Where's the Beach?

Knock knock.  Who's there?  Me.  Me Who? Oh you know, the gal that used to blog ... After 5 1/2 years of blogging, I simply needed a break. I needed to reconnect to my life, not an online life. It was beyond refreshing I must say. Also, I felt like my posts were starting to feel contrived, especially after finishing my first full marathon and then ending up sidelined with that good old stress fracture . I didn't know what more to say. I wasn't feeling inspired in the kitchen. I most definitely wasn't inspired by running, since I couldn't. I didn't want my posts to be all "woe is me" because in the grand scheme of everything in life, my life wasn't necessarily bad. I was just having some set backs. After my injury, I set on the road to regaining my running endurance - both distance and cardiovascular endurance. It was hard. It was frustrating. Any runner who's been sidelined knows all about the comeback game. It's as mentall...

There was a time when I would apologize for not having blogged for a day, and would have begged for forgiveness for missing four days. But that feels like a lifetime ago and terribly silly. Seriously, why apologize for living, for living in your moments rather than blogging about the moments? The thing is, I often read blog posts about living, being in the moment, being present. But at the same time there are no blogging breaks, no lapses in tweeting, instagraming, facebooking. I'm not pointing any fingers mind you. It's just an observation. And I think many times the posts are meant to be encouraging. But the blogger should follow through too right? And the thing is, I get it. As a blogger, if you miss a few posts, aren't on all the social media channels all the time, you get forgotten. Quickly. And that kind of makes me a bit sad. So if you want to keep your readers, if you want to keep your engagement up, then you have to be "on" all the time. You h...

I wish I had some fantastic blog birthday giveaway to share. I don't. I truly just wanted to thank everyone who continues to read my blog. Four years ago I started this blog with no real clue as to where it would lead me. I had hoped to make extra money. That never happened. That's not to say the blog hasn't made me rich in other areas. I've made some incredible friendships here. I've been incredibly inspired by so many amazing bloggers. I feel like my life has definitely been enriched. There were times when I wanted to quit the blog. It's time-consuming. I don't always feel inspired to write. I've definitely been slacking with recipes. I don't even always share my workouts any longer. I may be blogging a little less frequently, that's not a bad thing is it, but I cherish the comments I receive. You guys make me smile with your support, encouragement, and just general conversation. If you had asked me where I would be in four years whe...

While I'm in Long Beach with my sister and bestie, I decided that it might be a nice time to do something different - a guest post. I wasn't sure what our internet access situation might be, or if I'd even have much time to long onto the computer. And let's face it, I should be relaxing right? So, I asked one of my dear friends, Jessica, to do a blog post. I immediately thought of her (and one other friend you'll hear from on Wednesday) when I decided to do guest posts. I know some people do them often, others never, some people won't read them. I've shied away from them before, but I know so many of you know these two ladies who will be posting, so I hoped that mean you'd all be more inclined to read their words. Jessica was one of the first people to comment on my blog. In fact, we started blogging within a week of each other. Never in a million years would I have imagined how much our friendship would grow and how much she'd mean to me. So, wi...