My Story

Welcome!  I’m Nicole and this is my blog, Simply Nicole.  I work full-time in marketing and have my bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in communication.  Keep reading for a little bit about my background.

My love/hate relationship with food began during my junior year of high school.  My parents finalized their divorce and my mom, her new boyfriend, my sister and I moved out of my childhood home and into a new place.  I was the new girl in a new school in a new town.   I didn’t have too many friends and used food for comfort.  Wawa Italian hoagies for dinner were my favorite.  I wasn’t happy with the way I looked, but didn’t know much about nutrition to make any significant changes.  Because of financial reasons, we were forced to move back to Philadelphia with my grand-mom.  I was attending a suburban public school while living in the city.  People soon found out and I was mortified.

junior year of HS (2005)

Let’s fast forward until sophomore and junior years of college.   My mom passed away in May 2007 from brain cancer (during my freshman year at community college) and I needed to get away from everything.  I got accepted into my number one school and moved into an apartment on campus in August.  I didn’t know how to deal everything I was going through, so I didn’t.  I used many defense mechanisms (which I later learned about as a psychology major), such as denial and emotional reasoning, in order to avoid dealing with the loss of my mom.

San Diego (spring break 2007)

I started eating terrible “food” in replace of healthy food.  My weapon of choice: aspartame.   I had that stuff in everything.  My diet sodas, yogurts, frozen dinners all were loaded with the sweetener.  I managed to live off of highly caffeinated coffee drinks, low-calorie versions of regular food items and  frozen diet dinners.  I thought that by loading up on energy bars as a replacement for a healthy lunch and eating so called “diet” foods, that they were better for me.  My stomach did not react well to all the chemicals and rice cakes I was putting into my body!

sophomore year (2008)

During my senior year of college I really started getting into nutrition, healthier food options, and writing my blog.  I also met Bry!  After reading so many inspiring blogs, I realized that healthy fats were good for me in moderation and eating a bagel every so often wasn’t going to make me overweight.  Some of my favorite foods include cottage cheese & fruit, whole grain pasta, full fat Greek yogurt, and protein shakes!

graduation (2010)

After graduating with my master’s degree in August of 2011, I decided that I would go out for a run for some much needed exercise. Since then have I run a few 5Ks and have fallen in love with running!  Currently, I am running in preparation for my first half marathon and practicing yoga.

Master's graduation (2011)

After my 2nd 5K (Dec 2011)