When To Zen

Catching Quiet Moments

Sarah Ferie — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:23:06 +0000

Photo Credit: Jessie Hodge via Compfight

New technology is just one of my favorite things! So, when I find a good one I have to share!

My Recent Find

I’m a fan of clear and crisp sound, maybe even a little bit of a snob. There are less bulky than I expected but the sound is amazingly crisp and clear. If you know someone that is really into music and audio these are the perfect gift. It seems almost all of the Skull Candy collection have built in microphones too which is very helpful even when those calls come in.

Picture this

Layovers are great for catching up with works or phone calls. There are so many fellow passengers waiting as well. It is noisy. I find a cozy place and settle in with my Skull Candy’s and attack some emails with Pandora tunes twinkling away. Later these with me great for canceling out those fellow passengers on the plane and enjoying a little movie time.

Worth a look whether you like large or small headphones!

Air Bnb – Sleep In My Bed

Sarah Ferie — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:03:14 +0000

This is such a fun concept and I’m a fan. Hotels are great but for short stays wouldn’t it be nice to try something the is a little more life home. Clean, safe, and a great option for a short term rentals. Next SXSW it will be my first choice to escape the madness. It’s a great new development in the Bed & Breakfast industry.

As a fan of mobile and tablet apps I like software that closes the gap between online life and real life. ArBnB is worth clicking!

Mountain Meetings

Elizabeth Hannan — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:59:25 +0000

Photo Credit: Al_HikesAZ via Compfight

Keeping away from the laptop is a task. Once captured by its allure to complete tasks it is hard to escape back to real life. About three years ago I made a commitment to spend as many hours in a week in front of a laptop or tablet offline enjoy in adventures daily. Hour for hour it has paid off!

Good balance makes life just happier and easier and my waistline slimmer. Win win all around!

Sharing is Caring

Company on the various hikes and runs makes it fun too. When I started sharing my experience with my hour-for-hour balance it brought out others who were fitness inclined. With so many industry conferences coming to town I started networking on the mountain with the fellow fitness types. Lets call it “Networking Fitness“!

Sweating and exercising is a bonding experience! For the whole trail me and a handful of brave conference visitors discussed the state of Digital and Search Engine Optimization. We conquered the mountain summit which is 1.2 miles! One of my new favorite ways to network! But, still haven’t figured out if it was work or fun time! I think it was excellent time management. It isn’t often we get to say we completed a task in the normal work flow that doesn’t need a revision.

Everyone agreed it was nice to feel a sense of accomplishment!

Travel Diet Tip #1 Eating Right Before The Flight. Super Shake!

Elizabeth Hannan — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:17:22 +0000

Eat Like You Mean It!

Having a healthy base for travel stress is so important! Powering up before a trip is crucial to maintaining energy and that good rosy feeling! I’m heading out to the airport en route to a Vegas convention and knowing eating healthy that meets my food allergies and restrictions is very difficult.

Note: True Food Kitchen (Fox Restaurant Concepts) needs to set up shop in Vegas on the strip.

Rocking the Shake Ingredients:

- Blender

- Coconut Water

- Organic Frozen Berries

- Anutra Omega-3

- Vega Protein Powder Plant Based Unflavored

- Perfect Food Raw Organic Green Super-Food

Add other elements to tweak the flavor to meet your palette’s needs. I add almond slivers to give it more texture.

This shake encompasses protein supplement, massive amount of green veggies and Omega-3′s. Click the links below to read full ingredients. Way to many to list.

It is YUMMY and such a solid power boost!

Vega

Anutra

Acai

Best New Styles Are Old

Sarah Ferie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:09:08 +0000

This looks like a fun site to try out some hard to find fashion styles. Definitely going to look and see if there are any unique goodies to spice up my wardrobe at Unique Vintage!

Connect:

What is your favorite outfit? Do you have a favorite pair of jeans?

10 Sleep Apps + Fitness Platforms That Can Improve Performance

Elizabeth Hannan — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:36:13 +0000

Knowing more about your patterns and routines in life helps to determine what lifestyle changes you can make to improve your own personal performance. Ideally, a full night’s sleep should leave you feeling refreshed and able to conquer all the challenges of the day. Sounds perfect, right? The perfect goal after a long day is to crash and refresh! Lots of outside elements can affect your subconscious and restful state.

I find when I am traveling I sleep deeply for a handful of hours and firmer beds are ideal. My recent conference and stay at the Aria Resort at CityCenter in Vegas was an amazing nights sleep! Partly because the beds are firm new and housekeeping does a great job. Also, it is a non smoking hotel so no residual odors. This varies from hotel to hotel but at my home base I sleep lighter for longer hours.

In an effort to gain knowledge and obtain new information about why my sleeping patterns might be erratic I started by looking at apps that might be helpful.

Admit it; you know you do it too.

You sleep within arms reach of your phone or tablet.

Top Sleep Apps:

Sleep Cycle alarm clock

Long Deep Breathing

Sleep Cycle Tuner

Sleep Checker

pzizz sleep

Top Wake Up Alarm Apps:

Sleep!

Sleep Cycle Calculator Pro

Smart Alarm Clock FREE: sleep cycles & phases

Proactive Sleep Alarm Clock

One Of My Favorite Apps is theJimmy Fallon Alarm Clock App. Very funny! I wonder if he would record a personal voice mail message for me….?

Fitness Products:

ZEO

LARK

FitBit

Nike FuelBand

These are the products that look like they have the most potential and I look forward to sampling them in the near future. They are beyond Ipad or Iphone apps and function on there own platforms.

14 Healthy Meals At 14 Airports

Elizabeth Hannan — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:19:19 +0000

The definition of Healthy Eating vary from one consumer to another. With food allergies and other considerations in mind the search for a decent meal before a flight can be a scavenger hunt in itself.

Recently, at JFK Terminal 5 (JetBlue’s Terminal) I found a special spot with at least a selection of gourmet goodies I could choose from that fit better into my potential meal options. They even had coconut water selection which is one of my staples.

If you want to expand your list of options I would start by sampling any of the locations below. It is a well composed list of healthier meals which some do actually tempt my palette. The bad news is that there is still great room for improvement. Personally, I think having only one healthy option on a menu hardly qualifies an airport restaurant as “healthful.” In my mind, each airport restaurant should have several healthy food choices geared towards several different food allergy items including gluten-free, lactose, high salt/sugar, organic, etc. In addition, I favor the labeling system in California now where the calories from the meal are listed so I know what I am consuming and NOT burning off daily.

PCRM (Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine) rated healthy food choices include at least one low-fat, high-fiber, cholesterol-free breakfast, lunch, or dinner entrée. The airport’s score is then calculated by dividing the number of healthy establishments by the total number of establishments. The review does not include facilities that don’t serve entrées, such as snack food kiosks and small coffee shops.

The chart below provides a summary of what PCRM nutrition experts found at each airport, ranked from best to worst by their rating system.

Ranking	Airport	Score	# of Healthy Eateries / Total	Examples of Healthy Food Choices
#1	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport	100%	54/54	Every airport restaurant now offers at least one healthful entrée, such as the veggie sushi at Musashi, the hummus veggie wrap at National Coney Island Express, and the vegetable sandwich (hold the cheese) at Earl of Sandwich. —————-
#2	San Francisco International Airport	94%	60/64	Healthy food choices include a vegetable curry and rice plate or vegetarian chow mein at the Harbor Village Kitchen or a vegetarian gyro from Max’s the Greek. —————-
#3	Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport	87%	54/62	Get an avocado cucumber roll at Yoshi’s Asian Grill, a portobello mushroom and red pepper sandwich (hold the cheese) at the Home Turf Bar, or a black bean burger at Chili’s Too. —————-
#4	Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport	86%	49/57	Steamed vegetables and rice at Lotus Express, the grilled veggie delite plate at Charley’s Express, and the Caribbean salad at Houston To Go. —————-
#5	Newark Liberty International Airport	85%	58/68	A house salad with roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomatoes (ask for no mozzarella) at Vito’s Gourmet Deli or spaghetti with marinara at Sbarro. —————-
#6 (TIE)	Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport	83%	50/60	Good food choices include Southwestern black bean salad at Caribou Coffee, the grilled tempeh Reuben or veggie chili and rice at French Meadow Bakery and Café, or butternut squash soup at Wolfgang Puck Express.—————-
#6 (TIE)	Orlando International Airport	83%	39/47	The lentil chili at McCoy’s Bar and Grill airport restaurant, the fajita veggie burrito at Qdoba, and the soba noodles from Cibo Express. —————-
#7 (TIE)	Denver International Airport	80%	45/56	Bean burritos and tamales (without cheese) at Tamales by La Casita and the vegetarian chili at Lefty’s Front Range Grille. —————-
#7 (TIE)	Los Angeles International Airport	80%	45/56	Food choices include the vegetable sushi rolls at Sushi Boy and the vegetable sandwich with sprouts, sun-dried tomatoes, and avocado at Creative Croissants. —————-
#8	Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport	77%	75/97	Vegetarian sushi from Blue Bamboo Xpress and a falafel roll-up at Ufood Grill. —————-
#9	Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport	76%	65/86	Good food choices include the hummus cilantro wrap at Great Wraps, the made-to-order vegetarian burritos and tacos at Moe’s Southwest Grill, and the three-bean salad at Nature’s Table. —————-
#10	Miami International Airport	72%	28/39	The vegetarian rolls at Sushi Bar and the vegetarian platter or the black beans and rice at Bongos. —————-
#11	Baltimore/Washington International Airport	71%	27/38	The best airport restaurant for savvy travelers is the Silver Diner, which offers portobello vegetarian stir-fry with tofu, veggies, and wheat noodles in teriyaki sauce, summer salad, and veggie chili with kidney beans, mushrooms, carrots, and squash. —————-
#12	Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport	70%	23/33	Hummus and veggie flatbread sandwich (Cosi) and angel hair puttanesca (Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar). —————-
#13 (TIE)	Chicago O’Hare International Airport	68%	64/94	The Goose Island Brewing Company is an airport restaurant serving a marinated portobello panini. Or one can get the vegetarian sandwich at Argo Tea. —————-
#13 (TIE)	Washington Dulles International Airport	68%	23/34	Whole-wheat pasta with mixed vegetables at Moe’s Grill & Bar. —————-
#14	Las Vegas McCarran International Airport	66%	38/58	While travelers do have a few healthful food choices—including the vegan wrap at Burke in the Box—there are still quite a few unhealthy eateries. —————-

Questions:

>What are some of your favorite airport-friendly meals?

>Do you have food allergies or a food dietary preference?

>Favorite dining experience?

Delicious Quick Green Healthy Shake

Elizabeth Hannan — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:58:55 +0000

Morning can be a slow start as all morning are. I have an energy creation to share with you today that picks me up and keeps me feeling full for hours.
Can’t see the video? Click here to watch the video

The Refrigerator Guardian

Elizabeth Hannan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:49:19 +0000

The obvious choice is usually the best solution. At some point, when I wasn’t

traveling, flying, speaking and I actually stood on the ground. I have tweaked my fitness and adventure needs to be more fine tune and reflect my earlier fitness model days in 2012. I’m heavily into weight training, cross fit and just learning about the joys of marathon running. My daily duties as an digital agency owner come to fruition on the laptop.

Side Affects Include

Increased food consumption
Insatiable random cravings
Need sleep normal hours again. (8-10 hrs at least 4 nights a week)

I found myself when on the laptop and logging long hours very subconsciously eating large quantities of food and drink. I do have some food allergies and have adapted my food purchases to reflect more Paleo, Gluten-free. Whenever possible consuming unprocessed and foods with little-to-no preservatives, low-to-no salts, sugars. Essentially, I only shop organic and at Whole Foods. This is just my default to escape

In the processing of toxins and retraining my excerise routine the cookie monster has appeared. In my career work I am very focused. My mother says I’m the reverse of ADHD and laughs at me. If I’m on taste I am on task, for that set amount of time.

My friend Stephanie Quilao (aka@SkinnyJeans) has shared her “Small Actions Movement in 2012″. The concept aligns nicely with my other goals for 2012. I am breaking unhealthy cycles and chasing a healthier and balanced life with more intent. Fearless implementing all the business goals I’ve learn and created in the last 2 years.
To fix my subconscious amount of mindless “grazing” when at the computer I have implemented the following.Meet the “Refrigerator Guardian”

You can interpret it at a positive or a negative. I just prefer the Refrigerator Guardian. It is a very simple concept. When I tend to focus intently on another topics I just don’t pay much attention to what I am eating and when I’m eating it and I’m not necessarily hunger.

So I created a technique similar to Pavlov’s Do gs.

Every time I go for something from the fridge I am forced to ask myself the following four questions. The book is a physical reminder to me of why I am eating.

What am I eating? – Is it good for me?
How many calories is it? – Long burning or short?
Does it fit a healthier me?
Does it fit my goals for 2012?

Your probably wondering what is in the journal. I keep a food log of when and what and how much I eat. Everything gets written down for later input into Daily Burn.

If I pull on the door the book drops to the floor with a lot clatter. Who doesn’t pick something up if it falls. Further reassurance for me to reconsider what I was about to graze on.

Conversation:

What fall-safes do you do to have in place not to over eat?

Any go-to’s for snack food choices?

Fresh & Easy Tasting Event

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:46:55 +0000

A few days on the ground and I had the luxurious experience of indulging in a food tasting sponsored by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

The gift bag items were delicious, most of these items I consumed soon after the event and am working them off this week hiking on Camelback Mountain. My top favorites are the Pumpkin Pecan Pancake mix and Vermont Maple Syrup. Growing up in New York we lived off everything Vermont Maple Syrup. Anything else was unacceptable. All made with no artificial flavors. They are worth a tasting of your own!

Meeting up with Fresh & Easy’s sommelier also made for some educational conversation. I learned about and was able to taste one of his favorites “Doon Buggy”. My personal favorite was a mulled wine labeled Winter’s Tale. As a resident fan of sweet wines the Winter’s Tale is very sweet. It should be warmed in a microwave or on the stove but never brought to a boil as it’s flavor change. Perfect for snuggling by the fire on a cold night!

Do you have a favorite wine or drink to warm you up on a cold winter night?

(Share in the comments below)