Hello and welcome to my Meals from the Girl in the LBD. My name is Anna- I am 24 years old and I live in Washington, DC. I graduated from Dickinson College in 2006 with a degree in art history, and love my job of managing an art collection at an historic site here in Washington. I have wonderful friends both in town and out of town, a loving family in New Jersey with two very special shih-tzus, and an amazing fiance- we are getting married on Jan. 17, 2010!
The great love of my life (other than my family and girlfriends) is aesthetics- thus I spend my life analyzing art at work and shopping for the most fabulous little black dresses. I have to feed my need for all things beautiful! This certainly translates into my eating habits- I want to make sure I eat well to feel and therefore look my best.
I created this blog after spending a year being influenced by the great blogs out there that address an array of issues surrounding a healthy life style- veganism, eating disorders, pregnancy, weight loss, balance, social outings, etc. I feel like all of these issues affect my food choices, and I want to contribute my take on a healthy lifestyle to this worthwhile online forum.
My goal is to eat a healthy and balanced diet that provides me with the energy I need to thrive at my job, have fun with my lady friends, and be a supportive daughter and wife-to-be. I focus mainly on whole, healthy foods and try to stay away from processed stuff (though I do love me some protein bars). I don’t always make the right decisions (i.e. too much wine, too much excercise, too little calories, too many carbs, etc!) but firmly believe that the more this community accepts its humanity of virtue and folly, the healthier we are!
Please do enjoy the blog and I look forward to engaging in dialogue with this community!
30 Comments
June 11, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Your blog looks great! I love its fun name!
June 11, 2008 at 11:29 pm
hi! i stumbled across your blog while reading some comments on kath’s blog and i think your blog is great! you have the same outlook as i do, and your foods look amazing! just a question do you count calories? and maybe you could make a recipes page for things like your overnight oatmeal
June 12, 2008 at 1:22 am
Hi April- thanks so much for your comment. I actually do count calories, and that is part of the reason why I started this blog. I wanted instead of focusing on numbers, to focus on how food looks, tastes, and feels. About a month ago, I vowed to stop using Mypyramid Tracker to count every calorie I put in my body and instead I have been taking pictures of my food and meditating on how it makes me feel. Since then, I have been so much happier about the things I have been putting in my mouth! I still estimate calories in my head, and eat about 1600 calories most days, and have a goal of getting to between 1600-1800 daily.
June 13, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Thanks so much for commenting on my blog. You are so sweet! I love Washington DC, I was there about 2 years ago and fell in love.
Your blog is so cute and I love the name! I can already see that we eat very similarly and have the same food philosophy! Would you mind if I add you to my blogroll as well?
June 15, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Hey Anna – You can definitely add me to your blogroll, I’ll add you to mine as well. I think your blog looks great!! I also really like the name
Looking forward to reading more!
June 24, 2008 at 12:19 pm
love your blog!!! you have a great outlook on health. and you can NEVER go wrong with a little black dress
June 26, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Hey! Your reasons for creating your blog really resonate with me–I just created my own last week for very similar reasons! I love the online food/health community and I think it is definitely a worthwhile topic!
Also, where are you from in New Jersey? We are the same age so we probably graduated high school the same year, and I had some HS friends that went to Dickinson so I’m wondering if you know them also
I’m from Monmouth County (near Red Bank)
June 27, 2008 at 3:04 am
I enjoy reading your blog. The name is inspired! Are you totally vegan or do you just like vegan food?
June 27, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Andrea- you are such a sweetie- thank you!
Bluberry hill- thanks so much! I am not a vegan- but about 6 months ago (after reading “Skinny Bitch”- what cliche!) I decided to stop including meat, dairy and eggs as regular parts of my diet. Since then, my body has felt a lot better- I don’t have indigestion (which I suffered a lot from) and I don’t feel sluggish or bloated after meals. I still have an omelette with my bofriend on the weekends, and some type of meat or fish on the occasion (i.e., when it would be socially awkward not to eat it, when I’m with Mike’s family, if I really want it, etc.). Now when I do want something like a bakery brownie or french fries, I really enjoy it because I feel so positive about my diet 99% of the time!
July 30, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Great to meet you last night! Hope to see you again soon.
August 5, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I don’t know why, but my comments aren’t showing up
I hope that you can still see them!
August 25, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Hi Anna,
I’m thrilled that I found your blog( I noticed the address in your new signature in your emails). I miss you and am glad you are eating healthy and enjoying food!
Love you tons – Tiff
September 10, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hi Anna!
I just found your blog and wanted to let you know how much I like it!
As someone who majored in Historic Preservation, I think it’s so cool that you manage a collection at an historic site.
I live in VA and work in DC so it’s nice to see some familiar things.
September 17, 2008 at 2:43 am
Anna, I just found your blog and I LOVE IT! I totally plan to read it every day and get inspired by your yummy and creative eats. Yay!
October 21, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I like your blog alot!! You are def. an inspiration to me.
November 3, 2008 at 5:24 am
Great blog
I’m also in DC and I’ve heard great things about the flat out wraps, where do you buy them in DC? I went to the website and it doesn’t list any DC or northern VA places.
Thanks!
December 2, 2008 at 6:31 pm
i see a commented about a month and a half ago-well i want to comment again!
Your food choices are right up my alley-and i love the part when you spoke about some days just eating alot more–reasoning to hell with it-just listening to that body is a great reason alone!
Keep it up!
December 4, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hey Nan- the only place I can find those wraps is at the Safeway on 17th and P- they are nowhere else to be found!
So obnoxious
January 11, 2009 at 2:58 am
omgosh… I just had to say hi! I just starting blogging, just found your blog – love it =) I am from the DC area and I have a shih tzu, named lilly!
January 11, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Hi Jasmine! Thanks for checking in. I just checked out your blog and love it- I can’t wait to read more!
February 6, 2009 at 4:03 am
cute blog! love your philosophy and how honest you are. congrats on your upcoming wedding too!
March 1, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hey your blog looks great, can’t wait to follow along!
April 22, 2009 at 2:36 am
Hey! I’m new to the blogging community although I’ve been checking out your blog for the past few weeks, and I was wondering if you could give me some tips. For instance, how did you make your cute header?
June 13, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Hi Ann!
You have such a great blog!! I am new to the blog world but easily became addicted, and actually started by own yesterday. I don’t aspire to be as successful and widespread as yours is, but I am doing it to have fun, to talk about my experience training for the Chicago Marathon, and to raise money for an anti-violence program (I’m a school social worker in the city and I see far too many of my students affected by gang violence).
I was wondering if it would be ok if I listed your url on my blog as one of my favorites? Please let me know – and I would love it if you ever wanted to check it out at http://www.marathonval.blogspot.com.
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!
Val
July 17, 2009 at 4:45 am
Hi, Anna,
I discovered your blog a few days ago via Jenna at EatLiveRun, and I just adore it. I just graduated from Carleton College with a degree in English, but during this past year I took a few art history courses and LOVED them. I’m kicking myself for not taking art history sooner, because I would definitely have double majored in it and English. I guess that’s part of why your blog is so appealing to me; I love the fact that you have a food/fitness blog and that you’re an art historian. Reading about your job is fascinating to me, even when you don’t really go into much detail about it. I’m in the middle of a rather frustrating job search at the moment, so it’s kind of refreshing to know that there ARE jobs out there for those of us with liberal arts degrees!
Another reason I fell in love with your blog when I found it is because I’m gearing up for a weeklong trip to Italy with my family. We leave in a week and a half, and I’m SO excited for it. We’re going to Rome and are going to spend two days in Florence, since my art history major BFF studied abroad in Florence and her pictures/stories instilled in me a desire to visit. My recent discovery of art history and my newfound love of art makes the trip even more exciting for me. So, as you can imagine, your posts about *your* Rome trip have only helped to get me even more hyped up about my vacation!
Anyway, I really hope this comment doesn’t make me sound like a massive creeper! I swear I’m not; I just wanted to let you know that out of all the blogs I read, yours is one that I really identify with, or something like that. I enjoy both the way you write and what you have to say. So thanks, and happy Friday!
July 29, 2009 at 2:35 am
Love your blog! Very inspiring. I’m feeling very tired and sluggish lately and know it’s because my eating is so crappy lately. Your salads look SO yummy! One question – what is “nooch”??
August 6, 2009 at 1:46 am
so excited to have found this blog. I love dc too!
August 25, 2009 at 7:31 pm
love the blog girl, can’t wait to keep reading!
i just made my own blog and would love it if you would check mine out!!
jenna
August 29, 2009 at 8:49 pm
love your blog
can’t wait to read more. just started my own, so check it out! xo, whit
September 25, 2009 at 2:59 pm
just found your blog. I guess you’re on a break, but i’ve had fun reading while you ‘ve been gone!