#also haven’t been able to eat anything except soup and ice cream so I am. very hungry.

[skyedancer2006]

Feel like curling up in the floor and just laying there for a few hours

Screw you wisdom teethhhhhhhhh

[gotjacobian]

[Fun fact I learned writing this - tumblr’s mobile app will not let me copy/paste text into a post. From any source, as far as I can tell. What the fuck, tumblr? Anyway:]

I decided food gets its own category. My general eating pattern here was very different than in Japan, because I was eating almost every meal with my gf’s family, who either cooked or ordered for us. Most of it was not new to me, plus or minus some ingredients that I suspect are less common in the US depending on where you go (local fish, river eel, bitter melon, [organ meat that no one can tell me what is in english]*) I read a lot about styles of chinese cuisine before coming because I was curious - we weren’t trying to track down all 8 of the ‘official’ styles, but I think we hit 4 in one way or another:

Shandong, which includes local cooking styles in Beijing. Lots of stewed dishes, soups, thick and sweet sauces, and finely sliced meats.

Sichuan is probably the most recognizable, and is also my favorite. It makes heavy use of chili oil and specific spices, most notoriously numbing sichuan peppers. This is the regional style in Chengdu.

Hunan, which has a lot of braised or stir-fried meats and vegetables in sweet or salty sauce. Often more spicy than Sichuan food on average, just less Visibly Red. (If you’ve been to Sumiao in Cambridge, many of its offerings are specifically Hunan cuisine)

Cantonese, which has a focus on plain ingredients over spices, and does a lot of steaming and fermenting. Also includes Dim Sum.

It’s not like there was a perfect mapping of meal to cuisine for every single place we went - a lot of meals offered dishes from a variety of backgrounds, especially since they were nearly all hugenormous family-style meals with ten bazillion side dishes. But there were definitely differences and patterns across places we went, and that was cool!

Some of the stuff that stood out:

Beijing/Peking duck. Roast duck sliced up and served communally - you wrap it up with sauce and cucumber (and sometimes sugar on the fatty skin) in a steamed bun or rice wrap to eat it.

A whole stewed fish in an earthy broth served, to my amusement, with what were basically johnnycakes cooked in the same pan. It kind of tasted like gumbo - it had that kind of earthy brown flavor. I’ve become mildly obsessed with trying to identify the origin of this dish. It was described to me as Beijing cuisine, but Beijing isn’t a port city or anything, so it must’ve come from somewhere specific before that. I haven’t been able to find it yet.

Soup dumplings

Dim sum that also included soup dumplings that were inexplicably colored black. Also Dim Sum again but at the Hong Kong airport (which was better).

Sichuan Hotpot at what I am convinced was the absolute most tourist-trap place in all of Chengdu, but in a good way. We had a private room overlooking some traditional opera-style performances - dances, instrument playing, and 'face changing' (where the actors do a sleight-of-hand trick where they swap the masks they're wearing out for other masks). Notably featured pork intestine served in a sphere made of ice, for some reason.

“Green pepper” flavored ice cream that had sichuan peppercorn in it, and was delicious. It made me want to try and make more desserts with that flavor.

Lamb Hotpot (meat cooked in plain broth, as opposed to the spiced sichuan-style broth.) If you’re gonna do just one hotpot, I strongly suggest the Sichuan over this. This is pretty plain except for a sesame sauce you can dip in, and to me that always feels like dipping meat in peanut butter. Not my favorite.

A really, really good egg tart from a bakery chain ("butterful and creamorous") that my gf and I kept walking past. Every location had a giant line outside of it. We eventually gave in and stood in a half-hour line to figure out what the hype was. It was worth it.

KFC in china also has really good egg tarts for some reason. I really like egg tarts. These had peach in them.

A katsu restaurant near my gf’s old high school that entertained me greatly because it was putting SO much more weight in the “authentic japanese restaurant” thing than the actual sorta-canonical katsu restaurant I went to in yokohama. The non-english-speaking server tried to convince me to grind sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle to put on my rice while my gf was in the bathroom, and I had no clue what was going on.**

A lot of jasmine, oolong, and “butter” flavored lattes. Nowhere seems to agree on what “butter” flavor is. Some seemed to think it meant buttermilk, some went with cookie butter. The jasmine latte thing should come to the US though, it’s very good.

A truly absurd number of handmade dumplings, probably about 1/4 of which I folded.

I liked most of the food a lot. I really like sichuan spices and chinese styles of cooking vegetables especially. I have only two consistent complaints: first, the tendency in some styles of cuisine to steam or stew meat into a paste. This came up at dim sum, and also with several of the fish dishes. I’m already not a huge cooked fish fan. I am SUPER not a fan of picking pin bones out of musty fish mush. The braised fish was better, though still bony. There’s an art to getting the pieces that are more meaty, I think, but I admit I have not learned it.

The other, most egregious violation was serving unsalted soup. I’ve garnered a reputation in some circles for my Salt Takes. My personal taste and cooking philosophies both favor more salt than I know some people’s do, and I can respect other positions, to a point. But being served unsalted pork broth by my high school girlfriend’s parents years ago (i.e. a social situation where I felt obligated to consume all of it) is, to this day, one of the worst culinary experiences I’ve ever had. It was like drinking blood. You CANNOT serve meat-based soups without salt. You can’t do it. This was basically the only thing served to me that I didn’t even attempt to eat past a single spoonful. (There were not usually seasonings at the table) The black soup dumplings also had no salt but eating a soup dumpling requires commitment and I was forced to power through. I gagged. You CANNOT.

To end, I also had a lot of tea. A LOT of tea. A lot of tea that I took home. I have literally 15 canisters of pu’er tea that I assume I was given for passing whatever implicit Boyfriend Evaluation was happening, but I do not need 15 canisters of one kind of tea and also four canisters of another, and five extra samples, and one plastic bag of an unidentified black tea I apparently said I liked at a restaurant.*** My suitcase coming back was only under the weight limit because we shoved half the tea in my backpack. Let me know if you are in the Providence area and want tea.

*My gf’s family got worked up several times about whether I’d want to eat [various green vegetables that when sampled basically tasted like collard greens or lemongrass or etc], but would offer unidentified organ meats without batting an eye - something I think would be WAY further outside the average American’s comfort zone - which I found very funny. The set of things I actually avoid eating (mushroom, tofu, eggplant) is weird enough that I get if that was confusing, I guess. I am not usually a big fan of organ meats, but tried any that were served and was pleasantly surprised. I think either they’re prepared better here than in the US, or that it helped having hosts who knew what to order.

** I got out "对不起，我的女朋友不在“ (Sorry, my girlfriend isn't here), and she continued to attempt to explain but in pantomime.

*** I often had 3-4 drinks served to me simultaneously - water, a wine or beer or small glass of baiju (chinese liquor) (pretty universally regarded as bad even in china. it’s bad. i brought some back if you want to try it.) , and one or two teas. I felt very called out about the [LARP character who I’ve declared often orders like 4 drinks at once] thing about it.

Coming back from China tomorrow. I wasn’t able to do the chronological journaling thing I did from Japan (this was jointly a tourism and “meeting my gf’s family” trip, so I had a lot less solo downtime overall.) BUT I got to do a bunch of cool stuff I want to have feelings about, so instead I’m gonna share in a sort of ranked list. First are Things I Think Are Worth Going To China For. Like, on their own - the once-in-a-lifetime stuff that’s worth structuring a trip around.

- The Great Wall. Probably the least surprising thing I could put here, but like, the name says it. It’s a pretty good wall. We went my second day here, to the stretch that’s near Beijing and is some of the most heavily touristed. The view is amazing. It’s one of the most “wow, this looks exactly how people draw it” things I’ve seen in my life. I couldn’t stop myself from commenting repeatedly on how photogenic it was for something that very much predates cameras. Like, just look at this:

It requires a lot of walking on stairs and uneven ground. If you pay extra, you can take a chair lift up (great if you can handle heights) and a toboggan slide-thing down. It’s like, slightly sketchier than your average US six flags experience? But only slightly. You get a brake that controls your own speed going down. I got assigned “young person who’s eyeing that toboggan a little too hard” by the ride operators and they made me wait a few minutes behind the group in front of us before starting the slide, and I’m proud to say I did still catch up to them.

Another thing, because I don’t know where else to put it - I was expecting to be taller relative to the general population in china than I am in the US. But I was surprised there were a few times I had to squeeze myself into whatever people infrastructure was available. I’m not *that* tall, but have absurdly long legs for my height. In the shuttlebus up to the wall, my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me even when it wasn’t leaned back. There wasn’t really any way to avoid it. I have no idea what i.e. my 6’4” father would’ve done.

One last note - there were cats! No one told me there would be cats, but there were a LOT of them. People were lined up to take pictures of the first one here, who was just chilling on the wall itself.

- Next, the Beijing Lantern Festival. We ended up here as a last minute thing. It was *technically* a Mid Autumn Festival attraction, which was before my trip. But it lasted into October and my gf’s parents offered to take us on a night we had no other plans. Parking was hell, it took us 15 minutes to figure out how to get in, and then:

It’s basically a small theme park of foods, souvenirs, and giant lantern displays. It was gorgeous. Walking through it was maybe my favorite part of the trip. Pictures don’t do it justice - a lot of the displays flashed or moved or reacted when you walked past. The construction and use of the lantern ribbing in the design were so, so cool. I was walking around with my jaw dragging on the sidewalk. Like, let it be known that I’m an easy mark for this kind of thing. But if you also are, I honestly think it’s worth timing a trip around.

You could also buy a small lantern to carry around as a souvenir. My gf and I got this red lotus one. I cannot express enough how gratifying it is in practice to get to carry around a pretty light at the pretty light show.

- Seeing China. Weird thing to include - like, obviously you want to see a place you’re going - but it was a defining feeling on the whole trip for me. I was really struck when we were driving into Beijing from the airport how much less I knew about what places in China look like than I did about Japan before going there. It’s not like it’s a secret, exactly, but I think the additional barriers to western tourism (it’s the only place I, an American, have been that I had to pre-apply for a visa to go. More on that later.) and uncensored internet access make a big difference in how the information diffuses. And China is bigger than Japan (and South Korea, but I feel less able to compare my experiences there bc I was only in Seoul, and only for a couple days). So there’s less of a centralized picture to sell, and when there was, it felt very… politicized. Not to mention that information on China in the US often comes with a lot of political and cultural baggage on the receiving end. The information landscape is just different.

Potentially reflecting that, there were way, way fewer western tourists here than in Japan. I was the only obviously non-chinese person anywhere I went except the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Some of this might’ve been timing? And some of it might’ve been that a lot of my travel was facilitated by people who literally live here, so I probably spent less time in “touristy” areas overall. But even there, the vibe was different - much more geared towards chinese tourists than western ones (think no english audio guide at a museum, or a guide assuming knowledge of china’s history beyond a US AP World History level). My layman’s read, fwiw, is that China feels like it has put a lot less effort into “courting” western tourists in general, and presenting a united picture of China For Tourists than i.e. Japan has. And has put more effort into selling a picture of What China Is to Chinese citizens. I’m now very curious if this is what the US (especially DC) feels like to non-american tourists.

But anyway, tl;dr: It was cool to actually see the country I’d only heard about secondhand. Maybe the one I have the most secondhand connection to, across several close relationships. It was interesting to try and put the cultural diffusion to the US in context. And it was affecting to go there and see even mundane stuff that was hard to see otherwise. I found some of the exact souvenirs I’d been given as gifts by friends in middle and high school. I took a lot more pictures than I normally would. Beijing felt a lot like Dallas to me in some ways (lots of 70s era buildings, lots of highways connecting a wide radius of suburbs) and a lot like a brutalist DC in the rest of its vibes. Chengdu felt like a cross between Chicago and Orlando- a beach city with no beaches. Tianjin was… beautiful but weird. I have too many photos to put in a tumblr post, but would be happy to share more with anyone who’s interested.

[hecallsmehischild]

On Losing Weight

Recently I was asked a question that prompted me to pull together all the information I could remember about how my husband, Sergey, and I have been eating over the last few years. We both struggle very much with food and have been trying to do better by our bodies for a long time, but are wary of all the diets and fads. This post has details about what we’ve tried to date and what has worked for us. Most of it is written by me. At the end, Sergey wrote a few paragraphs also. Very long post under the cut.

Disclaimers and a few generalities

One thing about eating and weight loss is that accountability really helps. However, I’ve found personally that even if everyone in your family means well, accountability partners should not be within the family. The main reason I've found is that there's too much baggage with any family member (with the potential exception of your marriage partner) for accountability to ever go well and function as it should. Resentment, triggers, irritation, even accidental shaming crops up because of old baggage and derails everything. You need accountability with someone who you don’t carry a lot of baggage with, because there’s often a huge emotional component to eating.

It takes a LONG time to lose large amounts of weight. You can lose five to ten pounds relatively quickly, but often your body will stabilize on the new number and then you may find it very hard to get lower for months, so continuing to try new things is helpful.

You will yo-yo between 3 and 5 pounds all the time. That is standard. So think in five pound increments in any direction, because your bodyweight is constantly in flux over a few pounds. For this reason, weighing once a week is a lot more accurate than weighing every day and will cause a lot less despair and frustration.

We are not vegetarians at all. We cannot offer any thoughts on a vegetarian diet.

Whatever you do, food-wise, has to be part of your ordinary life. Short term diets set you up to fail. Changing your lifestyle is what will produce long-lasting changes.

Also, some of the things my husband and I try, in some ways, appears to walk the line of eating disorder. I’m watching it very closely with that in mind, and I still don’t think it falls into the trap. Sergey and I do not have enough activity to burn off all the food with take in, so we’re trying things to decrease our food intake AND increase our activity, so that we reach a reasonable balance. But people who have (or are tempted by) eating disorders need to take care, and I would recommend not reading this post or else proceeding with utmost caution.

Obviously not all of the things we do are feasible for everyone, but maybe even hearing some of our ideas might spark a different way of thinking about food and being active for you.

One Meal a Day

Three meals a day makes a lot of sense if you’re doing hard labor all the time. It doesn’t make as much sense if you have a desk job or take care of a house as your main occupation. So the first thing we did a few years back is cut down to one meal a day. It could be anything at all, but it had to be just one meal. That alone dropped us both about 10 pounds down. We’d have one meal around lunch, and later in the evening we would share a large bowl of some sort of fruit (like tangerines or cherries). The aim was to eat things that were both good and filling. Variation keeps you from getting bored and abandoning the lifestyle.

Meals were often grilled salmon or home-warmed burgers (lean, when we could) or a soup from Trader Joe’s. Some of our meals now:

Two burgers with lean beef patties, pickles, and some mayo on bakery fresh onion rolls

Lox (with is VERY low cal, if expensive) on onion rolls with tomato and onion, a little oil and pepper and salt

Sharing a whole roast chicken from the store, plus a roll each

Large can of tuna mixed with a little mayo on two onion rolls

Shredded chicken and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Pot roast and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Meatballs. Just meatballs.

A spicy beans/rice/sausage/mushroom dish we brainstormed that we make in a pressure cooker

Home-made chicken mushroom fettuccine alfredo. Not super healthy, but hot and homemade. (this is a “maintenance” meal, see what I mean by that later)

A bag of chicken fried rice from Trader Joe’s

Soup from the grocery store (not the canned kind, but the fresher ones sold by the store)

Two larger sized tamales

One frozen pizza (inspect the full calorie count, you’re shooting for something between 600 and 1000 calories total, which does exist but it takes some looking and experimenting with types) whose flavor can always be spiced up with extra mushrooms or garlic powder. Not the Tostino’s or Party pizzas. I promise there are healthier, tastier, and more varied pizzas to be had in this calorie range.

Chicken breast or chicken thigh meat is sold frozen. Cook that and make that into sandwiches for very lean, filling meals. Use of various spices encouraged.

A tray of baked “catfish nuggets” which are chunks of catfish cooked in the oven

A tray of baked white meat chicken nuggets

Cocktail shrimp (thawed from frozen) with cocktail sauce

I have just broken into the frontier of omelettes, also low-cal and filling in conjunction with onion rolls.

Sergey would often go to a salad bar and load up on the salad, then also load up on the chicken noodle soup which is very filling and very low cal.

Sergey eats his meal closer to noon or one. I try to eat my meal around 3 or 4 if I can hold out, because then I’m not groaning about how hungry I am in the evening or being kept up by hunger pangs. For me, that’s the mid-point of the day and the one that helps me deal with hunger best.

Snacks and Sweets

Snacks are always tricky, and large bags of anything salty are automatic failures in this house; we are incapable of portioning them. So we stopped getting them unless we acknowledged the truth to ourselves, which is that one bag is one serving size no matter what the back says (i.e. we embraced that we’re being bad and got it anyway).

For a while Sergey and I had an occasional bowl of non-buttered popcorn with powdered salt. This worked for a bit because it was pretty filling, but Sergey found himself making multiple bowls so we had to stop because that defeated the purpose.

Some stores sell very small snacks individually portioned, like a tiny foil pack of variously flavored olives, or banana bites coated in cacao, etc. Those are great. Rice cakes can be good, though I get tired of them after a while. I like the cinnamon apple and chocolate ones best. Speaking of cinnamon apple, individual oatmeal cups are good too. I aim for around 140 cal for a snack.

Sometimes I will snack on a lean burger patty or chicken thigh-meat piece, each of which is about 70 cal.

By himself, Sergey often would (and still does) fill a large bowl full of small quartered tomatoes mixed with pepper, oil, and onion. He can put away two of these tomato salads a day as “snacks.” He says they’re very filling, good for you, and low-cal. He’s leaning more on bowls of baby carrots and sugar snap peas these days. Sometimes he will make a large bowl of Golden Apple slices to chow down on.

I keep NO ice cream in the house. I may get a larger quantity for a birthday celebratory binge, or use individual containers as a reward system, but I never “stock up” on ice cream. Birthday? Maybe 4 of the personal containers of various flavors, and that’s it for my birthday treat. Reward system? Once I get to a certain weight, I allow myself to have one small personal container of ice cream (or my other favorite, a jar of honey pecans) a week. The incentive to get to a certain weight balances out the slow-down on the weight loss the treat causes, because this can’t be all about deprivation or I couldn’t sustain it. Being able to sustain a way of eating into a lifestyle is a huge deal.

I keep dried cranberries in the cabinet. Sometimes if I’m hungry and need to hold out, I’ll grab one handful of those to eat. I keep larger quantities of oatmeal too, but I’m not sure if that’s working against me or not, because I dump high quantities of honey in to bring it up to my sweet tooth standards so it might end up being a bad thing for me. I haven’t sat down to figure that out yet.

I make a mean chunky cinnamon applesauce that is a delicious and pretty healthy snack, too, when I have the energy to make it.

I would like to make sweets all the ding dong day, but it works against us, so I have to reserve my sweets making for when there’s a large group to share them with. Otherwise we would eat all of that ourselves.

Tools that help

Making your own food at home becomes a lot more enjoyable and feasible for low-energy people like us when there are tools that cut back on the effort it takes. To that end

A good 6 qt pressure cooker does everything a crockpot does, but it has more options and is faster.

A good food processor can do almost anything, from applesauce to milling oats to slicing veggies to finely dicing the onions you don’t want to deal with, to making ice cream out of frozen bananas and cocoa powder. We have an older one and it still does wonders, even though some of the latches don’t work right.

A good indoor grill machine.

Electric mixer/beater. The effort of making cookies goes down by a third to a half the personal energy cost when you use this, plus the process goes faster and the texture is so much better.

A dishwasher. A good dishwasher means you aren’t spending a ton of energy cleaning up all the dishes you soiled just making food. Did you know there are portable dishwashers that hook up to your sink if you don’t have one in the home? I just learned this...

This one heavily depends on how much you’d use it, but it can be very inexpensive to get an electric citrus juicer. I can go through about 40 lemons for a party-sized quantity of lemonade and it wracks out my wrist to do that manually, so I got a good one for about $20.

This website is one Sergey uses to see what products are legitimately good, because Amazon is starting to have major issues with fake reviews PLUS Chinese knock-offs getting passed off as the good product. This site user-tests a ton of different brands of the same product and tells you which one they found to be best and why, then gives a few runners up in other categories like price or different type. I used this to find a good set of salt/pepper grinders, a good knife sharpener, and an individual serving coffee maker. I also found my electric mixer and citrus juicer on here.

Also, pickling things is fun and very cheap and easy.

A few radical things

This is our lifestyle, not a diet. We go crazy with our eating when we’re on a trip, but normal, everyday eating is the one-meal-a-day plan for us. Going to a friend’s place for a meal is a balancing act that we often fail (because it’s often all-you-can-eat), but we’re already brainstorming ways to compensate.

Here’s for something radical sounding, to be handled with care. While Sergey aims for around 1300 calories a day, approximately, I aim for under or close to 800. I’ve found that if I eat the same things as him, I maintain my current weight but do not lose any. It’s when I, the smaller and less active person, undershoot him, that I start gaining ground. When I reach the weight I’m aiming for, I will allow myself more leeway to get to his calorie intake level, because that’s “maintenance” level for me.

Here’s the current thing we are testing, so the results are not in yet. We’re doing this because neither of us has been able to budge our weight for a while. It’s a combination of factors so track with me. We like a place called Star Cinema Grill which is a movie theater that serves you a meal and/or drinks while you watch the movie. But even for one meal this is a very high calorie day if we go there. We swore off going for a long time, until their marketing department sent out a wave of “Two free tickets!” in the mail. Sergey figured that he would go, and then he would not eat for 48 hours to make up for it. I was a little concerned by the idea, but after thinking it over for a while (with the concern about eating disorders in mind) it didn’t actually seem that unreasonable. So I joined him in this. So now we’ve worked out that we can go to Star Cinema Grill on occasion as long as it’s followed by a 48 hour fast.

We had previously tried 48 hour fasts (which consist of, for example, eating lunch around noon on Sunday and stopping food until lunch on Tuesday, so that you sleep through much of the 48 hour period) but we first did the fast on ONLY water. By the second day we were both so lethargic and unfocused that we could hardly function. This time we allowed ourselves to have several rounds of tea or mocha throughout the day. That time, we experienced very negligible energy drops and made it through the period of no-eating with a lot less suffering.

NOW. I was reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the expanded and revised edition, and at the end they included several articles they had written as bonus material. Please read this article to understand where I’m going next.

Excited, I rushed over to Sergey to make him read this bit. This is already sort of what we had been doing. Though this guy had distilled it down to sugar water, tea with a cube of sugar isn’t much different. My mocha had about three times the sugar, but was still on the very low end of calories for a day. So this idea (that sugar-water helps trick your body past hunger) was being confirmed for us by someone else. So we’ve decided to test out doing this 48-hour fast once a week, which may also allow for re-inclusion of things we tend to forgo more often (like weekly ice cream? Or a fresh batch of cookies?). Stay tuned...

Going out

We built a list of places and categories of how good or bad they are for us to go to. We divided them into Healthy and Healthy Cheat. Bad ones don’t make it on the list so we’re not tempted when we’re thinking of where to go out.

Healthy Restaurants are places where, if you’re reasonable with your choices, you can eat pretty much any one meal on their menu. (Lemon Shark is our Poke place in the area. Poke is unreasonably good and healthy and filling for you, and most will have vegetarian or cooked options on the menu if you don’t like raw fish. Jinya is a ramen place, though you have to be a little more selective about because some dishes are two meals’ worth, and Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar also known as Souplantation in some regions)

Healthy Cheat Restaurants are places where we know we’ll probably eat more than we should, but the food is still relatively healthy. Tokyo Grill and Dimassi’s are both buffet places with relatively healthy options near us. Fukuda Sushi is our sushi go-to for now (though we’re looking to replace it as the fish quality went down).

Avoid most all-you-can-eat places like the plague, unless it’s a salad bar. Even then, if you gravitate toward the breads and creamy soups like I do, just say no.

Places we love that are also pretty bad for us on any kind of regular basis: Rudy’s BBQ, Star Cinema Grill, Wine Tasting Room (large meat and cheese platters), anywhere Italian.

Being Active

We took up Krav Maga, which had us doing off and on rigorous exercise for an hour twice a week. That went on for about a year. After I broke my toe, we switched to a home exercise regimen.

Instead of home exercise equipment, we opted for DDR pads, and have been doing hour-long DDR sessions most mornings. After an hour long workout (25 songs on easy-to-medium levels) we each do 20 crunches and then Sergey does extra burpees or push-ups. As the crunches get easier for me, I will be adding five at a time. I’m up to 30 now. Crunches were initially added to help me maintain the muscles that hold up a weak place in my spine, however now it’s also a good end-workout routine. I cannot get through all this without frequent water breaks because I drip sweat, and Sergey turns into a waterfall.

Sergey has added about 3-5 extra mini-workouts (a set of pushups or burpees) sprinkled throughout the day.

Some days we go to a park in the morning and walk for 30-50 minutes instead of DDR. It’s less strenuous, but a nice change of pace and scenery.

Some days we go kayaking in a nearby waterway, which REALLY works the arm muscles that day, but it’s a fantastic workout. We keep saying we need to go more often, but often forget.

Failing

It’s going to happen. It’s going to feel miserable. Sometimes I have found myself up at three AM, unable to sleep, making myself another whole frozen pizza or eating all the spaghetti leftovers. Sometimes I can talk myself into something slightly better, like a bowl of oatmeal, but not often. Sometimes I’ll just mix white and brown sugar, butter, and raw oatmeal and eat this lump-of-barely-cookie-dough as is. Sometimes I come home from the grocery store with an entire round loaf of bakery bread and eat it, much to Sergey’s fascination and surprise. One time I scooped one out and filled it with clam chowder and ate my own homemade bread bowl. It was great. It was also way over my limit.

Sometimes “failing” is known and expected, like around the holidays or birthdays. It’s okay to celebrate. Food is a very social and emotional experience as well as a sustenance deal. Keep picking yourself back up and trying again.

Sergey, who is SUPER good at distilling core concepts, adds his own TLDR:

On Losing Weight

Dusty and I have both struggled with overeating. For me, there have been sad times when plowing through a huge meal may have been the happiest 20 minutes of my day, and it’s no surprise that I would resist any attempts to eliminate that. However, I’ve found that losing weight and getting healthier leads to better moods and reduces the frequency and severity of impulses to binge.

Whatever you do must be incorporated into your lifestyle—if you are “going on a diet,” then you are setting yourself up to fail. If certain behaviors become part of your ordinary day, and you maintain that for months at a time, it’s much more likely that you’ll be able to keep going.

The most important change I’ve made is limiting myself to 1 meal a day. After a short adjustment period, I feel only a little bit hungrier than I did with 2 meals a day while consuming half the calories. That meal should be a reasonably-sized meal (typically 800-1200 calories for men, 600-900 for women), not an extra-large one. If I get hungry again, I only allow myself some very low-calorie snacks like carrots, sugar snap peas, or tomatoes.

The second thing I did was institute a daily exercise program. Dusty and I start each morning with an hour of DDR when we can, and I stop what I’m doing every 3-5 hours to do a set of 20 burpees. As I gain strength, I plan to increase this number. We also go for walks or go kayaking when the weather and our moods allow. What’s most important is that you do something to get your heart racing and get sweaty, and that you do it every day.

The last thing I did was institute occasional 48-hour fasts. For example, I would have lunch on Monday and not eat again until lunch on Wednesday. If I have tea with light sugar during a fast, I only feel moderately hungrier than I would otherwise. It’s much more tolerable than I thought it would be. There is considerable research suggesting that intermittent fasting is good for you, and it can be a reasonable way to offset the binge you couldn’t resist having. It’s definitely a healthier approach than purging, which hurts both your body and your soul.

[heaven-delight]

[New Years Special ①] ‘Wise Entertainment Life’ ‘24 Q&As’ with 24-Year Old Red Velvet Seulgi

[Sports Seoul Lee Ji-Seok] The ‘Year of the Dog’ Star Red Velvet Seulgi has a soft charm. Rather than catching the eyes of people with a glamorous appearance, Seulgi has a kaleidoscopic charm and gets even more charming the more you look at her. Her body figure and proportions are claimed to be the best out of all female idols. Also, her singing and dancing skills, which have been honed for seven years at the mega-agency, SM Entertainment, is simply the best. Although her members call her ‘no fun,’ when she stars on variety shows, she does whatever it takes to get enough screentime.

Seulgi, who was born in February 1994, is 24 years old this year. Because this year is the ‘golden year of the dog,’ she is excited more than anybody for this upcoming year. We asked 24 questionsㅡthe same number as her ageㅡto Seulgi, and Seulgi, in a serious tone with no signs of mischievousness, answered 24 times. The interview was held in the SM headquarters in Cheongdam-dong, early December.

1. During 2017, your group, Red Velvet got lots of love.

Seulgi: During 2017, Red Velvet released three albums and received lots of love. I think we grew greatly as a team. The image that people think of when hearing ‘Red Velvet’ has solidified. While musically we tried to take on the ‘Red’ conceptㅡthe lively conceptㅡand the ‘Velvet’ conceptㅡthe alluring and soft conceptㅡin turn, we tried to be perfect in every aspect. We’ll continue to grow during 2018 too.

2. Seulgi, what do you personally think suits you more? The lively ‘Red’ concept or the alluring and soft ‘Velvet’ concept?

This was hard to choose, but I think I can show more of myself in the ‘Velvet’ concept. I like the ‘Velvet’ concept and the musical style of that concept a little bit more, personally.

With the soft and alluring ‘Velvet’ concept, such as ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and ‘Automatic,’ I can show off my charms comfortably. Unlike my real personality, I like showing off my chicness on stage. I have a hard time showing off fresh and pretty things. I think I need to work more on that. I get to do all of these because I work hard and I try new things.

3. What’s the happiest thing that has happened to you in 2017?

I’m so glad that the Red Velvet fan club got a name. I’ve been waiting for this a long time. If in the award ceremonies before, I had to call them ‘our fans,’ now I can call them as ‘reveluv.’ The name and the fans are all so special to me. It meant a lot to me that Red Velvet got to hold a concert with the ‘reveluvs.’

4. What year do want 2018 to be for Red Velvet?

This is what I’ve been dreaming of ever since we debuted, but I hope that we’ll be able to become a team that will be able to take on many different genres. With our second full album ‘Perfect Velvet,’ which we released last November, we tried to widen the genre of music in our discography, and I hope we’ll continue doing so in the future.

5. You were born in February 1994, and 2018 is the year of the dog. Do you feel anything special because it’s the year of your zodiac again?

I heard that 2018 is the ‘golden year of the dog.’ Since it’s been 60 years since the last ‘golden year,’ I hope this year will be more special. I hope everybody, not only me, could be happy this year.

6. You were born on the same day as Apink’s Son Naeun (1994/02/10).

I’m not acquainted with her that well. When I met her at the end-of-the-year awards ceremony way back, I said ‘we’re the same age and we have the same birthday.’ Son Naeun said that she knows that too. We greet each other when we meet, but we haven’t gotten a chance to really talk with each other.

7. Do you have any other best friends that are the same age as you in the entertainment industry?

I’m close with BlackPink’s Jisoo. Of course, my best friend is Wendy.

8. Your eyes look like a cat’s, but some people say that you look like a dog. Which animal do you think looks closer to you?

People used to say that I look a lot like a baby tiger. I also once heard that I look like a mouse. (Laughs) Now, I think it depends on what style of makeup I have. Depending on that, I can look like a cat or a dog.

9. What did you do in the last ‘year of the dog,’ which was 12 years ago?

That was about a year before I started training. Back then, I was a student that liked to dance and sing. During break time, I would stand in front of the giant bathroom mirror and dance. I used to dance a lot to TVXQ’s or Super Junior’s songs. I especially liked TVXQ. At the school talent show, I danced along to TVXQ’s ‘Balloons.’ I had no idea back then that I would end up being in the same agency as them.

10. What do you do when the next ‘year of the dog’ comes in 12 years when you’re 36?

I haven’t specifically thought about what I want to do when I’m 36. I think it’s important to live each day to the fullest because you never know what could happen tomorrow. I don’t know what I’ll be like when I’m 36, but I hope that I would have grown more when that day comes. I think it would be a problem if I’d be the same person I am now when I’m 36. I still have a long way to go in terms of musicality and putting things into action. I have a bit of a lazy personality, and I hope I’ll be able to fix that. I hope my personality will stay the same except for that. I like my easygoing personality.

11. You trained for seven years, starting from 2007, when you were in middle school. Is life after debuting any different from how you’d dreamt it would be during your trainee years?

There are a lot of things I learned after debuting. I��m kind of sad because I think that I would have done better during my trainee years of I had known things such as stage manners, and how to express lyrics better. Things like how to express through dance better are things that you learn after debuting.

12. You’ve been a trainee for seven years. What do you think you would have done if you weren’t able to debut?

I wouldn’t have known what to do. I’ve cried a lot during training because I didn’t know what to do. I haven’t thought of becoming anything other than a singer. If I haven’t become a singer, I would have studied hard at school, but I haven’t thought of becoming anything else or taking any other career paths.

13. Have you experienced any slumps after debuting?

Not as severe as the ones I’ve been through during my trainee years. I’m thankful that I was able to perform on the ‘King of Mask Singers’ on October 2016. I was able to gain a lot of strength through that show. Before that, I was always sad when I had to talk about my trainee years, and the hardships that I went through during those times made me tear up. After the ‘King of Mask Singers,’ I don’t cry anymore. It was nice to hear ‘you’re good’ rather than ‘you’ll do well.’ I got more confident in expressing something on stage and I started to have more fun performing on stage.

14. Are there any times when you think that becoming a singer was a good idea?

I don’t know if I would have been able to have so much fun doing something else. I’m so glad that I’m able to do something I enjoy. Because a lot of people recognize me when I perform something on stage, I get motivated to do even better. The fact that my fans know how much I work hard gives me strength. When I go to fan-signs or get fan letters, I also think that becoming a singer was a good idea.

15. What do your other normal 24-year-old friends worry about these days?

They worry a lot about getting a job. I have some friends who even got rid of their cell phones to focus on studying. I was lucky enough to find what I want to do early in life and debut. I feel like I should work hard because of that.

16. I think the hardships for a celebrity and the hardships for a normal person would be different.

Everybody goes through their own hardships. Although I don’t have much privacy compared to my normal friends, that’s something that I have to endure. It doesn’t make me uncomfortable. Rather, I’m thankful for it.

17. Your hair color changes often. When you debuted, it was orange, then dark during ‘Be Natural,’ blonde during ‘Ice Cream Cake,’ brown for ‘Dumb Dumb’ and orange again for ‘Russian Roulette.’ What’s the color that describes the 24-year-old Seulgi?

I like orange. I tried that color when I debuted because SM recommended it to me. I think it has a lot of meaning. At first, I thought that orange wouldn’t work on me. Back then, I had a lot of achromatic clothes, such as black, gray and white, and I didn’t like bright clothes. But, after trying on a bright color, I found myself trying to suit the color more. I think I was able to find a new charm hidden inside me by trying to express something bright. I’m happy because I’m more colorful than before.

The color that I originally have is a toned down color. I like wine colors more than red, beige more than pink, grey rather than black.

18. In a past interview, you said that if you get hooked on to one menu, you only eat that for a long time. During your trainee years, you said you were hooked on soft tofu stew, hot pot bulgogi and scones. Are you hooked on to anything these days?

I don’t eat scones a lot these days. (Laughs) During some part of my trainee years, I only ate soft tofu stew, and around the time when I was done with the trainee life, I only ate hot pot bulgogi. These days, I’m into hot soup. I like eating rice with soup. Nowadays, I’m into radish soup and dried radish leaves soup.

I’m not hooked on to a certain food for a long time, but I only eat what I like. I only go to the restaurants that I’m used to going to, so I’m not that good at finding new yummy restaurants. When it comes to choosing clothes or food, I have a strong preference when it comes to those. So, I only choose what I like. I have a strong habit that I have to get the items that I like or do those things that I like.

19. You have a lot of nicknames, such as ‘Gap God Gap King (meaning that she has a huge difference when she’s on stage and off stage)’ and ‘No Fun.’ What’s your favorite nickname?

I like ‘Gap God Gap King.’ It means a lot for me to be given that nickname. I’m thankful that there are a lot of people who think that I’m cool onstage, even though I’m a dummy with no charisma off stage. 

I can’t say no to being ‘No Fun’ though. I’m not a fun person. Rather, I’m a serious person. I’m not the kind of person who makes jokes while talking. I don’t think that I have to make people laugh and I don’t have the skills to do that. So, whenever people call me ‘No Fun’ on the variety shows, I don’t know what to say, because it’s true. And then I lose confidence. I lose confidence because I think that I’m a ‘No Fun’ person so I should just stay put. (Laughs)

20. Do you have any special tips when it comes to keeping your body in shape?

To be honest, I don’t go on diets. When I think that I should go on a diet, I start eating more. Ever since I was young, I liked eating rice more rather than eating noodles or bread, so I try not to overeat. But, when the promotions start, I don’t have a lot of time to eat, so I lose weight naturally. I think I lose appetite because when I eat before going on stage, I feel stuffy and I feel like I wouldn’t be able to perform onstage well because of that.

21. Out of all the SM female artists, you’re the only one that has a single eyelid. Also, out of all the members, you’re the only person that uses your real name as a stage name.

I’ve never thought much about having a single eyelid, but once people started to say that there’s a celebrity in SM Entertainment with a single eyelid, I start to think more about it too, like ‘how did I get into SM?’ I like the way I am. I want to be prettier, but there are a lot of people who like the way I am right now. It’s all a matter of preference. I wish that my eyes could be a bit bigger, but that can’t be fixed with surgery. I think the charms of a single eyelid is that it can look different based on the makeup style. I don’t want to fix it.

I’m grateful that I’m able to use my name ‘Seulgi’ just the way it is. I don’t think any other name would have suited me.

22. What is your dream type, and thoughts of an ‘open relationship?’

I like people that I can talk with easily, and people that I feel happy being around. Having a relationship isn’t bad, but having an open one can hurt the fans, so I’m cautious about it.

23. Do you have any dreams of becoming a solo artist or an actress?

If I get the chance to be a solo singer, I would work hard, but for now, I want to focus on Red Velvet. I like the way the members’ voices harmonize. I wish I would be able to release a lot of albums as a member of Red Velvet. I do want to try acting, but I’m not good at it yet, and I think now is not the time to pursue that. I’ll try everything one by one when the time comes.

24. What are your goals for 2018?

I wasn’t able to keep the goals that I’d set for 2017. I wanted to become more fluent in Japanese and learn English, but I wasn’t able to. I hope that I’ll be able to become a person who’ll be able to seriously put her thoughts into action. I have to work hard because I have a long way to go. For now, I’m thinking about learning a different genre of dance in 2018.

As a member of Red Velvet, I want to hold lots of concerts. We had our first concert on 2017, and next year we want to hold concerts in places other than Seoul and overseas and interact with lots of fans.

[submissivejungkook]

Get To Know Me Pt. 2 (sorrynotsorry)

Wait, these are actually hella cute questions.”

— 1. Who was the last person you held hands with? : I haven’t held anyone’s hand in a long time. 

2. Are you outgoing or shy? : Shy af

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? : Hopefully BTS again. Saving up to go to another concert!

4. Are you easy to get along with? : Of course! 

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? : I would hope so xD

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? : People who are honest, respectful, and intelligent.

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? : I very highly doubt I will be. 

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? : Currently Jay Park. Damn that man-

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? : If it’s with any of my family members, it’s very awkward for me. 

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? : My aunt

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? : “Damn that sucks”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? : 1- Yes I Am by Mamamoo, 2- 2! 3! by BTS, 3- Sorry Not Sorry by Demi Lovato, 4- Closer by The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey, and 5- Red Flavor by Red Velvet

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? : Yes! I love it~

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? : Sure

15. What good thing happened this summer? : I.. met one of my longtime friends irl for the first time~

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? : I haven’t had my first kiss yet. Oops

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? : Maybe

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? : Nah. He hates me because I’m pansexual

19. Do you like bubble baths? : God yes

20. Do you like your neighbors? : Not really

21. What are you bad habits? : When I’m talking to new people irl, I tend to talk fast and stumble over my words.. I also bite my nails and twirl my hair when nervous.

22. Where would you like to travel? : Korea, New Zealand, Japan, UK, Paris

23. Do you have trust issues? : Sadly

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? : Going to bed 

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? : Everything except my eyes and hair. 

26. What do you do when you wake up? : I go to the bathroom.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? : Neither??? I may be uncomfortable with myself, but I don’t want to change my skin tone. Everyone should be proud of their skin color despite what ignorant cunts say. 

28. Who are you most comfortable around? : My aunt

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? : Yeah, one of them has. 

30. Do you ever want to get married? : It would be very nice to get married, but I stopped worrying about it. It just worsened my depression.

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail? : Yesss

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? : Namjoon and Jimin ; Hwasa and HyunA

33. Spell your name with your chin. zas,lyhgszxszZ - well that’s a disaster

34. Do you play sports? What sports? : Nah, I used to. 

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? : TV

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? : Yep

37. What do you say during awkward silences? : I don’t. I just look at my phone

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? :  Honestly, as long as the person has a wonderful personality, is very respectful to others, faithful, and intelligent then.. I’m good to go. I try not to be too specific/picky when it comes to this and especially about the outer appearance. Most of the time when someone is asked this question, they start naming off physical attributes. I do have some preferences but if they aren’t what’s being offered, I won’t get upset about it. Like, I love taller men and women, but I won’t make a fuss if they’re a little shorter than I am. Just.. have a big heart, a brain that is used all the time, and eyes for me and me alone. That’s what I want❤

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? : Earthbound, Dress Barn, Hobby Lobby, Hot Topic, and BAM

40. What do you want to do after high school? : Well, I graduated in 2015 and am currently at a university.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? : Depends

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? : That I’m being myself. I’m always quiet unless I’m fangirling. 

43. Do you smile at strangers? : I try to

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? : Bottom of the ocean

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? : BTS

46. What are you paranoid about? : Too many things to list.. 

47. Have you ever been high? : Nope

48. Have you ever been drunk? : Nope

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? : Yeah

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? : Black

51. Ever wished you were someone else? : All the time

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? : My weight

53. Favourite makeup brand? : I don’t really have a preference 

54. Favourite store? : Hobby Lobby

55. Favourite blog? : I like so many blogs tho

56. Favourite colour? : Red, black, white, purple, and blue

57. Favourite food? : Sushiiiii and steak

58. Last thing you ate? : Doritos 

59. First thing you ate this morning? : I didn’t eat this morning

60. Ever won a competition? For what? : I don’t think I’ve won any competitions 

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? : Nah

62. Been arrested? For what? : Nope

63. Ever been in love? : Yes

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? : I haven’t had my first kiss. 

65. Are you hungry right now? : Yes *casually munching on doritos*

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? : I like them equally. 

67. Facebook or Twitter? : Twitter

68. Twitter or Tumblr? : Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now? : Yep~ Fresh Prince is still the shit

70. Names of your bestfriends? : I don’t wanna give their names out

71. Craving something? What? : Sushi, affection, and a shitton of cuddles

72. What colour are your towels? : We have different colored ones.. White, teal, beige, and blue

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? : 5

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? : Yep, 2 of them 

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? : Plenty

75. Favourite animal? : Panda!

76. What colour is your underwear? : Black

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? : Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? : Strawberry, strawberry cheesecake, or mint

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? : Green

80. What colour pants? : black

81. Favourite tv show? : Impractical Jokers

82. Favourite movie? : There are so many

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? : Mean Girls

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? : Mean Girls

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? : Damian

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? : Dory

87. First person you talked to today? : My aunt

88. Last person you talked to today? @ya-boy-bambam

89. Name a person you hate? : ----

90. Name a person you love? : Namjoonie

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? : Yep 

92. In a fight with someone? : Not currently

93. How many sweatpants do you have? : Plenty 

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? : Not enough

95. Last movie you watched? : Wonder Woman

96. Favourite actress? : Park Min Young

97. Favourite actor? : Ji Chang Wook

98. Do you tan a lot? : Nope

99. Have any pets? : One pupper

100. How are you feeling? : Tired and a little depressed

101. Do you type fast? : When I’m angry I do 

102. Do you regret anything from your past? : Of course

103. Can you spell well? : Yeah

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? : Mhmm

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? : Yes! I love those

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? : Probably

107. Have you ever been on a horse? : Yeah

108. What should you be doing? : Sleeping

109. Is something irritating you right now? : Eh, not really

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? : Yep

111. Do you have trust issues? : Sadly

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? : My dad

113. What was your childhood nickname? : Lilo - I was called Lilo because I was always outside and I ended up getting dark. My hair was long and dark, and not to mention I was pudgy and loved Disney. I watched Lilo and Stitch so much when I was little so it just stuck. 

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? : Yep 

115. Do you play the Wii? : I used to

116. Are you listening to music right now? : Yep

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? : Gross no

118. Do you like Chinese food? : Mmmm yesss

119. Favourite book? : Dark Song by Gail Giles

120. Are you afraid of the dark? : YES

121. Are you mean? : I can be when given a reason

122. Is cheating ever okay? : Hell fucking no

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? : I’d be able to if I wore white shoes

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? : Nah. I don’t focus on the outer appearance

125. Do you believe in true love? : Of course

126. Are you currently bored? : Eh, not really

127. What makes you happy? : Kpop, writing, roleplaying, and talking to my friends

128. Would you change your name? : I used to want to change my name so bad, but I’m finally starting to love my name.

129. What your zodiac sign? : Gemini

130. Do you like subway? : Eh, not really. 

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? :  Well, I would be completely shocked and have to be reassured because it isn’t often guys, or really anyone, likes me romantically. I would wait it out for a little bit before talking to him about it. I’d be cautious because I mean.. that’s my best friend. If we date then break up, our friendship will probably be gone, too. We would really have to think about the consequences of dating before deciding anything.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? : My aunt

133. Favourite lyrics right now? :  It’s okay come on when I say one two three forget it Erase all sad memories Hold my hand and smile It’s okay come on when I say one two three forget it Erase all sad memories Smile holding onto each other’s hands - 2! 3! (This song will always make me cry. Just typing up the lyrics made me tear up. Love you ARMYs, Love you BTS)

134. Can you count to one million? : I can try XD 

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? : When I was younger, maybe around 13, I was caught watching porn. I was asked what that was and I said, “..I don’t know? I thought they were fighting!” LMAO I wasn’t the brightest okokok

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? : Closed

137. How tall are you? : 5′3 or 5′4

138. Curly or Straight hair? : I used to have curly but now it’s more so wavy. 

139. Brunette or Blonde? : Brunette 

140. Summer or Winter? : Fall

141. Night or Day? : Either

142. Favourite month? : October or December

143. Are you a vegetarian? : Nope

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? : ALL 

145. Tea or Coffee? : Both

146. Was today a good day? : It was alright

147. Mars or Snickers? : Snickers

148. What’s your favourite quote? : “Love is louder than the pressure to be perfect.”

149. Do you believe in ghosts? : Yep

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? : I had no choice but to follow her as she headed farther into the old servants’ wing.

[relenafanel]

Get to know me  ᵔᴥᵔ

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag 20 blogs you would like to know better.

I was tagged by @misspaperjoker​ and I haven’t done something like this in a while, so hopefully my followers (new and old) will learn something

Age: You can’t expect a lady to tell (haha jk I’m 31) Birth place: Canada Current time: 11:40 Drink you last had: coffeeeee (if this surprises you, you must be really new) Easiest person to talk to: I don’t find talking to people very easy. It’s difficult to get me to open up, and once I do I overshare and then disappear when I go through periods of not wanting/being able to cope with being social. @viperbranium and @dizzy-redhead have been putting up with me recently. Favourite song: ??? I don’t really care about music.  I’ve listened to every song on T-Swift’s 1989 album a bajillion times though. Grossest memory: I’m pretty lucky in that I haven’t experienced anything awful and my brain tends to try to protect me against things except for those ‘oh wow embarrassing’ moments, so I’m sure there’s something but all I can think of is: I peed myself walking home once around the age of 14 in the dead of winter. With my new BFF (why btw is still my BFF like 16 yrs later - ice breaker I guess) In love: I love a lot of things, ironically and unironically.  I’m not in romantic love with a person, but I’m trying my best to get rid of the toxic idea that I should be stingy with expressing love as a concept. Jealous of people: Sure, but I try not to take it out on them or on myself. There’s a difference between having a moment of that really awful negative yearning and actually acting out about it.  I try to go through life with the mantra of ‘don’t be a dick’ (sometimes to the detriment of speaking up for myself) Killed someone: I’d prefer not to go to jail, thanks. Love at first sight or should I walk by again: You’re probably going to have to stand in front of me for years, and I still won’t notice. Middle name: Elizabeth Number of siblings: 2 One wish: Haha. My “simple” wishes are 1. to get out of this city and move somewhere better. 2. tons of money, which I would first spend doing #1.  Person you called last: I have no idea, probably someone for work. The last person I called for not-work purposes was my dad a month or so ago because he doesn’t text. Question you’re always asked: “Can you help me on the computer?” (work) “When are you updating ___?” (fandom)   Reason to smile: There are a ton of reasons to smile, but right now i’m happy that my vacation is next week - it’s def a staycation. I’m burned out so I really just need to not be at work for a week. Song you last sang: IDK music. Probably something My Chemical Romance because there’s a new guy at work named Jerry Way and the teen librarian and I can’t get rid of that mental association. Time you woke up:  10:00 am Underwear colour: Fuchsia bra and black undies. Matching underwear is for people who 1. care, and 2. can buy sets for $30 at La Senza or Victoria’s Secret. I’m not saying this in a bitter way, just if anyone out there thinks that matching sets are NECESSARY and it stresses them out, then NO THEY AREN’T they’re just underwear. If you get hit by a bus the medical professionals aren’t even going to notice or care as they’re trying to save your life. Vacation: With honesty I am amazed by people who are able to save up and go on a trip with their vacation time.  I live in a state of perpetual exhaustion.  I save my vacay time for when I’m about to break. So... next week. Worst habit: I have a lot of bad habits. I’m socially anxious. I use my hair for floss. Sometimes I pick my nose. I leave cabinet doors open in the kitchen. X-rays: I had a broken ankle for 4 months a few years ago, so I had a lot of x-rays done then.  Your favourite food: I love food and eating, but my fav is probably this dumb tuna casserole my mom used to make me as a kid = comfort. Of course since it’s mostly cream of mushroom soup and I’m severely lactose intolerant, I rarely eat it. Zodiac sign: Scorpio

People I wanna know more about: @viperbranium @dizzy-redhead @whtaft @buckmebxrnes @hungrylikethewolfie (as always, not an obligation)

Also: anyone who wants to do it.

[underimagines]

Let's talk about headcanons about Food

Now, Mod Sync here is a decent enough cook. Put a recipe in front of me and I’ll be able to cook almost anything, and I can cook some things from just memory. I was making omelettes and looking up recipes and I wondered “What about the Undertale cast? What do they eat outside the game?” So, here are some things I’ve thought up about the main four!

If anyone remembers the Anniversary Q&A that happened (oh, who am I kidding, of course you guys do), then we know some things about that already. HOWEVER, I’m only going to partially use this info here. These are headcanons after all, so I don’t have to quite follow canon. 

Now, if you wish to continue, I shall leave these under a Read more, because this is gonna get wordy and also for you guys who are avoiding food for whatever reason. Also will include some other AUs.

Undertale Cast

Sans, without a doubt, loves anything greasy and fried. Pub food in partcular; burgers and fries are his go-to faves obviously, but also cheese sticks, stuffed potato skins, fried pickled, and so on. Hot pockets and mini pizza bites become a staple in his diet once on the surface. Anything he can pop in the microwave real quick. Also, mac and cheese with all the ketchup.

On the healthier side of things; He’s also very fond of anything with a large amount of tomatoes. Tomato soup with grilled cheese, sun dried Tomato slices, and many, many Italian dishes, though Papyrus has to sort of make him eat it. Except V8 juice. That shit is nasty.

Cooking-wise, he’s decent. He can make a number of different quiche by heart, and anything simple. He’ll need a recipe for anything else, and if it get’s too complicated, he’ll opt-out. Too lazy for anything fancy, leave that to his bro.

Papyrus is head of the kitchen in the Bros’ house. Strangely (or not so much) though, he’s the opposite of Sans; Paps is perfectly capable of making beautiful, complex dishes you’d see at a five-star restaurant. He likes the challenge. He could easily make Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq Au Vin, Backed Alaska, Curry from scratch, etc. But, when it comes to simpler things like Spaghetti, he’s thrown off. In his head, it’s too simple, so he adds things that the recipe doesn’t call for, thinking it will be better like his more complex ones. But…. yeah, the things he adds aren’t always even edible in general.

At the same time, he’s very fond of simple dishes. His favorite food is Oatmeal, an extremely simple dish to make for most. He has a cheese sandwich and an apple for lunch. Maybe he likes these because they’re so hard for him to make, like complex dishes are to normal people. I’d garner that the quiche Sans makes was another thing Paps favored but couldn’t make, so Sans made it for him sometimes. 

Aside from Italian, Paps would like fruit salad or salads in general, yogurt parfaits, cheese omelettes; simple, healthy things. He hates greasy foods, but he’s not above taking candy from the Inn lady, so he’s definitely got at least an ‘All things in moderation’ mentality.

Undyne is an odd ball here. We know that, similar to Sans, she’s fond of greasy foods, a call noting that she likes Grillby’s cheese fries. She also has soda and hot chocolate as choices when you hang out with her. It’s not a far stretch to say Undyne likes junk food. However, as an apparent fitness nut -stemming from needing to stay strong as Captain of the Guard- I’m sure Undyne knows that too much junk food is bad for her. However, there is one thing I can garner off her personality and one particular physical trait of hers that can tell me about what she might eat: her teeth. 

Undyne’s teeth are pointed. Meaning her teeth are sharp. I would go as far as saying that if Undyne is any particular kind of fish, it’s a Piranha. And what do Piranha like? Meat. Undyne, without a doubt, would love meat and grilling. Anything at all. Fish, Chicken, Hotdogs, Veggies, Kabobs, anything she can stick on a grill. 

Seafood is another thing entirely. I’d think seafood is more on the side of comfort food for her. Clam chowder in particular. It stems from a headcanon of mine about Undyne’s family, I’ll talk about it later if you guys want. Sushi is definitely a thing she can get behind, though may take a bit for her to build up to Sashimi.

Tea was another thing in the choices at your hang out. It stemmed from her time while training with Asgore, and she keeps some around. I think she drinks it when she’s stressed. It helps her relax and think.

Alphys is another junk food lover, but only because she’s busy with other things and doesn’t have the time to cook. Cup Ramen is her go-to, but she’s got some other stuff stored away. Finger things she can eat with one hand and type with the other. On the surface, Undyne gets her to start eating grapes or trail mix instead. 

On actual cooked foods, she’s fond of anything hearty; stews and thick soups, stir-fry, and anything served in a skillet. Also, of course she’s into oriental food. The first time she tries REAL ramen, she’s in heaven. She loves noodle dishes and once again, soups. Oddly, she has an extremely high spice tolerance, easily popping whole habaneros an a snack. Undyne refuses to kiss her after she has been.

Alphys herself is fairly decent at cooking. She learns to make a number of Japanese dishes once on the surface; onigiri, bento boxes, and her own sushi and ramen.

(I haven’t come up with any more than the skelebros of other AUs at the moment. Might do another post at a later date about with other characters if it is wanted.)

Underfell Skelebros

Sans, again, loves greasy pub food. He loves anything with a kick too. Jalapeño bites and pepper jack cheese are a constant. He also loves foods with layers or can have lots of toppings; pizzas with everything on them, subs and hotdogs piled high, and obviously his bro’s lasagna. (Don’t let him near a Cincinnati three-way, you will never hear the end of all the perverse jokes if you do.) He’s also fond of Cajun and Creole cooking.

On actual food, one of the few leafy greens Papyrus can get Sans to eat that he likes are Mustard greens, so more often than not, Paps will sauté some up as a side to whatever he’s cooked to get Sans to eat something relatively healthy. Otherwise, it’s limited to whatever Paps can sneak into a dish. Strangely, Sans is also fond of Southern style Sweet tea, even though he doesn’t care for sweet things otherwise.

Sans is an ok cook, but prefers not to if he doesn’t have to. If it isn’t microwaveable, it better be simple, or he’s gonna need a lot of motivation to make anything with more than 4 steps.

Papyrus is a literal Master Chef. He’d put Gorden Ramsey to shame. Paps can take almost anything and make it taste good. It’s the reason Sans eats anything healthy at all. Unlike UT!Paps, he can actually cook simple things too. It’s something besides his strength that he prides himself in.

On his own diet, he does love his lasagna, but also anything you can make in a casserole dish. He’s not overly picky, aside from keeping his own food to a tolerable spice level unlike his brother, but he does favor things that can last for a while and be reheated. In a world like Underfell, sometimes there are days were it’s just not safe to go out, so having a lot of leftovers can be helpful when stuck inside. So casseroles, stews, anything that can sit in the fridge and not taste bad after a day or two.

On another note, he’s fond of breads and baked goods. He makes some hella good garlic bread, and always has dinner rolls or biscuits or whatever ready as a side. Just don’t tell Sans how much he loves Monkey Bread, it’s one of the extreme few things he indulges in.

Underswap Skelebros

Sans our little taco man. Yes, he loves Mexican food. No, it’s not the only thing he cooks. No, his food isn’t that bad. He has a tendency of burning things because he gets distracted, but he knows better than to put inedible things in his food. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get a little… creative with his cooking, but at least they’re all things that are supposed to be edible.

Through his love of Mexican food, he has a decent spice tolerance, and, though Tacos are his fave, he’s very fond of rice dishes as well. And black bean soup. He makes some fine salsa and guacamole from scratch too.

On the other hand, he’s not really picky. He’ll try anything once. He’s pretty fond of most any beef and chicken dishes. Though Paps has forbidden him from straight sugar and coffee, Sans can wip up some damn good sweets, like Mexican brownies and chocolate filled Churros. At least that way, Paps won’t drink straight honey while still getting his sugar fix.

Papyrus, on the other hand, is practically a sugar addict. He loooooves everything sweet. Candy, pastries, ice cream, anything with sugar. He’s Muffet’s taste tester if she’s making something new. Aside from honey, he’s particularly fond of chocolate in general and fruit fillings.

On the normal food side, he’s not as fond of spicy things as Sans, so Sans usually holds back on Pap’s food when it comes to spice. He also isn’t fond of complicated dishes unless it’s sweets. He likes simple things; sandwiches, salads, rice, anything you can throw together real quick or pop in the microwave. It’s not that he won’t eat healthy, it’s just it tends to be disproportionate to the amount of sweets he eats.

This also shows in his cooking. If it isn’t simple, he’s gonna have trouble. He’s not bad, he just gets a little nervous and that can lead to being a little clumsy. He’d rather Sans do the cooking, or at least keep an eye on things if it’s something he needs a recipe for.

[compunctionjunction]

70 horrible questions

I was tagged by the lovely @1of1prism thank u my guy <3

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents? Maybe better than some people but probably also worse than a lot of people lol. Sometimes I go to people’s houses and I’m like ???what is this “communication”. Also depends on the day and parent. i have an entire tag devoted to my dad lol

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? I dunno probs my mom or one of my friends 

03: Do you regret anything? Lots

04: Are you insecure? "My insecurities have insecurities” tho tbh i’m gettin pretty good. 

05: What is your relationship status? Single and not ready to mingle

06: How do you want to die? in control and ready 2 go

07: What did you last eat? cream of chicken soup... chocolate frozen yogurt... caramel pudding....... I just had my wisdom teeth out.......give me real food......

08: Played any sports? Never, in my life. The audacity.

09: Do you bite your nails? Ahuh! Sometimes!

10: When was your last physical fight? ive never been in a 2-way fight but the most recent 1-sided one was probs in gr 6 when one of my friends (aha) dragged me across the classroom by my hair lol

11: Do you like someone? No :\

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours? try 72 hon

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? lol trump (im not changing ur answer sophie cause its accurate lol) also anyone who aligns w him and rn all the conservative MPs for being dicks and a lot more I’m full of hatred rn 

14: Do you miss someone? i miss being able to eat real 

15: Have any pets? my sister has 2 ferrets :\ but she moved out so no

16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment? my face hurts

17: Ever made out in the bathroom? made out a cheque to my haters (just kidding i have no money and no haters i just was trying to be funny. im sorry. i need humour right now.)

18: Are you scared of spiders? i mean i think it depends on how dark it is and how big the spider is tbh 

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? i dunno i’ll need an informed consent form

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? :\ 

21: What are your plans for this weekend? first i gotta recover and then i gotta finish like 5 papers and hang with people and have a sleepover and hang with more ppl and watch a bunch of tv

22: Do you want to have kids? How many? I want to give birth to 0 kids tho I am still undecided on adoption etc. I’d probs be a rly good godmother tho like im just sayin. @1of1prism @purewhiteflames​ ;)) 

23: Do you have piercings? How many? no piercings as of yet tho i wanna get my ears pierced i think. but my dad disapproves of anything like that so i’d probs have to wait to either move out or be financially independent lol

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? rn? english, women and gender studies, most things involving research-based papers where i have free reign over the topic 

25: Do you miss anyone from your past? lotsa ppl tbh

26: What are you craving right now? food........that i can eat........ chickenmelts........hamburgers......pizza........pasta......... :’(

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? prob lol but do i care

28: Have you ever been cheated on? we’ve all been cheated on.......by the system.....

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? that would require having one

30: What’s irritating you right now? my goddamn jaw and people eating food I can’t eat in front of me. my parents had mcdonalds yesterday. you know what i had. a milkshake. my sister brought home bacon wrapped scallops. I haven’t had scallops in like 2 years cause they’ve doubled in price and the one time we have scallops let alone frickin bacon wrapped scallops (like what the hell what kinda fancyass lunch) I cant FRICKIN eat it. Oh but I can smell it. I can hear u crunching on these foods. “Mmmmm!” ya shut up.

31: Does somebody love you? Do you know how popular I am? I am soooo popular. Everybody loves me so much at this school.

32: What is your favourite color? black and hot pink together

33: Do you have trust issues? ...........why are u asking..........what will u do with that info.......

34: Who/what was your last dream about? NO FREAKING JOKE!!!!!! i HAD A FRICKIN DREAM WHERE DANNY DEVITO CAME TO MY HOUSE WITH THIS LADY AND THEY TRIED TO BUY MY HOUSE AND MY MOM WAS LIKE “no..” AND THEY WERE SO MAD AND DANNY DEVITO TRIED TO STEAL THE HOUSE KEYS BUT I CAUGHT HIM JUST IN TIME like what kinda fake tumblr text post but it’s real i really dreamed that. I honestly can’t believe it. I would doubt it myself except I told someone abt it right away when I woke up. so now i will never forget.

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? my mom and this nurse because I woke up in a cot after being high on laughing gas and some other drug and steroids so not only did I wake up and I didn’t know where I was and no one was there and there was like an hour gap in my consciousness but I was coming off a high LOL

36: Do you give out second chances too easily? definitely not lol I give 2nd chances on rare occasions but as a general rule if u break my trust I won’t trust u in the same way again lol “trust is like a mirror. u can fix it if it’s broke. but u can still see the crack in that mother fucker’s reflection”

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm forgive i guess

38: Is this year the best year of your life? well not politically or in a global sense but in terms of like self-growth and stuff I’m doing pretty well so far I’m doin pretty good. workin hard... having fun.. loving myself.. 

39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? i have never in my life sullied my lips with someone else’s bacteria-laden lips

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? n.........o

51: Favourite food? chicken pasta alfredo, chicken pie, chicken vol au vents, chickenmelts, eggs benedict, um, double chocolate fudge tart from dufflet... hmm, Sophie’s dad’s lasagna and also pasta al fuerno or whatever that’s called like yum, uh.. it’s really easy to list these off when i CAN’T HAVE ANY OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also poutine, and I also rly like Subway (ham and cheese on italian herbs and cheese bread with lettuce, onion, pickles, and mayonaisse, toasted...) 

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? kind of but I tried to explain it to someone once and they were like ??????what ur saying makes no sense and contradicts itself and i was like ya probably lol

53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? watched a bad tv show my parents were watching and drank a giant mcdonalds milkshake and iced my face

54: Is cheating ever okay? honestly who am i to judge ur relationship and forgiveness and stuff but like imo if someone cheats on u they don’t respect u as an equal in that relationship or probably as a human

55: Are you mean? i can be a bit of a dick tbh but most of the time when i say something mean in my head im like “why is my mouth saying//why are my fingers typing these horrible ass things??”

56: How many people have you fist fought? well ive never used my fists on anyone but 2 people have punched me in the stomach does that count lol

57: Do you believe in true love? at the same time, i wanna hug you, i wanna wrap my hands around your neck, you’re an asshole, but i love you... so much i think it must be true love, true love. it must be tru-e love, no one else could break my heart like yo-o-o-o-o-o. yo-o-o-o-oh, oh-o-o-oh (No)

58: Favourite weather? either when its foggy and tranquil or when its like 23-25 degrees and sunny but also there’s some clouds so it’s not like direct hot sun on u but it’s still warm enough to wear shorts

59: Do you like the snow? i like when it’s snowing and quiet and peaceful and i like lying down in the snow and having that feeling of hearing everything kind of muted? but ya i hate slush and ice and stuff 

60: Do you wanna get married? not really but i might for tax benefits LOL

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? No, get that shit away from me

62: What makes you happy? lots of things especially seeing other people happy and genuine

63: Would you change your name? Maybe tbh it’s something i’m thinking abt right now cause I’m not a super fan of my name but maybe not officially and I also don’t wanna start shit with my fam I think my mom would be upset lol 

64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed? ya cause they don’t exist lol

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? well thats nice cause I like him too but what’s with this “opposite sex” bs like i know what u mean but like 

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? like seriously it’s not a real thing sex and gender are both constructs it’s a spectrum, a range. my buddy. pal. listen. (also ya i like to think anyone in our friend group but like probs john cause I can be scathing with those guys but as if i’d ever be vulnerable around them LOL)

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to? like ur gonna keep going with this. ur gonna keep doing this. thats fine. but i can give u some reading. like i have all these pdfs if ur interested. no joke. and if pdfs are unaccessible to u i also have a bunch of youtube links. like hon. (my dad)

68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? wow i dont even know if i can tag u back @1of1prism cause if im being honest i think it was @purewhiteflames oops, yikes!!!

69: Do you believe in soulmates? no but i do think there are people that u are much more compatible with than other people

70: Is there anyone you would die for? i dunno we’ll see if/when it happens lol

I’m not gonna put anyone else through this so you can say I tagged u if u wanna do it but like lol

[consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis]

Gluten Free Monthly Favorites: The Best Paleo Chips, a $4,500 Giveaway and More!

New blog post!

Another month is in the books, and I’m here for another monthly recap of some of my favorite gluten free eats, activities and products from October - plus a hint at what’s coming up in November. 

As usual, I’m not sure where the time went, but I officially only have four weeks left until I’m 1/6 of the way through my grad program! (Insert screaming emoji here). Work is nonstop, but I’m trying to regularly sprinkle in local adventures, lots of delicious gluten free food and my fair share of Netflix binges. 

So what gluten free recipes, vegan and paleo products and fall-inspired activities won this celiac’s heart in October? And how can you enter Love With Food's latest $4,500 giveaway? Keep reading to find out! 

What I’m Eating: 

Enough leftovers to make me a leftover-tasting expert. I’ve decided that grad school is three times the work and two times the stress of undergrad (and I took 17 units almost every semester!), which means I rarely have the time to whip up anything fancy for dinner. So, my dinners have mainly consisted of various types of potatoes, veggies, protein, avocado (always) and grains. Easy, healthy and delicious. No complaints from me! 

Way too many deliciously addictive paleo chips from Cassava Crunch. As their name suggests, they make chips out of cassava, which is a starchy root vegetable that’s naturally gluten free and extra beloved in the paleo community. I stumbled across Cassava Crunch's Instagram page last month and, after I commented how amazing their chips looked, they were kind enough to send me to two bags to try. All I have to say? These chips are the perfect combination of crunchy but light, spices but not overly salty and one heck of a delicious side to enchilada stuffed spaghetti squash or a vegan snack plate dinner.

Pumpkin in every form I can think of. I’ve made pumpkin popcorn pancakes, added pumpkin puree to my basic nana ice cream recipe, and even cooked my own sugar-free pumpkin butter loosingly based on this recipe. Add in the plain pumpkin purée I’ve been enjoying with my yogurt for a night snack, and I’m probably closer to turning into a pumpkin than Cinderella. Considering how good all of these gluten free pumpkin recipes taste, I’m A-OK with that! 

What I’m Doing/Loving:

Enjoying more (short) evening walks. Ever since my leg muscles decided to go a bit crazy, I haven’t been able to do a lot of walking. Knock on wood, though, there have been a couple days where I’ve been able to take an evening stroll. Since fall has permanently arrived in Mankato, I’m usually bundled up like an Eskimo...but the sunsets around campus are gorgeous, and I love doing a little meditation or reflection I walk.

Realizing that, most days, I actually enjoy teaching. One class a few weeks ago, I hit me that, even though I was stumbling over my words, my students were half-asleep and I was feeling a bit zombified myself, I actually felt comfortable leading class and happy walking around and answering students’ questions. Is teaching always butterflies and rainbows? H-e-double-hockey-sticks no. But I’m trying to savor the moments where it is.  

Leaving my comfort zone with some social adventures! At the start of October, I spent an evening hanging out, carving pumpkins and warming up around a bonfire with some other MFA folk. To end October, I went to a "Literary Magazine" Halloween party, in which each person had to dress like their favorite literary magazine (because that's what literary nerds like us do for fun). My five-minute costume was a cardboard box that I cut into strips so that I could be The Driftwood, my undergrad's literary magazine! Socializing as a grad student is extra challenging when you're not a night owl and have to take sleeping meds (for fibromyalgia-related insomnia) and can't drive after a certain time at night. However, I'm learning to be more flexible with my schedule and seeing where life leads me!

What I’m Planning: 

Stocking up on my gluten free soup, nice cream, smoothie bowls and potato recipes since I’ll be having dental surgery the day before Thanksgiving...which means I’m trading the usual feast for five days of a soft foods diet. This is the second year in a row where I’ve nixed the usual Thanksgiving dinner, so I’m not too bummed. But living without trail mix, granola and other crunchy delights? That’ll be a lot harder! 

Pacing myself. This is the time in the school year that’s always hardest for me, mainly because I usually enter the “burned out” phrase after midterms...and this year is no exception. So, while I’m going to try to have as many adventures as possible, getting a lot of R&R is also high up on my priority list. Good thing I have my list of 15 self care activities that take 15 minutes or less, right? 

And, for the chance to make your holiday season even more awesome, I'm sharing Love with Food's latest HUGE giveaway! I'm an affiliate and ambassador of Love of Food and while their monthly gluten free snack boxes (GLUTEN-FREE THREE MONTH PLAN <--affiliate link, FYI!) are delicious, their giveaways are even better! One lucky participant will win over $4,500 in goodies. Enter the giveaway by clicking here: Love With Food Giveaway. The giveaway ends on November 17, and you can read all the terms and conditions on the linked page. Best of luck - it'd be so cool if one of my readers won!

October was full of tricks and treats, and November will actually be my last full month in Minnesota before winter break! I've been away from family since early August, so I’m beyond excited to spend four weeks in Colorado before the spring semester starts. 

I’ll certainly be spending a lot of winter break preparing for next semester (both in terms of the class I’m teaching and the classes I’ll be taking), but sleeping in, experimenting in the kitchen (can you say Christmas cookies?!?) and enjoying family time are also high on my to-do list. 

So I suppose the only left to say is that we’ll see what Minnesota has in store for me in November! 

*As mentioned above, I am an affiliate of Love with Food and there is an affiliate link in this post. An affiliate link does not affect the price you pay for anything you purchase through them, but they do help me pay for my college textbooks. As always, all opinions and photographs are my own!* What were some of your October highlights? What is your favorite brand of chips? Tell me in the comments!

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2zt6Vcv

[808randolph-blog]

#808Randolph The Mom Whose Second Pregnancy Revolves Around Her Toddler: In our new series Pregnancy Diaries, we ask expecting women to jot down every pregnancy-related detail of their lives for a week. (Special thanks to New York mag and Refinery29 for the inspo.) Work-related conundrums, struggles with IVF, and a whole lot of nausea, ahead. For our eighth entry, we have a 33-year-old part-time publicist from Connecticut who's 25 weeks along. She and her husband of almost eight years have a “spirited” two-and-a-half-year-old girl, and don't know the sex of baby number two.  How long did it take you to conceive?  It took just a couple of months to conceive baby #2. My cycle has tended to fluctuate month-to-month since having my daughter, so it was a bit of a challenge to track accurately. We've been incredibly fortunate and have not experienced any fertility issues to-date. Any other details relevant to your pregnancy? Our daughter was born three weeks and one day early, and I gave birth less than three hours after my water broke. This is known as precipitous labor, and it's not the most normal scenario for someone's first baby. Oh, and my husband was traveling on business at the time! Luckily my parents live nearby, and my mom was able to meet me at the hospital. I had accumulated all of the “stuff” I needed for the baby, but I was not ready to give birth or bring a baby home. Needless to say, the big theme of this pregnancy is PREPARATION. I hope to have everything ready for baby #2 at least four weeks before my due date so that we're not caught off guard this time. Of course, this is easier said than done when most of my days are spent catering to the needs and whims of a two-and-a-half-year-old. I'll refer to the new baby here as “the baby” or “it.” We don't know the gender! We also kept our daughter's gender a surprise. I'm very Type A and typically need to know every detail about everything, but this is one area of life where I truly feel that ignorance is bliss. MORE: A Glimpse Into What Pregnancy After a Miscarriage Is Like DAY 1 7 a.m. – Rise and shine! My daughter (we'll call her S) usually wakes up around 6:30am, but she's content to hang out in her crib for a little while and I use that extra time to wake myself up. In an ideal world, I would get up before her and eat breakfast, but she *knows* if I'm up and my plans for early morning productivity are always thwarted. We head downstairs and make a smoothie to share—almond milk, strawberries, raspberries, chia seeds, and cacao powder–and I fix myself a bowl of Kashi Blueberry Clusters and a cup of coffee. Decaf. The horror. I quit caffeine when I was pregnant with S and it has made me feel really sick ever since. 10:30 a.m. – Our weekly playgroup was rescheduled to an earlier time today, so we skip Mommy & Me gymnastics class and head to playgroup. (Chase S around a large gym, or sit on the floor while she plays with friends? I'll take the latter!) 12 p.m. – It's a ridiculously beautiful day, and S does not want to get in the car to go home after playgroup. I promise her we can go for a walk right after we eat lunch at home. I make her a PB&J sandwich and slice up an apple, and suddenly I feel like my blood sugar has plummeted and like I might pass out. S is desperate to go outside and can't understand that I need to quickly eat some food and sit down for a little while. I inhale a PB&J, two clementines, and several glasses of water and start to feel better. 1 p.m. – Ok, let's take that walk! We live within walking distance of town, so S gets into her favorite pink push car and off we go. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die after walking up the hill from my house to the main road. It's a perfect day for a treat, and I decide that our destination will be the gelato shop. 2 p.m. – Nap time for S! I use nap time to tackle dishes from the morning and early afternoon, catch up on work emails and take care of any work items that have popped up and need my attention. 7:30 p.m. – I keep S up late because my husband hasn't seen her all week. He works in finance in NYC and has an hour-long train ride to and from work every day. He puts S to bed before jumping in the car to drive to Vermont for the night. I bailed on our trip this weekend after looking at weather reports, and he needs to pick up some of his ski gear before a trip next week. (Note: No, I'm not skiing while pregnant!) 8 p.m. — I chat with my college roommate, who just gave birth to twins one week ago. The box of goodies that I sent her arrived today. Hooray! I do a final kitchen cleanup and shut the house down. 9 p.m. – I wash and dry my hair and catch up on some TV before falling asleep around 11. So far, I've been sleeping really well without too many restless nights or middle-of-the-night bathroom trips. I tell myself the baby knows that Mama needs her sleep. Pregnancy is an afterthought most days, but sometimes the realization that a baby is coming soon hits me like a bolt of lightning and sends me into a tizzy. DAY 2 6:30 a.m.– Our two cats are clamoring for breakfast, so I roll myself out of bed to tend to them before they start fighting directly outside of S's room. 7 a.m. – S gets up and opts for blueberry waffles for breakfast, while I once again settle on Kashi Blueberry Clusters. This has been my daily go-to breakfast since getting past the first trimester. I never threw up during the first trimester with this baby, but I generally felt nauseous all day every day and could rarely eat anything more than an English muffin or chicken noodle soup. With S, I threw up every morning from weeks 6-14 but felt fine the rest of the day. 8:45 a.m. – It's going to rain this afternoon and I want to make sure that we stretch our legs and get some fresh air today, so I suggest to S that we get dressed and go to the Nature Center in town for a walk. I have to borrow a sweatshirt from my husband because all of mine are too tight now. It *only* takes us 45 minutes to pull ourselves together and get out the door. 11:30AM – My husband is back home, and we take S to the diner for lunch. I get a buffalo chicken salad because I am a sucker for buffalo chicken, but the salad makes me feel like I'm making an effort to be healthy. I also steal pickles from S and my husband. 2 p.m. – My husband takes S up to her room for her nap, but she asks for me to come up to read her a book and put her to bed. I'm planning to clean my room this afternoon while she naps. 4:30 p.m. – Oops. I fell asleep and got nothing done! As a general rule in life, I REALLY don't like to take naps. Pregnancy is just about the only time I make an exception. 5:30 p.m. – We always get the most delicious macaroni and cheese on our way home from Vermont, and my husband dutifully picked one up this morning to make for dinner tonight. Sadly, it's a bad batch. It looks and tastes terrible. Just looking at it makes my stomach turn and I can't bear to think about eating ANYTHING. I don't tend to have specific food aversions during pregnancies, but some days I struggle to find anything that I'm willing to eat. This evening, I force myself to at least eat a toasted English muffin so that I get something in my stomach. 9 p.m. – After getting S to bed and tidying up the main floor of the house, I make a mug of peppermint tea and head to the basement with my husband to watch “Planet Earth II.”  DAY 3 7 a.m. – My husband gets up to get S from her crib but we all have get up, so I groggily follow them downstairs. 9:45 a.m. – S has swimming lessons on Sunday mornings, which are my husband's domain. We've been away most weekends this winter, but it's so nice to have a little time in the house by myself this morning! I make an egg and cheese on an English muffin and have a second cup of coffee. I realize I'm going to have a baby in about three months and spend my alone time scurrying around the house finding homes for some stray, out of place items. Pregnancy is an afterthought most days, but sometimes the realization that a baby is coming soon hits me like a bolt of lightning and sends me into a tizzy. 2 p.m. – I finish up my grocery list and go shopping for the week while S naps. We usually shop on Monday mornings and while it's a definite treat to stroll the aisles of Whole Foods by myself, I miss my shopping buddy. I always load up on lots of fresh fruits and veggies to snack on throughout the week. I've been drawn to a lot of citrus fruit during this pregnancy. I love to have grapefruit with breakfast whenever I have time, and I snack on clementines throughout the day. I *had* to have a red bell pepper every single day when I was pregnant with S, but I haven't eaten them nearly as often during this pregnancy. I consider shopping a success because I kept myself from coming home with a ton of junk food. I maintained a very healthy diet when I was pregnant with S and rarely craved any kind of junk food. In fact, junk food made me feel really sick over the entire course of my first pregnancy. This time, I want all of the candy, cookies and ice cream you can toss my way. It's a daily struggle to make sure I'm giving the baby the right nutrients and keeping my weight in check. 4 p.m. – My husband managed to edit a video of S skiing, put all of her toys away in the basement, AND vacuum that room while I was out shopping. He is amazing and also makes me feel like the laziest person on the planet. I bought a single sumo orange at the store and eat it right when I get home. I immediately regret not buying the store's entire stock and will literally dream about sumo oranges for the next week. 6 p.m. – The Academy Awards are on tonight and even though I haven't seen a single nominated film, I'll watch red carpet coverage and the entire awards show broadcast. We get Chinese takeout for dinner and eat as a family before I return to the couch. I get the night off from being Mom. (Truthfully, my husband does most of the heavy lifting with S on the weekends anyway.) 8 p.m. – I bought ingredients to make skillet s'mores for dessert, and all I want is peppermint tea and a big bowl of fresh berries. I am simultaneously proud of myself and disappointed. The baby is constantly battering my bladder. DAY 4 6:15 a.m. – I wake up after hearing S stirring in her crib, but there's no way we're getting up yet. I have to use the bathroom, but it's just not worth getting out of bed right now. 6:30 a.m. – I look at the baby monitor again and notice that S is no longer in her crib! I am momentarily alarmed but decide that there's nothing she can get into trouble with in her room, so I leave her to play with her books while I wake myself up. 6:40 a.m. – I hear a door open and S is suddenly in my room saying, “Hi, Mommy!” Terrific. Not only can she climb out of her crib, but she ALSO can get out of her room. This is not a developmental milestone that I am looking to deal with three months before we have a new baby. 9 a.m. – S and I head out for a playdate at a trampoline park with my best friend and her daughter, who is just four months younger than S. My best friend is due with her second baby exactly two months after me, and we are trying to squeeze in as much time together with our girls as we can before the babies arrive. I'm so grateful to experience pregnancy with her again. I always have someone to text throughout the day who's facing similar toddler, parenting, and pregnancy issues. 10:30 a.m. – The baby feels really low today and is constantly battering my bladder. This is not an ideal feeling as I chase a toddler across a sea of trampolines. 2 p.m. – I'm so tired after a full morning and partial afternoon of really active play with S. I think about making a salad for lunch after putting her down for a nap, but there are three untouched quarters of a perfectly good PB&J sandwich sitting on a plate. I'd love to lie down for a little while, but I need to take care of some work emails this afternoon. I also order a couple of books for S about being a big sister to help her get ready for the baby. 8 p.m. – Leftovers of last night's takeout for dinner tonight. I'm starving and eat most of mine while my husband is still preparing his plate. We head to the basement to catch up on “Homeland.” 9 p.m. – My husband is organizing for our weekly garbage pick-up. I help by emptying the various small trash cans around the house while he cleans the litter boxes one more time and takes the garbage can and recycling bin to the end of the driveway. 10 p.m. – Early to bed! I'm exhausted from staying up late last night and a busy day with S. The baby starts kicking me as soon as I lie down, but I'm too tired for it to bother me today. DAY 5 7 a.m. – S did not climb out of bed this morning. Phew. Perhaps it was a one-time thing. 9 a.m. – My mom arrives to pick S up for the day. This is a good time to mention that our lives do not function without my mom. She's exceedingly flexible and generous with her time, and I don't know what we would do without her. My mom takes S two days a week, and I use those days as my full workdays. I'm extremely lucky to be able to work part-time, mostly from home, for the same PR firm that I was with full-time for nearly 10 years before having S. 9:30 a.m. – I settle down at my desk with my Kashi Blueberry Clusters and coffee after quickly getting dressed and pulling myself together for the day. Even though I work from home and spend a lot of time on the floor or chasing after a toddler, I need to get dressed in real clothes every day (read: no yoga pants for this mom, but to each their own!). It helps me feel like a human and have a productive day. 11:15 a.m. – I receive a call that my furniture delivery will arrive within 10 minutes, so I take a quick break from work. I unload the dishwasher, eat a clementine and refill my water cup while I wait. The delivery arrives – a new dresser that will either go to S or the baby–and I forgot that it would come fully assembled. The baby's room is currently my office and guest room, and I haven't “moved out” yet. The deliverymen are confused when I ask them to leave the dresser in the box and put it against the wall in my living room, but that is where it will live for the next month or so. Good luck to my husband and whichever friend he recruits to help him move it upstairs. 1 p.m. – The baby is kicking up a storm, and I look at the clock and realize that I haven't eaten lunch. I was extremely disciplined about my eating schedule when I was pregnant with S, and this baby is typically kicking me to say, “Excuse me? Hello? I'm hungry down here!” I make a salad with spinach, black olives, feta cheese, walnuts and red bell pepper and head back to my desk. 3:30 p.m. – I dial into a conference call that I primarily need to listen to and multitask by looking for overhead light fixtures for each of the bedrooms in the house. None of the bedrooms currently have overhead lights, but it's not a huge project. We'll have them installed sometime before the baby arrives. 4:30 p.m. – I don't have any additional work items to take care of today, so I take advantage of the extra time and make two phone calls that have been sitting on my to-do list. I make a two-and-a-half-year well visit with the pediatrician for S and call the hospital where I will deliver the baby to take care of preregistration details. The hospital tells me that I'll also have to stop by in-person to sign a few forms, and I make a note in my calendar to take care of that when I'm near the hospital following my next OBGYN appointment in three weeks. Then I start dinner prep before S gets home: lemon garlic shrimp with whole wheat penne. 6:30 p.m. – S's new stall tactic to avoid bedtime is to ask for a “quick bath” every night as we're heading upstairs. She doesn't need a bath today, but I'm not in a mood to argue with her and it gives us something to do before she goes to bed. There is one bathtub/shower that we share, and the bathtub is TALL. It's increasingly difficult for me to bathe her, but my husband doesn't get home early enough during the week to help with that task. 8 p.m. – I chat with my college roommate again. She has some questions about breastfeeding and pumping. I can't remember the answers to her questions off the top of my head, but I know exactly where my feeding and pumping logs are from when S was a newborn and consult them. As I review my notes from those early days, I am reminded of how incessant a newborn's needs are and jokingly ask myself why I signed up for this again. Mild panic about life with a toddler and newborn sets in. 9 p.m. – I can't drink, but I *can* have a bowl of ice cream. It's the little things that keep me going. 10 p.m. – Catch up with my husband, who worked late today, and catch up on news of the day. I don't get much time to read or watch the news during the day anymore and I don't have a TV in my office, so I often bookmark articles to read at night sometime between getting S to bed and falling asleep myself. DAY 6 9:15 a.m. – S and I head out for Mommy & Me class at the Nature Center. This is S's favorite weekly activity, and it's a great way for us to spend some time outdoors. I grab a Nature Valley granola square for myself as we leave the house because I know I'll be starving once class is over. 11 a.m. – We are back home after getting caught in a storm at the Nature Center. I can't zip my raincoat over my stomach, so I'm wet and freezing cold. 2 p.m. – I make avocado toast for lunch, which seems to satisfy the baby, and jump onto the computer to tackle a project for work that I want to send to a client tomorrow morning. I also use my time during S's nap today to educate myself about potty training and review recommended potty training products on Lucie's List. S has to be potty trained for preschool in September, and the thought of trying to do it this summer with a newborn makes me shudder. We'll tackle that in April. 5:30 p.m. – I have some chicken breasts in the fridge that I need to use, and I intended to marinate them earlier in the day but never got the chance. I settle on a dry rub and serve it with cauliflower rice and broccoli. The baby is happy that I'm eating a real meal at what it deems a reasonable time. S devours it and asks for more, and I hope that the baby develops her taste for vegetables. 8 p.m. – My husband heads out to play soccer, and I throw in a load of laundry and wash my hair. Quick showers are easy, but washing and drying my hair is a time commitment. My blow dryer and dry shampoo are really important tools these days! I look at my stomach and lament that it looks like I might not make it through this pregnancy without my belly button “popping.” It didn't happen with S, and it freaks me out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 10 p.m. – We head to bed, but I've been stressed that the light fixtures and remaining nursery furniture that I have picked out won't be available if I wait any longer to order them. I make those purchases and while I've got my laptop open, I reach out to two local photographers about booking a newborn session. I can't drink, but I *can* have a bowl of ice cream. It's the little things that keep me going. DAY 7 5:45 a.m. – I get up extra early to see my husband off for the day since he'll leave for his ski trip straight from the office this afternoon. This is the last time he's allowed to travel far away from home before the baby arrives. We're not taking any chances this time! 6:30 a.m. – I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and catching up on some news when lo and behold, S opens her bedroom door and is looking for me. She comes downstairs and we make a smoothie. I make a mental note to order a toddler clock on Amazon. 9:00 a.m. – I'm going to work from my parents' house today. We're leaving later than I'd hoped, but we're finally in the car and on our way. My parents are puppy-sitting for one of my sisters, and my best friend and her daughter are coming over for a puppy playdate and lunch. There's no way I'm missing out on that fun! 12:30 p.m. – I join the crew for a quick lunch after addressing morning emails and dialing into a few conference calls. My mom picked up deli sandwiches for everyone, and yes, I eat cold cuts for lunch. I'm very diligent about avoiding most of the pregnancy no-no's, but I will occasionally make an exception for an easy (and delicious) lunch. 2 p.m. – Loft and The Gap are having enticing sales today, so I take a break to peruse their websites. I try to be very judicious about the maternity clothing that I buy, and I always wait for a sale. Most of my maternity clothing needs fell over the summer with S, while this time I've needed winter clothing. I'm also home this time rather than in an office every day. Of course, I mostly end up buying things for S. Because what toddler doesn't need white jeans for summer? 6 p.m. – S and I get home and I make my ultimate lazy dinner: quinoa with black beans, corn and cheddar cheese. I add Sriracha to mine and a little enchilada sauce to S's. 8 p.m. – I'm determined to be productive while my husband is away, and I head upstairs to clean my room. Three hours later, I've purged and re-organized my closet and dealt with a lot of the disorder that was driving me batty. 11 p.m. – My hips and feet are in so much pain. I can barely move. I've been lucky so far in this pregnancy to not be afflicted with many aches or pains, but I really regret when I stay on my feet too long or overexert myself. The cats have been staring at me for an hour and are grateful when I climb into bed so they can settle down into their spots for the night and go to sleep. I turn on HGTV to quiet my brain, and the baby starts its late-night acrobatics. I'm pretty sure this one is going to be trouble. My pregnancy sounds like it revolves around S, and truthfully, it does. I read the pregnancy and baby books when I was pregnant with her, and I don't need to worry about finding every single “just right” item for the baby this time around. Barring complications, I know what to expect from labor/delivery, postpartum recovery and a newborn and know that I can handle it. My job right now is to make sure that S is taken care of and feels loved, and I'm more focused on making sure that SHE's ready for the new addition to our family. MORE: What It's Like To Have a Difficult Pregnancy   http://bit.ly/2q1erJD