Life After Our 10 Day Reboot

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Cherry Berry Apple Cinnamon Bake

We made it! Merri Beth and I completed our 10-day reboot with Joe the Juicer. It was a great experience, we tried lots of new, fresh foods, and we were pretty disciplined the entire time. We minimized substitutions and stuck to the plan as close as possible.

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen. The prep work going into getting all the fruits and vegetables ready for meals was lot of work. But our bodies are worth it. And I really enjoyed a lot of the soups, even though I’m not a big soup person. The soups we had were fresh, nutrient-packed, and delicious. Continue reading →

Are You Ready to Become a Citizen CIO?

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Photo Credits: @snajmi

Photo Credits: @snajmi

Are citizen CIOs a threat to local governments or a blessing in disguise? With government IT departments producing more open data and participation from community interest groups and citizens on the rise, we’re beginning to see the start of a new movement within open government: telling our government which technologies to deploy. Citizens are identifying—and some are creating themselves—the next wave of applications and resources for their municipalities, such as a crowdsourced answering platform for city services, an open data catalog, and a civic infrastructure adoption website for fire hydrants and storm drains. With this, the role of the citizen CIO is beginning to emerge. Continue reading →

10-day Reboot Update: Day 7

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Purple passion juice: grapes, blueberries, mint. Sporty Spice juice: beets, carrots, celery, lemon, oranges, basil.

We are over the hump and heading steady to the finish line of our 10-day reboot. I’m loving the juice and food hybrid approach to eating healthier. I’m glad we didn’t start with a three day, juice-only cleanse. Day three was the hardest for Merri Beth. Day five was tough for me because it was all smoothies, juices, and soup. I said screw it, I’m having a salad too. Continue reading →

We are rebooting with Joe and our new juicer

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juicer_01Merri Beth and I have been transitioning to a more healthy diet since September 2013. Not a diet in the temporary sense, but a diet as in our default way of eating. I got really sick on Labor Day weekend with strep throat and I was desperate for anything to help me out. In my searching, I discovered a documentary called Hungry for Change. I watched in on Netflix and was immediately motivated. My biggest take-away: we eat too much processed food and way too much sugar. But how can we change? Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Six: Sailing Around the Island

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sxm_day6_13Our last full day on St. Martin was going to be awesome, no matter what. Rain or shine, we wanted to go out with a bang. So we signed up for a catamaran tour around the island with Eagle Tours.

The shuttle picked us up a little after 8:00 am and took us Philipsburg for our island tour. We boarded the catamaran and enjoyed the view of the south side of the island as we started the day. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Five: La Galion, Grand Case, and a Christmas Parade

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sxm_day5_07Day what? For those of you paying attention to a calender, you’d know it was Sunday. For those of us on island time, we barely noticed. The weekend on St. Martin is jamming and we are part of the island vibe.

It was another early day, yes, I went barefoot running for about 24 minutes again at 6:00 am Atlantic Time. I’m totally digging the foot freedom on the white sandy beaches of Grand Case. Our preparation last night had us ready for another full day at the beach. After breakfast and making our picnic lunch, we were off to Le Galion beach again. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Four: Surf at Le Galion

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sxm_day4_05Our vacation is slipping away. After Merri Beth’s birthday it was time to get some sun on the beach. I started off the day with another barefoot run on the beach in Grand Case. Then Zander and I hopped in the water for about 20 minutes. The sun was barely coming up over the mountain ridge and the entire family was up, getting ready for the day. While we were finishing breakfast, a quick rain shower came through and a rainbow brightened our day.

We didn’t have anything planned, so we went with a beach day at Le Galion. It’s a family-friendly beach, rated number one on the island (or so the sign said). So we indulged. And the family friendliness was apparent as we drove up. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Three: MB’s Birthday with Butterflies

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sxm_day3_05It was another beautiful day on St. Martin. And it was a special day too, because it was Merri Beth’s birthday. The entire household was up early to celebrate (we wish)—it must be the island night life. I went out for another run, barefoot, after first breakfast. I came back to have second breakfast as the family was getting ready for the day.

Our first stop was the The Butterfly Farm located on the east side of the island near Orient Bay. We arrived shortly after they opened, perused the area for about 20 minutes, then went on a guided tour to learn all the things we wished we’d known about butterflies. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Two: Beaches and Airplanes

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smx_day2_14Our second full day in St. Martin started off bright and early. I was up at 6:00 am (Atlantic Time) and I went for a short run. Barefoot. On the beach. Born to run baby! After that, Zander and I went out for a swim in the Caribbean in front of our place.

After breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed out for the day. Our first stop was Pic Paradis, the tallest spot on the island with some great views. But I think we missed a turn somewhere on the single-lane road, lush with tropical foliage on both sides and only a few places to pull over and let other cars pass. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day One: Paradise in December

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SXM_024:30 am was an early start to our day, but it was worth it. Our flight to Charlotte (CLT) left Raleigh at 7:10 am, or at least it was supposed to. We were up, showered, and already packed by 5:15am, then it was time to start our long day of travel to St. Martin. We were at RDU International Airport before 6:00 am, checked-in and through security. Our flight had a slight delay taking off, but we made it to CLT within ten minutes of our scheduled time. Continue reading →