My Past

Ahhh, finally a little about ME!  I have been putting this off because I wasn’t sure where to start.  I’m going to just dive right in and see where it goes.  Leave comments for more detailed info!

Part 1 – Growing UP

• born in Marshall, MI – July 3rd, 1983
• I have an older brother, [by 3.5yrs] Josh
• moved to an eastern suburb of Cleveland, OH when I was 7 with my parents + bro
• played the flute for 5yrs [also tried the cello, oboe, and piccolo for 1-2yrs each]
• played softball my whole life and through high school, also played volleyball during high school – I’m only 5’4” so I was the “setter”
• been snowboarding since 10th grade in high school
• have always been interested in health + fitness

Part 2 – I’m a NUT!

I went to Ohio State for my undergrad and was undeclared my first quarter.  The mascot is a Buckeye…hence the “I’m a nut” reference During my 2nd quarter I decided Architecture was the right fit for me.  I knew I loved architecture since about the 7th grade when most of my friends were subscribing to TeenBOP, I was subscribing to Architectural Digest [NERD!]  It was the perfect blend of creativity + practicality.  I was accepted into the program after the summer before my sophomore year and finished in 4yrs total.

Being an architecture major is quite different than most others.  You are expected to produce quality work 24/7 and be able to stand up in front of people, talk about it, and then get critiqued ridiculed.  You have a studio space [desk in a large room] where you spend more time than where you live and you spend more time with your studio-mates than with your friends or significant other.  There were more late nights/all nighters than not.  It was an experience.  An intense, life changing experience, that I hated at times but wouldn’t change for anything.  I could go on for days about undergrad…maybe I’ll post about that at some point

Part 3 – Health in College

Everyone knows it’s NOT easy to stay healthy while in college.  The only nice thing is that most schools have multiple rec centers with easy access to all students.  This was definitely the case at OSU and you could find me at the gym 3-6 days a week depending on my school schedule.

**I don’t intend this to be a blog about losing weight or one that focuses on weight at all, really.  I am only talking about this because it is a part of my life that explains how I finally became comfortable with my body.**

18-19 – When I started college I was in the low 120’s.  I worked out and lifted a LOT.  I hated running at this point in my life!  Lifting was part of my routine every other day.  I did a lot of upper body/core toning and much less for my legs.  I felt they were always too bulky and any machine work made this worse.  I have always gained muscle fairly easily and most people are usually surprised when I tell them my weight.  My upper body is much easier to keep toned is pretty muscular.  My legs are muscular as well, which I never liked because I could never tone them down to be any smaller.

My 1st year college diet – I’m sure you can relate!

• drank 1 night a week [not a big drinker]
• low-fat foods
• not enough veggies or fiber
• lots of crackers + jelly
• instant oatmeal
• processed boxed food
• microwave soups/ramen/etc
• baked potatoes
• Jimmy Johns
• a lot of chicken
• Chinese food + watching Friends on Thursdays

There wasn’t much of an option when you lived in a dorm with no kitchen and were constantly stuck in the architecture building at your studio desk!  I never put on the Freshman 15, more like the college 15 over the course of 4yrs.

19-20 – Chris and I met in the middle of our sophomore year.  I think I started consuming more pizza + beer around this time too Oh, boys!!  I experienced a slow gain to about 128-130, still working out, still eating “healthy.”  During the summer before my junior year I thought it would be a good idea to try the South Beach Diet, which was the newest craze.  I didn’t really think I was overweight [in the low 130’s], but I just didn’t feel good about my body.  I of course lost 7lbs within the first 2 weeks [um, hello…BAD idea] and then quickly hit a plateau and started gaining it back once I was introducing “good carbs” back into my diet.  This was the only real “diet” I ever tried and it ended with an epic fail.  I am now totally against any type of carb restricting diet…or any diet at all really.

21 – 22 – From junior through senior year I gained about 10lbs putting me at an all time high of 138lbs.  It seems to happen quite frequently that people go on a diet, lose weight, get off track, and gain back more than their original starting point.  138lbs was probably not considered overweight, for my body, but I was not happy with what I saw in pictures.  My clothes were tight, I didn’t like the little stomach roll over my belt, and I just didn’t feel good.  I was caught up with quick + easy health foods and not enough REAL food.  I was taking in too many calories and drinking more than I needed to.  My workouts were still intense, and I definitely know that some of the gain was muscle mass.  However, I just didn’t like where I was at.  In the spring of my senior year, I started working at The Fresh Market, where I started to learn about organic foods and how important quality of food was.

22 – 23 – After graduation, Chris and I moved in together [when I turned 22].  Chris still had 1 more year of school to finish and I was working at a local architecture firm.  Office life does not help with weight loss, especially when you LITERALLY sit 3’ away from the vending machine.  However, after we moved in together, I started to lose some of my excess pounds.  I lived less than 1 mile from an awesome gym, which was right next to the grocery store.  I got in a pretty good rhythm of:

work –> gym –> grocery store –> cook

I was down to right around 130lbs pretty quickly.  I was cooking more [whole meals, not from a box], eating more veggies, and not drinking as much.  I never really drank a lot but always have felt like alcohol impacted my weight quickly!  I also packed my lunch most days so I didn’t get stuck eating too much “to go” food.  I had a personal trainer for awhile, which was awesome.  I wanted someone to kick my a$$ a bit in the gym   It’s hard to push yourself to the same level that someone else will!

Part 4 – Where I Found My Passion

I wasn’t happy with my job and had planned to attend grad school when Chris was done at Ohio State, so I started applying.  I was accepted to a few different schools and finally decided on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, after receiving an offer that was too good to pass up.  It basically meant I would have no loans and have an awesome opportunity within the Architecture department.  I would be working with and researching for the Digital Design Center.

We moved to Charlotte, NC after Chris graduated and I was back to slaving away in studio!  I was a full time student and worked part time for the Digital Design Center, which encompassed a fusion of the digital world with the architectural.  My main job was helping collaborate with the opera department for their yearly performances.  I know it sounds crazy, but we turned them into crazy-techy-computer-opera fuzed shows!

My real passion finally became clear in my last year of grad school.  I was trying to figure out my thesis topic and kept coming back to issues that the food world and architecture world both shared.  The main issue I found – Industrialization.  It goes hand in hand and has basically done the same thing to both industries.  The focus on quality completely vanished.  Everything became about HOW fast? HOW many? HOW much? The cheaper + quicker the better, who cares if the quality is not as good.  I will go into this more on another page at some point “Food + Architecture,” so stay tuned for that.  When I tell people my thesis topic, no one can see how the 2 are related, but then quickly realize they have more in common than not!

Three books that really changed my thought process on life:

The Omnivores Dilemma – Michael Polan

In Defense of Food – Michael Polan

Slow Food Nation – Carlo Petrini

I could go on for days about these books, but I won’t   All I can do is pass along the recommendation and tell you how they changed me.

• They opened my eyes to how our food system works.  I could ignore it, or educate myself and be changed forever.
• They made me realize spending more money on my groceries will benefit my well being and the food system.
• Quality meat is not expensive, it’s just that low-quality meat is insanely cheap, skewing everyone’s view.  Consuming meat on a daily basis is completely unnecessary, in my opinion.  Lessoning my consumption has allowed me to buy with quality in mind.
• Noticing the details in daily life that are usually overlooked.  It is amazing what is noticed when I started documenting what I made/eat on a daily basis.  I started this during my thesis, over 2yrs ago.
• The idea of “the table” needs to make a comeback in American culture.  As in, gathering and eating together, at the table, with no noise coming from a large box
• I eliminated any type of corn syrup, processed corn products, soy, artificial sweeteners, and all hydrogenated oils from my diet.  It is hard to truly eliminate all of these because they are hidden in so many things.  I would say I am 95% successful.
• I learned what “real food” is.
• Putting more focus on reading ingredient labels and not as much nutrition labels.
• We are what we eat.
• The importance for supporting local farms and businesses.

Again, that is a brief list of what I took away from these books.

Upon completion of my thesis, and 4 super intense reviews, I graduated.    That summer, I married the half that makes me whole [Chris!!] and we traveled to Ireland on our honeymoon.  It was amazing and adventurous and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.  We were there for 10 days with only 2 nights of hotel reservations before we got there.  We rented a car, Chris drove [on the right hand side..eek!] and we hopped from city to city.  It was perfect!

Check out Fast Forward, where I talk about the past 1.5yrs of my life.