My Monday got off to a bit of a crazy start on the work front so after I finished teaching my 8:15 a.m. class I came home and decided to put a momentary pause on everything work related. I tidied up the house, took the girls for a walk while I caught up with my parents, showered and prepped tonight’s dinner. Two hours later, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the week.
You’d think that I’d be refreshed going into a new week but my work schedule is so all over the place. I love (love, love) the flexibility it gives me but I teach seven days a week and sometimes my weekends don’t really feel like weekends. (I’m not complaining…more just sharing how I’ve learned that sometimes taking a pause is the best thing I can do for myself.)
Backing up the the weekend, I usually feel like this by the time Friday night rolls around. Tanner was in teacher training so I took the girls for a walk, sent out an email newsletter for the studio and ate eggs for dinner. We had crazy strong storms in Charlotte on Friday night that came out of nowhere. Our power kept flickering but stayed on. I felt so lucky because so many people in Charlotte lost power. Some for three days!
I was especially excited that our power stayed on so that we could watch the gymnastics Olympic trials on Friday night.
I felt refreshed and ready to go on Saturday morning. I had coffee and a green (purple) smoothie and then took off for the farmers market.
It was one of the best markets of the year. Abundant everything!
I taught yoga after the market and then came home to make a big salad.
I wish I could say that the rest of my Saturday was exciting but this was probably the most exciting moment. I sat at my desk on the computer from 1:30-8:30 p.m. during which time I worked on creating a marketing campaign for the studio, clearing my inbox, accounting, paying taxes and other equally fun things.
Sullie literally spent the entire afternoon upside down. I freaking love her. And she reminds me that sometimes we all just need to chill out.
Tanner got home from teacher training around 6:30 p.m. and when I finally pried myself away from the computer, I made one of those dinners that turns out better than expected with a bunch of random stuff from the fridge. I had bought gnocchi at the farmers market so from there I decided to sautee prosciutto, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, shallots, garlic and peas. I finished it off the pan by adding a little stock, almond milk and parmesan along with some fresh herbs.
We did the Sunday morning sleep in and brunch thing.
I baked a batch of Paleo Banana Bread Muffins with some bananas that were either going into banana bread or to the trash.
And then commenced an afternoon of teaching. I taught Total Strength at the Y and then hot yoga at the studio. I teach the Y class on a monthly rotation so that I can stay on staff at the Y and I love it. I miss teaching group exercise regularly. It’s just so much fun!
I ate one of my muffins with some Wild Friends Protein Peanut Butter in between classes.
I did my weekly grocery shopping after class and then ended my weekend in the kitchen. I made lemony potato salad, grilled okra and my first whole grilled chicken. I did a lot of reading and research about cooking whole chickens on charcoal so I ended up spachcocking it (butterflying) so that it would lay flat and then I made a two zone fire with direct and indirect heat. I started the chicken on the indirect heat and then flipped it skin side down onto the direct heat to finish and brown the skin. It turned out so much better than I could have hoped! I called my dad right after dinner to tell him all about it! 🙂
Here’s the plated meal. Great summer Sunday dinner.
We stayed up way too late on Sunday night watching the women’s gymnastics Olympic trials and waiting for the team announcement. Did anyone else watch? These girls are INCREDIBLE and I can’t imagine how stressful the selection process must be for them since they don’t go by rank. I can’t wait to watch this team compete in Rio and 16-year old Laurie Hernandez (far left) totally stole my heart.
Did you watch the gymnastics Olympic trials?
Did you bake anything this weekend?
Do you ever feel like you need to take a “pause?” What helps you get re-centered and focused?
