Not Goodbye, but See You Later

Posted on January 23, 2012 by ZenLizzie

After a lot of thinking and a dozen half-written, missed deadline blog entries, I’ve decided to formally go on hiatus. In the last few months I’ve really began to consider what it means to live more intentionally, and part of that is figuring out how to spend my time in the way that is going to be the most meaningful.

Between an internship, a graduate assistantship, grad school, job hunting, friends, family, church, healthy living stuff like…working out and occasionally sleeping, I already feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. I know there are some people who are much busier than me and still manage to write quality posts, but for now, I can’t commit to doing that. I’d rather purposefully not blog than haphazardly try to maintain it “just because.”

And so, rather than trying to force myself to write things that are uninspired just for the sake of doing it, I want to take a step back and allow myself to take this off my “to do list” for now. I anticipate returning eventually when I’m more inspired and less over-scheduled, and I’ll continue to comment on other people’s blogs, and check in on twitter and facebook. Also, feel free to email me at zenlizzie[at]gmail[dot]com.

A step-by-step guide to a good day

Posted on October 14, 2010 by ZenLizzie

1. Have a break to look forward to -Yesterday was my last day of school and work before fall break! I still have some work to do while I’m off, but it is really nice to have some open-schedule days.

2. Find something new and awesome. Or something old and awesome. I’ve tweeted about my search for a good Greek salad. I got spoiled living in Florence, because I could always count on a big Townhouse salad. You’d think it would be pretty easy to put together, but for some reason lots of places just get it wrong. I got one from the No Name Deli in Columbia, S.C., last week and I was really hopeful since they advertise it as the best Greek salad in town.

But meh. The chicken was dark and chewy (Ok, I’m not a huge meat eater, but it seemed like dark meat? I don’t know. Either way, it grossed me out.) and the salad dressing might as well have been a cup of olive oil with a few herbs tossed in. I also went in during the lunch rush, and even though the service was quick and friendly, I felt like I was standing in the way of all the business people crowded in while I was waiting for my to-go order.

BUT! Yesterday, I found a good Greek salad in Columbia. I’ve driven past Pitas on Taylor Street in Columbia a few times, but yesterday I finally decided to give it a try since I was in a rush from class to work and wanted something filling and healthy. I like the atmosphere because it was a very open, casual space with an open kitchen and a selection of Mediterranean foods and fresh baked pitas for sale.

I only waited a few minutes for my order, a Greek salad with a side of tzatziki and pita chips. It was so good, especially the tzatziki. Everything tasted really fresh and the chicken wasn’t gross.

Ok, so it might not look like much after being squished on my way to work, but it made me happy.

I may have eaten most of this while in traffic on the way to work.

3. Eat cupcakes. Kat brought vegan chocolate cupcakes over to celebrate Carla passing her boards. Kat, Carla, Lily and I all went to the S.C. State Fair on its $1 opening night, so we met at my apartment first.

Bloggers are weirdos.

Carla also gave us all vegan zucchini pumpkin bread. It is sooo good. Really. I had to slice it and freeze the rest of it so I wouldn’t eat zucchini bread for my next three meals.

4. Take a walk. We decided to avoid the traffic by walking. I live about a mile from the fair grounds, and it was nice to get out and move after sitting all day.

I love walkable cities/neighborhoods.

Also, we didn't get stuck in this traffic.

5. Re-live childhood memories and hang out with new friends. My family always went to the state fair when I was little, and I don’t think much has really changed since then. It was fun going with the blogger ladies, catching up and gawking at all the food offerings.

It was pretty crowded.

Yay! Fair time. Yay! Non medical jobs that require wearing rubber gloves.

Carla may have been the only person ready for my picture taking.

Lily and Carla were brave enough to go on rides.

We ate a mountain of fried potatoes. Carla dubbed this our health blogger "rumspringa."

I wanted to try something different at the fair, and I spotted a stand called "Dr. Vegetable" that was surprisingly not busy. (Sarcasm) Dr. Vegetable's state fair prescription was battering and deep-frying a mixture of broccoli, sweet potatoes, pickles and cauliflower. We didn't finish this. It was like, a not-as-good vegetable tempura. But, it was something new!

6. Take pictures of chickens. Ok, maybe this doesn’t normally factor into a good day, but after looking through my pictures, the birds were the only good animal pictures I took.

Cockadoodle crazy.

Sleeping baby birds.

An impressive figure.

But, seriously, it is always nice to get together with these girls because they are fun and funny, but also to dish about blogging stuff. We don’t all have the same perspective or opinions, favorite dishes or favorite bloggers, but that makes it more interesting.

How my make up 5k turned into an almost 6k

Posted on October 3, 2010 by ZenLizzie

Yesterday I explained why I missed the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Race in Charlotte, and I vowed that I would make up the 5k race today on my own. I almost had to postpone my make up again because at 11 last night I texted Carlton. Me: How are you? Him: Not good. Me: Do you want me to come back? Him: No.

Fast forward to 1:30 a.m. this morning…”Can you come?” So… I made my third trip to Flo-town in two days. From watching Carlton in pain, I hope I never, ever have kidney stones. I was worried that I would be too tired to run today, but it wasn’t so bad. Because I made the (re)commitment to run my 5k today, I sucked it up and came back home and ran this afternoon.

My only goal for this run was to finish. I haven’t gotten all the way through my second round of Couch to 5K, and the longest I’ve ever continuously run in my life is 30 minutes. Slow running + 30 minutes does NOT equal 5k, so I wasn’t really thinking that I would run the entire thing.

I mapped my run on MapMyRun.com, which I can’t post for you because it would lead all my rabid blog fans back to my apartment, but take my word for it that I was set to run 3.1 miles. I made a cheat sheet for myself because I can’t ever remember directions, and my route was taking me a little out of the way.

I'm really happy to live in a neighborhood with lots of trees, sidewalks and safety. (Public health service announcement, remember not everyone has that option.)

I had to extend my run through the ‘hood.

Ugh, I know. Scarrrry.

And by ‘hood I mean the Shandon neighborhood. It was actually a really nice route with not-so-busy streets, good weather and my sunny running disposition. Ok, I might have made that last one up, but I think the running gods smiled down on me today because it was a good run.

I got lost near the end and added a little more than half a mile to my run. How I “missed my turn” while on foot, I’m not sure. Maybe it is because I flew by it because I WAS STILL RUNNING. Yes, 50 minutes in, I was still running. Slow running, but running.

I’ve never run more than 2.5 miles, and today I ran 3.5 miles. I’ve never run more than 30 minutes before, and today I ran for 55 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I could really make my 5 mile goal that I set for myself, but today I realized that I could.

My thighs were pretty much on fire by the time I got home, and I’m sure I’ll be more sore than usual tomorrow but I feel like this was a really huge confidence boost for my running.

Me after my run. Please don't steal this picture for your Match.com profiles.

Me after my run making awful faces because I didn't want my neighbors to think I was a total freak show. I know it is super sexy hot, but please don't steal this picture for your Match.com profiles.

And the “Marie Claire Issue..”

For anyone who doesn’t follow a gaggle of healthy living bloggers on twitter, there was an article in Marie Claire this month (via Wearing Mascara) basically implying that a bunch of popular health and food bloggers have unhealthy, disordered obsessions with fitness and food.

It seems really clear to me that the writer did some lazy journalism and skimmed the top of the health blogger pool for some of the ones who are the most popular to pick on. Are there food bloggers or health bloggers that have unhealthy issues with eating or working out? Yes. Are the women mentioned in the story like that? Uh, no.

I think Jaclynlet made a good point on Twitter when she said that the author didn’t mention any of the bloggers who are really, clearly suffering with issues related to food and exercise. That would have been exploitive. But implying that these popular bloggers have those problems is just a way to sell magazines while firing at bigger targets.

Shock and scare tactics sell more magazines than healthy, feel-good, kumbaya stories about how many lives have been impacted positively from the healthy living blogger community. I’m not saying that the HL world is perfect. There are plenty of issues that don’t get talked about, but I think the way the author approached the subject is what made it so off-putting and hurtful.

Honestly, the article struck me as something a j-school student would write on deadline (shallow investigating, clear bias), not the caliber of “journalism” you would expect, even from a lady mag like Marie Claire.

Also, why are women who like working out, training, being athletic and competitive automatically branded as “disordered”? Are male athletes who train the same way automatically labeled this way?

Yay!! I’m moved in!

Posted on August 5, 2010 by ZenLizzie

Yesterday, my Dad helped me haul all my stuff from home to Columbia, in the humid, nasty August weather. I’ve moved so many times in the past few years and 90% of the moves have been in August. School should start in October, when it isn’t a sauna outside. But, whatever, it all got moved and now I am happy to be reporting from my new room in my new apartment in my new (old) city!

Last night, I went to Cellar on Greene with Kat, Lily and Carla .. all awesome S.C. bloggers. It took a little navigating to find the place, a wine and tapas restaurant, but once we got settled in it was really nice. I’m horrible at reviews, but the food was good and they played the Postal Service in the background. I don’t know a lot about wine, so Kat recommended I order a bellini and I wasn’t disappointed.

After checking out the menu, and comparing cost vs. hunger, I decided to get the three course option. In the name of trying something new, and also wanting some protein to help me stay full through the night, my first course was a chili lime smoked salmon with “City Roots sprouts, sweet pepper salsa, cantaloupe, wontons , cilantro sour cream.”

Chili Lime Salmon - The only dish I properly photographed.

My second course was soooo good. I ordered the three cheese stuffed tomato, served with “fresh mozzarella, parmesan & goat cheese, local basil, artichoke-roasted veggie orzo, herb pesto, balsamic.” I need to figure out how to make this, pronto. I took some bad photos of it, but I’ll spare you. I get nervous about photographing food at restaurants, especially with my new camera. Plus, I’m not sure my normal lens is good enough for “mood lighting” the restaurants provide.

But, believe me, the tomato was great AND nicely plated.

For dessert, I ordered the dessert cheese plate, with “gorgonzola, manchego, bell’s honey, strawberry jam” because.. umm I love cheese. (See, I’m not a good reviewer.) I think the picture that I took of this is funny, although not very helpful.

There was not, in fact, an earthquake during dessert.

But, more importantly..

The ladies! Carla, Lily and Kat.

Afterwards, we played trivia with Kat’s friends, and it was really fun.

This morning I woke up and realized there was no coffee, so I went to the grocery store to stock up on real food. I remembered when I was there that this is the first time I’ve been grocery shopping just for me in a year. Not only that, but I was able to go to a grocery store that had decent prices on stuff I want.

I was so excited I took this crappy cell phone picture.

And now that I’m back to cooking and eating on my own, I can have breakfasts like this..

Broccoli salad with pine nuts, feta, yogurt dressing. + seltzer and an apricot. Oh, and Tibbles, my roommate's kitten.

I have to suck it up and exercise outside until school starts and I can get into the gym there. I think I’m going to aim for long walks w/my Polar to keep my heart rate up.

To weight loss blog or not to weight loss blog…

Posted on July 27, 2010 by ZenLizzie

life of late

The next three weeks are going to be busy and exciting. I’m going on my last beach trip of the summer before school starts at the end of the week, and then a few days after I get back from there I’ll be moving into my new apartment in Columbia.

School doesn’t start for another few weeks, but it will be good to get moved in and get reacquainted with the city and with Big Girl living before school/work starts. A couple weeks before big moves, I always freak out. Not for days or anything, just a brief “OMG, I’m not prepared for this again!” crying jag, and then it is over. You’d think after so many moves in the past few years I wouldn’t freak out like this anymore, but apparently that is just my “thing.”

If I stop too long to think about scary things, I might talk myself out of them. One of the best strategies I’ve found for risk taking is to 1) Think, plan, strategize. 2) Commit to the decision and then 3) Avoid thinking about it at all costs. I’m sure there are some drawbacks to this way of living, but I’ve made some of my best choices that way. It is easier to address issues as they arise rather than obsessing about things that might never happen.

Which brings me to a question I’ve been throwing around lately, both in my head, in real life and on twitter. I’ve been working on my blog lately (come look if you`re reading on a reader!), and I have been considering adding a weight loss element. That isn’t the direction I want the whole thing to go in, but it is something that I need to do in life for my health, sanity and budget. If my blog is about eating and working out much of the time, it seems only natural that I could incorporate weight loss. Plus, I think it would help keep me accountable.

But I’m nervous to commit to this decision. What if I’m not any good at it? (Oh, wait, I already know I’m not very good at it.) What if people start to judge me and my choices? What if it drives me crazy? How do I combine weight loss blogging and mindful eating?

There is a vulnerability to weight loss blogging that I have avoided until now.If I just avoid the topic all together, I never have to face failure but I also lack the accountability that being in a blogging community brings. I don’t like letting my guard down around anyone, but if it makes me (and my blog) better, maybe I should just do it and stop thinking about it.

So… all you out there..

How do you get past the fear of failure when you right about goals, weight loss or otherwise? If you blog, did you wait to start writing about your goals after you’d already made some changes?

Blog about blogging: Health bloggers, Part 1: Oatmeal wars

Posted on April 22, 2010 by ZenLizzie

This is NOT a judgmental look, I just have a silent judgement face without trying.

If it isn’t clear from all my linking and commenting and recipe-grabbing, I really love health/food/fitness blogs. I read at least a few every day, and I get lots of ideas for this blog from all those other lovely blogger ladies (and gentlemen??) out there.

(Half of my readers probably are food bloggers, the other half of you, who are probably people I’ve harassed to read my blog, can skip this entry if you want.)

Recently, I found the site Hollackback Health after reading an entry from one of my favorite bloggers (who also happens to be from S.C.), Kat. After reading her post, I started browsing Hollaback Health, and saw that they say in their About section that they are “healthy living bloggers who are on a mission to break the health blogging mold.” I can respect that, and I really liked a lot of the entries. I think that it is good to question the status quo, especially with something as popular as healthy living blogging.

BUT, there was one entry that rubbed me the wrong way, a blogger complaining about seeing so many “oatmeal mush” pictures on blogs and questioning how happy those oatmeal-eaters are with their diets because their food is so repetitive. And, also, it also seemed to imply that these oatmeal enthusiasts weren’t able to indulge in other foods. Doesn’t that seem like a stretch?

I’m not saying the entry shouldn’t be there, and I do understand the point. BUT, honestly, if someone starts a food blog and especially if they use that as their food log, then who cares how many oatmeal pictures they post?

A blog is an easy thing to avoid in the big scheme of things.

I guess even more than the entry was one of the comments, which asks how all these oatmeal posts still get so many comments. Is there a hint of jealousy in this anti-oatmeal-post bandwagon? And maybe it is just because I follow (and like) popular, successful and well-liked food blogs that love and often post about oatmeal. Obviously, these bloggers are doing something right, regardless (or maybe because of) their oatmeal obsession.

And, I’m not taking offense because I’m an oatmeal person. I’m really, really not. And my blog isn’t a food journal, but I guess I was just put off by this entry (and the comments) because it ignores the fact that even though blogs are public, what you eat is still pretty personal.

Anyway, food bloggers and non-food bloggers, and whoever disagrees or agrees with me, I’m interested in hearing your feedback. Did I read this post the wrong way? Should bloggers cater to their readers to the point of changing what they eat? Are you sick of seeing oatmeal mush? Green monsters? Salads? What?

[UPDATED: Check out the comments section for some counterpoints, clarification and more ideas to think about. Lots of good discussion, thank you!]

Living! with ZenLizzie

Live simply, eat mindfully, laugh inappropriately

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