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June 8, 2020

Career

It hurts to grow up and everybody does

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be an adult and how it feels very different from what I imagined it to be when I was a kid. As a kid it felt like all adults must have things figured out, but I’m beginning to suspect that I assumed incorrectly. I recently had a moment where I looked around and realized that my friends—and I, too—are working adult jobs at reputable companies and I didn’t really feel it happening. I knew at some point we would be adults and become the ones running the world, but I thought it would feel different. Or feel like something at least.

November 16, 2018

Career

Running my way through a season of change

The last few months have been full of change for me—and historically I have not been the greatest with change. My best friend Christina moved away in July and I quit my job the same week. I didn’t plan for things to go quite like that, but I knew in my heart that it was time to quit and the universe gave me an opening. I had another few weeks of work after giving notice, but I was faced with the immediate question of what to do next.

For years I told myself (and everyone I know) that I wanted to get back to graphic design, but I never actually made the move. It was what I’d been planning to do since I was 14—and what I went to school for, but after college I fell into working in reproductive rights and then stayed because I knew it was important work. But after years of just sort of floating along, I realized if I didn’t make a change, I would keep floating away from my dreams.

The thing is making a change is hard.

October 13, 2018

Lifestyle

In-flight skincare: how to make a long flight feel more like a trip to the spa

My friend Shanna has been saying for a while that I’m very into beauty. I always denied it because I pretty much never wear makeup and I’m sort of a dunce when it comes to my hair (my daily styling product is just water), but finally had to admit that if skincare counts as “beauty,” she might be onto something. When I was on vacation over the summer and looked at all the tiny skincare products and mask samples stuffed into my toiletry bag and had to face the truth. So, fine! I will admit that I’m very into my skincare routine and keeping it up on the go.

When I travel, I always make sure to bring all of my usual daily products (or at least ones I’ve used before and like) to use while I’m away from home. During my last international trip, though, I decided to step it up and do some skincare during the flight as well.

The Latest

September 18, 2018

Wellness

How working out changed my relationship with my body

I sometimes think about how much I work out and wonder if people who know this about me wonder why I haven’t gone through some kind of dramatic weight loss transformation. And if we’re being honest, I sometimes wonder this about myself. But before you @ me with weight loss advice or start interrogating me about my diet let me stop you. I’m not in the game to change my body, I’m in the game to change my mind. But what I didn’t expect was that working out would dramatically change my mind about my body.

August 20, 2018

Fitness

8 ways to create a consistent workout routine

Getting to the gym regularly is something that’s often discussed as an elusive goal or a failed New Year’s resolution. But, as I mentioned in my New Year’s post, even though consistent exercise has never a been a resolution of mine, I’ve managed to stick with it for two years without really trying. I don’t say that to brag, I just mean that it doesn’t have to be a harrowing task if you reframe the way you think about. Last week I celebrated my 200th ride at Peloton, which was both exciting and alarming. Honestly, it just snuck up on me. When I first started riding, I didn’t think I would even finish 25 rides—not because I didn’t think I could, but because it simply never occurred to me as a possibility.

June 5, 2018

Lifestyle

Summer Reads: 5 books I read and loved

The unthinkable finally happened: I ran out of space on my bookshelf. It happened slowly as I continued trying to wedge new books into every possible nook and eventually resorted to stacking them in other parts of my room. It took a few months for me to part with the Kallax shelf that Josh so kindly (or begrudgingly?) assembled and IKEA-hacked to get just right. I’d grown attached to it. Where would I put all the random junk I used to keep on top? Would I have to move the posters that hung above it? I thought of every excuse to keep it, but it was clear that I’d acquired too many books for the old shelf to sustain. RIP.

April 22, 2018

Wellness

Self Care Sunday: the transformative power of being alone

It’s no secret that I’m all about self-care—especially on the weekends. I try as much as possible to use the weekend to rest and recharge for the week ahead, but it doesn’t always happen the way I intend. Sometimes my plan to lounge in bed all day reading a book is derailed by a last minute invite to a party or someone wanting to go to brunch. It all seems innocuous enough at the time; why shouldn’t I do those things? I like hanging out with friends and it’s not as if I have anything else to do! But I realized recently that sometimes having a day 100% to myself is exactly what I need to recharge—even away from the people I love the most. I also realized that I don’t have to stay in bed in order to do that.

February 28, 2018

Fitness

Reclaiming my title: how identifying as an athlete changed my life

There are some things in life you take for granted until they’re gone. For me, that thing was sports. Since about second grade, I don’t think there was a time in my childhood that I didn’t play sports. I started playing soccer because my best friend Alicia joined the youth league and I wanted to try it too. Looking back she was my original #fitfluencer: I wanted to do everything she did—and she never sat still for very long. (Interestingly, she’s a trainer now so maybe she was onto something back then). I played soccer for nearly a decade, but also took up gymnastics, dance, and horseback riding. I took swimming lessons in the summer. I joined the basketball team in middle school. I went to volleyball camp once in junior high. By high school, most of the girls from the soccer league left to join the high school teams, so I played lacrosse for four years instead. In the off season, I did colorguard for the marching band, which, while not exactly a sport, was competitive and made my lacrosse shot shockingly strong when spring came around again.

February 18, 2018

Wellness

13 things I learned from spinning at Peloton

If you’ve talked to me in the last two years, you know that I’m a little obsessed with my spin studio Peloton. A couple weeks ago I celebrated my birthday by dragging some friends to a class for the second year in a row. It also happened to be my 150th ride there. Both of these things feel surreal to me because I never thought I’d be the person who went to spin class religiously—I didn’t understand the appeal. Christina and I tried SoulCycle once a few years ago and I don’t think either of us has been back since. But months after that first attempt, I tried spinning again at Flywheel and eventually Peloton—which is where I got hooked.

January 4, 2018

Career

How I set big—but attainable—goals for the New Year

I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions because they tend to be so fraught: they’re notoriously hard to keep and there’s an underlying expectation that people will only last a few weeks before reverting to their old ways. The expectation of failure is so ingrained that my social media feeds have been full of jokes about the myriad ways that people will give up within days. It’s sad to say, but I think this makes some sense because it’s almost impossible to make major, lasting changes overnight. So many people set resolutions expecting that somehow everything will be different on January 1, and then when it isn’t (surprise!), they get discouraged and give up. And I don’t blame them! The last week of scrolling by memes about people giving up on fitness resolutions has given me cause for reflection because I somehow managed to do the impossible in 2017: I maintained a shockingly consistent fitness routine even though that was not my resolution or even a clear goal.

December 10, 2017

Lifestyle

10 things to help you live your best hygge life

A few years ago, I had a wonderful therapist who gave me an assignment to go home and write a list of self-care activities that I could refer to when I was having an especially hard time. At that point, I was feeling so depressed that I couldn't make it through a day without bursting into tears at least a few times. I won't say that self-care was some kind of magic bullet solution to this—therapy and medication were probably most vital—however, during a time when I was focused on simply making it through one minute at a time, having list of go-tos that would remind me to be present and bring me some comfort was extremely helpful.

November 7, 2017

Wellness

Finding the courage to rest

People are always saying the only workouts you regret are the ones you didn’t do. I’m here to say that is false. I mean usually it makes sense: the endorphin rush and feeling of accomplishment you get at the end of a workout put you in a better mood than when you started. But what if your body was telling you not to do it? A few months ago I went to one of my favorite classes and left feeling broken. I’d considered canceling the day before after a pretty intense physical therapy appointment (and a night of drinking and karaoke), but opted to go anyway—I figured I was just making excuses. But during the ride, my body rebelled.

September 13, 2017

Career

Training for life

The other night as I was dying in the front row of the second of two consecutive spin classes, I asked myself “why am I doing this? What possessed me to think this was a good idea? I’m not training for a marathon, I’m not trying to lose weight, I am just a regular lady who apparently makes bad decisions like taking two classes in a row!!” A couple years ago I would never dream of even setting foot in a spin class, let alone doing more than one a day. During the seemingly endless free time on the train ride home I started to wonder what I’m training for. Sure I’d love to play soccer or lacrosse again, but is that really what’s driving me? And then I realized: I am training for my life. I know that sounds a bit dramatic, but bear with me.

August 15, 2017

Wellness

How the Election Forced Me to Prioritize Self-Care

I have been thinking about launching this blog for a few months now, going back and forth about whether or not it was silly to try to edge my way into an already extremely crowded field of so-called lifestyle bloggers, but a little voice in my head kept telling me that now is the time. Even if it’s not wildly successful, there is something empowering about putting my voice out there at a time when marginalized people are being made to feel unsafe and unwelcome in their own homes and communities because one man managed to claw his way into the White House.

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