Category: Personal

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April Challenge

So, I’m currently waiting for WordPress to upload a ridiculous number of pictures for my London blog(s), so I thought I’d get started on my next planned blog: Monthly challenges.

Now, I’ve developed some not-so-great habits lately and have decided to challenge myself each month to make meaningful changes.

April’s Challenge?

Shopping.

I’ve always been a bit of a shopper. This past couple years I morphed in to an advanced level shopper, and in 2012 I turned Pro.

Now, I’m not talking anything extravagant. The one Cynthia Rowley dress I picked up was a steal, and I justify the Toms as being worth the cost for the comfort. Most of my shopping has occurred in one spot. My new best friend/ worst enemy: H&M. I’ve always loved H&M, but this year we’ve seemed to become pretty exclusive. I blame that entirely on it’s rather remarkable Square One shop.

But, no more! For the month of April I will not purchase any non-essential items. That includes online shopping. Which, after H&M, is my second greatest vice. Modcloth.com: I know you’ll miss me. But, you’ll survive, I promise. I’m sure with the 100’s of people I’ve convinced to visit you, you won’t even notice my absence!

So, that’s the plan. And I already know it’s going to be a bit painful, as April includes some time in New York City… Sigh. Not going to think about that now! One day at a time. And my bank account will surely thank me at the end of it.

I’m instituting another partial challenge, this one dietary: Cheese is only allowed twice a week. This is going to be more painful that the shopping! But, again, very worth it. I was going to cut it out entirely, but after numerous failed attempts, I’m seeing that that’s just not realistic yet. While I’ve been able to cut out milk easily, cheese is just a little bit much right now. But, I think cutting down to twice a week is doable.

I think that’s more than enough for April. My last two purchases for the foreseeable future (made at end of March):

Toms’ Cordones:

ModCloth dress for NYC:

Hopefully their pretty will hold me over for a month ;)

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Veggie Tale: My big switch to vegetarian

As some of you know I recently made some massive changes to my diet. I cut out meat, severely cut down on dairy, and joined Weight Watcher’s in attempt to shed some of the large amount of weight I’ve gained over the past couple of years.

It hasn’t been easy, but after a few weeks I think I’m starting to adjust. My biggest concerns in cutting out meat and cutting down on dairy were not getting enough protein and calcium. But, I think I’ve found enough alternatives to making getting both easy. I thought I’d go ahead and list some of the biggest food changes:

Skim Milk -> Soy Milk

I like soy milk. Not as much as regular milk, but well enough. It’s loaded with calcium, which is great too. I’m thinking of maybe giving almond milk a go too in the next couple weeks.

Meat -> Non-meat

This has been a little more iffy. I had my first veggie burger, and really enjoyed it. I then tried vegan chicken in a dish, and again, not too bad. Tonight my aunt tried some veggie beef, and, well, it was terrible. But, it’s all trial and error at this point. I would like to try tofu, but I’m not sure what dish would be best as a starter. Maybe a stir-fry. We’ll see.

Cheese -> Vegan Cheese

I’m not sold on this one yet. I’ve heard good things about Daiya, so I found an organic market that sold it and picked some up last night. I tried it this afternoon, and I can’t quite say I liked it. I might have been more put off by the texture than the taste, I’m not sure. I’ll give it another go, but as of right now, I’m not a fan.

Fortified Foods

I switched to Kashi cereal, which is delicious, btw. It contains a ridiculous amount of protein, that I’m fairly certain has more than I was getting while eating meat. Which is excellent. I have a lot more energy than before! I also switched to calcium enriched orange juice. Which seemed really random when I first saw it, but I’m now loving it. I already have a heightened risk of osteoporosis, so I was to get calcium in wherever I can.

Vegan?

I’m seriously considering going full on vegan, at some point. I’ll wait at least 6 months to see if the vegetarian diet makes significant changes, and then consider it a bit more. Money is a pretty big factor at this point, as a lot of vegan products are more expensive. So, maybe I’ll change the consideration from 6 months to when I find employment (at least 8 months away). The idea of completely giving up any products that contain milk and egg products seems daunting at this point, anyway. But with all the health issues I’ve had over the past 10 years, I think it would be for the best to go as natural as possible. Between ulcerative colitis, IBS, anxiety, depression, and my ridiculously high risk of developing colon cancer, I certainly don’t think it will hurt. As long as it’s done healthily. But, again, that’s a long ways off.

Right now is about no meat, and less milk. And so far, that’s been going well!

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When September Ends

Well, it took me a week, I’m back with a final post! I wanted to give myself a few days to relax and reflect and all that. And then I just sort of forgot… Woops! But, then I remembered and here we are! I’ve been home a week and have honestly spent most of it doing a whole lot of nothing. Saw people, slept, ate. Pretty good week to me. I even had a job interview this morning, although I’m not too sure how that went.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been having trouble talking about my trip with people. Everyone has been asking, as I expected, but I think my brain is so overloaded with everything I did that I don’t know how to respond. There was just… so much. And everywhere was so different. They were all great in their own way, but I’m having trouble describing everything. As most people know, explanations aren’t my suit!

The one thing I can say with certainty: The trip was two weeks too long. A month is a fantastic amount of time for a trip where you’re bouncing from place to place. 6.5 weeks is a little much. I figured this going in, but I was feeling ambitious, and it’s likely the only time I’ll ever do this, so, I figured to hell with it. I didn’t want to regret not going somewhere, and with it being slightly too long, I did come home feeling like I couldn’t possibly have done anymore. I’ll still wish I got to Poland, but it wasn’t in the cards!

I did find that as nice as some places were, I don’t feel the need to go again. Prague, Venice, and Stockholm were all beautiful. I’m so glad I got to see all of them, but I feel like seeing them once was great and I don’t need to go back. Maybe someday, but, for now I’m happy having seen them. Barcelona I’d like to revisit, even to just wipe away any bad thoughts I have about it. This tactic worked for Dublin and Edinburgh! I know adore both cities. And I’m pretty sure the same thing could happen with Barcelona. Although, should I ever go again, I’ll need to, without a doubt, go with Sara!

The first two weeks of my trip were definitely a highlight. My amazing travel buddy, Orla, and I went to London, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Dublin. All of which were fantastic. We had perfect weather (most of the time!), little travel issues (aside from one flight “delay” with easy jet), and saw so many awesome things that I hadn’t gotten the chance to see in those cities before. The first two weeks were the original plan for the trip and I’m so, so happy that everything worked out and we were able to go!

I’m also so glad to have been able to meet up with Aideen, and Raisa & Mikko along the way! You were all such wonderful hosts and tour guides! Thank you!

I am hoping to get back to the UK/Ireland at some point. Not soon, but, some day! As I now know that flights out of Buffalo are half the price of flights from Toronto, it actually wouldn’t be too ridiculous to go back one day! /Wishful thinking.

And I’m happy to report that all of the hiccups in this trip have not put me off traveling! Heh. I’m off to Washington, DC at the end of the month and I’m very excited!

Anyway. This post was quite ramble-y. I’ll stop now! Just want to thank everyone who followed along!

I might keep the blog going and update with any smaller trips I do. There won’t be many over the next while, but, why not.

Thank you again for reading along! Take care!

Spencer