#this is the first time i’ve meal prepped and packed lunch i am very proud can you tell

[b4rfbrain]

beautiful girls pack their own lunch and eat it on the stoop and wash it down with a diet coke

[adamgant]

Top Posts and Pages of 2023

Top Posts and Pages of 2023 https://ift.tt/OpNDKqW Sharing the top blog posts in 2023! Hi friends! How are ya? I hope you’re enjoying the morning so far! I’m looking forward to a barre class and then catching up with a friend for lunch. For today’s post, I wanted to share the top 10 posts and pages from 2023. It’s always helpful to go back and see what type of content performed well, so that I can expand on these topics or write additional posts in the new year. Here are the top 10 posts and pages of 2023! 10. Why I Tried Nutrisense and What I Learned I’ve been using Nutrisense for a couple of years now, and it’s been such a helpful tool in my health journey. It’s been so insightful to see how my body responds to different habits, stressors, foods, and workouts, and I’ve been able to make positive changes in my routine. 9. How To Make Turmeric Face Scrub You can totally buy turmeric face scrub, but it tends to be on the pricey side and can contain ingredients you may not want to put on your skin. I’m a huge fan of beauty DIYs because you know exactly what’s going into these products and you can personalize them according your unique needs and preferences. 8. How To Keep Your Guinea Pig Cage Clean The guinea pigs are SO cute but I REALLY didn’t want our house to smell like a barn when we got them. Here’s how I keep their cage clean! It always makes me chuckle when this is a top-performing post every.single.day. Maybe I should start a guinea pig blog? 7. How to train for a half marathon while strength training I made this training plan for a friend (who has used it successfully a few times now) and wanted to share it on the blog. I’m definitely not a running coach, but I am pretty good at putting plans together that can help you get towards your goals while preventing overtraining injuries. 6. Easy Enchiladas with Rotisserie Chicken These easy enchiladas with rotisserie chicken are great for meal prep and are always a family favorite! 5. Say Bye To Diapers! 6 Potty Training Tips For Success in One Day When both nanas came to visit, they had my two-year-old potty trained in less than 24 hours! Here’s their advice and tips to help the potty-training process go smoothly. I feel like I majorly lucked out on the potty training front. Liv learned in 24 hours, and P decided to teach herself when she was 18 months old, so there ya go. 4. F45 vs. Orangetheory – my full review This was another post that I thought would help those who were curious about the difference between the two popular bootcamp-style classes. I break it all down here! I used to LOVE Orangetheory but right now, F45 has my heart. 3. Pumpkin Banana Muffins I know the blog world is inundated with pumpkin recipes (as it should be!) during the fall season, but this is one more recipe to add to the mix. A delightful recipe that combines the goodness of pumpkins with the natural sweetness and texture of bananas. 2. How To Set Up Your Peloton Bike (or any spin bike) This was one of those posts that I was proud creating, because I knew I had friends out there who needs help with spin bike setup. (Also, I think the Peloton intro video does not explain it very well.) I was pumped to see that this post is still a top pick! 1. Homemade Gelatin Gummies For Gut Health LOVE these little gelatin-packed gummies and so do the kids! They ask to make these every few weeks. More popular posts in 2023: Morning Detox Drink with Turmeric How To Use a Castor Oil Pack How To Take Care of a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree How To Brine A Turkey Breast Before Roasting Pvolve Review + If It’s Worth It The post Top Posts and Pages of 2023 appeared first on The Fitnessista. via The Fitnessista https://ift.tt/SDxy8kf January 10, 2024 at 06:46AM

[mystiquemaple]

14 Days Guide to Learning to Love your Body

I always laugh when someone tells me they think I’m confident because I feel like I am SO far from it. When I think of a confident woman, I think of Blake Lively, Deepika Padukone, Elaine Welteroth, Taylor Swift, Priyanka Chopra — you get what I’m saying. I never thought someone “normal,” let alone someone who’s had body image issues all her life, could have confidence. But I’ve discovered confidence is less about if you have a successful career, or you have six-pack abs, or you finally met the partner of your dreams; it’s about you feeling comfortable in your own skin, regardless of where your life is going in that moment.

Finding peace with yourself doesn’t have to start with some big revelation, so we’re giving you actionable steps you can take every day for two weeks to feel better about your own body image.

Day 1: Throw out your scale

The second I did this, my entire life changed. It’s a lot of pressure to have that lying around your home, and it gives this arbitrary thing, like a number on the scale, so much power over your life. If you’re worried about not being able to check your weight every so often, know that you can always ask at the doctor’s office. I personally tell my doctors to withhold my weight from me, and I don’t look at the scale even there. There’s no reason I need to know how much I weigh, and it’s truly riveting to just stop worrying so much about a number.

  Day 2: Unfollow negative sources of inspiration

I consistently do Instagram audits where I unfollow anyone who doesn’t share the same values as I do, but it’s less common for me to do it elsewhere. Facebook can be a very negative space if your news feed is constantly people complaining about their own bodies or giving unsolicited advice. Unfriend and unfollow people who don’t share the same vision as you do for your body. Not only does this spread negative vibes all over your favorite space to find recipes and cat videos, it also signals to your brain that this type of body talk is okay.

  Day 3: Make a list of your favorite traits about yourself

I know, I know, it sounds hokey, and it is. I’m not going to lie to you. But it puts you in a mindset of thinking positively about yourself — something we’re not always encouraged to do. Women who love themselves are often seen as conceited or bitchy. In reality, it’s totally okay, actually encouraged, to admit how much you love the way you look in your favorite jeans or how much you love your hair.

This list doesn’t have to be exclusive to physical traits. We’re all more than a body, so it’s important to understand what personality and leadership traits you feel confident in and proud of.

    Day 4: Make a list of what you’d like to change and decide how you’ll change it

Now that you’ve made a list of everything you love about yourself, make a list of the aspects that you can change or improve about yourself. Make sure these are actionable, attainable goals, and decide the steps you will take to get there.

For example, I want to eat healthier. (Don’t we all?) Instead of constantly saying I want to eat healthier and still getting  Swiggy tonight, I can make a plan of exactly how I’m going to implement healthy eating into my daily life. I can meal prep my lunches rather than be eating out, set aside one night a week to go out with my friends, and make a new healthy recipe every week.

In this step, it’s also important to accept the parts of your body that you cannot change. This most definitely isn’t a one-day thing, but by figuring out what you can change, you begin accepting and loving your body for what it is.

  Day 5: See food as fuel

Not everyone feels healthy eating a salad, just as some people naturally feel gross drinking a glass of soda. When there’s so many different diets and ways to eat out there, it can be hard to feel like you’re eating the “right” thing. Do some digging and eat what feels right for your own body. Figure out how your body likes to be nourished. Looking at food as a fuel rather than something we need to indulge in all the time allows you to understand what it is that makes your body feel good. If you just can’t get through a kale salad, that is just fine.

Day 6: Spend time with your body

) Take some time today to get in your favorite swimsuit or that lingerie you bought when you were feeling yourself. It’ll feel awkward and uncomfortable at first, but as you keep walking around, cooking dinner, and snuggling with your dog, you’ll start to get used to it.

There’s something about spending time with your body that sort of lets you get used to it. It’s easy to get dressed every morning and feel like you’re not really paying attention to your body. Taking the time to get comfortable with your body, exactly how it is, shows you just how much it can do.

  Day 7: Don’t discuss anyone else’s body for a day

Imagine if we never talked about what anyone else looked like? We’d all feel a little more at ease with our own bodies if we stopped focusing so much on everyone else’s. Spend one day concentrating solely on how people make you feel, how intelligent they can be, and their values. It’s unfortunate just how much we base our own self-worth on our judgments and perceptions of someone else.

  Day 8: Meditate

There’s a reason so many people swear by meditation and mindfulness. Sometimes, it’s important to get out of your own head if you want to feel good about your body. Take some time today to think about literally nothing.

Day 9: Make a list of positive body affirmations

When you just need a little pick-me-up, positive affirmations always have your back. You can journal these, post them on your mirror or just come back to them when you’re feeling a little less than in love with your body. Here are some of my favorites for body love:

I love my body as it is today.

My body deserves respect.

Food is not the enemy, and I am grateful that I have food to nourish me.

I am allowed to take up space.

Others’ opinions of my body do not affect or involve me.

I trust the wisdom of my body.

My well-being is the most important thing to me. I am responsible for taking care of me.

I choose to do and say kind things for and about myself.

My body is a gift.

It’s okay for me to like myself. It’s okay for me to love myself.

  Day 10: Find workouts that you love

Yoga makes me feel sexy, and lifting weights makes me feels strong. Running, on the other hand, gives me wretched flashbacks of the pacer test in middle school, so you’ll never catch me dead on a treadmill. This can take some trial and error, but find workout routines that make you feel how you want when you’re working out. Whether you want to feel powerful, happy, or calm, there’s a workout for you.

Day 11: Donate clothes that don’t make you feel good

There’s no point in keeping clothes that don’t fit you or don’t make you feel comfortable. Those Bellbottom Pants you splurged on when you were 17 aren’t going to come back anytime soon, and there will always be another pair of cute new jeans available in your current size. Go through your closet, try everything on, and get rid of the items that don’t make you feel and look exactly how you want. Confident women wear clothes that make them feel good, and in turn, they always seem to look good regardless of what they’re wearing.

  Day 12: Find your power outfit

It’s good to have a go-to outfit that always makes you feel fierce. Whether it’s a pantsuit or your go-to jeans, there’s something so confident about someone who knows they look their best in an outfit. Explore your closet and have fun putting new pieces together. Have a fashion show with your BFF. Remind yourself that fashion can be fun, and it isn’t limited to one body type or size.

  Day 13: Experiment with your makeup routine

I tend to forget how confident a woman in red lipstick can look. While you can’t always rock a smokey eye to the office, you can change up products and how you apply them to your face. I’m a big fan of the whole “no makeup, model-off-duty” look this summer, but trying a wash of color on the lids, going foundation-less, or a bright lip is summer trends you can achieve with very minimal effort. Makeup is size-less. You can rock a red lip regardless of your dress size, and there’s something powerful about achieving the look you want without having to worry about how it looks on your body shape.

Day 14: Allow yourself to have bad days

Some days, I just want to wear sweatpants and eat ice cream and not think about having to put on a confidence face. That’s okay. Confidence and positive body image are a process, and you’re going to have days where you feel like your best and days where you don’t. Being able to understand that shows that you’re on your way to loving and appreciating all that your body can do for you.

The post 14 Days Guide to Learning to Love your Body appeared first on Mystique Maple Designs.

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[raybansandcoffee]

In the Heat of Los Angeles - Chapter Eleven: Here in Your Arms (Hellogoodbye)

If you need to catch up with the first ten chapters of In the Heat of Los Angeles you can find all of those chapters HERE. 

4:00 AM.

Dear God, why? Why do I allow people to schedule things for me that require me to get up at 4:00 AM? Thankfully, I got the alarm shut off before Harry was woken up by it. I snuck into the bathroom and tried to be as quiet as possible as I showered. I knew I wouldn’t need to worry about my hair, they would do it at the office for the photoshoot. I feel like I stood in the shower for an hour. I didn’t want to wake up. I just wanted to stand underneath the hot water or perhaps even better, crawl in bed next to Harry and fall back asleep. I got out of the shower and threw on some ripped up black jeans, a white tank and a black and red plaid shirt. My eyes hurt this morning so I put my glasses on and went back into the bedroom where Harry was still asleep.

I sat down on the bed before laying down next to him. I watched him sleep for a few moments. His mouth open in the slightest way, his long hair in his face. He had his arms folded underneath his head. The muscles in his back flexed with each breath. I leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. He made the tiniest noise before opening his eyes. He smiled his sleepy smile at me.

“Good morning, love,” he said, his voice breaking slightly due to how tired he was. “What time is it?”

“4:45. I need to leave for the office. It’s my only day in the office and I’m not really even in the office, I’m doing a photoshoot all day.”

“Will it be okay if I stop by after my audition and meeting?” he asked.

“Of course. I want to hear how it went. I’d tell you I could sneak away for lunch but unfortunately I don’t think I can.”

“Are you staying here tonight before you fly out in the morning?” He hugged me to him a little.

“If you want me to.”

“I would like that.”

“I will need to stop at home and pack but I imagine I’m leaving the office as soon as the photoshoot is done. I don’t really want to work late considering the next three days I will be working out of the New York office. I need to prep for meetings which I can do from anywhere. Plus we leave really early tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“I have to be there at 4:30. We want to be in New York at a decent time. It’s my least favorite thing to do. If I’m traveling alone I almost always opt for the red eye so I can sleep and just get there in the morning to have a decent day.”

“I get that,” he said as he snuggled in closer to me. I sighed deeply. “You have to leave don’t you?”

“I do. I really don’t want to but I have to.” I buried my face into his neck. “I’d much rather stay right here with you.”

“I’d rather you stay here with me too, but we both have to work today. I’ll see you at the office in a few hours. Then you can go pack for your trip while I prepare dinner for us so that when you get home we can eat, relax and get you in bed early.”

“You’re going to make dinner for me tonight?”

“That or we can get some take away if you’d like. Whatever you want to do tonight we will do since we don’t get to see each other for a few days.”

“I’ll think about it today and we can decide when you stop to see me. We are doing the photoshoot all in the office to show it off.”

“Fantastic. Have a good morning at work.” He leaned in to kiss me which just made the whole ‘getting out of his bed to go to work’ thing a million times harder.

“I’ll try. Good luck with your audition. You’re going to do fantastic. I can feel it.”

“I hope so. I’ll see you later.” One last kiss and I was out the bedroom door, grabbing my bags to take with me to the office. Harry had been sweet and washed most of my clothes last night which meant I’d be able to put them back into the closet at work. I threw everything into the car and started my drive. I clicked through the phone and hit to make a call home to Chicago.

“Hey bambina,” Dad answered. He sounded about as tired as I did.

“Hi Dad,” I said, knowing my voice showed off just how tired I was.

“What are you awake for? You never call this early.” Despite it not being possible for me to have genetically gotten anything from Marco I was pretty sure he was the reason I hated being a morning person. When I was a kid and Mom would get up to go to work she’d wake me up before she left and then I’d go crawl in bed with Dad. He worked so many late nights then that he was always looking for an excuse to sleep in. Once the boys were around he didn’t get the opportunity anymore.

“I have to be at the office by 6:00 to start getting ready for a photo shoot. Didn’t stay at home last night so I have a longer drive to the office.”

“Stayed with the boyfriend, huh?”

“Yes. I know there is nothing to hide because Mom has the biggest mouth in the history of the universe. I stayed there and I’m jealous because he’s still in bed. He doesn’t have any meetings until like 10:00 today.”

“He’s coming home with you right?”

“He is.”

“Good, I’m glad I get to meet him.”

“Me too, Dad. I really like him a lot.”

“Good. It’s obviously important if he’s coming home already. Took a good two months before I got to meet Drew and you lived a whole lot closer.”

“I was younger then.”

“Yeah, I know but you used to bring Drew into the city and eat at my restaurants but only if you knew it was the one I wasn’t at that night.”

“I may have done that. I wasn’t sure he needed to meet my Dad yet.”

“But this one you are?”

“Yeah, I think I am sure of that. It seems different.”

“From what I hear you made him the magic meal last night. So I’d guess it’s serious.”

“I made him the magic meal because it’s one of the few things I can make in under an hour without a detailed recipe because I know it by heart. I’m doubtful that suddenly this morning he woke up being in love with me. We’ve known each other for a week.”

“True. But you obviously think he’s important.”

“I do. It’s like I said, it just feels different with him and I like the different feeling.”

“That’s good. That’s really good, bambina. Your mother and I just want you to be happy. I mean ideally at some point we’d both love some little grand babies to spoil but you’re still very young.”

“Yeah, let's not put that kind of pressure on me. A weekend full of my grandparents will do that on it’s own. I don’t need my Dad jumping in asking for grandchildren. The way work has been lately I wouldn't be able to have time to have a family. I’m not sure how I’m going to manage to have time to have a boyfriend, let alone one that lives in two places.”

“You can make it work. I know you’re capable of anything you put your mind to, Evie. And if it means taking a step back at work you know that Mom and I would still be proud of you. You’ve accomplished so much in life that we just want you to be happy, it’s all we’ve ever wanted.”

“I know that. But you also know I’m never going to be able to take a step back. Pops won’t have it.”

“Jimmy has always been very career focused and having you follow in his footsteps was a proud moment for him, I know. But if you want to take a step back to have a life at some point, he’s going to get it. And if he doesn’t all you have to do is send in Mom. She will make him understand it.”

“She could make Satan agree to turning the air on in hell.” Dad laughed on the other end of the phone. I loved the way my Dad laughed. I could picture him at home right now, probably on the couch in his office hiding from Mom this morning, she was pretty wicked before 8:00, his forehead crinkling and his eyes getting squinty while he laughed. “I’m excited to get home. I miss everyone.”

“Is Jimmy coming?”

“I don’t think so. Which at first I was sort of disappointed about but I’m okay with it. I want Harry to have a chance to get to know all of you. Pops gets a chance to interact with him here. In fact, today Pops is sitting in on his meeting and helping him with the final prep of his audition since I’ve got this all day photoshoot, which we all know I love. I’d rather be hung upside down by my toenails.”

“You used to love modeling for your Mom and I when we took pictures of you.”

“You are my parents. This is an article about me. I’d really rather not.”

“You’ll be fine. You always are. Now let’s talk menu for Friday night.” We got down to the business of our actual phone call. He always wanted me to help pick what the menu would be for parties we had at the house. I was pretty sure it was so I felt like I was helping even though I was so far away. It also meant he and Mom didn’t argue over the food options. He was bringing in the chef from Bambina to cater Jonathan’s birthday on Friday. He knew just how to make a trip home perfect for me, feed me my favorite food. I pulled into the parking garage at about 5:20 which gave me enough time to try and weed through a few of my emails before the glam squad Ty had hired arrived. I stopped to get some coffee on my way upstairs. I sat down at my desk and plugged my laptop in. I watched as the email tally started it’s normal game.

652.

“Shit,” I said aloud despite there not being anyone in the office yet. It had been deadly silent as I walked through. I laid my head on my desk and closed my eyes. Why do I allow myself to go multiple days without looking at my email? My phone started to ring on my desk. I looked at it to see a picture of Harry and I from this weekend. He’d stolen my phone to take a selfie and told me he was texting it to himself, he was also clearly setting it as his new caller id photo. “Hello.”

“This bed is so lonely right now.”

“So is this office building. I think it’s just me, the girl at the front desk, the barista at the coffee shop, and security right now.”

“You were the first in?”

“I was. And my email box is terrifying.”

“How many this morning?”

“652…wait 653. I just got a new one.”

“That sounds like a rather terrible way to start the morning.”

“It is. I don’t even want to attempt to read them all. I want to cry.”

“Don’t cry, love. If you need to work tonight you can or maybe tomorrow on your flight.”

“I shouldn’t even come over tonight with as much work as I have. At least when I’m in New York I can try to avoid distraction and just work the entire time. Kammi and Nick are staying with her parents. Ty usually stays with his grandparents. Eliza has some auditions so she’s working but not for me.”

“You are coming over tonight. I lose you for the next three days don’t make me lose you tonight too.”

“I will come over but if I work no stealing my laptop.”

“I won’t. Just no bringing it to bed and working while I sleep.”

“I can promise that. I usually don’t sleep well if my laptop is near me. I feel like it’s a horcrux or some shit and it’s constantly talking to me and telling me I should work.” He laughed on the other end of the phone. “You laugh because you know it’s true.”

“I do, though I was rather proud of the fact that I only caught on your phone twice last night.”

“I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. I checked my texts and calendar then. I was going to tell you that I hadn’t, but I did and I can’t lie.” He laughed again.

“It’s okay, you’re allowed to look at your phone on occasion. When does everyone else get in this morning?”

“Any minute I’m sure. I am hoping that they didn’t eat breakfast before they left the condo because I definitely didn’t get anything on the way in. I was on the phone with Dad.”

“Get the menu for Friday worked out?”

“We did,” I replied. “It’s our chef from Bambina that is doing the meal. It will be wonderful. I’m sure that Mom has some event decorator coming to the house Friday to make everything look great too.”

“I can’t wait to see the house you grew up in.”

“Well, you won’t see that persay. You’ll see the house I lived in from like nine until I went to college. Mom says that she redecorated my bedroom but of course hasn’t sent me any pictures of it so I’ve got no idea what it looks like.”

“I’m sure it will be great. Well, I will let you work before The Circus arrives. But I wish you were still in bed.”

“I do too.” I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “You made it pretty difficult to leave this morning, you’re pretty cute in the morning.”

“Am I?”

“You are. That raspy voice, it could make a woman forget she had a job to go to.”

“It obviously didn’t work this morning.”

“It nearly did but I remembered that if I explained skipping a photoshoot for a morning of snuggles in bed with my cute boyfriend that I’d be the laughing stock of Hollywood.”

“There you go using that boyfriend word again.”

“I know. It’s nauseating.”

“I like it.”

“That’s a good thing since it sort of refers to you.”

“What will happen if I call you my girlfriend?” I shivered at the sound.

“Well, I just got goosebumps right now. Not sure how to read that. I sometimes get goosebumps when I’m excited and I sometimes get them right before I throw up.” There was that laugh again.

“Let me know if you throw up soon.”

“I’ll keep you updated. You should get out of bed and do something productive.”

“I will. I’ll see you in a few hours. Bye Evie.”

“Bye H.” I hung up the phone. “Alright, Everlee Mae. You can do this. Email #1.” I clicked to open it as the door to my office flew open. “The Circus has arrived.”

“You act like you aren’t part of this circus,” Ty said.

“I’m not.”

“You’re the ringleader of The Circus,” Kammi said. She threw a brown bag onto my desk and I opened it to see a fried egg sandwich. It was greasy and had bacon on it and was everything that Kammi tried to be against but loved.

“Oh my god I love you. I’m starving.”

“We figured as much. I looked to see your location this morning and knew you were here before we even left the condo,” Eliza said.

“Did you stay at home last night?” I asked Kammi.

“I did. The boys wanted some bonding time last night. The plan is that I start moving next week when I get back from Chicago,” she replied.

“I’ll miss you although not in the mornings.” She flipped me off.

“How would you know what it’s like anymore?” Ty asked. “You’ve practically moved in with the Brit and it’s only been a week.”

“He has a comfy bed and this super hot morning voice. Makes a girl want to stay there every night. Plus he will end up leaving for London eventually and then I will be alone and you’ll have to snuggle me at night.”

“I don’t have as hot of a morning voice as he does,” Ty said. “And I get cold if I sleep naked.”

“I prefer you clothed. I prefer him naked.”

“Is he ready for his audition?” Eliza asked.

“Yeah, we ran through his lines for his audition scene again last night before bed. Admittedly very funny to imagine the heavily tattooed man with long hair in just his boxers as a World War II soldier. But he’s prepared and sounds great.” I took a bite of my sandwich. “God this is good. Did you guys stop at that little diner?” They nodded.

“It’s why we were late. We ate there,” Ty said. “We figured you’d be hungry.”

“Well I appreciate you all for this. I have been up since 4:00 so I could do the drive in to be here by 6:00 for the glam squad.”

“They should be here soon. You can answer your ten million emails while they get you ready,” Eliza said as she looked over my shoulder at my inbox.

“Good because there’s a lot.” The team of stylists and makeup artists arrived shortly after I finished eating and we all convened in the bathroom. I was reading through emails. It was finally starting to get more back to normal, though still a lot of emails with requests for Harry. One came in that intrigued me.

From: Ben Cobb @ Another Man Magazine To: Everlee Scarcello Re: Harry Styles Fashion Spread

Dear Ms. Scarcello,

I hope this email finds you well. I am the Editor in Chief for Another Man Magazine. We have been discussing recently an idea that we wanted to share with you as the representation for Mr. Styles. We are interested in doing a fashion spread where we collaborate with Mr. Styles and his team to develop a concept that fits to not only our audience’s interest but also his own desires. It would not be required to contain an in-depth interview unless he wished it. I’d love to chat further with you about it. Please feel free to contact me by email or by phone at your earliest convenience to discuss this possible collaboration.

Sincerely, Ben

I knew I’d need to run that by Harry before even dreaming of replying. A magazine looking to do something that is a fashion spread of him could be amazing. Something where he didn’t have to discuss his feelings on moving on from being part of One Direction or where his career is headed. Just a focus on the fact that the kid could be a model if he wanted would be an interesting opportunity. I marked that one to check back on later and kept reading through them. I was getting plucked and pinched as they prepped me for makeup.

“What do you think of cutting your hair?” the hairstylist asked.

“I don’t think about it,” I replied laughing.

“I’m thinking we could do something really cool if we cut it shorter.”

“I’d prefer not. Especially if it’s just for a photoshoot.”

“Do it!” Kammi yelled.

“You only say that because they’d never dream of chopping off your hair. I like it where it’s at right now so no.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” I hated pushy stylists and this one would make it to the list of not using.

Message with Harry Styles The stylist is trying to convince me to cut my hair. I’ve said no three times. She’s still talking about it. I understand that feeling. I used to get asked that for everything. Louise usually didn’t try but whoever was the creative director was always suggesting that we cut my hair. I love your hair. I might cry if you cut it. You know I will have to if I get this role. I know. And for art I’ll be okay with it. For a lousy photoshoot in a magazine that isn’t going to really be seen outside of Los Angeles…nope. I love your hair as well. Don’t cut it. Though it might be cute short. Just means I have less to pull. You’re trying to torment me right now. You know I like when you tug on my hair. Are you trying to make me uncomfortable since I’m in a room of stylists I don’t know well. Nope. Just trying to make you think about what you might get if you left work a little early today. Can I leave now? Sadly no. Though I am about to get in the shower to get ready for my audition. You in the shower. Sounds like a fun time. Sure I can’t leave work? No, because I can’t have you distract me before my audition. Pretty sure if you came home I’d never want to leave and then I’d fail at getting a movie role and making my manager happy and my girlfriend proud of me. I can speak on behalf of the manager. Only thing that would make me unhappy is if you don’t show up. Whether you get it or not I’m happy that you’re already jumping into this. As the girlfriend, I’m immensely proud that you’re trying something so out of the box. Is it weird to talk about being your girlfriend? No. I rather like it, which you know. It feels like it should feel weird, even though it doesn’t. Like how is it that I feel proud of you already when I’ve known you for a week? Because in the span of that week we’ve been together probably 70% of the time. Makes for a drastically different start to a relationship than what I’m used to. I can see that. It’s a bit different for me. My last several years of life in a relationship were long distance. Obviously I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them. No, you didn’t. I like that we do get to. At least in the beginning. I’m also sort of used to meeting a girl, taking her on a date or two and then leaving for several months. It’s a nice change to not have to do that. If this bitch asks one more time to cut my hair I’m going to cut her with the scissors. There’s that Italian temper I’ve heard so much about showing up. Heard so much about? Well you’ve warned me about it. Grace has warned me about it and evidently Grace gave Marco my phone number. He called and attempted to be the threatening father this morning after you got off the phone and then just started laughing. He obviously could tell by the sound of my voice that I was a bit terrified. He has the ability to put the fear of God and a Mob attack into just about anyone. Including me and I know he’s a softy. Sorry, not usually good to have the girlfriend’s dad call before 8:00AM. He was actually asking how long I was staying in town with you. Suggested that he and I take you and your Mum out to dinner on Sunday night after the game. He said that Jonathan was having a few friends over after the game and that they would hang out with Mason and Christopher so we could all have some time without all of the boys. That’s actually sort of sweet. I thought so as well. So we have dinner on Sunday with them. He told me to quiz you down as to what restaurant in the city you want to go to. I had suggested Bambina so I could see your restaurant but you are doing the dinner from there Friday I guess. Yeah, I can run you by to see Bambina and maybe we can grab lunch there. I’d probably pick Grace for our dinner. You’d like it. Sounds good to me. So have they cut your hair yet? Nope! Still got it. I may have threatened her. She had scissors in her hand, I told her that she should only use those if she wants her own hair cut off or perhaps a hand. Kammi told me to stop being a bitch. Be nice. If you are maybe I’ll bring you a cupcake. How do you know the way to my heart? You bought two dozen for our dinner Saturday night and ate four of them before dinner. I do love a good cupcake. I’ll be on my best behavior. When you get here remind me I have a request from a magazine to run past you. Can I tell you how refreshing it is to have things run past me rather than decisions made for me? I will always make decisions in your best interest and for the most part I’m going to discuss the ideas with you so that we can make those decisions together. It’s like a dream. Okay. You get beautiful. I’m getting ready for an audition. See you in a few, love. Bye H.

The hairstylist had left the room for a short moment to talk to Ty leaving just the makeup artists, Kammi, Eliza and I. I knew that Ty was talking to her about being pushy about my hair. I was trying to grow my hair out right now, I had a wedding back in Chicago in just over a month for a friend from college. I wanted long hair so that I had more options for styles and frankly I also didn’t want a hairstylist I’d never met trying to convince me to chop my hair off.

“You didn’t have to be such a bitch, E,” Kammi said.

“Want me to chop your hair off?” I asked as I turned to look at her. The makeup artists were people we worked with regularly, they were used to our banter.

“Fuck no.”

“Then lay off cutting my hair. Also H votes no. So I’m keeping my hair.”

“He’s already earned a vote?” Eliza asked.

“Yeah, he has. It’s weird, I know. I’m not sure how I even feel about it yet.”

“Well, you’re really cute together. This weekend was nice. You look really happy. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you like this.” Eliza smiled at me in the mirror. She was sitting on the sofa behind me on her laptop.

“You two are pretty cute together. And he was able to laugh off a lot of the crazy parts of this weekend,” Kammi said glancing at me from her seat in front of her vanity.

“Not all of it. He got a little jealous of the whole Joe thing. We had to have a talk which was fine. And then there was the whole nearly attacking someone for touching him thing.”

“Yeah you totally called him your boyfriend. Was that part of your talk?” I looked over at Kammi as she asked.

“It wasn’t but we have talked about it. The whole idea of it doesn’t make me want to vomit or have a panic attack so he thinks we should run with it.” Everyone in the room laughed.

“You’ve got a boyfriend?” Amy asked. She was the makeup artist who always did my makeup for everything. If I had a big event it was her. I could do my own makeup and it looked perfect but sometimes it was nice to be pampered instead of doing it yourself.

“Yeah, it’s new but so far so good. He’s met my father and is coming home to Chicago next weekend to meet my Mom, Dad and brothers. The crazy man also knows he will end up meeting all three sets of grandparents too.”

“That’s a big weekend,” Lainey said, she was doing Kammi’s makeup.

“Yeah, I’m not exactly sure what he’s thinking but when my Mom invited him he said yes. So he’s meeting me in Chicago Friday afternoon.”

“Are all of you going to Chicago? I feel like you never travel alone,” Amy managed to say in between giggles.

“We are,” Eliza said. “It’s a good chance for me to see my parents. Plus Jonny is practically my baby brother too. When it comes to E and I it’s like we’ve got six little brothers and one sister.”

“So true,” I added.

“Nick and I are going as well. My Dad told me I need to stop to see my grandparents so we are headed into town for Jonny’s birthday and a trip to visit family then headed back here Sunday.”

“I love that all of you travel together,” Lainey said.

“Thanks,” I replied. “We are like a traveling circus most of the time. Its likely going to be Eliza, Ty, Kammi, Nick, Joe, my new guy and me going home.”

“That’s a lot of people. Is everyone in hotels?”

“No.” I laughed. “My Mom’s house is huge. We can all fit there easily.”

“That’s awesome but probably super overwhelming for her, right?” Lainey asked.

“Nah, she’s usually happiest when she’s got a house full. It’s that Italian mother behavior. She wants all of her kids to bring their friends home.”

“That’s awesome.” The hairstylist finally came back in with Ty and started to do my hair, this time with no scissors in her hands. She decided we’d start with my hair curly but the creative director wanted some with my hair straight so we’d do that second. The rest of our prep was finished by 8:00 when the photographs started along with Melissa returning for follow up questions.

“So Everlee, last week you issued a press release confirming that Harry Styles had decided to allow you and your team at SME to handle his solo career. Was that something you had been working on for a while?”

“It’s funny how that all happened. He had several friends that recommended our team, one of them being Ed Sheeran, so he started working with my father initially. We had our first full meeting with him on Monday night and he signed on Tuesday. It’s crazy how fast it all moved but that is something that happens a lot of the time. When you know the fit between artist and representation is right, you just go for it. It happens for Kammi a lot. She makes an annual trip to a lot of the top colleges to take meetings with players who are declaring for the draft in their respective sports.”

“I do,” Kammi said. “I will go and set up an office in a conference room in the athletic department and help students who are deciding to go into the draft. Ideally, they will sign with me and my team but that doesn’t always happen. If they are signing with an agency that is the right fit for them however, it’s perfect. There are times you know that it’s right and equally a lot of times you know where it’s not.”

“And with Harry Styles, everyone just knew it was right?” Kammi looked at me and smiled.

“Yeah, everyone just knew. We don’t want Harry to feel trapped in a bubble because of how his career started. I want to help him properly craft the career that he desires. If it’s less singing more acting then I want to help but I imagine that it will be hard to keep him from music for long.” I knew this because he sang in the shower, sang in the car, and sang when he cooked. I of course couldn’t tell this to Melissa because then she’d want to know why I knew that he sang in the shower, which was not something I was interested in getting into. “I’m excited for the opportunities that are coming his way already and to help him guide his career down the right path.”

The photographs seemed like they would turn out pretty cool once they were done. We did most of it outside the office during the morning knowing that we’d switch up looks for the afternoon and keep going. I grew nervous as the clock hit 10:30, the time of Harry’s audition. I felt like I might throw up knowing that he was going through something so huge in that moment and that I wasn’t there to support him. I knew that Kammi and Eliza could tell I was off they kept trying to crack jokes.

“Have you heard from him?” Eliza whispered as the photographer was setting up the next shot. I glanced down at my watch.

“No. Will you take my phone and let me know if he calls or something. His audition and meeting were all here so he was just going to come find me when he was done. I figured it would be over near lunch time so he could just eat with us.”

“Of course. Hand over the phone.” I grabbed my phone from the back pocket of the pants they had me in and handed it to Eliza.

“I’m sure he’s doing great,” Kammi said. “You two prepped him and if he was working on it last night with you and you didn’t think that he needed to reschedule he’s going to be great.” She knew that I’d rescheduled a few appointments in my day because I felt that the client needed more time to prep for things. I never hesitated about it. I’d rather they have to face possible backlash for rescheduling than looking terrible for being unprepared. “You’ll hear from him soon. And lunch will be good. Ty said that it’s just us and we don’t have to be interviewed during lunch.”

“Good because I’m so anxious about it I’d hate to have to try and hide excitement if it went well.”

“You just don’t want to not be able to make out with him when they are around.” Kammi gave me one of her famous looks that just basically told me I wasn’t going to lie to her. “I was pretty sure most of the day yesterday that you two were about a half second away from running upstairs and banging each other. I’m sure by the time you got home you were like bunny rabbits.”

“Shockingly enough we weren’t. I cooked dinner and we passed out.”

“What did you cook?” Kammi asked. She always wanted to know what I was cooking. I made dinner a lot at home for all of us, Kammi’s favorite thing was food.

“Nonna’s Chicken Parm.”

“Whoa,” both of the girls said.

“You made Nonna’s Chicken Parm? For real?” Eliza asked.

“Yeah, I did. I can make it in my sleep and it’s one of the things I do best so I figured I shouldn’t make something I’d fuck up.”

“But that’s like THE meal.” Kammi still seemed shocked. “Like that’s shit you don’t fuck around with. Even I have pulled out THE meal before. Nick and I had been dating for like a month and a half. It was the first time he said I love you and meant it romantically and not as my childhood friend.”

“I’m terrified of making it for people,” Eliza said. “I don’t know that I want to be the person who fails at it. Did he tell you he loved you?”

“Fuck no. That’s way too early. I love how all of you are so superstitious about a freaking recipe.”

“Well, it’s this like trick of mythical proportions in your family going back generations.” It was true. I’d maybe only mentioned back to my Nonna and Papa but Nonna had learned it from her Mom who had learned it from hers and I think it went a bit further than that. “If you made him the love parm it’s a big deal.”

“It’s not. I mean I’ve made it for other people before. I made it for Joe for his birthday last year.”

“He told you he loved you afterwards,” Kammi said laughing.

“Yeah to be a fucking pain in my ass.”

“Nonna told me once that it’s the intention that goes into it,” Kammi said. “When she talked me through the recipe to make for Nick she said that you can make it and it won’t work but if you feel deeply for the person it will work.”

“Yeah, so it’s not going to work,” I whispered. The photographer was starting to pay attention to us again and Eliza back away from the shot.

“Whatever. I watched the way you looked at him. You’ve got it bad.”

“Shut up. I do not.”

“You do too. You could barely take your eyes off him and threatened to cut Jessica’s fingers off.”

“She was flirting with my boyfriend and she’s my father’s girlfriend. That’s just fucking sick.”

“And there you go calling him your boyfriend again.”

“I know. It’s fucking weird but I can’t stop doing it. What is wrong with me?” Kammi started to laugh at me. I knew I had to appear totally frazzled as she lost it. I heard the click of the shutter on the camera and knew that it would end up being a good photo. It would hopefully show our personalities well. I was usually the one nearing a meltdown while Kammi laughed at me.

“There is nothing wrong with you. The only thing I can figure is that you’re really into him, which is normal. He’s totally hot, he’s obviously into you and based on the way you talk the sex is pretty great so I mean you should be into him.”

“The sex is better than great.” I bit my lip unintentionally. “But that doesn’t normally make me want to declare someone as my boyfriend after a fucking week.”

“A fucking week is right,” Kammi said making me laugh. “You’ve stayed with him every night. I’m pretty sure you’re having more sex than the rest of The Circus combined.”

“You and Nick normally aren’t lacking in that department.”

“Oh we aren’t, but still pretty sure you’re having more sex than I am and the rest of our roommates are currently sexless.”

“Hey!” Eliza said. She was close enough to hear us and far enough away to be out of the picture. The photographer was clearly not paying attention to us and Melissa had gone to take a phone call from her editor. “I can hear you.”

“Tell me it isn’t true?” Kammi asked. Eliza just flipped her off. I heard my cell phone start to ring. I looked at Eliza and she shook her head as she silenced it. “I mean really though. It’s not totally weird. I mean it’s sort of weird. You don’t normally move this fast in a relationship but it seems sort of normal to move at a quicker speed with him. You have no idea when he’s going to leave and go back to London. Makes sense to build a strong foundation to a relationship now so that when you do have to spend time apart that you have a good level of trust when you’re apart because that was something you lacked with Drew after he moved.”

“True,” I replied. My relationship with Drew had never been great. We were friends and it was convenient. I got comfortable. We had a routine. He stayed with Eliza and I on the weekends and I very rarely stayed at his place in Evanston, it was only if I was stuck there late enough for school stuff that I didn’t want to head back to the city. We had dinner together on Wednesday nights like clockwork and it was always at the same restaurant near campus. When he’d come to the city we would alternate which restaurant of Dad’s we ate at. I was never worried about money in college which made Drew uncomfortable. He had always acted like he hated that I had money. I’d been given a relatively large trust fund when I turned 18 but still at 25 hadn’t touched it other than to use it towards my condo after the graduation gift my parents put towards it. I worked my butt off in college and had parents that were always willing to chip in so that things were taken care of. We always ended up at one of Dad’s restaurants because Drew knew that when we walked in we would eat for free and he wouldn’t have to watch me hand over my credit card to pay for dinner. When he moved things just got worse. He didn’t trust me which I discovered a little too late was because he shouldn’t have been trusted.

“So don’t freak out about the girlfriend thing. If it is happening naturally and you aren’t forcing things just go with it.” I heard my phone ring again and glanced at Eliza. She nodded this time and answered the phone.

“Hey Harry, it’s Eliza.” She paused for a moment. “Yeah, she’s pretending to be a model right now so I needed to answer. Just a second, she’s on her way over here.” I took the phone from her.

“Hey H,” I answered.

“Hey love. Where are you? I want to see you pretend to be a model.”

“The rooftop patio off of the third floor. How did it go?”

“I want to tell you in person. So let me find you first.”

“In person? So it either went really well and you got the role or it went terribly. You’re killin’ me babe.”

“You’re fine. I’ll be there in a second.” I saw the photographer taking a few pictures of me on the phone and of Kammi by herself. I’m sure he was pissed that I’d taken this call. “Fuck.”

“What?” I asked the panic evident in my voice.

“You look fucking hot.” I turned around and saw him walking towards me. He waived.

“You had me scared for a second.”

“I know.” I hung up the phone as he approached us.

“Alright we are going to break for lunch,” Ty said as he approached back to where we were all standing. “We will only have individual shots after lunch. E, you’re going first after.”

“Sweet,” I said. “Want to go grab lunch with us? We ordered up to my office. I was hoping you’d want to join so I may have ordered extra.” He laughed at me.

“Yeah, I’d like to eat lunch with you.” We all headed inside and up to my office. As soon as the door closed Harry pulled me into a kiss. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I replied. “How did it go?”

“I think well. We can talk about it tonight. I don’t know that I want to get into it with everyone.”

“Okay,” I replied before I moved to kiss him again. We sat down with everyone to eat lunch. Harry sat next to me and I had my legs across his lap. I was pretty sure that Ty would kill me because I dropped a french fry on my dress three different times.

“Harry, how did your audition go?” Eliza asked.

“Well, I think. I made it through just like we practiced and I’m happy with how I did.”

“That’s great,” Kammi said. “So E, are you leaving as soon as you’re done?” I nodded as I took a drink of the Diet Coke I had ordered with lunch.

“I need to go home and pack for the next week.”

“Are you staying at home tonight?” Ty asked.

“Nope.” Harry smiled at me. “Since I’m in New York and this one is here for a few days I’m staying at his house tonight. I’ve got all of you for the next three and a half days.”

“Are we all staying at your place Thursday night?” Kammi asked.

“You’re all welcome there any night you want. Ty are you staying with Grams?”

“She wants me there but Gramps told me that I needed to have fun in the city so I should stay with my friends. So I’m just planning on grabbing dinner or lunch with them or something. But the plan is to stay with you. Though I was intending it when the three of us were single and would go out to pick up guys.”

“Sorry to ruin that part for you,” Harry said. Everyone laughed.

“I knew I liked you,” Kammi said as she high fived him. She was sitting on his other side. I kicked her. “Ouch bitch. Fucking kick me again and I’ll stab you with your heel.”

“The love between you is so obvious,” Harry said laughing.

“Besties!” I said reaching my foot to high five Kammi. She glared at me.

“Love, why don’t you sit up a little so you don’t get stabbed. I’d hate to spend our last night together at the hospital because Kammi injured you.” I laughed and sat up. I leaned into Harry and he put his arm around me kissing the top of my head. “Much better.”

“We all have dinner with my family tomorrow,” Kammi said.

“I forgot about that,” I replied. “Just tell me what time I need to be there so that I have travel time.”

“How far is it between both places?” Harry asked.

“Like a half hour-ish,” I replied. “Her parents’ place is on the Upper East Side about a half block off Central Park. I’m down in Tribeca. I’m within walking distance of the recording studio we own in New York. Then our main office is in Hudson Yards. It’s about equal distance for both of us and has a great view of the river and The High Line.”

“It all sounds nice. It’s been a while since I was in New York,” Harry said.

“I would tell you that you should come but you’ve basically kidnapped E from us. We need her for a few days. You can have her back in Chicago,” Ty said.

“You can have her for New York,” Harry replied laughing. “She’s all yours.”

“You suck.” I looked at him pretending to be hurt. He leaned forward and kissed me. “You suck a little less now.”

“You are so easily swayed,” Ty mumbled. The rest of our lunch went well and then we headed to back to work. After a few kisses in the privacy of my own office Harry headed home knowing that I needed to get done with my day and head home to pack. My section of the photoshoot was done in my office so they could show me in my environment. There were a ton of staged photos of me with my vinyl records and books. It would be cool if they managed to use any of it. I knew they were going to do the same with Kammi in her office and could only imagine them trying to make her dribble a basketball on her floor in a pair of stilettos. As soon as I was done I was back in my ripped jeans and flannel shirt and out the door. I packed in record time considering it was for an entire week and jumped in my Range Rover to head to Harry’s. I walked in the front door to find him pacing around the house on the phone.

“Hey man, I gotta go, Everlee just got home,” I heard him say. “Of course I’ll tell her hi and that you feel unloved.” I gave him a strange look. “Talk to you soon.” He hung up the phone.

“Who feels unloved?” I asked.

“James,” he replied. I had to think for a minute. Had he been on the phone with my father. My face must’ve shown my confusion. “Corden, dear. Not your father.”

“Oh thank god,” I said laughing. “We should do dinner with James and Julia when we are back from Chicago.”

“He says the same thing. Also that he feels unloved that you didn’t immediately call to tell him about our new relationship.”

“Excuse me?” I asked still laughing. “He’s not my client. He’s my father’s.”

“Evidently he’s rather fond of you.”

“He’s pretty great. He’s always good to my artists that do Carpool Karaoke. Let me guess, he was one of the people who told you to sign with me.” He nodded. “I should send him a thank you gift.” I walked over to him to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around me. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“How was your audition?”

“It went really, really well. I’m hopeful I will get a callback.”

“You got one,” I said smiling at him.

“What?” he asked.

“I got a call from the casting director while I was at my place packing. They want to see you again on Thursday.”

“Seriously?” I nodded. He picked me up and spun me in a circle. I couldn’t stop laughing. “You are amazing.”

“I’m not the one that audition. You are. You are the amazing one. They originally wanted to see you Monday, I explained that you’d be out of town. They liked you enough that they want you to come read with another one of the actors that’s already been cast, he happened to be available on Thursday. So you will meet with them at 10:00 on Thursday. This time at the casting agency they are working with’s office.”

“What do I do different for a callback?” he asked.

“Absolutely nothing. You wear this that you’re wearing right now so that they see you in the same outfit. You do the same scene only this time with another actor in the film instead of a casting agent reading the lines.”

“What happens after that?”

“We will either find out if you get the role or if you need to audition again. It’s likely that since you’ve already met with Christopher Nolan that you’ll only have this audition. It’s also possible that you will need to meet with Christopher again which would likely mean you need to fly home. His last day in Los Angeles doing casting for this is Friday.”

“I’d fly home for it. Would you come with me?”

“You don’t need me there, baby. You’ve got this.”

“I know but I’d like you to be there. I’m going to Chicago, you should come to London.”

“About that,” I said. “I got an email from the Editor in Chief of Another Man Magazine. They are interested in doing a fashion spread with you.”

“A fashion spread? I’m not a model.”

“You could be.”

“I don’t really want to do any in-depth interviews right now. Everyone will just ask when the band is getting back together and I don’t want to talk about that.”

“They said you didn’t have to do one. Just fashion. Want me to call on it?”

“Yeah, it sounds interesting.”
 “I will call Wednesday morning first thing since there’s a bit of a time different for us here,” I said laughing. “Or I’ll call tomorrow morning in the car on the way to the airport.”

“Can you not mention that you’re leaving tomorrow for a little while?” He hugged me tighter and snuggled into my neck. “I don’t want to think about how lonely my bed is going to be.”

“You’ll be fine. Three nights and then we are both in Chicago and sleeping in my parents’ house.” I looked at him with an uncomfortable look. He laughed a little.

“Yeah, I might not let you sleep tonight.” He kissed me again this time biting my lip. “It’s going to be a long week.”

“I know.” I pouted. “But we will be fine.”

“I know we will be. But it doesn’t mean that I like it.” I giggled at him.

“You’re cute.”

“You are.” I rested my head against his chest. “What should we do for dinner?”

“I don’t care. We can order take out. I could really go for a pizza.”

“Then pizza we shall have.” He kissed me before going over to his phone and calling a delivery place to order pizza. I laid down on the couch to watch what he’d had on TV before he’d gotten on the phone. I heard him end the call and come over to the couch. He laid down between my legs with his head on my stomach. I ran my fingers through his hair. “They said it would be here in an hour. I know it’s a bit early but we need to get you to bed early.”

“I know. My car is picking me up here at 4:00.”

“I can drive you,” he said as he turned to look up at me. He turned on the couch so that his chin was resting on my stomach and he could look at me.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t need to wake up to take me. I have Sam picking me up in the morning.”

“He’s who brought us here that first night, right?”

“Yes, I don’t need our whole staff of fleet drivers knowing that I’m staying here. Some of them aren’t as loyal and I fear we’d see our names in the paper with your address.” He laughed a bit before laying his head back down.

“So how did your photoshoot go today?”

“Pretty decently. The initial shots I saw looked great. A little fun and while being sexy not as over sexed as some of the things we’ve done or had suggested. I’m always nervous about that. I don’t want someone to think that I don’t have a brain behind the boobs and blonde hair.”

“The article will show the brain,” he said. “You’re incredibly smart. There’s no way that they can miss that.”

“Thanks. I just feel awkward when I’m the focus of anything. In Chicago I was never the focus, Dad was or Mom. I was always Marco and Grace Ferrera’s beloved daughter. I love my job but I prefer that title over the blonde bombshell running SME’s music division. Which just so you know is how I’ve been described most of my professional career.”

“Well, maybe this is the chance for people to see your brains. Though admittedly I agree that you are a blonde bombshell, it’s just not the first thing I think of. I think of your giggle, the dimples that appear when you are smiling really huge, and how beautiful your blue eyes are.”

“You’re being sweet.”

“That’s a boyfriend’s job.” I laughed at his use of the ‘b-word’. He was determined to make me be comfortable with it. “You laugh.”

“You use that word.”

“You used it today from what I hear.”

“I did. I’m still not used to it. I just worry that it’s too soon.”

“It’s fine,” he said. He moved up on the couch and bent down to kiss me. The weight of his body rested on mine. “I know that it feels too soon but if I didn’t like you calling me your boyfriend I would’ve told you.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He kissed me again and I could feel myself melt. He wasn’t scared. I shouldn’t be either. I mean it didn’t mean that the crazy voices in my head wouldn’t on occasion get freaked out about the fact that a week into this we had a title but I was going to just go with it. “I wish you didn’t have to leave so early tomorrow.”

“Me too,” I replied as he moved to lay between me and the back of the couch wrapping his arms around me. We laid on the couch talking until the pizza delivery guy buzzed at the gate. I got up to let them in and handled the front door while Harry got out plates. We sat at the island eating pizza and drinking a few beers. Once we were done eating we headed upstairs to attempt to get me all prepped for tomorrow. I took a shower while he sat and talked to me. I dried my hair and put on some pajamas to crawl in bed. We decided that we could watch TV until I fell asleep. I rolled over in bed to look at him. “I need to make a confession.”

“What?” he asked as he looked at me. He looked concerned that I was going to tell him something really terrible.

“I think I’m going to miss you.”

“I know I’m going to miss you.”

“Is this like a thing where we need to call each other every day or like that I just let you know when I get there and we see each other in Chicago?”

“I don’t think I’d like just hearing from you when you landed and then not until Chicago. I want to be able to talk to you and hear how your days are going in New York. I know you’ll be going out with your friends when you’re there so it’s not like I need a phone call every hour or anything but I want to know how your trip is going. Maybe even FaceTime you so I can see you.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

“I know I don’t. I want to. We’ve spent most of the last week together it’s going to be quiet around here without you.”

“I wish I was getting quiet,” I said laughing slightly. “I thought I might get some if Ty stayed at home but he’s probably staying with me. Which means I should expect him in my bed every morning.”

“I’ll be jealous of him. Though I know he won’t get the sort of morning…snuggles in bed that I get.” I laughed loudly. He was trying to be cute and not talk about how he enjoyed my crazy ass finding him completely sexy first thing in the morning and that more than once I’d decided that we didn’t need to function yet so that we could have sex. Which I was still processing in my mind. I’d never been the one to go for morning sex in the past. In fact most mornings I hated even the idea of kissing someone before I’d been able to brush my teeth and go through my normal morning routine that made me fully awake. I hadn’t cared that we both had morning breath and sleep in our eyes. I just wanted that gravelly morning voice of his to whisper in my ear about how good he felt.

“No, he won’t. He would prefer you give him his morning snuggles, as would I.”

“I’ll miss morning snuggles.” He leaned forward kissing me softly. His hands drifting down to the small of my back and sneaking under my shirt before pulling me in closer to him. I moaned into his mouth slightly. Harry shifted so he hovered above me. He pulled back from the kiss to catch his breath. His eyes in that moment were the most beautiful shade of green I’d ever seen. My hands found the hem of his white t-shirt pulling it over his head before leaning up off the bed to kiss him. He started to tug at my shirt finally getting me to break the kiss so he pull my shirt over my head. His warm skin against mine made every nerve ignite. Our kisses were slow but left me breathless. We took our time before my panties and his boxers made their way to the floor beside the bed.

“Harry…” I whispered. He had been kissing my neck and shoulder. He looked up at me and smiled. Tonight it was him reaching for the condom in the drawer and tearing it open. I was beginning to understand why he found it sexy when I’d rip it open with my teeth instead of my hands. Before I even had a chance to realize it I felt the pressure of him entering me slowly. Tonight everything was slow. The glances held more meaning than either of us cared to speak aloud about. The kisses full of emotion. The whispers sweet instead of dirty. Something between us was changing. I could sense it. This had started purely about drunken lust shared between two people but now it was about two people craving the touch and attention of the other and no one else.

“Evie, I really am going to miss you while you’re gone,” he said, still speaking in a whisper as I laid with my head on his chest trying to catch my breath. His fingers were running through my hair.

“I’m going to miss you too. And not just because I have to go without that,” I said giggling. “I’m going to miss knowing that when I open my eyes in the morning you’re laying next to me.”

“Me too.”

“We shouldn’t even try to get used to this. You’re eventually going to have to go home. And if you get that movie you have to go film in England and France, which in case you are bad at geography are not just down the PCH from LA.” He laughed a little.

“I know. I’ll just have to get you tickets and fly you to visit me a lot.”

“I can buy those tickets myself, you know that.”

“I do, which I find incredibly sexy. But you also need to realize that I’m your boyfriend, I want to do nice things for you.”

“Nice things don’t need to involve money.”

“I know that, but they can.”

“You just don’t need to spend money on me. I spend enough on myself.”

“I’m aware. You came home with yet another piece of luggage I’ve never seen and from what I saw when I glanced in it after you got out of the shower you have no less than four bags in there and two pairs of heels that look expensive.”

“There’s four pairs of heels and six bags.” He laughed at me.

“Well, you should allow me to spoil you on occasion.” I sighed my defeat. “You aren’t used to people doing nice things for you, are you?”

“Never people I’m dating. My parents obviously do. Mom loves to shop. She will probably have found something she thinks I need when she went shopping with the boys over the weekend. Dad spoils me with little things all the time, they aren’t really ever about the cost though. He’ll find a record he knows I don’t have or a book he thinks I should read. My father has always been the extravagant gift giver. I realized at a young age it was how he rationalized his guilt. Gifts make up for not being around.”

“That’s still hard for you isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it for you?” I asked. He’d grown up in a different town than his Dad after his parents split up.

“It is a bit. I mean my Mum is a million times happier with Robin than she ever was with my Dad. But he chose to move when I was a kid. I didn’t see him very often. Maybe a few times a month.”

“That almost seems lucky.”

“I thought you said your father came home a lot.”

“He tried, once Mom got married it became less important. He’d try to come home for big things or like every other month to see me. But I was probably eight the first time I was put on a plane by myself to fly to LA because he’d cancelled the previous two times and Mom couldn’t fly with me. She was pregnant with Jonny and wasn’t allowed to fly. Things got better as I got older but there were still a lot of missed recitals. It’s why I got upgraded from the upright in my office to the baby grand at his house. He felt guilty he missed a piano recital. The first time my band played was in some dirty club in the city. He told me he was coming home for it. He missed it because of something that whatever wife he had at that point wanted him to go to. I got a brand new guitar delivered to the house the next day. He gave gifts if he missed things.”

“That sucks.”

“It does. And then my longest relationship, he never had money. He was paying for school with very little help from his parents. He hated that I had a trust fund from my parents and that I was 16 when I got my first black card. My father, despite me having a trust fund, wanted to help with school. I got a full-ride to Northwestern so I had an allowance in college. He paid my credit card, he paid the rent on my place that I shared with Eliza. It was his guilt about everything but also that he could and felt like he should. He struggled to pay for school, my grandparents didn’t have much. He didn’t want me to struggle the way he did.”

“You don’t act like you have as much money as you do. I mean it’s evident in the more extravagant things you have but who you are as a person doesn’t show that. You don’t act spoiled.”

“I worked my ass off even though my parents gave me a lot. I wanted people to know I’d earned what I had.”

“I know that feeling. I get a lot of people that assume because I got famous from a TV show that I didn’t earn anything. It’s hard to process that people think my career should be less legitimate than say Ed’s because I never struggled to make ends meet when I was playing music. I envy Ed’s path. He didn’t have people making the decisions for him. He didn’t have to make decisions as part of a democracy. He just got to decide to do something and do it.”

“Yeah, I get that. It doesn’t mean he hasn't had a hard time with decisions. I’ve pushed for this year off that he has right now for a long time. I’ll call him to check in every once in a while, make sure he hasn’t gone off the grid too much. Let him know that someone wants to record a song, you know that sort of stuff. Otherwise it’s usually just me bothering him and asking him to make sure he calls me if he’s in LA so I can see him.”

“He loves you.”

“I love him too. He’s one of my favorite people.” I listened to his heart beat as it slowed down to a normal rate. “I have to say that I’m really excited to be who you are letting help you in this transition. People are going to know you deserve everything you have because of how insanely talented you are and I love that I get to be the person to show them that.”

“I am glad it’s you. I’m also glad that enough people recommended you that I set up the meeting. Just think if I hadn’t. We wouldn’t be laying here right now.”

“I’m pretty happy about that fact too.”

“I do want you to know something important.”

“What?”

“That if I buy you a gift or if I do something nice for you it’s not because I don’t think you’re capable of doing it for yourself or taking care of yourself. It’s not to buy your affection or to ease any guilt I have. It’s because when someone does something nice for you your whole face lights up. You really are genuinely shocked that people would want to do something nice for you just because.”

“Everyone in this city wants something.”

“The only thing I want from you is you.” He kissed me softly. The night turned into conversation mixed in with kisses. We talked about everything you could imagine. Conversation always flowed easily between us which was nice. A lot of men were threatened by my intelligence and the fact that I crack jokes constantly, which was usually to hide when I was insecure about something. Harry had jokes to throw right back. At 3:00 my alarm went off telling me I needed to get up and get ready for the car to pick me up. “We haven't slept. Will you be able to sleep on the plane?”

“Yeah, as long as none of my roommates have had too much coffee this morning.”

“I’m sorry that you didn’t sleep.”

“I’m not,” I said kissing him. “I got to lay here with you all night. No better way to spend my last night in LA for a week.”

“That is my feeling though I’m sorry that you’re going to end up being so tired all day.”

“I’ll be fine. I should probably get ready now though.”

“I know.” He pouted at me.

“You can sleep.”

“Or I could spend the last few minutes you’re home with you.”

“You could do that.” I stood to get out of bed. “I showered last night but I smell like sex.”

“That’s not a bad thing.”

“It is when I have to work today.” I turned the shower on and jumped in to quickly wash off. I saw Harry sitting on the counter in his boxers as he’d done the previous night.

“I don’t like that I have to say goodbye to you in an hour.”

“It’s only for a few days. We can do this.”

“I know we can. It doesn’t mean I want to.”

“Stop it. You’re just going to make leaving harder.”

“Sorry, but I just want you to know that I like having you around here and you mean a lot to me.”

“I like being around here and you mean a lot to me too.” I turned to look at him after shutting the water off. I dried off and stepped out of the shower. I went to where he sat and stood between his legs. “I’m glad you’re meeting me in Chicago.”

“Me too.” I kissed him before starting on my hair and makeup. Normally when I fly I wouldn’t care but I had a meeting as soon as I got to New York. I threw on a pair of black leggings and an oversized white t-shirt with a pair of black slip on Vans. The heels would come out as soon as I got to New York, no need to worry about it now. My suitcase had finally made it’s way into Harry’s closet. I could tell he’d hated that my bags just ended up all over his bedroom floor. I glanced through the closet and found a soft green plaid shirt hanging up. I pulled it off the hanger and put it on. I bent down to smell the inside of the shirt, it smelled like Harry, just what I needed to make it through this morning. “You have my shirt on,” he said as I looked to see him leaning against the closet door.

“Yeah, I’m gonna borrow it for my trip.”

“Want another one?”

“No, just one is fine.”

“It’s cute that you’re stealing my clothes.”

“I’m glad you think it is. My roommates will likely make fun of me but this morning I don’t care. I just want to be able to smell you today.” I glanced at my watch to see a text from Sam that he was there, he was early by about ten minutes, his normal routine. “Sam is here.”

“He’s early.”

“I know. He usually is.”

“He’s stealing the time I needed for last minute kisses.”

“You’re cute.” He kissed me and hugged me close to him. “I need to leave.”

“I know.” He grabbed my bags and carried them downstairs for me. He followed me out the door and handed my bags off to Sam who put them in the car. Harry hugged me close to him before bending down to kiss me. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too.”

“Call me when you land so I know you’ve arrived safely.”

“I will.” I kissed him again. “Good luck Thursday. You’re going to do great, H.”

“Thanks.” There were a few more kisses before he opened the door and helped me into the car. I waived at him as the car left the driveway. I turned to see him standing and watching it drive towards the gate. The way he stood alone watching me drive away nearly made me cry. I knew that this would be okay but hard. I needed to distract myself. I called the Editor of Another Man to discuss his ideas. It was a great idea and would have Harry back in England early next month to do the photography. Based on our discussions from last night it was just perfect for what he wanted to do. I was excited to tell him about it. We pulled into the parking lot at the private airport at exactly 4:30. The Circus had already arrived and were all getting their luggage loaded onto the plane.

“You look like you didn’t sleep,” Kammi said.

“I didn’t.”

“That’s the best kind of night before leaving each other.” Kammi smiled. I knew she and Nick had a few of these nights in their time. Nights filled with kisses and conversation and a lot of sex. He often left for extended periods for tours and movies.

“I’ve never seen that shirt before,” Ty said. “I know your closet better than you do.”

“It’s Harry’s, I stole it this morning.”
 “Awww,” came the collective sound of The Circus. I offered a weak smile.

“You’ll be fine,” Joe said. “You’ve got me for this trip.”

“I’m glad you’re coming. Are you staying at my place?”

“Yup,” he responded. It was only three bedrooms but that didn’t mean we didn’t often have all of us crammed into bedrooms or on sofas. I’d found Joe and Nick asleep on the balcony a few times over the years. We all got settled into the plane. Nick was sitting across the small aisle from me with Eliza across from me and Kammi across from him. I felt my phone vibrate in my hand.

I miss you already.

“You’re gonna be okay, E,” Nick said reaching his hand towards me and squeezing my shoulder. I looked up from my phone and forced a smile. “But it is nice to see you missing something other than work.”

“It’s nice to feel like there’s something to miss.”

Yet another chance where I’m stitting down to write the author’s notes and don’t even know what to say. I feel like even though this chapter wasn’t full of events and things the way the other chapters have been this one had so much for Everlee and Harry. They are moving forward in their relationship. They are using titles! I’m with Everlee...I’d be terrified if a week in I was at that point but when you know, you know. And they know. I love the way that their relationship is progressing and how supportive her friends and family are. I can’t wait for Harry to get to Chicago and meet her whole family. They are such a big part of her. I love that her Dad called to suggest a double date with he and her Mom. They want to get to know Harry because they know that he means a lot to Evie. We are learning a little bit more about her relationship with her Pops as well. She idolizes her father but I can feel her realzing that life is about having something to miss when you leave, which is something he never felt. The relationship between Everlee and James is complicated and has a lot of layers. I think we will get a chance to learn more about that as this story continues on.

I have some plans for future chapters that involve the need for a shipname for Everlee and Harry and I want YOUR help in coming up with it. The person who suggests the winning name gets to name a character in the story. It can be your name or anything else. The character would be the author of an article that reveals the shipname given to Harry and Everlee as we all know it will be news when the world finds out that Harry Styles is dating his new manager, Everlee Scarcello. A lot of speculation will happen. So submit your ideas! I am excited to see what everyone suggests because currently mine is EH and involves the shoulder shrugging emoji. Haha!

There’s a lot coming up! Chicago is going to be HUGE. We know Harry will have to head home soon for the Another Man Magazine shoot, will he be able to convince Everlee to go home with him? How will they handle the three days apart? New York is coming up next!

As always thank you for reading ITHOLA. Your kind words mean so much to me and I’m so thankful to have amazing readers like you. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love hearing what you think about these chapters and this story as it can only help me improve the story as I write it. So please let me know what you think! I have no idea when chapter twelve is coming as I haven’t started it yet. But I can have my fingers crossed for this weekend.

Have a wonderful day!

xx AM.

[kristinsimmons]

Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle!

Hi everyone! I hope that summer is treating you well so far, and you’re staying in good health and good spirits during what has been a heartbreaking year. How are you and your families doing right now? 

At long last, I have some fun news to share with you today! This cookbook reveal was supposed to go out to you in May, then in June, and then in early July, but with everything going on in the world it just didn’t feel right, so I delayed it multiple times. I’m not sure it feels right even now, but I’ve had a lot of questions about the new book’s listing on various retailers online, so I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. I’m holding onto the hope that this news will bring a smile to your face and a bit of cheer. :)

If you haven’t guessed already, my new cookbook, Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals To Keep You Glowing, is finally complete and it comes out in a couple of short months! It’s been a wild ride to cross the finish line (never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be wrapping up a cookbook during a pandemic and lockdown), but after 3 years of working away on this project, I’m absolutely thrilled to let you know all the juicy (pun intended) deets about this new book. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may have seen the sneak peek pop into your inbox yesterday! 

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes from earlier this year when I was going over the book design!

Shifting from “behind-the-scenes” mode to “in-the-spotlight” mode doesn’t come easily for me (I’m much more of a behind-the-scenes kinda gal!), so this “launching into the world” part of the creation process is a big challenge for me on a personal level, and oh boy, the nerves I have right now are unreal. I’d be perfectly happy to work away diligently behind-the-scenes and never have to self-promote. ;) Do any of you relate? I’m always up for a good challenge, though, and getting to reconnect with you all is the icing on the vegan cake! 

This book would not have been possible without your encouragement, patience, and support throughout the whole process! It also wouldn’t have been possible without my small-but-mighty team made up of Nicole and Eric. They are my rocks, my sanity savers, my reasons for inappropriate fits of laughter, my sounding boards, my reminders to drink more caffeine and breathe, and it goes on. My incredible, diligent group of recipe testers (a special shout out and thank you to Anna, Carin, Tana, Tammy, Laurie, Caroline, Danielle, Vanessa, Lynn, Audrey, Stephanie D., Anne, Kathy, Stephanie S., Andrea, Beth, Katie, Lindsay M., Bridget, Laura, Lindsay V., Erin, Heather, Suzanne, Adrienne, Stephanie M., Carolina, Kirsten, Lori, Marina, and Kristen) have tested, and tested, and tested these recipes right alongside me and shared the most helpful feedback. And last but not least, I have so much gratitude for the amazing teams at Penguin Random House Canada and Avery! 

I held this book in my hands for the first time last week! I can’t even tell you how fast my heart was a-thumpin’ when I opened the box! It is always slightly terrifying and thrilling to open one of my books for the first time, and it really never gets any easier to send my heart and soul’s work off into the world. But I am so darn proud of this book. It’s my very first hardcover book, too!

About this book

Oh She Glows for Dinner is a reflection of what you, my dear readers, have asked me for the most over the years—more plant-based, crowd-pleasing dinner recipes! 

Dinner is something I think most of us have struggled with (I know I sure have!), and when you throw “plant-based” into the mix it can be even trickier to figure out. If you’ve ever shrugged your shoulders over what to make for a vegan meal and resorted to toast or a bowl of cereal, you certainly aren’t alone. I knew I had to create this cookbook to help answer the ever-burning “what’s for [plant-based] dinner?” question. As an added benefit, the recipes in this book also make incredible (and often portable) lunches! You’ll also find the perfect, satisfying sides to add to your dish, meal-worthy salads for every season, hearty & healing soups and stews, and a bounty of flavour-poppin’ sauces, dressings, parmesans, and pestos that you can make to change up the flavour profile (or simply punch up your dish even more). And I threw in a delicious dessert/drink chapter, of course, because it wouldn’t be an Oh She Glows cookbook without some sweet, healthified treats! ;)

What you’ll find inside:

Dietary and Cooking Labels

Each recipe indicates whether it is nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, grain-free and/or oil-free, raw/no bake or one pot. Out of 106 vegan recipes in this cookbook, 101 are gluten-free or have a gluten-free option, 90 are nut-free or have a nut-free option, and nearly all are soy-free. I also share whether the recipe is kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and/or if any advance prep is needed. My “on the glow” label tells you whether the recipe is portable. My goal was to pack in as much helpful info as I could for you (dare I say this is my most informative book yet?)…you know me, go big or go home…lol.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

Almost all of the recipes in this cookbook also include specific storage and reheating instructions, customized to each recipe. My recipe testers and I spent so much time testing the recipes to take the guesswork out of them for you!

Active Time and Total Time

Each recipe tells you how much active time and total time will be required. Active time is the time you are actively preparing food in the kitchen. Total time reflects how long the recipe takes from start to finish. If applicable, we also share Soak time and/or Chill time.

Full-page colour photographs 

I am so excited to share that I did the food photography and food styling for the recipes in this book – there are more than 100 of my photographs inside! 

Glow Getter Meal Plans 

This book includes 4 meal prep plans! Each time-saving plan provides step-by-step instructions, so you can prep or fully make 3 dinner recipes in just 60 to 90 minutes. I knew it was important to create plans that would actually work for a busy lifestyle. I’ve tried plans in the past that take 2.5 to 3 hours each week, and they just didn’t fit into my life. These plans don’t take long (60 to 90 minutes at a brisk pace) and they set you up with a few hearty meals each week!

Menus To Get Your Glow On

I also share my tried-and-true menus for special occasions or themed nights, such as Girls’ Night, Mother’s Day, Game Night, The Oh She Glows Cookbook Club Night, and more. If you have ever struggled with how to combine recipes for special meals, I really hope this will give you the inspo you need to simplify your planning. Don’t forget to check out our bonus bundle below as it includes 4 designed printable menus which correspond to menus found in the book!

Helpful Recipe Lists

My Helpful Recipe Lists index at the back of the book provides at-a-glance searching of recipes by allergy label or preference, so you can find all the gluten-free recipes grouped together in one spot, or all the kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, nut-free, one pot, and on the glow recipes. 

My Pantry Staples, Kitchen Tools and Appliances

I’ve included a condensed list of the essential pantry items I keep on hand along with my favourite tools and appliances. If I have a preferred brand, I share those names with you, so you know exactly what I use in my own kitchen.

The Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is here! 

The response to my pre-order bonus bundles for my previous two cookbooks was so enthusiastic, I knew I had to raise the bar and add in some exciting and unique new bonus features. This Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is definitely my favourite, most cheerful and creative pre-order bundle yet. All the *heart eye* emojis for this one. I had so much fun collaborating with local artist, Kayla Whitney, to create an adorable, custom Oh She Glows “Glow” downloadable art print for you to print and hang on your walls! This is my very first custom Oh She Glows print and it looks so bright and cheery on the wall. If you end up hanging the print in your house, we’d LOVE to see it! Simply tag it with #ohsheglowsfordinner on social media.

In addition to the “Glow” art print, you’ll receive 4 artfully designed Oh She Glows for Dinner menus to download and adorn your dinner table on special occasions. Super-handy Glow Getter Meal Plan printables from the new book will make prepping the plans even easier when your book arrives. It’s so convenient to print the meal plans and place them on your counter so you can cross things off as you work through the plan. Lastly, I couldn’t make you wait until October to get cooking, so I’ve included 4 advance recipes in this bundle—a few of my summer-friendly ones that we’ve been enjoying during this hot season! 

If you pre-order Oh She Glows for Dinner, keep your receipt handy and follow this link to get your free bonus bundle PDF! 

Pre-order now at the following retailers:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Indigo.ca 

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble (signed copy)

The Book Depository 

Books-A-Million

Apple Books

Amazon.co.uk

  Please note: We earn a small commission if you purchase an item through our affiliate links above. Thank you so much for your support!

I can’t wait to hear what you think!! 

With love and gratitude,

Angela xo

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Read More Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle!

The following post Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle! is republished from Oh She Glows by Angela (Oh She Glows)

Hi everyone! I hope that summer is treating you well so far, and you’re staying in good health and good spirits during what has been a heartbreaking year. How are you and your families doing right now? 

At long last, I have some fun news to share with you today! This cookbook reveal was supposed to go out to you in May, then in June, and then in early July, but with everything going on in the world it just didn’t feel right, so I delayed it multiple times. I’m not sure it feels right even now, but I’ve had a lot of questions about the new book’s listing on various retailers online, so I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. I’m holding onto the hope that this news will bring a smile to your face and a bit of cheer. :)

If you haven’t guessed already, my new cookbook, Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals To Keep You Glowing, is finally complete and it comes out in a couple of short months! It’s been a wild ride to cross the finish line (never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be wrapping up a cookbook during a pandemic and lockdown), but after 3 years of working away on this project, I’m absolutely thrilled to let you know all the juicy (pun intended) deets about this new book. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may have seen the sneak peek pop into your inbox yesterday! 

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes from earlier this year when I was going over the book design!

Shifting from “behind-the-scenes” mode to “in-the-spotlight” mode doesn’t come easily for me (I’m much more of a behind-the-scenes kinda gal!), so this “launching into the world” part of the creation process is a big challenge for me on a personal level, and oh boy, the nerves I have right now are unreal. I’d be perfectly happy to work away diligently behind-the-scenes and never have to self-promote. ;) Do any of you relate? I’m always up for a good challenge, though, and getting to reconnect with you all is the icing on the vegan cake! 

This book would not have been possible without your encouragement, patience, and support throughout the whole process! It also wouldn’t have been possible without my small-but-mighty team made up of Nicole and Eric. They are my rocks, my sanity savers, my reasons for inappropriate fits of laughter, my sounding boards, my reminders to drink more caffeine and breathe, and it goes on. My incredible, diligent group of recipe testers (a special shout out and thank you to Anna, Carin, Tana, Tammy, Laurie, Caroline, Danielle, Vanessa, Lynn, Audrey, Stephanie D., Anne, Kathy, Stephanie S., Andrea, Beth, Katie, Lindsay M., Bridget, Laura, Lindsay V., Erin, Heather, Suzanne, Adrienne, Stephanie M., Carolina, Kirsten, Lori, Marina, and Kristen) have tested, and tested, and tested these recipes right alongside me and shared the most helpful feedback. And last but not least, I have so much gratitude for the amazing teams at Penguin Random House Canada and Avery! 

I held this book in my hands for the first time last week! I can’t even tell you how fast my heart was a-thumpin’ when I opened the box! It is always slightly terrifying and thrilling to open one of my books for the first time, and it really never gets any easier to send my heart and soul’s work off into the world. But I am so darn proud of this book. It’s my very first hardcover book, too!

About this book

Oh She Glows for Dinner is a reflection of what you, my dear readers, have asked me for the most over the years—more plant-based, crowd-pleasing dinner recipes! 

Dinner is something I think most of us have struggled with (I know I sure have!), and when you throw “plant-based” into the mix it can be even trickier to figure out. If you’ve ever shrugged your shoulders over what to make for a vegan meal and resorted to toast or a bowl of cereal, you certainly aren’t alone. I knew I had to create this cookbook to help answer the ever-burning “what’s for [plant-based] dinner?” question. As an added benefit, the recipes in this book also make incredible (and often portable) lunches! You’ll also find the perfect, satisfying sides to add to your dish, meal-worthy salads for every season, hearty & healing soups and stews, and a bounty of flavour-poppin’ sauces, dressings, parmesans, and pestos that you can make to change up the flavour profile (or simply punch up your dish even more). And I threw in a delicious dessert/drink chapter, of course, because it wouldn’t be an Oh She Glows cookbook without some sweet, healthified treats! ;)

What you’ll find inside:

Dietary and Cooking Labels

Each recipe indicates whether it is nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, grain-free and/or oil-free, raw/no bake or one pot. Out of 106 vegan recipes in this cookbook, 101 are gluten-free or have a gluten-free option, 90 are nut-free or have a nut-free option, and nearly all are soy-free. I also share whether the recipe is kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and/or if any advance prep is needed. My “on the glow” label tells you whether the recipe is portable. My goal was to pack in as much helpful info as I could for you (dare I say this is my most informative book yet?)…you know me, go big or go home…lol.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

Almost all of the recipes in this cookbook also include specific storage and reheating instructions, customized to each recipe. My recipe testers and I spent so much time testing the recipes to take the guesswork out of them for you!

Active Time and Total Time

Each recipe tells you how much active time and total time will be required. Active time is the time you are actively preparing food in the kitchen. Total time reflects how long the recipe takes from start to finish. If applicable, we also share Soak time and/or Chill time.

Full-page colour photographs 

I am so excited to share that I did the food photography and food styling for the recipes in this book – there are more than 100 of my photographs inside! 

Glow Getter Meal Plans 

This book includes 4 meal prep plans! Each time-saving plan provides step-by-step instructions, so you can prep or fully make 3 dinner recipes in just 60 to 90 minutes. I knew it was important to create plans that would actually work for a busy lifestyle. I’ve tried plans in the past that take 2.5 to 3 hours each week, and they just didn’t fit into my life. These plans don’t take long (60 to 90 minutes at a brisk pace) and they set you up with a few hearty meals each week!

Menus To Get Your Glow On

I also share my tried-and-true menus for special occasions or themed nights, such as Girls’ Night, Mother’s Day, Game Night, The Oh She Glows Cookbook Club Night, and more. If you have ever struggled with how to combine recipes for special meals, I really hope this will give you the inspo you need to simplify your planning. Don’t forget to check out our bonus bundle below as it includes 4 designed printable menus which correspond to menus found in the book!

Helpful Recipe Lists

My Helpful Recipe Lists index at the back of the book provides at-a-glance searching of recipes by allergy label or preference, so you can find all the gluten-free recipes grouped together in one spot, or all the kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, nut-free, one pot, and on the glow recipes. 

My Pantry Staples, Kitchen Tools and Appliances

I’ve included a condensed list of the essential pantry items I keep on hand along with my favourite tools and appliances. If I have a preferred brand, I share those names with you, so you know exactly what I use in my own kitchen.

The Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is here! 

The response to my pre-order bonus bundles for my previous two cookbooks was so enthusiastic, I knew I had to raise the bar and add in some exciting and unique new bonus features. This Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is definitely my favourite, most cheerful and creative pre-order bundle yet. All the *heart eye* emojis for this one. I had so much fun collaborating with local artist, Kayla Whitney, to create an adorable, custom Oh She Glows “Glow” downloadable art print for you to print and hang on your walls! This is my very first custom Oh She Glows print and it looks so bright and cheery on the wall. If you end up hanging the print in your house, we’d LOVE to see it! Simply tag it with #ohsheglowsfordinner on social media.

In addition to the “Glow” art print, you’ll receive 4 artfully designed Oh She Glows for Dinner menus to download and adorn your dinner table on special occasions. Super-handy Glow Getter Meal Plan printables from the new book will make prepping the plans even easier when your book arrives. It’s so convenient to print the meal plans and place them on your counter so you can cross things off as you work through the plan. Lastly, I couldn’t make you wait until October to get cooking, so I’ve included 4 advance recipes in this bundle—a few of my summer-friendly ones that we’ve been enjoying during this hot season! 

If you pre-order Oh She Glows for Dinner, keep your receipt handy and follow this link to get your free bonus bundle PDF! 

Pre-order now at the following retailers:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Indigo.ca 

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble (signed copy)

The Book Depository 

Books-A-Million

Apple Books

Amazon.co.uk

  Please note: We earn a small commission if you purchase an item through our affiliate links above. Thank you so much for your support!

I can’t wait to hear what you think!! 

With love and gratitude,

Angela xo

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© copyright 2020 Oh She Glows. All Rights Reserved.

[susantregre]

Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle!

Hi everyone! I hope that summer is treating you well so far, and you’re staying in good health and good spirits during what has been a heartbreaking year. How are you and your families doing right now? 

At long last, I have some fun news to share with you today! This cookbook reveal was supposed to go out to you in May, then in June, and then in early July, but with everything going on in the world it just didn’t feel right, so I delayed it multiple times. I’m not sure it feels right even now, but I’ve had a lot of questions about the new book’s listing on various retailers online, so I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. I’m holding onto the hope that this news will bring a smile to your face and a bit of cheer. :)

If you haven’t guessed already, my new cookbook, Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals To Keep You Glowing, is finally complete and it comes out in a couple of short months! It’s been a wild ride to cross the finish line (never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be wrapping up a cookbook during a pandemic and lockdown), but after 3 years of working away on this project, I’m absolutely thrilled to let you know all the juicy (pun intended) deets about this new book. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may have seen the sneak peek pop into your inbox yesterday! 

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes from earlier this year when I was going over the book design!

Shifting from “behind-the-scenes” mode to “in-the-spotlight” mode doesn’t come easily for me (I’m much more of a behind-the-scenes kinda gal!), so this “launching into the world” part of the creation process is a big challenge for me on a personal level, and oh boy, the nerves I have right now are unreal. I’d be perfectly happy to work away diligently behind-the-scenes and never have to self-promote. ;) Do any of you relate? I’m always up for a good challenge, though, and getting to reconnect with you all is the icing on the vegan cake! 

This book would not have been possible without your encouragement, patience, and support throughout the whole process! It also wouldn’t have been possible without my small-but-mighty team made up of Nicole and Eric. They are my rocks, my sanity savers, my reasons for inappropriate fits of laughter, my sounding boards, my reminders to drink more caffeine and breathe, and it goes on. My incredible, diligent group of recipe testers (a special shout out and thank you to Anna, Carin, Tana, Tammy, Laurie, Caroline, Danielle, Vanessa, Lynn, Audrey, Stephanie D., Anne, Kathy, Stephanie S., Andrea, Beth, Katie, Lindsay M., Bridget, Laura, Lindsay V., Erin, Heather, Suzanne, Adrienne, Stephanie M., Carolina, Kirsten, Lori, Marina, and Kristen) have tested, and tested, and tested these recipes right alongside me and shared the most helpful feedback. And last but not least, I have so much gratitude for the amazing teams at Penguin Random House Canada and Avery! 

I held this book in my hands for the first time last week! I can’t even tell you how fast my heart was a-thumpin’ when I opened the box! It is always slightly terrifying and thrilling to open one of my books for the first time, and it really never gets any easier to send my heart and soul’s work off into the world. But I am so darn proud of this book. It’s my very first hardcover book, too!

About this book

Oh She Glows for Dinner is a reflection of what you, my dear readers, have asked me for the most over the years—more plant-based, crowd-pleasing dinner recipes! 

Dinner is something I think most of us have struggled with (I know I sure have!), and when you throw “plant-based” into the mix it can be even trickier to figure out. If you’ve ever shrugged your shoulders over what to make for a vegan meal and resorted to toast or a bowl of cereal, you certainly aren’t alone. I knew I had to create this cookbook to help answer the ever-burning “what’s for [plant-based] dinner?” question. As an added benefit, the recipes in this book also make incredible (and often portable) lunches! You’ll also find the perfect, satisfying sides to add to your dish, meal-worthy salads for every season, hearty & healing soups and stews, and a bounty of flavour-poppin’ sauces, dressings, parmesans, and pestos that you can make to change up the flavour profile (or simply punch up your dish even more). And I threw in a delicious dessert/drink chapter, of course, because it wouldn’t be an Oh She Glows cookbook without some sweet, healthified treats! ;)

What you’ll find inside:

Dietary and Cooking Labels

Each recipe indicates whether it is nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, grain-free and/or oil-free, raw/no bake or one pot. Out of 106 vegan recipes in this cookbook, 101 are gluten-free or have a gluten-free option, 90 are nut-free or have a nut-free option, and nearly all are soy-free. I also share whether the recipe is kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and/or if any advance prep is needed. My “on the glow” label tells you whether the recipe is portable. My goal was to pack in as much helpful info as I could for you (dare I say this is my most informative book yet?)…you know me, go big or go home…lol.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

Almost all of the recipes in this cookbook also include specific storage and reheating instructions, customized to each recipe. My recipe testers and I spent so much time testing the recipes to take the guesswork out of them for you!

Active Time and Total Time

Each recipe tells you how much active time and total time will be required. Active time is the time you are actively preparing food in the kitchen. Total time reflects how long the recipe takes from start to finish. If applicable, we also share Soak time and/or Chill time.

Full-page colour photographs 

I am so excited to share that I did the food photography and food styling for the recipes in this book – there are more than 100 of my photographs inside! 

Glow Getter Meal Plans 

This book includes 4 meal prep plans! Each time-saving plan provides step-by-step instructions, so you can prep or fully make 3 dinner recipes in just 60 to 90 minutes. I knew it was important to create plans that would actually work for a busy lifestyle. I’ve tried plans in the past that take 2.5 to 3 hours each week, and they just didn’t fit into my life. These plans don’t take long (60 to 90 minutes at a brisk pace) and they set you up with a few hearty meals each week!

Menus To Get Your Glow On

I also share my tried-and-true menus for special occasions or themed nights, such as Girls’ Night, Mother’s Day, Game Night, The Oh She Glows Cookbook Club Night, and more. If you have ever struggled with how to combine recipes for special meals, I really hope this will give you the inspo you need to simplify your planning. Don’t forget to check out our bonus bundle below as it includes 4 designed printable menus which correspond to menus found in the book!

Helpful Recipe Lists

My Helpful Recipe Lists index at the back of the book provides at-a-glance searching of recipes by allergy label or preference, so you can find all the gluten-free recipes grouped together in one spot, or all the kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, nut-free, one pot, and on the glow recipes. 

My Pantry Staples, Kitchen Tools and Appliances

I’ve included a condensed list of the essential pantry items I keep on hand along with my favourite tools and appliances. If I have a preferred brand, I share those names with you, so you know exactly what I use in my own kitchen.

The Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is here! 

The response to my pre-order bonus bundles for my previous two cookbooks was so enthusiastic, I knew I had to raise the bar and add in some exciting and unique new bonus features. This Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is definitely my favourite, most cheerful and creative pre-order bundle yet. All the *heart eye* emojis for this one. I had so much fun collaborating with local artist, Kayla Whitney, to create an adorable, custom Oh She Glows “Glow” downloadable art print for you to print and hang on your walls! This is my very first custom Oh She Glows print and it looks so bright and cheery on the wall. If you end up hanging the print in your house, we’d LOVE to see it! Simply tag it with #ohsheglowsfordinner on social media.

In addition to the “Glow” art print, you’ll receive 4 artfully designed Oh She Glows for Dinner menus to download and adorn your dinner table on special occasions. Super-handy Glow Getter Meal Plan printables from the new book will make prepping the plans even easier when your book arrives. It’s so convenient to print the meal plans and place them on your counter so you can cross things off as you work through the plan. Lastly, I couldn’t make you wait until October to get cooking, so I’ve included 4 advance recipes in this bundle—a few of my summer-friendly ones that we’ve been enjoying during this hot season! 

If you pre-order Oh She Glows for Dinner, keep your receipt handy and follow this link to get your free bonus bundle PDF! 

Pre-order now at the following retailers:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Indigo.ca 

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble (signed copy)

The Book Depository 

Books-A-Million

Apple Books

Amazon.co.uk

  Please note: We earn a small commission if you purchase an item through our affiliate links above. Thank you so much for your support!

I can’t wait to hear what you think!! 

With love and gratitude,

Angela xo

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© copyright 2020 Oh She Glows. All Rights Reserved.

from Oh She Glows https://ift.tt/3gbklOP

[healthofhaaszy]

The Foundation

I started listening to a podcast called “Losing 100 Pounds with Phit-n-Phat.”  I was always skinny growing up and started packing on the pounds about 10 years ago.  Since then, I’ve only been gaining weight and not losing.  I’ve tried all the fad diets and different gyms, but nothing has worked.  So why not try a podcast?

The first thing the podcast says to do is figure out where you’re at now and where you want to be at.  Don’t just look at it like “I want to lose 80 pounds.”  That’s a goal, but why do you want to lose the weight?  What is happening now that makes you want to do this?  So that’s what i’m here to do.

I’m currently sitting at 5′3″ 205 pounds.  I’m a size 14 slowly creeping my way to a size 16 and my boobs are beyond control (38K).  But those are just numbers.  Where am I really at?  I’m tired all the time, I eat unhealthy 90% of the time, I always eat until I’m full, I have no energy to exercise, I’m recovering from a broken ankle, none of my clothes fit me anymore, I hate shopping because nothing looks good on me, I hate looking at my body, and I have borderline high cholesterol.  

Where do I want to be?  I would like to be at a healthy weight for my height, fitting into my current clothes, energized, putting good things into my body, exercising daily, confident, and healthy.  I also want to be eating until I’m not hungry, not until I’m full.    

 What “fads” have I tried and failed?  First there was Weight Watchers.  I tried this back in college when I was about 140 pounds and thought I was heavy because my boyfriend told me I was.  That and I was a size 5/6 and my best friend was a 00.  I know now not to compare myself to others and I also know I could never/nor do I want to be that small.  This worked for a while until the points changed.  They went from regular points to PointsPlus and something that was 4 points jumped to 20 points.  I didn’t understand how something could change that drastically and started questioning what the program was actually about. 

After Weight Watchers was the Lean Cuisine Diet.  This isn’t an actual diet (to my knowledge), but is what my roommate and I did.  She started eating only lean cuisines and lost 20 pounds in one month.  I figured I would give it a try myself since it worked for her.  That one did not last very long at all.  Lean Cuisines were expensive and not filling.  Plus they were not healthy and really high in sodium.  I also tried doing the Insanity workouts at the same time, but once the week off hit, I never went back. 

The most successful program for me was the 21 Day Fix.  I actually did the workouts daily and followed the nutrition plan to a T.  I lost 10 pounds and could see a visible difference in my body.  But then the 21 days ended and I was so proud of my progress that I decided to “celebrate” with food.  The meal plan was relatively easy to follow since I didn’t really need to “give up” certain food groups and I have tried to follow it more or less (usually less) over the years.  I just haven’t gotten back into the workouts. 

Most recently I signed up for “The Max Challenge” gym.  They start you off with a 10 week nutrition program and you go to the gym Monday-Friday at a specific time for a class.  This meal plan is similar to the 21DF except you are giving up certain foods like cheese, milk, and bread.  You are also left with certain gym times that may or may not fit in your schedule.  I chose the 6am class which was very difficult for me to attend.  Some days I would do 4:30pm or 6:30pm, but it was also difficult switching around all the time.  The one thing I learned from this experience is that I almost always regretted not going, but I never regretted going. 

So what have I learned from this? Well, I know that I am capable of losing weight and having self-control.  It’s easier to have self-control when there are no bad foods in the house which is hard with my current living situation.  I know that I am capable of working out daily.  I know I feel good after working out.  I also know that I have a hard time sticking to a workout plan or eating plan.  I don’t really like cooking, especially if it takes a long time and requires a lot of ingredients. I have a hard time waking up and working out in the morning, even more so at home because I do not have a comfortable place to do so.  I know that it is also difficult going to a gym because it requires getting dressed and leaving the house.  I know I have to set small goals that are not necessarily weight loss related.  

Where does that leave me?  What is the “game plan”?  This time around, it’s not about being perfect, but about being better.  Just because I have one “cheat” meal doesn’t mean my day is ruined and just because I have one bad day doesn’t mean the week is ruined.  I’m going to set small goals for myself.  Daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, and yearly goals.  

What are the goals?  Daily goes will be to drink 100 oz of water, workout/exercise, and follow the meal plan.  For each day all 3 goals are accomplished, I will get a “star” in each category.  Upon receiving 21 stars in all 3 categories (21 Day Fix...get it), and it doesn’t have to be consecutively, I will reward myself with something non-food related.  I need to stop thinking of food as a reward or punishment and more as something needed to fuel my body.  

My weekly goals will be to have only one cheat meal and exercise at least 5 times during the week.  My monthly goals will be to earn 21 stars in each category, lose between 5-10 pounds, and fit better into my clothes.  My yearly goals will be to lose 50 pounds and get down to at least a size 10. 

I know what you’re thinking: how are your weekly goals to only have one cheat meal and exercise 5 days when there are 7 days in a week and your daily goals are to follow the meal plan and exercise?  Well, as I said earlier, it’s not about being perfect, but about being better.  Life can sometimes get in the way of the daily goals.  Maybe I’m sick and don’t feel like exercising and cooking.  Maybe I didn’t have time to go food shopping and needed to pick something up in a hurry.  Maybe I have a party to go to and want to be able to enjoy myself and not stress about what’s going in my body.  Maybe I’m going on vacation and need to take a break for a bit.  No one is perfect, and it’s not about perfection, but improvement.

How do the rewards work?  I earn 1 star for each category every day I accomplish that goal.  If I drink 100 oz of water, I get a blue star.  If I follow the meal plan, I get a red star.  If I exercise, I get a green star.  Once 21 stars are earned in each category, I get a silver star.  That silver star entitles me to a reward of some sort.  Something I would not just buy for myself on a whim or because I have the money to do so.  One silver star is equivalent to a $100 gift for myself.  I can either spend it or save it for a multiple silver star gift.

How am I going to do this?  First, I need a schedule.  I know I can work out in the mornings at home as I have done it in the past.  It’s also the easiest time to work out because I’m fresh and don’t have the wear of the day on me.  I will need to select a time to wake up and work out every day, even weekends.  My biggest struggle now is that I do not have a consistent work schedule since I am able to work at home.  This means I have a hard time waking up in the morning since at least 3/7 days I can sleep in.  This is not conducive for a routine where I work out in the morning.  

Second, meal prepping.  I need to cook meals that require little work and little ingredients.  I also need variety in my meals, so 2 different dinners and 2 different lunches throughout the week should suffice.  Breakfast I will go with something quick and easy that can be made on the spot.  I’m usually pretty good with meal prepping, it’s actually eating the meals that I prepped that I have a problem with.  It’s hard living at home and having your dad cook unhealthy dinners every night. 

Third, water intake.  Some days, I’m GREAT about drinking a ton of water.  Other days, not so much.  When I’m in the office, it’s easy because I can have however many bathroom breaks I want.  The days I’m in court it’s trickier because I am so busy, I don’t have time to drink water, nor do I want to because I don’t have time to go to the bathroom.  That means I will need to make up for my lack of water intake later in the day.  The days I am home it is also tough because I don’t typically fill up a bottle of water that sits in front of me.  That will change and I will start doing this in the morning before exercising so that I have water to drink for that and the rest of the day. 

Fourth, progress pictures.  I am really good at before pictures, but not so good at during or after pictures.  I also have a tendency to take the pictures too soon and get discouraged.  Since this is a 21 day plan, I am going to take the pictures every 21 days.  I was taking them every week, and could see very minimal change, which was great, but also not super encouraging.  I think every 21 days is perfect because if I get good results, I can show others what to expect.

Fifth, documentation.  I started an Instagram account Health of Haaszy about a year ago.  I posted pictures of me going to the gym and pictures of meals.  I kept it private and planned to share it only when I lost the weight.  That didn’t happen and I fell off track and eventually deleted the photos on the page. BUT the Instagram still stands.  Photos of meals and what each one is worth and how to make it will help.  Since I am only doing 5-6 meals per week, that should be manageable to document throughout the week.  

Sixth, weigh-ins.  Another thing I have a problem with.  I would weigh myself every day and get excited that I lost weight, but disappointed when I put a pound or two back on.  Weekly weigh-ins will be better because, while still not enough time to show significant progress, I will be able to see where I generally am and (hopefully) be encouraged to stick to what I am doing.

So I think that’s it!  It took me two days to complete this post, but I wanted to make sure I got everything in there.  As I write this, it is mid-December 2019.  I plan to implement all of this January 6th.  I know what some of you are thinking?  Why wait?  Why put off tomorrow what you can do today?  Isn’t that one of the things you struggle with - saying you’ll start next week and then not starting?  Yes, you are correct.  But I also know myself and I know that I have approximately 0 motivation right now since I know I will be going on a cruise in 16 days where I will eat and drink and be lazy and I want to be able to enjoy that and not focus on my eating habits.  I will try to eat until I’m not hungry instead of eating until I’m full.  Gotta start somewhere, right?  And again, it’s not about perfection, it’s about being better.  Catch ya on the flip side.  

[marketerarena-blog]

New York City Marathon–Tips & Must See Course Highlights with Healthy Happier Bear Podcast

Today I’m talking with Ashley Diamond from My Healthy Happier Life – she’s run and spectated the New York City Marathon several times and she’s a New Yorker so she’s sharing the best tips on how to prep for the course, what you need to know for race morning plus tips for spectators.

I ran the race in 2013 but she’s the expert so we hit all the bases including – the one food you MUST eat while in NYC (spoiler: it’s NOT pizza!?). And most of the tips can help you prepare for any race – any distance! We get into timing your pre-run food and making friends and more!

It’s a really fun conversation too – I forgot until she mentioned  – we first met at The Reach the Beach Relay race years ago that we go way back!

We’re sharing a lot of tips and kinda hang out with us on this episode!

In case you’re new here… I’m Monica Olivas – a marathon runner, marathon eater and podcaster in Southern California. I started RunEatRepeat.com to share my running and weight loss story – it grew into an amazing community online and now it’s this podcast. Thank you for listening!

Podcast Warm Up:

I ran the Revel Marathon Big Bear . And I’m talking to you … so I didn’t die.

But I did get a little sick right before the race and I did this interview with Ashley the day after so I’m a mouth breather and sound a lil congested. Gross. But if you run faster it sounds better … so speed up!

I shared a short race recap here >>> Revel Marathon Big Bear Top 10 Highlights

But let’s talk about how it really went down…

I realized I was getting sick on Thursday and tried to fight it off with sleep and vitamin C. But I had a fancy VIP trip to Disneyland planned for Friday and couldn’t bail on that. So… I got a lil sick. It was mostly mocos and mouth breathing.

Saturday… I got up early and bought new tires for my car because I was driving all the way to Redlands with my only friend and wanted her to be safe. And my brother told me it’s not smart to be driving on flat old tires so… yeah.

On the way there SR was hungry and I realized I hadn’t eaten lunch so we stopped at Chick Fil A around 4:30pm. This wasn’t the best pre-race meal but SR lives in Alaska where there’s no Chick Fil A and I live in a fantasy world without reason.

We got our bibs and went to my Nino and Nina’s house – they’re about an hour from me and were about 20 minutes from the shuttle bus pick up for the race.

Revel Big Bear starts up the mountain in Big Bear so you have to park and take a shuttle to the start line. It takes almost an hour to get to the start! So SR scared me because she kept worrying that she’d have to pee on the bus so she ducked out of line to pee somewhere and then I thought I should and might have peed on SR’s Boston Marathon poncho. And we’ll find out if she listens to the show if she tells me something about it. Boom.

Race – last week I set a few goals for myself, mostly because I felt like just saying – I’m running a marathon. K. Bye. – and leaving it at that was awkward.

My goals were:

A. Run a sub-4 hour marathon

B. Finish the marathon strong – run smart, pay attention to fuel and how I feel to learn from it

C. Finish.

D. Not die.

  I hit my goal and ran it in 3:50:47. Pace 8:48.

Notes: I never really felt like I got in the zone. When you’re running 26 miles and aren’t going for a PR – I like to get to a pace where I feel like ‘I can do this all day’.

I felt kinda meh the whole time. It felt like it took more effort than it should have given the paces I was running trying to keep it easy. There are a lot of reasons I didn’t feel 100% – my fitness level, the altitude or me being a lil under the weather or my nerves or crappy fueling or stomach … ?? But I am happy that despite not feeling great I did it!

I stopped at the restrooms 2x and took my time.

I wanted to walk the rest of the race around mile 19. I walked through the water station and had SR take some pics of me around that point.

I didn’t want to quit but I wanted to just walk it in the last 6 miles. But SR kept bugging me and we argued. And she was quiet for a bit and then started again and I got mad.

But I’m glad she pushed me because I am proud of how I did.

And I’m extra grateful she came out to run this race with me because I’ve registered for several marathons in the last year and a half and either stepped down to the half or back out all together of every single one.

I probably would’ve done that again – so SR deserves all the credit that I ran a whole marathon.

And I feel a lot better about myself and my abilities now. It’s not about the time – it’s that I didn’t think I could.

This is Barles Hambone aka my only friend aka Skinny Runner aka Mayor of Alaska aka …

And with that…

I’ll remind you there are Race Discounts for RNR LA – RNR VEGAS – LEXUS LACE UP and more!

Check out the Race Discounts Page for more!!

Now let’s get to the Main Event:

  New York City Marathon Training, Race Day and What to Eat – The Best Tips Podcast

Ashley Diamond is a runner, blogger, wife and mom working in e-commerce in New York City. She’s run and spectated the New York City Marathon several times and considers it her favorite race. Today I’m asking her for all the best tips on training, race morning, the course and where to eat. She’s currently training for a half marathon and you can keep up with her at My Healthy Happier Life

Tips for the NYC Marathon – How to have the best race day at one of the best races in the US!

1. Let’s start with training…

What’s the NYC Marathon course like? Any specific training we should incorporate?

– What’s the course like?

– Start time / Logistics is challenging… how do you train for that with fuel & hydration?

What and when to eat race morning!

2. Tips for the expo?

She’s volunteered at the expo a few times too!

3. Race day Tips and Reminders:

NYC Marathon start line logistics are very unique! When I ran it I took a bus to the start line. But I think you’ve taken a ferry? Let’s talk about our race morning experiences & tips for each.

– The options to get to the start.

– Plan / Pack Fuel

– Throw away gear

– Corrals / Running with Friends

– How to find your people after the race – great tips for spectators! What to wear, where to stand and other notes to make sure you don’t miss your cheerleaders.

4. The Course

I think the best thing about the race is the amazing crowd support. There’s nothing like it.

What is your favorite part of the NYC Marathon course?

What should runners make sure to enjoy?

5. Victory Lap – (Best Food / Fun in the city)

What is the BEST post race victory lap?

All her running favorites:

> Favorite race / distance to run? Half Marathon – she’s going for a sub- 2 hour half marathon this weekend!

> What are your favorite running shoes? Brooks Levitate 2 – good support and cushion & bright colors

> Must Have Running Gear? Apple Air Pods – they stay in place and stand up to sweat // Brooks Greenlight 7” Shorts (they’re my fave too)

> What did you listen to on your last run / workout? Running Podcasts – Ali on the Run, Another Mother Runner, Hustle…

> What’s your favorite post-run / post- race victory lap? Burger & Fries

  You can follow her on Instagram @Healthy Happier and her blog is My Healthy Happier Life

Tips for Spectators of the NYC Marathon via Healthy Happier Life

NYC Marathon Recap via Healthy Happier Life

I ran New York in 2013 – here’s my blog recap of the race and pictures:

NYC Marathon Expo

New York City Marathon Race Recap – there are a lot of pics in there too

(I think the only post-race picture I have was with Ben) I was freezing after the race and just wanted to find him and get inside. He was watching the race with friends and as soon as they found me they snapped a pic of use together and we headed inside.

  Awards:

1st place goes to SR aka Skinny Runner aka @BarlesHambone for being my only friend, photographer, and agreeing to sleep with me but not actually touching me.

2nd place – Brooks Running sent me a pair of the special edition NYC Marathon running shoes! They are so fun! I love them!!

If you have a question or a topic you’d like me to cover for an upcoming podcast… let me know!

Email me at RunEatRepeat@gmail.com with Podcast in the subject line or call the RER voicemail.

Hi! Let me know what you’re doing while you listen by tagging @RunEatRepeat on instagram

The post New York City Marathon–Tips & Must See Course Highlights with Healthy Happier Bear Podcast appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

https://askfitness.today/new-york-city-marathon-tips-must-see-course-highlights-with-healthy-happier-bear-podcast/

[brandyfields66-blog]

I Ate Like Supermodel Kate Upton for Three Days-and It Wasn't That Hard

What It Is: Kate Upton x Urban Remedy Meal Plan

Who Tried It: Grace Gavilanes, PEOPLE.com associate editor

Level of Difficulty: 4/10

When I think Kate Upton, three things come to mind: Her laugh-out-loud role in The Other Woman, her picture-perfect relationship with husband Justin Verlander and her totally enviable physique (and body-positive attitude to boot!). Upton's a supermodel whose hectic schedule keeps her on the go, but she makes sure to eat clean, nourishing meals throughout the day no matter what.

In late June, Upton announced on Instagram that she partnered up with Urban Remedy and its founder, Neka Pasquale, to create an exclusive Kate-Upton-approved meal plan that promotes an organic diet.

The three-day meal plan ($189; urbanremedy.com) features salads, a veggie burger, a black rice bowl and several shots of juice for fitness fans to take before, during and after their workouts. As People.com's self-proclaimed guinea pig, I was immediately intrigued and knew I had to try it out. But this isn't just another celebrity who has no personal attachment to the product she's endorsing. Upton tells PEOPLE she's long been a fan of the company and its delicious and healthy offerings.

So, what advice did she have for me before I kicked off my living-like-a-supermodel adventure? She recommended I pay extra-close attention to subtle and noticeable changes I'd be experiencing in those three days. “I always can tell when I'm eating clean because I sleep better, my skin clears up, and I have significantly more energy,” Upton tells PEOPLE of her own experience with the service. “It truly makes a huge difference.”

And with that heads-up, I was off:

Day One

Tell Me About Your Day: I don't even know how to describe what I felt on my first day. Surprise? Total satisfaction? I was just happy, and yes, most definitely surprised. I kicked off my three-day journey on a Wednesday, which in theory sounded perfect. I'd end this meal plan right before the weekend so if I'm miserable I can just treat myself to cheese fries on Saturday, I thought. But here's the thing: The meals were really, really good - even the smoothies, which I was skeptical about at first. I usually start my day off with a big ol' cup of oatmeal and a banana, but the Green Berry smoothie was first on the meal plan's Day 1 list. I don't have an ongoing relationship with smoothies so I was curious about my very first beverage on the plan. The drink was sweet and thick, but not in an overwhelming way. I was immediately satisfied and much to my surprise, felt satiated. A much lighter green juice (Slender Greens) came next for “mid-morning.” Clearly unexperienced, I kind of forced myself to drink Slender Greens 1.5 hours after the Green Berry, despite still feeling quite full. Lunch called for Thai Veggie Noodles and Chicken. The noodles were made from zucchini, and the dish was delicious. It even came with a spicy ginger lime dressing! And because Kate Upton knows every sane person needs an afternoon snack to get them through the mid-day slump, she included Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips (1/2 bag) in the plan. I was extra cautious about not eating the entire bag. At around 5 p.m. I ate dinner, a Vegan Caesar Salad that came with parmesan seed cheese made from hemp, sesame and sunflower. I did feel hungry a few hours later, though, so I ate an RX Bar after coming across a “plan tip” written at the top of the meal plan schedule card that read, “Listen to your body and eat when hungry.” I took it as a sign to enjoy the chocolate sea salt bar, which I do end up doing while also vowing to not force-drink the mid-morning juice so soon after my breakfast. 

How's Your Skin? I've always been prone to breakouts so I'll be honest and say I wasn't expecting an overnight miracle. Regardless, I did keep an extra-close eye on a bump I saw forming on my right cheek that morning.

How'd You Sleep? Like a baby. But I think it had less to do with the meal plan and more to do with my A/C being on the whole night.

How About Your Energy Levels? I will say, I did feel healthier since I was being encouraged to focus on portion controls, and not just eating cupcakes or cookies whenever I needed a break from work.

Day Two 

Tell Me About Your Day: I felt like a contestant on the early-aughts reality show Temptation Island, but instead of hunky guys, my temptation came in the form of a catered company lunch and DIY sundae bar. I must persevere! And I did. Somehow. In the morning, I happily gulped my breakfast - a Mint Cacao Chip smoothie - which almost made me cry because it tasted like a cheat meal but is so, so good for you because of the vitamin-loaded spinach, banana, cashews, mint and cacao in it. Lunch and dinner were comprised of Rainbow Salad + Chicken and Ensalada Bowl salads. The afternoon snack, a Cacao Chip Protein Bar, was exactly what I needed after being tempted with goodies. Oh, I also downed almost two liters of water throughout the day … which I mindlessly end with an RX Bar while reading a few articles on my phone. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.

How's Your Skin? The bump on my cheek got bigger. Again, not your fault, Kate Upton. I blame that one night earlier in the week when I didn't deep-clean my face for this soon-to-be volcano-sized zit on my face.

How'd You Sleep? Not very well but it's entirely my fault. I stayed up late to watch a re-run of Southern Charm. I am too invested in the Thomas-Ashley-Kathryn drama to feel guilty.

How About Your Energy Levels? I definitely started feeling more confident on Thursday, mostly because I coolly rejected the free sandwiches and ice cream being served at work. I did, however, stand within feet of the free food just to see/smell it but found myself back at my desk minutes later (hair flip).

Day Three

Tell Me About Your Day: My morning started off with a 7 a.m. boxing class at Shadowbox, which meant I was finally able to try out the plan's pre-, mid- and post-workout shots. Since I'm only really used to chugging water while exercising and making a protein shake right after, the shots - made with ingredients like beet root (pre), cucumber (mid) and ginger (post) - were a nice little departure. The post-workout shot, in particular, was a nice kick thanks to the ginger and turmeric. It claims to reduce inflammation and officially woke me up. After that, I made my way to work, had a Green Berry smoothie and a Happy Belly juice hours later, when my body was finally ready. In terms of food, Day 3 of the plan is the best one yet. Lunch and dinner were comprised of an umami plant Veggie Burger - which I had to stop myself from eating so fast because it is that good - and a Black Rice Umeboshi Bowl that came with salmon. Salmon! I was thrilled because as much as I love salads, I do appreciate a variety in my protein (i.e. something other than chicken). The afternoon snack called for the last half of the Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips bag, which ended up being more than half because I was so paranoid about eating the entire thing on Day 1. I was very satisfied throughout the day, mostly because I finally got the hang of drinking my mid-morning juice when I felt less-than-uncomfortably-stuffed. That evening was a little trickier. My good friend was treating me and four of her other bridesmaids to a nice dinner a week before her wedding. It took me a very long time to order because I a.) wasn't that hungry at all and b.) wanted to make Kate Upton proud! In the end, I chose roasted chicken with veggies for my entrée … and a little slice of peach cobbler with blackberry ice cream for dessert. (Sorry, Kate!!) It sounded too delicious to pass up.

How's Your Skin? The little bump on my right cheek grew into a full-fledged whitehead, which - spoiler alert! - eventually disappeared almost a week later. 

How'd You Sleep? Pretty good! Waking up early for a fitness class before work usually catches up with me at the end of the day.

How About Your Energy Levels? I felt pretty good at work. Not tired one bit.

Conclusion 

The meals were delicious and very easy to prep since all I really had to do was mix in the dressing, chicken and salmon. No microwave needed! It was a much-needed reboot to my system, which up until starting the meal plan, only recognized the chocolate chip waffles and chicken nuggets I continuously ate during a weekend binge. The only downside is that the meal plan does have a hefty price tag, which makes sense considering every meal is fresh and packed with nutrients your body needs. That being said, I would definitely still treat myself to the Veggie Burger and a few Mint Cacao Chip smoothies in the near future. The best news? You can buy any item individually.

[reynoldslevi10-blog]

I Ate Like Supermodel Kate Upton for Three Days-and It Wasn't That Hard

What It Is: Kate Upton x Urban Remedy Meal Plan

Who Tried It: Grace Gavilanes, PEOPLE.com associate editor

Level of Difficulty: 4/10

When I think Kate Upton, three things come to mind: Her laugh-out-loud role in The Other Woman, her picture-perfect relationship with husband Justin Verlander and her totally enviable physique (and body-positive attitude to boot!). Upton's a supermodel whose hectic schedule keeps her on the go, but she makes sure to eat clean, nourishing meals throughout the day no matter what.

In late June, Upton announced on Instagram that she partnered up with Urban Remedy and its founder, Neka Pasquale, to create an exclusive Kate-Upton-approved meal plan that promotes an organic diet.

The three-day meal plan ($189; urbanremedy.com) features salads, a veggie burger, a black rice bowl and several shots of juice for fitness fans to take before, during and after their workouts. As People.com's self-proclaimed guinea pig, I was immediately intrigued and knew I had to try it out. But this isn't just another celebrity who has no personal attachment to the product she's endorsing. Upton tells PEOPLE she's long been a fan of the company and its delicious and healthy offerings.

So, what advice did she have for me before I kicked off my living-like-a-supermodel adventure? She recommended I pay extra-close attention to subtle and noticeable changes I'd be experiencing in those three days. “I always can tell when I'm eating clean because I sleep better, my skin clears up, and I have significantly more energy,” Upton tells PEOPLE of her own experience with the service. “It truly makes a huge difference.”

And with that heads-up, I was off:

Day One

Tell Me About Your Day: I don't even know how to describe what I felt on my first day. Surprise? Total satisfaction? I was just happy, and yes, most definitely surprised. I kicked off my three-day journey on a Wednesday, which in theory sounded perfect. I'd end this meal plan right before the weekend so if I'm miserable I can just treat myself to cheese fries on Saturday, I thought. But here's the thing: The meals were really, really good - even the smoothies, which I was skeptical about at first. I usually start my day off with a big ol' cup of oatmeal and a banana, but the Green Berry smoothie was first on the meal plan's Day 1 list. I don't have an ongoing relationship with smoothies so I was curious about my very first beverage on the plan. The drink was sweet and thick, but not in an overwhelming way. I was immediately satisfied and much to my surprise, felt satiated. A much lighter green juice (Slender Greens) came next for “mid-morning.” Clearly unexperienced, I kind of forced myself to drink Slender Greens 1.5 hours after the Green Berry, despite still feeling quite full. Lunch called for Thai Veggie Noodles and Chicken. The noodles were made from zucchini, and the dish was delicious. It even came with a spicy ginger lime dressing! And because Kate Upton knows every sane person needs an afternoon snack to get them through the mid-day slump, she included Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips (1/2 bag) in the plan. I was extra cautious about not eating the entire bag. At around 5 p.m. I ate dinner, a Vegan Caesar Salad that came with parmesan seed cheese made from hemp, sesame and sunflower. I did feel hungry a few hours later, though, so I ate an RX Bar after coming across a “plan tip” written at the top of the meal plan schedule card that read, “Listen to your body and eat when hungry.” I took it as a sign to enjoy the chocolate sea salt bar, which I do end up doing while also vowing to not force-drink the mid-morning juice so soon after my breakfast. 

How's Your Skin? I've always been prone to breakouts so I'll be honest and say I wasn't expecting an overnight miracle. Regardless, I did keep an extra-close eye on a bump I saw forming on my right cheek that morning.

How'd You Sleep? Like a baby. But I think it had less to do with the meal plan and more to do with my A/C being on the whole night.

How About Your Energy Levels? I will say, I did feel healthier since I was being encouraged to focus on portion controls, and not just eating cupcakes or cookies whenever I needed a break from work.

Day Two 

Tell Me About Your Day: I felt like a contestant on the early-aughts reality show Temptation Island, but instead of hunky guys, my temptation came in the form of a catered company lunch and DIY sundae bar. I must persevere! And I did. Somehow. In the morning, I happily gulped my breakfast - a Mint Cacao Chip smoothie - which almost made me cry because it tasted like a cheat meal but is so, so good for you because of the vitamin-loaded spinach, banana, cashews, mint and cacao in it. Lunch and dinner were comprised of Rainbow Salad + Chicken and Ensalada Bowl salads. The afternoon snack, a Cacao Chip Protein Bar, was exactly what I needed after being tempted with goodies. Oh, I also downed almost two liters of water throughout the day … which I mindlessly end with an RX Bar while reading a few articles on my phone. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.

How's Your Skin? The bump on my cheek got bigger. Again, not your fault, Kate Upton. I blame that one night earlier in the week when I didn't deep-clean my face for this soon-to-be volcano-sized zit on my face.

How'd You Sleep? Not very well but it's entirely my fault. I stayed up late to watch a re-run of Southern Charm. I am too invested in the Thomas-Ashley-Kathryn drama to feel guilty.

How About Your Energy Levels? I definitely started feeling more confident on Thursday, mostly because I coolly rejected the free sandwiches and ice cream being served at work. I did, however, stand within feet of the free food just to see/smell it but found myself back at my desk minutes later (hair flip).

Day Three

Tell Me About Your Day: My morning started off with a 7 a.m. boxing class at Shadowbox, which meant I was finally able to try out the plan's pre-, mid- and post-workout shots. Since I'm only really used to chugging water while exercising and making a protein shake right after, the shots - made with ingredients like beet root (pre), cucumber (mid) and ginger (post) - were a nice little departure. The post-workout shot, in particular, was a nice kick thanks to the ginger and turmeric. It claims to reduce inflammation and officially woke me up. After that, I made my way to work, had a Green Berry smoothie and a Happy Belly juice hours later, when my body was finally ready. In terms of food, Day 3 of the plan is the best one yet. Lunch and dinner were comprised of an umami plant Veggie Burger - which I had to stop myself from eating so fast because it is that good - and a Black Rice Umeboshi Bowl that came with salmon. Salmon! I was thrilled because as much as I love salads, I do appreciate a variety in my protein (i.e. something other than chicken). The afternoon snack called for the last half of the Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips bag, which ended up being more than half because I was so paranoid about eating the entire thing on Day 1. I was very satisfied throughout the day, mostly because I finally got the hang of drinking my mid-morning juice when I felt less-than-uncomfortably-stuffed. That evening was a little trickier. My good friend was treating me and four of her other bridesmaids to a nice dinner a week before her wedding. It took me a very long time to order because I a.) wasn't that hungry at all and b.) wanted to make Kate Upton proud! In the end, I chose roasted chicken with veggies for my entrée … and a little slice of peach cobbler with blackberry ice cream for dessert. (Sorry, Kate!!) It sounded too delicious to pass up.

How's Your Skin? The little bump on my right cheek grew into a full-fledged whitehead, which - spoiler alert! - eventually disappeared almost a week later. 

How'd You Sleep? Pretty good! Waking up early for a fitness class before work usually catches up with me at the end of the day.

How About Your Energy Levels? I felt pretty good at work. Not tired one bit.

Conclusion 

The meals were delicious and very easy to prep since all I really had to do was mix in the dressing, chicken and salmon. No microwave needed! It was a much-needed reboot to my system, which up until starting the meal plan, only recognized the chocolate chip waffles and chicken nuggets I continuously ate during a weekend binge. The only downside is that the meal plan does have a hefty price tag, which makes sense considering every meal is fresh and packed with nutrients your body needs. That being said, I would definitely still treat myself to the Veggie Burger and a few Mint Cacao Chip smoothies in the near future. The best news? You can buy any item individually.

[kristinsimmons]

Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle!

Hi everyone! I hope that summer is treating you well so far, and you’re staying in good health and good spirits during what has been a heartbreaking year. How are you and your families doing right now? 

At long last, I have some fun news to share with you today! This cookbook reveal was supposed to go out to you in May, then in June, and then in early July, but with everything going on in the world it just didn’t feel right, so I delayed it multiple times. I’m not sure it feels right even now, but I’ve had a lot of questions about the new book’s listing on various retailers online, so I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. I’m holding onto the hope that this news will bring a smile to your face and a bit of cheer. :)

If you haven’t guessed already, my new cookbook, Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals To Keep You Glowing, is finally complete and it comes out in a couple of short months! It’s been a wild ride to cross the finish line (never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be wrapping up a cookbook during a pandemic and lockdown), but after 3 years of working away on this project, I’m absolutely thrilled to let you know all the juicy (pun intended) deets about this new book. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may have seen the sneak peek pop into your inbox yesterday! 

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes from earlier this year when I was going over the book design!

Shifting from “behind-the-scenes” mode to “in-the-spotlight” mode doesn’t come easily for me (I’m much more of a behind-the-scenes kinda gal!), so this “launching into the world” part of the creation process is a big challenge for me on a personal level, and oh boy, the nerves I have right now are unreal. I’d be perfectly happy to work away diligently behind-the-scenes and never have to self-promote. ;) Do any of you relate? I’m always up for a good challenge, though, and getting to reconnect with you all is the icing on the vegan cake! 

This book would not have been possible without your encouragement, patience, and support throughout the whole process! It also wouldn’t have been possible without my small-but-mighty team made up of Nicole and Eric. They are my rocks, my sanity savers, my reasons for inappropriate fits of laughter, my sounding boards, my reminders to drink more caffeine and breathe, and it goes on. My incredible, diligent group of recipe testers (a special shout out and thank you to Anna, Carin, Tana, Tammy, Laurie, Caroline, Danielle, Vanessa, Lynn, Audrey, Stephanie D., Anne, Kathy, Stephanie S., Andrea, Beth, Katie, Lindsay M., Bridget, Laura, Lindsay V., Erin, Heather, Suzanne, Adrienne, Stephanie M., Carolina, Kirsten, Lori, Marina, and Kristen) have tested, and tested, and tested these recipes right alongside me and shared the most helpful feedback. And last but not least, I have so much gratitude for the amazing teams at Penguin Random House Canada and Avery! 

I held this book in my hands for the first time last week! I can’t even tell you how fast my heart was a-thumpin’ when I opened the box! It is always slightly terrifying and thrilling to open one of my books for the first time, and it really never gets any easier to send my heart and soul’s work off into the world. But I am so darn proud of this book. It’s my very first hardcover book, too!

About this book

Oh She Glows for Dinner is a reflection of what you, my dear readers, have asked me for the most over the years—more plant-based, crowd-pleasing dinner recipes! 

Dinner is something I think most of us have struggled with (I know I sure have!), and when you throw “plant-based” into the mix it can be even trickier to figure out. If you’ve ever shrugged your shoulders over what to make for a vegan meal and resorted to toast or a bowl of cereal, you certainly aren’t alone. I knew I had to create this cookbook to help answer the ever-burning “what’s for [plant-based] dinner?” question. As an added benefit, the recipes in this book also make incredible (and often portable) lunches! You’ll also find the perfect, satisfying sides to add to your dish, meal-worthy salads for every season, hearty & healing soups and stews, and a bounty of flavour-poppin’ sauces, dressings, parmesans, and pestos that you can make to change up the flavour profile (or simply punch up your dish even more). And I threw in a delicious dessert/drink chapter, of course, because it wouldn’t be an Oh She Glows cookbook without some sweet, healthified treats! ;)

What you’ll find inside:

Dietary and Cooking Labels

Each recipe indicates whether it is nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, grain-free and/or oil-free, raw/no bake or one pot. Out of 106 vegan recipes in this cookbook, 101 are gluten-free or have a gluten-free option, 90 are nut-free or have a nut-free option, and nearly all are soy-free. I also share whether the recipe is kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and/or if any advance prep is needed. My “on the glow” label tells you whether the recipe is portable. My goal was to pack in as much helpful info as I could for you (dare I say this is my most informative book yet?)…you know me, go big or go home…lol.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

Almost all of the recipes in this cookbook also include specific storage and reheating instructions, customized to each recipe. My recipe testers and I spent so much time testing the recipes to take the guesswork out of them for you!

Active Time and Total Time

Each recipe tells you how much active time and total time will be required. Active time is the time you are actively preparing food in the kitchen. Total time reflects how long the recipe takes from start to finish. If applicable, we also share Soak time and/or Chill time.

Full-page colour photographs 

I am so excited to share that I did the food photography and food styling for the recipes in this book – there are more than 100 of my photographs inside! 

Glow Getter Meal Plans 

This book includes 4 meal prep plans! Each time-saving plan provides step-by-step instructions, so you can prep or fully make 3 dinner recipes in just 60 to 90 minutes. I knew it was important to create plans that would actually work for a busy lifestyle. I’ve tried plans in the past that take 2.5 to 3 hours each week, and they just didn’t fit into my life. These plans don’t take long (60 to 90 minutes at a brisk pace) and they set you up with a few hearty meals each week!

Menus To Get Your Glow On

I also share my tried-and-true menus for special occasions or themed nights, such as Girls’ Night, Mother’s Day, Game Night, The Oh She Glows Cookbook Club Night, and more. If you have ever struggled with how to combine recipes for special meals, I really hope this will give you the inspo you need to simplify your planning. Don’t forget to check out our bonus bundle below as it includes 4 designed printable menus which correspond to menus found in the book!

Helpful Recipe Lists

My Helpful Recipe Lists index at the back of the book provides at-a-glance searching of recipes by allergy label or preference, so you can find all the gluten-free recipes grouped together in one spot, or all the kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, nut-free, one pot, and on the glow recipes. 

My Pantry Staples, Kitchen Tools and Appliances

I’ve included a condensed list of the essential pantry items I keep on hand along with my favourite tools and appliances. If I have a preferred brand, I share those names with you, so you know exactly what I use in my own kitchen.

The Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is here! 

The response to my pre-order bonus bundles for my previous two cookbooks was so enthusiastic, I knew I had to raise the bar and add in some exciting and unique new bonus features. This Oh She Glows for Dinner Bonus Bundle is definitely my favourite, most cheerful and creative pre-order bundle yet. All the *heart eye* emojis for this one. I had so much fun collaborating with local artist, Kayla Whitney, to create an adorable, custom Oh She Glows “Glow” downloadable art print for you to print and hang on your walls! This is my very first custom Oh She Glows print and it looks so bright and cheery on the wall. If you end up hanging the print in your house, we’d LOVE to see it! Simply tag it with #ohsheglowsfordinner on social media.

In addition to the “Glow” art print, you’ll receive 4 artfully designed Oh She Glows for Dinner menus to download and adorn your dinner table on special occasions. Super-handy Glow Getter Meal Plan printables from the new book will make prepping the plans even easier when your book arrives. It’s so convenient to print the meal plans and place them on your counter so you can cross things off as you work through the plan. Lastly, I couldn’t make you wait until October to get cooking, so I’ve included 4 advance recipes in this bundle—a few of my summer-friendly ones that we’ve been enjoying during this hot season! 

If you pre-order Oh She Glows for Dinner, keep your receipt handy and follow this link to get your free bonus bundle PDF! 

Pre-order now at the following retailers:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Indigo.ca 

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble (signed copy)

The Book Depository 

Books-A-Million

Apple Books

Amazon.co.uk

  Please note: We earn a small commission if you purchase an item through our affiliate links above. Thank you so much for your support!

I can’t wait to hear what you think!! 

With love and gratitude,

Angela xo

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Oh She Glows For Dinner + Pre-order Bonus Bundle! published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

[psmf-diet]

I Ate Like Supermodel Kate Upton for Three Days—and It Wasn’t That Hard

What It Is: Kate Upton x Urban Remedy Meal Plan

Who Tried It: Grace Gavilanes, PEOPLE.com associate editor

Level of Difficulty: 4/10

When I think Kate Upton, three things come to mind: Her laugh-out-loud role in The Other Woman, her picture-perfect relationship with husband Justin Verlander and her totally enviable physique (and body-positive attitude to boot!). Upton’s a supermodel whose hectic schedule keeps her on the go, but she makes sure to eat clean, nourishing meals throughout the day no matter what.

In late June, Upton announced on Instagram that she partnered up with Urban Remedy and its founder, Neka Pasquale, to create an exclusive Kate-Upton-approved meal plan that promotes an organic diet.

The three-day meal plan ($189; urbanremedy.com) features salads, a veggie burger, a black rice bowl and several shots of juice for fitness fans to take before, during and after their workouts. As People.com’s self-proclaimed guinea pig, I was immediately intrigued and knew I had to try it out. But this isn’t just another celebrity who has no personal attachment to the product she’s endorsing. Upton tells PEOPLE she’s long been a fan of the company and its delicious and healthy offerings.

So, what advice did she have for me before I kicked off my living-like-a-supermodel adventure? She recommended I pay extra-close attention to subtle and noticeable changes I’d be experiencing in those three days. “I always can tell when I’m eating clean because I sleep better, my skin clears up, and I have significantly more energy,” Upton tells PEOPLE of her own experience with the service. “It truly makes a huge difference.”

And with that heads-up, I was off:

Day One

Tell Me About Your Day: I don’t even know how to describe what I felt on my first day. Surprise? Total satisfaction? I was just happy, and yes, most definitely surprised. I kicked off my three-day journey on a Wednesday, which in theory sounded perfect. I’d end this meal plan right before the weekend so if I’m miserable I can just treat myself to cheese fries on Saturday, I thought. But here’s the thing: The meals were really, really good — even the smoothies, which I was skeptical about at first. I usually start my day off with a big ol’ cup of oatmeal and a banana, but the Green Berry smoothie was first on the meal plan’s Day 1 list. I don’t have an ongoing relationship with smoothies so I was curious about my very first beverage on the plan. The drink was sweet and thick, but not in an overwhelming way. I was immediately satisfied and much to my surprise, felt satiated. A much lighter green juice (Slender Greens) came next for “mid-morning.” Clearly unexperienced, I kind of forced myself to drink Slender Greens 1.5 hours after the Green Berry, despite still feeling quite full. Lunch called for Thai Veggie Noodles and Chicken. The noodles were made from zucchini, and the dish was delicious. It even came with a spicy ginger lime dressing! And because Kate Upton knows every sane person needs an afternoon snack to get them through the mid-day slump, she included Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips (1/2 bag) in the plan. I was extra cautious about not eating the entire bag. At around 5 p.m. I ate dinner, a Vegan Caesar Salad that came with parmesan seed cheese made from hemp, sesame and sunflower. I did feel hungry a few hours later, though, so I ate an RX Bar after coming across a “plan tip” written at the top of the meal plan schedule card that read, “Listen to your body and eat when hungry.” I took it as a sign to enjoy the chocolate sea salt bar, which I do end up doing while also vowing to not force-drink the mid-morning juice so soon after my breakfast. 

How’s Your Skin? I’ve always been prone to breakouts so I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t expecting an overnight miracle. Regardless, I did keep an extra-close eye on a bump I saw forming on my right cheek that morning.

How’d You Sleep? Like a baby. But I think it had less to do with the meal plan and more to do with my A/C being on the whole night.

How About Your Energy Levels? I will say, I did feel healthier since I was being encouraged to focus on portion controls, and not just eating cupcakes or cookies whenever I needed a break from work.

Day Two 

Tell Me About Your Day: I felt like a contestant on the early-aughts reality show Temptation Island, but instead of hunky guys, my temptation came in the form of a catered company lunch and DIY sundae bar. I must persevere! And I did. Somehow. In the morning, I happily gulped my breakfast — a Mint Cacao Chip smoothie — which almost made me cry because it tasted like a cheat meal but is so, so good for you because of the vitamin-loaded spinach, banana, cashews, mint and cacao in it. Lunch and dinner were comprised of Rainbow Salad + Chicken and Ensalada Bowl salads. The afternoon snack, a Cacao Chip Protein Bar, was exactly what I needed after being tempted with goodies. Oh, I also downed almost two liters of water throughout the day … which I mindlessly end with an RX Bar while reading a few articles on my phone. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit.

How’s Your Skin? The bump on my cheek got bigger. Again, not your fault, Kate Upton. I blame that one night earlier in the week when I didn’t deep-clean my face for this soon-to-be volcano-sized zit on my face.

How’d You Sleep? Not very well but it’s entirely my fault. I stayed up late to watch a re-run of Southern Charm. I am too invested in the Thomas-Ashley-Kathryn drama to feel guilty.

How About Your Energy Levels? I definitely started feeling more confident on Thursday, mostly because I coolly rejected the free sandwiches and ice cream being served at work. I did, however, stand within feet of the free food just to see/smell it but found myself back at my desk minutes later (hair flip).

Day Three

Tell Me About Your Day: My morning started off with a 7 a.m. boxing class at Shadowbox, which meant I was finally able to try out the plan’s pre-, mid- and post-workout shots. Since I’m only really used to chugging water while exercising and making a protein shake right after, the shots — made with ingredients like beet root (pre), cucumber (mid) and ginger (post) — were a nice little departure. The post-workout shot, in particular, was a nice kick thanks to the ginger and turmeric. It claims to reduce inflammation and officially woke me up. After that, I made my way to work, had a Green Berry smoothie and a Happy Belly juice hours later, when my body was finally ready. In terms of food, Day 3 of the plan is the best one yet. Lunch and dinner were comprised of an umami plant Veggie Burger — which I had to stop myself from eating so fast because it is that good — and a Black Rice Umeboshi Bowl that came with salmon. Salmon! I was thrilled because as much as I love salads, I do appreciate a variety in my protein (i.e. something other than chicken). The afternoon snack called for the last half of the Sour Cream & Chive Zucchini Chips bag, which ended up being more than half because I was so paranoid about eating the entire thing on Day 1. I was very satisfied throughout the day, mostly because I finally got the hang of drinking my mid-morning juice when I felt less-than-uncomfortably-stuffed. That evening was a little trickier. My good friend was treating me and four of her other bridesmaids to a nice dinner a week before her wedding. It took me a very long time to order because I a.) wasn’t that hungry at all and b.) wanted to make Kate Upton proud! In the end, I chose roasted chicken with veggies for my entrée … and a little slice of peach cobbler with blackberry ice cream for dessert. (Sorry, Kate!!) It sounded too delicious to pass up.

How’s Your Skin? The little bump on my right cheek grew into a full-fledged whitehead, which — spoiler alert! — eventually disappeared almost a week later. 

How’d You Sleep? Pretty good! Waking up early for a fitness class before work usually catches up with me at the end of the day.

How About Your Energy Levels? I felt pretty good at work. Not tired one bit.

Conclusion 

The meals were delicious and very easy to prep since all I really had to do was mix in the dressing, chicken and salmon. No microwave needed! It was a much-needed reboot to my system, which up until starting the meal plan, only recognized the chocolate chip waffles and chicken nuggets I continuously ate during a weekend binge. The only downside is that the meal plan does have a hefty price tag, which makes sense considering every meal is fresh and packed with nutrients your body needs. That being said, I would definitely still treat myself to the Veggie Burger and a few Mint Cacao Chip smoothies in the near future. The best news? You can buy any item individually.

from Nutrition - Health.com https://ift.tt/2KRVpQJ via IFTTT

[daughter-of-dawn-blog]

Summer 2018 is Here

Summer Vacation 2018 – What my Kids are doing.

The summer has started and vacation time is here.  I thought my kids did plenty last summer but this summer is a doozy.  When I'm talking action packed it is pretty high up there on the action packed meter.  At least for my kids so far in their lives.  A lot of driving to different summer camps too.  Not so much fun but we all make sacrifices for our kids, right!  Shall we break it down?  Well follow me and see what my family is doing.

  My Youngest son

Our little guy just finished fourth grade.  As mentioned in a previous article he is in accelerated extra gifted class.  He absolutely loved the class.  The only thing that he had trouble with is Mandarin.  Learning any new language is a challenge.  I think learning Mandarin is more than challenging.  Everything really is foreign.  Besides the learning of new words and learning their meanings and pronunciation, there is the writing.  Mandarin characters are very complex.  If there is a missed curve or a missed small line, the whole meaning is changed and is wrong.  My Tiger wife really put in the extra time and work with my son throughout the school year to end it really well.

 The Littlest Cellist

My son started taking cello lessons this year with the same cello teacher that my older son and daughter learn from.  He really is an amazing teacher.  I can't recommend him highly enough.  He is already up to Suzuki Book Three and finished the year playing the Humoresque at his recital.  He was also lucky to be picked for his school talent show and played this piece in front of his school.

Music Camp

This summer as I write this he is at a three week music camp in upstate New York!  One of my wife's friends actually told us about this camp a couple of months ago.  We were able to apply late thanks to her and were successful in auditioning and being accepted.  This is the first time that he has gone away for any length of time.  My wife is worried silly because you can't call them.  She actually sent him a letter yesterday.  We don't know how it will go but we will let you know when we pick him up in three weeks. 

My daughter

My only daughter just successfully finished seventh grade.  She settled into middle school this past year and has a growing circle of friends.  She had a great year academically passing all of her classes with flying colors! 

CTY – Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

After taking the SCAT test this past year she qualified and was able to enroll into CTY.  She is gone for three weeks this summer taking a creative writing course in Roger Williams University.  Since this is her first experience away from home and being in a real “college” like experience I was curious to see her reaction.

  We walked onto the campus and I could see a glimmer of a smile.  As we were walking around the campus and signing up for everything and getting her books the glimmer was starting to show in her eyes.  Slowly ever so slowly curiosity on her part was turning into realization that this might be more than just interesting.  We got her keys to her room and found her dorm.  We found her room and saw that it was in a nice suite with multiple rooms.  The room was nice and clean with a beautiful view of the bridge that led to Newport.  Her smile was growing from ear to ear. 

The nail that sealed it was when we went to have lunch at the cafeteria.  Oh my Lord!!!  I forgot how much food there was at college cafeterias.  However, Roger Williams took it to an amazing level I never thought possible.  My daughter was gone.  She loves food!  The food was glorious.  She couldn't contain herself.  I knew right there and then, there was going to be NO home sickness for her…  She would enjoy every one of those meals to the fullest.  I just warned her about the freshman 15 and told her please don't have that happen in only three weeks!  She is there right now.

Music Camp Part II

My daughter was accepted to the same music camp that my son is at right now in upstate NY.  She will be attending that a few days after her CTY session ends.  There are two divisions at the camp, a junior and senior division.  She will be attending the senior session for four weeks.  I will update this when she goes and finishes. 

My oldest son

My oldest son has been busy from the moment we landed on our trip from Paris(Read about that here). That is when we received the email that he was selected to The New York Youth Symphony and within days of that he was notified that he was selected to All-State.  Since this was Junior Year this was going to be the Big One!  Let's break it down.

School Work

My son enrolled into four AP Classes this past year, American History, AP English, Statistics and Biology.  His last academic class was Honors Pre-Calculus/Calculus and Orchestra to round it off.  It was tough, real tough.  Any parent who has had kids go through it knows what I mean.  If your child is going to be a junior, the best advice I can give is to make sure your kid can maximize their time by utilizing time management skills.  Any student that has aspirations to go to an elite college has multiple things going on besides school work.  The extra-curriculars, the volunteering, the clubs, teams and just trying to squeeze out some time for fun and relaxation.  This is the make or break year and if you've come this far you have to finish it, right?

The results

My son is good at math but NOT great.  He ended the year with a final grade of an A-.  All the other classes he got A's and A+'s.  He finished the year strong and I am more really proud of him.  I saw how many nights where he only slept for a couple of hours and went to school.  It was really tough to watch but it also made me more than proud.  I knew that he was the type to do what it took to get things done when it mattered.  A useful trait when going into the real world. 

Standardized Tests

My son took the SAT twice so far and he will take it one last time this summer.  The first time he took it he did okay but not great.  After thinking that he was ready by taking a few practice tests and getting in the 1500's he took the test.  He had a rude awakening that was a shock to him and us.  He received a 1410 with a 23/24 on the essay.

  Our whole family was shocked to say the least.  Though we were happy with the 23/24 on the essay, the score was not what we thought he would get.  I know, I know some of you must be thinking what a jerk.  That is a fine score, blah, blah…  I'm okay with the criticism because I know what I am, a Tiger Dad.  Our whole family worked our asses as a collective to do everything we could to help my son get into the best school he could get into.  A 1410 would not cut it.  After reading horror stories this year of Asian males with 1560's not getting into Boston University, we were scared!

Round Two

My son didn't have time to take the SAT again until March because of too many time conflicts.  We were so nervous.  Everything hat he had worked for was going to be up in the air until he took the test again and got his results.  It was so stressful for all of us.  He took the test and we waited…

The Wait

So what did I do during the waiting to keep me occupied?  I started going on reddit and College Confidential.  I was on College Confidential to do research on safety schools if he bombed. There is a reddit subtopic for SAT that is good.  You have kids that took the test and discuss the test and the questions that they thought were difficult.  After two long weeks… The results were in.

SAT Scores

After all the hard work that was put in during the past summer with taking online SAT courses with Prep Expert.  After bombing on the first try of the SAT.  After the months of not taking the test because my son was too busy with other extra-curriculars and lastly after the two weeks for the tests to be graded.  Judgement Day had arrived!  My son logged into the College Board site, put in his credentials and opened up the link for SAT Test Scores.   The Score was 1520!!!  Hahahaah!!!!!  He did it and we were so proud of him!  We were giving each other high fives and basking in the knowledge that our dreams were still on track.

  Final Word on Standardized Testing

The score of 1520 was great and that put him into the 99 percentile.  We were more than pleased as you can tell by the gif up above.  We decided that he will take it one more time to see if he could raise his score up just a little more.  I've seen videos on YouTube and other blogs that there is no reason to take the test again once you score above 1500 but every one of them are not Asian males.  As stated earlier, there are Asian students with the same background and similar everything as my son and they were denied into every Top tier school.  I think that we've come too far to say to ourselves in the future, “What If”?  So one last time to see if he can raise his score more and if he doesn't, then so be it.  At least we gave it our all. 

The Rest of the Summer

My son is finishing his last year of interning and volunteering at the Summer Engineering Camp that he has been a part of since sixth grade.  He's making some money and fulfilling his National Honor Society Volunteer Hour Requirement at the same time.

During the month of July he is making sure that he writes his common application essay and at least five of his favorite schools supplementary essays.  On top of that he has to continue with his cello practice in order to audition again for the New York Youth Symphony.  Lastly, study for the SAT one last time. 

A Reward for his Hard Work

There is a reward at the end of the tunnel.  I'm not a monster that wants my son to go crazy.  As in life there must be rewards for hard work and I think this is a great reward.  One of his best friends invited him and another buddy to go to France for two weeks in August.  It's in a small town in the southern part of France.  I looked on Google Maps and it looks absolutely amazing!  Better yet another of his best friends will be traveling in Italy and it will only be an hour away from where my son will be staying.  They might be able to hang out together while over there.  That would be so amazing for them.  So, he would have a place to stay but just needs to buy a plane ticket and have spending money.  How could I say no to that?  I hope he has the time of his life!

Here's hoping that all you Tiger Moms and Tiger Dads have the best summer vacation of 2018!  If any of you have any questions or comments please go to our Facebook page and leave them there.  I will answer as best as I can.  I would love to hear what other students and parents are doing this summer! 

The post Summer 2018 is Here appeared first on Tiger Dad -The Hidden Partner to every Tiger Mom.

[gchu95]

Summer 2018 is Here

Summer Vacation 2018 – What my Kids are doing.

The summer has started and vacation time is here.  I thought my kids did plenty last summer but this summer is a doozy.  When I'm talking action packed it is pretty high up there on the action packed meter.  At least for my kids so far in their lives.  A lot of driving to different summer camps too.  Not so much fun but we all make sacrifices for our kids, right!  Shall we break it down?  Well follow me and see what my family is doing.

  My Youngest son

Our little guy just finished fourth grade.  As mentioned in a previous article he is in accelerated extra gifted class.  He absolutely loved the class.  The only thing that he had trouble with is Mandarin.  Learning any new language is a challenge.  I think learning Mandarin is more than challenging.  Everything really is foreign.  Besides the learning of new words and learning their meanings and pronunciation, there is the writing.  Mandarin characters are very complex.  If there is a missed curve or a missed small line, the whole meaning is changed and is wrong.  My Tiger wife really put in the extra time and work with my son throughout the school year to end it really well.

 The Littlest Cellist

My son started taking cello lessons this year with the same cello teacher that my older son and daughter learn from.  He really is an amazing teacher.  I can't recommend him highly enough.  He is already up to Suzuki Book Three and finished the year playing the Humoresque at his recital.  He was also lucky to be picked for his school talent show and played this piece in front of his school.

Music Camp

This summer as I write this he is at a three week music camp in upstate New York!  One of my wife's friends actually told us about this camp a couple of months ago.  We were able to apply late thanks to her and were successful in auditioning and being accepted.  This is the first time that he has gone away for any length of time.  My wife is worried silly because you can't call them.  She actually sent him a letter yesterday.  We don't know how it will go but we will let you know when we pick him up in three weeks. 

My daughter

My only daughter just successfully finished seventh grade.  She settled into middle school this past year and has a growing circle of friends.  She had a great year academically passing all of her classes with flying colors! 

CTY – Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

After taking the SCAT test this past year she qualified and was able to enroll into CTY.  She is gone for three weeks this summer taking a creative writing course in Roger Williams University.  Since this is her first experience away from home and being in a real “college” like experience I was curious to see her reaction.

  We walked onto the campus and I could see a glimmer of a smile.  As we were walking around the campus and signing up for everything and getting her books the glimmer was starting to show in her eyes.  Slowly ever so slowly curiosity on her part was turning into realization that this might be more than just interesting.  We got her keys to her room and found her dorm.  We found her room and saw that it was in a nice suite with multiple rooms.  The room was nice and clean with a beautiful view of the bridge that led to Newport.  Her smile was growing from ear to ear. 

The nail that sealed it was when we went to have lunch at the cafeteria.  Oh my Lord!!!  I forgot how much food there was at college cafeterias.  However, Roger Williams took it to an amazing level I never thought possible.  My daughter was gone.  She loves food!  The food was glorious.  She couldn't contain herself.  I knew right there and then, there was going to be NO home sickness for her…  She would enjoy every one of those meals to the fullest.  I just warned her about the freshman 15 and told her please don't have that happen in only three weeks!  She is there right now.

Music Camp Part II

My daughter was accepted to the same music camp that my son is at right now in upstate NY.  She will be attending that a few days after her CTY session ends.  There are two divisions at the camp, a junior and senior division.  She will be attending the senior session for four weeks.  I will update this when she goes and finishes. 

My oldest son

My oldest son has been busy from the moment we landed on our trip from Paris(Read about that here). That is when we received the email that he was selected to The New York Youth Symphony and within days of that he was notified that he was selected to All-State.  Since this was Junior Year this was going to be the Big One!  Let's break it down.

School Work

My son enrolled into four AP Classes this past year, American History, AP English, Statistics and Biology.  His last academic class was Honors Pre-Calculus/Calculus and Orchestra to round it off.  It was tough, real tough.  Any parent who has had kids go through it knows what I mean.  If your child is going to be a junior, the best advice I can give is to make sure your kid can maximize their time by utilizing time management skills.  Any student that has aspirations to go to an elite college has multiple things going on besides school work.  The extra-curriculars, the volunteering, the clubs, teams and just trying to squeeze out some time for fun and relaxation.  This is the make or break year and if you've come this far you have to finish it, right?

The results

My son is good at math but NOT great.  He ended the year with a final grade of an A-.  All the other classes he got A's and A+'s.  He finished the year strong and I am more really proud of him.  I saw how many nights where he only slept for a couple of hours and went to school.  It was really tough to watch but it also made me more than proud.  I knew that he was the type to do what it took to get things done when it mattered.  A useful trait when going into the real world. 

Standardized Tests

My son took the SAT twice so far and he will take it one last time this summer.  The first time he took it he did okay but not great.  After thinking that he was ready by taking a few practice tests and getting in the 1500's he took the test.  He had a rude awakening that was a shock to him and us.  He received a 1410 with a 23/24 on the essay.

  Our whole family was shocked to say the least.  Though we were happy with the 23/24 on the essay, the score was not what we thought he would get.  I know, I know some of you must be thinking what a jerk.  That is a fine score, blah, blah…  I'm okay with the criticism because I know what I am, a Tiger Dad.  Our whole family worked our asses as a collective to do everything we could to help my son get into the best school he could get into.  A 1410 would not cut it.  After reading horror stories this year of Asian males with 1560's not getting into Boston University, we were scared!

Round Two

My son didn't have time to take the SAT again until March because of too many time conflicts.  We were so nervous.  Everything hat he had worked for was going to be up in the air until he took the test again and got his results.  It was so stressful for all of us.  He took the test and we waited…

The Wait

So what did I do during the waiting to keep me occupied?  I started going on reddit and College Confidential.  I was on College Confidential to do research on safety schools if he bombed. There is a reddit subtopic for SAT that is good.  You have kids that took the test and discuss the test and the questions that they thought were difficult.  After two long weeks… The results were in.

SAT Scores

After all the hard work that was put in during the past summer with taking online SAT courses with Prep Expert.  After bombing on the first try of the SAT.  After the months of not taking the test because my son was too busy with other extra-curriculars and lastly after the two weeks for the tests to be graded.  Judgement Day had arrived!  My son logged into the College Board site, put in his credentials and opened up the link for SAT Test Scores.   The Score was 1520!!!  Hahahaah!!!!!  He did it and we were so proud of him!  We were giving each other high fives and basking in the knowledge that our dreams were still on track.

  Final Word on Standardized Testing

The score of 1520 was great and that put him into the 99 percentile.  We were more than pleased as you can tell by the gif up above.  We decided that he will take it one more time to see if he could raise his score up just a little more.  I've seen videos on YouTube and other blogs that there is no reason to take the test again once you score above 1500 but every one of them are not Asian males.  As stated earlier, there are Asian students with the same background and similar everything as my son and they were denied into every Top tier school.  I think that we've come too far to say to ourselves in the future, “What If”?  So one last time to see if he can raise his score more and if he doesn't, then so be it.  At least we gave it our all. 

The Rest of the Summer

My son is finishing his last year of interning and volunteering at the Summer Engineering Camp that he has been a part of since sixth grade.  He's making some money and fulfilling his National Honor Society Volunteer Hour Requirement at the same time.

During the month of July he is making sure that he writes his common application essay and at least five of his favorite schools supplementary essays.  On top of that he has to continue with his cello practice in order to audition again for the New York Youth Symphony.  Lastly, study for the SAT one last time. 

A Reward for his Hard Work

There is a reward at the end of the tunnel.  I'm not a monster that wants my son to go crazy.  As in life there must be rewards for hard work and I think this is a great reward.  One of his best friends invited him and another buddy to go to France for two weeks in August.  It's in a small town in the southern part of France.  I looked on Google Maps and it looks absolutely amazing!  Better yet another of his best friends will be traveling in Italy and it will only be an hour away from where my son will be staying.  They might be able to hang out together while over there.  That would be so amazing for them.  So, he would have a place to stay but just needs to buy a plane ticket and have spending money.  How could I say no to that?  I hope he has the time of his life!

Here's hoping that all you Tiger Moms and Tiger Dads have the best summer vacation of 2018!  If any of you have any questions or comments please go to our Facebook page and leave them there.  I will answer as best as I can.  I would love to hear what other students and parents are doing this summer! 

The post Summer 2018 is Here appeared first on Tiger Dad -The Hidden Partner to every Tiger Mom.

[lavoixdelavantgarde]

Summer 2018 is Here

Summer Vacation 2018 – What my Kids are doing.

The summer has started and vacation time is here.  I thought my kids did plenty last summer but this summer is a doozy.  When I'm talking action packed it is pretty high up there on the action packed meter.  At least for my kids so far in their lives.  A lot of driving to different summer camps too.  Not so much fun but we all make sacrifices for our kids, right!  Shall we break it down?  Well follow me and see what my family is doing.

  My Youngest son

Our little guy just finished fourth grade.  As mentioned in a previous article he is in accelerated extra gifted class.  He absolutely loved the class.  The only thing that he had trouble with is Mandarin.  Learning any new language is a challenge.  I think learning Mandarin is more than challenging.  Everything really is foreign.  Besides the learning of new words and learning their meanings and pronunciation, there is the writing.  Mandarin characters are very complex.  If there is a missed curve or a missed small line, the whole meaning is changed and is wrong.  My Tiger wife really put in the extra time and work with my son throughout the school year to end it really well.

 The Littlest Cellist

My son started taking cello lessons this year with the same cello teacher that my older son and daughter learn from.  He really is an amazing teacher.  I can't recommend him highly enough.  He is already up to Suzuki Book Three and finished the year playing the Humoresque at his recital.  He was also lucky to be picked for his school talent show and played this piece in front of his school.

Music Camp

This summer as I write this he is at a three week music camp in upstate New York!  One of my wife's friends actually told us about this camp a couple of months ago.  We were able to apply late thanks to her and were successful in auditioning and being accepted.  This is the first time that he has gone away for any length of time.  My wife is worried silly because you can't call them.  She actually sent him a letter yesterday.  We don't know how it will go but we will let you know when we pick him up in three weeks. 

My daughter

My only daughter just successfully finished seventh grade.  She settled into middle school this past year and has a growing circle of friends.  She had a great year academically passing all of her classes with flying colors! 

CTY – Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

After taking the SCAT test this past year she qualified and was able to enroll into CTY.  She is gone for three weeks this summer taking a creative writing course in Roger Williams University.  Since this is her first experience away from home and being in a real “college” like experience I was curious to see her reaction.

  We walked onto the campus and I could see a glimmer of a smile.  As we were walking around the campus and signing up for everything and getting her books the glimmer was starting to show in her eyes.  Slowly ever so slowly curiosity on her part was turning into realization that this might be more than just interesting.  We got her keys to her room and found her dorm.  We found her room and saw that it was in a nice suite with multiple rooms.  The room was nice and clean with a beautiful view of the bridge that led to Newport.  Her smile was growing from ear to ear. 

The nail that sealed it was when we went to have lunch at the cafeteria.  Oh my Lord!!!  I forgot how much food there was at college cafeterias.  However, Roger Williams took it to an amazing level I never thought possible.  My daughter was gone.  She loves food!  The food was glorious.  She couldn't contain herself.  I knew right there and then, there was going to be NO home sickness for her…  She would enjoy every one of those meals to the fullest.  I just warned her about the freshman 15 and told her please don't have that happen in only three weeks!  She is there right now.

Music Camp Part II

My daughter was accepted to the same music camp that my son is at right now in upstate NY.  She will be attending that a few days after her CTY session ends.  There are two divisions at the camp, a junior and senior division.  She will be attending the senior session for four weeks.  I will update this when she goes and finishes. 

My oldest son

My oldest son has been busy from the moment we landed on our trip from Paris(Read about that here). That is when we received the email that he was selected to The New York Youth Symphony and within days of that he was notified that he was selected to All-State.  Since this was Junior Year this was going to be the Big One!  Let's break it down.

School Work

My son enrolled into four AP Classes this past year, American History, AP English, Statistics and Biology.  His last academic class was Honors Pre-Calculus/Calculus and Orchestra to round it off.  It was tough, real tough.  Any parent who has had kids go through it knows what I mean.  If your child is going to be a junior, the best advice I can give is to make sure your kid can maximize their time by utilizing time management skills.  Any student that has aspirations to go to an elite college has multiple things going on besides school work.  The extra-curriculars, the volunteering, the clubs, teams and just trying to squeeze out some time for fun and relaxation.  This is the make or break year and if you've come this far you have to finish it, right?

The results

My son is good at math but NOT great.  He ended the year with a final grade of an A-.  All the other classes he got A's and A+'s.  He finished the year strong and I am more really proud of him.  I saw how many nights where he only slept for a couple of hours and went to school.  It was really tough to watch but it also made me more than proud.  I knew that he was the type to do what it took to get things done when it mattered.  A useful trait when going into the real world. 

Standardized Tests

My son took the SAT twice so far and he will take it one last time this summer.  The first time he took it he did okay but not great.  After thinking that he was ready by taking a few practice tests and getting in the 1500's he took the test.  He had a rude awakening that was a shock to him and us.  He received a 1410 with a 23/24 on the essay.

  Our whole family was shocked to say the least.  Though we were happy with the 23/24 on the essay, the score was not what we thought he would get.  I know, I know some of you must be thinking what a jerk.  That is a fine score, blah, blah…  I'm okay with the criticism because I know what I am, a Tiger Dad.  Our whole family worked our asses as a collective to do everything we could to help my son get into the best school he could get into.  A 1410 would not cut it.  After reading horror stories this year of Asian males with 1560's not getting into Boston University, we were scared!

Round Two

My son didn't have time to take the SAT again until March because of too many time conflicts.  We were so nervous.  Everything hat he had worked for was going to be up in the air until he took the test again and got his results.  It was so stressful for all of us.  He took the test and we waited…

The Wait

So what did I do during the waiting to keep me occupied?  I started going on reddit and College Confidential.  I was on College Confidential to do research on safety schools if he bombed. There is a reddit subtopic for SAT that is good.  You have kids that took the test and discuss the test and the questions that they thought were difficult.  After two long weeks… The results were in.

SAT Scores

After all the hard work that was put in during the past summer with taking online SAT courses with Prep Expert.  After bombing on the first try of the SAT.  After the months of not taking the test because my son was too busy with other extra-curriculars and lastly after the two weeks for the tests to be graded.  Judgement Day had arrived!  My son logged into the College Board site, put in his credentials and opened up the link for SAT Test Scores.   The Score was 1520!!!  Hahahaah!!!!!  He did it and we were so proud of him!  We were giving each other high fives and basking in the knowledge that our dreams were still on track.

  Final Word on Standardized Testing

The score of 1520 was great and that put him into the 99 percentile.  We were more than pleased as you can tell by the gif up above.  We decided that he will take it one more time to see if he could raise his score up just a little more.  I've seen videos on YouTube and other blogs that there is no reason to take the test again once you score above 1500 but every one of them are not Asian males.  As stated earlier, there are Asian students with the same background and similar everything as my son and they were denied into every Top tier school.  I think that we've come too far to say to ourselves in the future, “What If”?  So one last time to see if he can raise his score more and if he doesn't, then so be it.  At least we gave it our all. 

The Rest of the Summer

My son is finishing his last year of interning and volunteering at the Summer Engineering Camp that he has been a part of since sixth grade.  He's making some money and fulfilling his National Honor Society Volunteer Hour Requirement at the same time.

During the month of July he is making sure that he writes his common application essay and at least five of his favorite schools supplementary essays.  On top of that he has to continue with his cello practice in order to audition again for the New York Youth Symphony.  Lastly, study for the SAT one last time. 

A Reward for his Hard Work

There is a reward at the end of the tunnel.  I'm not a monster that wants my son to go crazy.  As in life there must be rewards for hard work and I think this is a great reward.  One of his best friends invited him and another buddy to go to France for two weeks in August.  It's in a small town in the southern part of France.  I looked on Google Maps and it looks absolutely amazing!  Better yet another of his best friends will be traveling in Italy and it will only be an hour away from where my son will be staying.  They might be able to hang out together while over there.  That would be so amazing for them.  So, he would have a place to stay but just needs to buy a plane ticket and have spending money.  How could I say no to that?  I hope he has the time of his life!

Here's hoping that all you Tiger Moms and Tiger Dads have the best summer vacation of 2018!  If any of you have any questions or comments please go to our Facebook page and leave them there.  I will answer as best as I can.  I would love to hear what other students and parents are doing this summer! 

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