foodie friday...pre run food

one of my biggest struggles with running isn't the actual running. it's the fuel/eating. when you're out for more than an hour and a half, fuel becomes an issue. in the past i grabbed a banana or whatever i had on my way out the door before starting a long run.

i worked with a sports nutritionist a while ago to try to figure out the best way to fuel my body before and during long runs and races. he helped me realize i didn't eat nearly enough before i started. basically i started out depleted so no wonder i never felt like i had enough energy. through a little trial and error, i finally figured out what works for me... banana baby food squeeze packet with 80-100 calories meal replacement/pre-workout shake starting out a long run/race with adequate fuel intake makes a big difference in my performance and energy level.
do you eat before you workout? 

on this day of thanks

the month of november has been a bit of a blur. between traveling, sickness, and working like a mad woman to cram a whole month's worth of work into 10 days, the month has flown right by with me barely stopping to take notice. here we are, the 4th thursday of the month stopping everything to be thankful.
i love thanksgiving and the opportunity to reflect on all the many things i have to be thankful for. there is no way i could possibly list them all,  there are the obvious things 1. family

 immediate (missing ashley)

extended (missing a few)

2. friends-from all phases of my life

3. travel

4. a job i love

5. faith

and the more abstract things

hope

 true joy and happiness

 peace

when i stop and think about all the things i have to be thankful for, i am completely overwhelmed. my life is absolutely nothing like i thought it would be, but my life is so richly blessed. i am really happy we have today to stop all the hustle and bustle and craziness of life and focus on all we have. 

wear it wednesday...statement necklaces

we all know i'm obsessed with the bachelor. i'm also a little obsessed with jewelry so when michelle money accessorized her swimsuits with statement necklaces on bachelor in paradise this summer, laurann and i thought it was brilliant. we made immediate plans to wear statement necklaces with our swimsuits in hawaii. i'm pretty sure the other girls thought we were completely crazy, but a few days in they joined us.

we tried to go to the beach but it started raining on our way. we stopped for statement necklace photos on the way back to our condo.

it rained again so we had another photo shoot around the property 

i really think people thought we were crazy for wearing statement necklaces with swimsuits, but i really loved it. they only lasted long enough for pictures, but it was still fun and totally worth it.

hawaii...the best part

a couple of weeks ago i spent a glorious week in hawaii with 7 other girls. 8 girls in one condo felt a litttle like we were living in mtv's the real world. we all got along really well and had a great time.

 everyone keeps asking me what my favorite thing was.

we stayed at the mariott lagoons, and i loved it. the pool was really nice and practically out our back door. i love being near the beach, but i really like the pool better. i spent a lot of time laying by the pool. we did some fun things, but my favorite part of the trip was all the time at the pool.
sometimes i wish i was more adventurous, but i just am not. are you adventurous or do you like to lay by the pool for hours like me?

random rambling...humanitarian service

i went to dinner with a small group of friends last week. we got on the subject of humanitarian work. one of the couples has done several trips to nepal, the dominican republic, vietnam, and other places. one of the girls has traveled with the same group to mongolia multiple times and to haiti a few years ago. her husband served an lds mission in haiti. when i studied abroad in the dominican republic in college, we took a trip to haiti. it was the saddest and poorest place i have ever seen in my life. our dinner conversation turned to haiti and the sadness, poverty, and corruption there. my experience there was brief and barely over the border, but it definitely broke my heart.   i've been lucky enough to travel to many places. most of my trips have been for school, work, or fun. i had the opportunity to travel to mexico several years ago with a humanitarian organization. we painted and cleaned up an orphanage, constructed a brick wall, and worked on a foundation for an addition to a very small house. most of us didn't really know what we were doing before we went, but we quickly learned and got to work, it's so cliche, but it really is so rewarding to forget about yourself and help others.  there are a lot of great organizations involved in humanitarian work. i have always been really interested in operation smile. they travel all over and help children with cleft lip/palate, and other facial deformities. imagine not being able to smile, talk, eat properly and having someone come in and repair that. it gives me chills just thinking about it. going on a trip with operation smile would be amazing, but we can't all just pack our bags and hop on a plane whenever we want. we can help contribute to the cause either by donation or for college students using campus book rentals for text books. they donate a portion of every book rental to operation smile. it makes the expense of textbooks a tiny bit less painful. they also have an option to rent books you own to other students through their rent back program. check out their website to learn more about their programs and how they help operation smile. ***this post was sponsored by campus book rentals. all opinions are my own.

fall faves...nail polish

when the weather started cooling off, i started getting anxiety about winter. i really don't like winter, but i'm going to try hard to have a better attitude this year. we'll see how that goes. 

everyone posted on social media about how excited they were for fall and cooler weather and sweaters and boots and on and on. pretty much the only thing i was excited for was fall nail colors. i'm a bit of a stickler about seasonally appropriate colors. i love all these colors so much i have a hard time choosing what to use each time.

essie-angora cardi|lady like|devil's advocate|spin the bottle

OPI-miami beet|get in the expresso lane|bogota blackberry|you don'y know jacques
what are some of your favorites?

surviving a fashion challenge

the first time i ever did a major fashion challenge i was out of town for half the month. people thought i was completely crazy for doing that while i was traveling, but it ended up being pretty simple. since i was doing 30x30, it made packing for my trip a whole lot easier. i actually really like fashion challenges, but in case you're not convinced i have brooklyn here today with her tips on surviving a fashion challenge.

I'm Brooklyn, and I'm a shopaholic.You can learn more about me HERE. I'm also a blogger, which means I've seen various fashion challenges spread quickly across social media. This includes the 30X30. I've participated before, but I recently decided to do another one, and you can read HERE why. It might not be for the reason you think!

Doing fashion challenges can be fun, but they can also be stressful. Guess what? They don't need to be! So I'm here today to give you some tips on how to survive a fashion challenge!

1. Look over your calendar for the month

Are you going to be going on vacation? Is it Christmastime and you're gonna need some sweaters? Do you have any special events like a wedding to attend? Look at what you have going on so you can plan ahead and not stress about it.

2. Pick a few of your "go-to" items.

The purpose of most fashion challenges is to learn to appreciate your closet. But if you pick all clothing items that you never wear, you're going to hate the month. Pick a few items that you wear over and over again so you can learn lots of new ways to wear them.

3. If you think you'll be tempted, put other clothing in storage.

Out of sight out of mind. Getting used to a small closet takes some time, so if you're going to be tempted by your huge closet, put the clothes that aren't a part of your closet this month out of sight.

4. Pick items that can mix and match.

I wanted to have a graphic tee because you can wear that with jeans or a skirt. Cardigans can be layered with lots of different tops. Solid colors work great but so do simple patterns, as long as you have some solid colors to go with them.

5. Have accountability.

Not comfortable sharing your outfits on Instagram every day? That's okay! Find a good friend and send the pictures to him/her everyday. Taking pictures is a really fun way to look back and see all the options you came up with.

6. Have fun!

Try new things! Don't usually mix colors? This is the time to try it. If anyone says that what you're wearing is weird (which they won't) you have an excuse! But you just might come up with some new outfit combos that you fall in love with! Try not to wear the same thing twice. You'll love the experience.

To see my item choices go HERE.
To see Days 1-6 go HERE.
To see Days 7-12 go HERE.

Fashion challenges can help you appreciate your own closet and encourage you to dress more creatively! Have you ever done a fashion challenge?

these are such great tips. thanks brooklyn for hanging out today. in case you missed it, i was over on brooklyn's blog with my tips yesterday.

here there and everywhere

do you ever have those days where you just feel like you are all over the place? let's get real...that's my life all the time.

 i like to be involved in everything. my life is a little crazy, but it's the way i like it. speaking of being all over the place... i'm a little all over the place in blog land today too...less here and more there.
i'm over at a little too jolley talking about surviving a fashion challenge. i'm also over at the morrell tale talking about being a grown up.

random facts

i wrote this post a couple of years ago and just found it again in my drafts. most of my answers are still the same, but i did make a few edits. i want to hear your answers too so link up below if you're interested.

have you ever tried to google image yourself? this is what came up first...my staff photo from work. maybe someday i'll post the rest.

an old friend posted this a while ago, and i've been saving it for a day when life got too busy to do anything blog worthy

1. Name as it appears on your birth certificate? Aubrey Zaruba

2. Any nicknames? aubs, aub staub, and currently ruf ruf grandma by my little nephew (need to change immediately)

3. Parent's names? brad and marilyn

4. Candles on your last cake? 32  34...eek

5. Date that you regularly blow them out? sometimes dec 22 but usually people are too busy

6. Pets? none...ever

7. Favorite Pet? see question 6. not an animals person

8. How much do you love your job? enough to stay there for 9 11+ years

9. Birthplace? provo, ut

10. Favorite vacation spot? a beach somewhere

11. Ever been in a car accident? few fender benders

12. Croutons or bacon bits? neither
13. Salad Dressing? homemade ranch made with skim milk and western family light mayo
14. Favorite Pie? not really a pie person
15. Favorite Number? ...
16. Favorite movies? if i can make it through a movie without falling asleep it's a miracle, but 27 dresses is basically my life so i kinda love it
17. Favorite colors? red
18. Favorite Holiday? christmas, 4th of july, cinco de mayo...really i love them all
19. Favorite day of the week? friday...or maybe saturday
20. Favorite TV show? the bach...it's terrible i know
21. What is your favorite food? never know how to answer this. i really really love a delicious salad but i also love mexican and thai and healthy foods
22. Most recently read book? yikes. i haven't read a book for over 6 months i'm sure of it. i read 4 books on my vacation (the power of full engagement, i didn't come here to make friends, and 2 jennifer weiner books)
23. What do you do to relax? what's that?
24. What do you do when you're bored?  again..what's that?
25. Where do you see yourself in 10 yrs? with any luck i'll be a stay at home something

i love random facts about people so link up below if you want to join the fun.

An InLinkz Link-up

NYC on a budget

i just got back from my 10 day trip to hawaii/california. it was a dream. i have lots to tell you all about my trip, but first i want to tell you about one of my favorite places to travel especially in the fall...new york city.    nyc is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world, i love to travel, but i do not love to spend a lot of money. i think a lot of people avoid trips to nyc because they think they can't afford it. i've got news...nyc can be done on a budget.

1. decide where to save and where to splurge.  there are a lot of places to spend money so decide ahead of time where you want to spend your money. nice hotel, fancy food, shopping, broadway shows, etc. for example i usually stay in a place that's nice enough but just ok. i am only in the hotel to sleep so i don't need to spend a lot of money on accommodations. i would rather see another show.

i went with my big running group to run the marathon so we rented several condos
2. use the subway it's not scary i promise. you will most likely take the wrong train or go the wrong direction, but people are generally helpful. use the maps or an app on your phone. unless you are only there for a day, get the week pass and use it. take the subway to and from the airport. taxis are expensive.

3. take advantage of free attractions central park, 9/11 memorial, brooklyn bridge, and walking around times square are some of my favorite things to do and things you will probably want to do anyway

4. save on food i am not a foodie so i always want to save on food, but even if you know you want to spend money on a few nice meals, there are ways to save money on food. it's easy to grab a bagel and banana from a street vendor or corner market. i usually eat at small cafes or places i can get a wrap or salad for less money than a sit down restaurant.

running into matt damon outside our hotel after grabbing some breakfast
5. use TKTS or rush tickets i like to buy tickets for one show in advance and plan to get tickets to more shows once i am there. TKTS is located in times square and has tickets for shows the day of. availability and prices are pretty random. theaters often reduce ticket prices a few hours before the show to fill the theater. you have to be willing to see whatever is available, but prices can be really good at times.

i love nyc! i love it so much i've been 8 times, and i would go back in a second. it doesn't have to break the bank, but it does require a little planning. have you ever been to nyc? what are your tips to saving money while traveling?