Savoring dinner outdoors

Good evening.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur - catching up at work. Took a break and walked to the Riverside Theater,

Then picked up some lunch with a coworker.

Diet Coke and a mushroom sandwich. Tried out some Popchips on the side... these tasted great.

Due to the fact they have a kinda long list of ingredients, I won't purchase these unless it's a special circumstance, like a picnic or road trip. Then again, I usually enjoy treats like potato chips or cookies on such occasions, and my usual policy is to stick with the favorites. I digress.

Before I left work, I tried out a Cashew Cookie flavor Larabar, from my HLS Swag bag...

I did not like it. Bland. I also had an apple (unpictured).

Once I got home, I felt the need to unplug and get re-centered. You see, toward the end of the day I learned of some very sad news. Almost immediately afterward, I received some very happy news about a friend's scheduled delivery of her first child. This huge contrast between sadness and happiness left my mind boggled.

A quiet dinner outdoors was just what I needed.

Spinach, tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, cottage cheese, pine nut hummus, topped with trail mix.

The Wisconsin State Fair wrapped up last night, so my neighborhood has returned to its usual quiet self. It was great to sit outside and enjoy the cool summer night, listening to the crickets chirp. For a few moments, I didn't care what time it was or think about anything except for the beautiful salad in front of me.

With each bite, I savored the flavors and textures of the salad. I looked around our yard, enjoying the garden with its abundance of green baby tomatoes and carrot fronds.

I felt renewed with each sip of ice water.

Toward the end of this dinner, I got the sensation that someone was watching me. When I looked up, I found out someone was watching me.

Then, Bluegill and Zak came outside to visit.

And then, I felt more centered.

It's important to take time out like this every once and awhile, to unplug from the world and savor a meal. The University of Missouri offers the following tips for savoring food:

Food is a wonderful part of our lives, to be enjoyed and savored. Savoring your food means a combination of the following:

• Taking time to choose food you really like and food that would satisfy you right now
• Becoming a conscious consumer of food so that what you eat and how you eat honors your body and your taste buds
• Being fully present for the experience of eating and taking pleasure in that experience.

Taken a step further, eating with the fullest pleasure includes a recognition of how eating connects us with the world and being grateful for how it gives us life. In other words, becoming a conscious connoisseur!

I know that the foods I chose tonight were exactly what I was craving, honored my body with nutrients and that I was fully present in my dining experience.

Tonight will involve the new episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and going to bed EARLY. I still have a few hours of sleep to catch up on from the weekend!

Question - When was the last time you took time to savor a meal? What is your ideal setting for a mindful meal?

Monday Swag

Happy Monday to everyone!

A quick post as I am playing catch-up at work today. Before I left the house this morning I packed myself a bag full of swag from the Healthy Living Summit. My snack drawer at the office is getting a major boost!

I am especially excited about the mini Larabar and the Smartfood cranberry almond popcorn clusters.

All packed inside of this super cute tote from Sabrina at RhodeyGirlTests. She did a great presentation on entertaining at HLS.

This morning I enjoyed an iced coffee with soy milk from Starbucks, housed in my new reusable cup. I am not the biggest breakfast person (yet) but wanted a little something, so I also had a banana.

Oh, and this is my desk. A mess after being away last week! Looks like a concert crowd ransacked it.

See ya later for a lunch / dinner post. It's a gorgeous, mild-temperature day in Milwaukee so I am hoping to catch a long run tonight as well.

Did you attend HLS this weekend? Aren't the swag bags awesome? What swag bag product / item are you most excited to try out? There is a certain Glo Bar that I am saving for a special occasion, haha.

Home and done.

Alright, I am gonna say it flat out, the Healthy Living Summit was incredible.

Great people, great activities, great discussions, great food. I have a ton to write about, here's a quick rundown of the weekend:

Friday

As part of the Summit I attended a tour of the Frito Lay plant in Beloit, Wisconsin. Never having toured a massive food product facility before, I kept thinking of how it might be like Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, with bloggers turning Cheeto Orange or getting carried away in a river of onion dip.

In reality, the folks at Frito Lay and Ketchum hosted an interesting presentation and tour that opened my eyes to the scale of their products and the good that they do in my home state. Did you know that at the Beloit facility, over 80% of potatoes used are purchased from local Wisconsin farmers? I did not. Also, within 8 hours of being shipped to the factory, the potatoes are processed. That makes for some pretty fresh chips, made with local potatoes! No wonder Classic Lay's are my kryptonite :-)

Saturday

Roomies Kayla, Heather and Jackie (her blog coming soon!) and I headed to the conference room for an awesome breakfast, hosted by Thomas' Bagel Thins, Stonyfield, and Quaker.

I fueled up on fruit, a whole wheat Bagel Thin, some Maranatha almond butter (of course they'd have this at the Summit!), and a Stonyfield honey mango yogurt. Oh, and an Adora chocolate for desert :-)

I decided it would be easier to eat in a bowl, so a yogurt mess ensued :-)

The Summit was packed with informative sessions, with topics across the board. I liked that there were two tracks so that attendees could pick and choose throughout the day.

I checked out:

- Fueling for Fitness with Rebecca and Heather

- Healthy Entertaining with Sabrina (love her!)

Lunch was pretty spectacular, especially the sprouted quinoa salad.

Kayla and I shared a mini-smattering of deserts: chocolate, lemon, and cheesecake heaven.

There was a morning Quaker break with granola bars, and an afternoon Athenos break with hummus (duh) and veggie-y snacks.

The roomies and I also took a walking break to check out Buckingham Fountain.

Me, Heather, Kayla, Jackie

Afternoon sessions included:

- Time-Management and Organization with Kath, Morgan and Sarah

- Yoga in an awesome old ballroom, with a very peculiar instructor. He wore Vibrams and talked really fast, as in auctioneer-style fast. Upwardintodownwarddoganddowntoplank fast.

And after things wrapped up, I tried ZUMBA at a nearby gym, hosted by the Fitnessista herself - Gina(!!!), Diana, and Sabrina. Having heard great things but being a newbie, I really loved the fun moves set to fast-paced pop and latin music. My tummy, a$$ and thighs are feeling it today!

The rest of my evening went like this: Post-Zumba champagne with roomie Jackie. Cause we're classy.

A decadent Indian dinner at Chicago Curry House, hosted by Gina. And yes, she's as awesome in person as she is on her blog!

Photo credit: Fitnessista

Some light ghost hunting at the hotel with Kristi and Jackie. The pondered crashing of a wedding. Photo magic in the vacant conference room instead.

Jackie and I decided to take a Midnight stroll down Michigan Ave., headed to BIG Bar at the Hyatt, and ended up sharing a margarita the size of a human head. It was glorious.

Sunday:

Bright and early - hung with the roomies and headed downstairs to meet up for some EXERCISE. A ton of HLSers gathered to do either a 10k run, 5k run or walk. I opted to join the walkers for a beautiful jaunt along the Lake. Kristi and I extended our route a bit to cover ~ 3 miles in just over an hour. That's right, I got my Pikes Peak Challenge training done for the day!

Back at the hotel, breakfast was sponsored by Thomas' Bagel Thins, who hosted an awesome customizable cream cheese bar. I requested low-fat cream cheese with walnuts, honey, cinnamon and raisins. Tasted pretty damn good!

Also, eggs and fruit.

The rest of the day was spent checking out Chicago with Kristi and eating Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Mmmm.

Caught a train - and found myself back in Milwaukee! Done and Done! Was great to see Zak and the fur kids, I really missed them.

Upon arriving at home, I launched immediately into get-stuff-done mode:

- Car insurance renewal - DONE

- Utility bills - DONE

- Laundry from this weekend at HLS - doing now.

Not surprisingly, my laundry pile includes almost all workout clothes. I love that!

Tonight involves the highly anticipated Roast of David Hasselhoff. Can't. Wait.

Leave a Comment: Did you attend the Healthy Living Summit? What did you like the most? Any areas that you think could be tweaked for next year?