Pizza...and Other Thoughts

Here is a random compilations of thoughts...in case you have nothing better to do with your time ;)

I want to eat pizza. Like all the time. I feel like I have an around the clock pizza craving and when I see pictures of pizza (vegan or not) on IG or FB the craving gets like a million times worse. That being said- I went to Mellow Mushroom on Sunday and didn’t order pizza (I order the tempeh hoagie) so that tells you about the weirdness happening in my body-mind food disconnect. I think it is because I had the world’s best pizza when I was out in Austin and now anything else I try will pale in comparison and make me sad.

BEST PIZZA EVER!!!

This recipe looks pretty legit though. I need to test it out some time:

Vegan Margherita Pizza

I want another dog. This is the ongoing battle of me wanting ALL the animals and Erick being a normal human that thinks we don’t need a full-on farm on our 0.10 acre of land. But in all seriousness, yes I do one day hope to have enough land so I can take in some farm animals and/or shelter animals that need love. But that day is not today. Not until we move out of the HOA and possibly not until we retire. But I do want a second dog, this was never a secret. I think dogs need friends. Plus I think each human should have their own dog. Gordie is Erick’s dog. They are best friends. And I am all alone. No, I’m not bitter that Gordie was supposed to be me dog but chose Erick instead. 

Ok, maybe I am a little bit.

Gordie needs a brother or sister, don't you think? 

I can’t believe our honeymoon is so soon! We decided to take our honeymoon during the time the university is closed so we can completely disconnect for a few weeks. I mean, yeah it is only early November and we aren’t leaving for another 38 days (who’s counting) but still. With everything going on between work, school, holidays and life events that time will fly by and in the blink of an eye we will be in Cabo J I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!

I dressed up as Princess Leia for Halloween and it scared the crap out of me. This year Erick and I finally decided to dress up for Halloween and we settled on Han Solo and Princess Leia. I went with the not very authentic (I would call her the quasi-slutty looking) Leia costume because someone preferred that over the more traditional, robe like Leia costume. Not pointing any fingers but I will tell you his name rhythms with Shmerick. ;)

Anywho, it took every ounce of courage and confidence to wear that costume. It was skin tight and sheer (double whammy) and I swear you could see every freckle and mark on my body but aside from that I knew that no matter where we went people would look/stare at me. And I am just not used to that. It made me feel really nervous and at times I just wanted to hide behind something or someone. Thankfully, we ended up just at a bar watching football so I was able to relax and not let my anxiety get the worst of me. Next year I want to wear a funny costume like the Spartan cheerleaders or Wayne & Garth – which were my first choices.

We are spending Thanksgiving camping. Well, not the day itself but the weekend after. We are spending Thanksgiving with Erick’s mom but then the next day we will be leaving to go camping for the weekend. I am so super looking forward to this. I grew up going camping and just think it is just the perfect way to relax and recharge. Erick has never camped. Like ever. Which is crazy to me. So I am excited that we will be able to experience this together. We used some Amazon gift cards we got as wedding gifts plus some of the cash and bought a tent. We splurged on one that is compatible with our Honda Element in the hopes that we will make camping a regular event in our lives. (S/N- up until this point I had no idea that there was such a thing as a tent for an SUV, did you? Sure seems like it will be useful though). We are bringing Gordie too and plan on doing lots of hiking and lots of marshmallow roasting.

Other than that (and yes, I still want pizza) there isn’t much else going on. Just the normal life stuff.

How are you? What's new in your world?

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxo

WW Weekly Recap: Week 16

Week 16

Yeah, I had to go back and count. I had no idea what week last week was/this week is but now I do.

I can’t believe it has almost been 4 months since I re-joined WW. Even with the post ACL/antibiotics/injury/wedding mayhem gain I am still over 10 pounds down from where I started. I am 12.2 pounds down to be exact. I will call that a win!

Oh, sorry- horse before the cart. I am at a total of 12.2 lbs down because I gained a whopping 0.4 lbs this week. LOL. Yeah, we’ll just call that ‘staying the same’. And for a week of very little activity and eating so/so I am 1000000% ok with ‘staying the same’.

I would like to get back into losing again but really, I just want to get back into my healthy habits that keep me sane. I am pretty good with meal planning/cooking/packing lunches – even during the crazy busy times. Yeah, sometimes I eat out more than I would prefer and sometimes I drink more than I should but those are not my norm. The norm is still packing breakfast and lunch M-F, eating dinner at home S-Th and then some meals out on the weekend and this week is no different. Smoothies for breakfast, apples and bananas for morning snacks, soup for lunches, edamame for afternoon snack and some awesome meals planned from JL Goes Vegan’s pressure cooker cookbook. Oh and can’t forget, dark chocolate and tea at night.

This week I am looking to get in some more activity though. I plan on getting in two runs during the week (plus I have a HM on Sunday), two days of Cize and then a long bike ride on Saturday- if the weather cooperates. I also brought one of my bikes to work with me to keep in my office. This way I can go for rides during my lunch break and even to/from meetings. Hopefully I can get into the habit of getting a few daytime rides in every week.

I also am still balancing school, work, and life also which means it can’t always be about my training schedule or my preferred meal options. I need to make sure I still have time for schoolwork, self-care and relationship care <<< that’s a thing right? I mean, it should be even if no one actually calls it that.

I decided though that I want to get back into the habit of posting weekly goals with my update. I like the added focus to my plans but also I like being able to tailor them around the weekly events in my life. Monthly goals, sometimes, are just too long to plan for. A week at a time tends to be much more my speed. So here they are, some goals for week 17:

Monday 11/2 through Sunday 11/8

100,000 steps 

Track every day

30 minutes of movement 5 days/week

Some form of self-care (reading, bubble bath, stretching/meditation) at least twice

Finish homework before the weekend

Stick to Sunday-Friday meal plan

Ok, that’s about all I have for today. I will definitely be checking in with you next week for an update and it will hopefully include a happy recounting of my half marathon J

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxox

Hellloooooo....

I had thought about trying to make this one of those ‘if you and I were having coffee together I’d tell you…’ posts but really this is just a brain dump of me trying to play catch-up. It has been over a MONTH! Can you believe it? I mean, I knew I would be taking a hiatus but man- that was a long one.

Well, first and foremost. I should introduce myself. Hi, I’m Dacia Larin…that’s right. I got hitched! On 10/17 Erick and I made it official. There are not enough stories, pictures, videos, etc. from that day to adequately paint the picture of how amazing it was. The whole weekend was perfect- start to finish. I haven’t gotten my official wedding photos yet but I have a collection of about 300 compiled from ones I took myself plus those from people that attended out on FB, I have a few on IG, and I have this super amazing slideshow that Dre, our friend and photographer, put together. In case you want to see inside our wedding day.

Wedding Slideshow

Password: larootwedding

Some of my favorites from the wedding

I do hope that one day I can sit down and tell you all about the wedding weekend. Although it would probably need to be like a 4 part post. If you are interested at all in me doing that please let me know.

Since I have been away I finished up one of the two courses I was taking this semester. I actually took my final from my hotel room in Austin. That’s right- I haven’t posted since before ACL.  So much I am behind on. And wrapped up my final project the week before my wedding. Needless to say taking an 8 week accelerated course while planning and finalizing a wedding was not a great idea for my mental well-being. But I survived. And I got an A!

A crazy thing happened while I was in Austin…I cut my foot open on a rusty nut on a bolt sticking out of the sidewalk. There must have been a sign bolted down at some point and then removed and the bolts were left behind. Who knows, it was totally random. This required a trip to urgent care, a tetanus shot and a 10 day supply of antibiotics. That was so not awesome. It happened Sunday morning on the way to breakfast so Sunday at ACL was interesting. Definitely not how I wanted to end the most amazing ACL trip ever. All in all it was still an amazing time and I managed to make through almost all of Sunday’s shows- I just had to deal with the pain, the shoe issues and the gross antibiotics feelings for a while afterwards.

Sad to say it but I think next year will be Lollapalooza for us since it coincides with Fitbloggin' in Indy...ACL 2017 for sure! 

What else, what else…

Oh, weight loss.

Hmmmm….

Well, I am back at it again. Tracking, meal planning- the whole shebang. I gained a lot after/from ACL (I blame some of it on beers and burritos every day but I also blame those damn antibiotics) and then with the wedding life was just a bit too crazy for me to care. When I wasn’t traveling or wedding’ing I made the best choices I could- I cooked meals at home, I got in exercise when I could, I tracked, but during those other times- not a fuck was given. #truth Weight Watchers was the last thing on my mind.

I have gone back in and updated my weight loss tracking page for the last 4 weigh-ins I didn’t write about and I also updated my goals. A lot has changed in a month….more so than just my name.

So here I am. About a week back into my normal-ish routine and I am still working on it. The meal planning/prepping is almost always like second nature and I am pretty good at bouncing back into 80/20 but the activity is where I am losing focus. I just don’t know what I want to do right now. Yoga? Cize? I want to ride my bike all the time but I am limited there although I am planning on bringing one of my bikes to work so I can ride around during the day. I don’t feel like running – boring- and I don’t feel like even going to the gym. I just want to cuddle with my HUSBAND and our puppy and do that all the time. Why isn’t that enough? I am also cursing daylight standard (that's what this is right?) time for coming this weekend to steal my after work sunshine. Ugh! I hate this time of year.

Anywho that is where I am right now. Still working, still taking classes, still working on my weight loss mojo just now I am doing so as a married woman. Which really doesn’t change much of anything, I just like to talk about being married.

I will be back soon to check in after this weekend’s weigh-in and will hopefully have some fun Halloween pics to share with you and maybe even some ideas about how to get my fitness groove back. If you know how, please do tell ;)

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxox

WW Weekly Recap: Week 10

Week 10…

A loss of 4.4 pounds.

Crazy big number and not one I would normally be thrilled with (because it is too high, imho) however, we all know how weight loss goes. And when I look at the big picture, in four weeks I lost a total of five pounds. This 4.4 is basically three weeks of what would equal a normal/average loss just shown on the scale all at once.

This loss brings me to a total of 15 pounds lost since 7/13 and it puts me just one pound away from the top of my healthy weight range. Woo hoo!

I have never been one to experience huge losses on the scale- not even early on in my journey- so I have been quite comfortable with the slow and steady progression. Right now I am averaging 1.5 pounds lost a week and that is perfect in my mind. I know that, for me, losing at a faster rate would require drastic measures and that’s just not my style. Those type of extreme behaviors are not sustainable and will, ultimately, lead to a quick regain. Thankfully this whole refocus on my regimen is helping me bring back to the forefront those healthy habits that I need to keep practicing daily.

I did great with my step goal for the week! 

I’m not saying I need to be super strict and have laser focus to every little detail but I can’t keep playing loose and fast with my life. When I don’t pay attention or I stop caring it shows. It shows not just on the scale but in how I feel both mentally and physically. Not saying that I am currently a ray of sunshine every day now, but I know if I wasn’t focusing on my healthy habits now I would be a lot worse off.

With the wedding quickly approaching, just a little over 3 weeks away, I have a lot on my plate. I will try to check in on the blog during those weeks but in case I can’t I will at least try to update you with my weekly weigh in results on the FB page. Just to give you an idea of my schedule here is what I have coming up:

Final (hopefully) dress fitting – 9/26

Final (hopefully) make up appointment – 9/27

Trip to Austin – leave after work 9/30 return 10/5

Final Exam – 10/5

Final Project Due – 10/9

Ani Concert – 10/10

Cize Teacher Training – 10/11

Democratic Debate Viewing Party – 10/13

Pre-wedding stuff ALL DAY, EVERY DAY ;) 10/15 & 10/16

WEDDING – 10/17

Post-wedding celebration 10/18 & 10/19

…and then die from exhaustion

Just kidding

I hope….

With all that is going on I still have to work, finish up a grad course, help my Little Brother train for his kids marathon, train for my own half marathon and finalize a lot of wedding stuff. (Not complaining- just stating facts)

So here’s the thing. I am still meal planning, planning out my workouts and setting goals for myself I just know that in the next few weeks I will have to be much more flexible. I am finishing up Cize week two and half marathon week 4 this week but I have had to make some concessions in the name of school work- it trumps training plans. I also know how difficult it will be to stick to either routine while traveling next week so I will just do the best I can.

When I am home I vow to cook/meal prep and schedule time for activity. When I am traveling I vow to squeeze in activity in some form and make the best choices available to me. When it is wedding time I vow to just get out of my head and enjoy the time with family, friends and of course MY HUSBAND.

So there you have it – my super late week 10 recap. I started this post on Monday….it took me four days to finish it. Yep, that’s just life these days.

I will try to report back when I can. Follow me on IG or Facebook for wedding and ACL pics.

Until the next time…

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxox

Balance

Balance…I talk about that concept frequently. I guess if I had a theme word (is that a thing?) it would have to be balance. I kind of feel like my whole journey, the essence of my life, is to find, and maintain, balance.

Funny that a quick Google search for 'balance' brought up this image of tree pose. This was the pose I posted on IG this morning for my PAD Challenge today. This is my favorite pose and it is at the heart of this entire blog. So fitting for today's post. See my photo here  (Photo shown from tinybuddha.com)

Balance not just between all the must-do’s and the want-to-do’s and the should-do’s but balance in everything. Balance between the mental and physical, between motion and rest, between childlike optimism and adult like pessimism (realism).

For me, it is all about balance.

Some days it’s a struggle. Some days there are far more must-do’s and should-do’s and not enough time left for the want-to-do’s. Meaning, some days adulting gets in the way of all the fun stuff. I think that is true for most everyone with a job/mortgage/kids/car payments (you get my point) and my point is not to say that I am any different than you or that my struggle is any different- it is not. At the core we all have responsibilities and we are all making sacrifices. It’s just the way it is.

I write this post more to talk about what I do to find the balance. That sounds funny right? Having to work to create balance? That seems like something that should come naturally, and maybe for some it does, but for me I have to work at it.

At the base of my normal day-to-day life, and even more so now when I am also wedding planning, there is a good amount of routine that helps keep things going. This routine stems from years of working on good habits. My routine is based around meal planning, preparing meals at home during the week and packing my breakfasts and lunches, scheduling time for activity, scheduling time for homework, and then penciling in the other weekly necessities such as grocery shopping/chores, time with E, Gordie and now M and any special events happening that week. I try to map out as much of my week as possible. For example, if I know that one night I will be out at an event during the week (Bernie Sanders volunteer meeting, tap takeover at the bar, etc) what will be my plan for dinner? When will I workout that day? What time do I need to be home? What time do I need to wake up the next morning?

Sounds like a lot right? It kind of is. Well, at least I should say that a lot of thought goes into how I plan my day. Ultimately by taking time to think about these things I feel better prepared and less stressed – which keeps me feeling balanced and in control.

That being said, I don’t plan every moment of my life out. That would be too rigid and too stressful. I always have chunks of time, even full days on the weekends, where I am open for anything- including doing nothing. Now most of the time E and I choose to spend our free time either out at the beach or downtown on our bikes but there are times where we just stay in and watch movies or Netflix- just vegging out. Both are really great options- even if the latter takes some convincing on my end. Does anyone else ever feel guilty for spending the day doing nothing? That happens to me a lot lately (just because I have so much going on with the wedding) but I do remind myself that downtime is not only a good thing, it’s a necessity.

I think in life it is all about understanding the long-term as well as the short-term when it comes to balance.

Eating a whole small pizza sounds good in theory and there are definitely times when that is exactly what I want to do. But the reality is that is an ‘in the moment’ feeling. I know that the better option is a few slices of pizza and a salad because I will feel better physically later and I also know it is a choice that supports my long term goals. This choice leaves me feeling better in the now and in the future. 

Hitting snooze ALWAYS sounds like a better option at 5am than getting up and working out (even though I love my morning workouts) because honestly what is better than a nice warm bed? Especially when it is super dark outside and no one is drill-sergeant style forcing me out of bed. But I know most every day, getting up and exercising will make me feel energized and ready to take on the day. There is nothing better to me than the feeling of accomplishing a goal before the sun even comes up. This choice leaves me feeling better in the now and in the future. 

On the flip side, it is also important for me to know when to take rest days (the body needs to heal and recover) and when to take time for self-care. When the to-do list is out of control I still need to make time for a hot bubble bath or some time with a good book. Being ‘ON’ all the time does nothing for my mood, my stress levels, and for the most part- doesn’t help make anything better. Trust me, I am seeing this a lot now as I am getting grumpier every day and the littlest of things have been setting me off. This is my signal to RETREAT! This is the time I really need to focus more on letting go, unwinding, and turning off that damn monkey mind. That choice will leave me feeling better in the now and in the future. 

Trust me- I’m working on this one. I know it is my biggest struggle right now so I am intentionally scheduling in self-care and relaxation each week now.  I have a whole day planned for Sunday that involves a ton of relaxing activities to help me get back in balance.

Sorry this post was such a brain dump. As you can see, I have had a lot on my mind lately. Writing is cathartic (when I make time for it) and helps me better focus as well as better relax. Weird how that works, right?

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxox

WW Weekly Recap: Week 9

Week 9 has come and gone and although it wasn’t what I had hoped it to be, weight loss wise, I am not letting my weight gain and missed goals stop me from trying again this week.

So how did last week go? Well, it started off strong but then got a bit crazy by the end. My goals for last week were to:

Complete week two of half marathon training – yes! Although I had to move the long run to Sunday I did not miss a single run this week

Train with M for the kids marathon- yup! We logged another two miles last week

Go to the gym twice with Anna- yeppers! Day 1 I did my warm up on the treadmill followed by a 5K on the rowing machine (in just under 25 minutes) and day 2 was 5 miles on the treadmill (as part of HM training)

Track everyday- Yesiree! Even when it got a bit out of hand and hard to remember (cough, cough – beer fest)

90K steps or more- Nope!  I fell just over 5K short on this goal. I would have crushed it if I had kept my long run on Saturday. NBD, it happens. This week’s step count will be super high J

Try to limit how much I drink at the beer fest- Kind of…I probably could have been better, I definitely could have been worse. Actually, the drinking wasn’t really the bad part- the snacking and 10p dinner out was what got me and the scale showed it.

Ignore my weird sausage toes...LOL!

You see, I debated on whether or not to weigh in Friday morning instead of Saturday since I knew I would be out drinking and eating late Friday night. Friday morning I weighed in at 170.0 (a gain of 0.4) but I opted to not record it. Instead I weighed in Saturday morning at 171.4- a gain of 1.8 for the week. Eh, it happens. And it was kind of expected. It had been 6 weeks since my last gain, it was only a matter of time.

Emerald Coast Beer Fest- always a great time! 

The important part- I just keep focusing on healthy habits and actions, even when life is tough. It’s no secret that I have been feeling a lot of stress lately. For me, now is the time I really need to be more conscious about the decisions I am making. Even though eating half a bag of tortilla chips and a tub of salsa seemed like a good idea in the moment (this happened Saturday) it only made me feel worse, physically and mentally. Sunday was spent recuperating from treating my body like shit but making sure I got in my long run, taking care of a ton of wedding stuff, meal planning and prepping, and a little relaxation on the beach (which was actually part of wedding stuff) helped to get my mind right.

View along my long run- the church where E and I will be married... <3

Vegan brunch at End of the Line- my favorite!

Salt Life

Gordie is my co-pilot...

This week there are some changes ahead which you will see in my goals…

Complete Cize Week 1 (yup, I am back at it. I loved it so much I just needed to bring it back into the routine)

Love me some Cize!!!

Complete Week 3 HM Training

Track Everyday

Log 100,000 steps

Catch Up on Schoolwork – I am falling behind (which is so unlike me) and that is adding to the stress

Try a New Recipe

Complete Photo-A-Day Challenge the 15^th-19^th

Feel free to join in and use the hashtag if you post on social media :)

Until next week….

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxox

WW Weekly Weigh-In: Week 8 Recap

Week 8 back at WW is in the books and I have to say that last week definitely threw a few curve balls at me. I am in this frazzled mindset most days with wedding thoughts churning through my head almost non-stop. I have heard my friends talk about pregnancy brain (when they were pregnant obv) but I think there must also be bride brain. I mean, I know there is. I have it. My mind has turned into a sieve. I have to keep a notebook by me at all times because I know that when I thought pops into my head it won’t stay there for long. And the chances of me recalling said thought at a later time are minimal to non-existent. So I write them down.

Or text them.

Or email.

Or add them to a google doc.

Or whatever I need to do to track these fleeting thoughts.

It’s fun…

Thankfully I know this is all temporary and I am very, very hopeful that post-wedding life will go back to the normal stress level of balancing everything instead of this crazy stress level that wipes me out and fries my brain daily. I am ready for that to go.

Last week I set some goals and I did so/so with reaching them

Bike Rides with E (Sunday and Saturday)- Yep!

I wore this dress on our Saturday slow ride- it's from my first Stitch Fix and I love it so much! (don't mind the just out of the shower crazy hair) 

Train with M for Pensacola kids marathon- Yep!

Complete first week of HM training- I went 3 for 4 for my training. I missed Wednesday’s 4 miler when I opted to sleep in instead and move it to Thursday after work. Then on Thursday I stayed over an hour and a half later than my normal time so I canceled the run a second time. I thought about trying to make it up on Sunday but took a rest day instead. It happens. Lesson learned.

Gym with Anna twice- Yep!

Track every day (the good, bad, and the ugly)- YESSS!

Prep for yard sale weekend- Nope, not at all. Not only is everything still in boxes in the garage we had to postpone the garage sale (which we may end up canceling altogether) indefinitely since this is a bigger undertaking than we have the time for right now.

Get some stuff off the wedding to-do list- Yep! We spent a good bit of time this weekend doing wedding stuff. I actually had Erick cancel the massage he had planned for me in order to do wedding stuff instead. It sucks but that’s how life is right now.

Drink only Saturday and Tuesday- Kind of. I drank Saturday and Tuesday and then again on Saturday. Technically it’s a yes if you look at the literal sense of the goal but I did not plan to drink this past Saturday (the 5^th) and then ended up having three beers. It happens. I blame wedding stress.

90K steps or more- I would like to say yes but my vivofit kicked the bucket last Tuesday so I was without a means of tracking my step count for four days. I bought a replacement ( the vivofit 2.0) and am back at tracking my steps again J

So what did this crazy week look like on the scale…

Meh, a loss on 0.2 is really the same as maintaining which is ok. It's good actually. I was kind of surprised. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been shocked to see a gain so I guess I will take the loss and move on. The first three days of this week have been all over the place so honestly I am not too hopeful that I will maintain or lose this week. We’ll see.

Also didn’t set any goals last Friday (which is probably why the weekend was so out of control) so I will reuse some of what I had for last week.

For week 9 I plan to:

Complete week two of HM training

Train with M for the Pensacola Kids Marathon

Go to the gym twice with Anna

Track every day

90K steps or more

Try (TRY, TRY, TRY) to limit how much I drink at the Emerald Coast Beer Festival on Friday – this may be the last time I drink until the wedding. I need a respite.

Until next week….

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxox