30 Day Everything Challenge: The Process (part 2)

June 10, 2015February 4, 20169 Comments

OK, picking up where we left off on the 30 day EVERYTHING challenge.

But first, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone. I’ve been crazy excited to share this with you, and your comments and messages have meant a lot. <Virtual Chest Bump!> Ouch, that smarts. I guess I should add some upper body work to my next challenge.

Ahem, moving right along . . .

Here is my “report card” if you will for the second half of the challenge. (Check out the first half here.) As you might expect, my performance was not as stellar for the second half.

Get Up Early

Whole30

Plank Challenge

Ab Challenge

Steps

8 Glasses of Water

5 Minutes Meditation

20 Second Hug

Real Kiss

Wash Face

Floss

Bedtime Alarm

Psst . . . It is also interesting to see how my 30 days compare to this whole30 what to expect timeline.

So here is how the second half of the challenge shook out. One day at a time. In real time.

Day 16: Henry is screaming about something at 510. Even though James deals with it, I sleep fitfully until my alarm goes off at 616. If not for James needing to go to work early today, I might not have gotten up.

Ab challenge rest day! Technically, yesterday was a “rest” day, but I’m trying to get in the shower earlier so I content myself with planks (120 seconds!). Meditation does happen post-shower.

I am out of sorts this afternoon. Tired and just kind of a headache. I haven’t been snacking at all during this challenge, but I have a boiled egg and a half a clementine. I’m glad because we go to a cook out for dinner, and I opt to wait until getting back home to eat. (The thought of a naked burger with an iceberg “salad” just didn’t sound appealing tonight.)

I FINALLY get around to making paleo mayo today. At first, I thought I had a mayo fail. But it turns out that in my kids-screaming state, I was only adding ¼ cup oil instead of ¼ + 1 cup like I was supposed to. When I added the extra oil, it worked out just fine.

Boiled eggs with mayo and truffle salt, roasted sweet potatoes, peaches

Day 17: I time myself on the Ab challenge this morning. It takes me 25 minutes to finish the whole thing! I do the situp/rollups continuously, but they take forever. On all the other segments, I have to take breaks.

I try Nom Nom Paleo’s slow cooker kalua pig recipe. I have high hopes for this one. It is super easy, but mine turns out just pretty good. It was a little drier than I expected.

Major bedtime fail. First, we watch two episodes of Veep because I’m so excited that we got the website to work. (It didn’t the last time we tried.) Then something happened in my book, and I just couldn’t put it down. I think lights out is like 2345.

Day 18: I do not get up. Exercise does not happen. You’d think I could just squeeze in some planks, but I have trouble making it happen if I don’t knock it out first thing. I don’t know if it is the kids, or the whole I’m already dressed thing, or just laziness. But there it is.

Another bedtime fail. James and I have a date night. Ironically, we forget the real kiss and hug today, but at least we have some lovey dovey hand holding across a table at Mamma Mia. That is until we have to move our hands to make room for the meat! We have a ginormous steak for two called a Tomahawk. It is amazing. James also gets tempura vegetables and homemade chips. I get a plate of grilled vegetables.

Yes, that IS served on a salt block

It takes awhile to get the check. When we get home, our new neighbors just arrived and are having trouble getting in and they lost their bags. After helping them, doing the bedtime routine, and reading, lights out at like 2330. Not good, I know.

Day 19: I get up a little early. I didn’t set my alarm, but I wake up on my own around 630.

50 situps, but I don’t get a chance to finish. Plank challenge rest day! [Can you really count the rest day, if you just aren’t doing it lots of other days?]

We host some other new neighbors for dinner. It is fun and eating is easy because I get to control the menu. I am bummed on not sampling the scrumptious looking cherry chocolate chip cookies the neighbors brought. And I feel kind of tool-y about not eating them either. Like I’m being rude or something.

2341 bedtime.

Day 20: I wake up at 616, but I don’t feel like getting up.

My family gets here today! Visitors on whole30? I know. I expect some tough moments. But I’m also thinking that my new habits will help me pull through with less pain.

Speaking of pain, though, bedtime is late tonight. This is one of the nights that we have a sitter. We walk around downtown and end up at an outdoor table by the Pantheon. I didn’t see a single appetizer I could order so I just sit and watch my family devour some tasty dishes, being thankful that I had a boiled egg snack before we left. It took the food a looooong time to come out this evening. Like not eating until 2230. But when my whole sea bass with grilled vegetables came out and they prepared it tableside, I had no whole30 regrets. That was a tasty fish, my friends.

After we finally found a taxi that would seat five, chatted with the sitter, got ready for bed and did more reading than we should, bedtime was 0030.

Day 21: Knowing we have a busy day ahead and that bedtime was late, I did not set an alarm. I get up naturally at 700. I am yawning, but alert.

I do my Ab exercises. Instead of trying to do ALL the situps and then ALL the crunches, etc. I split them in half and put my meditation in the middle. Kids are stirring towards the end, but I power through.

We have an epic day planned. After a record of only eight minutes behind the official unofficial Melissa schedule, we take a bus to Trastevere and check out the Porta Portese flea market. It was fun, but I would have enjoyed it more if it were a few degrees cooler. We enjoy a nice lunch on the Piazza di Santa Maria, but I’m struggling on my order. I can’t do grilled fish without getting a huge ginormous fish and nobody is interested in splitting and I just had fish last night. In the end, I do a shrimp and arugula salad from the appetizer menu. I destroy an entire avocado once we get home.

Things are decidedly fishy this weekend. I prepare fish with mushrooms and more shrimp for dinner. (The fish dish (cergia) was a hit, but I’m going to have to stop buying shrimp here. They just don’t taste right to me.)

After a full day, I’m ready to hit the hay. I’m in bed and reading before my 2106 alarm goes off. But the best laid plans . . . Henry is up and screaming around 2230. He is quickly extricated to avoid waking up his brother. We let him read in bed with us for a bit. I am wrapping up my book and read way too late. I think until 2330. Henry wakes up again at 230. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night.

Day 22: I wake up around 630, but I don’t get up until almost 700. I make it out to the computer, and I fail to do any exercising or meditating. Huzzah.

Not sure why, but I have a killer headache this morning. It is around earlier, but it gets really bad when I am outside. An Alleve seems to help.

My mom tags along to the market with us this morning. I can’t get over how good all the produce is here right now, particularly the fruit. I buy oodles of cherries, peaches, and some fruit that may be a kumquat or an apricot. [We decided definitely apricot.]

I also make another nongross dinner! [Low standards, people.] I make zucchini noodles with tomatoes and a lemon/egg/hot pepper sauce. It is shockingly good. This was a relief because I was really not enthused about the crappy dinner when I sat down to it. Ugh, more whole30 nonsense, oh wait, this is actually really good.

Stay up reading until about 2300. (OK, it was 2302, if you must know.)

Day 23: I wake up on my own at 546. Because this seems way too early, I read for a bit and try to sleep. But no dice. I still feel a little tired, but alert and rested.

I doubt this is related to my 30 day adventure, but just in case this is somehow related to ALL THE FACE WASHING or such, I want to mention that my eyes have been super dry. Like wake up in the morning and sandpapery dry. Like takes them at least 30 minutes to feel normal kind of dry. No, I have not tried eye drops yet because I am really bad at them. That’s right. Even though I’ve had contacts longer in my life now than not and I can touch my eyeballs, I just can’t with the eye drops. Occasionally, I can convince James to assist, but it is about as much fun as tracking down our cat to stuff in the carrier to take to the vet used to be.

Today is a holiday, Republic Day, in Italy. Thinking it will be a good time to get out of dodge, we set off on an adventure and use three forms of public transportation to get to the ruins at Ostia Antica. Here’s a pro tip: when trying to avoid people, don’t use the train that heads in the same direction as the beach. It is crowded, but we managed.

Thankfully, even though the Ostia Antica site is a few kilometers from the coast, there is still a nice breeze. Otherwise, it would be brutal. Temps are in the 90s.

The cafeteria there is better than expected. While most everyone else has pasta al forno, I have chicken cacciatore with carrots and fruit. It tastes like cafeteria food, but at least I’m not starving.

Coming home is one of the greatest temptations of the challenge. We had been out ALL day. We were tired. And sweaty. It was a good trip, but long, you know? We decide to stop for gelato on the walk back. Because of everything we had done and how hot it was, gelato just felt right. Or a beer. But THIS was the time when you really feel like gelato will hit the spot. But I make it through. When we get home, I pound a whole bottle of sparkling water.

I do rest for a bit, but my gelato angst is eased after I realize that I don’t feel completely wiped out. I still have energy to move around and cook dinner. This is huge because with kids, you can’t just go on a huge adventure and then lazily collapse somewhere. They still expect to be entertained. And fed. Pesky kids.

I do decide to make it an early night though. When the kids are in the tub, I do my whole bedtime routine. After we put them down, I crawl into bed with my book. I end up having to turn my bedtime alarm off because I’m out at like 2130. Henry wakes up at 2330 for a brief scream, but what are you gonna do.

Day 24: After that early bedtime, I thought I’d be rocketing out of bed at 500 or some nonsense. But I must have been very tired because I wake up at 600 something and get up at 636. Feeling pretty good.

Today I decide that attempting both the plank and ab challenges is no longer working. I plan to jettison the plank challenge, but it is an ab rest day so I do the planks instead. But then I chuck the planks. Like I actually close the tab on my browser. (Now only 78 tabs to go.)

Speaking of my abs, I’m definitely seeing results. I’m no bikini model, but I can see definite definition, which I enjoy looking at, particularly first thing in the morning before that pesky food-in-stomach thing hides them a little.

Me: “You better hide the scissors.”

James: (confused look)

Me: “To stop me from cutting all my shirts in half,” while lovingly caressing abs.

James: (Hides head, either in shame OR because he can no longer look directly at the wonder of my sculpted physique.)

Day 25: I get up a little bit early. I have time to do 50 rollups, but I never get around to finishing the challenge. Whoops. If I don’t get it done in the morning, I just can’t seem to make it happen.

Bedtime is around 2245, but I have a terrible night. I don’t know if it something me-related or worry about our upcoming trip or just because there is more light bleed in the room because the repair dude says we need to keep the shades open so that our mobile AC has more air. But I wake up a few times and toss and turn. Exactly what you need before a big trip!

Day 26: Today I should get double checkmarks for getting up early! I get up at 500 to get ready for our big trip to Turin. But I should get negative checkmarks because I don’t do any exercising or meditating as we are trying to get out the door.

Water consumption suffers, but I definitely get in my steps as we try to cover the city in a day. [More on our day trip to Turin soon!]

Unlike my previous whole30 faux pas, I decide to eat a deliberately off-plan food. Turin is the home of gianduja, a chocolate and hazelnut mix that is one of my absolute favorites. Coming all the way here and not trying it feels like going to the Sistine Chapel but walking around with a blindfold on. OK, this is an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. It just feels wrong. I enjoy the chocolate, which was melting much too rapidly to contemplate taking any home, but I don’t chuck the whole day. I don’t have any pasta or wine at lunch. I don’t have the gelato at the airport. This is how I hope to live life post-whole30. Generally sticking to whole30-ish rules unless there is a good reason not to. (Of course, real life happens, and I predict everything will be off the rails before I know it. But I hope not.)

The offending chocolate

After our return flight and getting home and getting the kids settled and eating some protein, bed is at 2300. I am beat.

Day 27: After such an epic day, I decide not to set my alarm. I wake up at 725. I mean to do more exercise, but I only squeeze in a 60 second plank before I have to deal with some chilluns.

I invite some neighbors and friends over for playground happy hour, and I think it turns out nicely. I can’t have the bread or cheese, but I enjoy the olives and cherries. Socializing without wine isn’t so bad either.

This evening, I just can’t seem to shut it off. Even though I got to see people, I want MORE adult time. Bed time is at 2310.

Day 28: I wake up at 5:something, but manage to drift back to sleep. I actually dream that I sleep until 8:00 and feel a little guilty about “sleeping in,” but I decide to go with it because it is the weekend. Then I look at my clock and it is actually 6:15. Guess I still get my “X” today.

I do half the ab exercises. When I started, I told myself there would be no partial credit, but I’m giving myself half an “X” for this. 200 situps and crunches is nothing to sneeze at, thank you very much.

I try a breakfast bowl with sweet potatoes, peaches, and poached eggs. I like the idea of it, but it was a little off.

Today we adventure to Nemi for the strawberry festival. And today, I again relinquish my whole30 “X.” This time it was for strawberries with homemade whipped cream. As before, I don’t go crazy for the rest of the day. I don’t have the bread with my pork sandwich. I don’t have any of the strawberry liqueur. Ideally, I would have abstained, but I’m OK with this.

Strawberry arancio, strawberry pastry, and of course, strawberries

Strawberry arancino, strawberry pastry, and of course, strawberries. (I only ate the strawberries.)

After the busy weekend, I’m in bed by 2200 with lights out at 2230.

Day 29: I wake up on own at 600. Other than my eyes being kind of dry, I’m raring to go.

I do half the ab exercises again before my meditation. Half is good. Still challenging, but not so much that I don’t even want to start or that it crowds out everything else, like meditation.

I repurpose last night’s leftover fish for dinner into a sort of fish salad with mayo, tomatoes, chives, and smoked paprika. James, who was not the biggest fan: “I don’t see how you just plowed through that.” Taste buds, man. They have definitely shifted.

Bedtime is an epic fail. I’m doing that thing where I’m being kind of productive on the internet and kind of surfing and I look down and it is 2230. Oops. Then I read until 2330. Double drat.

Day 30: I wake up at 530. Uh, say what? I don’t feel like getting up, but I’m the kind of awake where you know you won’t be going back to sleep. At least I have plenty of time for my half ab challenge and meditation.

To beat the heat, my playgroup hits the indoor museum, Explora. Afterwards, we get gelato. I actually don’t miss it that much. The boys are pretty cranky though that I expect them to share, instead of Mac sharing with me like usual. I’m not sure what I expect from a 2.5 year old and a 1 year old, but they are not having it.

I’m kind of tired today, and I opt for a power nap during part of the kids’ naptime. I don’t know if it is lack of sleep or just being wiped out from the sun. It’s weird; it is pretty pleasant in the shade but the direct sun has become almost unbearable.

Tonight is date night. We decide to go check out the summer festival stuff along the river, but it isn’t open yet. I get my steps in on our nice long walk though. I lose my whole30 check because I decide to have a sip of James’s beer. I’d been smelling some of his beverages throughout the challenge, and I just wanted a taste. I blame some of this on my less-than-satisfying dinner I made this evening. We had fish with roasted asparagus and tomato. I should have added sweet potato and side salad though.

AND instead of closing out the challenge on a strong note, I have a truly awful bedtime fail. After paying the sitter, getting ready for bed, and reading, lights out is actually around 2345. I guess I know which habit needs more work and likely a different approach.

So there you have it. Curious what I did on Day 31? I got up on my own at 630, did some ab exercises and meditation, and made eggs for breakfast. Then I had a big old salad for lunch. (I also attacked James with the tape measure in an eagerness to see how much things changed. I’m sure you are not surprised by this.)

Definitely not a perfect record, but I think I jumpstarted some healthy habits. I’m glad I did it.

Stick around! Later this week, I’ll be assessing how everything worked and sharing, dum dum dum, results.

30 Day Everything Challenge: The Process (part 1)

June 9, 2015February 4, 20169 Comments

So when we left off, I announced my 12 point 30 day challenge. You guys want to know how it turned out? Patience, Grasshopper. Let’s enjoy the journey on the way to our destination.

Here is my “report card” if you will for the first half of the challenge.

Get Up Early

Whole30

Plank Challenge

Abs Challenge

Steps

8 Glasses of Water

5 Minutes Meditation

20 Second Hug

Real Kiss

Wash Face

Floss

Bedtime Alarm

To keep myself from completely blanking when I tried to tell you guys about it later (“uh, it sucked and then it got better?” is not very helpful), I kept a daily journal on my ups and downs and mishaps. It has been informative for me even to review as I go back to edit. (Speaking of editing, please forgive me if verb tenses are all over the place. I tried to write in present tense, but I kept correcting myself and I’m sure I missed some.) Brackets indicate my commentary from the fuuuut-ah, she says spookily.

Psst . . . It is also interesting to see how my 30 days compare to this whole30 what to expect timeline.

Without further adieu, here is how the challenge shook out. One day at a time. In real time.

Day 1: Why didn’t I set some of this stuff up earlier so I could hit the ground running?? I wake up early and spend many precious morning minutes deciding on which challenges to tackle and making a spreadsheet. Oh, well, at least it got done. When I tell James about it, he’s all, “uh, this is way more than you talked about before” and I’m all “I know, right??” But go big or go home, I always say. Why pull the bandaid off slowly when you can AMPUTATE? (Note to self: I may need to work on my metaphors.)

Who can do sit ups like this??? I cannot do them without having my feet come off the floor and making a jerky motion to get my torso off the ground. Such poor form cannot be good. After struggling, I switch to a pilates-style roll up and over [which I maintain for the remainder of the challenge].

I find my Jawbone Up, but it needs to be charged. Not shocking after sitting in a drawer for a year.

Day 2: The heat is helping on not eating. Luckily, after walking around in the hot sun, the last thing I want to do is carbify. Unfortunately, it is making not drinking hard. This is the time for crisp white wine and icy pilsners, darnit! I fail on bedtime alarm because of date night. Since I’m not really eating or drinking, we decide to go on a long walk so I’m sure I got my steps in though. Bonus! But at the end of our walk, it would have been perfect to sit outside and sip something. Sigh.

I am impressed on how much I’m enjoying meditation. Meditation always sounded a little hippy dippy new age to me. But after a few seconds of my mind racing, I’m impressed by how much everything actually calms down. And how quickly it goes! I swear, it feels like 30 seconds have gone by and my alarm goes off.

The Up is charged, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Oh, well. Most of my walking is pushing the stroller; my count would be off anyway. I decide to only give myself an “X” if I’m sure I made all the steps. [I’m pretty stingy on this. I did do a lot of walking, but you wouldn’t know it based on my report card.]

Day 3: I almost don’t get up early. After date night later arrival and reading for a few minutes, I’m probably not asleep until 2300. I tell myself this would be justified. I could sleep in. But I want to brag to the internet that I did a secret 30 day challenge and rocked it so I make it happen. To aid on the water front, I remember to get a glass first thing.

Blargh, after I get us out the door, I realize that I am dragging. It could be the slightly less sleep. It is probably the carb flu. I have a sort of constant low grade headache and I’m just exhausted. I’m not heartened by knowing it will probably get worse before it gets better. But then it WILL get better and I will be a ripped, fat-burning machine.

I fail on bedtime again. I’m watching a friend’s kid so they can go out to dinner (we do a sitting exchange), and I don’t make it home till 2140. I immediately walk in the door, talk to James for a few minutes (and 20 second hug) and start to get ready for bed, but when my reading alarm goes off, I’m just not ready. I read until 2240ish.

Day 4: Getting up again is a challenge. I was having some kind of dream that involved Giada de Laurentiis and Oprah Winfrey in a fashion/talent show. They were just interviewing one of Oprah’s backup dancers about her makeup when the alarm went off. I really want to see how this plays out so I try to get it back for a few minutes before I give up and roll out of bed. Thankfully, the ab challenge is on a rest day! Although then I realize that I should have been up to 30 seconds for plank challenge yesterday, and I think I only did 20. Oops.

I don’t dig meditation as much today. My mind keeps spinning, and I just keep thinking of things I wanted to do before the baby wakes up. (Well, “baby.”)

But on the plus side, I feel much less crappy today. I might still be a little tired, but none of the headache of yesterday. At the end of our trip to the market, I bought the kids some pizza bianca to munch on. It took some serious willpower not to cram a piece right in my mouth.

Another bedtime fail. Curse you, Outlander books! I even went to bed at like 2045 so that I would have plenty of time to read, but I still blew through my bedtime alarm and read until 2315. I’m not sure what the solution is. Read less interesting books? Tire myself out more before bed? Exercise actual self-control? I can’t stop watching TV because I just realize that we haven’t watched anything at all this week.

Day 5: Because of my bedtime fail, I set my alarm for 616 instead of 606. Again, I don’t want to get up, but I do and knock out my plank and ab challenges. The plank challenge is up to 40 seconds. I actually set a timer instead of doing an inaccurate count in my head.

On the plus side, I think my stomach is looking a little less poochy. This could be wishful thinking, and I only really feel this way first thing in the morning, but I think I see a difference. James, probably wisely on his part, declines to comment. He also declines to take a waist measurement, not to tell me the number, but just to confirm that it is working. James: “We are not going down this road.” FINE. [James took initial and halfway measurements, but I didn’t look.]

Also on the plus side, I think my taste buds are adjusting. We make paleo pancakes this morning and they taste crazy sweet. My lunch salad is also packed with flavor. BTW, I am KILLING it on the salad front this week. I have made sure to have cooked protein and greens on hand, which makes it easy to just add in other things and douse it with olive oil. This is a nice perk of being at home. Commuting with salads is a huge PITA. I’m having things like oven roasted turkey with spinach, dried cranberries, cashews, and broccoli. Or spice rubbed chicken on greens with cucumber, carrot, and tomato. I am a little worried about this weekend if we are trying to eat on the go. Note to self: boil some eggs.

Another bedtime fail. This time, I think it is 2245.

Day 6: I feel like sleep is not restful, lots of tossing and turning, but I actually wake up before the 646 weekend alarm I set. I enjoy a little me time with my plank challenge (ab challenge rest day, w00t!), meditation, and water, before we get ready for a day trip to Comune di Sermoneta. I drink 3 glasses of water in the morning to be ready, but then regret this a bit in the car.

We stop for lunch upon arrival, in part because I need a bathroom. Here, I have a bit of a whole30 fail. Not a deliberate–screw it, I’m going to eat pasta–kind of fail. Our antipasto starts out great, and I eat grilled vegetables and olives. For the main, though, there is menu confusion and my chicken comes with a sauce that I’m pretty sure has cheese and flour in it. Face palm. I try to scrape as much off as I can, which is hard both physically because of chicken nooks and crannies and mentally because cheese/flour sauce is delicious. Sigh, such is the challenge of eating in restaurants on whole30.

Sermoneta is hilly. We do a lot of steps, but I doubt I hit a walking count for the day. I am exhausted at the end of the day though. After some turkey hash and putting the kids to bed and slamming some water to makeup for a lack in the middle of the day, I get ready for bed myself. And then read until 2300 . . .

Day 7: I decide to enjoy one “sleep in” day and don’t set an alarm. Even after an uneven night (Mac woke up around midnight), I wake up on my own at 600. Intriguing.

Man, the numbers on these ab and plank challenges are starting to get high. My modified sit ups aren’t too hard, but I start to lose track on the way to 40. [Hahahaha, just wait until you SEE how high the numbers get.] I am really struggling on the leg lifts, and I have to take two breaks to get them all in. I have been doing the plank challenge and ab challenge back-to-back, but that is starting to be too much planking. I may need to modify the routine to plank at a different time.

Dinner is hard. After a jaunt about town to check out a dinosaur exhibit, we pick up a pizza. I get to sit and watch everyone with cheesy deliciousness while I eat reheated frittata. Yes, yes, I know we could have just not picked up a pizza, but I didn’t really have anything else for dinner. Stay the course. I have been putting a lot of hot sauce on things though.

Read until 2237. I’m sure you guys are wondering why I still consider this a part of the challenge because I am getting a great big “F” on bedtime alarm.

Day 8: Despite not making it to bed “on time,” I wake up before my alarm. Part of this may be that the shutters are cracked, and I’m getting some natural light. (I shut them immediately.) I do feel fairly rested though.

I don’t feel bad today, but I am a little tired. This could be from the fact that it was over 90 degrees here today. Yikes!

After lunch today, the frittata is thankfully all gone. It was good at initial consumption, but I really missed cheese on the reheats. Also, the leftover roasted broccoli I added made things taste a little strange later. Note to self: broccoli off the frittata list.

I think reading was until around 2300. I know, I know.

Day 9: Mac wakes up at 600 and ends up in our bed. I creep out shortly after. I do not feel very motivated this morning. Instead of knuckling down on the computer, I waste time screwing around on the internets. I do ab, plank, meditation, but I’m not enthused.

Today is brutally hot. We do a play date meetup at Borghese, and I am flagging by the time we get back. During the outing, I push water on the kids, but I do not do a good job for myself. I pound water in earnest when we return home. I am also lackluster on food. I throw together chicken, spinach, olives, and carrots for lunch, but I almost feel like I’m eating medicinally. Keep chewing these bites so you don’t feel hungry later mentality. Guess I need to dust off some new recipes.

After not TV-ing for awhile, we go on a bender this evening. One episode of Elementary and two of Brooklyn 99 (a show you should definitely be watching). After reading, bedtime is 2310.

Day 10: My eyes pop open at 600 on the dot, but I don’t spring out of bed. I just sort of let my mind wander until the alarm goes off at 616.

It seems strange to me that the Ab Challenge does not have plateau days. The Plank Challenge gives you a few days of the same before bumping you up. The Ab Challenge just keeps going up and up and up. I guess the argument is for incremental change. I’m just glad the leg raises have leveled off a little. Those are still killing me. But whether the Abs, Planks, or Whole30, I am definitely seeing stomach results. I keep sneaking peeks in the mirror when I walk by. It is almost making me sad that I didn’t have the guts to take before pics. Today is the first day I start detecting a little arm definition as well.

Of course, after I type that in the morning, I feel sort of bloaty the rest of the day. Good times. No clue on the cause.

I do fail on bedtime alarm, but it is MUCH closer. I think lights out at 1020.

Day 11: I went to bed early. No kid interruptions. I sleep until my 616 alarm. Why do I feel so tired??? Getting up is a struggle. I hate when it feels like I’m doing everything right and still can’t win.

I have rug burn on my elbow from sliding into plank position. Awesome.

Rug burn aside, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with the Plank and Ab challenges. I can still do my roll-ups without pause, but I have to pause on the crunches now as well as the leg lifts. I get that it is supposed to get harder, but I know my form goes WAY downhill towards the end. I’ll keep doing something. I just don’t know if it will be the full numbers.

I feel bloaty again today. This is a bummer because I have some really good food today. Breakfast is leftover pork loin with cinnamon apples. Lunch is a spinach salad with pork, avocado, caramelized onions, and fresh strawberries straight from the market. Dinner is a Mexican-inspired salad with a tangy lime salsa dressing. I still feel gross.

Bedtime is around 2250. I’ve been doing more TV, and then reading on top of it. Not that TV is the worst, but I think I’m using it as my end-of-the-day reward. I can’t have a glass of wine? How about a new episode of Brooklyn 99 instead. Although we finished that last night. After I catch up on Mindy Project and Elementary, I’ll be on the hunt for new programming. At least until Bojack Horseman returns for season two on July 17.

I wake up at 245, and I have some trouble getting back to sleep. I am not enthused, but this does make me realize, that other than kid-related wake ups, I’ve been sleeping more like a rock.

I also have a dream that I cheated on the whole30 with accidental consumption of corn chips. Say what??? If I’m going to cheat, let’s make it something sexier than corn chips. But in the dream, I was all super bummed about not getting my check mark on whole30. Because of corn chips.

Day 12: I’m in bed until the alarm, and I do NOT bound out of bed. At least Ab Challenge rest day!

Unfortunately, the Plank Challenge jumped up by 30 seconds. For the first time on the challenge, I have to break up the time. I go back to read the instructions. It looks like doing the full time matters more than doing it all at once, but it seems all at once is what they are really going for. Oh, well.

After confirming that cocoa is OK on the whole30, I make this chocolate chili. Ya’ll. I may never make another chili again. This stuff is stupid good. It doesn’t taste chocolate-y or even mole-y. It just has this depth of flavor that far surpasses my usual flavoring attempts with cumin, chili powder, and garlic. I know this isn’t chili weather, but I promise you will not be sorry if you whip up a batch.

Bed at 2255.

Day 13: I wake up at 552. I do not bound out of bed, but I am fully awake and feel completely rested. This is interesting. I thought that I was somewhere in the south of needs-eight-hours camp, but I didn’t think it would be all the way down to seven. I guess it is seven if-no-wine camp.

Leg lifts are actually easier today! The number is up to 40. I thought I would have to do four sets, but I make it through in two.

While the boys nibbled toast, I whipped up some scrambled eggs with chives and mashed sweet potato with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ghee. (Don’t worry; I shared.) I’m usually too lazy for scrambled eggs (a whole other bowl to clean!), but these were really good. I may have to change my tune. Either way, it wasn’t pancakes, but I did feel like I had a special weekend breakfast.

The rainy weather quashed our day trip plans, but we did manage a morning walkabout, and I even had a compliant meal in a restaurant. I enjoyed an all-beef patty with lettuce, tomato, onions, and cucumbers. Ham Holy Burger also has salad options, but it was nice to have something other than salad for once.

Bed at 2300.

Day 14: I’m awake around 600. Instead of getting up, I read for a bit. Until Henry is yelling about something. Then I get up.

Today we did all the socializing. I was that weird girl who brought her own food to the party. I don’t mind not drinking that much. Sitting at a table with a plate of delectable cookies right in front of me is much harder.

Bed at 2355.

Day 15: My alarm goes off, but I can’t make myself get up. Probably a little something to do with that later bedtime. Even though I’m tired, I still feel pretty good though. Bonus on not drinking: no alcohol-related after effects.

I do not do my morning exercises or meditation, which does not bode well for getting them done at all.

For the millionth time, I get annoyed that convenience food just doesn’t exist on whole30. It isn’t just an Italy thing. It’s a whole30 thing. After grabbing Henry from school, we pick up some pizza for the boys and have a playground picnic. I try not to directly inhale the pizza fumes and pound a salad with a full avocado once we get back upstairs.

I get sidetracked on the bed routine because we are dealing with rebooking a flight. Even though I don’t stop reading at 2206, I make myself stop at 2235. Willpower. I haz it.

So no sexy cliffhanger, but that’s the first half. (Does our heroine keep doing it and slay the sugar dragon???) Feeling a little better. Annoyed with restaurant food on the whole30. Failing miserably on bedtime.

Tune in for part two tomorrow!

30 Day EVERYTHING Challenge

June 8, 2015February 4, 201615 Comments

“Break the cycle. You’ve got to break the cycle.”

Wise words from a wise friend who visited in December.

I knew she was right. I just didn’t know how to snap out of it.

What’s my cycle? It goes a little something like this. I wake up usually a bit tired and out of it. I make it through the day with the kids that is equal parts fun and obliteratingly exhausting. After dinner prep, bedtime prep, cleanup, etc. I collapse into a chair with a glass of wine. The wine tastes pretty good, and I think of a snack that will go well with it. Maybe popcorn. Cheese. Chocolate. I run out of wine before I run out of snack which means I need to get more wine. I stay up too late and then stay up even later reading. Repeat.

On the one level, I understood that there were things that would make me feel better. Like exercising. Sleeping more. Not eating crap. I just couldn’t do these things. I was too tired to do things to make me less tired. A vicious cycle.

After one of our rounds of guests, I was completely knocked on my booty. That week I did all the things. I ate all the things. I drank all the things. I stayed up too late. It was a bad scene, man.

I finally decided that I’d had enough. I knew what I needed to do. Mac finally mostly started sleeping through the night. I was out of excuses. It was time to make a change.

I scoured the internet for things to make me feel better. It isn’t rocket science though. Exercise. Sleep. Good food.

Instead of incremental change though, I decided to make a bunch of changes at once. That’s me. All or nothing. Weird, I know.

These are the 12 challenges I settled on to improve my health and mood.

1) Ab Challenge

I decided to add in some exercise. My sister mentioned a 30 day ab challenge she did. It sounded perfect. Four exercises? I can do that.

2) Plank Challenge

I was reading again somewhere about how planks are supposed to be the best exercise ever. So why not a plank challenge! Just planking? That’s all I have to do? (Never mind that the ab challenge also includes planks.) How hard can it be? (You can stop snickering now, thank you very much.)

3) Steps

I know what you’re thinking. Well, these challenges are all well and good so far, but what about cardio? I hear you. I’d like to start running again, but that just seems really hard right now. Not just the running part but the making time to run and washing my hair more and all of that good stuff. Maybe running on the next challenge?

I decided to locate my Jawbone Up and at least track some steps. Our lifestyle involves a good bit of walking here. They add up. I forget what the thing is set for, but I think it is a little over three miles.

4) Get Up Early

If I’m going to do all this exercise, I need to find time to do it. I really want to reclaim my mornings. I used to be a morning person. (An extreme morning person, actually.) Now I can barely get up by 7:30, which seems laughably late.

Besides having some “me time,” I want to add some purpose. I want to wake up for my life and not just to my life.

5) Whole30

Regular readers probably could have guessed this was coming. I halfheartedly attempted a whole30 a few months ago, but I only made it ten days. It’s so hard, I whined to myself. This is Italy! I can’t give up wine. And cheese. And bread. And pasta.

Yes. I can. It is time.

6) Drink 8 Glasses of Water Each Day

Once upon a time when I worked in an office, I had zero problems drinking enough water. The water sat in front of me. I drank it. Bathroom break and refill water bottle. Repeat.

Now we move around all over. I try to get at least a glass with meals, but I’m hurting on the in between times.

It’s just water. How hard can it be? Besides, I’ll need something to replace that wine I’m missing . . .

7) 5 Minutes of Meditation Each Day

I feel like I’m always seeing articles about how to revolutionize your life in just a few minutes per day that tout meditation as being the end all be all answer. I remember a day frantically googling meditation articles at biglaw and trying it out, but I think that only lasted two days. (Spoiler alert: I still felt stressed.)

I guess there are many different ways to meditate, but I remember my twelfth grade english teacher telling us that one method would be to sit quietly, be conscious of all the noises in the room, and try to hold them at the same level in your head. I could try that. Worse case scenario, I can sit quietly with my own thoughts for a few minutes. Couldn’t hurt; might help?

8) 20 Second Real Hug

I laughed at some relationship challenges I found in my search of the internets. Go see a concert with your partner. Hahahaha. Basically, it was like a string of 30 date nights. My lifestyle does not support that right now.

BUT then my friend posted something on the benefits of a 20 second hug. I like James. I like hugging him. I hate to need a challenge to make this a more regular thing, but there you are.

9) Real Kiss

On the subject of James, I also decided to throw in a real kiss as well. Not a peck on the way out the door. Not a hi-honey-how-was-your-day. A real kiss.

10) Wash My Face at Night

That same wise hugging friend? She is a beauty products dynamo. I recently emailed her about my beauty routines, or lack thereof. Her response: “you don’t wash your face at night???”

I know. But I haven’t. My mineral makeup doesn’t seem to cause breakouts (and seems to have worn off by the end of the day). I just get eye makeup all over the pillow.

But this is something adults do. And my face is not getting any younger. I need to build some better routines.

11) Floss

Speaking of better routines, we dentisted recently and I was reminded once again about the importance of flossing. (I was also reminded to spread the toothpaste on the chewing surfaces of my teeth first and to only brush up and down. You’d think I’d have figured out toothbrushing in 30 odd years, but no.)

James has actually been gangbusters at flossing lately. I think 99% of his success is overcoming the “out of sight, out of mind” hurdle. Instead of tucking the floss away (as I would prefer), it sits front and center on the shelf by the mirror.

Am I petty and ridiculous enough to consider this a competition? (Do I even need to answer that?) I REFUSE to let James win at teeth.

12) Bedtime Alarm

I need more sleep. This is known.

The known-ness of my actual bedtime? Not so much.

See, I usually “go” to bed around 10 or 10:30. But then I read. I think I’m reading for just a few minutes, but it’s not. It could be hours. I’ve actually stopped looking because I don’t even want to know.

To facilitate better habits, I’m setting bedtime alarms. My 2106 alarm is to alert me that it is time to get ready for bed. All that facewashing and flossing takes time, yo. The 2206 alarm is to shut it down. Put down the book. Go to bed. Unless, of course, I’m already sleeping in which case I’ll make sure to turn it off. (Snort.)

So there you have it! My twelve challenges for 30 days. I thought about adding in some other challenges, like a minimalism challenge, but I’ll save that stuff for another day.

But you want to know the best part about all of this?

I already did it! That’s right, instead of announcing and then failing, like my NaNoWriMo or my Whole30 attempt, I decided to do and then share.

So all this week I’ll be providing deets on how it went and how it all turned out. Stay tuned!

My only regret? Not doing it sooner. But I couldn’t. I just wasn’t ready.

Do you prefer gradual change or everything all at once? Tried to build any new habits in a month?

ICYMI: where you at edition

June 4, 2015Leave a comment

Who has four thumbs and LOVED their quad bike experience? Yup, these two. They had their own bell. I apologize to anyone else who was in Villa Borghese yesterday.

Sorry for the silence around these parts lately. It has been a mixture of guests, travel, and secret projects. I’m hoping things will be closer to normal starting next week. But, of course, no promises. In the meantime . . .

On the blog:

It is like a million degrees here now. I have been rocking these outfits on the reg. I definitely recommend if you are heading to Rome (or anywhere religious and hot) anytime soon.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Puglia. Haha, just scratching the surface really, but it is a great travel destination.

And here’s how the pacifier usage went down on the Puglia travels.

But speaking of someone who still has more lenient pacifier rules, Mac is one!

On the internets:

Anyone else follow A Cup of Jo? I recently added this one to my rotation. Little bits on kids, beauty, life in the city, design, and plenty more. Here is a tiny house tour I loved. (You know I love me a tiny house.)

PowerPoint should be banned. This PowerPoint presentation explains why. But what about all of those sweet PPT skillz I learned at the law firm??? Was it all for naught?

I don’t have a dehydrator, but I need these zucchini chips in my life.

Does anyone use a planner? This one looks pretty and tempting. I want to make sure I would use something before getting one. But right now I have no planning so any planning would be better?

Me: “Who is that?” James: “Uh, Sting.” Right. So Sting has a beard now. Good to know.

Looking for a statement piece for your living room?

Cracks me up: Toddler Adjusting To Society After Serving 2-Minute Timeout

Looking for guidance? Check out these life lessons from Anthony Bourdain.

Summer is here. Watch out for ticks!

What has four legs and is completely not kid friendly? This coffee table, but I kind of want it anyway, fingerprints be darned!

Happenings & Coming up:

Italy had a holiday this week. Republic Day, to be exact. We decided to escape the city to see the ruins at Ostia Antica. Here’s a pro tip: Don’t escape the city in the direction of the beach. It all worked out, but there were some packed trains involved. More on Ostia Antica “soon.” (It can get in the queue behind Montepulciano and Pienza and Sermoneta and . . . )

My bazillion internet tabs are currently split between Lake Bracciano and Turin. (And, let’s be honest, a million other things.) We are heading to both this month, and I am pumped.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to!

Great picks for family fun in Puglia

June 1, 20155 Comments

Aaaaaaaand, drum roll please! I’m finally talking about Pul-Pul-Puglia. We had a great trip in April. Here’s how we did Puglia and you can too.

But first, a little on this region, known as the breadbasket of Italy. This is farm country. We drove by endless groves of olives and flowering orchards. We saw giant tractors driving down the roads. (Henry: “where?” every time he just missed one.) The relatively flat land made it easy to zip between sights.

Puglia is a region, like Tuscany, so you have plenty of options on things to see and do. (You can’t just “go to Puglia” and be done with it as I learned when I started planning the trip. That is like saying you are going to “go to California.” And then?)

Puglia is the heel of Italy’s boot. This was actually our first trip south. It was also our first trip “off the grid,” meaning it was not covered in our trusty Rick Steves. We talked to friends and scoured the internets for things like 10 Best Places to Visit in Puglia, Puglia tourism, and any blogs we could find.

We spent five days on our trip, and I’m glad we did. First, the drive is a little longer than our usual day trips. From Rome, it will take you five-seven hours depending on where you are going. (We stopped at Reggia di Caserta to break up the drive.) Second, there is just SO MUCH TO SEE. I could have filled a month with things to do. Here are some things we managed to check off our list.

Bari – Puglia’s capital is a port city where life is literally overflowing into the streets. As you stroll narrow streets, crisscrossed with laundry, you can see locals sipping caffe and cooking snacks.

Believe it or not, many cars head down these streets

We saw a bakery of some sort, or so we assumed. It could have just been someone’s house where they had a lot of bread. I remembered once upon a time in 2007 when James and I went wine tasting and a guy tried to sell us a baguette to eat along the way. And I said no! Since then, my motto is to always buy the bread. We ripped off glorious hunks as we walked around the city. It was an excellent idea.

The Basilica di San Nicola, which holds the remains of St. Nicholas, has a unique, white-washed interior that perfectly fits with a town by the sea. Henry’s takeaway: “Santa Claus is buried here.” We showed up a little late for Easter services, and stuck around even though it was standing room only.

St. Nicholaus. His remains are in the crypt under the church.

St. Nicholas. His remains are in the crypt under the church.

Restaurants line the Piazza Mercantile, but we enjoyed a seafood feast at Borgo Antico, a restaurant we were escorted to by a produce vendor after we asked for a recommendation. Like we asked the guy where we should eat, he whipped out his phone to try to call but they weren’t answering, so he walked us across town on his own and told the restaurant people to take care of us. Even though the exterior looks like a tourist trap, I can vouch that the restaurant was packed to the gills with locals on Easter. Our 6-course seafood extravaganza was 25 euro/person, but pastas started at just 5 euro.

James: “You just ate like an aquarium.”

Matera – Technically, this one is just outside of Puglia, but if you are all the way down there, don’t pass up the Sassi of Matera. You know how rare it can be to see something completely new that it just takes your breath away? Well, that is here.

The steps up and down this cave city (inhabited by humans for 9,000 years) are not stroller friendly, but the walk is definitely worth the views. There are several rock churches you can check out as well.

The city’s Old School Holy Land feel means that many movies are filmed here, including the Passion of the Christ.

We hoped to try ristorante Trattoria del Caveoso for lunch after a recommendation, but it was booked solid. We settled for a decent meal down the street at Il Morgan Ristorante Pizzeria.

Want to see more? Check out bonus Matera pics on facebook.

Castel del Monte – Castel del Monte is so famous that is is on the back of the Italian one cent coin. Entrance to this imposing octagonal castle costs 5 euro for adults. There is a shuttle that runs from the parking area to the castle (one euro/person). If the weather had been nicer, we may have walked, given how crowded the buses were, but it is a little over a mile. In the end, the buses worked fine and we didn’t have to wait too long. Bar-type food is available at the parking area. The restaurant by the castle was closed during our April visit. Thankfully, there is a bathroom outside the castle.

Polignano a Mare – This city by the sea with breathtaking views is a great stop for a stroll with a gelato. It is less great for trying to carry a stroller down the steps and across the rocky beach to touch the Adriatic. We should have just strolled around the old town or sat down in a restaurant overlooking the sea. But noooooo, we wanted to touch the Sea. The path to the water involves lots of stairs. And rocks. You’ve been warned.

Trulli – Puglia is known for these conical gnome-like huts, which dot the olive groves and fields, but you can see a town full of them in Alberobello. (Why the funny shape? Think about tax avoidance.) I’m mixed on recommending because the town is a kitschy tourist trap, but it merits at least a short stop. I tried to look past the tchotchkes, but they were everywhere.

Grotte di Castellana – Two tours of these stunning caves are offered: partial and complete. Know that the partial does not include the world-famous Grotta Bianca.

It was about 100 steps to get into the caves, but there were minimal steps inside and an elevator out. (Bonus!) I was definitely questioning the wisdom of bringing the kids in as we started down all the steps, surrounded by the large Italian tour group. (Tours are offered in Italian or English/German.) But the tour groups separated once we got going and the kids liked it. At least Mac really did. I think Henry would have been more impressed if we didn’t opt for the 6:00 pm tour.

ZooSafari – Your 22 euro (free for kids under 4!) buys you hours of entertainment with animals. You can drive through lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my) with the windows up and then try to pet giraffes, camels, and goats. For the fierce animals, you have to drive through double gates. You know, to get into the animal paddocks. I definitely did not feel like I should be watching behind me for velociraptors all the time. Haha, what could possibly go wrong?

Faces of awe

The car did not feel like sufficient protection at times. We were all, are they really letting us do this??

Sup

After your drive, there are more sights to see inside the park. This is included in your admission (although I think we paid a few euros for parking) so definitely don’t skimp on adventure. (There is also an amusement park, but rides cost extra.) For example, we rode this sturdy, self-driving contraption over monkeys and other critters. (Seriously, this is like the Jurassic Park of animals.) We also rode a caged vehicle straight into a monkey enclosure, which was guarded by dudes with guns, where the monkeys jumped all over the cage. (Clever girl(s).)

This park was great for the kids, but I think James and I would have enjoyed it on our own. Let’s just say you don’t see too many zoos like this back home. (Unless your back home is very different from my back home, in which case please leave suggestions for your awesome zoo.)

Even more animals on the facebook.

We packed as much as we could into our five-day visit, but we had to leave a lot out as well. We didn’t make it to white-walled Ostuni or Baroque Lecce, known as “the Florence of the South.” Even though there are about a million and one other things we want to see while we’re here, we just may make it back to Puglia.

Happy birthday to Mac!

May 27, 2015February 4, 20165 Comments

Guess who still refuses to crawl and is now one year old??

THIS GUY

Mac had a pretty swell birthday. I mean, he didn’t tell me he enjoyed it or anything, but I think he had a good time. Recap on birthday numero uno below. Or just watch this video. It covers just about everything. Thanks Google+!

Mac woke up early so I didn’t get to run in and terrorize him with the birthday song, as per tradition. (For his recent birthday, James delighted in being awoken from a peaceful slumber with my phone pressed to his head blaring the birthday song. What can I say? We make birthdays special ’round here.) I did get to play Mac the song while he was sitting on the kitchen floor. At first, he was all “why are you guys just staring at me” but then he started his signature Mac dance bob.

Mac was fortunate to be able to celebrate with his grandparents. We took pics with the birthday banner.

Not our best family photo

Mac opened presents from thoughtful relatives, godparents, and friends. Henry “helped.”

We went on a birthday adventure. We took the subway for the first time to St. Paul Outside the Walls. Stunning and huge. More on this one later.

And the main event: cake! James made a chocolate cake with homemade frosting and a separate smash cake for the birthday boy.

He went for it. Instantly. No hesitation. Fistfuls of cake straight into his mouth. Like to the point I almost worried about needing to take it because he was eating so much cake. As if taking cake from a chocolate-covered cake demon would ever be advisable.

Before:

During:

After:

They were some of the happiest moments of his young life. Sadly, the high was followed by a definite low, as cleanup was inevitable. Mac howled while he took a shower, but I think he’d tell you it was worth it.

P.S. Want to relive the epic Mac saga? Mac at 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, and 11 months.

What to wear to Rome this summer: 3 winning combos to beat the heat and get you into churches

May 21, 2015February 4, 201611 Comments

Pants, Tank, Scarf

OK, remember how I said that Romans are still bundled up in spring? Forget everything I said. Starting around May 1, everyone in Rome decided to acknowledge that temps are in the 80s and switched wardrobes, seemingly overnight. I see legs! Arms! Sometimes much more. The outfits are definitely interesting. I’ll have to try to capture some street style for you.

I’m glad for the switch. It has been over 90 the past few days, and it is only May. I’m a little leery of this summer. Because we arrived at the end of August, we did not get the full Roman summer experience.

All of this to be said, if you are coming to Rome in the summer, as many tourists do, expect to sweat. It can be pleasant in the shade with a breeze, but prolonged exposure in the direct sunlight is brutal.

Unfortunately, you can’t just pull out your easy summer dresses and call it day. Because CHURCHES. Many churches, most notably St. Peter’s, have a knees and shoulders must be covered dress code. Some churches don’t have it. Some churches don’t enforce it. But you don’t want to wait in line for an hour only to be turned away.

Here are three combos that will keep you comfortable in the sun and get you in wherever you want to go. These outfits also pass the Rome-test. I’ve seen versions of all of these on locals. Stick with these, and you won’t have to worry about sticking out as a tourist.

Option 1: Easy top + Lightweight Crazy Pants + Breezy Scarf

This outfit is my go to, and I’m not even worried about church access 99% of the time. It is just SO comfortable. The fun pants make me feel like I tried, but it feels like I’m walking around in my pajamas.

Not only do they feel like an actual outfit, but they are high on function. Want to climb on a bike in Borghese? No problem. Snagging a Vespa pic? No awkward shifting needed. Forgot to shave your legs because you have ALL the sightseeing to do? No sweat.

In theory, the pants could also provide some protection from the punishing Mediterranean sun and those annoying mosquitoes that won’t take a hint.

Also, I think crazy pants also look good with most jackets. Denim, leather, military, you name it. Many cardigans would work as well. Just in case you need a little more warmth at night when your trusty scarf isn’t cutting it.

Speaking of scarves, if you go for a tank option, the scarf is key. As you approach the church, drape it around, and bare shoulders no more! After many years of not knowing what to do with scarves, I am now fully obsessed. Besides being a go to nursing cover, they are like washable necklaces! Perfect for #kidlife. Also, if you pack fewer clothes, they can help you spice up your wardrobe. If I don’t wear different shirts in my normal life, you’d better believe I’m taking a minimalist approach to vacation packing. Seriously, though, who cares what thousands of strangers you’ll never see again think?

Rome is a great place to stock up on scarves, as well. I see them all over the streets for about three euro. Functional souvenir? Now you’re speaking my language.

When selecting your pants, go for a lightweight, breathable fabric. Pass on the polyester. I also steer clear of linen, but that is just because I don’t iron anything ever.

For style, I prefer the tapered leg, but you have about a bazillion options. Wide leg, harem, palazzo, gaucho, you name it.

If you don’t like colorful patterns, you can get the same comfiness with a solid pant. BUT if you ever felt like getting a little crazy in the pants department (name of Amy’s sex tape), this is a good town to try it. Seriously, I’ve seen drop-crotch harem paisley pants walking down the street. Just own it, and you can pants however you like. Yeah.

Old Navy has TONS of crazy pant options. A cheap way to test drive the style.

A wider leg option. Forever21 also has tons of pants. Another cheap way to dip your toe into the crazy pants waters.

Uh. Well, then. I would really like to see a conversation at the Vatican about these.

Ooo, I want these. I love that joggers are having a moment. What are things I NEVER thought I’d say even two years ago.

Option 2: Maxi Dress or Skirt + Scarf

I don’t really do the maxi because, while I have many blessings, the gift of height is not one of them. Also, I’ve gotten so lazy that I can’t handle any dress that requires a special bra. So many of the cute dresses have spaghetti straps or some such tomfoolery.

But if you are into the maxi, this would be a great option for Rome. I’d look for one with side slits, possibly two for movement and breeziness. And remember! If you don’t have sleeves, don’t forget your scarf.

This one just looks so cool and breezy to me. Side slits FTW!

Side slits for breeze, and sleeves mean you don’t even need a scarf. I think this would be super cute with sporty sneaks. Sneakers and dresses are a thing now. The internet told me, and it never lies.

Breaking my regular-bra-only rule, but I’ve never met a stripe I didn’t like.

Option 3: Breathable Leggings + Tunic or Blousy Top

This option is also not at the top of my list, but I promise I see locals rocking it on the reg. On the one hand, there is high opportunity for crazy pants. On the other hand, fabric suctioned to my body does not sound cool and breezy. BUT, if you get athletic wear, those pants are supposed to breathe, right?

My other issue with blousy tops is that so many are sheer, which would make me reach for another layer, which sort of defeats the purpose. But, again, this is Rome. I have seen completely sheer shirts, lace shirts, crochet shirts, and shirts with holes cut to the waist; all worn with regular bras. (I have also seen many women exercising in regular bras, but this is another topic for another day.) Also, bum coverage should not be a concern. Do it if you are more comfortable, but I promise you won’t stick out.

Pretty! I love a good shirt mullet.

Bad ass.

I could see a lightweight button-up being perfect on its own or as your extra layer.

When doing crazy pants, go big or go home, I always say.

Clicking the pics should take you to the products. Nothing affiliated; these are just things that caught my eye. Old Navy and Nordstrom are both having sales. (Although isn’t Old Navy always having a sale?)

So there you have it. My formula: easy top + crazy pants (or skirt) + scarf. Everything you need for your upcoming trip to Rome.

But Melissa! What about shoes??? You’ve forgotten the most important part!

I agree. Shoes can make or break your travel day. That’s why I’ll cover shoes soon in their own post. [UPDATE: Shoes HERE.] (And maybe dude style if I’m feeling ambitious.) Till then, may the crazy pants be with you!

Have you embraced the crazy pants? What’s your usual warm weather travel wardrobe?

The devolution of pacifier usage on a trip

May 19, 20153 Comments

Remember how I told you guys we went to Puglia for Easter? No? I haven’t covered that trip here? Yeesh. I’ll get on that. Next blog project: Puglia!

Anyways, have I told you how much Henry loves his pacifier? Or his chupito, as we call it, a holdover from Spanish language daycare in DC. He is OBSESSED. In his earlier days, we tried to get him to accept a comfort item. You know what his comfort items are? MORE CHUPITOS. We’ve got him down to one chupito that lives in the crib. He knows that it is only for sleeping or at least he must be in the crib to access it. (Which sometimes results in his taking “naps” where he just sits in the crib with his chupito. I try not to take it personally.)

The plan is to attempt cold turkey at age three if he hasn’t already kicked the habit. This does not sound like fun to me, but hey, that’s future Melissa’s problem. Let her figure it out. (If we fail, however, I see 7-year-olds walking around with pacifiers here. At least he won’t be a social outcast.)

This works out 99% of the time. But on trips, such as our five days in Puglia . . . . Let’s just say that the rules get chucked out the window. It usually goes something like this.

Day 1: “No, sweetie. You can’t have your chup. Chup is only for sleeping.”

Day 2: “Well, I guess you can have it in the car. You might take a cat nap, right?”

Day 3: “No, the food isn’t here yet. No, you can’t run around. Please stop screaming. Hey, would you like your chupito?”

Day 4: “Can you walk just a little bit more? Uh, what if I give you your chupito?”

Day 5: “Whatever. I don’t care anymore. Just take it.”

We are susceptible on trips because he knows we have it. Tricksy Henries. I’ve left it home for day trips, and he doesn’t believe that we don’t have it. “Mommy, it’s in your pocket.” “Daddy, has it.” NOPE. Sorry, kiddo. Search me. (He does.)

I do admit to enjoying seeing a little more of baby Henry when he has it. I’m also scared of him dropping his nap when it goes away. But it must be done. He is fairly OK with his baby brother having the chup at times that he can’t. And when they both have them, such as reading a bedtime story, they play chupito steal where they try to snatch the pacifiers out of each others mouths. It is both adorable and annoying.

Enjoy it while you can, my precious

So that’s where we are. For sleep ONLY. Or at least until our next trip.

Did you chuck the chup? Any tips?

ICYMI: mid May edition

May 15, 2015February 4, 20161 Comment

The elusive double vintage shot.

On the blog:

If I had to pick a root cause of the difficulties of law firm life, this would be it.

Henry, still hilarious.

Food photos! (I just typed foot photos. For a split second, I thought about leaving it, but that would be super weird and gross.)

On the internets:

I heart tiny houses. Anyone want to build our own street like these guys?

Remember how I said that fava beans are definitely a thing right now? Here is a little more background. My version did not turn out so hot because apparently you have to shell them and then peel them? Oh, well, I tried.

Even if billables are bad, law firms do have very generous paid leave.

Happenings & Coming up:

I feel like this week went by fast. Henry actually made it to school all three scheduled days. I can’t even remember the last time that happened. Henry has also been biting his brother. Not cool, kid.

I’m not sure what the plan is for the weekend. I was thinking about a day trip to Comune di Sermoneta, but the weather is looking a little dicey. A friend also just alerted me to this sweet dino exhibit in Rome. Whatever we do, it will probably involve avoiding downtown Rome. Tourist season is ON. (And utility vests are definitely back BTW.)

Hope you have a great one!

You can’t beat the billable hour

May 14, 2015February 4, 20165 Comments

I did well in law school. I know, I know, this is kind of bragging. But doing well in law school does not seem to be a marketable skill on its own so let’s give me this one thing.

What was my secret? (Besides hours and hours of hard work?) Let me tell you something shocking, particularly for those of you that know me well. After the first year, I stopped doing the reading.

Wait, what? How does an uptight, Type A person such as myself do such a thing? Simple. I realized that doing all the reading was not the best use of my time to get results.

Results in law school are grades. For the vast majority of classes, your grade comes down to one exam at the end of the semester. There are no pop quizzes along the way. No five page essays. There may be some amorphous participation component, but the real meat of the grade is your performance on this single exam.

To study for this exam, you outline all the material you learn, putting all the cases into neatly digestible bullets. This is what you see all the kids doing in every law school movie you ever watch. You might see study groups splitting up sections of outlining responsibility and then sharing.

The facts of (most) cases don’t really matter on their own. You read the case to see how some legal principle played out. This legal principle is what you need to know and what you put in your outline. The case is just an example.

The first year, I spent WAY too much time reading cases. I was so nervous about being cold called in class that I read each case like five times. (And it didn’t even really help that much when I was called on! It was like my mind blanked and I heard this rushing roar. It was never the collegial conversation about a case that I envisioned.) I don’t regret all of that case reading. It taught me how to read cases. How to dissect the procedural history and explanations and to see what matters. To do this, you have to read a lot of cases.

But then I discovered that, after your 1L year, cold calling is not the law of the land. At this point, professors have different tactics that they publish in advance. Some professors might have you on call one day a week. Or one day a semester. Some might give you an option to be super prepared for one week, but to be left alone the rest of the semester. Some might go down the alphabet so that you could roughly see when your number is up. Some still cold called. I tried to take classes based on rock star professors–I would take shoe law if an interesting professor taught it (wait, maybe shoe law actually sounds pretty interesting)–but I tended to shy away from straight cold call classes if I could.

I did the reading on days when I needed to; otherwise, I very lightly skimmed what was assigned and just enjoyed my time in class. It was such a relief. I could breathe again. I could pay attention to what was happening without feeling a sinking feeling and panic whenever the professor looked up. But then, after class, I spent the time I would have spent reading and dedicated it to my outline. I may have read some major sections of cases, but generally I just worked at plugging what we learned into a neat set of indents and bullets. Then by the end of the semester, I already had a full outline, ready to go. Because the outline, not the reading, was what mattered.

Doing well in law school did land me a job at a prestigious law firm. At the firm, I quickly realized that there was no such shortcut. No hack to promote efficiency. At the firm, you had to do excellent work. You couldn’t anger your colleagues. But the most important yardstick was the almighty billable hour.

You can’t fake the billable hour. You can’t hack it. The only way to do it is to put in the time. You are super productive and manage your energy wisely so you blow through everything on your to do list? Doesn’t matter. You still need to work the hours. You need to take on more work. No matter that this work might shift your balance so that you have too much work. After all, that memo you finished today is coming back to you later this week for edits. Bill, baby, bill.

Lest you think that you can sit down and just plow through eight hours of billables straight, let me tell you that it isn’t possible. First off, you frequently have to do things that aren’t billable billable. Yes, you have a code so that you can record your time, but they don’t really count to your total. These are things like trainings, firm meetings, and clearing out your inbox. Second, it isn’t possible for anyone to work straight with zero breaks. You need to eat. And pee. And occasionally interact with other human beings. All of these things mean it takes longer to hit your billable quota.

(To be fair to my firm, I never hit the billable hour quota, and I was never asked to leave. I was, at times, asked to take on more work.)

Laura Vanderkam, my favorite time management guru, wrote recently about whether billable hours lead to unhappiness. She understands the challenges of the billable hour.

“[S]pending half an hour on a document instead of an hour doesn’t mean you get to be done. It means you need to tackle some other billable work.”

Vanderkam offers suggestions on tackling billables, such as bill first, start billing earlier, dedicate larger chunks of time (like a dedicated weekend) to have other chunks free, and plan quality activities for when you aren’t billing.

These are good ideas, and I certainly tried some, specifically bill first and bill early. Post-kids, I adopted the schedule of a 4:30 or 5:00 am wakeup to get a few hours in, spend time with the baby, and then head into the office. These early hours were precious writing hours, and I tried not to squander them on low-brainpower tasks that could wait until the afternoon. (In case this sounds horrible to you, all I can say is that I did not do well with a split evening shift–although I sometimes had to work one. At the end of the day after commuting, dinner, bath, I just wanted to chill with a glass of wine, not log back on.)

These early morning hours were also protected. Particularly as someone more junior, your schedule is not your own. You don’t decide when the conference call happens. You don’t schedule the training. For someone usually generating the first version of documents, these interruptions can kill your day. (Maker’s v. Manager’s Schedule. YES, this.) My early morning hours at least gave me a jumpstart before the unpredictability of the day.

The suggestion to have dedicated work weekends or evenings to catch up, however, I think is a little trickier. This assumes that hours are fungible. One hour could be worked either at 10:00 am one day or 10:00 pm the next. But hours are not worked in a vacuum. Enter clients.

Clients pay the bills, and peskily, have certain expectations on when they will receive work. Ideally, the work-bringer-in-er would negotiate a reasonable schedule so that the work could be done in a timely, but un-crazy fashion. But that doesn’t always happen. Emergencies come up. Things can fall through the cracks. Sometimes you are just slammed no matter what.

But sometimes you aren’t busy. Sometimes there are built in lulls. You just sent a memo to the client or partner and are waiting to hear back. You just filed a brief and are waiting for the court or opposing counsel. Ideally, you’d have something else to turn to, but you may not. If you take on more work, you won’t be able to juggle everything together. Everyone says to enjoy the slow times; that the busy times will make up for it on hours. But first, I like my lulls much more when I can plan something, which is hard to do when you suddenly end up with a slow afternoon. Second, what if the busy times don’t even out, even though it feels like they should? If you throw in some weekends or nights, it starts to feel like a lot of work, even if your overall hours don’t tell the same story.

So I don’t think a dedicated work chunk would be helpful, at least in my previous corner of biglaw. If I had a dedicated weekend, I might already be working it or burnt out from whatever I’d just worked.

The closest efficiency hack I could offer would be to avoid all non-billable activities. Don’t be on a committee. Don’t be social with summer associates. Skip the trainings. Don’t stop and talk to your neighbor. These activities are double whammies because they eat time and take away from possible billing.

But this approach isn’t very fun. Or sociable. It creates people who are not good firm stewards. It may work in the short term, but I don’t think it would sustainable over a career.

I never found any secrets to fix the billable hour. Someday I will figure out a new pricing system for firms and become a gazillionaire. For now, I’m just enjoying not having to bill my hours.

Fellow lawyers, did you adopt any more successful strategies? Or anyone else on the billable hour?

Roman Reboot

Ever wanted to blow up your life?

30 Day Everything Challenge: The Process (part 2)

30 Day Everything Challenge: The Process (part 1)

30 Day EVERYTHING Challenge

ICYMI: where you at edition

Great picks for family fun in Puglia

Happy birthday to Mac!

What to wear to Rome this summer: 3 winning combos to beat the heat and get you into churches

The devolution of pacifier usage on a trip

ICYMI: mid May edition

You can’t beat the billable hour

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!

Thought this was neat-o mosquito? Would love for you to pass it on!