Hey guys!  How was your weekend?  I spent part of mine with my dear friend Cullen!

Cullen recently moved to the very small town of Oberlin, OH, home to the college of the same name.  I’ve visited Cullen at her many homes throughout the years – NYC, Pittsburgh, Charleston WV – but no matter her locale, one thing remains true:  Cullen plans a great visit!  Although I was in Oberlin for less than 24 hours, we enjoyed lunch courtesy of her local farmer’s market, browsed cute shops, got pedicures, biked 9 miles to a winery (hence the sweaty bangs in the photo above), enjoyed wine and cheese and bread at said winery, biked 9 miles back home, enjoyed a cozy dinner out, ran 7 miles (her 11!), and ate a stellar brunch.  All while discussing fitness, fellas, and our futures.  A great visit indeed – thanks, Cul!

As you may know, I leave for Israel this Friday to visit my grandparents in Tel-Aviv!  It’s been four years (I think? Actually, probably five…) since my last visit, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them and spending time on the beach with my parents and brother.  Friday can’t come soon enough!  Until then, though, I wanted to share some randomness that I’ve been into these days.  Enjoy!

Undisclosed
Remember last fall when I told you guys about Serial, long before the masses were all listening to the real-life crime investigation podcast?!  Well, you can thank me now for telling you about Undisclosed, the “follow-up” to Serial (and thank you, Megan, for telling me about it!).  I say “follow-up” in quotes because while it’s not actually affiliated with Serial, it is about the same subject:  the trial and subsequent conviction of Adnan Syed.  If Serial viewed the case form a 30,000 foot view, Undisclosed is viewing it from 1,000.

It’s worth noting that although Undisclosed is narrated by three people that are part of Adnan’s legal team, I’ve found it to be surprisingly unbiased and fact-based.  The podcast takes a deep dive into the building blocks of the state’s case, and slowly picks them apart hour by hour, day by day.  It’s not as well-produced as Serial, and the narrators aren’t as polished or engaging as Sarah Koenig, but the content is eye-opening.  I won’t say anything more, but if you listened to Serial (and if you didn’t – get with the program!), I highly encourage you to listen to Undisclosed.   And then let’s talk!

Run Keeper App
For years I’ve run with my bulky Garmin watch, sometimes running a mile before the GPS successfully located satellites and actually started tracking my run.  Well, I’m happy to say I’ve discovered a Garmin replacement thanks to my friend EB!  If you’re a runner, download the Run Keeper app ASAP!  Run Keeper will not only track your run, but it will talk to you at your desired frequency.  I have mine set to notify me (quietly over my music) of my distance and current pace every 0.5 mile.  The app is free, but you can pay more if you want to download statistics of your runs over time, make a training plan, etc. – but for me, the free plan is just fine.

The Skimm
Hopefully some of you are already avid readers of The Skimm (shout-out to Pratt for introducing it to me and my friends!).  If you’re not, listen up!  Written by two young women who previously worked for NBC News, The Skimm is a daily email news blast that summarizes the day’s news in a clever, concise, and unbiased manner.  It arrives in your inbox M-F mornings around 6 AM, and in three minutes you are armed with enough knowledge to impress your co-workers.  I watch the Today show every morning from 7-7:30, and I often find that I learn more from The Skimm than Matt Lauer.  It’s also quite funny – both the subject lines and the content – I often laugh while sitting on my toilet at 6:25 AM (TMI?)!  Subscribe today – I guarantee you you’ll smile AND learn something!

Dustin Kelch @ Sweat Box
You might recall a post I wrote last summer regarding my experience falling in love with weight lifting and hiring a personal trainer.  1.5 years later, I’m still loving seeing Dustin!  Dustin and I recently closed a business deal that’s been in the works for a while:  I do his social media, he gives me training sessions at a discount.  Deal!  Although he knows it’s important for his “branding” and building and retaining clientele, Dustin really dislikes social media.  I, on the other hand, enjoy the cleverness of writing short posts, and could use more experience in the world of hashtags and photo editing.  So starting last week, I’m posting on Dustin’s behalf on Facebook and Instagram @ DustinKelch_at_Sweatbox!

Although I’m doing the posting, its important to me that the content is authentic, so Dustin is providing all the photos / videos and I’ll simply clean them up, add some creative supporting text, and do the actual positing.  Fun!  Follow Dustin Kelch @ Sweat Box for fitness, food, and fun!

Etsy Necklace
I’ve never been one for nice jewelry.  I have hooks full of “costume” jewelry, but don’t own any jewelry that anyone would consider selling at a pawn shop.  Case in point:  for the past few months, I’ve been wearing a thin “gold” necklace that I bought for $4 at H&M (and before that, Forever 21 – it broke after six months, a pretty long run!). Then a thought occurred to me – I could buy myself a nice(r) necklace!  After some research, I settled on this minimalist gold necklace from the SixEightyEight shop on Etsy:

I’m really enjoying the simplicity of the necklace – it doesn’t dictate what earrings I can wear (typically, if I wear a necklace, my earrings are small).  And I loved purchasing it on Etsy – it’s handmade by a woman named Jessica, she let me customize the chain length (17″), and she shipped it in the cutest little packaging!  It would make a great gift.  If you’re in the market for a minimalist necklace, I highly recommend her shop!

 

That’s all the randomness for now, folks!  I’ll be checking in with one more post between now and Israel (or maybe while flying at 40,000 feet), and then I’ll be vacationing from my computer in favor of the Mediterranean!  I’ll be back in early July with a full recap of all my Israeli adventures (mmm falafel)!