I'm Nicole and I live in DC. I'm a writer, knitter, cat lady, social media lover, nonprofit worker, and beer and food enthusiast. Want to know a little more about me? 
Filed under: Updates | Tags: exercise, friends, middle school, new balance, pheobe, running, sweat
Everything I know about running, I learned from my 9th grade gym class teacher. However, I didn’t pay much attention in 9th grade; I was more interested in the boy in my journalism class and how I could make sure I got to class fastest from the gym to sit at his table during class.
Running around a track or a field outside wasn’t stimulating and seemed pointless at the time. The boys would always lap me and taller girls would finish first. I hated running then, and have been afraid of it ever since.
A few years back, these New Balance commercials really intrigued me and almost made me want to run… but not quite enough to get me off my butt to do it.
I’m not sure what took me so long to get on the treadmill… I’m not afraid of a little a lot of sweat, I thoroughly enjoy working out, and am trying desperately to get into shape while still in my mid-twenties.
One of the biggest fears I had prior to stepping on the treadmill was the possibility of having bad form. How freely should your arms really move? Would I run like Pheobe in that episode of FRIENDS?
Also, what happens when you let go of the bar in front of you? Will you slide right off the back end like in a bad movie? What if you wind up running from side to side? Will I sound like a heard of elephants running down a bowling alley?
The only thing I remember from 9th grade gym class was our teacher telling us to hold our hands like there was a delicate potato chip between our fingers. Don’t ball your fingers into a fist and don’t squeeze your energy into your hands.
Once I stepped on, I realized that I didn’t need to answer any of those questions until I just did it.
I began doing intervals of 10 minutes – seven minutes jogging/running, three minutes walking. After three of those, I then did three more 7 minute intervals – four minutes running, three minutes walking. All in all, I ran/walked for nearly 60 minutes straight and it’s safe to say I got a good workout; I think even my fingernails are sweating.
More than anything, I feel accomplished. I’ve lived on the Blue/Orange line for 90% of my adult life and never really had residential areas to run in. Now that I live in a tree-lined, residential neighborhood with a bunch of rich yuppies on the Red line, people are constantly running… and constantly making me feel bad for not running.
Now, I can’t say I don’t know how to run. Or that I’m a bad runner. Yeah, it may take two sports bras and a super tight athletic tank to strap my chest down, but I can run!
Filed under: Updates | Tags: crafts, etsy, knitting, lisa, photography, sold
I’ve long debated launching an Etsy store for my knitted items. I regularly get people complimenting my scarves and asking where I got them and, after thoroughly cleaning my apartment, I found 16 completed items I’d never worn.
I often wondered about the actual earning potential on Etsy. Last summer, my former roommate and I hand folded, dyed, and ironed nearly 40 silk scarves. We took gorgeous photos of them, posted them to Etsy, and didn’t even have many “views.” A month later, we attempted to sell them at a craft fair in Brooklyn. Again, to no avail.
This time, I made sure I was going to do it right. With support from my Twitter account and blog, I knew I could at least get some views and get some friends and family to pass the link along to their friends. A friend came over and helped me photograph my handknits which I promptly resized and touched up.
After four hours of grueling Etsy uploading, my store was created.
Just 12 hours later, I had my first sale and, yesterday, had my second. I currently have two or three custom requests coming in and I’m going to start networking on the discussion forums with other users. Sunday, I went out and bought a bunch of spring-time yarns to get spring knitting started so I can put the winter knits on sale and get more items in the store.
I also rushed to get “finishing products” to wash, wrap, and send my knits in: I bought a beautiful blue, geometric tissue paper that was on sale at Target, blue metallic Thank You cards, and spring-time gentle soap. One of the most important things about Etsy is that everything is about having that extra special personal touch, and I really wanted to make sure to include that when I ship items as well. Today, I mailed my first Etsy sale and I was so excited that I took pictures of it.
In the summer of 2005, I dropped nearly 20 pounds doing Weight Watchers, eating properly and exercising, and having a very active job as an intern at a concert promotions company. The weight came off in a matter of weeks and then I started to slack and begin ‘rewarding’ myself. Not too long after that, I started dating and stopped eating healthily and making time for the gym.
The other day I had one of those realizations that, in 10 years, I could be one of those people on The Biggest Loser who wakes up and is over 200 pounds. I’ve slowly gained all that weight back – and more – in a matter of 4.5 years. Keep it on this pace, I could be more than 250 pounds by the time I hit 34, and that’s not something I’m okay with.
One of the major issues I have with my body is that I’m completely proportional and I hold my weight well. Yeah, that may not seem like a bad thing, but, when you gain and lose, nothing really changes. When I tell people what I weigh, they’re completely floored thinking I weigh at least 15-20 pounds less than I actually do. Maybe that has do to with my athletic background as a child and having a muscular build, but being proportional has a lot to do it with it, too. There’s no “oh, hey, my gut’s getting out of control” or “wow, my butt looks big in those jeans.” Unless I can’t buy a pair of jeans in the store, I never really notice that I’ve gained or lost much weight.
So, what am I doing now to lose weight? I haven’t changed my lifestyle that much, actually. Here are the things I’ve focused on so far:
- Getting to the gym no matter if it’s crowded or not. I love watching the activity points rack up on Weight Watchers. An hour on the elliptical is rewarding in many ways – it’s worth 8 activity points, I get a very good sweat on, and it wears me out so I can go to sleep. Also, it relieves the guilt of having a late-night snack.
- Choosing skim milk when drinking coffee/Don’t drink your calories. One of my long-term goals is to completely rid my diet of unnecessary/empty calories, especially those consumed through drinking. They offer very little nutritional value and don’t even come close to filling you up.
- Making sure to evaluate food at home before choosing to eat at a restaurant. I have a lot of food in my house. I could survive another snowpocalypse without having to worry about groceries — I really shouldn’t be getting takeout from the Thai place or Chipotle on my way home three times a week. Not only is it bad for my waistline, but it’s also bad for my wallet.
- Eating leftovers. For anyone who knows me, they know I basically can’t stomach leftovers. I blame it on the fact that I basically only at three things for the bulk of my childhood. This week, I cooked a pack of chicken up one night and vowed to eat all of it over the course of the week. I just seasoned it with pepper and salt when I cooked it so that I could use it in a variety of ways – on a sandwich, in tacos, or just plain… hot or cold. I wound up finishing the entire pack in four days.
- Setting an alarm for counting my points three times a day. I’ve actually been on Weight Watchers since my birthday and, six weeks later, I’m just beginning to count my points. There’s no bigger motivating factor than tracking your points and realizing “wow, that Pop Tart has 1/5 of the calories I’m supposed to consume in a day.” Even if you think you’re making a ’sacrifice’ by eating Pop Tarts without the frosting (I did a calorie check in the store; some flavors without frosting have more calories than their frosting-less counterparts).
- Not counting daily routine in activity points. I generally walk 2-3 miles a day, but if I were to stop exercising, this wouldn’t change. While WW suggests that you track all activity, I’m not going to go with this method because it inflates how much actual exercise I’m finding the time to do.
When you can eat things like this on a diet, why would you not diet? (I apologize for the slightly blurry picture)
That’s a mozzarella, tomato, and arugula panini on whole wheat artisan bread with a chickpea, pepper, carrot and onion salad on a little bit of spinach. Grand total: 6 Weight Watchers points.
When you’re gearing up for certain death and the impending apocalypse, there are two things that immediately come to mind: food and sex. So, maybe certain death wasn’t approaching, but everyone in the DC metro area sure as hell acted like it was. People all across the area stocked up on food and condoms, like never seen before.
I didn’t succumb to the fear of impending starvation or a few days without sex. Instead, I headed out to Arlington to get snowed in with two friends with a well-stocked pantry. They had plenty of food to keep the three of us alive (and very full) for several days without having to go to the grocery store. On my way, I stopped at a vegan bakery to get some delicious cupcakes, but the next day, we really started cooking… literally.
A few weeks back, a friend invited me out to the Peacock Cafe in Georgetown where I had the best breakfast I’ve had in my 6 years in DC and I’d been wanting to recreate it ever since. My friends had all the ingredients – pancake mix, bananas, walnut, and maple syrup – to recreate this magnificent concoction and it was almost as good as the restaurant.
Not too long after breakfast, we gathered more ingredients to make some slow-cooked chili. If you don’t know me personally, you wouldn’t know that I’ve never consumed an entire burger in my life, and have only attempted to eat ground meat three to four times. We added a package of cooked, ground turkey, kidney beans, six cloves of grated garlic, spices galore, and onions. My lack of experience with ground meat excluded many other things from my diet including chili, but I was bound and determined to give it a try and see how much I hated it.
This was actually my second bowl of chili that evening. Immediately afterwards, I told my friends I felt I’d been cheated by parents who always told me I didn’t like things before I had a chance to try them.
Throughout the course of the weekend, we spent most of our time eating, playing board games, and watching people shovel out their cars too early. I was so moved by my chili experience that, before the second storm, I decided to brave the storm and get ingredients to make my own chili. I have a new affinity for black beans so I found a recipe that was more suiting to my taste. Not only was it my first time making chili, but it was also my first time cooking ground meat. I was surprised at how much moisture the turkey had, so I strained all the juices out of my tomatoes – big beginner’s mistake. Instead of coming out as a chili-type thing, it’s more like a ground turkey stew (but delicious nonetheless).
While all this food was delicious, I don’t know if my stomach – or my waistline – can take any more back-to-back snowstorms like this for awhile.
So it’s just the sixth week of the new year, and I’m already falling behind on my resolutions. But there’s nothing like a little fresh snow to wash away the sins of resolutions failed and to start anew.
For now, I’m going to leave you with a picture of the Snowpocalypse 2010, and a list of potential upcoming posts:
- My take on an article from the New York Times (The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by their 20s)
- Unsubscription policies from e-newsletters
- Snowpocalypse 2010 in Pictures: food edition
- and … a few more that I can’t think of at the moment
After three days of being snowed in alone with cats, it’s time to tackle the third thing on my list by getting a jump start on spring cleaning and tidying up/clearing out this messy apartment.
I don’t have many resolutions this year because I want to make sure I only resolve to do things I’ll actually accomplish. If you put these crazy, lofty goals out there, you’ll never accomplish them within a year and you’ll just feel let down because you won’t accomplish them.
So here are mine:
Lose 30 pounds by July 31 (my best friend’s wedding)
This date is more of a deadline to complete the goal instead of a reason to lose the weight. Being back in DC has made me a lot more sedentary than I was in New York. Also, I drink more coffee and beer… all bad things for my waistline, thighs and upper arms.
Blog more (at least three times a week).
I’ve been doing well lately, posting several times a month or a few times a week, but I want to make writing a habit. I’ve even come up with a blogging project for the year that I’ll be posting later!
Learn to live with less.
I simply own too many things and certain things… I just have too much of. I’ve had all my belongings with me since I was 17. What started out as a few suitcases, some sheets, and knick-knacks, has grown into an entire furnished apartment or small home with wall decorations and small animals included.
This means that my apartment is always kind of messy and I’m growing tired of it. I have a few projects in mind that relate to the previous resolution that I’ll write about later!
Learn to manage my money better.
I’m getting ready to move into another, more expensive apartment in my building because I currently live under a bridge like a troll. The added expenses will force me to rearrange my finances.
I recently joined mint.com to organize everything and I saw how much money is spent on coffee, eating out, and random things. The nice thing about Mint is, they immediately send you a grumpy email when you exceed your “restaurant” budget. I plan on learning the system a little better and using it to properly organize my spending.
Wish me luck!
Filed under: Updates | Tags: cowl, finished object, knitting, lion brand, modcloth, ripoff, scarf
So, I did it again.
I was searching for a pattern for a friend’s Christmas present and couldn’t find one she’d like. After hours of searching, I finally gave up and decided to do some online shopping. I came across this comfy looking cowl on ModCloth.com:
I was kind of shocked at the price tag ($49.99!!!) on it because the yarn is 30% wool/70% acrylic. I know how cheap that crap is. In fact, I have boxes of that crap in my closet that I bought for $2.99 a ball.
So I ripped out an old, ill-fitting sweater I made when I first started knitting and quickly knitted up the cowl. I fastened the ends with buttons hoping it’d have the same affect as the cute ModCloth scarf… and it does for the most part!
It’s not as quite as bendable(?) or scrunchy as the ModCloth scarf, but it’s super warm and looks a lot nicer than their picture. Plus, it just cost me $2.99, and just four hours of my time.
I think I have a new favorite scarf…
For the past few weeks, I’ve been dabbling in internet dating. After years of seeing a bazillion commercials for eHarmony, Match.com, and Chemistry, they finally hooked me with a free communication weekend.
At first, I was a little weary, self-conscious and embarrassed but I quickly got over that. Hours after signing up, I had 12 matches and I felt a little overwhelmed. I started going through profiles and immediately discovered that a lot of guys were making the same eMistakes, yet they’d have no clue because they can’t see each other’s profiles!
In going through about a hundred profiles now, I’ve noticed these common eDating faux pas:
- Surprisingly, a lot of guys put pictures of themselves with other girls as their main picture. This isn’t exactly what a potential date would want to see… you hanging all over some other girl at a bar. Or, even better, there are some guys who post pictures of themselves with a girl on both sides, each kissing a cheek. If you have that many girls willing to kiss you at one time, why are you on a dating site? Also, if there is an arm around your neck, I can generally tell if it’s a guy or a girls — even if you crop their face out of the picture.
- I don’t care if you list that exercise is your biggest hobby. Yes, exercise and nutrition are important, but don’t you do other things besides working, working out, and talking about working out? If not, I don’t think we have much in common.
- Be careful what you list as your favorite book. I haven’t read a book geared toward a male-specific audience in awhile, but that’s because they’re not for me. Don’t list I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell as your favorite book. I know who Tucker Max is. Yes, I find those stories amusing at times, but I don’t want to date a guy who lists that as his favorite book unless you can cite some paper or sociological experiment you’re working on as the reason for reading that book and putting it at the top of your list.
- Don’t list “attractiveness” as the most important quality you’re looking for in a date. Does anyone really want a partner that they think is unattractive? Do you really think there is just attractive and not attractive? What makes you so attractive that you get to put that as your top priority? I may not be the prettiest or the skinniest, but I definitely think I’m both attractive and sometimes sexy (if you like the librarian type) but don’t want to be judged primarily on that.
- List your actual job title or the field you’re in. I’ve noticed a few people that put silly job titles that do nothing but state how bitter you are about your job. Or, how you’re lacking a serious quality about the work you do all day, every day.
I’m not sure how long I’ll stay on eHarmony, but if it keeps providing writing material and potential dates, I’ll keep up with it for awhile.
Filed under: Updates | Tags: cowl, finished object, knitting, twinkle soft chunky
Every October, I tell myself that I’m going to sit down, make a list of projects, and start working on holiday gifts for people. The past few years, only a few people have actually gotten their finished gifts because I, instead, find a pattern that I’m so completely obsessed over that I immediately knit it for myself and completely forget about finishing holiday projects.
This year, was no exception.
In researching projects for a friend’s birthday present, I came across the Marian Cowl and instantly fell in love.
With such thick, cushy yarn, it was a quick knit. I get compliments daily and plan on knitting one in every color of this yarn I have… and I think I’ve worn it every day since I finished it.
Now that there are just 11 days til Christmas, I should probably start working on people’s gifts I guess…
I’m hitching on to the Twilight bandwagon next week. I resisted the urge for a long time until a coworker offered me a spare ticket to see the 9PM showing of Twilight and the midnight showing of Twilight: New Moon at my favorite DC theater, The Uptown.
Thinking about the movie reminded me of a knitting project I’ve been wanting to start for a long time: Bella’s Mittens posted on Subliminal Rabbit.
It’s been nearly 8 months since I’ve had a completed, finished object (FO) and I finally dug through my yarn piles to find enough yarn to make these gloves with. I settled on a green to match my last FO – my Unemployment Scarf.
I’ve only completed one thus far, but I’m hoping to have the other one done before the movie premiere. Yes, I’m going to be that girl. No, I don’t really like the movies that much. The gloves are just really awesome.
Take a looksy:
