I'm Back...with a new Name!! (edited)

So it's been almost a year since my last blog post and a lot has changed.  I wanted to change the name of my blog, since my days as "Trailer Trash" are now over.  I wanted it to reflect me, both as a person and as a nutrition professional.  At first I was going to name the blog, "Life in Moderation," because my favorite quote from Benjamin Franklin goes something like this, " Everything in moderation, including moderation."  BUT I realized this name was extremely B-O-R-I-N-G and U-N-O-R-I-G-I-N-A-L, so I thought of all my favorite things in life: Food, Fitness, Family, Friends, and Fun, not to mention Freakin' awesome wine and Friggin' good books....then.... "The F Spot" was born...AND THEN I DECIDED I LIKED VITAMIN F even better!  It's fun, a little sassy, lightly edgy and draws you in, right? :)


Let's talk a little more about the idea of moderation, because it's truly the way.  There are many famous quotes/sayings that completely agree with this school of thought.

By Definition: "Moderation is the elimination of extremes."
How perfect would the world be if we could achieve this?!?!

I've also heard some humorous versions:

• "Too much of anything is bad, but too much whiskey is just enough." - Mark Twain
• "Abstinence is a wonderful thing, but only in moderation." - unknown source ;)
• "Everything in moderation, including the truth." - unknown source... (Don't tell your kids this!)
• "Moderation is a fatal thing, nothing succeeds like excess." -Oscar Wilde
• "Yo, I can't do anything in moderation. I don't know how." - Eminem

There are also some versions that really make you think:

• "The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom" -Aristotle
• "If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please." -Epictetus
• "Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet." -Benjamin Disraeli

When it comes to Food:

• I always say: "Eat a little bit of everything, not too much of anything"
• In Ancient Greece, the temple of Apollo at Delphi was inscribed Medan Agan, which means "nothing in excess."

Okay, with all of the crazy talk about moderation, I hope that my blog inspires you to live moderately: eat well, splurge enough, work hard, play harder, and love lots!

Food Stories Nominee & Catch Up

Two things on the agenda today:  Catch up & Nominate other blogger for Food Stories Award.

First off, the lovely Julia @ The Roasted Root nominated me for a Food Stories Award   (http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/ )and in return, I will nominate a few of my favorite blogs.

1. Annie's Eats -- a great little blog that I've made multiple recipes from.

2. Chocolate Covered Kate -- a "healthy" dessert blog with some wild concoctions.

3. Cookie & Kate -- Celebrates whole foods and vegetarian fare!

4. My Little Celebration -- A super fun blogger that shares my name and my passion for food & fitness.

5. Chef in Training -- You've probably seen her on Pinterest. She takes wonderful photos!

Would you care to know a random thing about me?  
I hate dirty feet.
They make me cringe.
If I'm wearing flip-flops and am not on pavement or indoors, I'm probably thinking about how dirty my feet are.
I religiously clean & moisturize my feet before bed.
Yes, that's very random and a little OCD....now you know.

Second matter of business, I have been away from blogging for a few weeks and have relocated the "wagon" to Colorado!  We've been here less than a week and I LOVE it!

I have visited an awesome street fair in Boulder, gazed at the Rocky Mountains, seen more bunnies/prairie dogs than I have in my whole life and gambled at my first horse race.  Very cool area with a solid combination of hippy and country...just my style.

I hope to have a couple recipes up this week.  Thanks for all of your support!

Where in the heck are we?

Greetings from no-where Utah/Idaho.  We are in the Bear Lake area, which is 1/2 in Utah and 1/2 in Idaho.  We're staying in St. Charles, ID (population 156).  It's a wild party out here.

I went running and did not see a human being or moving car for 4 miles.  The only signs of life are cows, horses and dogs.  It was quite peaceful.  A big change from the smog, traffic and industry of Salt Lake.

Of course, there is the occasional tractor or snow plow (I'm not sure who they are plowing for!)  But overall, this place is lovely.  It's a winter wonderland, snowing a little each day.  It is enhancing my holiday spirit!

This is my earnest attempt at enjoying winter.  For those of you who know me, I'm not exactly into winter.  I'm one of those people who is always cold.  I'm permanently shivery from October through May.  

I think I'll start planning my next tropical vacation.

Bottoms up!

Life on the Road, Minus the Trailer

If you haven't guessed by my new blog design, I'm bored.  We are NOT living luxurious trailer life at the moment.  We are living a low-class, motel scum lifestyle instead..... in Vernal, Utah AKA BFE.
But I'm not really complaining about the town (it's actually homey & nice) or the hotel (I've been in much worse), I'm complaining about not having my beloved 5th wheel trailer.  In the short time I've been residing in my "home-on-wheels," I've come to adore it.  Sure, I have my complaints, (water pressure, toilet sucks!, frozen walls/floor, broken furnace, propane leak, creepy trailer trash neighbors and possibly a mouse...haha) but for the most part it's home and I love it.  I miss cooking in my little kitchen.  Yesterday I made pot-roast in a crockpot in the hotel room, haha.  Not too exciting.  Since the cooking department is currently out of order, I'll share a Travel-Tale.

Once upon a time.... in a land far away.... ;)  Just kidding, here goes.

We are in Northeast Utah in the land of red buttes, jagged canyons and dinosaurs.  Yep, you heard me right, dinosaurs.  This lovely area harbors the most dinosaur fossils in the world, and today I went to the Dinosaurland Museum.  It was pretty cool: full big, prehistoric fossils of creatures that used to roam right here.  It makes you realize how much this world has changed over time.  It's quite fascinating!  Plus the museum was brand-spankin new.  Just opened Fall 2011 :)

Anyways, as I'm strolling through the museum alone, I get a little freaked out.  There are all these creepy noises, creatures are looking at me, there are bones everywhere and the lights are really dim.

 So I hot-stepped it outta there on the dime!  After I left, I felt like an idiot.  I mean, children go there all the time and I'm such a wuss that I have to leave the dinosaur museum.  But, in my defense, I was alone and there wasn't another soul in the museum, just me and T-rex.  I was alone with the critter bones, just feeling the hair crawl on my neck.  AH!

I wish the dinosaurs in the museum looked like this friendly lady.  Or maybe Yoshi from Super Nintendo!

Wow, good thing I don't watch scary movies, I'd never sleep.
Sweet Dreams ~D

Fall Fitness Fun

Shape up or ship out, people!  This is a great time of year to get your butt in shape.  I'm always motivated in the fall to be in tip-top shape.  This year I have double the motivation.  Usually my motivation is to take full advantage of the favorable weather, because it will soon be gone, the holiday food starts pouring down my throat and winter takes hold on my booty.  So I try to get a jumpstart to this downward spiral.  This year my second form of motivation is to take the next year to get in killer shape for Greg and I's wedding.
I feel that balance is extremely important when it comes to physical activity.  Just doing one type of exercise will quickly lead to a plateau and boredom.  So my rule is to mix it up, keep the body guessing and kick your own butt on a regular basis.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, baby and when you finish a killer burn, you just feel that much more accomplished.  Being outside everyday is essential in my opinion, it just makes you feel good, really gets those endorphins pumping. Plus, exercising outside has a double bonus of getting the outdoor high and the exercise high.  It rocks.  You won't find me inside the gym.  OK, enough of what makes me feel good.  What's most important about your workout is that it makes you feel good.  Every body is different, so find what feels good to you and make a habit out of it.  It takes 21 days to make a habit, so get after it!

I remember when I first started running, by choice, for exercise.  No coach told me to, no PE teacher either. When I was about 18-19, I decided to become a "jogger", and that I did.  I started by "wogging" (walk/jog combo) 1-2 miles or until I was just plain pooped.  Running 2 miles without stopping was a pretty big deal for me at that time.  I slowly worked up to 3-4 miles about 3 times per week and I've eventually ran multiple half marathons (13.1 miles) and even 1 full marathon (26.2 miles!).
That's the history on me becoming a runner.  As for my other exercise passions, yoga and hiking are it.  I've practiced yoga since I was old enough to drive myself to yoga classes, so that makes me a 10 year yogi veteran.  I've even started teaching yoga in the last year.
My hiking passion started when I started college.  I began hiking 2-3 times per week and had never felt stronger.  Hiking is the best workout ever, in my opinion.  On the uphill you have calves quads, glutes and core engaged and on the downhill you have hamstrings, glutes, and core.  If you add trekking poles in the mix you can even get an arm workout.  It's total body baby!  Love it.

PS(This is the only pic that's really me!)

My latest fitness kick is quick, high intensity strength routines that I follow from bodyrock.tv  I absolutely love this site. It gives you free workout videos that require little, if any, equipment.  They are short and sweet, too, which is essential for me if I'm doing any strength routine.  I need it to be zippy because I get bored.  I also like strength routines to mainly use my own body weight for strength because I tend to bulk if I lift heavy weights, and this site does this amazingly.  Plus, this site is a positive, wellness-minded community to be a part of.  It's a fun site to follow, but user beware....the chick in the videos can be a little distracting, but I still love it.

If this pic doesn't get you in gear, I don't know what will!

As for Nutrition, I'm focusing on meeting my veggie and water requirements. With nutrition, I feel it's more important to focus on meeting nutrition needs instead of restricting this or that.  Plus, when you focus on something like veggies and water, it automatically helps you eat less calories and get more nutrients.  Double BONUS! Woot!

So get out there and get fit with me!
Please share some of your fitness stuff with me so I can keep mixing it up on a regular basis.

Peace & Love

My First Speeding Ticket....

By popular demand, I will tell you the story of my first speeding ticket.  I have been asked repeatedly to tell this unfortunate, but apparently funny story.
Believe it or not, living in the 5th wheel without a real job leaves me with some spare time.  Shocking, I know.  Because of this, Greg's boss asked him if I could drive to Salt Lake City to pick up a co-workers wife, because if the "husband" missed anymore work, they were going to fire him.  The "wife" had an appointment with the immigration office to get her green card and she didn't know how to drive, so I reluctantly accepted the request and drove Greg's truck the 3 hours to SLC.  When I showed up to pick her up, I found a sweet Filipino lady, a baby, a dog and a truck full of crap waiting for me at a dive hotel.  Great!  So I packed it all up, the dog rode shotgun with me and the "wife" and baby rode in the back seat.
So we are cruising along, the dog is sitting on the console, inches from my face, staring at me.  The "wife" is sitting in the back with the crying baby and each time the baby cries, she TAKES IT OUT OF THE CAR-SEAT!  As you can imagine, I was quite surprised to have all of this surrounding me and was ready to get this 3 hour drive over with.  So we continue our drive, the "wife" continues to have the baby out of the carseat, she's nursing, and the dog is still staring at me.

About a mile from our exit, we pass a cop, I think to myself, "no big deal, I'm only going 5 over."  And he whips out and turns on the lights.  I yell, "Put that baby in the carseat, NOW! We are getting pulled over!"  So I take my sweet time pulling over, while the baby gets buckled in.  I put on my blinker, check my blindspot and slowly pull over.  THANK goodness she got the baby in the carseat because I probably would've been hauled off in handcuffs.
So the lovely, gentleman (NOT!) of an officer walks up and gives the usual spiel ... "ma'am I'm Idaho State Police, bla, bla, bla ... do you know why I pulled you over?"  And I think to myself, hmm... I'm speeding, I have an illegal immigrant in the backseat, there's a baby out of it's carseat, and there's a little yapping dog staring in the officers face ready to bite him at any moment.  So I reply, "No sir, I don't have a clue."
Without even a moment for explanation he replies, "License and registration, please."  So I rumble through Greg's glovebox for an unexpired registration and hand over the papers.
He returns and hands me a citation for going 84 mph in a 75mph zone!  Just like that!  He didn't even give me a chance to fake cry, bat my eyelashes or try to make up a story about having to go to the bathroom, NOTHING!  Come to find out the speedomoter was off in Greg's truck.

I was crushed.  Not only was this whole trip a joke, but I ended up with my first speeding ticket to boot!   I felt like I'd been on a winning team, undefeated for 10 years of driving.  And then, boom, I lose.  It was like losing the Superbowl, so heartbreaking to end such a long winning streak.  Total defeat.
So Greg gets home and I tell him the story in all my depressed glory.  He looks at the ticket and immediately notices that the kind officer made some major mistakes: I gave him the registration for the 5th wheel instead of the truck, so he recorded that I was driving a 2005 Montana trailer (which is impossible), and he also writes down my incorrect weight off of my drivers license!  He said I was 20 pounds heavier than I actually am!  Total bologna!!!!  What an jerk! Of course, I won't be able to be there for the courtdate to fight it.  So I write the lovely State of Idaho an $85 check.

And that's not the end of it, I later found out that the "wife" actually has a drivers license, but she chooses not to drive because the baby cries (boo freakin hoo!).  And last, but certainly not least, the "husband" gets fired anyways 2 days later.  Damn the luck.
Hopefully there's not many more stories like this to come, but my guess is that there probably will be.  Stay tuned for more adventures, good and bad.
Share your most ridiculous cop story or joke to make me feel better. Thanks for reading.

Namaste, Jackson Hole!

We had to spend the last 2 days in Ashton, Idaho, which is nestled between West Yellowstone and the east side of the Teton Mountain range. Since we were only staying 2 days, we left the trailer behind and got ourselves a motel suite! I'm talking high class, baby. Anyways, I wanted to share some pics from this last little road trip.  

Here is our quaint hotel suite (AKA Cabin, AKA Shed) Haha.

 With the lovely, modern decor...

 But the view topped it all off.  There's something about seeing mountains that makes me feel at ease.

So by day 2, I had seen everything Ashton had to offer (actually by about the first morning).  So I decided to go on a quest to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I have been taking online yoga classes from a site based out of Jackson since about 2007, so I wanted to attend a class in person. Here is the site if anyone wants to check it out.  My favorite instructor is Neesha.  www.yogatoday.com
I attended her class and it was wonderful! Very enlightening and spiritual. This site has 1 free class per week, or you can buy classes for $3.99. (you can watch them as much as you'd like).  It's a great option for practicing at home.  I usually do about 2 classes per week.

Besides the yoga class, the views were the best part of the trip.
I thought this picture turned out cool.  This is approaching the range from the Idaho side.

 Getting closer

And closest! This is from the Wyoming side of the range.  Seriously breathtaking.  No joke. If you haven't seen this range, it's a must-do on the ol' bucket list.

I also went on a short little hike on the top of Teton Pass (elevation. 8431') And I was gasping for some oxygen in that thin mountain air!

The gorgeous and hardy wildflowers were still out at this high elevation.

I didn't get to do much cooking this week, but I'm feeling some scrumptious burgers in my near future and possibly a bright, fresh salad.
Namaste,
D

Home is Where you Park your Trailer ...

So this last week has been a whirlwind.  We spent the week in Rexburg, ID and it was awesome summer weather ... a combination of hot, sunny days and thunderstorms.  I hiked the Menan Butte in that area, it's actually a volcano formation from fresh water that happened ages ago.  They are all over that area.

Top of Menan 5619'

During this hike, I was a bit worried about Rattlesnakes, but I didn't see anything but cactus, sagebrush and lizards. Whew!  But I did fall on my butt on the way down. ... But I'd take that over a rattler anyday.
Here's the sign at the trailhead on the scary snakes:  The take home message is that rattlesnakes are fatter and have big bugged out eyes.  Gross.

Oh and I also taught my dog to drink out of a water bottle.  It reminds me of a hamster...

Greg got sent home early one day due to the severe thunderstorms, so we decided to go check out some nearby sights.

The beautiful Teton Range below...

Also went to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls:

And finally, we had to make a trip to Helena, MT for Greg's school this weekend.  To keep myself busy, I hiked Mt. Helena on Saturday and Sunday.  It's an awesome hike and Helena is actually a pretty cool town.

Mt Helena 5468'

I thought I'd throw a balancing tree yoga pose in there!

The Helena valley below

So we drove over 700 miles this weekend and ended up in Heyburn, ID in an RV park right on the mighty Snake River.  Since last week was a little crazy, I didn't get to post much for recipes and fitness stuff, so I'll try to do that this week.  I have some fun ideas for dinner this week. Oh if you click on any picture, it will show you a larger more blown up version.  Be sure to do this on the view pictures to get the full effect!   Until next time...

Here goes nothing...

So this is my first post on this crazy new journey of traveling and blogging.  Greg has about 1 year left of his apprenticeship and we were sick and tired of doing long distance, so I'm taking the year off and traveling with him.  For the next year, I am going to be living in a 5th wheel camper, cooking some amazing food for my man, getting in tip-top shape and planning a wedding.  I wanted to start this blog for a little "project" to keep me busy, but also for friends and family to see what we are up to. Plus, I plan to post recipes, as well as fitness and nutrition stuff.

Here's what our travels look like so far:

Ellensburg  --> Boise --> Salt Lake City --> Rexburg, ID

We set up shop in Rexburg, ID, which is a small town about 15-20,000 and about 95% Mormon.  As you can imagine, we fit in perfectly (cough, wink...)  But that's besides the point, we are staying in a lovely RV park that's right on a little lake.  I get to walk to dog around the lake and enjoy the view.  Rexburg is also very close to the Teton mountain range which is stellar to look at and I hope to find a hiking buddy to go exploring with.

Here's what I've been doing to stay busy:

 Of course we had to stop in Drummond, ID (population 15, people not thousand!).  We had a beer at the biker bar on Sunday, since this was this only thing open!

Nice patio with a view of the Grand Tetons and the power substation that Greg will be working at.

I also decided that I'm going to master the art of homemade bread while I have this time, so below is my first loaf of bread made in the trailer.  The Idaho sunshine made for a perfect rising/proofing oven

It didn't brown the way I wanted it to, but it tasted delicious.  Here is the link for the Honey Oat Bread recipe I used. 

Stay tuned for more travel, cuisine and other random stuff.  Cheers! D