photos

Aquatic Club Graffiti

View Comments 26 July 2010

I took this picture outside of the Flushing Corona Park Aquatic Center this afternoon. I though it was funny because you need to show a lock and a cap before they let you in. I decided to start sharing more photos here on my blog since I’ve been taking a lot more now that I have the iPhone4.

I use the Camera+ app which just keeps getting better and better!

Health

Yoga: Getting Back to my Practice

View Comments 14 July 2010

Ok, I have a confession to make, I'm pretty sure I suck at yoga! Sure I tweet about it, and I like it, but I'm not very good at it. When I realized that I wasn't very good at it I stopped doing it for a while because it was discouraging. But after losing 25 lbs I realized that in order to lose the rest of the weight it was going to take some serious excersising to do it.

So I decided to start doing yoga again. I've always enjoyed yoga but I've never really taken it seriously in the past. Sure I would drop in on a class from time to time, but mostly I did yoga at home. Doing yoga at home is nice but it can be hard to push yourself when it's just you alone in your living room. I realized I needed to find a studio where I can regularly attend classes and really start to take my practice seriously (even if I still think I suck at it). Last night I went to a class at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center, it's only a block away from my office so it was convinent to go there after work.

The class was a basics class (which I thought I could handle, but I was totally sweating 10 minutes in) and it was an hour and a half long. The instuctor said something that really struck a cord with me, he was talking about doing inversions:

"it's kind of like dating, you just have to keep trying it, keep courting it, until you get it".

I realized that I was afraid to really try most yoga poses, I knew I couldn't do them, so why even try. Well if you try a little bit more every class, eventually you will get there.

I bought a week long unlimited pass to Laughing Lotus, so we will see how I feel after the week is up. Today I am sore, but I'm going to stick with it and go to class again tonight.

Health, food & wine

Being Vegan

View Comments 21 May 2010

I got a great question from Ralph on my Formspring.me account about my diet:

Ok, Sarah, I need to get serious about getting healthy and losing weight. I've got 2 beautiful daughters that are the joy of my life & I want to see them grow up, get married, etc. Can you tell me some more (specifically) about your vegan diet?

Ok, so being vegan…

It was a hard choice for me and I usually tell people that it's not always the right choice for everyone.
You can still be vegan and not be healthy (believe it or not). So I set out to address all the issues with my current eating habits, and it's important for you to do this before you decide to change the way you eat.

My main issues were carbs and cheese. This came in many forms. Bagels and cream cheese, pizza, pasta with cheese, cheese and crackers, nachos, and the list goes on. These were some of my favorite foods, my comfort foods. I was already a vegetarian so giving up meat wasn't an issue, but giving up cheese and dairy seemed almost impossible.

Then I decided to really be aware of my intake of white flour and processed foods. Not because they weren't vegan, but because they were bad for me and they would hinder my ability to lose weight.

I eat a lot of dark leafy greens, which is where I get a lot of my iron from, particularly in the green juice I make in the morning. I make sure I get my needed carbs from whole grains like brown rice, barley and whole wheat breads. I get creative with salads, I love adding new things to my salads. And I make sure to eat my legumes for protein. This includes beans, tempeh, tofu, & meat/dairy substitutes.

Here are some great resources: Vegan Food Pyramid, Vegan Health FAQ's

I'm the kind of person who need's hard and fast rules if I'm going to stick to something, so that's why I decided to go vegan. Recently I've hit a bit of a rut in my weight loss, I started eating white flour and I honestly feel like garbage when I do that. I've lost 22 pounds so far, but I've been stuck here for a while.

I've made the commitment to lose 50 pounds and I'm almost half way there, so I can't stop now! I'll keep you updated with my progress, and I hope I've answered your question.

If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them.

education, events, video

Growing up with the Real Time Internet

View Comments 22 April 2010

Yesterday I had the honor of putting together a panel of my peers to talk about how we use the web! Our panel was titled “Growing up with the Real-time Internet” and it consisted of myself, Corvida Raven, Kelly Sutton, and Lauren Litwinka.

The video is embedded below. Please watch it and comment. I would love to continue the conversation that was started at #140conf.

For a good part of the beginning of the video, the camera guy didn’t realize I was on the panel, and I guess thought I was just the moderator. So he cut me out of the shot. But he figures it out half way through.

Health, blogging, personal

Finding time to blog

View Comments 12 April 2010

So since I got my dream job as the community manager for Postling, everything got really busy, really fast. I’m working a full time job, going to school full time at night, and trying to stay healthy and lose weight!

How does one find time to blog in the midst of all that?!

I’m starting to thing that I really have to start a writing schedule, and make the time to write the blog posts I want to write and make the videos I want to make.

I enjoy producing content, so it’s stressful for me when I don’t have time for that outlet in my life.

But I wanted to give you all an update on my weight loss goals, and staying healthy through all this stress. I’ve officially lost 20 lbs!

When I first started at Postling, it seemed very difficult to stick with my regular eating schedule. When you are suddenly out of your element, you lose control of your food to a certain extent. And if you aren’t the type of person who plans every meal in advance, suddenly not being in your own kitchen can make deciding what to eat very difficult! (especially when you are vegan)

I’m starting to feel like I’ve regained control and even picked up a few great tips on how to eat anywhere and stick to my plan. (more on that in a later blog post)

Stepping on the scale and seeing a lower number than before still feels amazing, and I’m looking forward to losing the next 20 lbs!

blogging, personal

Good People Day 2010

View Comments 03 April 2010

Two years ago Gary Vaynerchuk declared April 3rd Good People Day! It also happened to be the first day I made a video for randomsarah.com, and so I also declared it to be my blog’s birthday.

Every year I’ve been using my Good People Day post to sum up the last year, and thank all the AMAZING people in my life who made the past year awesome!

The past year of my personal life has been a crazy roller coaster that I cannot even begin to describe. But I wouldn’t take it back for anything because those experiences made me who I am today. I’m still struggling with a lot of the things that happened in the past year, but I know I will get through it because I have amazing friends and an even more amazing family.

But let’s focus on the good people in my more professional life.

David Lifson – I met you over a year ago and since then you have been a great friend, but an even bigger inspiration to me professionally. I am in awe of you every day as you continue to develop an awesome product with Postling.

Matt Knell – You’ve seen me through ups and downs and have always encouraged me to do what I love! Even if that meant waiting a while to figure out what I really wanted to do.

Michelle Deforest – You are an amazing women! I am inspired by training every day. Our professional relationship hasn’t crossed paths nearly enough, but we have the whole year ahead of us!

The entire Philadelphia tech community! – I don’t even know where to start, but I would be crazy to recap this past year without mentioning the awesome friends I made in Philly. There are way to many people to name, but you all welcomed me with open arms and you truly became my family there! I miss you all and I hope to visit soon!

My whole SXSW Family – You know who you are! This is an amazing group of people that sometimes I only see once a year in Austin, but I see them every day online and they make my life richer and full of love!

There are SOOO many people that I missed that have made this year memorable. You will forever be in my heart!

I’m looking forward to another great year blogging on randomsarah.com

blogging, personal

My blog turns 2 today!

View Comments 03 April 2010

I really planned on writing a longer post later today. My blog’s birthday also falls on Good People Day, so I usually will recap the year in that post.

I will try and write it later tonight.

Health

What’s your diet history?

View Comments 30 March 2010

I wanted to share this post with you all. It was written by Nutritionista. I was inspired to hear the diet struggles she has been through, and in many ways, her journey mimics mine.

Most recently, I went through a My Food Diary phase, and I ended up in the same place. And that is making a commitment to eating whole foods, real food! I just took it a step further by cutting out dairy (since I had already cut out meat). I hope you enjoy reading her post, and I hope some of you are inspired to share your own stories as well!

Nutritionista History: I Haven’t Been Here Long

In responding to Jaclyn’s post, I realized that it really hasn’t been that long since I would’ve been guzzling Fuze with the hope that it would really “slenderize” me. In fact, it’s probably only in the last year or so (around the same time I started this blog), that I feel like I’ve been on the whole-foods-are-best bandwagon.

I know some of you are still hooked on diet foods. I was. For a LONG time. But I wanted to reflect a bit for those of you who might be wondering why you’re not seeing the changes you’d want to see (after suffering through 100-calorie pack after 100-calorie pack!). I went through a lot of phases. Let me see if I can recount some of them in an abbreviated history of my eating.

The Atkins phase

I tried this the summer before college in an attempt to lose a few pounds before embarking on a new phase of life. It worked. For two weeks. Two miserable weeks where I didn’t even eat one piece of fruit or sugar-free gum — I was terrified of the sugar-alcohols. I finally cracked when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. Being on Atkins meant the only non-solid food I could eat was chicken broth. Drugged out on Vicodin and stuck with broth, I was one unhappy camper. Sure, I lost some weight in those two weeks, but as my friends can attest, I was not that pleasant to be around.

Don’t get me wrong. I think some of Dr. Atkins’ originals principles are good ones: avoid sugar and white flour as much as possible. And that saying “everything in moderation”? Well, it’s not always the best philosophy for weight loss (yes, I know it does work for some). But cutting out a food group without focusing on the quality of the remaining groups doesn’t sit well with me. Anyone who’s been reading this blog for any amount of time knows I’m not a vegetarian or a vegan (though I can now say I’ve tried!). When I do eat meat/dairy, I make it a point to buy organic, grass-fed, hormone-free… you know the drill. One thing Atkins taught me? It’s possible to totally eliminate food cravings. I never wanted to see another egg or piece of cheese again after those two weeks! Now, of course, I eat them all the time.

The Special K Diet phase

This diet was even more short-lived than Atkins. I tried it the year after I graduated from college because I had definitely succumbed to the Freshman 15 (25?) and was desperate to take it off. I think I lasted two days. Who wants to eat unsatisfying protein bars and cereal all day? Ew. I despise everything about the Special K diet. I wouldn’t tell my worst enemy to eat it. The only reason it works is because you’re limited calories. But the calories you ARE eating are coming from overly processed, artificial-tasting craaaap. So gross. Like I’ve said before, if you limit calories, you can eat pretty much anything and lose weight.

The Weight Watchers phase

I did WW online off and on for several years. It worked, and it didn’t work. I figured it was just a more sophisticated way to count calories. But the thing is, it isn’t. Weight Watchers is a decidedly low-fat program. I have come to despise low-fat anything. Low-fat is often just another word for diet food, and I’ve realized that low fat = high hunger. And I just don’t believe that fat is the devil it’s been made out to be. Not at all. Even saturated. That’s where Atkins may have gotten it right.

I was constantly hungry on WW. When I was following it, I lost weight. But when I fell off the wagon and forgot to track points, I fell hard. I would recommend straight calorie counting over Weight Watchers, hands down.

My Food Diary/diet food phase

First of all, I should say that I still use MFD to track what I’m eating. But I DON’T pay any attention to its advice that 65% (or whatever) of my calories should come from carbs, 15% (or whatever) from fat, etc. It’s just a place for me to store data. There are certainly free places (FitDay, Daily Plate, etc.), but I got used to the MFD format and just stuck to it. Plus, at $9/month, it’s not exactly breaking the bank.

When I first started using MFD, it was a good thing. But then I got obsessed with seeing how few calories I could eat before, say, dinner. And this involved a LOT of diet food. 100-calorie packs. Crystal Light. Low-fat, processed veggie burgers. Diet soda after diet soda after diet soda. You get the picture. Even though MFD doesn’t have a low-fat bias, I did at the time. Plus, just like with Weight Watchers, when I fell off the wagon, I fell hard. I’m an all-or-nothing girl at times, so if those 5 slices of late-night pizza didn’t get tracked in MFD, neither did anything else.

Diet food did me no favors. I was hungry a lot. It wasn’t cheap. In retrospect, it didn’t even taste good.

Where I am now: whole, minimally processed, chemical-free foods

This picture of veggies is somewhat misleading. Eating minimally processed foods doesn’t just mean eating platefuls of veggies. It just means that the shorter the ingredient list, the better. And veggies naturally have no list. Neither does fruit, most fish/meat/seafood, beans, whole grains, some dairy, etc.

I’ve found I feel best and most easily lose or maintain my weight on a gluten-free, low-sugar diet otherwise full of whole foods. But I understand that’s not realistic for everyone (and I also suspect I have some level of gluten-intolerance).

I won’t deprive myself of something if I really want it, regardless of what it is. I remember when someone told me I live in a food “prison.” It’s funny because I actually think people who eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) are more imprisoned. We know the food industry knows what keeps us coming back: that addicting combo of sugar, salt, and fat. What we think we like is wrecking havoc on our health. We’re literally imprisoned by the way we’ve been conditioned to eat; what we’ve been conditioned to like.

But there’s good news: You can retrain your tastebuds to crave different foods. After not drinking diet soda for a full year, it tastes gross to me now. Gross! And I used to drink it almost every day. I hope that’s what kind of food revolution Jamie Oliver is talking about: Teaching the next generation to eat differently, and to appreciate the taste of things we didn’t or don’t. Just because the U.S. is known for CAFO-produced burgers, fries made in crappy vegetable oil, and buns made with high-fructose corn syrup doesn’t mean it always has to be this way.

Anyway, all this to say: I haven’t been eating this way for that long, but I already know it’s the best. Go ahead and experiment with different diets. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll always come back to the only one that works and the only one that can pass the test of time.

Health, food & wine

Review: Souen

View Comments 30 March 2010

I have become fully obsessed with Souen! Souen is a Macrobiotic restaurant with a few locations in New York City. A little about Souen:

• Since 1971, Souen has been offering natural organic food to New York diners, with the foremost priority being to serve delicious meals in keeping with good health. We prepare our food simply and naturally, offering you the best quality grains, beans, and produce. No refined, chemicals, preservatives, meat or dairy products are used in our kitchen. We also employ traditional methods of preparation whenever possible to enhance the healthful quality and natural flavor of our food. With the increasing awareness of the connection between food, health and the environment, we continue our consistent effort to maintain and improve upon our high standards and Macrobiotic principles. Our concept is to let people all over the world experience real traditional Japanese food, delicious Macrobiotic food.

I have no been to two different Souen locations. One in the Union Square area, and the other in Soho. The menu varies between locations. But everything I had at both locations was delicious.

Souen is traditional macrobiotic food, so they do serve fish. But everything without fish is vegan since they do not use any dairy products. So it’s a great place to take friends that might not be vegetarian, but have been wanting to eat healthier.

If you are unfamiliar with Macrobiotics, I really suggest you put on your adventurous hat and give Souen a try. The food tastes amazing, and you will truly feel better afterward.

The basic idea of Macrobiotics is simple.

It is thought that by eating balanced foods such as grains and vegetables that are more local and in season, we can maintain good physical and spiritual health and live in harmony with nature. A typical Macrobiotic plate for our area will consist of a large portion of grains, beans, seaweed, vegetables and vegetable protein, such as tofu, seitan, beans and tempeh. Following the traditional Japanese food model of a simple and natural diet, macrobiotics dictates eating food in a natural way – unrefined and unprocessed.

But what does unrefined and unprocessed mean? It means for example, eating whole foods such as vegetables together with their skins and stems. It means not eating husked, processed rice but whole grain brown rice. It means, we living people should eat from a living land – taking food in season, in its entirety.

To clarify, I do not follow a macrobiotic diet. But it’s something I enjoy eating when I can.

If you try it out, let me know what you think.

personal

I got my DREAM JOB!

View Comments 25 March 2010

So many of you know I went to SXSW a few weeks ago and I had an amazing time! I got to spend time with so many of my great friends, and meet so many new awesome people.

During my week at SXSW I was going through a sort of “career identity crisis”. After I left Comcast in January I wrote about my decision to go back to school and look for a job back in NYC. I said that I wanted to be open about being a student again, but I was worried about getting categorized as a “Student” and not being considered for jobs that I should be able to get based on my level of experience.

But along the job search trail I got a little lost. I started to apply for jobs that were where I thought I needed to be (mostly PR and Marketing agencies) but during SXSW I realized that wasn’t what I was really passionate about. Everyone kept telling me “just do what you love”. But the problem was that I didn’t really feel like I LOVED anything. I liked a lot of different things, but I couldn’t put my finger on what I was most passionate about. I made it a point during the conference to talk to all of my good friends and mentors, to try and get a better sense of a “career road map” for myself.

On the last day of SXSW I realized that what I have loved to do all along has been online community. It’s something I have always been passionate about, and something I know I am great at. But there was a problem, I had to go home to interviews I had lined up with agencies, and try and explain to them that I no longer wanted the job I applied for.

Last Thursday I was sitting in my 3rd interview with a PR agency. I had just come back from SXSW, so I was pretty excited about everything. But while sitting there talking, I realized that I was not going to be able to do what I wanted to do within such a large company.

When the interview was over I had a missed call from my good friend Dave Lifson. I had met Dave over a year ago at New Work City and I have been in awe of how he has been able to grow a startup from idea to funding. He was calling to tell me that he wanted to hire me as Postling‘s Community Manager.

I literally started jumping up and down on the sidewalk in midtown Manhattan!

So stay tuned, there will be awesomeness to come! But don’t worry, I will continue to bring you the same random content you are used to here on randomsarah.com.

I also wanted to thank my family, friends and more importantly my mentors, for helping me find what I love, and hold out until I found a job that would make me happy.