About

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Hello and welcome to Mariel Moves!

I’m Mariel, a twenty something Michigander, turned Chicagoan turned Phoenician. I started this blog after reading healthy living/eating blogs for quite some time and decided to join the community…and I have to admit, it’s been a rocky road. I’ve been notorious of giving this blogging thing a go and not actually following through long term. This time though, I’m going to make my blog a priority, for real. This time around, this blog will take you through my trials and tribulations as I balance working a full-time job, honing in on my running and trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But first…

…let’s start from the beginning…bullet style:

  • Born and raised in northern Michigan in a small little town I’m proud to call home; Ludington.
  • Attended Western Michigan University (Go Broncos!) and finished with a degree in Organizational Communication in Dec 2007.
  • Met some amazing friends at WMU and made some amazing memories and also met (then future) husband Justin. (He might argue that was the best part of my college career)
  • Upon graduation from WMU, moved to Chicago with Justin. (without jobs…WHAT were we thinking?!?!)
  • Lived in probably the worst studio apartment you could imagine (read: outrageous rent and a kitchen you wouldn’t touch with a 5 foot spatula)
  • Found jobs to pay the rent, (finally!) made the move to an upgraded apartment  and called Chicago home for about 3 years.
  • After landing jobs we loved and experiencing all that Chicago had to offer we decided that we were OVER winter…so why don’t we move somewhere where it’s actually WARM all the time? (Enter, Phoenix)
  • The rest as they say, is history…
Justin and I on our Honeymoon

The hubby and me on our Honeymoon

Now-a-days I’m living life in the valley of the sun with my husband Justin and our amazing dog Peanut; trying to find a balance between being a dedicated professional, a newly wed, staying fit and still having a bit of fun. I’m constantly struggling to juggle family, friends, work, exercise, cooking and finding some time for myself; this blog will chronicle all of that (ups, downs, everything in between). I firmly believe that life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it, and I’ll try to portray how I live by that mindset here.

Our furbaby, Peanut

Our furbaby, Peanut

So that’s me in a nutshell, but don’t be a stranger! Feel free to leave me your comments, feedback or drop me a line (marielmoves at gmail dot com). I’m ready to embark on this new blogging adventure…for good this time!

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wedding 3

Deep Sea Trek

Please Note:This blog follows my daily life, as I experiment with health, fitness, cooking and other adventures that come my way. I am in no way a licensed nutritionist, Registered Dietician (RD), professional or Doctor and my views and opinions should be treated as just that, my personal views and opinions based on my personal knowledge.

9 thoughts on “About”

  2. Carolyn

    I SO relate to being ‘over winter!’ Minnesota can keep their snow, I’ll just drive to it for the day if I miss it in a few years. 🙂
    You should check out junkfoodbreakup.com if you haven’t already – I met Heather this weekend at a Phoenix blogger meetup – she is also in HR and from Chicago.

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  3. Gabriela

    i am a student at St. Paul’s uiirevsnty taking bachelors of Divinity. i have had a struggle in paying my fees expenses and so it is my plea to any one who can assist me complete my studies at St. Paul’s uiirevsnty Limuru Kenya. The government does not offer bursaries for parallel or programmes

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    1. Brian

      I hate contacting peolpe ,ike this, but there’s no contact information anywhere in the blog.Anyhow, in one of my periodic hunts for new urban planning-related blogs and planning-related sites, I noticed that a link to Cyburbia ( . cyburbia . org ; breaking my link because this isn’t blog spam) was not included in your linkroll. Cyburbia was founded in 1994, and is the Internet’s oldest continuously operating planning-related Web site; it functions today as a portal, forum and social networking site for planners and others interested in the built environment. There’s a large number of planners from Michigan on there, too.A few years ago, when a new planning-related Web site was created, and there was a link page or linkroll, Cyburbia was almost always included. Today, it’s more often the exception. We’re trying to figure out why: if others don’t know about it, if it’s considered not worthy of a link for some reason, or if it’s something else.Considering you have links to Planetizen and many other sites, it would be nice to have equal time. Cheers,Dan @ cyburbia

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    3. Bessi

      I had a rather hard time cohnsiog just one type of physician I would want to work for. So many of them fascinate me, and with me not really going into any medical field other than support, I never gave this any thought in the past. After reading the list, I am more favorable of working for a neonatologist. It is difficult to think about how neonatologist physicians sometimes have the most difficult job in the world, but I can only imagine how amazing it would be to be a part of saving a baby’s life. I had a coworker once whose baby was born at 36 weeks, and her baby had a lot of heart and lung problems. There were concerns about whether or not they would ever fully develop once she had him, but after many months in the NICU, and many scares that happened during it, the doctors were able to save him and he is now a very healthy 5 year old. It is because of that I have a higher interest in the neonatologist field.I hate to say which type of physician I would care less to work for, and it is because I worry that many will take it the wrong way. When I was 16, I used to help my mom at an assisted living home as a caregiver. We would get to work at 7:00 A.M. every morning to prepare breakfast for four of the elderly men and women that we were caring for. We would then make sure that all bedding was changed, rooms were cleaned, meals were prepared, and appointments were handled. We worked 12 hour days, and they were always grueling. The owner of the home made sure that everyone had their medicine and made it to their doctor appointments on time. However, she was more worried about getting paid for her services than actually helping the elderly. She would yell at them if they did something wrong, and even call them terrible names. My mom reported her and we both quit our job, but it has always left a sting in my heart since then. It is because of my experience with that situation that I do not think I could ever work for a gerontologist. I know that the situations would be much different, but ever since my experience with caring for elderly individuals it is very hard for me to think about assisting a physician in geriatrics because I worry that someone else might treat the elderly in the same way the owner of the home did. I am a firm believer that the elderly deserve the ultimate care and comfort when going through any treatment and aging in general, but I do not think I could ever work in that environment again.

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