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I Feel Home

Tonight I felt like I was at home. An old school favorite song of mine from high school and early college days even sang in my head as I cooked.

Even though our furniture isn’t set to arrive until Friday at 8am, I hosted someone in the flat for the first time tonight! Maybe it’s my Southern roots or just my upbringing but there is nothing I love more than opening my home to friends, whether it’s 1 or 20, and sharing a bottle of wine while enjoying homemade meal and conversation.

I realized this morning that I kept putting off hosting my girlfriends merely because I didn’t feel I could properly host without our furniture, fresh flowers and a spotless home. But, an evening like tonight is far more important than any of that. When I realized that Emily was working late and hadn’t gone to the grocery store due to a weekend trip to Amsterdam I thought it was the perfect opportunity to host and use some of the produce on their last legs. IMG_0929

Within an hour of walking through the door the apartment was cleaner than it’s been in the five weeks I’ve been here and the candles aroma filled the apartment.  It wasn’t a fancy evening but it was one more step in making Geneva feel like home versus an extended work trip.

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We laughed over stories from our respective weekends and sipped a local white chardonnay. Since I was starving I put together a quick cheese plate with a Manchego and Brie cheese bought from the store this evening paired with some crackers and cornichons. Our main course was a dinner salad featuring a bed of baby spinach topped with freshly sliced and salted tomatoes, figs, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and grilled chicken sausage. The chicken sausage was a bit random as I swore it was just chicken when I took it out of the freezer this morning in my pre-run morning stupor, but it did the job.

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Scenic London Long Run

Greetings from rainy London!  IMG_0825 I landed in London City Airport last night around 8:30pm, London time. Thanks to Friday Night Lights season 3 and a cold Heineken, the airport wait and the flight went very smoothly. My office offers a free shuttle service to the airport multiple times an hour which is faster than the TPG bus and a very nice perk. It only took 45 minutes from the minute I left the office until I had cleared security and was sitting in the lounge.  IMG_0824

Unfortunately, I was so excited to see Bo that going to sleep last night was not very easy. I finally fell asleep around midnight only to wake up at 5:15am for my 16 mile long run. By 6am I was out the door and heading towards the Thames River path for 6 solo miles in the cool, damp London morning.

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I worked to keep my pace slower than normal during these first few miles as I know how important this is for long runs and marathon training. I also forced myself to sip water constantly as I’m guilty of not drinking enough, especially during cool weather long runs.

By 7am I was standing in Westminster Tube station waiting for my running date. After years of following her on Twitter, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Charlie this morning for a scenic ten mile run around London. Earlier in the week when I asked my London running bloggers if anyone wanted to join for a long run Friday morning, she responded within minutes! Not only did she volunteer to run 10 miles with me but she also took the time to put together an awesome, scenic route that would give me an opportunity to see new areas of the city!

I am so thankful, especially here in Europe, for my blog and the many amazing people it has helped me meet thus far!

Our ten miles took us by some of the well known London sites with one huge benefit – there were no tourists! Running early allowed us to enjoy the paths to ourselves and catch some things we wouldn’t see otherwise such as a stray fox crossing the path, military men training near the park, perfect views of the palace, and streets that were far easier to cross than normal!  IMG_0829 IMG_0830 IMG_0831 photo12 photo13 photo15

IMG_0838Three parks, two palaces, one river, and 10 miles later we ended back where we began, right in front of the Westminster Tube station, within view of Big Ben!

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Running with Charlie was so much fun as it was our first time running together so the conversation flowed continuously and made the rainy miles pass far faster! My pace hovered around 9:55 during my first 6 and around 10:10 during the ten miles with Charlie, perfectly on target!

I am so thankful for a new friend in London and look forward to many more runs and activities together! It’s fun having an expert recommend her favorite workout classes, running routes, bars, restaurants, and shopping in the city!

Choose your city! If you could run or walk through any city in the world tomorrow which city would you choose? Why? I would love to do an architecture run through Barcelona! I never made it there during my summer studying abroad in Cadiz, Spain and have longed to visit ever since!

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The Best 5 Minute Full Body Workout

I’m currently in work overload as the next few weeks are going to be quite stressful. Having a lot going on at work means that my personal to-do list is growing quite long. One of the things that has yet to be crossed of the list is joining the office gym. While I’m sure the process will only take 10 minutes I just haven’t made it upstairs yet to fill out the paperwork and take the mandatory tour. I also haven’t come to terms with paying the full year cost up-front until our cash flow gets in order a bit. Moving two people to two different countries is expensive!

So, in light of my gym-free life and the fact that none of my workout DVD or weights have arrived from the United States, I took the time to put together a simple five minute full body workout that I could do anytime in the comfort of my flat. It requires very little space, no equipment and best of all, it is hard enough to make your muscles quiver while not making you sweat.

Back to Basics Strength 

I’ve been doing this workout every single day for 2 weeks and am already up to 29 full pushups in a minute and the wall squat doesn’t make my thighs quiver quite so much. I love getting it done early, right after my morning run, before hopping in the shower!  It’s the perfect solution for people who travel, don’t belong to a gym, or are just looking for a beginner strength training program. Even someone like my new workout buddy, Sarah, who is a new mom with barely enough time to shower!

Try tossing this workout into your daily routine 3-4 days a week and feel the difference within weeks!

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