random

tuesday randoms //

September 15, 2015 by Rachel 1 Comment

Even though it’s been roughly 90+ degrees and humid out, I’m happy to see that Autumn is right around the corner! The arrival of Pumpkin Spice Lattes can only mean one thing, right? I love seeing the Halloween decorations out in stores and other signs that the seasons are changing.

It feels like as the seasons change, things are going to start getting real! First we have my birthday at the beginning of October, followed by Ari’s THIRD birthday (holy smokes!), then Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving, and shortly thereafter is Christmas, and then New Years Day, and then the arrival of Baby Girl. HOLY SMOKES. Bring it, life! 🙂

I’m playing in my husbands College Football Pick’em league for the second time. The first year I played I beat every. single. person. My strategy? Go down the spread and choose “Win. Lose. Win. Lose.” and randomly assign confidence points. And after just one week in this year? I’m in the lead by thirty freaking points. 🙂 And yes, I’m totally rubbing it in his face already.

This weekend was so beautiful. It rained nearly the entire weekend, which made it ABSOLUTELY LOVELY. Bonus? I felt amazing! We pretty much just stayed indoors and watched movies & ate comfort food (I’ve been on a MAJOR soup kick as of late).

I may have spoken a tad bit too soon by saying I felt “great.” No sooner did I schedule yesterdays blog post did I end up throwing up pretty much nonstop. Yet again. Ughhh. Seriously, pregnancy!? OVER it. I can’t tell if I have a bug or if the hyperemesis hasn’t quite run its course. Either way, I’m discouraged.

Before I came down with this pregnancy plague again this weekend, I cleaned the house from top to bottom! And I even made my favorite Nutella Mascarpone Fillo Dough Bites! It’s been a couple of years since I made them, but they are just as delicious as I remember!

Blogging // Authenticity // and the Truth

May 19, 2015 by Rachel 5 Comments

I created my blog years ago as a space and an outlet for me to share the happenings in my life with myself and a few people who may actually read it at the time. Over the years it transitioned from me being single and living in Syracuse; to Chad and I dating; to us living 6-hours apart and dating long-distance; then to us moving in together; and then to us getting married and starting a family.

Along the way it’s remained a place where I share my hopes and my dreams; my passion for creating a healthy lifestyle (while being completely honest with myself and the world about continuing to seek balance throughout the process); local events and happenings; and the everyday hum-drum of my life.

One thing that has changed over the last 7.5 years is opportunity. Blogging has created enormous opportunity in my life. I’ve met some incredible people in-real-life thanks to friendships created over the internet and social media — because I put myself out there. I’ve been around people from all different walks of life that I wouldn’t have met otherwise; and for that I’m incredibly grateful.

Blogging has also brought me a teeny bit of financial opportunity via sponsored and reviewed posts. And while that hasn’t quite been a life-changing amount of extra income, it certainly has helped. I don’t do them often and they seem to come in waves where I have months without an offer and then two at a time.

However, this is really and truly none of anyones business. In fact, the great thing about the internet and social media is that we are all free to share what we want. But we are also free to see what we want. We can follow whoever we’d like on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook; and we choose to follow those that we don’t align with. When you open a blog, follow a person on twitter, or engage in social media, YOU ARE PROVIDING CONSENT TO WHAT YOU ARE SEEING, whether you agree with the subject matter or not.

I received a nasty comment in regards to losing my authenticity of blogging with my recent sponsored posts yesterday. I have not yet approved the comment; but I’ve also not yet denied it. (Sidenote to people who leave fake or anonymous info: IP addresses don’t lie). It hurt. It shouldn’t have, but it did. The words didn’t exactly hurt; but the idea that someone would go out of their way to be nasty to another person? that is something that in my 30 years I have YET to wrap my head around.

Here’s the truth: I’m not always authentic. None of us are. But — dammit! — I try my hardest to do so. I put myself out there — the good, the bad, and the ugly parts that no one else has the balls to talk about. I’m a hard working mom. I’m a full-time employee for a huge company (to which I’ve been employed for the last ten years). I am a partner to my husband. We run a household together. And we try to work in some fun in our spare time. And in addition to that? I share parts of it here on my blog. Because each of us chooses what and with who we share things; each of us crafts an online persona; and that isn’t being inauthentic — it’s simply just a piece of our true selves.

So basically thanks for the perspective on my blog, commenter. 🙂

the evolution of a working mom. (PS. I’m sorry for all of the judgment before)

March 17, 2015 by Rachel 1 Comment

I recently came across this article about how childless women judge working moms. I admit – I’m completely guilty of this. In fact, when we found out we were expecting Ari, one of my fears was how this unexpected pregnancy was going to affect my career. Even long before our unexpected pregnancy, I would think to myself “If I ever end up pregnant, I would still want to work full time. How could anyone want to give up something so fulfilling as working outside of the home?”

Even after Ari was born, I looked forward to going back to work. Sure, not right away. I definitely enjoyed my maternity leave. Well, scratch that – I loved the fact that I didn’t have to juggle work and getting absolutely zero sleep for three months. And having the holidays off didn’t hurt, that’s for sure.

But I looked forward to going back to work. I remember it being more sweet than bitter. I wanted to be around real talking human beings. I mean, I had it rough at home — Ari was colicky for months and months. He refused to sleep and spent most of the day (probably 20 out of 24 hours) screaming and crying. It was awful. So I practically RAN back to work. Seriously.

That feeling lasted for months after I went back to work. And shortly after Ari started sleeping through the night, something started to change. And not just the feeling of being semi-rested; but something in me started to ache to spend more time with Ari.

And that’s part of what prompted me to change my position at work for a job that provided me with more daytime hours with Ari. My work day started at 2pm instead of 8am which gave me plenty of time to have lazy mornings with him. And for a while, that was fulfilling enough. Sure, that meant I had to give up Saturdays to work instead of spending it with Chad and Ari. But the benefits outweighed that con.

Over the last year, perhaps after Ari started becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler, things have majorly shifted for me.

I ache — my whole heart aches — to spend time with Ari and — even I can’t believe this — but to do house-keeping and super domestic things nonstop. I want to spend my time raising my child and doing laundry; I want to help potty train him and do the dishes; I want to vacuum every day and have time to try to learn to cook. I want to be able to work just part-time; just enough to get my fill of adult conversation.

I also think it would make me happier if I was able to be that kind of mom who stayed at home with Ari. But I know that this is not in the cards for us; it’s not something that is financially possible. At least not at this time.

I just can’t believe I’m now this person. I can’t believe I judged working moms for feeling this way. I’ve verbalized this judgment over and over again before having Ari; and for that, I feel incredibly guilty.

A girl I work with has been known to say the same types of things that I used to say about not being able to even imagine NOT wanting to work. It took everything I had to bite my tongue. I knew my words were useless with her. She would never believe me. She would never believe how much a little person could change someone so much. She would never believe how I, the same person who never ever wanted to have a child, could have so drastically changed my outlook on childrearing.

I don’t know if there’s a purpose to this post other than to just put it out there into the universe. Maybe it’s so that I can keep focused on my main goal, which is to be in a position where I can spend my time focused on my family and our household. However, in the meantime, my family will always, always, be first. Chad and Ari are the only things that are important to me; everything else is secondary — everything else is replaceable. But those two? Irreplaceable. And they are my absolute everything.

post-holiday blues //

January 13, 2015 by Rachel 4 Comments

I know darn well I’m not alone with the post-holiday blues. As stressful as Christmas can be, there is also so much hustle, bustle and genuine cheer, it also does a good job of compounding the stress.

And then, January. Dreaded, dreaded, January.

After New Years it seemed like the weather got the memo and turned bitter cold and snowy, making daily commutes and tasks that much less enjoyable. Ugh. Throw in daycare drop offs and pick ups, layering clothes, and trying to fit in workouts. That pretty much equals a recipe for disaster. At least for some of us.

Yuck.

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way; I know that many of us suffer from the post-holiday blues… or Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’ll admit it. I’m there. I’m full-on in need of a happy lamp. In fact, I bought a groupon for a tanning salon. Yeah, yeah… I know it causes wrinkles, and normally I avoid it. But I also need a boost of endorphins.

But that’s not going to solve it all. That’s not going to fix the fact that this time of year is rough. Brutal, in fact.

But I don’t have a solution; I don’t have a cure. I just have solace. Solace in knowing that I’m not alone; that there are many other people who feel the same way; that we all need to support each other and lift each other up during these next few months. Solace in knowing that this time of year won’t last forever. I just need to stick it out — we just need to stick it out — and it will pass.

The holidays were fun. But take the next couple of months one day at a time. Find something that brightens those gray days — like tanning, working out, or anything that brings you a teeny bit of joy. And just wait for the sunshine.

It’s coming!

PS. If you need support, I’m here!

life lately + weekend wrap up //

April 16, 2014 by Rachel Leave a Comment

We’ve had absolutely beautiful weather for the last week. And there were so many fun things to do. Unfortunately we are bound to time constraints so we couldn’t make it to everything; but we did have as much fun as possible.

On Wednesday we went to the Akron Zoo (again). The Sting Ray Touch Tank was finally open! Ari actually seemed excited to see these ‘fishys’ up close; well, until the sting rays came by. And then he quickly removed his hand from the water. Ha! Still — totally brave, kid!

On our way home from the zoo, we got a major flat tire — like blew the tire OUT! 🙁 Thankfully the wheel itself wasn’t damaged (unlike the previous tire situation less than 2-years ago!). But it totally put a damper on our week.

Sidenote? It turns out I’ve been driving an automatic for far too long. I drove Chad’s manual Honda in the meantime and it def took a while to get back in the swing of it. Ha!

Ari + I played outside a LOT in the beautiful spring weather. Too bad that awesome weather turned to snow over the last 24 hours. 🙁

Sunday we made the most of our family funday with ZERO plans! We started by visiting the Easter Bunny at the local mall. By the way — when did pictures with the Easter Bunny get to be $21 for TWO pictures (taken by crappy high school ‘photographers’)?! I’m sad we didn’t get a picture with Ari LOVING the big bunny man, but instead we were only able to snap pictures of him staring in awe of the bunny post-visit.

After our Easter Bunny visit we went for a family “run” on the towpath. The run itself on the uneven path proved to be fairly difficult with even a jogging stroller (we need a BOB! — The city mini is great for paved trails, but not for trail running!). After about a mile and a half, we gave up the fight and just walked. Our walk was about 4.5 miles. Near the end, a certain napping baby awoke and wanted to be FREE!

He showed us we weren’t the only ones who could run!
Watch out Coach Cole! This one may be on your track team one day!

But really he prefers to be carried, whether it be on hips or on shoulders!

In addition to all this fun + craziness over the last couple of weeks, I’ve put my Jawbone Up back on — fully charged and ready to go! I’ve been getting TONS of workouts in and logging lots of miles! 🙂

Pretty much the last week and a half has been amazing! Sure, there have been some bumps in the road (and flat tires/missed plans), but I’ve been spending it with my two main-men… so it has been perfection!

link love //

March 28, 2014 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Calm.com // If you’re struggling to find a way to meditate or wind down, this is amazeballs.

Simple Science Fitness // Regardless of what ‘meal plan’ (I hate the term ‘diet’) you follow, this is a dumb-it-down, it-is-what-it-is, explanation of the science behind gaining weight, losing weight, or maintaining your current weight.

Because I totally love Jennifer Lawrence // I know so many people hate her, but she’s adorable and funny. And real.

So here:

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny4FtbBd6hI/]

I Heart Cleveland‘s Giveaway for 2 Tickets to Rock The Catwalk at the Cleveland Museum of Art Atrium // The event is on Thursday May 1st at 6:30PM in the beautiful Cleveland Museum of Art Atrium! Tickets are $125 a piece, but you can win them on the I Heart CLE Blog!

Thug Kitchen // Because OMG this exists?!

Hahahahaha! Hilarious AND sounds delish!