Tag Archives: goals

March 28, 2012 · 8:18 am

Mega spring/summer salad

Nothing puts spring in my step quite like knowing there’s something tasty waiting for me at the end of my workout.

Joe and I are training for the Drake Relays Half Marathon in order to get swimsuit ready for our trip to the Dominican Republic this May. It’s sort of working, because we’re doing a pretty good job of motivating each other to lace up the shoes and get in our miles and my clothes feel looser. The pizza from El Chisme we split after a Friday evening 10-miler and this amazing BLT-inspired gargantuan post-run salad, however, might not be hastening the slimming process.

Super yummy BLT inspired salad!

But it was SO GOOD. I played sous chef, chopping and washing the greens. Spinach and thinly sliced cabbage (left over from some delicious roast cabbage wedges we did for St. Patrick’s Day) were the base, and then we piled on chunks of watermelon, avocado, some little tomatoes, grilled green onion and asparagus and, of course, bacon. The dressing was a mix of Ranch and Greek yogurt, and the whole wheat pitas were toasted and sliced on the side.

I think we’ll continue to make some variation of this salad all summer long, with more seasonal ingredients. (Raise your hand if you can’t wait for roast sweet corn to make its triumphant return!) I could see adding some Feta, too.

As far as the training goes, we’re actually using a real plan this time. It’s one Joe found on his friend’s “Bad Angels Rules for Running” blog. I’ve felt pretty good on our long runs, but surprisingly it’s the mid-length runs that are hardest for me. I even wrote in to Coach Jenny to see if my bad form is going to destroy me now that I’m about to enter my late 20s. (And she answered!)

Are you a runner? What are your favorite post-run meals? When I was in Cross Country in high school, my best friend and I used to joke that any calories we consumed within 30 minutes of practice “didn’t count.” Ten years later, I’m still holding onto that myth!

Oh! And we’re starting seedlings for the first time, using the cool plant stand Joe spray painted and gave me as a gift. I love watching them sprout!

Sure hope we're doing this seedling thing right! This area gets lots of sun in the afternoon. We can never keep our window boxes alive.

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February 20, 2012 · 5:36 pm

Post-it Power

I’m the kind of person who needs to get her thoughts down on paper as fast as possible. Otherwise, they tend to float out of my skull like tiny balloons.

My work spaces are always littered with scraps of paper. Items scribbled onto Post-it notes are like tiny task hills that make up a bigger work routine. I love conquering them and then peeling them off the desk. I also have a “wall of random ideas” that gets populated every so often with post-its when I come up with something bigger that could work later.

Maybe you’ve seen this doing the Pinterest rounds, but I like this rotating goal list idea from Cornflower Blue Studio.

I could also see making one for workouts, especially since this morning was Day 1 of half marathon training for me and Joe. After all of my indulging this weekend, the three mile run was much-needed, but it’s going to take awhile to get used to pre-dawn exercising.

I scrolled through the Cornflower Blue Studio blog and was tickled by all of the coral reef-inspired crochet. It reminds me of a TED talk I posted awhile back linking crochet with coral through hyperbolic geometry. (It’s mind-blowing.)

Back on the post-it track, though, last week we had an awesome staff meeting where the five of us wrote down all of our duties on little post-its, which we arranged into different sections of the organization (Foundation, school, board, community partners, misc.) so we could visualize where everyone is concentrated. We each used our own color so it was easy to see who did what.

It definitely wasn’t about competing to see who had the most Post-its, but it helped us see where our efforts are focused and where we might be overlapping or able to help each other out. We have a very small staff and with me new to the team and one team member recently having transitioned roles, I think it was a neat exercise. We also used those giant post-its to write down the things that excite us about the organization, the things that keep us up at night worrying, crazy long-term ideas and what services our constituents need in order to succeed. I left feeling mentally organized and energized.

Lastly, who could write a post about post-its without linking to this classic scene?

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