Swimming in the Snow

February 20, 2013 by 2 Comments

I am most definitely suffering from a sweet vacation hangover.

While I took photos, I’m not even going to bother posting pictures of EVERYTHING we ate because it was pure chaos!

Cruises are basically an all-you-can eat extravaganza and we took full advantage, and while a good portion of our weekend getaway to nowhere was spent chewing, and sleeping, there were some other highlights:

Separate Beds!

Just kidding, we had them push the twin beds together for cuddling purposes. But we were tempted to sleep solo for a few nights.

Towel animals.
I was obsessed. Every time we came back to the room and there wasn’t an animal carefully constructed out of our linens I was bummed.
Since we’ve been home I’ve been spending a lot of time on YouTube learning this mysterious art for myself.

While the weather outside was absolutely frigid (we were basically cruising down the coast of Long Island), the pools and the hot tubs were heated. We spent quite a few hours swimming in the snow. I think that will be the name of my next book, “Swimming in the Snow”—Harlequin Romance might be interested.

It was that cold.

For our last meal on the ship we tried out the hibachi restaurant. Our chef, Restler, was a true showman.

There were oodles of “activities” that we didn’t partake in…because we were unconscious. I don’t think either of us realized how much we needed a little rest and relaxation until it was thrust upon us. All in all, food, hot tubs, and lots of naps—in my eyes that’s a pretty perfect weekend getaway.

We’re definitely thinking of doing another cruise. Any suggestions?

As for the rest of TODAY…

Now that we’re back from vacation, I’m back to race training. Today was a short run day, so I hit up the West Side Highway running path for a quick 3-mile run. Okay, not that quick. I’m not a particularly speedy runner, but at least I’m dedicated.

It was so windy today that when I was walking home I felt frozen tear drops on my face, from the cold air and my leaky eyes.

Afterward I went home for lunch

I made a big pot of vegetable soup last night…we’ll be eating it all week.
I coupled that with a sprouted grain English muffin with low-fat cottage cheese and sun-dried tomatoes

The Fella and I met up in the afternoon for a little strength training, he focused on his back, I focused on my legs, after a short strength session I spent a good amount of time stretching and utilizing the foam rollers on my oft abused muscles.

Dinner



We kept dinner lite, because we ate it late. Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, carrot, feta and kalamata olives

Kim

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Better Late Than Never

October 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Morning Sunshines!

One of the things that I’ve had to get used to again in regard to being in a relationship is the amount of time spent in transit.

Sheesh. Let’s just say my Kindle is getting a workout.

My last serious relationship moved two blocks from me; that was much easier than the hour long train ride I’m contending with these days. Albeit seriously awkward when we broke up. It’s hard to be a good blogger when you’re never near your computer. That settles it; the fella is going to have to move from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn. It’s just practical.

My last few days have been spent in transit from Long Island (where I’ll be pretty regularly over the next few weeks as my parents prepare to move), Brooklyn, and the fella.

Once I settled into my real life (re: my couch) I did something I hadn’t done in a really long time: I spent a whole day writing. You would think, being a writer, that that would be the norm. But what usually happens is that I wake up in the morning, pump out a few things for work, and then spend the rest of the day trying to avoid writing my book.

Yesterday I decided I didn’t care if my samples were perfect, if I was going to get on with this process I needed to send them into the powers that be. So I did. Now I feel like I’m going to yackle, and like I should reread everything I’ve submitted over and over again until I get feedback. I’m going to go ahead and not do that, but it’s tempting. I should have feedback to work from by early next week.

Despite how all of this sounds, this is actually something I want to do.

So, I skipped the gym in lieu of typing and feel more accomplished for it. But I’m back at the gym today, I’ve got four weeks to get my arms and shoulders in tip-top strapless dress shape.

Breakfast


Egg white omelet with ham and tomato
Apple slices

Lunch


Whole wheat pasta with broccoli rabe and grilled turkey breast

Dinner


My new favorite salad. Warm garbanzo bean salad with egg, chickpeas, croutons, arugula and tahini.
They also serve it with lemon juice and olive oil on the side, but I find that the tahini is dressing enough.

Kim

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Eaters Intuition

September 13, 2010 by 2 Comments

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**End of Public Service Announcement**

Getting back to intuitive eating post-diet has been a bit of a challenge.  Now I remember why I don’t diet to begin with, it turns me into a crazed food obsessed lunatic.  It’s been a week since I officially quit my spokeswoman gig, and I swear I’ve really had to consciously reign myself in.  There is definitely a hungry little demon inside of me that wants to make up for lost time.

I woke up this morning and stated my goals to myself for the day (I do this sometimes because I’m nuts) and those goals were to listen to my body, to eat healthyfully, but not in any way that would make me feel deprived.  Simply, I want to go back to the way of eating that had become so second nature to me over the course of the last few years.

Intuitive eating is harder than I remembered it.  It’s amazing how easily you can break hard acquired habits.

I think I stayed pretty true to form on that today.  As I left work I realized what I really wanted for dinner was a steak.  I walked myself over to Whole Foods, found a pretty cut of filet mignon and proceeded to go home and make myself a dinner that felt absolutely indulgent.  Ironically, it wasn’t particularly unhealthy.  Steak+Asparagus+Wine= 490 calories, 16.94 grams of fat, and 55.87 grams of protein.

Listening feels good.  Hopefully this is the beginning of an intuitive week.

Breakfast

Oatmeal with low fat sour cream

Scrambled egg whites

Snack

Plum

Lunch

Salad with grilled salmon, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, beets, and oil & vinegar

Dinner

Filet Mignon w/steak sauce
Roasted asparagus

Wine

Kim

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Perfect is the new Crack

August 23, 2010 by 1 Comment

Long time, no see!

Sorry I fell off the face of the planet there for a while…I was busy being completely overwhelmed by my life choices.  I really should work on that.  I think I might actually have a responsibility-addiction.  Is there a 12-step program to get over hyper-productivity?

Last week as I tried really, really hard to fit in exercise, work 5-jobs, visit friends, and get adequate sleep–I realized something:  contrary to popular belief (and really, I’m the only one who has this belief) I am actually not capable of doing everything to the best of my ability.  Really.  I came up with a formula.  I can do everything mediocre, but really I can only do two-things at one time to the utmost of my skill-level.  I can exercise, have a social life, and eat well, but work is going to take a hit.  I can get a full night’s sleep and work, but the gym is going to fall by the wayside.  I can exercise and work, but sleep ain’t going to happen…and chances are that’s when I pass out in yoga class.

This realization seems to come second nature to some folks.  Some people have no problem saying, “I’m sorry, my plate is full, I really can’t take on any more right now.”  That has never crossed my mind–I literally consider every opportunity a challenge.  What if I don’t do it, and that ends up being the experience that makes me [insert goal word here: happiest, famous, homecoming queen, a contestant on 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?']?

This realization was a hard pill to swallow for me.  Really, it was quite upsetting–but at one point this weekend I said to my mom, ” I need to stop treating my body like a machine.” And she was like “YES!  Yes!  YES!”  Apparently, she’d been waiting a while for me to come to this conclusion.

So, I did something I haven’t done in a while–I stopped trying at everything.  I took a weekend off from responsibility, from work (I even put an away message on my email), from exercise, from contemplating the health benefits of almond milk over hemp milk.  I just existed–and hung out with my parents, who turns out are very cool people who think I’m totally insane, but lovable.

Now it’s Monday, I got a full night’s sleep.  I got all my work done today, albeit later than usual, and I hit up a yoga class to get bendy, strong, and centered.   I ate some stuff too.

So, today was productive, but tomorrow might not be.  I’m going to try really hard to focus on listening to my body when it says, “I can’t work/run/spin/stay up till the wee hours of the morning…anymore.”  I don’t think it will come easily, in fact, I think it goes against the very fiber of my being, but I think it’s important that I stop and smell the roses once and a while.  When I die, I hope there’s more on my tombstone than “She was very productive.”

Breakfast

Shredded wheat, strawberries, almond milk

Lunch

Salad with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, chickpeas, grilled turkey, celery, lemon vinaigrette

Snack

Grapefruit

Dinner

Smoothie with almond milk, vanilla whey protein, banana, peaches

Kim

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Time and place for salad

June 9, 2010 by 4 Comments

My mom is right about many things, one being: you shouldn’t wear heavy earings because it will stretch out your lobes.  Another, more appropriate to my blog, being: there are some things you can’t give up.  For her it’s Pepsi and real salad dressing…for me it’s buffalo wings.

Now, it’s not like I binge on buffalo wings on a regular basis.  There are plenty of moments in life that I can choose wings but instead choose a less heart clogging alternative, it’s just that Hooters isn’t one of those moments.  Salad at Hooters is sacrilege. I love Hooters, and while I’m trying to shed the 20 lbs that somehow came into my life over the last year, I refuse to order a salad in the presence of orange hotpants and sports.

I’ve had a date for Hooters planned with my friend Evan for over a month now.  This morning, dreading my poor timing in reservation making I started to look at the menu online in search of healthy opportunities.  I had resolved myself to a dinner of oyster and garden salad, pretty woefully, in my mind.  Somewhere around  four o’clock I decided that was just stupid.  Hooters is one of my favorite things in life, and I only have it (err, maybe 6-12 times a year, okay that sounds like a lot).  I exercise like a fiend and deserve a little hot sauce for my hard work.

So, my traditional Hooters dinner I ate.  It was perfect.  Then I went home and did p90X for over an hour.  Not necessarily Tony Horton approved, but he’s not here.

Breakfast

Whole grain toast with 1% cottage cheese and tomato

Berries!

Snack

Besides Hooters, I had plans for a lunch “out”.  Whenever I’m going to indulge I like to keep it constrained to one day.  We went to Sarabeth’s Kitchen, where I had scrambled eggs, spinach and ham for lunch.

Dinner

Wings.  Tried as I might I couldn’t finish them.

Same with the fries.

Kim

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Head in the Clouds, food in my stomach

May 20, 2010 by 2 Comments

I confess, my blogging has been a bit willy-nilly lately.  It’s been a busy few weeks, and yesterday, well yesterday wasn’t busy at all, so I have no excuse.

I got up in the morning and went straight to the day spa.  This is how life is meant to be lived people!  I’m off from work for Shavout, which is a Jewish holiday, and I work for a Jewish non-profit, so we have lots of random days off.  I decided to take my time off to fulfil my May resolution to get pampered.  I cashed in a gift certificate for a massage a friend gave me for my birthday and spent a whole hour being rubbed down with oil by a nice lady named Randi.

I don’t think there was an ounce of stress left in my body after that, then I took a really long shower at the spa and headed to a voice lesson.  Damn, I sang well!  I have to say my voice isn’t always reliable; sometimes I’m a really good singer, and sometimes I’m mediocre at best.  I think the massage must have worked some magic, or I was just too relaxed  to make my common mistakes because I think I sounded better than I ever have ever.  Even my voice teacher looked at me like I’d been inhabited by aliens.

Note to self: get massages before auditions.

Note to self, again: that could get really expensive, maybe just get a boyfriend who will massage you before auditions.

Sometime between the end of my massage, and the end of my voice lesson the Brooklyn International Film Festival released their schedule, and when I checked my blackberry, my friend Larissa had already gotten word of the release of my film and sent a mass email out to all our friends.  First I laughed because she knew before I did, then I felt really lucky to have such great friends.  Then, I hit up a cafe so I could send a mass email to everyone who has ever met me announcing the release dates of my film in New York.

So, if you live in New York and want to see me on the big screen, Colin Hearts Kay will be showing at the Brooklyn International Film Festival: Friday, June 11th—9PM, and Sunday, June 13th—8pm (closing film of the festival. For tickets visit:http://www.brooklynfilmfestival.org/films/detail.asp?fid=1014

Basically, I was floating on air yesterday, and didn’t come down in time to blog about it.

Tuesday

Breakfast

Oatmeal with brown sugar, almond butter (I just opened the jar Mara Natha sent me, it’s good, it’s saltier than my last brand, and less goopy), banana.

Iced coffee with Truvia, and 1% milk

Lunch

Salad with lettuce, cucumber, carrot, beets (hence the fuchsia hue to the salad), olives, fennel, hard boiled egg
Lemon vinaigrette

Snack

Orange

Dinner

Cheeseburger.  Some girlfriend’s and I went out to an English Pub to celebrate our friend Amanda’s engagement.  My friends are dropping like flies!

Wednesday

Breakfast

Smoothie with lowfat Kefir, banana, frozen berries

Lunch

I took myself out to lunch after my voice lesson: salad with cucumber, tomato, onion, olives, tuna, balsamic vinaigrette
Iced coffee with soy milk

Dinner

Lentils over brown rice with spiced yogurt

Kim

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Am I a quitter?

May 5, 2010 by 5 Comments

I have a confession: I’m getting a wee bit bored with P90X.  It’s the monotony that’s getting to me.  The workouts vary, so it’s not that, I think it’s the monotony of the genre that’s doing me in.  I love exercise videos, but I also love classes, and the gym, and the great outdoors, and as much as I try to incorporate all of those into my weekly fitness schedule, I just don’t always have the time to commit three-hours a day to workout  (which is generally what happens when I try to double up on P90X and real life interests). Spending six days a week working out at home is getting kind of old.  I miss people!

I’m a little torn over what to do, I hate giving up on a project, but I can see my interest waning.  I’m thinking that I might split up the weeks, do the workouts in P90X that I find most valuable, and sub out the ones I’m not into for things that I prefer in the same genre.

Does this make me a quitter?

I really love the strength training DVDs; the yoga and aerobics ones really aren’t my cup of tea.  Since the weeks are split up between 3-days strength, and 3-days cardio, I figure I can go halvsies on my P90X workouts, and actual things I like, like running, spinning, real yoga  for my cardio days.

I’m a quitter, aren’t I?

I don’t know why I’m so self-conscious about this.  I’m pretty sure last time I checked I hadn’t given up my powers of self-will to Tony Horton. I feel bad that I made a commitment to myself, but I see myself quickly falling off the bandwagon.  I’m half way through the program and more and more I have to force myself to press play.  Better to do the best I can than do nothing at all, right?

Breakfast

Vanilla Greek yogurt with granola
2 Kiwi Fruit
1/2 cup grape juice

Grande soy latte

Salad with arugula, low fat feta, kalamata olives, grilled chicken, , banana peppers, cucumber, and lemon vinaigrette

Carrots & hummus

Snack

Tangerine

Dinner

Veggie burger with cheddar, hamburger bun
Brocolli, tomato

Lunch Time Grocery Shop

I use my lunch break for good instead of evil

Kim

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Okay, so clowns aren’t so bad

March 26, 2010 by 1 Comment

Last night I faced my fear of clowns for a very good cause.  I volunteered at Ronald McDonald House.  I was really afraid that the night would be really hard for me. I’m not really one that’s good at disguising my emotions and I definitely have a soft spot for kids, so an entire night hanging out with kids with cancer and their families might turn out to be a disaster for all of us.  Honestly, it was a totally amazing experience.  These kids were AMAZING, they were so much fun,  and so were their families.  The clowns were okay too, I admit it.

Some members of a “young professionals” group I participate with, and I were there to bring dinner, provide entertainment, and hang with the kiddos.  When we got there we were told that the night might be really solemn because there had just been two deaths and everyone was just coming back from a memorial service.  But, when the kids got there they were just so excited to see the clowns we’d brought along…the food maybe a little less excited, but it didn’t really look that good.

I recognized a lot of myself a few months ago in the parents there.  Not that I’m comparing my experience with my mom, to dealing with a child with cancer, but it is amazing how normal trauma can seem after a while, and how you can function in a state of constant anxiety–the parents there looked so tired and hopeful, and happy to see their kids happy.  It was a really moving experience.

Okay, now I’m getting weepy.  Time to change the subject.  In other news, I picked up my race day bib for Sunday.  I’m doing it, I’m running in a race…on the ground.  I’m nervous that I won’t make it, but I’m trying to convince a friend that we can run/walk together if we don’t feel like we can make it.  I think she’s in the same boat as me.  I’ve got to give it a shot though, I’ll never know if I can run 4 miles outside if I don’t try.


Wish me luck!

Breakfast

None.  In a very unlike me move I skipped breakfast, just wasn’t hungry.

Lunch

Salad with arugala,  feta, olives, edemame, roast chicken, egg, oil & vinegar
Vegetable and orzo soup

Dinner

This was the dinner we served.  Not that appetizing.
Chicken, pasta salad, bread (the bread was actually good)

Kim

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