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Hi Friends!

As most of you guys know, yesterday was my birthday. Thank you SO much to everyone who tweeted and facebooked birthday wishes my way!  I spent the whole day feeling very loved 🙂 I feel like there are two camps when it comes to birthdays. Those who love them, and those who just treat them like any other day.

I’m definitely in the those who love them camp. I LOVE birthdays! When I was younger, we had the birthday fairy in our house. She visited the night before our birthday and decorated our room with balloons and streamers so our rooms were fun and festive when we woke up on our birthday morning! I looked forward to it every year!

Luckily for me, I have a husband who indulges me and treats me like a princess every year on my birthday 🙂

Since my birthday was on a Sunday this year, we spent the whole weekend celebrating! Friday afternoon I got a pedicure (my first of the year!) to kick off the weekend. Then I came home and ran 4 miles while I waited for the hubby.

Hubby came home and surprised me with some flowers and some delicious treats from Trader Joes! We enjoyed a few beers on the deck and then headed out to our favorite Thai place for dinner. And then we stopped for some fro-yo for dessert 🙂

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to do yardwork! We got 2 cubic yards of topsoil delivered on Friday night and this year we finally decided to buy a wheel barrow instead of dragging the dirt around to the backyard on tarps. However, the wheel barrow didn’t fit in our car. SO, I walked it home 🙂 We only live half a mile from Home Depot so it didn’t take long. I’m sure I was quite a sight 🙂

We just got a new mailbox so this weekend we made a little bed around it so we can plant some flowers. We also turned the garden and added some dirt to get it ready for planting. Finally, we expanded one of our back flower beds to add a new bush and did some leveling in one of our other beds!

Oh, and did I mention that all of this took us about 5 hours, it was only 50 degrees and it rained almost the whole time?

Saturday night we headed out to dinner with my in-laws. Good food, good times 🙂

Aren’t we lovely?! 🙂

Sunday was the best day! This is what I saw when I woke up, lol 🙂

Hubby served me breakfast in bed. It started with coffee:

Is he the best or what?! Look at this amazing breakfast!!

French toast made from a pretzel roll, scrambled eggs with leftover mexican couscous, a honeycrisp apple, Chobani and LGF granola, and a little bowl of Kix!

The boys watched me carefully the whole time!

After breakfast we headed out for a bike ride. We covered about 11.5 miles on a beautiful but WINDY morning!

He gave me my present- planter boxes for the deck so I can grow my herbs in them this year!

The we headed out to do some shopping at my favorite stores!

We bought a random assortment of things including a new rug, a new dog doy, a planter, a new dress, a clutch, some cutting boards….

and this beauty…

LOVE IT 🙂

Next we headed to World Market to spend my $10 bday coupon:

Afterwards the hubby treated me to an afternoon beer and snack!

We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner:

Crab cakes that are so packed with crab that they don’t like to stay together….but taste delicious!

And hubby made me pan-seared scallops and roasted asparagus:

All in all, a pretty darn good birthday if you ask me 🙂

How was your weekend?

–Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

Should I get a Fitbit? That’s the question I’d been asking myself FOREVER! I knew lots of people that had them and talked about how amazing they were…but really, I just didn’t want to spend the money- they are $99.

When my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I bit the bullet and asked for one! Ask and you shall receive. My brand new Fitbut Ultra showed up last Friday and since then I’ve fallen in LOVE!

In fact, you might go so far as to say I’m obsessed. Just as the hubby. In fact, hubby- you should stop reading this post right now. It’s all about the Fitbit and I know you don’t care how many steps I’ve taken 🙂

I thought I’d use today to share a little bit about the Fitbit with you guys in case you’re on the fence about getting one like I was. We’re skipping Fitness Friday one more time because I’m still finishing up my antibiotics for my sinus infection and after running three miles one day earlier this week and feeling like I was going to puke the whole time, I decided to focus my efforts on walking until those pills are gone.

So, I got my present in the mail Friday afternoon. I charged it up Friday night and was off to the races on Saturday when I used it for the first time.

The fitbit is small. It’s about the size of a USB drive. During the day I usually wear it clipped onto my tanktop…or the waistband of my pants.

It’s a simple device. It only has one button. You press the button once to light up the display and the first thing it shows you is your steps so far that day. If you press the button again, it moves to miles, then calories, vertical flights, a flower that grows based on how active you are, and the time.  I know the pics are blurry but it doesn’t stay lit very long!

When you go to bed, you clip the fitbit to a wristband that it comes with. It’s super soft and closes with velcro so you can adjust it to fit your wrist.

When you’re ready to go to sleep, you hold down the button until a timer starts. When you wake up, you do the same thing and the time stops. The fitbit tracks your sleep during the time when the timer is on.

The fitbit syncs wirelessly when you’re within 15 feet of your computer, as long as you have the dock plugged into the usb port. This is what the charging dock looks like. I just leave mine plugged into the computer all the time and then every time I go near it, it syncs.

This is also what you use to charge the fitbit, but please note I’ve been using this continuously since Saturday, have not charged it yet and am still at medium battery!

To view all the info your fitbit collects, you visit your online dashboard at fitbit.com. All your info is automatically loaded there. You can see how many steps you walked on a particular day, floors climbed, miles traveled, calories burned and your active score.

The first day I wore it (Saturday), I didn’t do anything extra. It was just a day of running errands with the hubby. I didn’t go to work, I didn’t work out, I didn’t put in any extra effort and I only walked 5,800 steps.

Sunday, I decided I wanted to get at least 10,000 steps for the rest of the week. I went to work and even though it was a super slow day, I was shocked to see that I walked almost 6,500 steps while I was at work!

On Monday, I didn’t work, but I walked to class and took the dogs for a long walk, did a tabata workout and did a bunch of stuff around the house.

Tuesday was by far my most active day. I went to work- it was busy so I walked about 7,500 steps there, plus I ran/walked 3 miles when I got home. I hit 15,000 steps!

For each day, you can scroll down even further and see charts and graphs about your activity level throughout the day. You can see calories burned:

You can see that when I was at work from 4-7 my activity level increased to fairly active, and then that I was very active while doing my three mile workout later that night. You can also see how imbalanced my days are. I tend to be not very active in the mornings when I’m blogging and working on schoolwork and then cram a lot of activity into the second half of the day.

And you can also switch from calories to steps/floors/active score and watch the graph change. The graph below shows steps:

Finally, you can see how you slept the night before. When you start the timer, it tracks how long it takes you to fall asleep- or basically stop moving. It keeps track of how many times you wake up, etc. As you can see, I wake up every night between 3 and 4 to feed the dogs. It’s weird, I know…but it’s just easier for me to do it then, then to try to fight them off until a more “normal” time. It also tells you your sleep efficiency. My score is always pretty high, which surprised me.

One thing I did notice is that since the fitbit isn’t really hooked up to you and officially monitoring your sleep, more your movement, one night it thought I was asleep when really I was just lying in bed reading. So, after that I decided to not start the timer until I actually turn out the light and lay down to go to sleep.

Wednesday was another fairly active day. I didn’t want to run, but I took the dogs on a two mile walk and then walked two miles on the treadmill.

This was a more typical night of how often I wake up throughout the night.

The fitbit also has a lot of other features that I’m not using yet. You can track your food and water intake, your weight, your blood pressure and glucose if you monitor those and you can write journal entries about how you’re feeling each day.

I don’t track my food so I haven’t really done much with this, but if you do, and you use apps like My Fitness Pal, you can synch those with your fitbit so they all work together using apps. You can also use apps like EarnedIt where you get points for your activity levels and you can redeem those points for prizes.

You can also use apps to sync with your Nike+ workouts, set up alerts to get emails or texts when your fitbit battery is getting low or do more analysis of your sleep patterns:

There’s also a fitbit app for your phone that you can use to track your water intake throughout the day. It shows your steps and all that info, but just like the webpage, it only updates when you’re within 15 feet of the docking station.

Finally, you can always see your overall achievements, like your Lifetime steps, stairs, etc…as well as your best days for each. You earn badges for getting certain achievements and you can connect with other friends who have a fitbit. As you can see, I have no friends 🙁 Lol, but I haven’t actually looked for anyone yet! If you have a fitbit, find me!

There’s even a community section where you can join groups for support or just read the forums:

So there you have it. More than you probably ever wanted to know about the Fitbit.

I have to tell you guys, this little thing is making me do crazy things…like running in place in the basement, walked around while tweeting or reading my book, taking the long way to walk to class and leaving my laundry basket farther away from my dresser when I put my clothes away, just so I can get extra steps!!!

I LOVE the challenge of trying to get a certain number of steps each day and it’s definitely motivating me to move more.

If you’ve been thinking about trying to be more active, I’d definitely recommend a pedometer. It doesn’t even have to be as fancy as a Fitbit. Just get something that can track your steps. It can be a super motivating way to kick your butt in gear when you look down at 2pm and see you’ve only walked 1,000 steps for the day!

Do you wear a pedometer?

–Lindsay–

PS. I was not asked to write this review. I was not compensated for this review.  Fitbit has no idea who I am. My mom bought this fitbit for the full retail price. All thoughts and opinons are my own. I just wanted to share this cool little gadget with you guys!

Hi Friends!

It’s Monday. Probably the best Monday of my life. Wanna know why?

Oh, you can’t read that? Let me make it a little bigger for you!!

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That’s right. Last night was match night for Dietetic Internships. First they make you wait 6 weeks from the time you submit your applications until the day you find out, AND THEN they make you wait until 7pm on match day to find out. It was torture! But it was all worth it because I matched 🙂 And I’m one step closer to becoming a Registered Dietitian. For the first time I actually feel totally confident that it will happen. Getting matched to an internship was the one thing that’s been hovering over my head for the past 3 years that was at least partially out of my control. Now that I have a spot in an internship, I have no doubt that I can successfully complete the internship and then go on to successfully pass the RD exam!

There are lots of different ways to become an RD. I thought this would be a good time to tell you guys a little bit more about me and the path I took. WARNING- long, rambling post ahead!

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When I went to college for the first time, I attended a small, private university in Ohio. I majored in Psychology, graduated in 3 and a half years, had an awesome time and even met my hubby! After we graduated in December 2006, I went to work for a brand new preschool. I spent 6 months teaching 4 and 5 year olds all sorts of fun things.  I realized pretty quickly that it was not what I wanted to do with my life. I love kids and enjoy being around them. I just didn’t want a career as a teacher.

One thing that really stuck out to me as I got to know my kids was their complete and total lack of nutrition education. So many of them had never had vegetables that I eat every day, like red peppers and sweet potatoes. Another thing that stuck out was their lack of physical activity. When I was a kid, I was constantly running around outside, playing tag and riding my bike. But when it came time for recess, these kids were choosing to just sit in the grass or sit in front of the computer.

It made me sad. I started making little changes to my lesson plans so they could include things like fruit and veggie tastings and growing plants from seeds. At recess I introduced the kids to games like freeze tag and simon says to get them moving. When I left the preschool, I was more focused than ever on healthy eating and nutrition. About a month after I quit my job, the hubby and I got engaged (August 2007). I contemplated going back to school but knew that it would be too much to try to look for a job, go to school and plan a wedding. I promised myself that if I was still thinking about it after the wedding was over that I would do it!

I started working for an insurance company after a few months (September 2007) and had a steady job there that I didn’t hate, but I definitely didn’t love. After we got married (September 2008), I realized that going back to school was what I needed to do in order to be truly happy. I researched programs in the area and decided to start at a community college since it was significantly cheaper but still had a reputable program. I applied, was accepted and enrolled to start classes in January of 2009.

The first few quarters, I took 3 classes per quarter and worked 40 hours a week. I had three quarters before I could officially start the Diet Tech program so I used them to take prerequisite classes. And let me tell you, I had a lot of them. When I went to school the first time, I didn’t take any math or physical sciences. I hated them and wanted to avoid them at all costs. I didn’t really need them to be a pscyh major (which is why it was the best major to pick- in my opinion).

That approach wasn’t going to fly this time around. The dietetics curriculum is VERY science based. I had to take a lot of basic biology, chemistry and math classes before I could even start taking the courses required for the program.

A Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR) does a lot of the same work an RD, but they must always work under an RD’s license. In the fall of 2009, when I officially started the Diet Tech program, we had someone from Ohio State come and talk to us about their RD program. I immediately realized that I wanted more independence than I could have as a Diet Tech, so I met with the necessary people to figure out what I needed to do to become an RD. Ohio State had an agreement worked out with the community college which allowed me to finish the Diet Tech program and then transfer all of those credits over to OSU to get credit for courses in their program. Plus, I would be required to take many additional courses above and beyond the Diet Tech program for the RD program.

Over the next six quarters, I whittled away at the list of courses I needed to complete. I had to take a different practicum each quarter to help complete the 450 hours of supervised practical experience that’s required to become a Diet Tech. We rotated through a long-term care facility, a WIC clinic, a school kitchen and a hospital. In December of 2010, I quit my job so that I could take more classes. We were spending 8-16 hours a week in practicums, plus going to several classes and it was getting too hard to make up the extra hours at work that I had to miss to go to class.

In January 2011, I started taking classes at Ohio State as well. There were a few prereqs for the RD program that I couldn’t take at the community college. So, for two quarters I was taking classes at two schools and working part-time. In March 2011 I got a part-time job as a Diet Aide because I had no job related experience in the field and that’s pretty much a requirement for getting an internship.

In June 2011, I graduated from the community college. I actually was the Valedictorian of my class (nerd alert!) and I had to give a speech in front of a couple thousand people. It was terrible! While completing the Diet Tech program and taking courses for OSU, I took 36 classes including TONS of math and science.

Some of the classes I took:

• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Algebra I
• Algebra II
• General Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• Biology
• Microbiology

 Plus all of the nutrition classes. And guess what- I earned A’s in every single one of them! Courses that I avoided for years because I didn’t think I could pass them, I not only passed- but excelled in. It wasn’t easy. I spent HOURS and HOURS studying, especially for anatomy and o-chem…but I did it. And I proved to myself that I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to.

I continued taking classes at OSU, more science- including 2 quarters of Biochemistry) and in September 2011, I took my registration exam and become a Dietetic Technician, Registered. Once I become and RD, I will no longer be able to use the DTR credentials, but I wanted to have them now in case something were to happen and I couldn’t become an RD (ie if I hadn’t gotten matched to an internship).

I am doing a didactic Dietetics program at Ohio State. This means that you complete all your coursework and then during your senior year you apply for an internship. If you get matched, you graduated from the school and then continue to do your internship the next year, possibly at the same school (like i’m doing) or at a different school. Internships are extremely competitive. Less than 50% of dietetic students that apply are matched. For the internship I matched to, they had 100 people apply last year and they accepted 12. SO, it’s pretty stressful. I applied to 4 schools. OSU is the only program here in Columbus and the other three I applied to were distance internships that would have allowed me to stay here and do my internship by securing my own preceptors (RDs willing to take responsibility for me during my supervised practice hours- all 1200 of them that are required).

A lot of schools, including OSU, also have coordinated programs which allow you to complete your supervised practice hours WHILE you are taking classes, instead of waiting until after. These programs are generally smaller and more competitive than didactic programs and going this route just wasn’t in the cards for me.

So, here we are in April of 2011. I just started my last quarter at OSU. I’m taking my last high-level nutrition class called Medical Nutrition Therapy. I’ll graduate in June and in August I’ll start my internship which will last for about 9 months. You basically have to pay tuition to the school and then work 40 hours a week for free. And it’s not cheap.  Lots of people think it’s ridiculous how hard they make it to become an RD when our country obviously needs more of them.

I agree…but I guess it also makes it that much more of an accomplishment.

After I complete my internship, I’ll be eligible to take the registration exam and become an RD!

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After I complete my internship, I”ll begin searching for jobs. One of the best parts of the Diet Tech program was the practicums. I’ve had the chance to experience a lot of different dietetic career paths already and I’ve found that I’m drawn to the community side. I love all the different options there are with regards to organizations you can work for. I also love community education and would love to potentially become a Certified Diabetes Educator. Just thinking about the road ahead gets me so excited!!! So many options. I’ve considered becoming a certified personal trainer so that I can combine the diet and exercise components and I would love to do some individual consulting that involve education, meal plans, etc. I feel like the possibilites are endless!!!

So there you have it friends! My story, my path, my life. Going back to school with no guarantee I’d get an internship was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. I’m not the traditional college senior. I didn’t take the traditional path. But I’m proof that if you put your mind to something and you really want it bad enough, YOU CAN DO IT! And i’ve got a 4.0 and an internship to prove it 🙂

Follow your dreams! They make life worth it!

–Lindsay–

PS…Just want to say thanks to my hubby, my parents, my in-laws and my friends that have supported me for the past 3 1/2 years. They’ve encouraged me, celebrated with me, listened to me complain and pushed me to keep going when I wanted to give up. I wouldn’t be celebrating today without each and every one of them.

And also, a big thanks to all of you for all the tweets and messages last night on Twitter and Facebook. I was overwhelmed by all the congratulations and well wishes. Knowing that I have all of you supporting me and believing in me, and in this blog, makes this most recent accomplishment even sweeter than it already is.

Hi Friends!

Can you believe it’s the end of March already? This week we’re trading Fitness Friday for our monthly reveal for Foodie Penpals!!

This month, I received my box from Halley @ Blunder Construction! Halley is one of my favorite blends. Her blog is amazing and hilarious, especially when she writes about her cat, the escape artist. I knew she’d hook me up with a good box!

Let’s take a look at what she sent!

Ok, first of all…wrapped in tissue paper?! She puts my boxes to shame. They’re not nearly this pretty!

That couscous is my all-time fav! How did she know?! I found it on clearance one time and now i’m hooked! I’ve never tried that PB but i’ve yet to make a PB I don’t like 🙂 And as for steel cut oats, never had those…but lucky for me, literally the day after my box showed up, Janeetha posted Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats! Perfection!

See those peanut butter crackers? The girl is allergic to them but still sent them to be because she knew I would love them! And I do! Taste just like the pb sandwich girl scout cookies! The coffee candy is pretty cool. It REALLY tastes like coffe so if you like coffee, you’ll love these little gems. The coffee taste is a little strong for me by itself. But I’m thinking if I smashed them up and used them as a topping on some bars, with some toffee, it would be phenomenal! As for the seaweed snacks…I’m saving those for a day when I’m feeling my bravest 🙂

HUGE thanks to Halley for an amazing Foodie Penpals box! It was the highlight of my week for sure!

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And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
–Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for April, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You will also find contact information on that page for the UK branch of Foodie Penpals if you’re a blogger across the pond!

You must submit your information by April 4th as pairings will be emailed on April 5th!

**Sidenote: My birthday is April 15th so whoever gets me this month better send me a kick-ass package 😉 KIDDING!!!!!!!!

–Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

Another Monday, another day spent wishing the weekend comes quickly! I have a delicious recipe to share with you today!

Let’s talk about quinoa for a minute. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with quinoa. I WANT to love it. I love the nutrition side of it. I’m just not 100% crazy about the taste of it. Lately, however, I’ve been working on incorporating it into my diet more frequently and I threw together these cakes in hopes that they would taste mostly like tuna, with the added bonus of quinoa. Mission accomplished!

These are super simple to make, packed with protein and they taste great!

These could be drizzled with sriracha and enjoyed on top of a salad to take it from bland to  amazing.

The first night we ate these, we grilled up some veggie kabobs and some sweet potatoes and ate the cakes topped with goat cheese. AMAZING.

The next night, I ate the leftovers in a whole wheat tortilla topped with avocado and a little bit of cheese. Equally as good!

Whatever way you choose to enjoy them, I hope you make them soon 🙂

So tell me: quinoa- love it or hate it?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–