If you’re like me, you have this perception of what the new year will feel like, or maybe it’s expectations. You know… these—> working on balancing life, shifting your focus towards all things purposeful, being productive, and so on and so. Am I right ? Oh my, those are some high (right off the bat) expectations.
And if you’re like me, 2 weeks into the year you’ve already let it slip a wee bit. In fact, you may need to iron out the kinks in areas of your life.
Yes it’s true. I’m going to need a good hot iron to smooth out these slip ups.
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Marriage slip ups (an over reactive Sherpa wife and a hardheaded triathlete don’t make for great week haha),
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Well being slip ups
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Nutritional slip ups
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Training slip ups.
Thank goodness we know how to use that iron, and quite often I might add. Hey, we are human ya know?
But do we just expect things to smooth out in their own? Nope, we have to take action. For us, it means we needed to sit down and chat about things.
Ironing out the kinks:
Marriage kinks (get your mind out of gutter) -we need to communicate more, and more, and more, etc. Boy does that help! 
Training kinks –we needed to utilize our day better in order to fit everything in. And usually that takes team effort! Especially when it comes to making sure the kiwi (and myself) get the proper fuel, meals, recovery, etc. When your athletic performance is your livelihood, proper recovery is key. Whoa.
Well being wise– For me, I still need to let go of a few busy things and learn to say no. I also need to stop putting off my well-being “treatments.” And by treatments, I mean MFR (Myofascial release). My friend Amy is a brilliant MFR therapist. It does wonders for my allergies (inner ear problems) and my body. But more that later.
The kiwi gets ART work done on him by our friend Ron. And trust me—> HE NEEDS IT to keep him INJURY FREE. But lately he’s let it “slip.” Not anymore, it’s a MONTHLY must!
Nutrition Kinks- we just really need to ONE UP it and maximize our nutrients.
Like post workout nutrient intake. I’ve got the protein covered for later. But we need to make sure we’re getting enough carbs and vital nutrients after high intensity workouts. My friend Dean posted an awesome recipe on instagram here. This would be great for post workout.
I also think adding in an extra smoothie (as mini meal or snack) later in the day would help boost our iron intake. I’ve add vitamin C (the kwi fruit and berries) to this green protein smoothie to help with non heme (plant based iron sources) absorption.
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one kiwi fruit and ½ cup berries
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ice
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10oz. cup almond milk
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Vegan Protein (I tried our TwinLab new CleanSeries Veggie Protein. It’s NSF approved and uses yellow pea and sprouted brown rice protein. Sprouted is great for digestion.)
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1 handful spinach
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Raw honey or maple syrup if needed
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Vanilla extract
If you are lacking in iron, consider the source and if you are absorbing it all. Animal sources of iron (heme) are absorbed more. Plant based (non heme) sources of iron need a little more work. Here’s a great little article to follow up on that.
Now that’s all said and done, I feel quite marvelous and ready for the week. Phew!
I know we’ll always have things in life to “iron out,” but it’s nice to know we’re human and all it takes is a little effort and plan of action to help smooth it out, yes? What do you need to IRON out?
Cheers,
LC
Another delicious smoothie recipe to try:
Almond Berry Mini Cheesecake Smoothies
Love the Kiwi smoothie!
I think we all need a good iron from time to time! I think life is all about setting intentions and then learning to thank like for the blessings we receive even if they throw off our intentions a tab. Life is all about the ride and as long as we try to keep flowing in the right direction it will all work itself out!
I have been anemic for most of my life, but since taking gluten out of my diet, my levels have come back to normal. Yay for God’s grace to “iron out” our bodies (along with our hearts, minds, souls…)! Great info about the heme/non heme iron. I never knew that, and it’s kinda crucial since I don’t eat meat! (But trying to reintroduce it, slowly.)
I am trying to iron out our routine. I am a girl who thrives on routine (although NOT schedules), and mine has been thrown out of whack for months. Working on a new one now that we’re settled! And on time management. This routine must have space for downtime for me, another essential for my well-being and one that has been neglected.
Also, SO curious about MFR! I have inner ear problems as well (twin!), especially when the barometric pressure changes. I’ve always thought there was just nothing I could so about it!
First off, I love your hair. Both of you. It’s adorable! Second, great post. We all need to iron things out from time to time! and great recipes!
Thanks friend! I agree! Life always needs an iron. ❤️❤️
Aye aye aye, those smoothies look incredible! I definitely know what you mean about ironing out the slip ups. For me, the problem is usually that instead of plugging along with what I KNOW is good, I panic over what I DON’T know and freeze up. Now you’ve got me all inspired to get things ironed out before going any further into the week! 🙂
Take it one day at a time friend. ❤️
I need to IRON out my iron intake. My iron and blood count levels are low due to medication I am on, and I took a break from my iron supplements the past few months. Time to start taking them again (with Vitamin C) to try to get my levels a little higher. I don’t eat meat, so I load up on spinach, but also have to use supplements. Thanks for the reminder!
I can relate to this so much friend. Needing that refocus on iron
Love this concept of ironing out the slip ups.
I likes the way you think, lady.
This may be off topic but I HAVE to share.. right away this got me thinking of a verse that came up in a lesson yesterday:
Psalm 65:10
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
Which to me is like God leveling out the playing field of life… bringing everything even, in balance. Building up the lows and bringing down the highs.
God has a way of making our emo-rollercoster lives settle down. (0:
By bringing down the highs I mean the elevated challenging stressfull times.. no celebratory moment. God wouldn’t want to soften those.
LOL.
oh i love your words friend. You are so right. He has a way of evening things out for us so we stay on HIS path
I can so relate to this!! We need to iron out our communication as well… I think that is an ongoing thing that all couples deal with!
I knew you’d be encouraging
I’ve got some ironing to do…and for me, it started with decluttering and reorganizing my space (both inside and out). I feel so much better knowing that I’ve ironed things out for me and my overall well-being. It’s amazing what a little cleaning up can do 😉
Also, taking notice of those wrinkles that need to be ironed out is the first step to a smooth ‘beginning’ of sorts xo
Agreed! And you’ve inspired me to declutter this weekend
Urgh, I feel like many see the New Year and the new start as all things having to be smooth sailing- but it is anything but! You guys have some great strategies put in place to get things moving in the right direction 🙂
Hi From Sydney 🙂
ChAnge is always rocky before it evens out, right?any Sydney
Love how honest you are about the work required in all aspects of life. Life is a work in progress, things change and we need to keep up. Communication is so so important!
Your posts always motivate me to just work on bettering my life! Thank You for that! <3
I've been working on "ironing out" some things in my life, for my health, for the past few months now. I'm (finally) starting to see some positive results and I'm thrilled!
I think god is answering prayers and ironing it out for you
I like this way of looking at things, even I never iron in real life!
haha how funny. I don’t iron either
I’m always looking for ways to max the iron intake 🙂 and I’ve got a ton of ‘kinks,’ it seems, that need some ironing out.
Send me an update soon friend!
The date smoothie sounds delicious. I am all about the ironing – not my clothes but other things. I try to avoid ironing my clothes at all costs. 😉
Haha ditto! Dryer first
I love your kinks…..I have many of the same!
I definitely need to work on more MFR too. It’s so easily ignored when it feels so good.
You and me both!!
I’m with you, we definitely need to communicate more. Lately Jesse’s been coming home from work and playing games with his brother online, instead of spending time with me – but luckily, he’s just recently realised that he needs to be balancing his time and spending more time with me as we don’t have anytime to talk or relax with one another!
Balance is definitely something we need to iron out!
New marriage is hard but it’s all about the learning process and talking it out. Ya know?
I love this! This seriously comes at the perfect time. Truthfully I spent most of this weekend beating myself up for measuring up to expectations. It was unrealistic and not exactly helpful. So I took a few days to re-group and try to learn how to calm down a bit! I needed some ironing!
You can do it friend. Be gentle on yourself! You’re already amazing
Once again I LOVE your honestly about marriage… It’s nice to hear the truth & hard work that goes into marriage 😀 Things I need to iron out… My patience currently about finding a job in my field. Also my calorie intake/exercise balance. I can’t seem to get it right, either I get in too much & feel just bloated & “off” or I don’t get in enough & I end up sick/exhausted! P.S. are going to BLEND?
it takes a lot of trial and error. Especially since you have a little one. but you’ll find it! and yes, i’m going to blend! xxoo
ha ha, I love this! It’s so true. There’s always something that needs some degree of ironing in my life. 😀 Working on communication is an ongoing thing we’ve been married almost 10 years and sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s not but it’s vital to having a happy and healthy marriage. My weekend post workout nutrition needs some serious ironing! I’m good during the week but as soon as Friday rolls around well, all hell breaks loose. So glad you shared this!!
5 out of 7 days are a good smooth start! But you’re right, weekends are tough. Life marriage, it takes focus! And patience hahahaha
we need some ironing over here 😉
Oh gosh, do I have some kinks to iron out for sure! The main things that needs some ironing is my work situation. It’s just not good right now and I just need to talk it through with my boss, and try to come to a reasonable solution. This is definitely something I’ll be working asap!
I’m so glad you pointed out VitC! Every mineral needs it’s partner!
Indeed! Okay martha, make me an iron rich cookie! I bet you could
I love how real you are. I love both of those smoothie recipes. I love your honesty. And well heck, I love YOU! 🙂
i love you more!
I love my morning smoothies, and I try to pack them with as much spinach and flax as possible so I can get my iron and omegas. Speaking of ironing, don’t we all need a little bit of that and hell yes to constant communication. It’s key, and even though I don’t see my man daily, we still talk every single day.
So loved this post. You are so real. I had some marital conflicts this weekend too that could have been solved by me being a bit more compassionate. And I let my nutrition slip this week too after doing so good the first couple weeks of the year. Thanks for the post!
You know, I sure wish we could have coffee and chat about life. ❤️❤️
I’ve always had borderline-high iron (pretty funny, since I haven’t eaten meat, except fish, in over 2 years), so I try to avoid things with added iron. I have no idea why I retain so much, maybe it’s all that delicious kale. 🙂
My kink right now is this darn sickness that came out of nowhere!!
feel better friend. xxoo
You’ve got your nutrition so well tuned
I love that you shared this – because even though my head knows that everyone needs to work on these things constantly sometimes I feel like the only one who is constantly slipping!!!
I’m a bit of a control freak and it causes some real issues from time-to-time but this past weekend I finally let go of a big thing that was just weighing me down and turned it over to someone else -now I just have to remember to let it go completely (lots of ironing!!!).
Oh woman! You know I can relate to this 100000%
i am so so thankful that nate and i communicate so well. honestly, we’ve never even come close to a ‘real fight/issues’ bc we are both really calm, and always gently approach the topic so we don’t offend each other. we love each other so much even after 7+ yrs (6 of them married)! i am killing it so far in 2014 too, i am doing everything that i’ve wanted but it’s only been 3 wks haha so let’s see if i can keep it up!
ahh i love it! great duo you all are!
I concur 1000% on communication, especially when the going gets tough. And sometimes it is hard to remember that when things get frustrating and the slip up occurs. Just had one of these needed conversations with M this weekend that reminded me of this very thing – TALK to each other! Great post friend 🙂 XO
Getting ironing… you have the best play on words! Great words of wisdom here, there is always something we can iron out and correct again. Love this post!
Keep that iron warm. Haha
I get ART work done every week too.
Just like the Kiwi, except slower and goofier.
Haha it’s all the same, right?
Amen sister. All so well said! Thanks for being real and giving us this great reminder.
And thank you for being real and you right back!!
Hubby & I just had to work on a little communication last night. Without giving away too much, we basically had to figure out when it’s appropriate to be on social media when we are together and when to put it away & enjoy OUR time. We are both so bad at that.
Oh yes, we had that talk too!
Love this! I think we all need to iron out the links in our life sometimes! 🙂
Monthly! Am I right? Hehe
I need to iron out some shizz too. In true form, I’m on plan all week and doing well and then Sat night… wellllll… doh.
SO the protein… you like it better than my fav?
HOLY YES!!! I bet all the readers here are shaking their head YES! I think so often we put ourselves last or NOT 1st on the list PLUS yes, we do need to keep the balance & the communication going for sure! What a great post Lindsay! You may have noticed my being on social media less – I really needed it the past few days & it might continue. As much as I want to help others in our community here, I have been putting myself last on the schedule for what I need to stay sane PLUS to find work so.. less time with my friends here as much as I hate to say that…
Love this post! I agree sometimes we just need to stop and iron things out. My husband and I are working on communication as well. We’ve been having a stressful time and since I too over react a lot and he is quite stubborn (as I can be) we haven’t been communicating like we should. It is about slowing down, calming down, and opening up. Even when it is hard!
I think we love parallel lives! Ha
To iron out…my life for sure! My brain is fried right now…
Joking aside, iron is soooo important especially when training! I learned that a while back when I started running more and teaching classes. Luckily, I got that under control and things are back to normal. 🙂
I love the heck out of the two of you. I know EXACTLY what you mean with the work together play together situation with your spouse. Communication is key to keeping that relationship on the good side. xoxo
We love you more! How are you this week??? ❤️❤️
Oh yes, talk about communication – with living apart from each other and only having the weekend together, this is SO important, yet sometimes so difficult – not to forget communicating when you are in the hassle of life.
My nutrition need some ironing this week – I just spent a weeken in Berlin visiting a good friend and definitely had a little too much eggnog and gin 🙂 it’s ok, as you say – we’re human and these slips can be ironed out by a good focus. Happy Monday!
Weekends always need ironing out. It’s never smooth sailing but at least it’s fun! Haha
Oh yes. We need to do some ironing over here too but I swear it was the full moon that has been throwing everyone off! That’s my explanation and I’m sticking to it 🙂 Communication is so important yet so hard, isn’t it? But I love that quote. I also love MFR so much. It makes my body feel so much better.
I swear it’s the moon! My MFR therapist were just saying that
love how real you are 🙂 you’re totally right – we all have parts in life that can definitely be “ironed out” a bit! sometimes if i’ve had a stressful day, jonny is the one who i take it out on – working on this! he usually reminds me that he’s not the reason for my mood 🙂
I am the same. I am working on that too friend. Poor hubbies
Gosh, communication is SO important but why does it end up being so difficult sometimes? Way too easy to let that one slide. I haven’t been nearly as diligent with my triggerpoint kit like I should. I finally took the time to roll my calves out last night. Luckily, I’ve only experienced major iron deficiency once – last year on the blood thinners.
Great post, and so applicable to every area of life! Right now I’m working on being more present and not thinking hours, days and weeks into the future. (I feel like blogging has really put me in the habit of doing this!) I’m also iron deficient, so I’m working really hard to boost my intake – everything from reintroducing red meat into my diet after 17 years to cooking in a cast iron skillet and supplementation. I’m determined to get it back up to normal levels this year!
So you’re trying meat?? Or have you already?
This is a great post, you read my mind with the slipping up a little already….although I think we are all on the same page!
That is SO FUNNY your ART is called Ron!!! When I get ART for the knots/tightness in my muscles, my ART is called Ron too! Not exactly a common name either! It is SO beneficial for training, really clears things up very fast!
Hope this is a wonderful week for you!
glad we can relate friend. haha <3
Haha our rons need to work together! Ron ART!
Get out the iron! I love how you’ve recognized where the *slips* are happening, and that you have to be on yourself about them before they become bigger than your goal!
Mmmmmm smoothies! Those look so refreshing!
Amen to that! We need to be genuine to smooth is our for sure
Marriage, training and well being…check! My slip up is in my pursuit for OPTIMAL nutrition I have tried so many different nutritional philosophies, clean eating, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc. Short of fruititarian paleo I think I’ve tried them all over the past 2 years. Now, I feel lost and I have no idea what makes me feel and perform the best. My first thought is none of them! I NEED to iron this out!
Can you tell this has been on my mind a lot lately 🙂
talk to me friend! let’s figure this out! happy to help IRON out your nutrition with you. <3
I can never preach enough to couples – esp. new ones, how important communication is. Joshua and I went through many moments in our relationship where we let communication take a back seat, and boy did it change everything.. in a not good way.
p.s. I think you should name the last smoothie recipe ” The Kiwi” since it does include kiwi and all =) Ha Ha
6 years into marriage and we still have our weeks, yes. But so worth the IRONING out. I know you can relate
You wouldn’t believe the way I let my “ironing” pile up! I need to just tackle a little bit every day! BTW, we are still working on communication after 23 years!
good to know! 😉 p.s. way to rock it yesterday!
Yeah, pretty much! I have had nutritional slip ups this week! I don’t know ANY over reactive sherpa wives or hard headed triathletes. I have NO idea what you are talking about 🙂
Haha right? We never over react! lol
ooooooo you’re so amazing! you always think of things in the most neatest and unique ways! please can we catch up soon!? 😀 <3
i think i have to iron how some stuff in my well being area… i have been working on relaxing more and noticing how well i feel with more down time 😀 now i think i need to start stretching more. also praying more!
I love that you are praying more!
Communication is a big one to iron out! Mike and I have been really good at that, we failed at it a little when Rocco was first born!
Wishing you a beautiful week! Love the pic of you two, so cute!
Love you!
You two busier me
You really are the best sherpa! Great reminder and tips, especially for us anemics in the group! I’ve done a lot of research on heme and non-heme sources and it helps to get both. Love the sounds of that date smoothie.
Haha save the date! We’re also working on communication, but I’ve heard that only 2 years in that’s normal so that makes me feel better? 😉
it get’s better after year 5! LOL
I think one of the reasons I don’t make resolutions for the New Year is because my mind has a tendency to go into black & white mode and I start feeling like I should wake up January 1st as a completely new person with none of my previous vices plaguing me. Totally unrealistic. In fact, I think I woke up this year nursing a slight headache and bad mood. But that’s life — we slip up and go on to shape up. Thank ya for keeping it real 🙂
ahh well said friend. I like the idea of SHAPE UP.
Love this post and I can so relate to it. I think when the new year comes around you think everything is going to be so ‘perfect’ as you can start afresh but the kinks do come through when you try and do everything well all at once and you need to step back take a breathe and figure out how to make things easier 😉
for real! stepping back helps keeps things in perspective!