from wine to workouts

healthy lifestyle?
of the categories in my “i’d like to see more . . .” poll, there ended up being a tie between medically-related and healthy lifestyle content.

after seeing healthy lifestyle so high on the list, i took a step back and thought about my place in that particular blogging community. i’m actually impressed that i have so many readers interested in this sort of thing! i do love reading food/health blogs such as kath eats (of course!), the broccoli hut, and carrots ‘n’ cake, just to name a few. i am interested in healthy eating, exercise, and well — living a healthy lifestyle. but i don’t necessarily write about it that often, or at least, not lately.

maybe because uhhh — sometimes i’m not such a great model for what it is to lead one.

sometimes reading other healthy lifestyle sites make me feel inspired. other times, they make me feel downright guilty, like i’m doing something wrong! i am not always a particularly clean eater (something which i feel is demonstrated fairly accurately on this site), i sometimes elect for couch time over the gym (ie: yesterday), and while i do love to run, i don’t put in nearly the mileage that i used to a few years back. i sometimes wonder why i’m not 15 lbs heavier (good metabolism? a LOT of nervous energy? sheer luck?!).

i do know that in order to feel (and look — come on, you KNOW this is part of the motive for all of us!) my best, there does have to be some sort of balance between responsible, health-conscious choices, and pure unbridled id-fueled decadence. sometimes the pendulum swings toward clean eating magazine, while other times it moves in the direction of . . . chocolate.

lately, it’s been swinging to the latter side. and i’m feelin’ it! so in honor of this — and the poll results — this week i am going to feature a series of posts featuring healthy lifestyle themes. topics will include:

♥ healthy shopping + prep
♥ defining a healthy lifestyle: what does that even mean, anyway?
♥ a refocus on health-related resolutions
♥ ‘food blogging’ for a day: what is it like?
♥ discussion of magazine lifestyle-revamp plans, from the self challange and beyond
♥ a rundown of my favorite healthy lifestyle bloggers
♥ the dangers of comparisons and perfectionism in this area

while i have no plans to change the overall focus of this site, i think that gearing things this way for a week will be fun and interesting! and, as always, i look forward to hearing your thoughts on these subjects. for now, though, i’m off to get my run on with meg, who certainly could teach me some things on the above topics.

and then, back to the regularly scheduled SENIOR TALK freakout . . .

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3.6.10

workout: nada. i briefly thought about a quick elliptical/weights session, but elected instead for some quality movie time with josh. we snuggled up under our down comforter and watched moon, which i highly recommend! sometimes lazy couples time is just needed.

[i realize that this doesn’t really belong in the workout section, but, whatever.]

durham restaurant review: west end wine bar
no, i wasn’t kidding with the wine-tasting picture above! i was inspired by a tweet from west end to go there to hang out and watch the duke/UNC game. it turned out to be a great choice! we had a big screen all to ourselves, and it wasn’t too crowded.

actually, it was pretty empty when we walked in at around 8:00 pm! but it filled up as the night went on.

their wine menu is filled with delicious-sounding options. i wish there were more descriptors, though. i chose the tasting flight of spanish reds.
josh started drinking and then realized he still had gum in his mouth. very sideways-esque.
note to self: at current advanced age, a little makeup can work wonders. not the most gorgeous pic!
cheese plate with baguette slices, manchego, gouda, and soppressata, plus cornichons + olives
pizza from pop’s! josh and i shared this delicate margherita pie.
truffles for dessert (the lemon/white chocolate one was mine!)
and a lannnnnndslide victory for the blue devils!!
all in all, we had a good time! i enjoyed tasting different wines (i LOVED the malbec and hated the merlot in my flight — ended up gifting that one to josh!). and, i liked that it wasn’t super loud or crowded. my critcisms are:

■ i wish the menu had more options. i would have LOVED a salad with the pizza!
■ i felt like the bar staff was a little snobby, and they didn’t seem interested in talking to us about the wine.

(maybe they were just closet UNC fans)

((oh, and PS: notice anything about the pictures? such as, they don’t SUCK!? my new camera is SO much better in low lighting conditions and i don’t even know how to really use it yet! i’m extremely happy with my purchase!!))

reading/presentation: powerpoint outline is DONE. now just to fill those slides with actual material worth presenting . . .