Thanksgiving Thoughts

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what Thanksgiving means to me. We still have a week to go, but as I mentioned on Monday, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays – honestly, I’d usually say it’s my absolute number one – and I don’t like the way that the Chrismukkah bonanza begins the day after Halloween and Thanksgiving gets glossed over so quickly. It’s a day to savor food and family, even if we all end up having a little too much of both, and to consider all the good things we have in our lives, a particularly potent act after events like those in Paris last week.

 

 

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Running To My Own Beat

This post about running without music originally appeared on FitApproach last Friday. I had no idea they were going to publish it so I wasn’t able to promote it like I should have been, but it’s something I’ve thought about a lot and I hope it inspires some of you to give it a try!

 

Wind whistling against the leaves, birds chirping high in the trees, sneakers hitting the pavement with every step I take. These are the sounds I hear as I run along in the morning. In spring and early summer, there was more buzzing from the bees. Now that it’s autumn, the falling leaves dominate nature’s symphony, punctuated occasionally by the loud crack of an acorn hitting the ground.

 

 

An Autumn Weekend and Returning to “Real Life”

Happy Monday, everyone! As you read this, I’ll either be on my way or already going through my first day of work as a lawyer in NYC. I definitely have a sense that this is truly a season of change, as my life shifts from one phase to another. I’m nervous and excited all at once, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes – I’ve really enjoyed all the time I got to spend blogging this summer and early autumn, and will be keeping at it. My goal is to post 3-4 days per week, rather than the 5-6 I’ve been posting, but still enough to share all the recipes, running, life updates and random thoughts you care to read about 🙂

 

 

 

Learning As I Blog Along

I’ve been lucky to have some time over the past few weeks to dedicate to blogging as if it were a full time job. While I’d love it if that were a reality, for now blogging is a hobby that I really enjoy and hope to continue with as much as I can. There’s so much to learn, about running a blog and a website, using social media, and developing whatever passion you blog about, which in my case is mostly running and recipes but has also become more about my life in general. And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how most of the important tools, tips and tricks I’ve picked up are courtesy of other bloggers. 

 

 

 

On Being an INFJ

Awhile back, I read Jamie’s post on personality type and decided to take a Myers-Briggs type test online to see what it said about me. I’d taken several over the years, once for a psychology student’s project in college (we were rewarded with candy, if memory serves) and again during law school. I vaguely remembered that I was considered an INFJ, but wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, or even if it was accurate. This time around, I took two different versions, and ended up with the same result on both. (You can see them and try them out yourself here and here). So, I dove into reading on being an INFJ that afternoon…and promptly left for my trip to England a few days later, ideas of a blog post banished to the far recesses of my mind. But I’m back and ready to share what I’ve learned now!

 

 

Why I Don’t Wear Makeup

My round of trips recently got me to thinking about why I don’t wear makeup. As in, I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve put anything other than chapstick on my face in the last year on one hand. When I went to pack my suitcase for England, it didn’t even occur to me to put any makeup in until a friend floated that I might want some in the event I went out to really nice restaurants in London. So I threw in a mascara (still in the packaging), some powder, and lip gloss. Everything came back unused because I was happy with my Burt’s Bees chapstick. Crazy, right?

 

Hiking in the Lake District with my friend Elli

 

Experiences Versus Stuff

I’ve been thinking for some time now about the value we place on experiences versus stuff. Over the past year, I’ve tried to take an honest look at my life in an attempt to figure out exactly what the parts are that make me happy, and what’s just extra that really doesn’t add much to an otherwise wonderful existence.I suppose it’s a question of experiences versus stuff, and how much value we place on each. I talked about this a little bit when I first started the blog back in December. If there’s anything I’ve learned since leaving home to go to Oxford and coming back again for law school, it’s that the people in my life, both family and friends, and the ability to enjoy things like reading, running, and cooking, are much more important to me than the “stuff” that money buys. My recent trip to England brought me much more clarity than I’ve had in awhile.

 

Hiking and thinking a lot in the Lakes

 

Pond Hopping Part 5: Oxford Revisited

There’s something I’ve wanted to share for the past week, but wanted to take the time to properly sort out how I wanted to share it! Last Thursday, I went back to visit Oxford for the first time since leaving more than three years ago, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences in me and my life from then to now, and the role that Oxford played in making me the person I am today. 

 

The Old Quad of Brasenose

 

Pond Hopping Part 3: “Second Degree Fun” in the Lakes

Since it is Thinking Out Loud Thursday and I’m still riding the holiday high here in England, I wanted to share some more of my time in the English Lake District. Both the hiking and eating were spectacular, but the most important thing to know about those five days is that they were jam packed with what my dear friend Elli calls “second degree fun.”

City Mouse, Country Mouse

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life in a small town versus the big city. I live in New York City most of the time now, having done so for the past three years of law school, and I will continue to for the foreseeable future. But more and more I feel that I’m a country mouse at heart.