Write Me Away From Here

here goes week one of attempting to eliminate gluten and eat as paleo as i possibly can... it's definitely not going to be perfect but i'm sick of stomach cramps and feeling bloated after meals and i'm hoping this will help. my goals is to eat this way during the week and cheat a little on weekends... like pumpkin beer and real desserts kind of cheating.  so friends, if you have any yummy gluten free/paleo recipes you'd like to share with me, please send them along! i'm experimenting in the kitchen and this weekend i had a few epic failures. i think my problem is i have a hard time sticking to recipes and i always want to change or add my own things.  so sunday was just a mess. i bought paleo pancake mix from wegmans. i'm sure if i followed the directions they would have turned out fantastic... but... nope... i added pureed pumpkin because, well, fall and i added eggs because i wanted more protein. well, we ate what tasted like undercooked pancakes fo

happy halloween weekend!  i've always been conscious about what i eat but lately i've been on an even healthier eating kick... like dabbling in paleo and gluten free healthy... and no i don't have celiac disease. so why, you may ask, am i doing this? well there are a few reasons.  reason number one is very simple: i want to stop putting processed foods into my body as much as possible and focus more on natural foods in hopes to make more progress in the gym. reason number two is that i seem to have developed a more sensitive stomach as i've gotten older and i can totally feel a difference when i eat clean vs unhealthy. so i figured, why feed myself junk and feel like shit when i can eat natural foods and feel good? it's very simple.  i'm going to give this a try... and by give it a try i mean maybe about 75% of my diet... i never see myself going completely paleo because i love my sweets and pasta now and then... but we'll see where this goes.

crossfit. this sport i used to say was stupid.. back when i was completely ignorant to what it actually was. this sport i used to say was never in a million years worth $150+ a month because i can just do the same workouts at gold's gym on my own for $20 a month. nope. i was wrong. crossfit is amazing and worth every penny i pay. we were talking the other day during class about how some people call it a cult and then we realized it actually fits the definition of just that: a group of people with similar ideas, a leader and a uniform. but that's okay.. i like being part of this cult. i drank the cool aid. and in my opinion, everyone should try this cool aid.. it's addicting.  this weekend my gym hosted an in-house partner competition.. meaning only people from our gym were invited.. in pure cult-like fashion.. and because it's october, we got to play adult dress up! so much fun!  my partner and i decided to be mummies.. which was actually very fitting for he

guys! i found the  dress.. you know.. that white one that you spend so much money on and wear for approximately 5 hours of your life.. yup.. found it. and bought it! i had this idea in mind of the type of dress i wanted and the one i actually bought was pretty different than my original thoughts. so if you're in the market for dresses ladies, try on all kinds because you just never know. also, if you're in the market for a wedding dress and you live in massachusetts, definitely check out beautiful bride boutique in west boylston. the shop is so cute and the owner makes you feel extra special. shopping is by appointment only and you have the entire place to yourself... which works out when your mom comes and wants to play meghan trainer "dear future husband" for all to hear. and once i "said yes to the dress" she made us all mimosas. and sorry.. you'll have to wait until september 2018 to see pictures of the dress.. i know, i'm such a jerk. an

"he developed an appreciation for the essence of life by seeing its fragility." this is a quote from one of my pa school professors. he worked as the chief medical examiner in new hampshire and saw thousands of deaths as the consequence of drug/alcohol abuse...seeing just how frail life can truly be. this quote speaks loud and clear to me as it is something my colleagues and i are faced with daily while working in the intensive care unit. this blog post was inspired by him. -------------- hey you... over there with the broken smile... once upon a time you were born with endless potential... with the entire world at your feet. maybe you came from a family... maybe the kind with two parents, a couple of siblings and a dog... maybe the kind with a single parent or maybe one without siblings... or maybe your parents were not ready to be parents and had to give you up in hopes someone else could provide a better life for you. maybe your parents were your biggest supporters, c

the past three weekends we've been jamming as much as possible into saturday because, well, as usually, work has been taking over my sundays. work is really a drag. so on saturdays we go apple picking and eat apple cider donuts. on saturdays we create our own date night at home, courtesy of wegmans and gerardos bakery.  on saturdays we go to applefest and ride the chairlift, take in the views, and eat apple crisp (because duh, it's apple fest). i love saturdays

when you wake up at 0430 and don't get home until 2000 on a good day, meal planning becomes essential... but even on days off i find i eat much better if i have already cooked and separated my food into containers. i usually prepare enough meals for three-ish days at a time and make sure to cook things i actually want to eat.  for a while i'd prep some boring meat and vegetables and call it a day... sounded like a great idea until i didn't want to eat anything i cooked. now i've gotten over the idiotic idea that i shouldn't eat carbs and i add rice and sometimes pasta... and often some cheese... and wha-la... all of a sudden i actually want to eat my meals. then i buy some yummy snacks to eat between my three main meals and do my best to limit my sweet tooth to a handful of chocolate chips each day (on week days because on weekends i have no accountability).  so here's what i'll be eating for the next three days... all cooked and dishes cleaned up in

dear protesters,  football for me started when my little brothers began pop warner in elementary school. we spent so many afternoons at the field for their practice... for me it was social hour with my friends. it later evolved into high school games on friday nights. as i got older, football games became events filled with family, friends and yummy food... often cozy fires, chili, and ben's sweatshirts. then there were those games we spent tailgating and laughing the afternoon away in anticipation of the game that evening. football brought people together. it was healthy competition between friends. it was something people looked forward to all week.  it was the true american sport. and like all american sports, the game did not start until we were blown away by the national anthem... a song that gives me chills every single time i hear it... every single time.  now, quite simply, you have ruined that for us all. you have taken something so pure and polluted it wi

" this morning, with her, having coffee." johnny cash, when asked for his description of paradise well said mr. cash, well said. this is exactly how i felt this weekend. for the first time in months, ben and i had a saturday morning with nothing we had  to do. we skipped the gym (which was unfortunate because the workout was cleverly named "heff" after the late hugh hefner and included snatches, bjs (box jumps), and thrusters all at 69 reps... see what the coaches did there?) and headed out bright and early. the air was cool...the perfect kind for sweatpants, hoodies, and a coffee date. i swear, nothing can beat these kind of mornings. the simplicity is so refreshing and exactly what I needed after these last few weeks. the combination of early mornings, coffee and ben is perfection to me... and as much as i wish we could make this a daily tradition, the rare chances we get to actually do so are that much more special. now today is back to work... yuck...