The skinny debate and summer in baltimore

The new debate these days is the centered around the statement "strong is the new skinny." I've never particularly liked that version - I prefer "strong is beautiful" (the title of one of my pinterest boards) and a similar sentiment "strong is sexy." I've never really equated strong with skinny and below is an article explaining what happens when we change the paradigm from skinny to strong - the emphasis is still on body image and that's a no no. (http://fitandfeminist.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/what-happens-when-the-pursuits-of-skinny-and-strong-collide/)

 I consider myself strong because I can climb a pole or put my husband on my shoulders while we are in the water at the beach.  When I see my muscles, I don’t necessarily look at them and go “wow, I’m strong.”  Rather, I go, “wow, check out my muscles.”  “Strong” is a word that describes actions and state of being, not appearances.

I agree with the statement above. But I can't participate too heavily in this debate because what I've learned is that different things work for different women because of genetics, environment, lifestyle, life goals etc. It's true that the world, society, in some cases parents, are too image focused when it comes to a woman's worth (Read this - benevolent sexism). I've combated this by deriving worth from other things that no one can take away from me - strength, happiness, goals, working to run the world. Eventually the worth tied to "skinniness" or "ideal body" will be diluted.

Summer in Baltimore

I'm spending the summer interning in Baltimore with an office of general counsel for a health care provider. I am so freaking excited.

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out what to do with all of the exotic groceries my parents brought back to my apartment from whole foods. That's what happens when you leave my mother to do grocery shopping without supervision (I was completing an online class to receive credit for my internship while they shopped). In order to keep the boneless grassfed beef short ribs fresh, I threw them in the crock pot with a version of this recipe from nomnom paleo - Oven Braised Mexican Beef. When I told my boyfriend I had ribs in the crockpot, he decided to drive down from Philly for ribs. haha.

Baltimore: Canton 

Ribs with vegetable green curry and basil salad

Boyfriend and I just spent a week in Quebec together where we ate french food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My appetite loved it but my gut was not so happy by the end of the trip. We did, however, do enough walking, hiking and biking to justify stuffing our faces with putine (fries with gravy and cheese curds), cheeses, macaroons, and rich dinners.

Picnic Lunch: cheese, pain au chocolate, salami, egg salad sandwich and croissant 

Poutine, topped with foi gras at Pied Au Cochon

biking through a park in Montreal

Heading out to Dominion Square Tavern