyday since I work from home though, which is nice) These bloggers that talk about going 4 and 5 days without washing their hair is nuts to me because I am not kidding when I say I can’t make it past 24 hours without it being really noticeable.
3.
If you read my blog, you already know that I love food. What you might not know is that sometimes, especially lately for whatever reason, I really struggle finding a balance with how I eat. I genuinely enjoy eating healthy foods that make my body feel good. But I also really enjoy baking, candy, and eating foods that make my body feel (and look) like crap. Back when I was in high school, I used to work at Tim Horton’s (a donut shop, for those of you not from the Midwest/Canada) and I’d seriously eat half a dozen donuts every time I worked (and no, I’m not even joking). And I was running cross country and I was thin and everything was cool. Fast forward ten years, and I can definitely feel my metabolism slowwwwwing down. I can’t eat sweets the way I used to without gaining weight, my face breaking out, and just feeling gross. I feel like I’m constantly trying to find a balance between wanting to indulge my sweet tooth and not gaining 20 lbs. And it’s really not just about my weight. Honestly, I’m happy with myself and how I look no matter what the scale says, and I’ve never really struggled with low self-esteem. I have no desire to be stick thin, and I’m not trying to lose some crazy amount of weight or anything like that. Overall, I really just want to be healthy, feel good, and give my body the fuel it needs. And when I do that, I tend to weigh less than when I’m eating unhealthy, plain and simple. But it’s a constant battle for me because I genuinely love food/baking and I struggle with moderation. I’m not the girl that can make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and just have one, instead I’m eating the dough like it’s going out of style. I honestly feel like I was in the best place with my relationship with food at this time last year when Cam and I first started eating Paleo. We were really diligent with it 80% of the time and both felt really awesome, we lost weight, and then we allowed ourselves to indulge the other 20% of the time. I didn’t feel deprived, I felt like I was giving my body the nutrition it needed, and things were great. Then over time, we started to indulge more and more, we got busy with travel and the holidays, and all of the sudden, things were out of whack. I tried to get back on the wagon by doing a 21 Day Sugar Detox earlier this year. While I do think I learned some valuable lessons from that experience, overall, I really think it had somewhat of a negative effect because I’ve been eating very unhealthy since it ended. So now I’m trying to find a balance once again. I feel like it’s always going to be a little bit of a struggle for me because Cam and I travel so often. I’m always going to want to buy candy when we’re at the airport, I’m always going to want to have dessert every night when we’re on vacation, and I’m always going to want to stop in when we pass by a bakery. And while sometimes it’s OK to indulge, other times I need to choose the healthier option. Because that’s really what this is about, my health. I think I’ll always be working to find that balance, but I’m just going to try to make the best choices I can moving forward. Getting to bed at a decent time and making sure I get enough sleep. Drinking plenty of water. Stepping away from my computer, taking Lola for a walk and getting some fresh air. Eating real food and not stuff that comes from a box. And making sure that if I do indulge my sweet tooth, that it’s on something awesome that I’m really going to enjoy and not just some crappy candy in an airport because I’m bored. It’s a work in progress (and it feels good to get that off my chest).
If you read my blog, you already know that I love food. What you might not know is that sometimes, especially lately for whatever reason, I really struggle finding a balance with how I eat. I genuinely enjoy eating healthy foods that make my body feel good. But I also really enjoy baking, candy, and eating foods that make my body feel (and look) like crap. Back when I was in high school, I used to work at Tim Horton’s (a donut shop, for those of you not from the Midwest/Canada) and I’d seriously eat half a dozen donuts every time I worked (and no, I’m not even joking). And I was running cross country and I was thin and everything was cool. Fast forward ten years, and I can definitely feel my metabolism slowwwwwing down. I can’t eat sweets the way I used to without gaining weight, my face breaking out, and just feeling gross. I feel like I’m constantly trying to find a balance between wanting to indulge my sweet tooth and not gaining 20 lbs. And it’s really not just about my weight. Honestly, I’m happy with myself and how I look no matter what the scale says, and I’ve never really struggled with low self-esteem. I have no desire to be stick thin, and I’m not trying to lose some crazy amount of weight or anything like that. Overall, I really just want to be healthy, feel good, and give my body the fuel it needs. And when I do that, I tend to weigh less than when I’m eating unhealthy, plain and simple. But it’s a constant battle for me because I genuinely love food/baking and I struggle with moderation. I’m not the girl that can make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and just have one, instead I’m eating the dough like it’s going out of style. I honestly feel like I was in the best place with my relationship with food at this time last year when Cam and I first started eating Paleo. We were really diligent with it 80% of the time and both felt really awesome, we lost weight, and then we allowed ourselves to indulge the other 20% of the time. I didn’t feel deprived, I felt like I was giving my body the nutrition it needed, and things were great. Then over time, we started to indulge more and more, we got busy with travel and the holidays, and all of the sudden, things were out of whack. I tried to get back on the wagon by doing a 21 Day Sugar Detox earlier this year. While I do think I learned some valuable lessons from that experience, overall, I really think it had somewhat of a negative effect because I’ve been eating very unhealthy since it ended. So now I’m trying to find a balance once again. I feel like it’s always going to be a little bit of a struggle for me because Cam and I travel so often. I’m always going to want to buy candy when we’re at the airport, I’m always going to want to have dessert every night when we’re on vacation, and I’m always going to want to stop in when we pass by a bakery. And while sometimes it’s OK to indulge, other times I need to choose the healthier option. Because that’s really what this is about, my health. I think I’ll always be working to find that balance, but I’m just going to try to make the best choices I can moving forward. Getting to bed at a decent time and making sure I get enough sleep. Drinking plenty of water. Stepping away from my computer, taking Lola for a walk and getting some fresh air. Eating real food and not stuff that comes from a box. And making sure that if I do indulge my sweet tooth, that it’s on something awesome that I’m really going to enjoy and not just some crappy candy in an airport because I’m bored. It’s a work in progress (and it feels good to get that off my chest).
4.
Brevity is not my strong point. I talk a lot and struggle to be concise anytime I write something (for example, this post). My managers at work always give me a hard time because my emails tend to be short novellas. A girl of few words I am not.
Brevity is not my strong point. I talk a lot and struggle to be concise anytime I write something (for example, this post). My managers at work always give me a hard time because my emails tend to be short novellas. A girl of few words I am not.
5.
I would love love love to move abroad. Europe would be ideal, but I’m honestly open to anywhere. I always wanted to study abroad in college, but decided not to because I didn’t want to give up time in Ann Arbor and thought I could travel after college. It ended up being a good decision because Cam and I started dating the semester I would have gone to study in Italy, so not going was definitely the right choice for me in hindsight…but I still have that burning desire to move overseas, at least temporarily. While Cam and I have been very blessed to do a lot of travel both in the US and internationally, I think there is something so different about living in a place than being on vacation. Living in Tahoe has really showed me that. So many people breeze in and out for a week at a time, but living here for over a year has really allowed me to see the beauty of this place in each season that you miss if you’re only here for a short time. I’d love to fully immerse myself in another culture and I think that having that experience with my husband would be so much fun. Many of my favorite bloggers are American ex-pats living around the world. I love living vicariously through their beautiful photos and travel stories I always think to myself “We could do that!” On one hand, I’m ready to just settle down here in the US, buy a house, have a baby, etc…but on the other, moving abroad is always my constant daydream that I’m not quite ready to let go of just yet.
I would love love love to move abroad. Europe would be ideal, but I’m honestly open to anywhere. I always wanted to study abroad in college, but decided not to because I didn’t want to give up time in Ann Arbor and thought I could travel after college. It ended up being a good decision because Cam and I started dating the semester I would have gone to study in Italy, so not going was definitely the right choice for me in hindsight…but I still have that burning desire to move overseas, at least temporarily. While Cam and I have been very blessed to do a lot of travel both in the US and internationally, I think there is something so different about living in a place than being on vacation. Living in Tahoe has really showed me that. So many people breeze in and out for a week at a time, but living here for over a year has really allowed me to see the beauty of this place in each season that you miss if you’re only here for a short time. I’d love to fully immerse myself in another culture and I think that having that experience with my husband would be so much fun. Many of my favorite bloggers are American ex-pats living around the world. I love living vicariously through their beautiful photos and travel stories I always think to myself “We could do that!” On one hand, I’m ready to just settle down here in the US, buy a house, have a baby, etc…but on the other, moving abroad is always my constant daydream that I’m not quite ready to let go of just yet.
Well hopefully that wasn’t TMI, but I enjoyed sharing a little bit more about me! (And hopefully you don’t think I’m totally neurotic after reading this, ha!) I’d love to read 5 things about YOU, so if you’ve done/are going to do one of these posts, leave a comment and let me know so I can check it out!
Have a great weekend everyone! Xoxo
{Photo above (of pink peonies, my favorite flower) by Sarah (one of my favorite bloggers) and you can buy it here}