Category Archives: About Me

Positive Thoughts: Cold Weather

Remember to enter my giveaway for locally made natural & organic beauty products by Bristol Bliss!

Most people who know me at all (not even well) know I hate cold weather. I don’t make any secret of it. When I moved here (from Florida) in 7th grade, I was so excited to experience fall and winter. And I still really enjoy fall. But as the years have passed I’ve come to the point where I can’t stand cold, I can’t stand snow and how it’s always ruining my plans (yes I’m a control freak), and I can’t stand the dark days of winter.

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Linz wrote a post yesterday called “What I Love About Cold Weather” and as soon as I read the title, my eyes rolled. I try to ignore those happy go lucky winter lovers (just being honest) because sometimes I just want to bitch and moan about the cold. Don’t get me started on the excited Facebook updates that seem to flood my feed when we get our first real snow. But then I read these words in her post: “And truthfully, I don’t love cold weather at all.  But instead of focusing on the negative, I’m going to make a list of what I love about cold weather!”

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Accepting My New Normal

Thank you guys so much for your comments on yesterday’s post. It’s always a comfort to know I’m not alone in my seat on the crazy train. Writing is therapeutic for me and that’s why I’m back again today; I’ve needed to give myself a lot of self-therapy over the last 48 hours. Mondays are always the hardest for me mentally because I tend to do more “indulging” on the weekends. (Huge Sidebar: I’m putting indulging in quotes because I really can’t stand the word. If I “indulge” in something, but I do so every weekend, does that mean I’m indulging too much? Does that mean I’m doing something unhealthy on a weekly basis? Labeling X as an indulgence and Y as healthy really messes with my head, and that’s why I recently deleted my Indulgences board on Pinterest. I don’t need anything else around tempting me to categorize my food.)

OK, back to your regular programming. Yesterday was a particularly sucky-mindset Monday for me, despite your awesome support and reassurance. I’ve reached a point in my recovery where I do not give in as easily to ED’s temptations to restrict and over-exercise and hide from a life worth living. In terms of the way I actually live out that life, I am for sure in a better place than I was a year ago. But that does not mean the mind fuck of an eating disorder goes away. In fact, it means I’m dealing with a more self-degradation than ever before. Gone is that comforting feeling of constant hunger. Gone is the minimum of 200 minutes of cardio per week that I always HAD to do. And most scary at all, gone is the belt that I used to have to wear with all of my jeans.

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Sacrifices That Aren’t Worth It

In case you missed it, I posted a pretty fantastic giveaway yesterday, for a personal wine fridge from Staples! Check out the post and enter – you have until tomorrow night!

I’m writing this post while feeling guilty about staying out til 11PM last night to do trivia at Plan B after dinner at Rooftop 120. I had more to drink than I would have if I’d stayed home instead. I snacked when I got home (I mean it was on white bean chicken chili, but it was still nighttime snacking, therefore I feel bad). I had some fried crab cakes at Rooftop. I feel dehydrated and bloated.

I was the "scribe" for our team (just like I always was in elementary school).

I was the “scribe” for our team (just like I always was in elementary school).

But I also had a very good time with my friends. I took advantage of the fact that I am young, able to get seven hours of sleep without feeling TOO dead the next day (though I feel pretty dead I also know I’m a sleep diva), and still living at home so I have money saved to allow myself to go out and buy drinks and dinner. I even went to spin class before my plans.

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WIAW: Fond Food Memories

WOW. Your feedback on yesterday’s post about body comments was awesome. I’m so glad I’m not alone! It’s a post I’ve been wanting to write for awhile and I’m glad I finally found the words I was waiting for so that I could publish it. Keep your comments comin’! Now onto a fun post…

Kaitlin wrote a great post awhile back on certain foods and what they mean to her or remind her of. I loved the idea and reading her post put tons of material into my head for a post of my own on the same topic! And what better day to share this post than What I Ate Wednesday?

Thanks Jenn for hosting this party!

Cinnamon Buns

These have a few different meanings to me, actually. The first involves Christmas morning…every year up until recently, on Christmas morning my mom would make the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, the ones from the pop-open tubes (I loved opening those!)…and I always chose the one with the most icing! Or ones 😉 these weren’t those fancy Grands cinnamon rolls that look store-made…they were the ones that were blatantly from the tube, but that was fine by me. This was also back in the day before Cinnabon was partnered with Pillsbury for every cinnamon roll product.

Visiting the Pillsbury site has informed me that an amazing plethora of new cinnamon roll varieties exists. As in “Extra Rich with Butter Cream”. And Hershey’s chocolate icing. And cream cheese icing!

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WIAW Goes to College

I think it’s fitting to start this post with the Asher Roth classic, “I Love College”! This was my jam during my sophomore year.


What wasn’t my jam was some of the food I lived off of! College is the time period during which I became more adventurous and expanded my palate. It also is the time period during which I developed my eating disorder. I had a lot of different food phases in college. I went from a freshman year of fourth-meals to senior year of starting recovery and learning that eating a rare fourth meal wasn’t going to kill me (especially when I’d skipped the day’s first…second…etc meals). I figured I’d start with sharing some freshman year faves and end with the foodie faves I started to explore both before I developed my ED (when I started trying to “tone up”) and after I entered recovery.

Thanks Jenn for hosting this party!

So about that fourth meal…

My go-to late night meals freshman year consisted of honey BBQ boneless wings, cheese pizza dipped in ranch or bleu cheese dressing, calzones, and Domino’s CinnaStix and Cheesy Bread. Yeah, told you I used to eat very differently! Toward the beginning of my entry to college I’d say I was ordering late-night food every night! It was at this point that some freshman pounds definitely crept on.

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Two-Year (Too Late) Blogiversary!

OOPS. I missed my two-year blogiversary (blog anniversary)! On 9/21/11, I did my first post on Cait Plus Ate. I tried to explain why the timing was right for me to start a blog, but what I didn’t explain was that I hoped to use it as a tool in recovery. I wasn’t yet ready to be open about that part of my life yet, but I knew from reading blogs that though they can be triggering, they can also be huge assets in a fight to learn healthy moderation and self-love. I wanted an outlet where I could focus on my passion for food in a positive way, and learn to embrace it, not fear it.

Amazing Greek sampler platter at Steve's on Newbury Street!

Amazing Greek sampler platter at Steve’s on Newbury Street!

In my one-year blogiversary post (also belated) I counted down my top ten favorite posts I’d done in the first year of starting my blog. While I’m not going to go in order, I am going to steal the general idea from year-ago me and highlight some of my favorite posts that I’ve published over the past year.

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Classic Insta-Cait

The moment I read Hollie‘s post on Top Instagram Blogger Cliches, I knew I had to do my own! But I don’t necessarily follow all of them (for example: anything having to do with running) so I thought I’d give you a round-up of the Top Instagram CAIT Cliches! These are the types of pictures you can bet you’ll often find if you follow me on Instagram.

Cocktails

I’m sure this shocks none of you. Sometimes I even get tagged in peoples’ cocktail photos because Instagramming drinks makes them think of me. I will try to take this as a compliment.

Familia Royal – Citadelle Gin, Campari, Amaro di Nonino, Cava. Enjoyed at Firebox in Hartford!

I try to list not just the name of a drink but its ingredients too, and where I got it. If I don’t, I’ll inevitably get asked!

Brussels Sprouts

Whether I’m eating baby cabbages at home or in a restaurant, whenever I eat them I feel the need to display their glory to the Insta-universe.

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Let the Sunshine (Award) In

Thank you to those who entered my Bishop’s Corner Marshall’s giveaway! The two winners are Rebecca and Megan. Please email me with your addresses to claim your prize and remember whoever emails first gets to choose which prize she wants – mason jars or wine glasses!

Both Arman and Kelly nominated me for the Sunshine Award, so I figured I better get crackin’ on getting my post up! Since I was nominated by two people I have a total of 20 questions to answer, so I’ll try to be brief…well, Caitlin-brief.

Sunshine-Award

Rules:

  1. Include award logo in a post or on your blog.
  2. Link to the person(s) who nominated you.
  3. Answer 10 questions about yourself
  4. Nominate 10 bloggers to receive the award (I nominate NO ONE but encourage EVERYONE to do this :-P)

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The Execution of Noa P. Singleton: My Last Meal

I don’t think most are interested in reading a book review unless they’ve either read the book or are definitely planning to read it. That’s why I’m such a big fan of the concept of the From Left to Write online blogger book club. Instead of writing a book review, the book is meant to serve as a writing prompt or inspiration for a post in which I can draw on and blog about my own personal experiences.

Source

July’s book is a debut fiction novel by Elizabeth L. Silver – The Execution of Noa P. Singleton. The story switches between narration by Noa in the first person and narration by the mother of the girl Noa is in prison for killing – in the form of letters to her dead daughter. Immediately Noa is revealed as being on death row for the murder of a girl named Sarah, but we don’t know how said murder or its trial occurred. Slowly, those occurrences are revealed. However, I’m not going to write about them. I’m going to write about a topic discussed at length in one chapter of the book – the last meal.

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Leaving Behind An Empty Life

On Sunday morning I opened an email from a fellow blogger, sent to me in response to this post. It contained a sentence that really stood out to me, and also inspired me to write this post, which has been brewing in some form or another in my head for the last few weeks. The sentence was: “… I realized that the weight I had previously been was in no way sustainable unless I lived a life that was isolating and inherently quite empty.”

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That photo of me was taken in August 2010, soon before I sought help for an eating disorder. 100% honesty – I love how I look in that picture. I felt confident that day. I felt attractive. But do you know what else I felt? Hungry. I remember I packed a wrap for lunch (I’d skipped breakfast) using a 90-calorie FlatOut wrap. After I finished it, I barely felt a dent in my hunger, but I didn’t eat again until dinner. I’d skipped breakfast and worked out that morning. While my friends bought ice creams at the beach, I tried not to watch them enjoying their summer treats. I tried to give myself props and tell myself it was all worth it.

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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