I arrived home after work today craving some time in the sun. Luckily this little girl was more than game to go for a walk with me and enjoy the outdoors.
We walked around our neighborhood while I caught up with my friend Carrie on the phone.
Once we arrived back home, it was time to prep dinner.
I got to work popping some beans (possibly the most tedious activity in the world) and my hunger started raging.
What’s a girl to do but grab the nearest peanut butter jar and go to town?
I think Sadie was more than happy when I polished it off because she got to be the designated “jar cleaner” before I tossed it into the recycling bin.
She went to town!
While Sadie was polishing off the peanut butter, the green beans were roasting in the oven and gradually morphing into green bean fries.
I served the green bean fries alongside two pieces of pizza toast that I made with Nature’s Pride hearty wheat with flax bread that I received through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.
Pizza toast and English muffin pizzas are such delicious throwback meals!
The bread made great pizza “crust” because it was hearty but still soft and full of flavor.
Now I’m hoping to accomplish a couple random things around the house before Ryan arrives home from work. He’s stuck at the office late tonight (boo!) and I think Sadie is wondering when her roughhousing buddy is going to walk through the door. I’m hoping soon!
Long Distance Relationship Post Idea
Before signing off for the night I wanted to share an idea that I had late this morning when I saw how many of you are currently in long distance relationships. I think it might be neat to compile a list of tips for maintaining a wonderful long distance relationship in a blog post on PBF. If you have any pointers, please, please share below!
Clare @ Fitting It All In says
1. you gave up an almost empty nutbutter jar to Sadie instead of OIAJ? How generous
2. I never trim my green beans..is that bad?
3. I love the long distance post idea! My tips are to do something a little special – a random text, a hand written note or post card. And also sometimes just don’t think about it! Thinking about it and dwelling on the distance and length only make it worse.
Sara @ The Bucket List says
I actually wrote my own “Surviving the Distance” post on working on a long distance relationship! I’ve done it for almost a year now and it’s been tough, but it’s only made our relationship stronger!
http://fsubucketlist.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/surviving-the-distance/
Rachael says
My partner and I have had to do long distance three times in our relationship, once across the country, the other time with me in Africa, and right now, when I’m a good hike away (and five months pregnant). Most of what I learned echoes previous comments, but I think that realistic expectations are completely important. As was said before, not every call will be earth-shattering, not every virtual interaction will be super-special; we seem to accept routine on a day-to-day basis, but sometimes in long distance, the need for every moment to count can cause tension and stress over un-met needs.
Emilia says
Long distance can be really difficult! Especially when you’re married and you’re not living together. The best thing to do is to NOT sweat the small stuff! I’ve noticed that a small disagreement can escalate into a huge argument just because you’re on the phone and not talking in person. When you need to have a serious talk, like about finances or something along those lines, it is best to set aside a designated time and to talk either on the phone or on Skype and to just talk about that one subject. It’s also really nice to send surprise “I love you’s” in the mail. I started doing this for my husband when he was in Iraq and now it’s something we do for each other frequently. It can be a gift or even a greeting card with a sweet message 🙂
elena says
which brand of protein powder do you use?
peanutbutterfingers says
All the Whey
Jenn says
Me and my boyfriend have been together for 5 years, 4 of the 5 being mostly long distance. Also 6 months of him being in Australia. As alot of others said above, communication, trust, and of course skype are key. But through the years I have learned to know there is an end to the long road of long distance but not to always dwell on the fact that your waiting on your significant other. You don’t want to live in the future, live in the present and be happy together now.
Tara says
I can say that long distance relationships are worth the effort. I did long distance for 3 years and we were living in different countries (Canada and USA). We were also living on opposite sides of those countries… let’s just say we racked up the airmiles those 3 years. We got engaged and I quit my job and moved to where he was, where we both are now! We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary this weekend. Although LD was tough at times, many times, it was worth it in my books! We are happily married and I wouldn’t trade in any of those lonely times apart for it, because it was worth it for sure 🙂
Tips – Send lots of mail.. not email, but real mail. I loved getting letters and cards in the mail, as well as sending them. Get creative – send pictures, random things you came across that you want to show them, movie ads you want to see together, little gifts, anything. Make it fun!
We also planned a lot of trips to visit each other to make things exciting. We met in NYC for a long weekend, met in Vegas, San Diego. Those trips made being apart easier as we had something to look forward to.
Hope these tips help. I have a whole bag of them if you need more 🙂
Brett says
Hey Julie! Love this idea for a post. My now husband & I did the long distance thing quite a few times in our 6 years of dating. The best tip I can offer is to look on the bright side instead of getting down. Use the time to work on yourself, your relationships with friends, and your work. Also, let absence make the heart grow fonder- let yourself miss him sometimes because it makes you that much more grateful to have him. One specific thing we used to love doing was renting the same movie. We would pick a time to watch then, then call each other at the end to dish about it. So fun! It helps to have all kinds of fun things planned for the next time you will see each other too- a weekend chock full of your favorite things to do together is just what the doctor ordered…a nice little light at the end of the tunnel!
Ashley B says
Hello 🙂 My husband and I did long distance from PA to AZ (where I went to college) for 1.5 years. We were only dating at the time, and now we are married (and living in the same state- yay!). I think the thing that helped the most was knowing and planning when we would see each other again. We saw each other about once a month while we were apart, which I know isn’t ideal for many. But just knowing WHEN we would see each other again gave us some motivation and helped us get through the times apart. Even if we knew we wouldn’t see each other and be together again for a couple months, just having that time to look forward to was a big help instead of leaving it up in the air. Hope this helps!
Anne says
1. Keep up your social life. It’s okay to go out and have fun with your friends instead of sitting at home missing your SO. Plus, it helps the time you’re apart pass more quickly. When we were long distance, my boyfriend and I always had fun updating each other on the previous night’s shenanigans. (Trust is pretty important for that piece.)
2. Watch tv shows and/or movies together. It feels like date night, and in a way, offers a sense of normalcy that you’re doing something together that non-long distance couples do too.
(3. Am I allowed to say phone sex? Seriously.)
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