I'm Back!

Guess what... I'm back! Baxter is happy, how about you?

Sorry I've been gone for so long, but I have been busy doing great things to share with you all.  Get prepared!  If you follow my blog, you know it really has no structure on what I post, but that is all changing.  In the coming weeks look out for the following regular blog topics:

• This and That -  This will be my place to share fashion finds, products I enjoy, and other things I hope that you will enjoy reading about.
• Get It, Get Fit - Recently I have become very dedicate to my health and fitness.  Here I will give fitness tips, recipes, fitness finds, and personal progress reports on my journey.
• Charmcity Living - With a name such as Charm City Tif, how could I not talk about the great city that is Baltimore.  Here I will post about city life, living in Charm City on a budget, things to do, and great finds in Baltimore!

I will also have a blog series called "Camping the World".  Keep a look out in the upcoming week for the first post in this series.

I can't wait to get back into the swing of things and start sharing what I've been doing with you all!

Skinniness is Happiness

"I will be happier once I'm skinny." That's the thought in most women's minds. That nothing feels as good as skinny does.  That happiness only comes with a model figure.  Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's FALSE.

Now if you know me on a personal level you may be saying, "Tif, shut up!  You have been a twig all your life."  This is true for the most part.  Growing up I was really skinny.  So skinny that I always wished I would gain weight.  I had the worst chicken legs ever, and everyone made fun of me for it.  I don't think I weighted over 100lbs until halfway through high school (and I'm 5'6).  It wasn't until I hit 23 that I started my up and down weight battle.  Now, I'm not over weight by any means, but I'm not a comfortable weight either.

The picture above was taken two years ago.  I had been yo-yo dieting and taking diet pills for months.  This was my thinnest since high school.  Did I feel good?  Was I happy?  No.  I was tired all the time, had no motivation to do anything, and I was depressed.  This was not the right way to go about things.  This was not healthy, and my body was trying to tell me that.

Up until the past year I thought being skinny would make me happy.  I wanted to look like I did when I was in high school.  I found out this year that this was not the key to happiness.

I made the choice during Lent to eat vegetarian for 40 days, and that is how I discovered that being healthy makes you happy.  Making the conscious choices to eat what is good for my body is what makes me happy. Food can affect your mood and you body in many ways.  I feel happier when I know I have gone through my day eating what is good for my body.  I don't binge when my day was full of healthy choices.  I also don't feel bloated, weighted down, tired, or depressed.

Changing my eating habits was not an easy venture. It's something I did slowly, and eventually it became part of my life. Now I would rather choose happiness and feeling good over the loaded chili cheese fries.  However, I do treat myself on weekends (without binging).  If I don't let myself enjoy the "bad stuff" every now and again I will feel completely restricted.  That feeling of restriction leads to binging for me; and binging leads to depression.

So YOLO! -- Why not make it a happy and healthy one?

Issues

#SingleLife

Man this week has been one crazy week.  Mostly because I have been living the single life.  No really...you don't believe me?  Well Josh left on Tuesday for a business trip and I have been living it up ever since.  Here is how my week went:

Tuesday

• Took off work to party like a rock star since my man was away (actually we went to Monday night RAW the night before and I took off because I'm old)
• Slept most the day because, well, I'm old and can't hang like I use to
• Watched Grey's Anatomy (for 20 minutes until my power went out)
• Realized it was only half the house that lost power, so I ran power cords all over my house to get the TVs, refirgerators, and internet working (you know, the important stuff)
• Electric finally came back on around 3 AM (the dogs barked the entire time while the men worked outside ... UNTIL 3 AM!!!)

Wednesday

• Worked hard ... partied harder
• Naaaahhhh just kidding
• Ate Ramen like a boss
• Cleaned the bath tub, got a glass of wine, a good book, and decided to relax in a nice bath (check out the I'm a little weird  post to see how that went)
• Went to bed around 9
• HAD THE WHOLE BED TO MYSELF WHOOP WHOOP!!!!

Thursday

• Planned on going to the gym
• Came home to a dog in his crate covered in poop ... gym? ... nope, WINE!
• CLEANING
• WINE
• CLEANING
• WINE
• Ramen
• Grey's
• Bed at 9 

I yea ... it was pretty much what I did when I was single. #SingeLife

I'm a little weird...

So if you don't know already... I'm a little weird.  And that's not a bad thing.  Here are some of my quirks:

• I have to shower before the gym.  I hate feeling dirty before I work out.
• I have to shower before I do anything... go out, go to work, go to bed, ect.  I HATE feeling dirty.  Bleh!
• I hate baths.  I always think the next time is going to be different, but each time I step foot in a tub it's like I'm a ham cooking in broth.  Don't even get me started on the oils you put in there.  Yea they smell great, but they leave you feeling like you are coated in butter.  And you know what that means...post bath shower.
• I hate being sticky.  
• I don't like the feeling of my bare feet touching the carpet.  Just the idea of it makes my teeth turn to jello.
• I will binge eat potato chips until I explode.  

Step 1

Step 1 ... 

Well kinda.  As you probably know from my previous post Vegetarian for 40 Days Josh and I have decided to go on a vegetarian adventure.  It has been going very well so far.  We have lost weight, gained energy, and feel over all healthier.  Since we have started this journey we have started reexamining our whole diet, not just the meat portion.  After watching documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Food Inc. , along with doing online research we have decided to cut back on other things in our lives.  One of these things is processed sugars.  According to the FDA in 2000 the average American consumed 152 POUNDS of added sugar per year.  That's about 0.5 POUNDS per day.  Most of this added sugar comes from things like corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup (found in virtually every food you eat).  These man made sugars are hard for the body to break down and tend to be stored as fats.

So now for Step 1:  Try to eliminate the amount of added sugars as much as possible.

Stay tuned for Step 2...

Afters

Afters Cafe is this cute little place to sit with friends and enjoy a sweet treat in the Federal Hill area.  It's located on South Charles St. near Cross Street Market.

So yesterday, after my vegetarian dinner (home made Margarita Pizza -- nom nom nom) I was craving something sweet.  Josh and I decided to take a walk up to Federal Hill to get some pictures of the city after the (hopefully) last snow fall of the year.  After our walk we decided to stop by Afters.  I was craving something chocolaty, and didn't want you typical fro-yo.  Afters serves up everything from lattes, fro-yo, sorbet, macaroons, and cute little gourmet cakes.  I decided have their Passion - Chocolate Mouse Cake (one of their little gourmet cakes in their display case).

This was a BIG mistake.  I guess there was a reason everyone else who came to the cafe ordered coffee or  fro-yo.  While the cake looked like it would be amazing, it was anything but.  The cake itself was dry and hard.  The top layer was just gooey.  The fruit was squishy and old.  The only thing that was actually some what good was the chocolate moose inside the cake.

I really want to give this place another try, but I think next time I will try the fro-yo or the coffee.  After all, they do have these really cute spoons to choose from (kinda like you are picking your ball in mini-golf! -- What fun, right?!).