Ah, yesterday was such a good day… I recognize that there are a few things that I need in each day to make everything better. But one of those things is human connection. Whether it be with Marco or a friend, I need and thrive off of in-person, undistracted human connection. You too?

Today is the first daily eats post I’ve done since we moved to Reno! There’s no particular reason for this, other than the fact that I’ve just had other things I’ve wanted to share for the past month. Are y’all ready for some eats?

Before we dive in, I want to remind us all that these posts are not for comparison. Rather, these posts are here to provide you with inspiration for food ideas and to give YOU the freedom and permission to listen to YOUR BODY as I listen to mine, apart from food rules or dieting.

Thank you so much for being here and I hope you enjoy! Leave a comment when you finish reading!

Monday

The morning started off reading Jesus Calling, my Bible, and this great book called “Wanting to Be Her” that I read back in 2012, all about body image through God’s eyes. This is my Spiritual fill up time. While I had quiet time, I listened to classical music and drank coffee with a fuzzy blanket wrapped around me. Fill UP!

After my quiet time I sat down and spent some time going through my inbox, clearing it from the weekend. I had a meeting with Karly, my assistant (hi Karly!), started laundry and made breakfast. Two eggs, a little cheese, tomatillo salsa and corn tortillas. Yum!

Once I was finished with breakfast I cleaned up and headed out the door for Body Pump. Since moving to Reno I’ve been doing gym classes again and I love them. If you’ve been following me since 2011 you know that before we moved to SLO I was all about those gym classes! I love group exercise the most.

Our gym in SLO didn’t have classes, so for four years I struggled to love the gym. I lifted weights with Marco and went in and out of routines. Mostly, in SLO I enjoyed walking outside and listening to music/books/podcasts. Which was great. But I’m so glad to have my fun gym classes back!

I wrote this post on enjoying movement more if you’re struggling to enjoy movement.

When I got home from the gym I showered, got dressed for the day and heated up some leftover pasta from the day before. While it heated, I had just a couple of these Mary’s crackers with hummus. Hummus sounded so tasty.

What a lovely photo… I should think about pulling out my big camera, shouldn’t I? Haha! Sorry folks. This is all we have for today. This is pasta that I’d made a couple nights before for dinner.

Details: rigatoni noodles (there’s something about these noodles that are SO appealing to me), ground beef, a bit of taco seasoning, a scoop of sour cream (in the whole pot), chopped tomatoes with basil and olive oil (did this in the food processor) and spinach. I re-heated leftovers and topped this with parmesan and it was great!

After lunch I sat on the porch and chatted with my dad for a bit. Got some sunshine! Then I had a client session (an awesome one!). I don’t normally take clients on Mondays but have been switching my schedule around a little bit since Marco’s schedule has changed with his new job. What would be your ideal schedule?

When my client session finished up I cleaned up my office, planned my next day, and headed out the door to meet my friend Kassidy for coffee and a pastry. On the drive to the coffee shop I listed to an audiobook, which I AM LOVING, called “Girl Wash Your Face.” Here are a couple of quotes I’ve loved from Rachel, the author…

“The most beautiful things that have happened in my life were never on my to-do list.” 

“By an inch or a mile the only requirement is forward momentum.”

Such an empowering and honest/relatable book! Great quotes… right? Which one(s) do you resonate with most? Have you read this book? Did you like it too?

At coffee with Kass, I ordered this cranberry and white chocolate scone with black coffee. Yum! I nibbled on a few bites and brought the rest home (now I have it to enjoy with more coffee this week!). Kassidy and I had some great conversation and connecting over coffee definitely filled me up!

I continued to listen to my audiobook on my way home and felt so grateful to be here in Reno. Just a moment of “thank you God…” I also had a moment of appreciating that while life always has regular/daily challenges that we all face… there’s nothing HUGELY wrong right now.

I think of when my mom was sick and how I’d look back and think… Wow, “normal” life with “normal” everyday problems… it’s so easy to take that for granted, but going through this I’d give anything to have “normal” problems back. Going through everything with my mom gave me such a perspective shift.

Another thing Rachel said in her book was to recognize and be mindful that someone else out there might be praying for your version of hard. I thought that was so true…

When I got home I gave Marco a BIG OL’ HUG (this stuff is important – ha!) kept my audio book going, popped open my favorite Ballast Point Grapefruit Scuplin (beer), and had Marco fire up the BBQ for burgers. It was sunny and warm outside – I am loving sitting on our porch lately. Soul filling.

For dinner (man, I really do need to get my big camera out!) we had delicious beef burgers with cheese, lettuce, onion, and pickles. My meals this week were all inspired by stalking Blue Apron’s Instagram feed. I love looking at food feeds for inspiration! These burgers were great. We had a few tortilla chips with them.

After dinner we cleaned up, changed into PJ’s and turned on a documentary on Netflix called Expedition Happiness. This documentary is about a couple from Germany who bought a bus in the US, remodeled it into a home on wheels, and traveled through the west coast of the US, Death Valley, Canada, and Mexico on a search for true happiness.

I loved this movie because of the takeaway they had at the end. I don’t want to share it here, because I don’t want to ruin the movie… but I’ll say this. The movie isn’t one of butterflies and rainbows where they share nothing hard. No. They share their entire raw experience and what they learned about happiness. It’s great!

It was warm here yesterday, so while we were watching the movie I hopped up for a spoonful of this Talenti Coffee Chocolate Chip ice cream. Yum!

Before we went to bed, Marco was chatting on the phone and I was setting up for my next day (setting the coffee, folding blankets, closing windows, etc.) and I noticed a couple of our kiwi’s were about to go bad. So I cut them up, had a couple bites and handed off these guys to M.

And that was it! We climbed into bed, which means I fell asleep in .25 seconds and the day was history. Really good, simply history. Today is a new day. I started it off with coffee and quiet time to fill up, now blogging to all of you, and then I’ll make breakfast, shower, and start my work with clients for the day.

I’m going to do an Instagram poll on which new post you’d like to see on Thursday so come on over @paigeschmidt and share your vote with me in my stories. I’d love to hear!

Thank you so much for being here! Leave a comment below 🙂

PS, The doors to the Instagram version of Authentically You are officially closed but anyone is still welcome to join the self-study version (delivered to you via email) of the 10-day course here!