Blogging Choices

I’ve been thinking about blogging a lot lately (don’t worry I’m not going anywhere). I love it and honestly I’m not doing it to become famous, to make money or even have hundreds of readers but I have noticed a lack of traffic and comments lately. I’m not blaming my readers at all. I feel that my lack of consistency, following through and participation in the blogging community is to blame.

Let’s discuss the reasons behind them then I’ll discuss my ways to solve these:

• My lack of consistency – I am very sporadic with my blogging. I really have no reason to be. I’m not working at the moment so I should be better with my blogging and I thought I would be but sometimes I’ve just been frustrated with the whole not working situation and I really don’t want to write depressing and feel sorry for me posts so I’m just not blogging at all. The other reason might be the lack of healthy choices I’ve made sometimes (eg. pizza, greasy fatty ribs, homemade granola bars, more homemade granola bars, and even more homemade granola bars – I don’t feel that these are bad for me but when they are the only food item to sustain me for the entire day I feel that might be a lack of healthy choices).
• Following Through – I’m terrible at following through. I owe you a number of posts including an about me post, our first wedding anniversary post, an apartment update and a Calgary update post. I keep promising these but never delivering.
• Participation in the Blogging Community – I actually read many, many post but never comment. I’m getting better at interacting on twitter but still lacking in the commenting/getting involved part of blogging.

So now that I figured out some of the issues I’m having here are my solutions:

• I’ve been reading, ‘Eat Pray Love’ and although I’m not too far into it Elizabeth has taught me something. I need to be happy and not feel guilty about not working. This is a problem that I’ve been having and I know its not the husband that is upset about me not working it’s me. That is one of the reasons we made the move across the country, we could afford for me not to work for a while if it happened but I’ve still been feeling guilty. I’ve decided to enjoy my time off because sooner or later it is going to end and I’m going to be complaining about how much I’m working.
• Also, I know healthy living is a process so I’m working on eating healthy one day at a time and making good choices one choice at a time and if I have a bad day – it's ok and I can just start fresh again the next day.
• In regards to following though – this is going to blend well with my first point about not feeling guilty and enjoying my time off. I’m going to spend some time over the next little while working on my blog and catching everyone up.
• Finally, stay tuned…more comments on your blogs to come.

Ok…that feels better. I’ve been thinking about all that for the past few days and it feel good to get it off my chest.

Back to what this blog is all about…HEALTHY LIVING!!!

I do have a few pictures to share with everyone.

Over the weekend Matt and I hit up the local Calgary Farmer’s Market for the first time. We were so busy looking around that I didn’t even take that many pictures and a few of the ones I did take didn’t turn out but I do have these few to share with you.

Rows and rows of fresh, local fruits and veggies.

We ended up picking up quite a few local goodies: green beans, snap peas, baby cucumbers, green, yellow and orange peppers, onion, tomatoes, baby tomatoes, sliced turkey and free range, organic chicken sausages.

We also did something different we decided to base our meals around our fresh veggies instead of decided on meals and then picking up veggies to go with it. It was a great idea and a wonderful market. We’ll definitely be going again and next time I’ll take some more pictures.

I don’t have too many meal pictures to share with you today but I did have a couple of yummy, healthy eats over the past day or so.

More leftover Hearty Veggie Soup.

In my new fall bowl of course.

I only have one more container left in the freezer. I think it might almost be time to make another batch.

Amy’s Veggie Burger with mozza and spinach on a whole wheat bun.

Served with roasted brussel sprouts

And baby tomatoes from the farmers market.

Breakfast this morning was a two egg cheese omelette served with a whole wheat cheese roll from a local bakery.

Do you see that sunlight? The sun if finally back in Calgary and it looks like it is here to stay for a while.

The floor sometimes takes the nicest pictures.

Lunch was a grilled spinach wrap with hummus, mozza and veggies (cucumbers, carrots, green and yellow peppers).

 

More new plates.

So adorable and great for taking pictures.

Just look at all that yummy gooeyness.

Thanks so much for everyone who continues to read and enjoy my blog. I have lots of fun and interesting posts planned for the next little while so please come back or subscribe in your google reader on the side.

Also if your just catching up here are some of the latest posts:

• Fall Decorating
• Ali’s No Back Oatmeal and Angela’s Granola
• Grocery Shopping with Me
• Apple Blueberry Breakfast Cobbler
• Hearty Vegetable Soup

~ Katie :)

Spreading the Love

In today’s post I thought I would share something that I haven’t done before – Spreading the blog love and sharing with you some of my all time favourite blogs.

I’ve decided to do a top 10 list of my favourite healthy living blogs. All of the following blogs I try to read every day and in some way they have inspired me to continue working towards a healthy lifestyle.

The following blogs are in no particular order:

1. Amy’s Quest to Skinny – This is the first blog I started reading. I came across it through twitter and just sat and read for hours. Amy is honest real about healthy living. Her story is very inspiring and I still can’t get over how much she works out :)

2. Embracing Balance – This is another one of my first healthy living blogs that I started to read and follow. Jaime always has new and fun recipes to try, not to mention her food always looks amazing. Plus she’s been a great yoga partner for me lately.

3. Life, Health, Fitness– Lynn is another one of my favourite bloggers and another inspiring story. Although she has been taking a break from blogging the past little while I can’t wait to catch up with her when she get’s back.

4. Angie with One on the Way – Angie’s story, from losing weight to having a baby is one of my favourites and I loving keeping up with her pregnancy journey.

5. Making Good Choices – I have a special place in my heart for other teachers and Nicole is one of them. She is always baking and making the most delicious looking treats.

6. Tropical Happiness – This is on of the newer blogs that I’ve been reading. Tracey reminds me of me a little newly married, love for her kitties, and living a healthy lifestyle. Right now she has a great post about her wedding last year. Check it out – she looks beautiful.

7. Senorita Rachael – Another teacher who’s a blogger. Her blog is about her weight loss journey and all the ups and downs that come with that. She has a great challenge (I say challenge but it’s not really a challenge – more of a journey) called ‘Shrinking Sunday’s’ and about using the blogging community to help and support each other. Check her out!

8. Up Fit Creek – Another great blogger – plus her name is Katie too how can I not love her. She is a new mother and another inspiring story – just check out her before and after pictures in her Weight Loss Journey sections, she looks amazing!

9. The Chic Life – Diana blogs about healthy eating, cooking, working out and other random things that she enjoys. I love her Project Hydrate challenge she has going on. We all should be trying to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

10. What Kate Ate – This is another one of my newer blogs I’ve been reading. Kate (a great name – right?) blogs about eating a balanced diet, exercising, yoga and weight loss. I love reading about her journey, how blogging has changed her life and I love seeing the support she has.

So that’s it. I have so many more I could add to the list but I tried to list ten blogs that I read regularly and I love. My google reader is always full and maybe sometime soon I’ll do another list like this with 10 new blogs but for now please check out these lovely bloggers and say hi to them all for me :)

What are your favourite blogs? I’m always looking for new blogs to read so please share below.

~ Katie