I’m a little bit famous!
Hey, guess what?
I’M IN A BOOK!
Last year I was asked by Katharine Sise, the author of said book, to contribute to the sections on making a living as a creative girl in the areas of blogging and web shows. I have to say, it was a pretty cool feeling getting my book in the mail and seeing my name in print (and not attached to something I wrote)! It makes me feel like I might even know what I’m doing.
The Kim Challenge even got a shout out:
…a little trip down memory lane:
Pretty cool, huh?
Anyway, it’s a great book. It doesn’t only focus on blogging, the book touches on all sorts of creative careers, and features artists, actors, designers, shop owners, etc. All sorts of women who have made a career out of their creative passions. If you’re interested in picking it up, here’s a link to the Amazon page. Also, many of ya’ll email me asking for information about how to start working as a blogger. In my little “Blogging Appendix”, I discuss soliciting work, getting ad revenue, and negotiating contracts. Of course, you can also still just email me 
Now on to the food:
Breakfast
Scrambled egg whites, whole grain toast, mango
Lunch
Salad with lettuce, turkey, onion, carrot, edamame, avocado, and balsamic vinegar
Dinner
Egg drop soup
Steamed shrimp and broccoli over brown rice
Kim
Talking to Strangers and Babies!
I have this new thing where I sleep.
I hear other people do this regularly, but I am not other people. I have always found great solice in my superhuman ability to function on half a nights sleep. Well, no more, my body says it’s nap time—so yeah, I’ve been sleeping a lot.
This new “hobby” of mine means I didn’t get up in time to pack lunch this morning, so off I went to Whole Foods for lunch today. I love lunch at Whole Foods for a number of reasons, and trust me it’s not the price. I love being surrounded by so many natural, healthy, locally grown/baked/prepared foods. I also love people watching.
One of my most favorite things about lunchtime at Whole Foods is the fact that it gets really busy and people have to interact with each other. I don’t know why, but it just tickles me pink when someone goes up to a stranger and says, “Would you mind if I sit here.” Then, they sit together. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t, but in this totally hands-off, digital age, I love seeing people interact. I’m a little weird.
Speaking of strangers, there is one less stranger in the world…at least to me. I met Lindsay (who lives in Brooklyn, and reads this blog) over the weekend for a run in Prospect Park. Lindsay is a much better runner than I am, but she was forgiving of my spazitude. It was nice to have some running/talking time—even though I was mostly gasping for air so my talking sounded something like a mild cry for help. I’ll get better at running (I had running class tonight!), and hopefully Lindsay will go running again with me soon.
Now, I didn’t blog yesterday. Instead of being all sorts of responsible and going home to workout and do work…I played hookie on life and went to Queens to visit my very good friend Yos, and her very brand new daughter Abigail. I am so totally in love with this child. She really is the prettiest newborn I’ve ever seen. Okay, I’m kind of partial, but it’s still true. Yos’s aunt was over helping out with the baby and made us dinner. So basically, I got to hang out with a girlfriend, play with a baby, and someone made me dinner. Life is kind of awesome.
Monday Breakfast
Favorite milkshake smoothie: almond milk, peanut butter, chocolate whey protein, frozen banana
Lunch
I hit up Pump Energy Foods for lunch and had their turkey burger pizza style for lunch
Whole wheat pita, turkey burger, tomato sauce, fat free mozerella
Dinner
Salad, rice, steak with potatoes and vegetables
Tuesday Breakfast
Oatmeal with almond milk, almond butter, strawberries
Lunch
Salad with a bunch of stuff
Snack
Luna Bar
Dinner
Grilled turkey breast, brussel sprouts, whole wheat spaghetti and tomato sauce
Kim
Facebook Friday
Happy Friday!
There’s very little of interest going on in my brain today, instead, I’ve decided to provide you with useful Facebook fandom. I’ve been following Jamie Eason’s Facebook fan page for a couple of months now. She is a fitness model, and sometimes contributor to Oxygen magazine. This woman is in unbelievable shape, and really knows her stuff in regard to nutrition and training. Unlike most fan pages, she really uses her page as an avenue to interact with people, answer questions, and provide really interesting information about clean eating, and strength training.
I don’t know her, so I’m not plugging a friend here. I just happen to think that this is a really useful tool, and there’s a lot of information to be had from following her–if you’re a fitness aficionado.
You’re welcome, now I’m going to go sleep and rest my weary brain. Have a wonderful weekend!
Breakfast
I decided to make a very regular breakfast for me “benedict style”
Whole wheat English muffin, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cup egg whites, salsa
Lunch
Jamba Juice: Berry Protein Smoothie
(soy milk, strawberries, banana, whey protein powder)
Dinner
Chicken kabobs (I tossed them in a dry rub of cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, garlic powder)
Roasted asparagus, brown rice, lemon
Exercise: 60-minute spin class, 60-min conditioning class
Kim
Lie to me baby
NEVER TRUST A SLEEPING KIM.
I hold this truth to be self evident, and yet, being Kim, it can be hard to not trust me. Wednesday morning I could not get up, I was what one might call really-friggin’ tired. So, I chalked it up to my rest day and went on with my life.
The problem is, this morning I was really-friggin’ tired too. I have a general “rest day” rule, and that is: take what you need, but don’t take them consecutively. I don’t like to take two days off from my fitness goals in a row because that can then start steam rolling into weeks and months with not a bead of sweat to be seen anywhere.
This morning, when my alarm went off at 4:30am, and I knew I needed to get up to get to the gym by 5am to get my run in and get cracking on work I started negotiating with myself. Now, I am a terrible negotiator when I am awake, but boy am I shrewed when I’m sleeping.
All of a sudden I was saying things to myself, like:
“You don’t need to exercise today because you’re not going to eat.”
Uhh, what? I’m not going to eat? Have I met ME?!
That little gem was followed closely by, “You can just take today off from work so you can go to the gym later.” And, “You can quit your improv class, and go to the gym tonight.”
I’m a wee bit dramatic aren’t I? Quit my improv class, take off from work, NOT EAT TODAY!
Needless to say, I slept in, today is also a “rest day.”
Here’s the food rundown from yesterday:
Breakfast
Egg whites, salsa, avocado, whole grain toast
Lunch
Whole wheat sourdough with grilled turkey breast, arugala, mustard
Dinner
Steak fajitas
One of the reasons I was so tired this morning was because some friends and I went out last night to celebrate my friend Amanda’s recent nuptials. She and her awesometastic husband Tim got married last Friday. I wrote about her for my new job.
Kim
Kim Plans, Food Laughs
Oh my, well if yesterday was a textbook sort of day, today was totally free-stylin’.
Things were just totally off from the get go. I woke up, prepared to get my AM run on, only to be crippled by cramps.
Thanks Aunt Flo, I’m always so happy when you visit.
I decided to give myself a pass. I have been working out pretty diligently, and figured I’d let my body be cranky if it wanted to be, instead I dedicated my morning to returning emails (a practice I’m becoming less and less diligent about these days).
I did however get in a brief but intense run after work. On days that I have my running class I like to suppliment with a morning run, because class really only consists of 20 minutes of running, but today that was enough. I moved up a level in my running class, and this week we were doing timed miles. I happen to have a little non-verbal competition going with one of the other runners, she was in my last class too, and we were both faster than everyone else. So, as we tried to outrun each other I created a new mile PR (personal record) at a 9-minute mile. That’s relatively fast for me. She was a bit a head of me, but I lasted longer. In fact, one of the coaches insisted that we move up another level next week as to not unfairly pace the rest of the class. Hmm, I’m a bit nervous. Running outside my comfort zone-eek! I guess I won’t grow if I don’t push myself, but am I really ready to be an “intermediate” runner?
That’s exercise, this is the food. I’ve been experimenting with my oatmeal by adding protein powder in addition to the almond milk, vanilla, and pumpkin pie seasoning I let it sit in overnight. I’m not sure I like the result, it dries the oats out too much. I only ate about half my breakfast. Which may have led to my next dilemma: I was starving all day.
Half a breakfast meant I ate my lunch at 10:30, then I ate my pre-run snack at 1:45, then actually left the office to pick up some soup at 4pm. After my run I met up with some friends in town from North Carolina and Philadelphia, I had a beer, which ended up being dinner–I’m glad I had that soup earlier!
Breakfast
Oatmeal with almond milk, protein powder, peanut butter, banana
Lunch
Sandwich: Whole wheat sourdough, grilled turkey breast, hummus, red pepper, arugala
Snack
Oh my god, why didn’t anyone tell me Luna Bars were so good? Although, I think I like the lemon zest flavor better, this one definitely satiated my sweet tooth.
Snack
Chicken noodle soup
Dinner
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Kim
If You Blog It They Will Come
This morning I came back from the gym and made myself a smoothie. This is pretty standard operating procedure for me, except of course that my blender broke. So, for the last few weeks I’ve been making smoothies using my handy-dandy immersion blender. Useful, but not exactly ideal. As I stood there attacking some frozen fruit with my hand-blender I thought, “Girl, you need to get to Macy’s one day this week and get yourself a blender.”
I think the universe heard my pleas, or at least, my friend Sarah did when I blogged here requesting blender recommendations. Lo and behold, to my surprise, I came home to a box sitting in front of my door, and actually said out loud “Oooh, maybe it’s a blender.” Because, yes, yes I do talk to myself. Then I opened the box and IT WAS A BLENDER!
I can’t wait to get back to smoothie making! Thanks Sarah!
Today actually went almost completely according to my plan, with exception to a little fruit switching. I got up in the morning and hit the gym for a little light ellipticizing and my strength training workout, later in the day I met up with a friend for a spin class, followed by an ab class.
In other news: I went to the doctor this morning to follow up on my little episode last Monday, during my yoga class. It definitely scared me a little bit, I’ve blacked out before, but this was more violent than my past experiences. So, blood work and an EKG were done, and all is well in my body. My doctor thinks it may have all been stress related, which makes sense as it’s been a particularly stressful few weeks. I’m way relieved.
Now, on to the food:
Breakfast
Last smoothie sans blender!
1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana, frozen mango chunks, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
Lunch
Whole wheat sourdough with hummus, arugala, grilled turkey breast, roasted red pepper
Snack
This is not a plum
Dinner
Grilled mahi mahi in slaw made of: red cabbage, black olives, tomato, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil
Grilled summer squash
Kim
Weekly Planning in Progress
Happy Sunday! I never post on the weekend, seeing as how I like to give my fingers a wee bit of a break from the internet once and a while, but one of my August resolutions was to be more proactive in regard to planning my weeks. So, as I sat down at my computer to put together a little meal/exercise plan for the week ahead, I figured I might as well share it here.
Helps keep me accountable
Now, life ebbs and flows and things don’t always go according to plan, so chances are my week isn’t going to look exactly like this, but it’s a fairly decent predictor of how things will turn out.
Monday:
AM: Elliptical warm-up; Strength Training
Breakfast: Smoothie w/Banana, mango, almond milk, vanilla protein powder
Lunch: Two slices whole wheat sourdough, turkey breast, roasted red peppers, hummus, arugala
Snack: Plum
Dinner: Grilled Mahi Mahi, w/slaw: cabbage, tomato, olives, onion, lemon, olive oil. Grilled summer squash.
PM: 60 min spin, 30-min abs
Tuesday:
AM: 40 minute run
Breakfast: oatmeal, almond milk, pumpkin pie spice, banana, almond butter
Lunch: Two slices whole wheat sourdough, turkey breast, roasted red pepper, mustard, small salad
Snack: hummus, cucumber, baby carrots
Dinner: Brown rice, tofu, chick peas, lemon, mushrooms
PM: 20 min run (running class)
Wednesday:
AM: 45 minute spin class; strength training
Breakfast: egg white omelet with salsa, avocado, whole grain bread
Lunch: Two slices whole wheat sourdough, turkey breast, roasted red peppers, hummus, arugala
Snack: Banana
Dinner: Girls night
Thursday:
AM: 40 minute run
Breakfast: Oatmeal, almond milk, almond butter, banana
Lunch: Two slices whole wheat sourdough, turkey breast, roasted red peppers, hummus, arugala
Snack: hummus, cucumber, carrots
Dinner: plain Greek yogurt, walnuts, blueberries
Friday:
AM: 40 minute run; strength training
Breakfast: Egg white omelet with spinach, whole wheat English muffin
Lunch: Smoothie Date w/Corey
Dinner: Fish, grilled asparagus, brown rice
PM: 90-minute yoga
Kim
A whole lotta nuthin’
Technically I should have used today to get contact people, send emails, and draft articles. Instead, I napped.
I’m not very good at doing nothing, but when the urge strikes, it strikes hard and I just couldn’t do anything today. Well, I did write a couple of things, but by my general standards, today was completely lazy. After my blackout earlier this week, I’ve decided to listen to my body a bit more when it says to slow down. If I have to wake up a little earlier tomorrow to get stuff done, so be it, at least I had one full day of complete and utter uselessness.
I ended the day with a spin class and strength training–like I said, I’m not very good at doing nothing, but that’s not work, that’s a stress reliever.
Besides my craving to contemplate my navel, I also succumbed to another craving. A craving for chocolate. I’m not really a chocolate eater, but every once and a while I get a hankering, and this one would not quit. Instead of hitting up Godiva, I tried to put a healthy spin on it, by making my most favorite of smoothies for dinner: frozen banana, peanut butter, almond milk, and chocolate protein powder. I swear it tastes like a chocolate-peanut butter milkshake. It’s not exactly low in calories, fat, or sugar (which is why I eat it as a meal and not a snack)–but at least it’s got more protein than a milkshake. Here’s the nutritional info, in case you’re curious:
Like I said, more of a meal than a snack–but oh so good.
Here’s the rest of the food:
Breakfast
Scrambled egg whites, whole grain toast, 1/2 an avocado, tomato
Lunch
Baked chicken breast, hummus, cucumber, carrots, celery, tomato
Dinner/Dessert
1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana (also a good dessert on its own), 2 scoops Maranatha peanut butter (the creamiest organic peanut butter I’ve ever had), 1 scoop Designer Whey Chocolate Protein Powder. AMAZING.
What are your favorite smoothies?
Kim
Snooze over spin
Thanks to everyone for your commenting. I took it to heart and have been eating steak, and sleeping in.
Yesterday got away from me. I was totally out of it, which I think may have been more psycho-symptomatic than anything else. I slept in, then used part of my “sick day” to hit up the gym and get in a strength workout and a fairly easy 30-minutes on the elliptical.
Then off I went to the doctor where they poked me and prodded me; took oodles of blood, and ran an EKG. Considering I had all this done a little over a month ago for my annual physical, I can’t imagine much will have changed, but better safe then sorry.
Then, I went to work for a couple of hours, and post work a friend met me in my hood and fed me steak. A big one.
Today, I slept. A lot. I totally missed my pre-scheduled 6am spin class, and was late to work. I guess the body takes what it needs. So, no working out for me today, instead I pretended to be productive and then met up with my aunt for some post work-time comedy and sushi.
Oh, before I forget. If you get Women’s World Magazine, check me out in this week’s issue in an article by Kristina Mastrocola, where I babble on about my love of Hint Flavored Water. Thanks Kristina for the opportunity!
Now, how ’bout that food:
Tuesday Breakfast
Banana
This omelet seems to be a daily occurrence lately. Egg whites, salsa, avocado, whole grain toast
Lunch made up of varied snacks
Plum
Luna bar
Hummus, carrots, celery
Steak Dinner
Admittedly, not the most appetizing photo. I forgot my camera and all I had was my camera phone. Underneath all those peppers is a T-bone steak, and I ate every last bite. I even gnawed on the bone a little–because I’m classy like that.
Wednesday Breakfast
Whole grain English muffin with (Maranatha) Peanut Butter
Banana
Lunch
Salad w/lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, cabbage, olives, chickpeas, grilled turkey
Olive oil & vinegar
Snacks
Plum
Tall soy latte
Dinner
Miso soup
Brown rice sushi
Kim
Down, down baby, down on the yoga mat
Guess who scared the crap out of herself today?
That would be me. A pretty obvious answer seeing as how this is my blog.
As per my normal Monday night routine, I went to yoga. On my way to yoga I noticed I was having a little bit of trouble breathing, and used my inhaler. This actually struck me as odd because I have weather related asthma, and it really only ever becomes an issue in the bitter cold of winter. I actually try to avoid taking my inhaler because it tends to make my heart race.
I may have mentioned this on here before, but it’s worth mentioning again, I have naturally very low blood pressure. It doesn’t usually become a problem, but tonight, I think coupled with my increased heart rate and lack of ability to get enough oxygen, I became a total disaster.
Right in the middle of a sun salutation my mind left the building. This happens when I’m about to pass out, I usually end up thinking really strange stuff. Anyway, there I was in la-la land when I noticed that I was shaking uncontrollably. I had already sort of lost vision, so I couldn’t see anything, but I could tell the sensation of shaking uncontrollably was not a good one. Right as I was about to fall to the ground I finally took a deep breath and regained awareness and balance.
I’m not sure if those around me noticed, if they did, they played it cool, but my yoga teacher did and immediately had me put my feet up the wall to get blood rushing back to my heart/lungs/brain. I took the inversions section of the class to sneak out, but not before she told me that it happens to her too and that I should get some red meat, that would help.
Obviously, the first thing I did was call my mom. Whenever I’m freaked out mommy is on speed dial. Funnily enough, both my parents agreed that I need red meat. My mom for iron purposes, my dad because he totally prescribes to the Blood Type Diet, and type O’s are supposed to be carnivorous. I don’t have any red meat at home, so that’s going to have to wait.
It has happened to me before. Not often, but every time I see a doctor afterward my blood work comes back normal and they tell me to eat more salt. That doesn’t keep it from freaking me out when it does happen. It really just makes me feel totally helpless to lose control of my body like that. I’ll probably call my doctor first thing in the morning and see if he can fit me in. In the meantime, mayhaps I should get a saltlick.
Breakfast
Oatmeal made with almond milk, almond butter, banana
Lunch
Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, chickpeas, cabbage, carrots, grilled turkey breast, oil & vinegar
Dinner
Egg white omelet with salsa, avocado, whole grain bread
Kim
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