Out with the Old, and the Excess

What a whirlwind year it has been, friends. I don’t know about you, but I feel like as I get older each year, the time speeds by even faster. This year was a busy one, from work to home. There was a lot of travel for business …

And some for fun!

We sold one house …

And bought (and have been working on) another!

We skipped out on full-blown season passes in exchange for buying things for the house, but made sure to hit up some big games when we could: 

Had laughs with friends and family alike …

And ate really well: 

Whew! It’s only mid-way through another holiday season, and I have already had to put myself in check on health matters. All of that "good eating" has added up, especially when my new work commute has limited my options for workouts. By good eating, I don't always mean "good" as in "healthy!" The scale hasn’t moved too much, but I have not. felt. good. I have been straight up dragging, and spending my upcoming PTO time on the couch in recovery mode just isn’t going to work. I just don't have that kind of time and would rather make the most of my vacays. 

So, starting this week, I threw myself back into Weight Watchers with all of my might. Yes, my office might be giving away free breakfasts and lunches. Yes, the social events have snacks and drinks and sweets out the wazoo. But if I am already feeling like I usually do on January 1, over-spent on food and under-spent on energy, I need to kick some serious Katherine booty, like, now. Otherwise, I am not going to enjoy the rest of the season at all.

Maybe I am taking this space as an opportunity to cyber-guilt myself, sure. But, I am pretty sure a number of you are in the same boat, and I thought that there might be strength in numbers, without the excess. The cookies from this past weekend’s exchange were delicious – but now they are in the freezer, ready for enjoyment at a later date, one at a time. Our kitchen is stocked and our meals are planned. Freebies at work, I am ignoring you. Instead of a daily Chai, I am going to treat myself to maybe one each week. 

What are you doing to moderate yourself this season? 

Hi, and Happy New Year!

Hello Friends, and Happy New Year! 

It's been, let's say, a wee bit longer than planned since the last time I blogged. I am so sorry! Apparently, my mind needed a bit of a blogging break, so I gave it one. And while I stayed on social networks, I didn’t take too many photos or post too many updates. A bit of an unplugged season, I guess. All in all, the mental rest did a body good! In the meantime, it was a busy fall and holiday season, and life sped on. 

Football games were lost … and won! [War Eagle!]

Trees were lit … and taken down … last night. Ha! We held out until the Epiphany. That's my excuse :)

We saw pretty lights …

And city lights …

I may have turned 30. [How's that for the downplay of the year?!]

And we just capped it all off with a weekend in the mountains with good friends to celebrate other good friends. 

What have you been up to these past few months? I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. 

As always, the New Year is bringing some New Starts in the Lehmann household, including early mornings at the gym (2 for 3 so far. Today, it was 20 degrees outside, so the bed won in the end) and reconnecting with our home cooking skills. It will be time to start thinking about bathing suits again before we know it, so I am trying to get a head start on fitness now, while mid-winter social plans are quiet. 

Yesterday, in efforts to banish the cold already seeping into town, we cooked up a batch of Italian Wedding Soup. Extremely fitting as we had just returned home from said wedding in the mountains, this soup was the perfect cozy soup for a chilly winter day. Since it's homemade, you can keep things low-sodium and low-fat depending on the type of meat and amount of pasta you throw in. Plus, it tastes amazing. Hard to beat that. Below is our recipe – we loosely adapted things from a recipe we found online, enough that it is now "ours" :) 

Happy New Year, everyone! Looking forward to a fun 2014 ahead! 

Lehmann Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 4-6

1 small onion, finely diced

2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 lb. ground beef (80-20 blend or your choice)

1 c. Italian breadcrumbs

2 eggs

3/4 c. chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

1-2 tsp. each salt and pepper, to taste

3 boxes low-sodium chicken broth

1 c. pastina

1 c. baby spinach 

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender and translucent. Set aside to cool slightly as you prep the other meatball ingredients. Combine beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley and salt and pepper in a large bowl; add in cooled onions and peppers and mix with hands. Form small meatballs (half inch in diameter) and place on wax paper on a baking tray. Place meatballs in freezer for 15-20 minutes.

While meatballs cool, heat up broth on the stove in a large pot. Bring to a boil and carefully add in the meatballs, a few at a time. Simmer over reduced heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add pastina and cook an additional 5 minutes, folding in spinach towards the end. Enjoy!

Happiness and Hellos

Source: Pinterest

Days have been whizzing past recently. I have been settling into newlywed life with lots of joy and lots of fun. Social life is great, work life is great, our home is looking great ...  and in all honesty, the only elements not pretty pulled together right now have been my workout life and my blogging life :) 

I have been trying to live out every moment of every day in the recent few weeks. Saying "sure" when sometimes I might have said "maybe," and trying to do things now instead of later. When happiness abounds, you should live it up, right? Sometimes, you have to let go of the schedules and the lists, and just relax and be in the moment. From leisurely mornings with the paper and a cup of chai to impromptu weekends spent with friends, I have been trying to be that girl that I've always wanted to be -- the Yes Girl.

That said, I have missed blogging (running, not so much, but that's a whole other story!). While I haven't been posting a lot, I think it is just a small side effect of what is starting a new transition in my life. I am heading towards the big 3-0 later this year, full steam ahead, and I am realizing a lot of time has gone past without me ever doing the things I've told myself I would.

Some bloggers wrote fun July 1 posts in honor of the six-month mark after New Year's. Resolutions abound in January, but how often do you take a reality check once a few months have gone past? I decided to make a Resolution List of my own, but this one centered around closing out my 20's with as much happiness as possible. Enter, my Happiness List.

My 2013 Happiness List 

* Host dinner parties at least once a month. We love hosting, and even more so now that we are all grown up with matching plates and serving platters :) Whether one friend or many, this is on our radar for the months coming up, busy football season and all. Now the goal is to get the invites out and dates on the calendar.

Source: Pinterest

* Scrapbook a little more. My Post-College scrapbook, all well and good pre-wedding, immediately got pushed under the bed as soon as wedding planning started. I am about 70% done. Better get that one wrapped up so I can start in on my Wedding Memories one!

* Unplug and read a book at bedtime. Right now, it's my fav Pat Conroy. Then I need to head to the library to pick out the next one!

* Really hug people. They are just so restorative! A good bear hug goes a long way.

* Sit by the pool. No explanation needed here!

* Do nothing for a weekend. So far, I am at a pretty high success rate for this. It's amazing how much more zen I feel when I get back to work on a Monday following a quiet weekend :)

* Sit on our patio. We have a very lovely porch. Why do I not sit out there more?! That cup of chai or glass of wine would be just as nice outside. 


If you had to pick one or two things, what would be on your Happiness List? Are you trying to live life to the fullest, too, or is life flying past you each day? It's crazy how fast time can go by when you aren't paying attention. How can you slow things down in your world?

The Itch

I can't tell you how many times I have had blog thoughts flit through my head over the past few weeks ... only for them to head back out the other side before I can make sense of them and get them down on "paper." Apologies for being that irregular blogger that we all hate ;)

I've been experiencing a bit of an itch since we have settled back in from the wedding. The condo is looking like home again. Work is strumming along. I am even seeing my friends again on a regular basis. But something's been missing. Out of place. A void has opened up, and both me and the hubs have noticed it.

This, y'all, is why people get pets and start training for marathons. It's that big "what's next?" moment that people, and especially newlyweds, seem to experience as soon as life is (finally) in order. Some people purchase homes that need renovations; we own a lovely condo where the biggest "project" is new window treatments ;) Rooms are painted or book clubs are joined. Travel plans and evening plans start to fill up the calendar. As for that marathon, I'd like to just run and workout regularly during the week, no crazy diets and training required.

Why is it that we are always looking to add a little disorder to our orderly lives? Can't we just sit back and BE? That would make for a most enjoyable life, one with few worries and many riches. As I sat in our living room the other day, I looked around and didn't, for once, feel that urge to get up and do anything. There was not one paper to straighten, nor one spot to clean. I could relax back into the couch, pick up a magazine and just read. And so that's what I did. And you know what? I felt part-happiness ... and part-guilt. Almost as if I had wasted time that day by reading for pleasure. Why can't I just enjoy the nothingness that sometimes comes along?

For the summer ahead, I am trying to refocus things back to that joyful state of relaxation with which  life sometimes blesses us. I have movies, books and shows to catch up on. I'd love to handwrite a few notes to Grandma, and Happy Birthday cards to far-away friends. Poolside lounges and early morning jogs await me before I leisurely relax on a quiet weekend day.

Even as I build out that Summer To-Do list, I am reminding myself it's more of a Summer If-I-Feel-Like-It list. I know I should treasure this time, after all, as it's not likely to last.

But gosh, what a nice feeling it is.

PS. Dislike the new Pinterest Embed, and apparently all of my past blog posts with Pinterest photos are now broken links thanks to the update. I am not even going to stress about this. Right now, at least :)

Workout Recap: Pavements and Plateaus

Last week was such a blur and filled with so many meetings after long work days that yep, you guessed it, my workouts dropped right off the radar. I stayed up too late all week, too, so morning workouts never happened, either. By Friday night, I was tired-feeling and blah, and I knew that it was a direct corrolation to my lack of energy-boosting workouts. Nothing like that kind of feeling to jolt you right back to the gym. And nothing like the knowledge of me committed to sharing my progress here to make this coming week's chart look better than last week's:

Bright and early on Saturday before we headed off to the wedding, I hit the gym and hit it hard! I did a two mile-run (shown above) and did an ab-workout, too. While I may have consumed back all (plus some) of those calories at the wedding that night, I also did a fair amount of dancing, so I am ok with my splurging :)

Tonight I am keeping up the streak and have reserved a spot in a spin class in my building. A healthy crockpot meal is heating up at home as I post, and there are a few other healthy meal options waiting for the week ahead, too. 

My goal this week: schedule in workouts just like all the other things I reserve my time for. Total Progress: 2lbs. lost and 19.52 miles logged

How are your New Year's (or Life) Resolutions coming along?

Resolutions for the Home

I saw these plain and simple home-based resolutions over on Apartment Therapy today, and loved them so much that I want to repost them here for you to check out! The writer resolved that she will ...

1. Carefully consider the things I bring into my home, buying only what I really need, love and will use.

2. Try to clean on a regular basis, tackling small chores so that it never becomes unmanageable.

3. Stock up on the products that I use regularly so I never have to pay a convenience store mark-up on toilet paper again.

4. Treat my home as a retreat and place of refuge, investing in small touches like fresh flowers and soft sheets to create a comforting environment.

5. Invite people over! I will stop making excuses and open my doors to friends more often.

How easy is that? I love it. Have you made any resolutions regarding your home, entertaining or cleaning? How are you coming in bringing those resolutions to life?

Source: sharesomecandy.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Hello, 2012!

Hello, friends! I hope that each of you had a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends, and also that you found some well-deserved time off, too.

We spent a few days in Roswell with my parents and brother to celebrate my birthday and Christmas Day ...

Followed by a short week in New Jersey and NYC to see our extended family!

Celebrating Christmas at Grandma's House!

I am so lucky to have such wonderful family to spend these holidays with each year.

2012 is here, though, and so it is on to resolution season. Do you make resolutions each year? How well do you stick to them? I have made these lists in the past, and even recapped how I did with the 2010 list. This year, I am going to try and not overwhelm myself with lots of goals, though. I do my best with a short and sweet list that I can print off and keep in plain sight. And this year, I have a few goals topping my list.

* Lose the last 15 pounds. I am putting this out there. I had huge WW success in 2010, and then let some of it slide in 2011. Nothing huge, but just enough that my goal seemed that much farther away. 15 pounds down would allow me to hit final goal weight, and I'd be thrilled. Tactics: WW, and exercising (see next bullet)

* Four days/week of exercise. 2010 weight loss wouldn't have happened without the exercise I put into it on the back-end (thus seeing the reduction of my own back-end, ha!). Four days a week is a tangible thing that I feel confident I can do. Tactics: A combination of LA Fitness classes and running 1-2 times per week.

* Enjoy my free time. This one's tougher to quantify. I am a chronic yes-er, and have tried really hard to cut down on my commitments in the past as I try to balance work, social world, errands, chores and personal relationships. Tactics: Baby steps first. My scrapbook is sitting on my dining room floor, shoved into a corner. Once these holiday decorations are put away, I am transforming the table into scrapbook central, and am going to turn off the TV one night a week (or more!) to dedicate to that, instead.

What goals are on your agenda, for this week, month or year?