A Very Merry First Birthday to Me

It got a little lost in all of the Super Breakfast Bowl Excitement, but this blog turned 1 two weeks ago!

a very merry birthday bloggity!

It's Been a Very Big year for me, and I'm so glad I have this blog to recap some of the nutrition/food/fitness highlights! Such as:

• I ran, a lot: Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco
• We Learned Why We Shouldn't (white) sugar coat it
• I attended Healthy Living Summit 2009
• I became a friend of Fermentation with two Experiments: Sauerkraut and Kimchi
• I helped feed the hungry with Project Feed-Me: participating in a cross-country food bank donation and started volunteering at BMC Preventative Food Pantry in Boston. And Ate for a good cause at Taste of the Nation.
• New Exercise Fun: Such as the helix, EA Sports Active, lots of new group ex classes, and started teaching spin and cardio kickboxing.
• Lots of few new restuarnts and foods to try, including Expo East and eating my Way Through NYC (here here and here)and Portland OR
• Was a Sustainable Foodie: Helped run BU's Future of Food Conference and met Sandor Katz and Byrant Terry. attended the Real Food Summit, Met Michel Pollan and Tim VanOrden
• and we ending the year with a super breakfast bowl challenge!
  

Things to Look Forward to in Year 2:

• Marathon #2:In addition to my regular classes, which I am loving (Med Nutrition Therapy, exercise physiology, food service management, us healthcare and public policy), i'm taking a marathon training course. This is a second semester course, and the pre-req is having already taking semester 1 or run a marathon. I've done the latter, and this class is really pushing me to be faster long distance runner. I have a really hard time pushing myself to do track and pace work, and it's been a great experience. Plus its a great, diverse group of students, and we have two excellent leaders! it's meant to be part of a training plan for a spring marathon, which I'm not doing. My running plan is to run a half or two, maybe a 10K this summer, and I just registered for the Chicago Marathon in October! I'm really pumped! I'm doing it with one of my best friends from home, and staying at Pri's home! I've never visited this windy city and I can't wait to spend Columbus Day weekend wandering!
  
• Naked Feet: I've also embarked on the world of barefoot running. After reading Born to Run (if you have not read this yet, GO OUT NOW AND BUY IT!!! one of the most inspirational books i have ever read!!), I was jonesin' to tear off my shoes and go run 100 miles in the dessert. But I joined a meet-up with four friendly barefoot runners at Tory Row, which was also very inspiring. So after a regular run on Saturday, I ran to our gym, and left my shoes behind as I ran around the indoor track. (i'm not that tough to brave the frigid boston sidewalks in february!) IT FELT SO GOOD! I just ran .8 miles but it felt amazing! I was so fast and free! (my calves and toes were a bit sore the next day though! I always forget just how many muscles there are in my feet!) There is also excellent research being conducted at Harvard right now, adding more scientific proof that this is the way to run.
• Stirrin' up a little controversy- let's debate, shall we? Soy vs. animal protein? Should I be 100% raw? What about vitamins? organic vs nonorganic
  
• More Challenges! Superbreakfast Bowl has been so fun and successful, look for more in the future!
• Change is a foot! New blog layouts/getting rid of that pesky .blogspot bit. hopefully a real set of headshots as well. Um, maybe I will win Zesty Cook's Blog Makover Giveaway?? That would be great! (check it out for yourself!)
  
• Meet Your Dietitian: To celebrate Nutrition Month this March I'll be sharing some great interviews with a few of my Dietitian Role Models! Not only will this be a great opportunity for me to learn more about my career possibilities, but I think you will enjoy seeing what its like to be a RD!
• Lists of Love Inspired by The Green Fork, Fake Food Free and CHG's end of the week lists, I plan on posting a list of things I'm loving every Saturday. Check out the first one here!
  
• More Trips, More Reviews, More Adventures!! I want to keep myself and YOU on our toes, always trying new things, and embracing this fun adventure called LIFE.
  

Thank you thank you to everyone who has ever read this blog, left a comment or a nice note. You really make my days!

I look forward to sharing more with you, and hearing what you have to say as well! This upcoming year is going to be great, I just know it!
Cheers!