No phone zone

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong decade/century. While I definitely see the utility in email and texting, and technology in general, sometimes I think we need to make a more conscious effort to disconnect and unplug. Oprah has a campaign to stop texting while driving, but the “No phone zone” should extend to the dining room table and bedroom.

Since finishing school and moving back to live full-time with R, we have informally decided to have a “Year of Yes”. What exactly this means, we are still defining. Four years is a long time to have only spent the weekends together and I’m sure the life experiences we’ve had over these years have changed us. So, we just want to take time to focus on “us” and living life “together” once again.

Anyhow, this “Year of Yes” will hopefully have us saying “No” to one thing.

Here’s the email I wrote to R today:

During the Year of Yes, let’s say NO to phones at the dinner table and right when we wake up. Let’s say YES to more conversations and YES to more experiencing the present!

http://www.realmomnutrition.com/2012/08/16/why-life-got-better-when-my-smartphone-died/

Are you in Dr. Mr. H??!!?

Love,
Mrs. Dr. H

Out of the 2 of us, he’s probably the one who will have a harder time with this, especially at the dinner table. But we’ll see.

I recently read an article about productivity that suggested not checking your email for the first hour of your day. Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of this? I’ve been practicing this for about a week now. It definitely takes discipline, but I think it’s a habit that I’m going to keep around.

Oh, and here’s another reason I should probably spend less time on my phone. I dropped it on my garage floor about a week ago. Nothing like an ugly phone to discourage you from using it.

Comment Love: What about you? Do you find the phone [or insert other technology] invading more and more of your life? Are you constantly and compulsively checking Facebook, Twitter, or the weather just because it’s right at your fingertips? What steps are you taking to “be more present”?

update: Thirty before 30

I fully intended to update you on the progress of my TB30 list the day after my 30th birthday (which was about 2 months ago). Better late than never, huh?

Although I wasn’t able to finish everything on my list, it was still loads of fun trying to.

Here’s a repost of my TB30 list with some added commentary from yours truly.

Making my own reality

As I about a week away from entering a new decade, I thought I would give you an update on how I was doing with establishing my 3 new habits. Accomplishing #3 on my Thirty before 30 list had to be my worst favorite thing to do. I think because it was the one thing on my list that took the most perseverance. I get into ruts. Do you? One of my New Year’s Resolutions from 2009 was to become an early riser. Surprisingly, I did fairly well with that resolution even into 2010—that is until this summer. We had returned from a month of being in Taiwan and I just couldn’t whoop that jet lag. So, I started sleeping in later than I wanted. During the school year, I usually try to get up before 7, most mornings getting up around 5:30 am. So, how did I do with (re-)establishing habit #1?

Real simple, real free

I currently don’t subscribe to any paid magazine subscriptions, but if I did, I would definitely get a subscription to Real Simple magazine. Well, the next best thing to their magazine, is their website. I especially liked one of the featured articles from today and thought I would share because who doesn’t love free stuff!

Surprising Stuff You Can Get for Free | Real Simple.

Taiwanese girl takes on Turkish food

I was going to wait until I ate all 30 new foods before I wrote a post about accomplishing #24 on my TB30 list. But I just had a meal so delish that I believe it is deserving of a post of its very own.

After posting my TB30 list on my blog, my wonderful friend, D (check out her blog here) offered to help me cross off a few from the list, particularly #24. Now, I must tell you about my dear friends, D and R. D and I used to be classmates and her husband, R, is currently finishing up his PhD. We don’t necessarily hang out very often or socialize with the same crowds. And on the surface, we all don’t have much in common: A Taiwanese girl raised in the South, a girl who grew up in Vermont and a guy born and raised in Turkey and now living in America. But it is our love…no, our passion for food and life that we share in common. I don’t know what it is about D and R, but instantly I knew I just liked them. They are 2 of the most interesting and talented and kind people that I have ever met. You know those kind of people you just feel a kindred spirit with? Well, that’s D and R. After meeting 2 years ago, we had talked about giving each other Turkish and Taiwanese cooking lessons and we honestly had all the best of intentions of getting together, but just hadn’t. Well, with my birthday just being around the corner, there was a sense of urgency that gave us that push to do it. So, D invited me over tonight for a last-minute trip around the world to enjoy a homemade Turkish meal.

Protected: 5 days down, 16 to go

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tHiRtY before 30

Here is my list of the things I want to do before I turn 30.

Caveat: You must know that ever since I turned 25-ish, I have had a hard time admitting my age to people. I don’t know why because in no one’s book is mid-20’s considered “old”. To be honest, some of it must stem from insecurity. I guess sometimes I’m insecure about what I should have accomplished or experienced by age “x” and by admiting my age, I’m allowing people to judge whether or not I’m living up to that standard.  So, for me to put a post about turning 30 out “there” for all to see, is a BIG deal…but also is part of #30 on my list.

In following with the so-called theme of this blog, these are things that I want to do or try to make my life a little fuller. In reality, I know that the list is ambitious to try to do all of these things before my next birthday, which is in about 2 months, but that’s okay because that will just leave me more to do by my next birthday. Look for posts on some that have already been accomplished. And even though I haven’t completed this list, I’m also taking suggestions for next year’s list as well.

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Shrek Juice and Blueberry Ice Cream in the Vitamix

I have decided to affectionately refer to my green smoothies as “Shrek Juice”. This morning I made a special batch of Shrek Juice (SJ) to take to work with me. Today’s SJ was made with banana, pineapple (the not pretty part that you don’t want to eat, but is a waste to throw it away), including pineapple core (or pineapple hearts), frozen strawberries, frozen mangos, carrot, grape tomatoes and and the “Shrekiest” of ingredients—a generous handful of spinach!

As you can see, I definitely made enough to share. So, I packaged it up for my bike ride to work by pouring the SJ into pint-sized Ball jelly jars. I then put the jars into a insulate cooler (that I scored the other day for free from the University career fair—which I likely didn’t have business visiting).