About

I'm a 30-something living in Portland, Oregon, with my husband (known as Abe in the blogworld), our son (known as N in the blogworld), and our cats, Imogene and Hera (they don't get the same privacy protections as the humans, those are their real names). Abe and I met via OkCupid, and got married July 2014 (even though I'm not a fan of weddings - see the Wedding Crap post series for more on my thoughts related to that)! I grew up in a relatively small town in southwestern Washington state, came to the PDX area for college, and decided to stick around. I now work as a tax manager at a local public accounting firm.

After running sporadically, I picked it up as a real hobby by doing the Couch to 5k program, and ran my first race in September 2010.  Occasionally since summer 2011, and exclusively since summer 2012, I have run in minimalist/zero-drop shoes. My favorite brands are Vivo Barefoot, Merrell, and Altra. I've run two marathons (2013 and 2015), but usually stick to half marathon and shorter! I've started dabbling in triathlons, doing two sprint distances. 

I started running as a way to lose weight; it didn't always help, but along with improving my eating habits have lost 45 pounds from my highest weight in 2010 to a healthy weight in 2015. I've been a lacto-ovo vegetarian since September 1999, and continue to move towards a more whole-foods based vegan diet. I made this lifestyle choice for a variety of reasons, including moral and philosophical beliefs, environmental concerns, and health purposes.

I have no formal training in fitness, nutrition, or other health disciplines, and am only sharing my own experiences and opinions. The information on this blog should not be relied upon without consulting your own health professional and common sense.

You can contact me at: balancingmeanderings [at] gmail.com

Please see my disclosure page for information and disclosures about sponsored posts and links. Transparency in sponsored content is extremely important to me; please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or concerns about this.