Category: Diary
Square Water Bottles
| May 23rd, 2013 | Diary |
I’m a very particular person.
I only wear a handful of colors.
I only like coffee from a few places.
I have a strange hate for when coasters are left all over the table (that’s VERY weird, I know).
I also don’t have a particular love for water.
I’ve been trying to increase my water intake for years now. I’ve talked about it way too many times on the blog. You probably think I’m crazy, but I honestly can go full days with only drinking a cup of water.
That was until yesterday.
I stopped at Wawa during lunch and picked up food and a water bottle. I’ve had Fiji water in the past, and it’s really nothing special. It does, however, come in a square shaped bottle. I think I’ve solved my problem. I only like drinking out of square shaped bottles.
That sounds absolutely ridiculous.
But I drank a WHOLE LITER of water yesterday. For some of you, you’re reading this thinking I’m strange… but if you know me personally I hate drinking water.
I’ll have to buy a reusable square shaped water bottle now and give it a try.
Yes, you just read an entire blog post about water.
You can thank me later 
Talk to Me
- What you’re favorite brand of bottled water?
- Do you have any weird water drinking habits?
- Tips to drinking more water?
Lately
| May 16th, 2013 | Diary |
Only one more day until Friday! This week has been so busy, and I just want a day to just sleep in with no alarm. That would be glorious.
Lately…
- I’m not getting nearly enough sleep.
I’ve been sleeping in longer than usual these days, but I really need the extra half hour so I’m not beating myself up over it. Sure, I could get up earlier and go to the gym, but if that’s the case I’ll be half sleeping at my desk all day and nobody needs that!
(source) – clearly not me, but side note: who sleeps in makeup?! Thank you, stock photography.
- I am craving fruit.
So happy that last night we went food shopping, because I haven’t had fruit in the house for days – which is completely unheard of for me. I pretty much live off of fruits, veggies, fish & candy (shhh!).
- I want to take a vacation
Since we are saving for the wedding and our honeymoon, we won’t be able to take a long vacation anywhere, but I’m definitely down for a short weekend getaway. We’re going to the beach in a couple weeks for my friend’s wedding, but it will be a jam-packed weekend. Not much relaxing, although I absolutely CAN NOT wait!
Talk to Me
- What are some things you’ve been thinking lately?
- Do you take short road trips? What’s your favorite weekend getaway?
- Favorite fruit?
It’s Moving Day 1
| March 14th, 2013 | Diary |
Yes! It’s finally moving day 1. Why number 1, you ask? Well luckily, we get our keys to our new place tonight and can start moving things over. Tomorrow will be day number 2, where I’ll bring over any left over clothes and other smaller items. Saturday is the day we’re getting the moving truck and will bring over our large furniture.
It’s so nice to have a few days to do this – as opposed to just one!
Back in January, you probably remember that I was stressing out because we couldn’t find a place that fit all of our needs while still being in our budget. We looked at a few apartments in our area and were almost just considering living here another year. Luckily, the apartment complex that we liked called me in late January and said that the rent on the unit we liked went down a couple hundred dollars. BEST NEWS!
So hopefully by Sunday night we’ll be all unpacked and settled in our new place. I hope to get a post up tomorrow for Friday Favorites, but I can’t make any promises. With all the packing and unpacking I need to do by tomorrow, my mind is in a different place right now.
Normal posting will begin again on Monday.
If I don’t post tomorrow – I hope all of you have a great and relaxing weekend. As always, follow me on Twitter and Instagram for live posts throughout the weekend.
Talk To Me
- When’s the last time that you moved?
- How long did it take you to unpack everything?
- Random- where’s your favorite place to go to relax?
Truths
| January 29th, 2013 | Diary |
Truth #1: This morning was a struggle to get out of bed – honestly, I’m still laying in bed. I have this really dull headache that seems to just linger. Those are the worst! Waking up with a headache is so annoying because it just starts your day off on the wrong foot.
Truth #2: I get to see these amazing ladies next Wednesday! We’re going to happy hour at our favorite place. I’m already craving a margarita and it’s only 7AM.
Truth #3: Finding a wedding venue is annoying. Can’t we just get to the fun stuff already?! I found this venue back in December and fell in love with it – until I found out the site fee was half our budget. I still love looking at the photos, because it’s SO perfect. It’s called Early Mountain Vineyards.
Truth #4: The weather for this week is crazy. I told you yesterday about the crazy snow storm we had on Friday. We didn’t get a LOT of snow, but the roads were so cold and icy. Check out the warmer weather ahead in my area! 60’s for Wednesday!?
Truth #5: I need a trip to the gym badly. I haven’t been over to the gym in SO long. I haven’t gone for a run in the longest time. With the cold weather, all I want to do is come home from work and lay around. I need to start going to the gym in the morning, because at least then I know I have time.
Talk to Me
- What’s the weather like in your area?
- What do you typically get to drink at happy hour?
- How do you motivate yourself to go to the gym in cold weather?
Finding a Home
| January 17th, 2013 | Diary |
Life has been pretty stressful lately. In the midst of trying to find a wedding venue and secure a wedding date, we’ve also been dealing with trying to find a place to live. We’re pretty unhappy in our current place and no matter how many times I put in work orders for things to be fixed in our apartment it never seems to get completed correctly. Who caulks over current caulking?!
We just want something that we can call home. I honestly don’t feel like our apartment is very homey and I can’t see us staying here for long-term. I just want something we can be proud of and enjoy for years. Shelling out money for a place I hate is getting old.
(source)
All in all this has been going on for months. It’s not like one thing happened and I’m upset so I want to leave. In all honesty, I like the community we live in. I have enough grounds for running in the spring and have the ability to get a dog at some point if we wish. There are dozens of apartment complexes in our area, but most don’t allow pets.
Basically, I’m tired of spending a huge portion of my paycheck to a place that doesn’t seem to be helping us in any way. I’m not asking for luxury, but I do expect a washing machine to be fixed when it’s been smelling like eggs for weeks (no worries, our clothes are fine).
Time is running out, unfortunately, because we need to let our current landlord know if we are leaving by the end of this month. If you have any suggestions for good places to live in the Philadelphia area, please shoot me over an email at kennedy.nicolem (at) gmail.com.
OK, rant over. Normal posting will begin again tomorrow. Had to get this out of my system.
Talk to Me
- How long did you/have you rented?
- How long did it take you to buy a house?
- What are the downsides of you current living situation?
Healthy Living Survey
| January 15th, 2013 | Diary, Food |
1. What did you eat for breakfast?
Today I had one of these Special K Pastry Crisps packs. I woke up feeling kind of sluggish and nauseous because of the pizza I ate last night for dinner, so I’ll be having a spinach smoothie later!
2. How much water do you drink each day?
I need to drink more water, but you all know that from the 240983 posts I do about it.
3. What is your current favorite workout?
Today I’m going to do my 2 mi HIIT run. It’s a fast way to get cardio in for the day.
4. How many calories do you eat each day?
I don’t count calories. I like to eat small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals. My stomach tends to digest food easier that way.
5. What are your favorite healthy snacks?
- Greek yogurt and a banana
- Small bowl of cereal
- Fruit salads
- Baby carrots and salsa
6. What do you usually eat for lunch?
It completely depends on how much time I have in the mornings to pack my lunch. When I was working at my old job, I ate out at least 3 times a week. I never eat out at my current job – which is good, because I’m eating better and saving money at the same time! Lately, I’ve been loving my Trader Joes Butternut Squash Ravioli. I love eating them right from the refrigerator.
7. What is your favorite body part to train?
Hmm… I love training my legs. Lunges, squats and leg press are my favorite exercises on the Live Fit Trainer plan. Whenever I see a leg day, I get excited!
8. What is your least favorite body part to train?
Triceps! They are super difficult to train. No matter how much I do, I never see an improvement. Any tips?!
9. What are your “bad” food cravings?
I think everything is OK in moderation. But I’m a totally sucker for frozen yogurt and anything with bread in it.
10. Do you take vitamins or supplements?
I need to get back on the vitamin craze again. I was doing pretty well for a while with my b12 and biotin chewy vitamins, but once they ran out I never restocked. *Adding this to my shopping list*
11. How often do you eat out?
We don’t really eat out that frequently. Every once in a while we will if we just don’t feel like cooking but don’t want cereal. Recently we’ve been eating out more than usual, but that usually just means we need to go food shopping!
12. Do you eat fast food?
I don’t eat meat, so there’s not many options for meat-less fast food. I’m OK with that.
13. Who is your biggest supporter?
Bry of course! He’s always at my races and pushing me to get off my butt and get over to the gym with him. We enjoy going to the gym together because it allows us to do something together after work that isn’t just watching TV.
14. Do you have a gym membership?
Nope. Luckily, we have a clubhouse gym in our apartment complex so I use that. I think eventually I’ll get a gym membership so I can take some group classes. I do miss those! Otherwise, I’m OK with saving money and just using what I have available at my disposal. 
15. How many hours of sleep do you get each night?
I try to get as much as I can. Some nights I’m in bed by 9PM (like last night) and some nights I don’t fall asleep until midnight. It’s a toss up. I was telling Bryan this morning that we actually have to start getting into the habit of going to bed around the same time every night so we won’t be exhausted every day. The nights when we go to bed early just compensate for the crappy sleeps we had earlier in the week.
16. Do you have a “cheat” day?
Not really. I eat what I want in moderation, so there’s never many days when I go all out crazy. Of course, I’m human and I have bad days, but I try my best to make healthy choices 90% of the time. My stomach likes me better that way. I’ve found that with some of my past digestive issues, eating well most of the time can fix some of them.
17. Do you drink alcohol?
I don’t drink all that often. I do love wine, but I don’t go all out that often. Sometimes if it’s a special occasion, I’ll have more than normal. I definitely don’t drink as much as when I was in college!
18. Do you have a workout buddy?
Nope. Sometimes Bryan goes to the gym with me, but besides him I don’t.
19. What is the best thing that has changed about your life since committing to a healthy lifestyle?
Being more comfortable in my skin by making healthy choices instead of crash dieting.
20. What was the last healthy thing you did?
Developing creative ways to get my live fit trainer workouts in!
Catching up on Sleep
| January 9th, 2013 | Diary |
Yesterday was a whirl wind of a day. I took a train into NYC late Monday night after work and stayed at a hotel in Times Square for Monday night. I went to sleep around 10:30PM, but I didn’t sleep all that well. Being in a place that’s not home is always hard to adjust to (at least for me). My alarm went off yesterday morning at 5AM to prepare for a 7AM business meeting. After the meeting, I got back on a train to Philadelphia and had a full day of work. It was a crazy day to say the least.
View from my hotel room in Times Square
On Monday, Danica, one of my friends from my old job, asked me if I was going to happy hour on Tuesday night. I knew I was going to be exhausted from traveling, but I also knew that I would need a drink! Bryan met me there and we had a blast. Nothing is better than a margarita, a cheese quesadilla and great friends.
Once I got home and showered, I was beyond tired. Bry and I started watching Sons of Anarchy, but I kept falling asleep on the couch. At 8:40PM, I went upstairs to bed. I was sleeping within 5 minutes.
Needless to say, I got a LOT of sleep last night. I really needed to catch up on missed sleep from Monday night. It shocks me that it’s only Wednesday. This week feels like it’s been so long already!
Live Fit Trainer
Tonight I’m finally starting the Live Fit trainer again! I’m excited to get back into the gym. I’m trying to work out in my head how I’ll be tracking my progress here on my blog. Last time I did the Live Fit trainer. I posted about my workout the day after I did it, because I was typically working out in the morning – without time to post before work. I’m going to do the following. Let me know your thoughts:
- I’ll work out at night.
- My blog post the next morning will be about a random topic + a section for my Live Fit Workout from the previous day. I’ll post a photo of my binder sheet for the day, so you get an idea of the workouts I did and any comments I’ve had throughout the workout. This way, my blog doesn’t turn into posts solely about Live Fit.
example of a binder sheet photo from last year’s experience with Live Fit
Talk to Me
- What’s the earliest time you’ve ever gone to bed?
- Do you feel like this week is dragging as much as I do?
- Do you travel for your job?
Monday morning
| January 7th, 2013 | Diary, Living |
Good morning! I ended up going to bed pretty late last night, but this morning I didn’t lay in bed as usual. This afternoon I’m headed to NYC for a meeting Tuesday morning. So this morning, I made sure to give myself enough time to finish packing and what not. This time I definitely did NOT over pack, because I knew I wouldn’t feel like lugging all of my stuff from the train station to the hotel. I’m pretty proud of myself.
(source)
In other news, needless to say, I haven’t begun the Jamie Eason’s Live Fit trainer yet. I talked about starting the program up again this month, but things have been hectic here and I haven’t had time to go to the gym. I have been doing some at-home workouts, which I’ll talk about later in the week.
Eating wise, I’ve been adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet. For a while I was doing really well, then the holiday season hit. I’m glad to be back on track again and feeling more like myself. I do want to pick up some supplements though and get some additional vitamins (biotin and b12 to be specific).
This is a short post, because I have to make sure everything is packed and ready to go. I’ll be so frustrated if I forget anything. I won’t be able to post tomorrow, because I have a really early morning meeting, but I’ll keep you updated on Instagram and Twitter with any random updates or celeb sightings – MK and Ashley please!?
Talk to Me
- Have you ever been to NYC? If so, what did you do while you were there?
- Do you travel a lot for work?
- What your favorite place in the US?
Food Survey
| December 4th, 2012 | Diary, Food |
Good morning everyone. Thank you for all of your kind wishes on my engagement blog post from yesterday. It still feels surreal and I’m looking forward to whatever is to come. That being said, if anyone has any advice to offer as I start this crazy new journey, please comment below.
Now back to normal programming here on the blog.
I found this survey a while ago and had it saved on my computer, but never published it. Let’s take a look. I know you all like finding out random facts! Please keep in mind that I don’t eat junk food often, but it’s okay in moderation.
1. Coke or Pepsi?
I really like diet soda. I know that it’s SO bad for you and I shouldn’t be drinking it, but I don’t have it that often and I like to indulge every once and a while.
2. Lemonade or fruit punch?
Eh. I really dislike fruit punch, LOL. I’m going to have to go with lemonade.
3. Caramel Apple or Cotton Candy?
I’m a candy apple kind of gal.
4. Butterfinger or snickers?
Butterfinger all the way!
5. Pudding or Jell-O?
I’m a jell-o fan. But only certain flavors: cherry, black cherry, blueberry.
6. Turkey or chicken?
I’m a vegetarian so I don’t eat either.
7. American or provolone cheese?
I prefer goat cheese on salads. I don’t eat a lot of cheese otherwise.
8. Crackers or cookies?
Crackers. Bryan would say cookies.
9. Pretzels or chips?
Pretzels, but only soft Philly pretzels of course.
10. Mexican food or Japanese food?
Oh man, I like both a lot but I’d probably go with Japanese because I could eat sushi and miso soup any time any where.
11. Chinese food or Italian food?
Italian.
12. Pie or cake?
Cake! I really enjoy cheesecake and carrot cake.
13. Ice cream or cookies?
Ice cream and frozen yogurt!
14. Pasta or pizza?
If both were sitting on a buffet someplace, I’d probably reach for the pasta. There’s a lot you can do with pasta, and I don’t really like melted cheese on pizzas.
15. Soda or juice?
Juice of all kinds!
16. Chocolate bars or chocolate truffles?
I don’t really like chocolate that much, but if I had to pick I’d probably go with the truffles.
17. Apples or bananas?
Apples
18. Salad or soup?
SALADS! I love salads because they don’t ever need to get boring because you can add so many different items.
19. Cauliflower or broccoli?
Broccoli. I like it cold and roasted.
20. Onion rings or French fries?
French fries with a lot of seasoning.
21. Blizzard or McFlurry?
I don’t believe I’ve ever had a McFlurry, so I’m picking the Blizzard. But in reality I wouldn’t pick either – I’d go for a fun mixture of different frozen yogurts.
22. Fried or poached eggs?
Neither, I only really enjoy scrambled.
23. Crepes or pancakes?
Pancakes!
24. Hashbrowns or roasted potatoes?
Never was a fan of hashbrowns. LOVE roasted potatoes.
25. Oatmeal or cereal?
Cereal. It’s an addiction, I swear.
Talk to Me
- Do you like oatmeal or cereal in the mornings?
- If you were at a buffet, would you crap a piece of cake or a cookie?
- What’s your all time favorite dessert?
… I said YES!
| December 3rd, 2012 | Diary, Wedding |
I’ve thought long and hard about how I would write this post one day. However, when I woke up this morning, all I wanted to do is get the news out on my blog!
I’m ENGAGED!
I’ve only been engaged for about 15 hours, but I’ve figured out the lay of the land. People will ask a variation of the following questions:
- What does your ring look like?
- How did he ask you?
- When is the wedding?
You’re probably wondering the same thing.
What does my ring look like?
The answer to this question is above. It’s a GORGEOUS round diamond with 20 round diamonds along the band. The nice thing about the ring is that the diamonds go all the way around the band except for a little bit in the very underside of the ring. I wanted it this way, so when I need to get it resized while I am pregnant (not anytime soon!) it will be seamless.
The band and diamond is from Milanj Diamonds in King of Prussia, Pa. Bryan and I looked around for rings for a while now and when I found this one, I knew it was the one. It was NOT easy, because I am the pickiest person in the world and kept changing my mind. When we first looked at rings back in March, I thought I wanted a three stone ring, then it changed to a halo, then a solitaire… until finally I found the perfect ring for me.
It’s classic, timeless, and most importantly AMAZING.
How did he ask me?
Although I love sharing a lot of my personal life on my website, there are some things that I like to just keep between Bryan, our family, and closest friends. I’ll give you the summed up version. We were outside at a huge national park yesterday afternoon, got to the top of this hill overlooking the park and town, Bryan said a lot of amazing things, and asked me to marry him. A lot of the things he said he had to repeat to me later on, because everything was a blur. It was absolutely perfect. I get goose bumps still thinking about it <3
I wish I could show everyone some photos, but we were so excited that we forgot to take any. But that’s okay because I’m sure there will be many holiday photos to come in the upcoming weeks.
Although I knew I had picked out a ring and that he would eventually (hopefully) ask me to marry him, I was still shocked! I was wearing ripped jeans, my North Face fleece jacket, hair in a messy bun, minimal makeup, and sneakers because I assumed we were just walking around the park.
When is the wedding?
Goodness gracious! We haven’t given much thought to an exact date or anything if that’s what people are wondering. I’d like a fall wedding, but next fall may be too soon. We’ll have to see. Right now, we are focused on enjoying the moment, sharing this time with our family and friends, and just soaking it all in. It feels amazing.
What’s next for Simply Nicole?
I won’t make this blog all about wedding planning, I promise… but I will mention it from time to time because it’s a part of my life and although this blog is a healthy living website, it is still in part a blog based on my life. I’ll probably supplement those days when I post about just wedding stuff with a second post about healthy living, just to keep you all sane.
Talk to Me
- When did you get engaged?
- What does your ring look like?
- What time of hear did you/are you getting married?
- For those of your not engaged: Have you ever imagined what your wedding would be like?
