What Happened to the Weekend?

The typical work week is Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with a lunch break from 12:30-1:30 pm, right? Those seem to be standard business hours, but there isn’t anything standard about our society and the hours of operations for businesses that are struggling to keep their expenses as low as possible while maximizing revenue. Now, throw the insane cost of living in some places and all of a sudden, you need to work way more than 40 paid hours a week just to pay rent. Let’s not even bring up student loans.

If you have a salary job, there’s a 90% chance that you’re working way more than 40 hours a week and skipping lunch breaks to hit every deadline for the three jobs that you’re doing since they’re not replacing the other people who left because they’d had enough of being a “team player.” Even with that salaried job, you’re not making nearly enough to cover your expenses so you only have one choice. You have to get a second job.

Mar092016

Try Being Grateful

This title could be perceived as offhanded. However, imagine the tone as one of gentle nudging rather than being snootily rude. I’m not trying to throw in your face that you’re a brat, but just that each of us could–instead of complaining or being bitter–try instead to be grateful. I must confess, this was brought on by watching the very last episode of our beloved Downton Abbey (which I thought was a lovely ending). Reflecting on the life of the servants and such, I realized that, though fictional they are, there are plenty of people like them who are grateful despite a hardworking, have-little life. I found it to be a good lesson.

Instead of sourness and a generally negative attitude, let us try supplementing gratefulness first. The power of gratitude is enormous, be you a Lord or servant (or in these days, someone powerful or someone on the bottom of the ladder). Gratitude can pull someone from depression, from anger, from feeling lost. If being grateful to you is an impassive thing that you’ve never really thought about, try doing so now.

What are you grateful for?

Jan042016

Our New Years Week in Pictures

There was lots of sleeping in and cuddles

Nov242015

Meditation on Love

To continue our theme of thanks and giving, let’s do a short meditation on love. This will only take a few minutes and give you a great deal of happiness down the way. They say being grateful keeps us happy, but also healthy and I think it’s worth it no matter what. Being grateful makes you humble and thankful for what you have. That weeds out a lot of negative emotions. Negative emotions are like vines slowly wrapping around your body and neck, tightening until you can barely breathe. Love can combat that! Let’s get started.

Nov202015

Grateful Fridays

To continue on the aspect of being thankful, I wanted to talk about being grateful! My friend, Mary Kate, and I like to play a little “game.” It doesn’t really have a name so I’ll call it “3 Things.” Basically, randomly whenever you feel like it, you email a friend, a partner, a family member, three things you’re grateful for. It can be anything from something deep to something that’s simply an everyday thing. Mary Kate and I sometimes just do random days out of a month, or we might do it for days, weeks, or months at a time! It really helps to stop and think about what you’re grateful for. Here are mine today:

Nov122015

A Guide to a Proper English Breakfast

It seems to me that there is nothing better in the morning than a nice English breakfast (can substitute for Irish or Kiwi, too). It’s nutritious, satisfying, and joy-giving. A lot of people go to pubs and English/Irish cafes in order to get a good English breakfast. Little do they know, you can actually make your own English breakfast at home for half the price! We’re here to show you how. How is an English breakfast different than an American one? The main reason is that English breakfasts have much less of a sweet component than American breakfasts. Often with American breakfasts, you’ll see pancakes or french toast or something similar. The English breakfast is full of savory notes that all mix together. My version is probably definitely not textbook as it is heavily influenced by New Zealand–nonetheless, it is delicious.

The meat version

Nov082015

Last Few Weeks in Pictures

Beginning to look a lot like Fall…

Oct222015

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Yes, this is Hungry and Fit. But sometimes, it can just be Hungry and not Fit. This is the case with this recipe. It’s not too bad, just a lot of butter, but not a copious amount of sugar. As you know, we recently moved and I wanted to test out the oven (the oven at our old place was awful). So I knew what Hungry would want…some good old fashion chocolate chip cookies. So after a little searching, I found the perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe. Soft, light, and gooey. Excuse me, I’m drooling. Eat up!!

Sep142015

Our Epic Birthday Week(end)

First off, this post is super picture heavy. Second off, we want to thank everyone who made our birthdays special. You know who you are and we are ever grateful! It means a lot to have those we care about care about us as well. Chris turned 27 and Alana turned 25–woohoo! We had a lot of fun. For Alana’s exact day, her coworkers took her out for lunch and her family took her out for dinner at a Mexican joint that was delectable. For Chris’ exact birthday, we were in Disneyland! We decided awhile ago that we would spend our “birthday weekend” (since our birthdays are four days apart) at Disneyland–two nights stay over and tons of fun and relaxation. It was really amazing just to not be stressed: to spend money carelessly (thanks to gift cards), eat what we wanted, sleep in until whenever, and just be happy like kids. Again, thank you to EVERYONE who made our days special. And as always, stay hungry and fit!

Get-up for Fit’s birthday dinner

Aug142015

HGTV Urban Oasis 2015

Stress can make your mind stronger over time but it typically makes your body weaker in the short run. You can lose and strength and endurance you’ve spent months to build or you might just make yourself more likely of catching a cold or virus (we are understanding that real well this week). We try to present ways to keep stress levels down and sometimes we just need good old-fashioned instant gratification. Since 2002 or so, I’ve been on a mission to win the HGTV Dream Home and although I haven’t won it yet, I’m not giving up.