What I'm reading on a Wednesday

No work for me today. The office is closed, but I was (again) expected to drive to one of the group homes to work for the day or take a forced vacation day. Considering it takes 30 minutes to get to the nearest house on a normal day, I didn't feel like finding out how long it would have taken today. When precipitation falls, New Englanders forget how to operate a vehicle. Clearly, I took today off. It's not even the end of January, and I've already wasted two vacation days to snow. And I just found out they are predicting more snow for next week. Not to mention it feels like -9°F with the windchill today in RI. Come on, winter! Enough already!

Since I didn't have to get up for any particular reason today, I actually slept in until 9:15am, which is unheard of for me. I'm such an insomniac, but my body and mind apparently needed a rest. It felt awesome.

My day today has really consisted of playing Candy Crush on my iPad, an hour of shoveling, a makeshift kettlebell workout at home, and marathoning episodes of Portlandia and Best Ink. Nothing exciting, so I thought I'd share some articles that caught my attention over the last week.

How to Make Sweet Potato Caramel via Bon Appetit

Who knew that healthy, refined sugar-free caramel was awaiting me right on my countertop at almost all times? I definitely need to give this a shot. Worst case scenario, I've cooked some sweet potatoes.

4 Natural Sweeteners That Are Actually Healthy via eatlocalgrown

I sometimes engage in an internal battle about my daily use of stevia in my coffee, tea, or food. Realistically, I use at least two servings of stevia a day, some days more than that. I know it's not as bad as Splenda, but I really feel like I should try to cut it out completely. It's nice to read some positive potential side effects of stevia. I still want to cut back, but maybe there are definitely worse things I could be putting into my body. Like heroin.

10 Benefits of Yoga via yoganonymous

Just more justification for my yoga obsession. I seriously cannot say enough about how much my body and mind has changed for the better since I traded in running and kickboxing for yoga. Miracle exercise, I tell you.

A Horrifying Picture of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You via Huffington Post

Okay, this article freaks me out. I need to start getting more sleep ASAP.