Pineapple Mint Agua Fresca

Hot summertime deserves lots of refreshing beverages. Last month I went to Austin for a work trip, and afterwards Jonathan and my parents met up with me for the weekend. That city is foodie heaven. There are great restaurants around every corner. And if there's one thing we do when traveling it's eat. Brunch on Saturday was at La Condesa on 2nd Street in downtown. While the food was great, what really did me in was their refreshing pineapple mint agua fresca. I tried recreating it once, and while it still needs some perfecting, here's what you need to know.

Pineapple Mint Agua Fresca 

(makes half a pitcher)

what you'll need:

• 1 large can of pineapple chunks (or go for the fresh stuff!)
• 1/4 cup of fresh mint leaves
• simple syrup (to taste)
• water (fill the empty pineapple can twice)
• juice from 1 lime

what you'll do:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well. If you don't mind bits of mint in your drink, you're done! Otherwise, pass the drink through a strainer to remove the bits of mint. Serve chilled and over ice. (Kick it up a notch with a splash of rum.)

Renters No More

In one week we'll be celebrating our first month in our first home. Or really our third home, but our first house (and the first we own!). But before we can celebrate our third (first), I want to give due attention to our second place. We only lived there for seven months, but it held a lot of special times nonetheless.

Our second floor flat had a lot of natural light, which I loved. When we moved back in November, our first project was to paint the master bedroom that was formerly red. Not pictured is the second bedroom that often just sat empty and the study turned leatherwork room. This place had some great character, namely the built in bookshelves in the living room, awesome wall of windows and great archway leading to the dining room. The kitchen was bigger than our first place and offered a lot more cabinet space. All in all it was a great home.

We had planned to rent this place for a year and a half, so the seven months that we ended up staying sound a little crazy now. But life's funny that way:) Anyway, the short time that we were there held some lovely moments:

• We celebrated our first anniversary the first day we moved in
• Our second Christmas together was celebrated with a lovely tree in that window-filled living room
• We adopted Clover and enjoyed many a game of fetch in that backyard
• I enjoyed my first working girl snow day
• We hosted our first big dinner party of 10 guests
• Friends and family visited
• Mom helped me spruce up the front porch and grow my green thumb

Thanks for the short but sweet stay, Linden.

On Working Out

Today one of my coworkers mentioned that she was in dire need of coffee after waking up at 4:45 for a 5:30 cycling class. 4:45! 5:30! Mind boggling. Awe inspiring. Straight up unfathomable.

This illustrates a struggle I've been having for the past few months (well, if we're honest, the past year) - the notion of working out. You see, for a small period of time, late 2011-2012, I went to the gym fairly regularly and did Jillian Michaels workouts at home. I broke a sweat, I was sore, I got more comfortable lifting weights in front of that awkward mirror at the gym. I also had our wedding date in sight as a major motivator, and I lived at home so I was spoiled by the fact that my mom cooked dinner and had leftovers waiting for me whenever I got home.

When we got married and moved to St. Louis, while I job hunted I had no excuse not to keep up my work out routine, so I joined a gym and kept up with one or two workouts a week. Then I got a job and just as quickly I dropped my membership. I knew waking up early or going to the gym right after work just wasn't going to happen for me. I traded the expense of a gym membership for a subscription to Birchbox. Priorities. Fast forward a little over a year and not much has changed.

To those of you who maintain a steady workout routine, I applaud you.

To those of you who do so with a spouse and pets, hats off to you.

To those of you who do so with a spouse, pets and kids and get up at the crack of dawn in order to juggle ALL of those things ... I full on bow down to you. You're superhuman.

All of this is to say that it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. And maybe one day I'll join a gym again, I'm not ruling that out. But for now, I'm going to try to show myself a little grace and accept that my preferred form of exercise revolves around being around those I care about. Going on a bike ride with Jonathan. Taking long walks with our pup. So my baby step has been hitting the snooze button less during the week so I can take Clover on a long walk in the morning. She loves it, I love it and it's a peaceful way to start our mornings.

Plus, I'm convinced that holding back a dog that is ravenously trying to catch squirrel after squirrel is some yet-to-be-named arm workout.