I Asked, You Answered

Hey guys!

Last week, I asked my friends on Facebook what they would like to see, or see more of, on my blog. The results were…annoying. Apparently, the majority of you would rather know more about my day-to-day life than see my naked pictures. What gives?!

I’ll be honest, I don’t typically write about my day-to-day life because it’s pretty damn boring. I mean do you really want me to tell you: “I got up at 6, had my standard breakfast (toast with p.b., banana, water with apple cider vinegar, and coffee), checked my emails, began some freelance work, ran, saw my niece, hung out with my boyfriend, worked some more, played with my zoo (2 dogs, one cat) and went to sleep.” Would you? I mean, seriously? Ya’ll are crazy or somehow under the impression that the Cranky One’s life is exciting. I’d rather let you assume the latter than prove otherwise lol

That said, upon reflection, I think I know what it is you guys really want to see. And that’s not my breakfast (or is it?), but rather the decisions I make every day that enable me to make progress, or hinder me from making progress, toward my health goals. Yes? For instance, I rarely talk about the countless times I “go out to dinner” with my boyfriend and/or friends and simply order an iced tea. Yep, this is almost a weekly occurrence. Here’s the thing: I don’t like eating out very much – anywhere! There are a couple reasons why: 1) This is just a reality when you are mindful of what you eat — even restaurants that are vegan tend to serve high calorie meals (and these restaurants are not chains, so they do not have to make nutritional information public) and even if I do decide to eat, unless I am at a 100% vegan restaurant, I can rarely guarantee the food is vegan (and while, sometimes, I’ll resign and be cool with that, most of the time I think “why bother” because of #2); and 2) I can make comparable dishes at home and make them more healthy, so I’d rather pay less to make it myself (I’m such a bore, huh?). I do, however, love the ambiance of certain restaurants and do like to sit around a table with people I love, so I don’t forgo restaurant outings. I just tend to prefer coffee dates, and make that preference known.

The second most popular option chosen on my survey was “Recipes.” I totally understand that. Recipes that are healthy AND delicious are hard to come by (I know, trust me!), so I get that and am fully excited and prepared to deliver!

The third most prominent choices, tied, were “more veg ideas” and “More Long-Beach-based/local stuff related to eating and living healthily.” The “more veg ideas” option was added by my blog-pal Jasmine, but she did not expand on it, so I can only assume she means more ideas on how to transition and/or maintain a transition to vegetarianism/vegan (since she’s vegetarian). I am eager and happy to do both of those!

Other cool add-ins/comments were:

“I love your blog it is my number one health information provider. Okay here are some of my wacky interests Bellie, I would like to learn about some commonly held notions about health that are so wrong (misconceptions), about psychology in relation to health/eating, and new workout recommendations for the bored gym goers like me.”

Friend named P: “So, as you know, my little girl at almost 3 years old has found that she cannot tolerate wheat nor gluten. So, with that in mind, I’d like to see more relational stories and how people can rise above the things that confront us. Because now, my little girl, asks “does it have wheat in it” and has already raised her awareness of what she eats – at 2 years old.”

My response was: “great idea. maybe i can get a couple guest posts from people who are dealing with this same issue. I’ve seen a few bloggers in the same sitch, so I’ll reach out to them.”

P: “Makes you wonder if the rise in gluten intolerance is due to all the whole grain push. Hmmm.”

Me: “I’d say no, but that’s because I’m a whole grain pusher I think it’s got more to do with the fact that we can recognize and sufficiently diagnose gluten intolerance and celiac now. but I’m biased!”

P: “The other thought is the fact that there used to be 38 types of wheat and now there are 3 “for consistency” that are widely used in our food chain. I still think that there’s something to be said for organic and non-chain environments. ”

“Making healthy meals in 5 minutes or less. Your blogs are so informative. I enjoy reading them because they are all so different but are geared towards health. I would like to see more ways to eat healthy on the go such as where are all the healthy restaurants in LA county? or eating healthy for cheap fast like corner bakery. Its cheap and convenient and healthy. Keep up the great post annabel! You’re doing an awesome Job! It makes it hard for me as a full-time student to find where to eat since I don’t eat fast food. If i don’t make a lunch, I’d rather starve than go to taco bell and eat crap. There are other alternatives such as corner bakery that have great food fast and cheap not like McDonald’s so making meals in less than 5 minutes would be a great tip for us that want to eat healthy and don’t have time.”

Great stuff! I can certainly write to some of these concerns/interests.

And, before I sign off, I’ll take a cue and share a few recent tidbits from my life:

• My 2nd niece was born on Monday! She is a beautiful 8lbs 9oz and I can’t wait to spoil her! I think being an aunt is one of the coolest things ever — I get to spoil my niece and then send her back to her parents when she things get too rough lol. I honestly don’t know how you parents do it from day-to-day — it’s exhausting! Speaking of motherhood, check out this infographic on how much mothers should be making, financially speaking.
• I am currently reading: WordPress for Dummies (2011). It’s both for personal and professional reasons. While I currently use WordPress for this blog, I didn’t set the theme up myself–my older brother, who is a web developer, set it up for me. While I’ve since learned to do simple things like posting, linking, creating a blog roll, etc., I never learned the ins and outs and how to edit the PHP to adjust the theme to my liking. The impetus to learn this skill came from one of my freelance jobs, which has put me in the position to build a WordPress site for an author. I’m glad I’m forced to learn more about WordPress because it will help me, too!
• I’m trying to understand what exactly I want from life at this point and how to get there. The thing is: I know what I want (to have a fulfilling and flexible job – either self-employed or with a company I believe in and feel makes a positive impact on society). I also know that I want to write a book (and have began churning out some ideas). I know what I love (to write, to sing, to cook, to learn about health and empower others to do so, too) and, thankfully, I have many outlets to satisfy these passions. However, it’s hard to figure out a practical way to juggle these desires and interests while also making a viable living. I know a lot of my fellow bloggers go through this, post grad (Hi, Kailey ), so I’m keeping my cool while I figure things out and work with freelance clients.
• I got a free real-size sample of Kashi’s new pita chips! So cool! …Until I realized they were not vegan, that is. C’est le vie! I did, however, get four coupons for $1.50 off that specific product. Any takers?

If any of you did not respond to my Facebook survey and would like to now, please opine in the comments! (especially if you DO want to see naked pictures. I could use a little ego-boost )

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: insight into the cranky one's boring life, survey