Mornin.

long-time favorites mk and ashley olsen are doing a juniors line for JC Pennys, called “Olsenboye.” not super excited about wearing graphic tees and hoodies, but the accessories look really cute.

i love salsa. for awhile i was eating an entire container of fresh salsa nearly everyday, and i had to quit cold turkey because the acid was giving me terrible stomach aches. plus it was getting expensive—the kind i like, fresh from the deli, was kind of putting a dent in my grocery budget. 

so i tried making my own. it never turned out as delicious until i found this recipe. it was originally a rick bayless recipe, but i modified it to make it less spicy ( i love spicy but i don’t like to burn the tongues of my friends).

8 ripe medium sized tomatoes
3 serrano chille pepers
5-6 jalapenos
1/2 white onion
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime
4-5 cloves garlic
sea salt

cut the top of each tomato, core and scoop out the seeds and juice for a dryer salsa mix. cut each tomato in half, salt, and lay on a paper towel (this leaches some of the juice from the tomato as well as any bitterness). while the tomatoes are draining, slice open the peppers and remove the seeds and ribs. most of the heat of the peppers are found in the seeds/ribs (don’t worry, it will still be hot). chop the peppers as small as possible. get your tomatoes, make into 1/4 inch slices and chop into pieces. scoop tomatoes and peppers into a bowl. chop the onion into small pieces, place into a colander, rinse under cold water and let drain. add to the tomatoes and peppers. chop the cilantro and add to the mixture. 

take half of the salsa, put in the blender and give it a few pulses. add this back to the salsa. juice the lime and add it to the bowl slowly to taste. finally, mince each garlic clove and add one at a time, pausing to taste—i love garlic, but not everyone does. salt the entire mixture, cover it and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes, giving the flavors time to mingle.

this is great with corn chips, but it would also be good to cook with—i’m thinking in spanish rice or on top of baked chicken.

picked these up at trader joe’s while i was in chicago. lately i’ve been loving the sent of lavender. i put a few drops of lavender essential oil in the wash cycle, then throw one of these in the dryer. my clothes, sheets and towels all smell lovely (but a subtle sent—it doesn’t smack you in the face like an artificial sent would). lavender is naturally calming and stress relieving. 

i was never an athletic child. actually, anything involving strength, coordination, speed or exertion made me feel incapable and insignificant. from a young age, i decided i “couldn’t do sports,” so i never did—and for the most part, i got away with it. i was always the one who sat on the sidelines during pick-up games of ultimate frisbee or soccer. save for one semester of freshman track (i ran mostly middle-distance), i hated the challenge of physical activity.

when i lived in chicago, i walked everywhere—at least a few miles a day to nanny, out to eat, to the grocery store or just window shopping. walking was a natural form of exercise so i was able to stay in shape without going to the gym everyday. then i graduated from college, moved to kansas city and parked my butt behind a desk for 8 hours a day. in the first six months i’d gained 10 pounds, and i realized i needed a fitness routine.

motivation to hop on the treadmill can be hard to come by, so i developed little methods in order to “trick” myself. if you’re a person with natural discipline, you probably won’t need these, but if you’re like me—content to be good at the things you’re good at and not necessarily enjoying a challenge—they might help:

just do ten minutes the first ten minutes are the hardest. excuses abound (my favorite: “this is going to take so much time out of my already busy day”). if you can convince yourself to put your tennis shoes on and hit the streets (or elliptical, bike or treadmill) for a ten or fifteen minute run, then eventually you’ll be able to motivate yourself to go longer. start with ten, and be grateful to your body for being able to sustain any activity after that.

watch a show i didn’t come up with this on my own, but it’s one of my favorites. netflix an action series (24 or LOST are great) and only allow yourself to watch it when you’re working out. keep moving for the entire 42 minute episode. you’ll catch yourself wanting to work out so you can find out what happens next.

be a video star this is really lame, but it’s my favorite (i’m stupidly imaginative). make a playlist of your current favorite songs, and then create a music video for the song while you’re running. it distracts the brain from the hard work that your body is undertaking, and transports you to another world. exercise (cardio especially) releases endorphins. i’ve found those endorphins take my imagination to crazy places. sometimes, my best ideas come from this. (recent songs are beyonce’s sweet dreams and santogold’s creator)

my goal is to always do some type of activity every day but sunday. i love the treadmill, elliptical, lifting weights, yoga and my newest thing is climbing—but it’s taken me a year and a half of motivating myself every day in order to get to a place where i want to exercise. getting frustrated, feeling guilty or insecure will only hinder your progress. patience and gratitude toward your self and your body is always the way to go.

meeee toooo.

wearekatiekindler:

i liked it then

just heard this phoenix song and was immediately heartsick for summer. i miss the warm weather, wearing little dresses everywhere and dancing all of the time, to any song available. it’s seems like instead of missing places, i’m always missing times.

katie p introduced me to “the relator,” which is the first single from scarlett johansson and pete yorn. apparently, they’ve got a whole album out called “breakup,” which is available on itunes now. this one song is pretty catchy/cute, but i have a few questions:

1) is this just a more mainstream version of last year’s wildly popular zooy deschanel/ m. ward colaboration? who can we expect to hear from in 2010, meghan fox and justin vernon?

2) about her singing career… i get the feeling that maybe scarlett should stop trying to make fetch happen.

the first thing i thought when i heard Beyonce’s “sweet dreams” was, “wish i was a really incredible dancer so that i could choreograph a little routine to this song and upload it to youtube.” sometimes i make myself literally LOL. but seriously. i guess the next best wish is to be in a zumba class so maybe the instructor would use this song and i could pretend i knew how to dance.