It's All About. The Pen.

Call me crazy, but I am a pen fanatic. I love a good pen and notice that it will literally change the course of a meeting/class/note card for me.

If I love the pen, I’ll write more, write better and stay more focused. But I’m also VERY particular about my pens. The ink has to be the right thickness, the ball point needs to roll perfectly- when everything aligns. BEAUTY. Honestly, I’m so particular about my pens- it could be borderline OSD.

I wrote last week about my love of stationary, and to be fare, that love is incomplete without that of a good pen.

On Monday, while working in my office, I noticed I needed I pen. I went to our supply room to get another PILOT G2 07, the typical pen our office stores in black and blue ink- and then I noticed something that changed my day, week and possibly my work life balance- someone had ordered the office UNI Super Ink pens with the 5 intents on the cap. (!!!!)

These pens are OUTSTANDING and beautiful because not only do they make my writing look so much better (I believe), but they then make me want to write even more! (For real!) Actually, when I first met one of the women who I would start working closely with at work this past summer, she pulled out one of these pens in a meeting- I couldn’t resist- don’t you just love those pens! She immediately exclaimed back- I don’t write anything without them! She then proceeded to tell me a story about how when she was at Harvard Law a friend of hers forgot that particular type of pen to take notes with for the day, and literally debated just skipping class, because it wouldn’t be worth it to go without the pen. Ultimately, she went all the way back home to get it and then ended up late to class, but pen in hand. (Ha!)

Anyway, if you haven’t yet used on one these wonderous pens- you must try it! It will change your penmanship, how much you write, who you write- and who knows, maybe you’ll even start writing a handwritten letter a day.

Who are we talking to?

As Jess and I continue this resolution I am struck by how our friends seem to have clustered in the Northeast and Southwest. Look at that! So interesting...(!)
When we started this challenge I thought it would be quite easy to reach out to people across all 50 states but, whether through coincidence or not- our friends who live nearby have been easier to reach via phone (and post, I guess?!).

Bonuses from this challenge to hike up our correspondence rates have also meant that we have been able to celebrate and meet up with old friends from college and high school who we have not seen in way too long, which has been such amazing.

As we are still at the relative "start" of this challenge (!) I am excited to see where else it will head, who it will lead us to, and also be able to track the people we are getting in touch with.

I am not sure where to draw the line in terms of how much to disclose about the people we are talking to, but it is an inspiring group!

Among those who we have "corresponded" with in the last two weeks- includes, but isn't limited to: an entrepreneur who started her own photography business, two doctoral students (one in physics and one in geography), a friend in basic training, multiple people working at the White House, a chef, computer programmers, lawyers, individuals working on Broadway, the list goes on and on! Suffice to say, we there is always something incredibly exciting to learn and catch up on in catching up with old friends.

Another bonus: the discussions that I am having continue to further my own curiosity. (Always a plus)!
Today, while explaining the concept of this blog, a friend mentioned turning this into a pen pal initiative of sorts. The conversation spun off into different directions (all fabulous), but I lovedof the idea of encouraging you all to write a letter as well. It could be to any number of different people and if you're interested, here are make three suggestions to get you started:

1. Write a letter to the White House with new ideas or thanks: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington DC 20500.

2. Write a letter to troops serving abroad (thanks to a conversation tonight, I thought this was a great and simple idea to carry out).

3. Write a letter to a student in DC or Prince George's schools (with all of our connections to teachers we would be happy to pass them along).

If you have any other good links or ideas of where to send letters, feel free to post them as well, I am excited to see where these letters all end up!

Finding a rhythm.

This challenge is not yet a week old- but I can confidently say it is taking us a bit longer to adjust to it than to our other challenges. With our first challenge their were defined times in the day when we would engage in the challenge- while it was a hard challenge, that consistency made it easier on our lives. Similarly we knew with the last challenge that if we set aside time in the morning or evening we would be able to execute on our own. This challenge requires interaction with other people to connect via the phone which has proven to be rather difficult. (Pick up your phones!) :o)
I have had to set up multiple conversations per day just on the assumption that I will not be able to connect with one of them towards the end of the evening. YAY- planning ahead!
That being said- I am enjoying connecting with people who I have not been in touch with in awhile and I look forward to finding my rhythm in this challenge and if anyone is interested in reconnecting- feel free to send an email to set up! We're waiting!

Endless Love.

One of my greatest loves is, and always has been, well designed stationary.
I just love it.
I love the way it looks, feels and smells. YUM.
Get me into an awesome stationary store, like the Paper Source, I could be in there shamelessly oo-deling all day.

Stationary is actually one of the reasons I was so looking forward to this challenge. I find it to be almost meditative, and it inspired me to create and innovate in new and different ways. As silly as it sounds, I am inspired by beautiful stationary. So this challenge? Loving it so far, as it is an excuse to use, and then possibly need, to enjoy even more stationary than I could possible imagine.

In preparation for our wedding I allowed myself to do an abnormal amount of online stationary searching (literally, hours from my life- gone now to online, oo-deling)- but now, to find inspiration for this challenge, I couldn't resist sharing some of my top online stationary picks and why I love them.

The first online sight that I really fell in love with was Expressionary. Expressionary is wonderful for a few reasons- first and foremost, they run pretty great deals, and often. If you buy right- you typically don't need to pay for shipping and can get 25% off your order (score!).

Jon and I also really like this website for the
"Do It Yourself" feature, which when it comes to holiday presents, we've found all too convenient and fun! Check it out. We've especially enjoyed making the memo pads and folding cards with the people you can design for family and friends! (There is also a huge mother's day sale coming up!)

Wedding Paper Divas, which has everything from really beautiful wedding stationary, to just really gorgeous stationary, address levels is a great site if you are looking for incredible stationary, especially anything involving a big event like a wedding. So nice!

I've found my absolute favorite address labels with their parent company Tiny Prints. They have such personality and fun- I especially love the ones that represent your city. Jon and I made a major order of the DC ones and we just love them.


The Green Kangaroo was another site I fell in love with and often browse when I need a bit of meditation or procrastination time. They also have a great do-it-yourself section. These wedding invitations are just my very favorite and actually the map helped inspire part of our "Welcome to D.C" packets for our wedding guests. How amazing are these?!








































Looking forward to many more posts and days ahead- oo-ing and aw-ing at the beauty and love that is: stationary.

Mapping our progress

For this resolution, we will be sending 36.5 letters and making 36.5 calls each throughout the next tenth of the year(!)













In order to track this goal- We are going to use maps from http://www.270towin.com/ to customize our progress- so far we have sent letters to Texas and Virginia and called New York and Massachusetts.

Challenge within the challenge can we get all 50 states twice over?! Only time will tell....

Resolution #3

36.5 Days of Correspondence begins today, meaning:

1 phone call (where we reach someone); 1 hand written letter (mailed); and two major packages sent each over the course of the next 36.5 days...

Let's get it on!

Lessons Learned from Resolution 2: Working Out

As we’ve posted before, overall, this resolution was MUCH easier than our first resolution (no joke.) However, had we done this one first, or even in isolation, I’m sure we would have found it to be much more challenging and hard to maintain that it actually was. Working out everyday is hard and it is daunting! Sticking to this resolution everyday was tricky for sure, but it led us to be more disciplined and strict about working out than we had been prior, and it definitely taught us that when you set goals around working out, they can be much easier to reach than you often hype yourself up for.

Here are the top ten lessons from our 36.5 days of “Working Out”

(1) Working out is personal! While most of our first resolution was something that we took on in full unison, during the course of this resolution, we ended up taking it on in very different ways and in very different extremes. Perhaps this was because this resolution really only required 20-60 minutes of dedicated effort, and we often found that we carved time out of our days in really different ways and the activities we chose to do were pretty different in aerobic levels and intensities. Needless to say, this resolution was much more personal and independent than our first.

(2) 8 Minute Abs trumped all. Regardless of how different our workouts were, no matter where we were, or what time of day it was- 8 Minute Abs could be found somewhere near by.

(3) Big improvements in the pull-up department! For my birthday last year, Jon got me a pull up bar that hooks on to the back of our closet door. Over the course of this challenge, I improved from being able to do 5 pull-ups at a time, to 11! WOOHOO!

(4) Jumping rope is still hard- Still not quite at the continuous 10 minute mark yet!

(5) Your body can be your best piece of equipment. Don’t let the gym or a piece of equipment hold you back from working out- you have everything you need attached :o)

(6) Let your favorite shows be an excuse to work out! Since getting rid of cable, we’ve found that if we want to watch out favorite TV shows live, we’ve got to make it down to the gym to do it. Top Chef All Stars definitely gets credit for at least 5 hours and 2000 calories burned for Jon.

(7) Planning ahead is key. I found that if I put my workout times into my work calendar ahead of time, I was more likely to follow through and be less anxious about when/if it would happen.

(8) I’m a Thigh Master supporter and lover- It’s a great way to work out your legs while you are watching a little Hulu at the end of the day.

(9) We wish we’d incorporated more outdoor winter sports- while we got to ice skating, skiing and snow tubing each once, it would have been nice to have done even more outside during these chilly months.

(10) Working out everyday is totally sustainable. Once you’ve got the routine and don’t make a huge deal out of it (or even make it about going to the gym), you can totally do it everyday.

And, because I want even more motivation to continue this resolution (ideally everyday) now that it’s over, I read these facts from Women’s Health about what happens to your muscles when you stop exercising for certain lengths of time – hopefully these will keep us on our toes and on top of continuing to work out!:

If you take a break from working out for 2 weeks:

You can loose up to 12% of your muscle strength (!), 7% of your aerobic endurance and your comeback time is 1 week

If you take a break from working out for 2 months:

You can loose up to 35% of your muscle strength (Ack!); 18% of your aerobic endurance and your comeback time is 6 weeks (holy smokes.)

If you take a break from working out for 2 years:

You can loose up to 50% of your muscle strength; 50% of your aerobic endurance and your comeback time is 12 weeks (yikes.)

So here’s to Resolution 2… A 36.5 days well spent…

Resolution 2. DONE (!)

A weekend trip to Colorado is no reason to stop our 36.5 day challenge but rather an invigorating way to end it!

Jess and I spent the weekend in Winter Park where activities not surprisingly include snow tubing and skiing. Snow tubing is perhaps not the most overwhelming and calorie burning of work outs, but I will argue that exercise is involved with most activities when you are over 11,000 feet in elevation. (!)

The ride down the hill (mountain for us east coasters) was exceptionally fast as there was no new powder in the past few days and the slope was all ice- the workers at the hill estimated we were going upwards of 50-55 miles per hour. The walk back up to the lift (where you burn up to 250 calories an hour) was the more exhausting part.

The next day I went to attempt skiing for the first time since I was in Bariloche, Argentina 5 years ago. That trip was fun, although not particularly successful as one of my ski mates on his first time down the bunny slope split his pants, and my other friend on the trip had a bit of an accident with some hot chocolate and was out of commission the rest of the day (YIKES)- I myself am pretty sure I dislocated my thumb on a great spill (so smooth)...
In spite of all this, it was time to try again, this time with a group who was snow boarding and after a few easy runs down, I had rebuilt my confidence and ventured further up the mountain.

The pants that you see in the picture are indeed MC Hammer parachute pants which happen to be the only waterproof pants that I own (ha!). I must say that while they certainly drew many questions from the staff, they also true to name slowed me down (for better or worse) on the mountain.
Because I had to exert more energy to keep up my speed, I would argue that I may have burned more than the average 350 calories per hour.

For someone who grew up learning to ski on the East Coast, a trip out to the Rockies was almost like a different sport altogether- and one which I am more motivated to do again in the future. YAY snow sports to end resolution #2!

What's the (big) deal with soy?!

There are A LOT of rumors and questions out there about the pros and cons of consuming soy-

How strong of a protein is it? Is it better than meat? Does it raise estrogen levels? How much is too much?

Over the course of becoming vegetarian and then vegan, this is something I researched extensively, and was hoping to post about to share my knowledge and understanding.

However, I came across this recent blog post by Alicia:
http://www.thekindlife.com/post/the-deal-with-soyand-five-soymilk-alternatives
I think this post gives a great approach to incorporating soy into your diet, as well as soy alternatives and choices that she makes in her own diet.

I recommend giving it a read if you are interested in soy, a veg lifestyle or just our of curiosity!
Enjoy!

Ethiopian. YUM.

Jess and I often say (and it's true!) that D.C. is the American capital of Ethiopian food. We feel so fortunate to live in the city that offers such a variety of wonderful cultures from all over the world- and we often take advantage of that most- in food!
We have frequented many of the Ethiopian restaurants around the city from the well known Meskrem to the lesser known but our favorite Queen of Sheba. In each of these we are always ecstatic to get the "Vegetarian platter," which is a very generous helping of foods not often found in typical dining in America, but incredibly delicious and flavorful.

For those of you who have never tried Ethiopian food, you are in good company- it was not until I was in college that I went to Addis Red Sea in Boston, but it quickly won me over.
When you eat Ethiopian food the consistency of most dishes is similar to that of an Indian curry. However, instead of a plate, all food is served communally on top of Injera- a unique and delicious bread. The closest that I ever came to describing this delicious bread was a friend who said it tasted a felt like a giant (really really big) sourdough pancake cut in half length wise and rolled out under your food. YUM.

Now, Jess and I enjoy cooking and have challenged ourselves with many different dishes over the years we have been cooking together, but we had never even fathomed trying Ethiopian- it just had too many different spices and seemed so complex (!).
Imagine then, my curiosity when I went over to a friends house just after he had moved to a new part of the city and saw him cooking Misir Wot in his own kitchen. AMAZING!
Misir Wot is a dish that I often say is my favorite Ethiopian dish due in large part to how spicy it is, and also the complexity of the flavors.
My friend Tim though, who recently moved into an area of town booming with Ethiopian restaurants just walked in and asked which spices they sold so that he could try and make the dishes himself.
Following Tim's lead (quite literally as I biked behind him to buy spices and Injera) I tried on my own to make Misir Wot (Yup!). I was initially shocked when I saw the simplicity of the recipe- it certainly is one of the easier dishes we have made and highlighted on this blog- there is only one ingredient that you will not find in your local grocery store- berbere spice.
BUT, after you have that one spice- or make it from scratch, you are good to go!

I was so eager to make this dish once I got the berbere spice I started making it without having enough lentils so I added split peas in place of half the lentils and it still tasted delicious!

Misir Wot:

1 onion

2 tbs olive oil

6 cloves of garlic

2 cups of lentils (or split peas)

2 tbs of berbere spice

Soak lentils over night in water one inch above the level of your lentils

Cook lentils for (at least) 5 hours at warm in a slow cooker.

Dice onion and cook with oil till translucent- then add diced garlic.

Add berbere spice and lentils and stir till all lentils are covered- feel free to add up to a half cup of water to ensure spices cover lentils.

Cook lentils over medium low heat until they are soft and serve on Ingera.

The Lactic Acid Revolution (!)

A substance I knew little about until recently, but since reading more about it, I sort of can’t stop thinking about it…

So, I couldn’t resist sharing these thoughts, musings and most importantly bits of inspiration(!):

Lactic Acid: Isn't that the substance that overwhelms your body and muscles after a great workout and makes it extremely challenging to move the next day?

Isn’t it what is responsible for making your body soar and uncomfortable?

Short answer: Yes.

Better answer: Lactic acid is actually completely awesome and a great, great thing for your body, especially after workouts.

In my most recent workouts, I’ve been desperate for my body to produce more lactic acid, despite the discomfort, because the benefits are so worth it.

Lately, when I have been waking up sore, I smile, because I know my body has been rockin’ out on lactic acid and I just love it!

So, what is lactic acid for real?

Lactic acid isn’t actually it the reason your muscles get sore- quite the contrary- you feel sore when your muscles are broken down in your workouts, and lactic acid is the fuel, rich with nutrients and love that is produced to reconstruct the muscles that have been broken down.

And the health benefits of your body producing this are amazing. Check them out:

-In order to process the lactic acid created during/after a workout, your body has to use extra calories for up to six hours (!) until it is fully absorbed.

-Once lactic acid is absorbed into your muscles they firm up and are able to increase both your aerobic capacity and metabolic rate.

-In following workout sessions, your body gets increasingly better at processing it, and you gain stamina and increase your metabolic rate- meaning, more bang for your buck.

-Lactic acid allows your heart and to send more oxygen through your veins to, which in turn burns fat (fat needs a rich supply of oxygen to be burned as fuel). When your body gains aerobic capacity you become more efficient at burning fat during exercise (score!).

-The more lactic acid you produce, the more HGH is created, which is our bodies' own natural anti-aging serum, allowing us to ward off the effects of aging and keep your metabolic rate high.

-Your body also develops a natural tolerance to lactic acid, meaning you have to workout longer before your muscles are broken down. This increased stamina allows you to more intensely, longer during your workout, which will burn more calories than ever before.

How to produce more of it, faster:

-Interval training: When you work out in intervals, you can more easily work above your threshold, meaning your muscles become fatigued for brief intervals and continually broken down repeatedly.

-Fast-Slow-Fast: After each rigorous effort, pause and go at a slower pace, which will allow the lactic acid to work its way to your muscles faster and target areas of fat, usually stored right under your skin.

So, ready to get soar? Join me in the lactic acid revolution!

Inspiration & facts taken from: http://blog.barmethod.com/

The State of the Workout Resolution

It occurred to me that we haven't yet posted on the "state" of this resolution- where we are, how we're doing, what's hard/what's easy, basically- how we are doing with it.
And there have been some interesting and surprising lessons learned already - first and foremost that we only have about 10 days left of this resolution (!).

I think what has surprised me the most, is how easy this resolution is to carry out in comparison to Not Eating Out. When measured against a resolution that literally took so much commitment, tempted us around every corner and there was almost no room for error, this challenge has shown me almost how easy it is to commit to working out in relation to that.

In hindsight, Not Eating Out was SO challenging- so much more so than we ever expected and I almost can't imagine how any of these others will be able to compare to the time, energy and dedication that first challenge took (For real.).

So, simply put, this resolution only requires about an hour of commitment every day, and really only affects me, not those around me- meaning, I'm not having to cancel to change plans due to the resolution (ie. not attend happy hours or social occasions). It's funny to think that doing this right after something so challenging makes me feel like I should never complain about working out- since it really is something that you can sneak into your day (with commitment, of course), but really, once you make the time commitment and get into some work out clothes- you are pretty much set.

What has been more challenging about this resolution is doing it together. With Not Eating Out- we both had to commit the same amount of time and energy and it really affected us both in very similar ways. With working out- we've noticed that we've carried out this resolution in pretty different ways- worked out at very different times, and since it's affecting our lives so much less, we don't talk about it nearly as much as the first resolution. So, while it has definitely been easier in many ways, it's almost been less fun in the sense that it's been less of a partnership effort and something we are taking on at the same time, with the same amounts of energy, time and discussion.

With that said, I think we definitely are feeling good about the amount of abs crunched, free weights lifted, lunges made and soar muscles every day.

10 days more- So, here's to 10 more days of commitment, soar muscles, the guy on 8 minute abs, bosu balls, new ideas and learnings!

Thanks for all of the support, ideas and love!

Google Recipe View

We have not yet fully explored this new tool, but Google has released a new (at least new to us) function called Google Recipe (!!!!). While using the Google search engine you can select different ingredients that you have on the left hand side and it will automatically filter the results to different recipes you can make. SO amazing!!

As you might tell, you can do a ton with this resource and we've already had so much fun with it!

While we hope that this doesn't pull you away from 36-5, we wanted to share an additional resource for everyone who now finds themselves with left over ingredients they are not as familiar cooking with. Happy cooking and let us know if you find other useful aspects of Google Recipe!