#Obsessed

I've been trying to cut back diet pop. I used to guzzle one to two cans of it a day... Sometimes more if I went out to eat at a restaurant for dinner. When you're running 3-4 times a week, you begin to better understand your relationship between food and your body. Your energy level. Your mood. Your digestive system. The importance of hydration. Pop is okay, as a treat, not an all the time thing. Certainly not an everyday thing, and certain not as a replacement for water. What's a beverage addict to do?

Enter iced tea. Sweet. Low calories. And tea is ACTUALLY good for you. (Just look at every study ever done...ever.) I got the idea to try this method at home after someone ordered a custom iced tea at Starbucks the other day. It's easy, quick, and the best part is, you brew it by the cup, so if you make a less than stellar batch, you only have one glass of it to get through. I made three or four different versions of this stuff yesterday alone. Tea is the new water. You heard it here first.

Home Brewed Iced Tea
Serves 1

What You'll Need AKA What I use. Do whatever you want:

Kettle or stove top... some way to boil water basically.
1 hot travel mug
1 cold drink tumbler
Sweetener of choice
2 tea bags of choice
ice, crushed or cubed

flavour variables: lemons, limes, mint leaves, orange slices... Go crazy.

Method:

1. Make tea. Make it in the hot travel mug (or some other heat resistant measuring container. I just use the travel mugs for volume accuracy.) If you want to add sweetener, add it to this step, so it dissolves. I use Stevia, but sugar, honey, anything goes. :3 Steep it like it's going out of style, to your own taste. Stronger the better to me, but I like FLAYVURRRR.

Notes on flavour: PLAY with your tea a little bit. If you want traditional iced tea, black tea works nicely. But then, one black tea bag and one blueberry tea bag is also good! Or peppermint tea and green tea. Run wild! Your options are only as limited as those countless boxes of tea you have stashed in your pantry.

2. Fill the cold tumbler (I just used an Iced Venti Starbucks cup) all the way up with as much ice as you can. When the hot tea is steeped to your liking, pour it into the cold tumbler, over the ice so it melts. You can either chill it further for a few minutes to make it uber cold, or drink as is.

3. Garnish with lemon, throw on some shades and go outside! Drink it. Repeat. REPEAT A LOT.


OTHER STUFF I'M OBSESSED WITH RIGHT NOW

Torches - Foster the People
The album by itself is a stellar piece of work, but I ran to it the other day and I found it so easy to open up my stride and fly faster and push harder. The energy challenges you to match it, but the light MGMT-esque techno keeps your mood light while you're tearing up the pavement.

So the running song of the week is:


Peeps
I talk a big game about eating healthy, but sometimes it's just to remind myself that I have to do it. With it being Easter weekend, I thought I had better come clean about my big obsession: PEEPS. I only find them around Easter, and then I buy them in a huge 99 cent package onslaught and spend the next few days sneaking off to devour them in small bursts of becoming sugar high. I hoard them away like a sugary squirell. And I admit it, I know Peeps don't taste like anything. (I've never found any flavoured ones. Sad.) They're marshmallows covered in SUGAR. They're literally so simple, but they have such a profound hold on me.

I found a recipe for homemade ones here, but since I work all weekend, I might have to run to the store and hunt down just one...sweet...package...

Ridiculously Photogenic Guy Meme
I am the last person to hear about this but..GAH, ADORABLE.

A Spring Fling

If you read this blog, you know that I don't update as often as I'd like to. Ideally I'd like to post every day, but we all know that doesn't happen. While this isn't a fashion blog, I'm thinking about posting outfits more often because it's fun, it's content, and it'll force me to wear something other than my usual shirt/jeans/scarf.

Once upon a time, this time last year, I attended Sheridan's Media Arts awards, wearing this dress. Then I had a bad summer, gained crazy amounts of weight, and tried the dress on again at Christmas. It didn't fit. Besides the fact that the weight was frustrating, I was upset. If I'm an advocate of anything beyond gay bars and thrift stores, it's making your closet work for you. Buying a dress, even if it's cheap, and then only wearing it once just isn't something I'm down with. (Wedding dresses excluded...)

Flash forward to this Easter. A happy, special occasion to see my mom's side of the family since they were coming to our house for dinner. I was looking for something nice to wear, and I found this in the back of my closet.

I tried it on, and BOOM! Instant confidence boost in the fact that it fit again. I felt a burst of joy and the floral print just yelled SPRING! It was a celebratory mood... They're kinda awkward, because I don't often take outfit pictures... but my little sister was kind enough to try working the camera. My dog Jack came along to show off for the camera too!

I couldn't tell you how much everything cost, it's all stuff I've found over the years. I can however tell you it's not expensive. I got the dress for about 30$ from Winners. The cardigan is Joe, the earrings are from Spring, and the shoes are hand me downs from my older sister.The metallic flats and the pearl earrings dress up an otherwise casual summer dress, without making me feel too fancy. I got lots of compliments from my loved ones, whether because it's well put together or because my family is just used to seeing me dress in a less fanciful fashion, it's hard to say. I'm hoping on the first one. Happy belated chocolate bunny holiday from me, from Jack and whoever else I have the authority to send it from!