Friday's Letters

Dear Thanksgiving Break, I think I'm ready for you now. Only 4 weeks, right? 4 weeks. Dear Halloween House, I couldn't believe the number of pumpkins in front of your house. Or the giant spider and ghosts. Or the purpleness of your house. But happy Halloween! Dear First Snow, You bring cold fingers, big coats, and fresh homemade cinnamon rolls. You are welcome this time, but please don't stay a while. Dear Vibrams, I apologize in advance for the amount of treadmill time you'll be getting the next few months. I'm just can't be hard core all the time.

Happy weekend!

 

Weekend Inspiration...

 

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

By the end of this week, the high temp is going to be in the low 40s. You know what that means? We need some I'm-really-cold-and-need-something-to-warm-me-up meals. And it's a bonus when the meal makes itself in the crock-pot...right? Try this one out!
*original recipe found here
**another bonus...this could be used for a Meatless Monday meal!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

2 sweet potatoes

1 onion

1 red bell pepper

1 can black beans

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1.5 cups vegetable broth

3 cloves of garlic

1 t cumin

1 t paproka

1/2 t salt

juice of 1 lime

Chop up the sweet potatoes, onion and red bell pepper. Add all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5. You can top it with a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt or some cheese. Enjoy!

Quit Teasing

Last Friday I was outside running hills in shorts and a t-shirt...




Today, I'm inside running on this friend of mine

because it looks like this outside...

And actually, its snowing hard right now. This was during a break. Seriously, Mother Nature? Quit teasing me!

Hope you have a stellar weekend! And that your weather is being much nicer to you!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

This week was FREEZING. I don’t even know how to explain it. But I’m sure people on campus thought I never changed clothes, because this coat never left my back. Ever.
Other than freezing my nose off every time I stepped outside, some good things happened this week!
First off, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans came out. It’s a whopping 112 pages. Here are some frightening statistics they reported:

• 37% of the population has cardiovascular (heart) disease
  
• 16% of the population has high cholesterol
  
• 34% of the population has high blood pressure
  
• Another 36% has pre-hypertension (the step before hypertension / high blood pressure)
  
• 11% has diabetes, most of which is Type 2 diabetes
  
• 35% has pre-diabetes
  
• About 1/3 of our country is considered obese and more than double that are considered overweight

Not cool! But that is why we have goals and plans and work. Because with work, comes changes and results. So don’t quit!
Another exciting thing this week…one of my new goals for February is to make an effort to take breaks when I study. Sometimes I just keep going and going because I want to get things done, when really I get less and less productive if I don’t take breaks. So I made an effort to do that this week, and I think it really helped!
Finally…have you checked out my January totals for the 1,000 Mile Challenge? Check it out! I’m ahead of the game.
Well, I hope next week brings less cold and more productivity. Keep up on those goals!