TiLT #7

source: huffingtonpost/nbc

Parks and Recreation Finale

I laughed. I cried. I was worried it wasn't going to be that funny in the beginning (SPOILER ALERT: let's be honest, donna's future just wasn't that funny), but i laughed so much (SPOILER: and couldn't believe I didn't think of sandra dee o'connor), and cried at the end, and just loved it. (ALSO SPOILER: J and I are def. on the Ms. Knope becomes prez train). I made waffles to mark the occasion.

howsweeteats bites

I made two things from Jessica this week. #1 is pictured above -- crispy egg tostada, and #2 was her shallot and spinach goat cheese pasta. both of them were sooooo good.

unique pretzel splits

these are AMAZING. i demolished them in less than a week, but holy cow they are so good! just like the greatest pretzel. My no bread during lent ban means my carb consumption should suffer but not with these bad boys around. they're just perfectly crunchy and perfectly salty and delicious. 

little loves: hard root beer | parenthood (again) | tiny beautiful things | fleece lined leggings | sending off maizey's DNA to wisdom panel | 90 calorie luna bar minis | misfit's great customer service | this wedding dress designer who designed an ebola suit | geranium toes | running every day during lent

Long Weekend Highlights

I spent my valentine's/president's day weekend in texas, soaking up the sun, drinking lots of beer and wine and magaritas, and running 13.1 miles on awful awful hills and deciding "hey eff it" i'm gonna walk these hills and run when i want, and drink champagne when i want, and beer when i want, even it makes me almost puke. (all in good time. race recap forthcoming. this is the food/drink awesome recap).

so yes, weekend in tejas. left early friday morning when temps in Michigan were still below 0. landed in Houston. went to common bond for lunch. died over the deliciousness. i got a turkey pesto sandwich, the caramel apple vernes, and a walnut chocolate chip cookie. whoa baby.

went for a run around houston to shake out legs and to get to see a new place. A and I ran around the museum district and then headed back to shower and have a drink outside on a porch before heading to dinner.

We had dinner at el tiempo with happy hour margaritas and delicious fajitas.

Saturday we waited in line for common bond croissants (OMG), and then it was off to austin. We stopped at buc-ee's a central texas landmark, and ate delicious jalepeno cheddar bread.

Packet pickup was a breeze, full of free things. Lovelovelove the race shirt. it's so fun.

Post-pickup, the sun was shining which obviously meant we had to drink outside. So we went to craft pride, drank texas craft beers (including one with blood orange. cant say no to that), and also ate via 313 pizza -- det style pizza in austin! and it actually was quite similar to det pizza. loved it.

We headed to dinner at haymaker, and I demolished some poutine fries and a blood orange paloma, and all was right.

Some harry potter, then bed.

Race start was 7:00AM. which luckily felt like 8AM. full race recap coming. although the above sums it up pretty well. ran for too long, up too many hills but done was done and that felt good.

Lunch was torchy's taco food truck, then mimosas at yellow jacket , which is totally not a place I would pick to hang out at, but was totally interesting.

then we waited in a huge line for COMPLETELY WORTH IT donuts from gordough. the puddin' (unpictured) was the clear winner.

this is the berry crazy. so good.

After a lengthy drive back to houston, it was snack grabbing at trader joes (ALSO, omg they had peppermint joe-joes so i went nuts and bought 2 boxes because TOTAL FAVORITE and michigan TJ's was out before xmas).

Monday was a few brunch fails before ending up at Lowbrow. My sandwich had high prospects but wasn't the greatest execution, but the bloody mary was tops.

will be recreating with better execution though!

Grabbed a coffee at agora and then we spent the afternoon at Karbach brewing where there were beautiful barrels and cans and cornhole, and delicious beers and pint glasses to take home on the plane.

such pretty colors

also over the course of the weekend I read Station Eleven which was just incredible. Please read it.

TiLT #6: go w/ the flow, station eleven, austin half marathon

Station Eleven

this book is fantastic. Post-apocalyptic post-pandemic that takes place in post-apocalyptic michigan of all places! I read it over the course of 5 days and looooved it. It was great to see how all the characters intertwined, and its not a strictly chronological story, but it worked better that way. Seriously 5/5, go read it now! 

Austin Half Marathon Shirt

source: justanothermrunner on insta

i am in love with this race shirt. even if this race was my PW, and a swift kick in the butt saying "hey maybe you actually do need to train for things like half marathons," this shirt will be great and awesome and a fantastic reminder that working hard gets results. not "occasionally running." 

go w/ the flow sweatshirt

source: youniquejes on insta

so yes, just like i mentioned in my 31 days of go w/ the flow review, i am in love with this sweatshirt. i am temporarily using a fellow go w/ the flow'er insta picture, but will update with my picture soon. my sweatshirt is totally the same except it is in the very-much-in burgundy color. 

little loves: eating everything cheesy and sweet and carby over the weekend and now cutting that all out --> no bread or sweets for lent | parenthood (starting it up at season 4. forgot how much i loved it. can't wait to get the the finale) | traveling | drinking outside in february | seeing all kinds of adorable puppies | yoga followed by beers | humidifier

31 days of go w/ the flow

I've been a little slack-y about goals and resolutions and yada yada for 2015. 2015 kind of snuck up on me, and I didn't want to commit to "resolutions" without really thinking about it (spoiler alert: still haven't figured them out) but one thing I could and did commit to was 31 days of go w/ the flow.

source: gowtheflow.com

go w/ the flow is a yogi duo of Tori and Ben, who travel all around the country leading mostly power vinyasa classes that focus on community and the importance of touching your neighbor (no seriously). Tori instructs, and Ben plays guitar and keeps the breath (which is so key!). I've now been to 3 live go w/ the flow classes (see one review here!) and have loved every single one of them!

31 days of go with the flow involved Tori and Ben providing a group of 290 yogis with 31 podcasts of previously recorded classes -- one for each day in January. The commitment was totally up to you -- it didn't have to be 31 days of yoga asana (poses) practice, nor did it need to be 6 days a week or anything like that. It was whatever worked for you. They also focused on mediation, which whoa boy did I fail it -- but I'm working on it.

It also involved a really inspiring facebook group of yogis -- who never failed to encourage and uplift the other members of the group.

Lucky me, I got to practice live with Tori and Ben during the 31 days of go w/ the flow because they took a nice trip to Grand Rapids Michigan to teach a class at lululemon.

And finally, the icing on the cake, is that we got to design our own go w/ the flow shirt. I actually forgot which one I actually decided to order - it was a tough choice between two designs and I can't for the life of me remember which one I went with, BUT, I am so excited to own it! (and will of course share in my "things i love thursday" the shirt that I got. because i already know it will be love)

so here's the breakdown

+'s:
- 31+ yoga podcasts of different lengths and intensities to keep forever and practice at your hearts content
- community of yogis committing to an asana and meditation practice
- ~3 emails/week from Tori with podcasts and general reflection on various weekly themes for the challenge
- custom-designed go w/ the flow shirt
- at-home yoga
- opportunity to commit to something where limitations and the value of rest days and listening to your body is emphasized
- encouragement to practice with your local community
- encouragement to spend some time meditating
- an opportunity for a structured, and fun yoga challenge
- instrumental tracks from studio classes that are great for all of the following: relaxation, working, meditation.

-'s:
- only 31 days long!

31 days of go w/ the flow was totally worth it for me. Practicing yoga/going to the gym/getting out and moving has been hard for me with the cold weather, decreasing daylight hours, pup who i hate to leave alone unless absolutely necessary (like when I go to work for example). So 31 days of go w/ the flow, with its at-home practice made things so much easier. By the end of the month I was doing chatarunga to upward facing dog without my quads touching the ground like nobody's business, and also had the opportunity to clear my head, which seriously just runs rampant most of the time.

There will be another 31 days in the summer, and I'm almost positive I'll be doing it again. You should too ;)

TiLT #5

Return of Scandal

although my response to the episode can be found in a series of live-tweets (twitter.com/LaurenAlysseR), that show how freaking INSANE that show was I am so excited for it to be back. need lots and lots more olivia pope in my life.

Day Designer Mini

I very very tragically left my day designer at trader joe's in ann arbor yesterday. but luckily i also purchased the day designer mini. so all is not lost, and i still have a hour by hour look at my day with top three's a running to-do list, and a download section. score. And i will retrieve the day designer from ann arbor tomorrow. so all is definitely not lost.

SO MUCH SNOW

to be honest its kind of a love/hate, but it is insanely pretty, and Maizey loveloveloves it! She will stick her face into a pile of snow and sniff and dig, and she just plows through it, snow flying everywhere (please see IG video here)

Ruth Bader Ginsberg



Little Loves: sugar paper planner | new washi tape | trader joes (just in general, I love that store) | deconstructed BLT | lunch w/ boo |