Wellness Wednesday: 5 Pieces of Happy

Just a few snapshots of things that make me happy and what's happening in the world of Carlene!

1. The International Food Market: Green Tea Ice Cream Mochi

One of the best kept secrets I think is an international grocery store. We have a few up here in the DC Metro area and they are awesome. They have everything from durians (refrigerated!) to dragon fruit and frozen squid nuggets to five pound bags of coriander. Also, the prices? I feel like I'm practically stealing. When I'm out towards one of these markets after a meeting in DC, I pick up some of my must haves like brown rice, spices and 11 limes for $2 but I also try and take the time to browse. This Green Tea Ice Cream Mochi was one of those pick ups. If you ever want to host a party and need interesting bite sized desserts, this is your place. 

2. I just brought on an intern to Healthfully Ever After! It was really hard to pick just one, but I'm excited to share what I've learned in this business 1:1 with someone I feel like is a good match for the business. After my presentation at the VA Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics meeting I had a head clinical dietitian of a major hospital come up to me and tell me she loved the path I chose and that I went for what I wanted....but also that what I did was 'right' and I should talk to more students about it. You guys, that was the first time any clinical dietitian has ever told me that. It was a big deal. Normally dietitians go into clinical immediately and stay there for several years before embarking on what their dreams actually are.  They're told 'that's what you do'. The career path I chose of immediately opening a private practice/consulting business is very unusual and I definitely got some shi* for it from 'the old guard'. To hear kind words and respect from a clinical colleague meant a ton. 

3. My speaker agreement for FNCE (national food and nutrition conference) just came in. Is it me, or does October seem way closer than I thought? And to other dietitians, how is it possible those few days at FNCE are already getting booked up with event invites and to-do's?! Also any Atlanta recs are welcome for nom-noms and shopping.

4. Pedicures.

I'm mainly a DIY nail girl only because I will totally ruin a manicure in a day or two because I can't stay out of the kitchen. Same usually goes for pedicures because I feel like I'm multi tasking when I try and watch The Blacklist and paint at the same time while checking email. It really boils down to guilt over sitting and doing nothing while someone does my nails for me. Ugh. But for those times I DIY a pedicure, these are my essentials. Emjoi (gifted to me by the company) is a pumice stone for impatient people and Essie is pretty self explanatory. Current favorite color is Lilacism which I have on now.

5. I finally said bye-bye to my VW that we replaced with the Prius C earlier this year. I was in a weird place between the trouble of selling it to Carmax for a super low price with engine trouble (VW Passats have TERRIBLE re-sale value), selling it myself and dealing with crazies...or, final answer which we did: donating it for a big tax write off and hotel vouchers! When you own your own business, you'll understand what I mean. If you're in the DC area, we used Kars for Kids and it was stupid simple. 

And 6. Because why not? I learned how to stop checking my email on weekends. I'm trying to stop checking email before bed and on weekends. It's just not good for you. It ruins sleep. It puts me on edge and it's hard to relax. BUT on accident when I changed my passwords because of the Heartbleed bug....I learned that if I'm logged out of my email on my phone apps, I'm too lazy to put in the email. One small barrier, being logged out, showed me how much I try to check it.