My Health Journey

How many times do we all say that we are going to get fit, get healthy, or make better decisions? I know I've said them more times than I should. All of them with varied results but end up back in the same place, me in my comfort zone and bad eating habits. I've recently been wondering why that is and what I can do about it. I finally came to the realization that I have triggers when it comes to food and exercise that I have been unable to get past. 

As someone who lives with anxiety on a daily basis, I'm constantly aware of what triggers that and can throw me into a panic attack. I do my best to avoid these situations while realizing that it's not always possible. I've learned techniques on how to cope when these happen and what triggered it in the first place. It's not easy, but something I've been able to incorporate into my life and live what I assume is normal. 

When thinking about my journey with my health, I realized that I have similar triggers. Food, in particular food from the country that I raised, makes me feel comfortable. It has a soothing and calming sense to me. It's my go to. Not to mention that I feel the same when it comes to anything sweet. I grew up with families that always had something sweet at every meal, and I continue to practice the same. I realized that things such as stress, exhaustion, time, etc. are all things that contribute to my less than successful attempts at having a healthier lifestyle. 

The other thing I noticed is that I'm a visual person and need multiple reminders to reinforce the habits I'm trying to form. Taking this all into account, I've created a few signs to put around my house, in ideal visual areas, to remind me of what I'm trying to accomplish. See I don't always want a candy bar or cookie (while they do sound good), what I really want is to find something to do. If I'm going to snack, I need to make better choices. So I have a sign up near the cabinet that has this information to remind me of what I should and shouldn't do.

Exercise after a long day at the office can seem like the last thing I really want to do. When really curling up on the couch, wrapping up in a blanket, and binging on some Netflix seems like the perfect idea. I need to find better ways to motivate myself. So the sign that is hanging on my door from the garage as I come into the house reminds me of this. 

I have a few more that are there to remind me of the benefits of self-care and why it's essential to have a healthy lifestyle.  I'm not sure how well this will work, but I need to give it a try. Maybe this is what will work for me. Perhaps I'll be able to find that balance. I do know that I'm not going to give up the foods I like, but in moderation and portion size it will be okay. I know that I won't always follow these signs, and that's okay. As I age, I want to be better about how I take care of my body. I want to be able to enjoy life and mobility later on. I just need to take care of myself now so that I can. 

So here is to see what happens with this. Fingers crossed and hopefully I'll remember to follow up on my blog. Apparently, it's been 5 years and I should get back to this blog.

New York - again

Now before I say anything I must point out that this isn't my first time to New York City and it won't be my last. NYC is one of my favorite cities in the world and I always love visiting. There is something about the energy in NYC that I love. I could spend my time just walking the city exploring everything from restaurants to museums to shops or simply just relaxing in a park and people watch. I've said at various points that I could live here but I'm not sure if I would enjoy it as much. But now I'm getting off the point of this post. Right now I'm sitting in my hotel room on the last night of my trip and wanted to share the many things that I've experienced on this trip. I'm here for work which requires much of my time focused on those activities but my evenings are free for adventure. I normally see broadway shows while I'm here, and this trip is no different. But there have a been a few extra things that have occurred that I would like to share.

Cash Cab - have you ever seen that show where people get into a cab and are asked to answer questions on the way to their destination to earn money? We'll I have and always thought it would be fun to do. While I didn't get to actually do this, they did have the cash cab and host outside of our hotel next to a food truck they had as part of publicity stunt. So while waiting in line to get food I got to watch cash cab. It was cool.

SMASH - Last year a new show appeared on TV called SMASH. It's fictional story surrounding a group of people trying to create and cast a show for broadway. Clearly my music geek side was drawn to this show. Now I know that they film everything in New York and thought it would be cool to see them. Well on Wednesday night, walking back to my hotel after a show, I saw a restaurant closed for "filming" and all of these trailers. I never could figure out what they were or who was staring but knew I got to see a film set. Well this morning I saw a twitter picture of the cast of SMASH standing outside of the restaurant that we passed. Next time I'll be sure to stand around and see if I can see any one.

Annie - This was one of the shows that I saw. I was a little weary about it but also interested. I've grown up only watching the movie and wasn't sure how I would enjoy it on stage. I had nothing to worry about as the production was great. The girl who played Annie was amazing and had a great voice for an eleven year old. She gave me chills when she sang. The actress playing Miss Hanagan was just as good as Carol Burnett. The show stealer was the little girl who played Molly, the youngest of the cast. She was hysterical. It's a great show for children of all ages.

Once - the other show I saw was the 2012 Tony Award Winning Best Musical. It is set in Dublin, Ireland and has this guy who is giving up music as his heart has been broken. He runs into a Eastern European girl who pushes him to continue with his music as people need to hear his songs. Throughout the course of a week they continue to connect and write music all while falling for each other. The play ends with a vague ending that allows you the audience to determine what happens next. I found this to be a truly amazing show. The music and story were to be described as "hauntingly beautiful". The actors also played all of their own instruments and the dialog in between songs was amusing. I clearly understand why this won best musical. A co-worker had shared that after she saw the show a couple of weeks, she just didn't want it to end. I completely agree. It was amazing and I recommend if you can see it you should. Side note - they have one of the bars on stage so you can get drinks before the show and at intermission. I did this and can say I stood on a broadway stage. One thing I can cross off my bucket list.

This has been a great trip and I'm ready to come back soon. Here are a few pictures:

KC Restaurant Week Day 3

It's been a couple of days since my last post and figured I should update it now before I got behind and it was another 6 months before I posted again. On Wednesday I took a break from restaurant week as I had tickets to see Billy Elliot the Musical. It's one of the 5 shows of the broadway across america season this year. While I've seen it on broadway in New York, it was just as enjoyable here. Always glad to see it.

On Thursday I picked back up with restaurant week to try EBT. EBT was originally a department store in Downtown Kansas City that closed in the 60's. The owners of the department store opened this restaurant on the south side of the town and incorporated parts of the store for atmosphere. One of these things is the original elevators where put in and are used as tables for customers to sit. On this night to EBT we were able to sit in them as it wasn't very crowded. Overall the meal was good. Here is what I had.

1st course - EBT house salad with mixed greens, shaved carrots and celery, shredded cheddar, tomatoes, and a garden vinaigrette. This was a good salad similar you would get at most good restaurants.

2nd course - Roasted beef tenderloin - This was a slice of whole-roasted beef tenderloins, with roasted garlic-truffle whipped potatoes and mixed vegetables. It was finished with a peppercorn cream sauce. Everything was good but the peppercorn cream sauce made the dish.

3rd course - for dessert I had the carrot cake. It was good with a nice cream cheese icing.

Overall this was a good meal that I really enjoyed.

KC Restaurant Day 2

So today was another day of trying out restaurant week. Tonight the restaurant of choice was Michael Smith. This is a locally owned fine dinning by James Beard award winning Chief Michael Smith. I've been wanting to try this restaurant as I've enjoyed his other Extra Virgin. Here is their website for the restaurant www.michaelsmithkc.com.

The dinner was a 3 course meal that was just as great as I expected. Here's what I had:

1st course was a Braised Pork Tortellini with a tomato ragu. Everything in this dish was great from the homemade pasta to the pork filling.

2nd course was a Pan Fried Hanger Steak with broccolini, mashed potatoes and a red wine mushroom sauce. The steak was very tender and delicious. You didn't even need a knife to cut the steak. The sauce was a perfect compliment to the steak. The rest was the good too.

3rd course was a warm pecan and apple bread pudding. It was cooked to perfection.

They also have a great wine list that compliments the food.

Overall I really enjoyed this meal and will be going back again to try out the rest of the menu.

Below are some photos of my meal in the order the courses were served.

Take 2

So I haven't been the best about updating this blog as regularly as I liked. The good thing is I can restart this whenever I like. So here is take 2. Now is a great time as it's restaurant week in Kansas City. While it started on Friday, tonight was the first time I was able to actually participate since I was out of town. So I decided to try Grunauer. This is an Austrian/German restaurant located in the Freight District downtown. I had never been here before but had heard tons of great things. Now is a perfect time to try it out. Here is what was on the menu:

First course was an Obatzda - a camembert and paprika spread on fresh rye with chives - this was really good. The amount of the spread was more than I would have normally put on the rye but was still very good.

Second course was the seasonal potato soup - it was very smooth and creamy. I needed some bread to make sure there wasn't a drop left in the bowl.

Third course was a traditional schnitzel - it was a pork tenderloin breaded along with a potato cucumber salad. The pork was cooked to perfection and the potato salad was light and refreshing. I also got to try the Prokholt or goulash. It was delicious as well.

The fourth and final course was an apple strudel - it was topped with homemade cream.

Overall this was a great meal and I will be going back to try some of the other things on their menu. I'm not sure why it took me so long to try this out. Here's their website to learn more about them. www.grunauerkc.com

Here are a few pictures of my meal.

Random Things

Here are a few random things that have been going on over the past few months.

A view from my hotel at the Contemporary of Disney World.

Watching a storm front come in from my office at work.

A view of Kansas City from the Kauffman Performing Arts Center.

Looking at the audience inside the Kauffman Performing Arts Center.

New Orleans, Louisiana July 2012

My latest trip was to New Orleans, Louisiana.  Some place I've never been before but really enjoyed myself.  We stayed at the Bourbon Orleans hotel a block off of Bourbon street.  We toured the Ursuline Convent as part of our conference.  I got to spend a little time on Bourbon street (what I remember and I was well behaved).  A small group of us took a walking ghost tour of the French Quarter which was amazing.  I also had my cards read.  Other than the travel to and from was horrible (delays in Dallas) the trip was great.  I want to go back again soon.

Enjoying Bourbon Street!

Having beignets at Cafe Du Monde

The French Quarter

Garden at the convent.

The attic at the convent.  Do you see the spirits?

Bourbon street at a quite time.

St. Louis Cathedral.

Our tour guide continued to refer to this as "Touchdown Jesus".