It’s Here! It’s Here!

It’s here! It’s here… It’s Friday!!!

I’m always happy when it’s Friday, but for some reason the end of this week is bringing me pure joy! I had an awesome yoga class this morning, today is jeans day at work and I’m going to Raleigh after work… it’s going to be a good day

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Yesterday was pretty boring, except for an office tour of the Levine Children’s Hospital here in Charlotte. My company is sponsor for their annual fundraising event – HopeBuilders 5k in October, so we all went on a tour of the hospital. I’m so happy it was possible for us to go and see the hospital. It really shows how much of an impact the children’s hospital has on the community and I’m so happy to be getting involved.

After work, I came home and did not feel like cooking in the least so I had a huge bowl of Ginger Carrot Soup from Earthfare along with some sweet potato fries and chicken salad… completely random, but I was trying to get rid of some of the food in my fridge before I headed out of town this weekend!!

See I told you… very uneventful, but I will leave you with a good little laugh…

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In hot yoga many people use Yogitoes to help them not slip on their mat. I just recently finally bought one as a reward to myself for completing the Feel the Love challenge over the summer. Anyways.. I washed it the other night and in the morning when I took it out of the dryer there were so many pieces of clothes stuck to it. I was half asleep on my way out the door and thought I had gotten them all, but… Do you see where this is going?

As I rolled out the Yogitoes over my mat there was a pair of underwear stuck to it.. bahaha!! Luckily I saw it before anyone else. well except for Mel. I was so embarrassed, but at the same time was laughing hysterically. There is nothing better than an early morning fit of hysteria!

O ps… I had to share this – NEW Twilight Breaking Dawn trailer. Ah… I’m beyond thrilled and can not wait until November 18th!

CLICK HERE TO SEE IT

Hope you all have a fantastic day and a fabulous weekend!! 

 

Keep on Keeping on

Hope you all are having a fabulous week! Again, I apologize for the shorter than usual posting yesterday. Trying to find a balance between work and the things I love to do outside of the office is going to take a little time, but I am getting there. Work yesterday was jammed packed with training… trading desk training and shadowing other individual roles. It’s going to be so beneficial once I can get it all straight in my head. So much information to absorb!! I had to stick around later for a call, so once I arrived home I really wanted something fast. My office has been frigid, so all I was craving was something warm and comforting. Luckily, on a trip to Earthfare recently I picked up some Carrot Ginger Soup. To me this soup is the ultimate comfort food and it was on my mind all day as I sat shivering at my desk. While eating I browsed through my Google reader catching up on all the latest posts from my fav blogs, when I came across Eat, Live, Run. Can you guess what her post was yesterday?? O yes… Carrot Ginger Soup. How ironic!! This Sunday I will definitely be preparing this… I can’t wait! On to my unemployment topic for the day. It took me awhile before I finally pointed out the “elephant in the room” as I didn’t want to speak about unemployment until I figured out my next step career-wise. Now that I have, I wanted to share my own experience through it all. Many of my friends asked me time and time again… “Aren’t you bored?” “What have you been doing?” When I answered no, I’m actually okay with it right now, most of them looked at me like I was insane! While I was unemployed, I really learned a lot about myself and the number one rule I had at all times was not to stress. It was all going to work out how it was supposed to. Sure it’s easier said than done, but every time I started getting panicky I just repeated this mantra and now that my unemployed days have ended I am so happy I tried to keep myself in check!! It just shows that everything does work out it just takes time. So what did I do on a daily basis? How did I stay motivated? 1)       Found my interests again! I started getting back into my yoga groove. At my last position, the near-by yoga studios did not have classes that were convenient for my schedule, so I didn’t have the chance to go to yoga nearly as much as I would have liked to. Being unemployed presented the perfect opportunity and I realized just how much I really need yoga in my daily life. It provides challenging exercise, keeps stress at bay and helps me maintain focused throughout my day. Now, I couldn’t imagine not going every morning. As Mel put it, I will just feel so “off” if I don’t go one day. Other interests? I started running and got back to experimenting in the kitchen!! Cooking has become a great outlet for me. 2)       Put my energy into a new hobby I think we can all guess what that new hobby would be… Blogging of course!! Naturally Addicted was created months after discussion and a good extra shove by my old roomie Maggie. Maggie even helped create my logo! Blogging became an essential part of my day-to-day activities! I looked forward to sitting down at my computer and typing up a post about my day or what I happened to make in the kitchen. Plus, the feedback I received from all of you made me overjoyed!! Blogging has become a great outlet for me to express my passion in health and nutrition. It also opened up the world of blogging that I never knew before. The blogging community is made up some wonderful people who are incredibly positive and are huge advocates of seeing the best in yourself! Who wouldn’t want to be apart of this? 3)       Start Volunteering! While living in Raleigh, I volunteered with The Green Chair Project and my task there was centered around social media. This was a completely different hat than the one I was wearing at my last position and I thrived by using my creativity. I handled their Twitter and Facebook accounts. As well as Flicker, blog stories, flyer design and photography at events. I loved every second of it. The founders Jackie and Beth really made me feel welcome and I looked forward to heading into their office everyday. All the volunteers were unbelievable and being able to witness how The Green Chair Project changed their client’s lives was the most rewarding aspect. Upon moving to Charlotte, I started participating on the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Communications Committee. Once again, this was a completely different hat than the one I wore at my last position.  I went out to local businesses and promoted the event asking if I could hang flyers or hand out posters. It made me realize just how much I enjoy talking and working with people. Plus, volunteering is a great resume builder and you have access to new skill sets! This helped me realize other interests outside of just my major. In interviews when people asked what have I been doing during this time, my immediate response – volunteering! Most companies participate in non-profits and in my opinion they love to hear when a potential candidate is involved in their local community. 4)       Last but definitely not least, the one thing every unemployed individual has to do is search for a new job!! Finding a new job is a full-time job in itself. I tried to set aside a few hours everyday to commit to my search. First I re-vamped my resume and tried to make it better. After I re-vamped it on my own I reached out to a Career Consultant here to look over it and to talk about my expectations and goals in a new position. The woman I met with was so helpful and she helped point in the right direction for some great resources!! My advice, meet with people for coffee and pick their brain. Get a sense of where they came from and what they’ve experienced. Ask for advice and if possible see if they have any names of other individuals you could speak with. It’s all about networking and putting yourself out there. For me, one of the most motivating people I met with was one of the founders of A Healthier Charlotte. He has such enthusiasm and really encouraged me to see things in a different light. I always had so many ideas running through my head after I left a meeting. Just remember it does pay off and even if it is taking longer than you hoped, just remember “it’ll all work out.” Focus your energy in multiple areas because you never know who you may meet and where it could lead!! Have you been unemployed at some point, what did you do to stay motivated? PS – Second Giveaway is tomorrow, be sure to check back in to WIN!!

 

The Curve

Happy Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Hope you all had a fantastic Monday. I know I did! It really does feel good to be back working again! I feel so ridiculous for being nervous yesterday, but I think it normal to feel that way when walking into a new situation.

 

Once I arrived and started talking to people all my nerves went right out the window. I always try to tell myself it’s no big deal and even though I know everything will be fine I can’t help but get a little nervous.

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In yoga, they always tell you to breathe through the poses and it is supposed to help with shaking limbs and a rapidly beating heart, so on my way to the office yesterday I practiced some deep breathing to try to calm my nerves. I swear it really did work! I couldn’t believe it. Once I got in the elevator they started creeping back up on me again, but it helped for a little while!

Everyone was really nice and very helpful while I asked question after question. My morning was smooth sailing with just getting settled in and getting my computer, phone and cell set up.

For lunch I had some roasted veggies with adzuki beans. The final touch that made it completely fabulous was a whopping spoonful of spinach hummus I picked up at the farmers market on Saturday. SCORE!!

After lunch, I had the chance to sit down with my boss and plan out some projects for the next two weeks. I will be attending meetings and shadowing different departments so there is definitely a learning curve I am going to have to tackle. At least I will be learning so many different skill sets, so once I have acclimated myself with everything I should be well-versed in just about every department which will make my job so much easier in the future!

In any new position, especially if you are moving companies a learning curve is always expected. Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating/ intimidating, but what I’ve realized from past positions is you have to ask questions!! They don’t expect you to know everything and if you don’t ask questions how will you ever know exactly what they expect from you. When I first started working, especially in internships I sometimes had a hard time speaking up. Why? Who knows… maybe I didn’t want to seem inexperienced or that I didn’t know what I was doing. Then when I finally realized that is what internships are for I finally spoke up and figured out it only works to your advantage!

I had a notepad and pen glued to my hand all day today writing down everything I need to know going forward. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sporting this look for the next few weeks.

After work, I came home and had an intense hankering for more roasted veggies. I don’t know what is with me these days, but roasted veggies are the only thing I can think about. They are just so freakin’ delicious and you can spice it up in so many ways!

Plus, I find cutting vegetables incredibly relaxing so it’s the perfect after work task I decided to make a huge skillet full of vegetables and knew I could eat some in my lunch or for dinner tonight. This veggie skillet was packed with red peppers, sweet peppers, green peppers, onions, jalapenos, yellow squash, zucchini, pattypan, cabbage and kale. Nom nom nom! I also had a piece of marinated chicken that went un-photographed.

I’m off to work, but be sure to check back in tomorrow for a post all about the joys of unemployment and how to keep yourself busy and motivated!

How do you deal with the learning curve at a new job? I would love some tips so please share Have a great day!

 

Get in my Belly

Happy Happy Monday everyone!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend… San Francisco is amazing! I love it here! Before I left everyone I talked to said I wasn’t going to want to go back to Charlotte and now I can see why. This city is awesome and there are so many places and restaurants to check out! I know I won’t even make it to near as many restaurants as I want to, but at least I will be back soon to visit soon!

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After a long flight on Friday we were all beat and hungry, so my dad and Keri took us to a restaurant called Foreign Cinema. This restaurant is pretty cool. It is located in the Mission neighborhood. This restaurant has very old architecture with large windows and a huge back patio lined with maghony tables lit by candlelight. Once the sun goes down they play movies on the projector! This place had some real character… the menu looked glorious and it was very difficult to choose what to have. I ordered the August veggies which consisted of beets, squash, and carrots in a fig sauce. I also had a bowl of mussels in a red curry sauce… divine! My dad and Matt ordered a few different types of oysters and they stated these oysters were out-of-this-world.

After dinner we drove around for a bit and then made our way back to my dad’s and Keri’s place. I love their house and it’s in a fantastic area with tons of local shops… bakery, coffee, florist, clothing, bars, restaurants… you name it, it’s all in walking distance. They could not have picked a better location! I’m pretty obsessed and have woken up early every morning to go out walking and exploring. Like I have said before I have never been to San Francisco and while I knew it was hilly and the houses were close together I was amazed just how hilly it was. I’ve been getting some serious workouts just by walking around.

This trip has turned into a food tour of San Fran… just the way I like it! On Saturday we visited the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and it was jammed pack. There were vendors located outside lining the pier along with local farmers displaying their produce. You could also walk through the Market Place which is located inside and is lined with various restaurants and companies. It was slammed… we stopped to try out quite a few samples and browse around. I picked up a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Morning Glory muffin from the Mariposa stand and it was so decadent. I ate it this morning for breakfast and demolished it in a minute flat. I really should have picked up a few more!!

As we browsed around outside I stopped by a raw vegan stand and picked up a lettuce wrap which was stuffed with avocado, sprouts, cabbage, and plenty of other delicious veggies. Most of the vegetables had been marinated, so this wrap had so much flavor!

When we first entered the farmers market we passed the Roli Roti truck and stand. My dad had heard so many great things about this stand and with the outrageous line it lured my brothers and Matt to wait. 25 minutes later they walked away with porchetta sandwiches stuffed with pork porchetta and arugula served on ciabatta bread.

These sandwiches were so greasy and the meat was filled with flavor. A word to describe these sandwiches? The only one they could come up with was “orgasmic.” Best sandwich they have ever had hands down. Obviously it was well worth the wait.

After we finished stuffing our faces we walked around the Pier looking around at the shops and then headed out to do some sight-seeing.

Later Saturday night, we all headed to an awesome tapas restaurant that my dad and Keri discovered when they first moved here. Contigo is in their neighborhood and is an authentic spanish tapas hot spot. The restaurant is small and quaint with dishes ranging from creative to spanish traditional. The most traditional item on the menu? Patatas Bravas of course!! When I studied abroad in Barcelona during college these babies were eaten on multiple occasions.

We ordered a bunch of various dishes such as calamari, octopus, pork belly sliders, steamed greens, peppers, pepper flatbread, clams, and my dad ordered sardines (ugh) at the end. Everything was fantastic! They are great at combining distinct pungent spices and really making it all work. As each dish was brought out, we all dove in and little conversation went on except for the frequent “omg this is so good.” Each plate was licked clean.

We can’t have a big dinner without some dessert so we ordered the olive oil ice cream, coffee caramel flan, and chocolate mousse churros. The flan had a very strong coffee flavor and while I love coffee infused food, this was a little too overpowering for me. It tasted like I was eating a cup of double-espresso cream. The olive oil ice cream was by far my favorite. It was so light and the taste was incredibly surprising. It was smooth and the vanilla ice cream combined with the olive oil was the perfect combination.

This was only Saturday and you know yesterday was filled with more foodie fun! As my brothers say only I would get kick out of shopping at farmers markets and grocery stores while on vacation. What can I say… I love browsing around and looking at everything. The vegetables out here look they are on steroids compared the veggies on the East Coast. It’s amazing and there are so many types of vegetables I have never heard of or seen before!!

Second post with an update on Sunday’s activities coming soon… can you guess where I went for lunch?? 

 

Finally!

Phew! Today has been a whirlwind kind of day with trying to finish up some necessary to-do items before we head out for our trip tomorrow! I am so excited if you can’t tell

I’ve never been to San Francisco before and the only place in California I have been was LA when I visited my friend Ari last year for our birthdays! My dad and his girlfriend Keri moved out to San Fran in April and this is the first time we are all going out to visit. It was weird at first having my dad living across the country, but we still talk often like we always have and it’s a built-in vacay which is a definite plus!

A good portion of my day yesterday was spent tracking down a couple of packages sent to me from my dad. They were bar stools that he didn’t need and wanted to give them to me. FedEx had tried to deliver them over the weekend, but obviously I was out-of-town so I wasn’t here to sign for them. Yesterday I went on a mission to find the pick-up location. Let’s just say it was a pain in the butt to find and took me about two hours before I finally figured it out. Not to mention many calls to FedEx. Once I arrived these were waiting for me…

The FedEx employee told me they had won the “Creativity” award. Now I just have to figure out how to “unpack” them!

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After a stressful two hours I finally made it to the movie theaters for the long-awaited movie “The Help”! I have been dying to see this and just couldn’t wait until I arrived back from San Fran, so yesterday I went and saw it by myself. I’ve never seen a movie by myself before but I must say it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. After all it’s not like you can carry on a conversation with someone during the movies anyways. The only thing I didn’t like was not having someone to talk about the movie with as I walked out.

I read this book a few months ago and fell absolutely head-over-heels in love with it. Even though I know racism existed in this way it still gets me every time. I just could not imagine. In my opinion the movie was very well done. The characters were cast perfectly and I really felt that connection to them like I did in the book. I laughed, I cried… it was a pretty emotional 2 hours for me.

The only downfall was you couldn’t know what the characters were thinking and some of the back story didn’t translate in the movie, but I think this happens in all movies made from books. This was one of the best made “book to movie” I have seen in a long time! I could seriously go and see it again tomorrow… any takers?

After the movie, I went to the airport with my mom to pick up my brother, Dominic. He just returned from a study abroad trip in Prague and has been gone for 3 months. Saying my mom was ecstatic to see him is an understatement. She spent the day cooking his favorite meal, cleaning his room… she was overjoyed to see him. He has so many great stories! I can’t wait to see all the pictures and hear more about his trip on our trip to San Fran. He gets no rest-time at all!

He did bring us all presents too! He brought me a painting of Old Town Square. This is the historic center of the city and this picture does not do it justice in the least. The painting is so well done and I can’t wait to get it framed so I can hang it up!! He also brought me back some chocolate from Belgium and a glass wine bottle topper. He knows me so well

I told you yesterday was jam-packed full of activities and today was no different. To be honest I have no idea what I did today… all I know is I haven’t been home since this morning and now I am exhausted!

I’m currently trying to eat all the food in my fridge before I leave, so tonight is going to be another repeat of a vegetable stir-fry plus whatever other snacks I have! I don’t think veggie stir-fry will ever get old… so many ways to spice it up.

I’m off for dinner and then to pack! San Francisco here we come