Happy What I Ate Wednesday. How’s your week going? I can’t believe we’re already in the second week of July. Crazy! I’m in another training week here at the hospital, so things are a bit hectic, but it’s all good.

If I sound like I’ve been busy, it’s because I have been. I finally got around to updating the “about me” page on my professional website. Like a lot of dietitians I know, I wear a lot of hats, between my clinical work, private clients, and freelance and consulting projects. I love the variety and feel blessed to have the opportunity to explore so many different paths to see what really lights me up. Being able to wake up every day feeling excited about what I do is an amazing thing. I hope I never take that for granted.

That said, as someone who spent her early 20’s in a very domestic living situation , I get frustrated at times when it feels like my personal social media networks are all about weddings, babies, and houses with yards, while I’m clicking away on my laptop in my apartment or a crowded coffee shop somewhere. Anytime you feel out of synch with your peers, it makes you question things, even if you’re in a really good place. For example, it’s easy for me to forget I felt like a total house-cat in my past life and was restless and anxious almost all the time. “I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot, blind earth.” I always come back to that line from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying when I think about that time.  I haven’t totally outgrown that feeling, but the more time passes, the quieter it gets.

The thing is, we’re all on our own path. From conversations with other people in various walks of life, I’ve come to appreciate that we all struggle a little with how to contextualize our personal reality within the curated images of other’s lives we see around us on a daily basis. Also: we all curate.

Why am I talking about this now?

Part One: Probably because I spent a good portion of my Fourth of July working on a writing project. It was rainy out and quiet most of the day, and it felt good to clear some stuff off my list, but I did take a step back and look at myself, like, “Dude, you need to come back to earth and take a rest.”

The short version of the long story is that someone I cared a lot about moved away earlier this year and said, “Don’t wait for me,” so I didn’t. Instead, I threw myself into work. It’s always been my go-to distraction and comfort. For better or worse, I honestly love to work. It’s pretty cool to see what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it. I’m told that as a kid, I loved throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it would stick. This must be the adult version of that.

Part Two: I heard the other day of the passing of someone I used to be close to. It was a wake-up call that life really is precious.  You honestly never know what someone else is going through, but there are so many things to appreciate and savor. Sometimes you need to snap out of your funk and look around you at all the wonderful things you haven’t noticed in a while.

Anyway. Confession-time over. Here’s the What I Ate part of this weekly link-up post (finally). I thought it would be fun to share what I ate this past weekend on the Fourth of July.

Last Saturday started with a 5:45 a.m. workout with my mom and her awesome trainer, who managed to kick my butt and teach me some cool new moves in less than an hour. Next on the agenda was a bunch of food prep, but first up—breakfast! I had some Greek yogurt with cinnamon, chia seeds, ground flax, berries, and a little peanut butter. 

After we wrapped up in the kitchen a few hours later, I worked on the computer for barely an hour before my stomach started growling. Lunch was a quick salad tossed with chickpeas, grape tomatoes, a little beets, feta, and olive, plus leftover grilled tuna from my dinner the night before at an Italian restaurant. 

After working for a few more hours, I had a snack of fresh berries. I love when these are in season.

Later in the day when everyone was over, we enjoyed some appetizers: Carrots with guacamole, a bite of an appetizer we made that was apricot topped with goat cheese and balsamic and then wrapped in prosciutto. My mom also showed me how to make steamed clams in a white wine-garlic sauce. I’d been spending all this time thinking I don’t like clams, but it turns out I love them—not as much as mussels, but pretty close. To drink, I had two rose wine spritzers over the course of the day.

Dinner: Striped bass cooked in foil over zucchini planks; salad, baked beans, and grilled veggies, plus a few bites of this great potato salad my mom had made that had a combo of Greek yogurt and mayo instead of all mayo in the dressing–I don’t usually like potato salad, but this was so good!

Dessert: I was feeling really tired and not in the food for cake, but this watermelon was calling my name. First of the season for me, I think. It was so good. I had a piece that was basically the size of my head, and it was wonderful. 

What was on the menu at your Fourth of July celebration? 

To see more WIAW from other bloggers, check out founder Jenn’s blog Peas & Crayons.