sarahsnachos

[sarahsnachos]

New Journey!

follow my new blog: www.sarahsnachosplastic.tumblr.com and see my journey to reducing my plastic consumption!

[sarahsnachos]

I did it!

I completed 30 Days of Yoga with Adrienne! Yay!

[sarahsnachos]

I did it! One entire year has passed. Not a taste or a sip of hard liquor has touched me! I have to say, it flew by. I am amazed at how seldom I really wanted to have an adult beverage of the non-wine nature. 

So what has this year taught me? Well, it is still possible to get extremely drunk drinking wine, that’s for sure. It is still possible to have to pull over on the side of the road to dry heave the next day (it only happened once!). However, I learned that wine complements a meal so much better than a whiskey and diet coke (go figure, huh?). I have consumed wayyy less diet coke in the past year with the elimination of that go-to whiskey and diet coke, by the way. It’s also way easier to feel carefree about having a glass of wine during the week with dinner than having a mixed drink. I have learned that almost every bar has at least some sort of wine. Whether or not it tastes like gasoline is another story, but there is usually an option! I have learned to enjoy so many different kinds of wine as well. I actually like Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet, to name a few that I didn’t care for prior. 

My pallette has also changed. I don’t really ever want to drink wine that should really be labeled kool aid. I want the experience of a good wine, rather than the experience of a sugar cube per second sliding down my gullet. 

Do I still want to have the option to have a whiskey diet coke? Yes. Do I feel like it will be my first choice moving forward? No, but there will always be a place in my heart for that delightful brown liquid. 

Step 1: Take the First Step

As previously referenced, I am going to begin making a few changes in this here life. I have decided on phase one. I’ve actually been thinking on this for a few months now. As one of my New Years “resolutions” I decided it necessary to, “Drink More Wine.” This came from a realization that my main man, counterpart, and confidant, Whiskey, was really starting to turn me into a mess. I LOVE WHISKEY. It’s a delight. But, being a soul who drinks everything, even water, at the rate of a shop vac cleaning out an aquarium, things can get a bit….shall I say…questionable, when I have too much. (Or just enough, depending on how you look at it) Anyway! I’ve been pondering and pondering. I considered the whole, give up alcohol for a year thing, and that is just ludicrousness! It just seemed so drastic when I don’t actually have a problem, I am just looking for a little enlightenment. Well then, dear friends, it hit me! We all know I’m not only a self proclaimed foodie and obsessed with all manner of food and drink, but why not make this year more of an adventure of the palette? Why not choose to stick to a beverage of the adult nature that lends itself so nicely to this food saturated existence I call my life?? That is how I came to rest upon the idea that I will devote this year to wine. A beverage best savored, swished about, and experienced. In my current state, I find that is how I approach my day to day life. I savor moments, swish about thoughts, and experience all of the adventures I can. I have always loved the good grape liquid, why not spend some time learning to love it more? And so, there you have it. A year without, for lack of a better word at the moment, liquor. No whiskey, no vodka, no beer, no rum, no gin, no martinis of any kind! Wine (and champagne) it is! Let us embark on this journey together, vino. To bring my other New Years resolution into this, I intend to slow down and take the time to smell the…bouquet. Here’s to a year of savoring not only wine, but moments.

[sarahsnachos]

Farewell.

“If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work.”

— Alan Rickman: February 21, 1946 - January 14, 2016

You will be greatly missed.

[sarahsnachos]

Amen, sister.

A Message For People Who Say Plus-Size Women Can’t Do Yoga

In a video from Canadian retailer Penningtons, yoga teacher Dianne Bondy clears up a few myths about plus-size women and their abilities. She shows off her impressive balance and puts her headstand skills on display.

Dianne Bondy is out to prove you wrong.

[sarahsnachos]

The Year Of.....

What will this year hold for The Nacho Endeavor, you ask? Well, well, well, my friends. I only recently came upon the designated goals. I’ve been breaking into the world of yoga life as of late, and, as ALWAYS, I want to be stronger. Therefore, goal 1 of the new year: 

1. Yoga your way to Handstand. I have already kicked this off by starting Yoga With Adriene’s (my favorite youtube channel so far for yoga-ing) 30 Day Yoga Challenge. Can I do a handstand at the end of the year? We shall see! I will of course add in weight training and cardio to keep things diverse, but I have been loving how grounded I feel with yoga in my life, so let it continue!

The adventure is never over in this nacho saturated world, so goal number 2, which was inspired by my Christmas gifts from my sisters this year:

2. Visit as many Wisconsin State Parks as possible to keep the adventure alive. Hike, kayak, swim, roll down hills, whatever I need to do to experience these parks, I’m doing it. My oldest sister gave me a state park pass for Christmas, and it will be put to great use! Another bonus feature unrelated to Wisconsin: The Lido Mangrove Tunnel Kayak Tours in Sarasota, Florida. My Christmas present from my other sister when I visit her in January for my birthday!

Because it is looking like I will have spent an entire year sticking to my no hard liquor rule, I am not worried about making another, somewhat extreme, every day rule in my life. Which leads me to goal 3. 

3. 30 second plank every day. It may seem like this is easy. However, do you know how easily I will forget something so simple as this? I have already peppered my life with little signs saying “Did You Plank Today?” in preparation of what I know will be a forgetful time. 365 planks here I come!

So, I didn’t have a name for this year’s resolutions until I started typing this post. I randomly typed The Nacho Endeavor, and I think that is a great name for 2016. 

Without further adieu, let us ring in 2016: The Year of The Nacho Endeavor! 

[sarahsnachos]

Did you?

[sarahsnachos]

Yoga.....pants?

I wanted to do a little tumblr search for some yoga inspiration. What I did not expect to find was a million posts tagged #yogapants with ridiculous captions. Girls in yoga pants standing next to flowers, butt aimed at the camera, caption “Flowers.” Or perhaps “Frozen Foods” and a girl bent over the frozen food cooler while wearing yoga pants. The most aggressive was a girl pulling down her pants with her actual vagina showing. Just keep scrolling! God, I didn’t think I needed to be nervous to search “Yoga.”

[sarahsnachos]

[sarahsnachos]

In Reflection

As this year comes to a close, I have taken some time to reflect on all of the changes I’ve tried to enact in my life over the course of it. We all know about the wine drinking, that will warrant its own post when the year of wine is complete. This post is more about the things I’ve been working on in an attempt to make myself a better person.  I have tried to: 

-Be less judgmental. I have spent far too much of my life judging people when I could have spent that time doing something more productive.

-Create less waste and reduce my carbon footprint. 

-Use less hair product (this is a big one, guys, it’s hard to do with mermaid hair).

-Learn to make more things by hand and reduce my use of convenience foods and products (Canning, dehydrating, pasta making, it is not only satisfying to make your own food, I find it fantastically fun).

-Connect with my inner self through yoga, self reflection, and admiration for the universe. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and realize I was too busy with technology to remember that the earth is an amazing thing and I can do amazing things in this space.

-Be less angry. My default reaction has been based in anger most of my life. I’ve reached a place where I am more aware and able to resist being instantly angry about things and just be happy and let things go. Yoga has been a large help to this goal as well.

-Adventure. Yes, I mean to say “I have tried to adventure.” I think I have been really effective at this, seeing as my Christmas gifts included multiple adventure themed gifts. As I always say, I view my quality of life by the experiences I have. 

-I have tried to change my perception of things as “tasks” and more as “opportunities.” You are granted the opportunity to walk through the woods, you are not tasked with going up and down these hills until you feel like you’ll pass out. You are granted the opportunity to go on this trip, not tasked with paying it off. This also helps with my cynicism and sometimes anger.

I recently re-read my post about my 2015 intentions. I think I did a great job savoring the world, slowing it down and taking it all in. 

[sarahsnachos]

Healing is slow. It does not always drink tea and blow its nose. It does not always do yoga or buy essential oils at whole foods. It does not always use its inside voice and it does not always clip its nails and keep its hands away from my throat and it does not always smile at bullshit condolences. It does not follow your rules. It does not always look like healing.

@mayawritestuff (via mayawritestuff)

[sarahsnachos]

Help my frand out! This is a beautiful project and it would be amazing to see it supported entirely! 

[sarahsnachos]

Slept in, worked out, yoga for days...........really wishing I didn’t have to leave my apartment.

[sarahsnachos]

Remembering this today. 

Being Me

In a recent conversation about body image and self esteem with my wondrous m.cass, we were discussing how not being happy with your appearance is one of the hardest things to cope with, because you can’t really change it. I mean yeah, you can lose weight, but that doesn’t change all of those little things that you might not like about yourself. I can’t change that I’m forever pale and my legs go from pale to lobster and right back to pale again. See what I’m saying? There are things that you just can’t change. There are many things you can change with surgery, but will that really make it better? At the end of the day, what people perceive when they look at you is entirely out of your control, and it is maddening. 

Throughout my life, (all 24 years, 3 months and 17 days of it) I’ve assumed many identities. Not like a Matchstick Men kind of situation, but I’ve tried out various pathways. I think that is part of growing up and finding yourself, and everyone does that. But in the above mentioned conversation, I made a statement that really kind of floored me when I stopped to think about it. In the middle of talking about how there are a million things you can’t change and you have to learn to just be happy and accept yourself, I said,

“That’s something that it took me a really long time to realize. No matter what identity I tried to assume, it didn’t work because it wasn’t me.”

That was the problem. I tried to be someone I made up in my head, not the person that I am. I have learned, through trials and tribulations, happiness and sadness, and everything in between, what it means to be happy in myself and the person I am. I have found the balance that I needed to exist as my own person. This weightloss journey is a teaching me that there ARE some things I can change, but the ones I can’t change are things I just need to figure out along the way. I might not have the answer today, but eventually I’ll get there. 

[sarahsnachos]

Feeling pretty awesome that my sketch was posted on disneyaliceinwonderland’s page. 

Pen and ink, Sarah Eileen Smith

[sarahsnachos]

Dez.rez and I enjoyed a lovely day of waterfalling in the U.P. recently. This is our adventure to the Dead River Falls in Marquette. We discovered giant plants, acorns, and a giant cement circle tunnel thing. Super fun adventure. 

[sarahsnachos]

Adventure at Black Rocks in Presque Isle, Marquette.