Archives for September 2016

September Favorites

September 29, 2016 filed under: monthly favorites

1. WrightSock Double Layer Running Socks Cool Mesh II – I used a $15 store credit at my local running store to buy (and try) these socks and I love them. They’re super-soft and comfortable. And so far: no more blisters.

2. I just recently tried Kevita Sparkling Probiotic Drinks for the first time and they’re so delicious (well, the flavors that I had so far – lemon ginger and Tangerine ← tastes like Fanta ). I like sparkling drinks to begin with (they’re so refreshing) and I like the extra health benefit for digestive health and immune function that I get with this drink. Unlike kombucha which is fermented with black or green tea, KeVita is fermented with coconut water or filtered water. You should give it a try!

3. Cynthia Rowley Eyeliner (made in Germany – ha!) I think I received this in one of my Birchboxes (when I was still subscribed). I just recently found it in my bathroom cabinet and decided to use it. Let’s just say: I am so glad I found it because this eyeliner is awesome (and since it’s not exactly cheap at $16, I’m extra-happy that I am using and liking it.)

4. Pixlr is a free alternative to Photoshop and they offer an online version and app. I only have an (older) version of Photoshop on my (even older) DELL laptop at home and this is a GREAT alternative. Check it out!

5. If you don’t own a Lodge Cast Iron Skillet yet, you need to remedy this immediately. Trust me, you will not want to cook with anything else again. J was hesitant to use the cast iron skillet for the longest freaking time, because – I know – it looks like stuff will stick to it. But if it is seasoned correctly, this is where the magic happens: NOTHING will stick to it. Even better, you can use the skillet on the stove and in the oven.

6. Asics Gel-Cumulus 18 – I bought some new running shoes a couple of months ago and I am really happy with them. I used to run in Brooks Ghost 7’s (which I loved), but wanted to try a new shoe/brand. The Asics have a great fit, are also a neutral shoe, but have a little bit more cushion than the Brooks (I think), and are really comfortable. I just wish they had had them in this color at the store.

Currently | September

September 28, 2016 filed under: currently

so excited to pick up my parents at the airport this week. I haven’t seen them in 6 months and I can’t wait to hug them. They’re coming to visit for 2,5 weeks and I am so excited to spend some quality time with them. (I might be a little bit MIA the next couple of weeks, but I have scheduled a couple of blog posts in advance, so that you don’t completely forget that I am here. Ha!)

appreciating the fact that I get to take some time off from work to spend as much time with my parents as possible.

hoping for time to go really, really slowly the next two weeks.

watching This is Life with Lisa Ling. The new (3rd!) season started yesterday on CNN! Highly recommend.

reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Holy moly… the book is so intense. I haven’t seen the movie (yet), so no spoilers. If you have read the book AND seen the movie, which one did you like better?

loving my new ‘I RUN THIS BODY”-t-shirt!!

drinking the first few cups of hot tea. Fall has only made a brief appearance so far, but it was enough to make me want to drink a hot beverage (besides coffee).

eating German apple pancakes for dinner last weekend. I don’t make them very often, but I had a craving.

scratching my head over the shitstorm that was the presidential debate on Monday night. I mean, seriously, America. What is this!!??

enjoying (to my own surprise!) the early morning workouts at the gym. I never thought I’d be able to squeeze in a workout before work, but HERE I am doing it.

thinking that Instagram should really go back to the chronological feed, because it’s super-annoying a) not to know if you’ve scrolled back far enough to not miss anything and b) seeing posts pop up a day or two late (and them therefore being out of context). At least, give us the option to choose, Instagram. Who’s with me?

What I bought at Trader Joe’s (meatless edition) – Vol.3

September 26, 2016 filed under: food, review, shopping, traderjoes

Hello, hello. Here’s another edition of ‘What I bought at Trader Joe’s’. I know you were waiting for this, weren’t you? I can’t say enough good things about Trader Joe’s* and if you don’t have one near you, I am truly sorry.

I try to eat a healthy and balanced diet (of course, the occasional treat is absolutely necessary) and I am glad that Trader Joe’s has a wide variety of healthy food items. (Of course, they also have things that are not so good for you – so I still check labels and nutrition information.)

Today I am sharing some items that I regularly buy at Trader Joe’s that I consider part of my “runner friendly diet”.

Trader Joe’s Whole Plain Greek Yogurt ( 16 oz – $1.99 ) ★★★★★ // dairy section

You guys, this is the best greek yogurt I have ever had. If I could, I would give it an extra star. It has the best taste and texture of any Greek yogurt I have tried so far and I have tried many different Greek yogurts in the past. Even J, who is not a yogurt fan in general, will have spoonful every once in while just because it’s just so good. It’s smooth and only a touch tangy and I just love it with my granola and fresh fruit. It also is a great substitute for sour cream on your baked potato or in salad dressings. As you can see, I buy the whole milk version. I don’t really believe in low fat versions of anything.

Trader Joe’s Silverdollar Pancakes (11.3 oz – $1.99) ★★★★☆ // freezer section

Ok, these “only” got four stars, because obviously they don’t really compare to freshly made pancakes, but they’re really easy to pop in the microwave and top with some syrup and fruit when the craving hits and a) you don’t have time to make pancakes from scratch and/or b) you only need one portion. It’s nice to have these handy in the freezer.

Trader Joe’s Hemp seed (8 oz – $5.99) ★★★★☆ // cereal aisle

This is a great addition to your granola or oatmeal for an extra boost of omega-3, omega-6, and protein.
I only give them 4 stars, because I haven’t used them for anything else but granola yet, but I am sure you can also add them to salad, baked goods, or bread.

Trader Joe’s Crunchy or Creamy Almond Butter (16 oz – $7.99) ★★★★★ // pantry section

I didn’t grow up with peanut butter (although I think it’s now available in German supermarkets), so I wasn’t used to the texture and taste of any nut butters at all. Peanut butter is still something I avoid, but I’ve come to like almond butter quite a bit. This one has only one ingredient (almonds!) and is really tasty! I add it to my smoothies and occasionally eat a spoonful by itself.

Trader Joe’s Organic Midnight Moo (20 oz – $3.49) ★★★★★ // pantry section

For when the post-run chocolate milk craving hits! It’s chocolate-y but not overly sweet. I love it. Which chocolate milk do you like?

What did you pick up at Trader Joe’s this month?

I am linking up with Rachel for Meatless Monday today. I hope it’s ok to “switch it up a bit” by not posting a recipe, but some vegetarian runner-friendly food options I buy at Trader Joe’s.

* I am not affiliated with Trader Joe’s, nor have they endorsed, sponsored or paid for my reviews. I am just sharing my love for the store and its products, which bascially means free advertisement for them. Ha. All opinions are my own.

A decade in the making

September 23, 2016 filed under: friends, good times, travel

Last weekend, I got to spend three days with one of my oldest and dearest friends. Cathy lives in Sydney, Australia and we’ve been friends for almost 25 years.

We started out as pen friends back in the day. Does anyone still remember what FB’s (“friendship books”) are? People sent little booklets – ‘Friendship Books”- around where you put your address, you age and your interests and when you received such a booklet and there was someone that you liked, you could write them a letter and become pen friends.

Cathy and I initially bonded over our mutual love for New Kids on the Block (no shame! Blockheads represent! :)), but it turned out to be so much more than that. She’s been in my life since we were teenagers, we’ve been through high and lows, happiness and heartaches, and it’s just been so amazing that we’ve kept up all these years. I don’t think it can be taken for granted that our friendship survived this long, especially because it was all based on letter writing for such a long time.

We were lucky enough to have had the opportunity to meet each other IRL once before, when she and her husband traveled to the US and we met up in Los Angeles for a long weekend (including a trip – my first! – to Disneyland). The best part: it didn’t feel awkward at all, because we already “knew” each other. But that was 11 years ago.

We spent a couple of very special days together, then they continued their trip, we went up north to Sacramento, not knowing when we would be able to see each other again.

This might not seem like such a big deal today as we – especially us bloggers – make so many connections online these days and it’s almost common now to meet up with someone that you met over the Internet, but back in the day, it was rare to be friends with someone who lived so far away and who you hadn’t met in person. Letter-writing was a real effort and it takes two committed people to make this work for so long, but we stuck it out and became and have been best friends ever since.

We still kept writing after our meet-up, but not as much as we used to. J and I got married, Cathy and Greg had two lovely girls. Life got busy. But despite some periods of time where we didn’t hear from each other that much, I always knew that Cathy was there.

So, then fast forward a few years to 2014 when Cathy started talking about making another trek over here and when she started saving for the trip and planning it, scratching it, re-doing the itinerary, but always with the goal in mind to meet up somewhere and spend some quality time together. I told her, if she makes it over to the US again, I’ll come and meet her anywhere. So, we basically had been talking about seeing each other again for the last two years (and you can imagine how hyped up we were getting).

On Saturday morning, I boarded a plane to meet her + her family in Vegas for a long weekend. And when I arrived at the hotel that we were staying at and saw her walking towards me in the lobby, I felt giddy, yes, but it was instantly comfortable as if we had just seen each other a week ago. It’s amazing how that works, right?

It’s hard to put in words what this weekend meant to me. It’s not like Australia and the US are neighboring countries (and neither were Germany and Australia back in the day). With everything and everybody so connected these days, it does feel a whole lot closer (it’s not like we have to wait weeks for a letter to be delivered), but it’s still not like we can just hang out anytime we want, so the three days that we got together were extremely special.

We chatted NONSTOP. And when I say nonstop, I mean nonstop. This, of course, is a good sign, because if you can talk to each other like that, it means that you don’t really have to do much else. Yes, we walked the Strip and saw a bit of the casinos, had dinner at a buffet one night and lunch at Wahlburgers (*squeal*) and enjoyed the night view from the Paris, Paris Eiffel Tower, but the rest of the time we were perfectly fine hanging out at the pool (or the hotel room) and chatting the hours away. And it was still not enough time.

When I caught the taxi to the airport on Monday evening, I couldn’t help but feel like there was so much left to say.

I think I said that before: face time with close friends is so very special. You just talk “differently” with each other. You dig deep, get to things that you don’t talk about when you communicate via Whatsapp, text or email in between the demands of daily life.

The good news is we might see each other again in the not too distant future. I won’t say anymore, because let’s not jinx it, but FINGERS CROSSED. I miss her already.

Do you have any good friends that live really far away?

TotR | Best running advice you’ve received

September 20, 2016 filed under: fitness, linkup, running

It’s time for another Tuesdays on the Run post and the question that we’re addressing today is “what is the best running advice you’ve received?”.

I think the best running advice – or advice in general when it comes to competitive sports – I have ever received is that you have to run your own race and be the best runner YOU can be.

There is really no use (or point or reason) to compare yourself with other runners, although I am all too aware that we all tend to do that from time to time. It’s hard not to.

Not playing the comparison game was easier when I just ran occasionally as one (of many) types of leisure exercise. I didn’t pay attention to pace or distances much. The competitiveness started to come out when I committed to my first training plan and then signed up for a race. I mean, if you sign up for a race, how can you not compare your training and pace to others? It’s what you do.

A race, of course, is a competition, so you’ll want to try to perform your best and possibly “win”. What that really means though is NOT crossing the finish line first (although for some people that might be their goal and their reality), but crossing that finish line at all and striving to achieve your personal best.

But here’s the thing: we are all on our own journeys. You might be running for years or just started out. You might be a natural runner or someone who has to work hard for every mile. There are sprinters and endurance runners. Professional athletes and amateurs. You can not compare chapter 2 of your journey to someone else’s chapter 20.

I am always trying to remember that. I sometimes get discouraged when I see other people post their race times or training paces. They complain of “having a slow run” when they’re running a pace that I could only dream of right now. But I also know that my pace might seem fast to someone else. It’s really all a matter of perspective, because I know that I can achieve progress and that I have gotten faster in the comparatively short time that I’ve been running. That is what I should focus on.

So, have fun, run your own race, compete with yourself, beat your own records, because this is the only way you can really win. That’s the best running advice I have received and pass on to others.

This week, I am linking up with Erika, Patty and Marcia for Tuesdays on the Run again.