ashleyd /

Who Was Your First Celebrity Crush?

I apologize for my lack of post yesterday. I was in Cincinnati on business travel and didn’t get back to my hotel room until 8pm to begin completing my REGULAR work. I had the opportunity to spend an entire day brainstorming with some wonderful people within my company but it was definitely work that falls under the extracurricular area. Do you have the opportunity to work on any extracurricular projects in your current job?

I walked in the door a few minutes ago after a long day at the office. I flew back this morning on the 6:30am flight from Cincinnati in hopes of being at my desk by 10am. FAIL.

Obama’s visit to NYC meant that the road were already shutdown and traffic was backed up all the way to Queens. It took an hour and 15 minutes to reach the office from LaGuardia. Oh well. Luckily I was sitting comfortably in a black car reading my latest novel, Something Borrowed.   This happens to be the same movie that is being filmed in my neighborhood! I saw Kate Hudson the other day in my building and then found out via some research and googling that she is the star. A perfect fit!

Today’s food was all over the place but overall enjoyable. Starbuck’s Perfect Oatmeal has become my go-to breakfast when I’m in an airport as it’s easy, safe, and very portable.

I enjoyed this with only a quarter of the fixins and a venti iced unsweetened Green tea. Absolutely delicious!

The rest of today’s eats included the usual Toasties salad and dinner was some delicious brown rice sushi while finishing work. I think i’ve finally found my favorite “whole in the wall” sushi place as the fish was fresh, the brown rice was in perfect proportion, and they included plenty of ginger. Tonight I enjoyed 3/4 of a Rainbow Brown Rice roll and an eel roll. Scrumptious!

Now, it’s time for Three Questions Thursday ala Iowa Girl!

1. Do you believe in ghosts? Believe it or not I really do. I think that spirits can stay behind. But I really don’t spend much time thinking about them.

2. Who was your first celebrity crush? Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing, black jeans, and a tree across the stream. Need I say more? 🙂

3. What’s your biggest pet peeve? People who aren’t hard workers. My parents raised both my brother and I with a very strong work ethic.

How about you? What are your answers?

Okay, it’s time for bed as I have 6 miles on the docket before a long day of meetings. Do you have anything fun planned this weekend? I have a Soul Cycle spin class Saturday morning compliments of the fabulous Fit Chick In The City, a playground build up in Harlem with the NY Junior League, a long run of at least 10 miles, and hopefully dinner with some friends.

Happy Friday!

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ashleyd /

Swiffer Sweep Vac Review and $40 Walmart Gift Card Giveaway

  

I grew up in a home that was warm, cozy, and filled with carpet. We used vacuums for cleaning every room except the kitchen. The kitchen was often the bane of my existence as our two parakeets shed their feathers daily all over the freshly dust busted floor. One of my daily chores was ALWAYS vacuuming the feathers. Every time I’d try to vacuum the feathers the dust buster’s side vents would blow them all over the place. Flash forward a few years to the life of a New Yorker. Almost every apartment flooring is either parquet or tile. In addition, there is no space for a traditional vacuum cleaner. This makes cleaning floors a challenge as brooms tend to be far less effective.

Imagine my excitement when I received a Swiffer Sweep Vac from Procter & Gamble and My Blog Spark. Since I no longer have a Walmart or Target in my area I don’t always get to see the fun new product innovations on the market especially in the realm of home products. I have always loved the Swiffer but had never tried any of their vacuum or flicker products. The marketing/PR team working on Swiffer did an amazing job presenting this new tool. The kit they sent me included a pack of Swiffer pads, small jars of cereal, dirt, and synthetic hair to dump on the floor for testing purposes. 

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I was apprehensive at first as I wasn’t sure how affective such a small, simple product could be. The product is the same height of the traditional Swiffer but the neck area is about the width of a dust buster. This narrow dimensions mean that it can easily slide under a bed, hide in a closet, or even behind a sofa if needed.

The product came at the perfect time as I was having to clean our old apartment and then spruce up our new hardwood floors in the new apartment in advance of our housewarming party. I chose NOT to use their hair and cereal samples on the floor as I thought Styrofoam pieces, dust bunnies, and random food particles were enough of a test for this mighty little Swiffer SweepVac.

I started by assembling the vac which was very easy even for the most technically challenged person. There were two handle pieces that went together and then an A/C adapter for charging. I charged it overnight and then went to work on our parque floors.

I must say Bo and I were both beyond impressed.  The result was clean floors that were free of dirt, dust, hair, and crumbs. The pad picked up all the residue normally left behind after using a traditional broom or even Dustbuster while the vacuum was able to pick up all the larger pieces.  It also has a filter similar to a dust buster that can be emptied easily and lasts 6 months! P&G made this the most user friendly product possible.

P&G and My Blog Spark is offering one lucky Healthy, Happier Bear reader a $40 Walmart gift card so they can experience the Swiffer Sweeper Vac!

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The giveaway begins today and will end Friday at 5pm.  I will announce a winner either Friday evening or Saturday morning.

How to enter?

1. Comment and tell me what room you would tackle first with a Swiffer Sweeper Vac.

2.  Tweet this contest! Copy and paste the following into Twitter: Want to win a $40 Walmart gift card so you can try a Swiffer Sweep Vac? @healthyhappier is giving one away at http://bit.ly/9z5zWy

3. Receive an extra entry for linking back about this entry on your own blog and comment that you did so.

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ashleyd /

Give yourself a break…

Today has been one of those days. I found out some really exciting work news which includes a new role but immediately started to doubt myself. Will I be able to handle the roll? How will I manage the work load and my new marriage? How can I be a good wife when I can’t even manage to make dinner for us on a nightly basis? Our evenings have turned into relaxing on the couch for an hour while eating sushi from YoYo, a Pax salad, or a bowl of cereal. Maybe it’s because I was raised in a family where my mom was able to provide this for our family every night but I have a level of expectation for myself that right now I just can’t maintain. I feel like a failure in my personal life and that i’m not properly balancing my work and life. The unfortunate thing is that this negative energy has a tendancy to infiltrate the rest of my life.

“If I don’t have time to cook dinner is it fair to take an hour to invest in myself at the gym?”

”I’ll never be able to run a marathon as I can barely run 15 miles right now.”

Some of this negative energy has kept me from running lately. The past few weeks spinning has been an easier workout because since I had a class looming over my head and that feared Equinox x on the horizon if I missed the class, I always popped out of bed for spin class. Last week I only ran a hand full of miles each time thinking that I wasn’t going fast enough, I wasn’t going far enough, and constantly comparing myself to the people on the surrounding treadmills. After one bad run I decided I’d had it for the week.

Who was this person filled with negative energy? Where was my optimism and excitement?

By Sunday I craved a good run. Maybe it was the monotony of a moving weekend and looking at the same walls and 700 square feet all weekend but I wanted to bust out of the walls and feel the ground or tread beneath my feet. What I needed was a plan and some inspiration.

My plan included a few components:

1) I decided that I would treat running like a workout class. Each day would have a theme.

               M: 5 mile tempo run + abs and stretching

               T: 3 mile speed run + Body Conditioning class

              W: 5 mile intervals + arms

             Th: Sweat Cardio Sculpt or Core Fusion class

             F: 5 mile tempo run

             S: Long run before party prep

2) Each morning would include TWO separate alarms to ensure I didn’t curl back under the covers and hit snooze just because a spin class wasn’t looming.

3) I have returned to watching the news in the morning while I run when on the treadmill. Equinox lets you change the TV channels at your leisure so I can put it on CNBC or the news and catch up on everything before I get to the office. This also takes my mind off the run.

My inspiration included reaching out to fellow runners for some inspiration, catching up with friends to remember who I am and get in touch with those i’m close with, and ensure that Bo and I are on the same wavelength. He was so proud of me tonight and has NO expectations of what I can do right now as a wife other than being his support system and best friend! My dad said it best tonight on the phone,

“ Ash, your mom and I are living the life of leisure right now with an empty nest and even we didn’t cook dinner tonight! Give yourself a break sometimes!”

I love you Dad and you’re right and I think we ALL need to give ourselves a break sometimes. You’re not always going to be the best runner, best employee, best friend, best wife, best daughter, or best blogger. Sometimes we’ll forget an email or comment. Sometimes we’ll have a bad run or a bad day. But you know what? We’re human and sometimes we just have to get in touch with those people that can help ground us and make sure we’re all under the same expectations.

Tomorrow, Meghann, a running diva who knows how to keep a smile on her face during even the hardest runs, will provide us all with some marathon inspiration!

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