ace up my sleeve

his past week I got to spend time up in Anchorage, which was such a great way to start off the year.  I shot a wedding on the 2nd, saw an Aces game on the 3rd, did a styled bridal shoot on the 4th, had a mini family Christmas on the 5th, and headed back to Tacoma on the 6th.  These photos are actually from our time in Palm Springs over Christmas, not to be confused, Anchorage Alaska certainly does not look like this in January.  For both the wedding and styled shoot we were working outside at temperatures around 8º F.  Brisk, to say the least!  I love traveling, but it is nice to be home for the next couple months with no travel, especially with Whole30.  Eating while traveling makes it much more difficult to find Whole30 compliant meals, so it'll be great to spend the month at home cooking for myself.  After 8 flights in 6 weeks, some stability will be nice, and a great way to get grounded for the coming year.  
In recent years I've chosen a word that I hold on to throughout the year, last year's was honest/genuine and it helped me let go of a lot of things that were holding me back, things that no longer served me.  I let go of goals that I had been holding on to just because I had them as goals in the past, but realized I didn't really want those things anymore (or that I wanted other things more).  This year, my word is Build.  I let go of a lot of stuff in the last year, which means that in some ways I'm starting afresh at the bottom.  2015 is a year for building.  I like that it's a word of action.  It gives me purpose and drive, and I need that this year.
Do you pick a word for the year?  If so, what word are you picking for 2015 and why?


jacket/modcloth :: dress/courtesy of lulu's :: necklace/francesca's belt/thrifted :: top/courtesy of modcloth :: photos by Dan

roasted butternut squash soup

his recipe is left over from early December, before my whole30 aspirations, so it's not one of my whole30 recipes, but it is delicious!  I believe the only things in it that aren't whole30 compliant, though, are butter and heavy cream and I'm pretty sure it'd be a great soup even without those!  We got two plump butternut squashes in our last CSA share of the year and I'd never made butternut squash soup before, so I figured I was due to give it a go.  I actually might look up some good whole30 soup and crock pot recipes because I love the idea of making lots and then having leftovers, saving the trouble of having to come up with something for every single meal.  I'm anxious to start, but I know that it will work better when I have time to really prep and get my kitchen ready, rather than diving in without any plan.

How is the new year treating you guys so far?  I was never one for the whole new year's hype but I'm actually really excited for this year and fired up about hunting down some new goals.  It's been super fun to read through everyone's new year goals in the comments of my last giveaway post!  In the past I used to do a birthday goal list every year (this year would be 28 before 29), but I think this year I want to mix it up.  I'd rather focus on one or two really big goals that I can work towards, maybe with smaller goals that are contributing to achieving those big ones, and then what I'm also excited about is challenging myself to do something new, or a little scary, something outside my comfort zone, at least once a week all year.  It was funny because I was thinking about doing this in 2015 a couple weeks ago and when I got up to Alaska my mom told me about a book she read, I Dare Me, which is basically the same thing except she challenged herself to do 365 new things, not just 52.  I think 52 sounds just right, and besides, I can always do more than 52!  I think that making goals is much more practical than making resolutions, and maybe it's just the phrasing.  "I want to do more yoga" is so much more ambiguous than, "I want to do yoga 3 times a week, every week this year."  One is just more tangible and easy to conceptualize than the other.  It gives you something concrete to focus on.  I want to work on giving myself really clear goals.  Not just "work towards XYZ," but "Do *thing* 3x a week to work towards XYZ."  Do you have ambiguous resolutions?  Go rewrite the in a more goal-oriented way and see if that helps you with actually achieving them!


Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
(recipe via chow)
Ingredients
4 pounds whole butternut squash (about 2 medium), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick)
1 medium Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces)
1/2 medium yellow onion
8 fresh sage leaves
2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions

1 / Heat the oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the middle.

2 / Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the squash pieces cut-side up on the baking sheet. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and brush all of it over the tops and insides of the squash halves (alternatively, you can rub it on evenly with your fingers). Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast until knife tender, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.

3 / Meanwhile, peel, core, and cut the apple into medium dice. Cut the onion into medium dice. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the apple, onion, and sage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

4 / When the squash is ready, set the baking sheet on a wire rack until the squash is cool enough to handle. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh into the saucepan with the sautéed apples and onions; discard the skins.

5 / Add the broth, water, and measured salt and pepper, stir to combine, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up any large pieces of squash, until the flavors meld, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.

6 / Using a blender or immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve garnished with sour cream, herbs, or toasted pumpkin seeds.

fit week // albion fit giveaway

ne of the best parts of starting a new fitness routine? Having the perfect excuse to go out and get new, cute workout gear!  Okay, well the best part is feeling healthier and stronger, but getting new workout gear is a bonus.  You may be sweating your ass off, but at least your outfit can be cute, right?  I'm just going to keep telling myself that.  I've partnered with Albion in the past and have loved their gear, so when I was putting together this little week of fitness goal inspired posts, I contacted them to see if they'd be interested in teaming up for a fun giveaway for you guys, and they were!  We're giving away a pair of their Antigua Leggings and a Hot Pink Love Racer top, a great little workout outfit, nice for hitting the weights at the gym, going for a run, getting back to the yoga mat, or even pulling hard at the climbing gym!

Albion is also offering 15% off using the code "delightfully15" which is valid from Jan 2- Jan 10, so you can also take advantage of that in order to snag some new pieces!  Just enter the code at checkout to get the discount!  The giveaway will be live for a week and you've got multiple ways to enter, so there are even more chances to win!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

fit week // ningxia red energy smoothie

moothies are one of my favorite things to enjoy as a pre or post-workout snack.  They're easy to fill with nutritious fruits and veggies, and sometimes even a bit of extra protein.  I really like drinking a bit of Ningxia Red juice before a workout to give a boost of energy, but since you're only supposed to drink 1-2 ounces twice daily, I wanted to use it as an addition to my pre-workout smoothies instead of just taking a little shot of it.  The Goji berry flavor pairs great with other fruits and it's easy to add to almost any fruit smoothie.  
Gogi berries contain many essential amino acids, and also have the highest concentration of protein of any fruit. They're packed with vitamin C, contain more carotenoids than any other food, are high in fiber,  have tons of iron, as well as calcium, zinc, selenium and many other minerals.  Ningxia Red has stevia in it, so it won't be Whole30 compliant, since stevia is a sweetener, which means I won't be using it during my Whole30.  My mom is doing Whole30 with me and she just got the cookbook "Well Fed" so I'm excited to look through it and get ideas for meals!  Whole30 technically doesn't advise drinking smoothies, since, even though fruit is compliant, it does have a lot of (natural) sugar and, since it's liquid, makes it harder for your body to feel full.  I definitely anticipate a  having a few smoothies when I'm in a pinch, though, and it's nice knowing I can throw some frozen fruit together and have a quick smoothie when I'm having a hunger emergency.



Ingredients: 2oz Ningxia Red 1 Frozen Banana 1/2 c Frozen Mango Chunks 4 Frozen Strawberries 1 c Mango Nectar/Juice Add everything to a blender and blend well!  

fit week // whole30

or me, fitness and food are inextricably linked.  I never understood people who would eat fast food and binge on tons of sugary cocktails every night, then workout.  Maybe they looked how they wanted to, but I can't imagine they felt good.  The fact is what my body looks like will change, regardless of how much working out I do.  When I have kids, my body will transform in order to grow and birth a child.  When I age, my body will hold on to fat in new places, I'll find new wrinkles and grey hairs.  My body could change as the result of illness or injury.  I have some control over my body by choosing to be active and fit.  What I have the most control over, and what has the power to impact my health most, is how I choose to nourish my body.

I eat pretty healthily.  I don't eat fast food, rarely eat snacks like potato chips, almost never drink soda, and in general don't overeat.  The months leading up to Thanksgiving I was tracking my food daily, eating well, working out every day, and was pretty on top of my life in terms of fitness and food.  I decided to stop caring while we were on vacation in Hawai'i, because I knew I'd want to drink Mai Tai's and indulge a bit.  The whole next month was a blur of travel and I wasn't able to focus on feeding myself right or have time to fit in a workout.  Perhaps it's cliched to start a fitness or diet plan at the new year, but it really is a perfect time to settle into a new routine.  The craziness of the holidays are over and you're finally free to focus on your own health.

My friend Mandy recently did the Whole30 program in November and, while I was never enticed to do it before, I really enjoyed seeing her experience with it and was inspired to get my eating back on track with Whole30.  What is Whole30?  It's sort of like hitting the reset button for your body in terms of eating.  A lot of foods can disrupt your hormones, cause acne or inflammation, be addicting, cause allergies and more.  With Whole30, you strip your diet down to whole foods to help your body reset and then you can start adding foods back in to see how they affect your body.  Or, you might just end up feeling so awesome you'll stick with a Paleo type diet.  I know lots of people who've said that their Whole30 experience was pretty life changing.

Another thing I'm excited about is that Whole30 kind of forces you to be more proactive when it comes to meal planning.  I'm so so bad at meal planning.  We are fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants eaters and it means we go out to eat more than we should, spend more money than we should, and don't eat as healthily as I know we could.  Whole30 requires a lot of foresight and planning, so you don't accidentally fall of the wagon, which is something I desperately need when It comes to making food.
I'll be starting my Whole30 on January 12th because I want to start with Mandy and she's starting her next round on the 12th.  Also, I'll be traveling until January 6th and I want to give myself time to prep properly.  I love reading on planes so I'm getting the book It Starts With Food, which is by the folks that started Whole30, to read on my flights so I can start working out my plan of attack in the next two weeks.


So what can and can't you eat with Whole30?  You can eat meat, seafood, veggies, some fruit, good fats from fruits, nuts, oils, and seeds.  Basically:  Whole foods.  No processed crap, no stuff with tons of ingredients you can't pronounce.

What can't you eat?  No sugars or real or artificial sweeteners.  No Alcohol.  No Grains.  No Legumes.  No Dairy (ugh, bye cheese!).  No carrageenan, MSG or Sulfites.

It sounds pretty restrictive, but really it's just 30 days and I'm excited to revamp my diet to be more focused on eating whole foods.  Ultimately I'm not sure if I'll end up adopting a more paleo-type diet at the end, but who knows!  I have a friend who has a mostly-paleo diet and she loves it.

I eat a ton of breads and carbs and I know that, while I'm not a big sweet tooth, lots of sugar finds its way into my diet in sneaky ways.  Whole30 is technically a "detox" since you're removing a lot of foods that can have detrimental effects on your health, so I've heard that the first week or so can be a bit rough, but after that, by and large, everyone I know who has done it says they feel amazing.

One thing I love about the Whole30 program is that it's not about weight (though lots of people do experience weight loss).  They stress that you're not allowed to step on a scale for the duration of the program, and I think that's important.  So much importance is put on the number on the scale, but that's not what Whole30 is about.  It's about feeling great, being healthy, and nourishing your body.


There are tons of resources out there for helping prep and stay on the Whole30 program.  The Whole30 site has a bunch of resources.  Jessica from WhatIWore has done Whole30 a few times and has a lot of helpful guides.  Mandy started a whole30 focused instagram account to help support others who want to hop on board.  I'm a newbie so I'll just be sharing my own personal experience here on the blog as I go and hopefully I'll have some fun Whole30 recipes to share as I get better at meal planning.

Are any of you guys Whole30 grads?  Have any favorite resources?  I know Pinterest is a great resource for recipes, so I'll definitely be pinning up a storm trying to get my meals planned!  Are any of you guys planning on starting Whole30 in January?