2011 March|Chia Seed Me

Mar 31, 2011 Posted by candice on Mar 31, 2011 in dining out, race training, vegan | 6 comments

catching up: job news, running, food

How is it already Thursday???

It seems like we were just chillin’ in Tulsa yesterday, and it’s already been almost a week. While I kind of feel like my head is spinning, I really wouldn’t mind if all of the next 12 weeks (until our house is done) go just as fast.

This morning I woke up in serious need of a run. I was just itching to get out there! It was a welcome change from yesterday’s wake up after which I did not want to go out in the freezing cold and run. I also was on a deadline with a job application and having some stomach problems, so I didn’t go. I wonder if maybe the break was just what I needed. Anyway, I sailed through five miles, happy as a lark (seriously).

Upon arriving back home I did some stretching and downed half a coconut water. Hydration, hydration. And a yogurt bowl.

plain greek yogurt, blueberries, 1/2 banana, raw oats and chia seeds

Catching up….our weekend in Tulsa was just as glorious as expected. Really, one for the books. While I truly thought there would be a lot of exploring of Tulsa going on…we actually explored very little. Much of our time was blissfully spent at the house eating, reading by the fire, watching Lost, and sleeping. We were so happy to have little O by our side – and she was the sweetest little thing all weekend; our family was complete again for 2 whole days.

We weren’t completely lazy the entire time, though. On Saturday we tried a new restaurant called Cafe Samana that the husband discovered while perfecting his Googling skills. A little hole in the wall nestled in the center of a plaza on Peoria Street, this restaurant was our match made in Heaven. We walked in to find that everything in the store was recycled or recyclable – from the papery thin tablecloths to the mismatched vintage glasses.

The vegetarian/vegan options were nearly endless, and everything on the menu sounded delicious. I ordered the day’s special – the Falafel Sally.

A crisp bed of lettuce served as a base for carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, spicy sprouts, and feta with a cucumber dill dressing, hummus, pita crisps and the star of the show – seasoned chickpea balls.

A last minute mango Kombucha rounded out my meal perfectly. Meals like this make me happy, from the quaint atmosphere to the eclectic mix of people dining there….it was all good. And the food was really really delicious. If we went back I’d actually have a really hard time not getting the same thing again.

Our other non lazy activity was our seven mile run by the river on Sunday morning; I absolutely adored this running path. We started on a park trail which soon transitioned to the path that runs down Riverside and ends on a two lane road, leading to our weekend home. Little traffic, nice trail, light breeze, cold temps. Perfect formula for a successful run.

Lately I’ve been concerned about the husband because his training has been a bit….sketchy. With his work transition, plus carrying two jobs on the side, he just hasn’t had the time to put in the weekly mileage. On Sunday, about a mile in, I was trying to think of a way to entertain him, which I’m sure he really appreciated (sarcasm). So I just started talking. Telling stories of my youth – from riding my mini bike in the woods beside our old house to how many Accelerated Reader (do you remember this?) points I got in the 5th grade. What can I say? I’m an interesting gal.

Anyway, once I started chatting I couldn’t shut up, and I ended up talking his ear off the entire 7 miles. It was like a dam was broken and I couldn’t hold back the flood of words. heh. Turns out the husband had an insanely happy run, finishing it out at a sprint (yeah husband!). I’m pretty sure it was because of my mad entertaining skills. Either way we finished 7 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes including walk breaks. Not a time we’d qualify for Boston with by any means, but we were satisfied.

This week has been pretty crazy. I’ve still been filling out applications like it’s my job, and I got two interviews this week! Both interviews were for the same position just at different places. Same job responsibilities, same hours…but a decent amount of difference in pay and 20 minutes apart in location. For both I would be teaching English classes to international students, which I am so thrilled about; you know how I am about international students. One of them is a stone’s throw away from the husband’s office, which would be a huge plus (meet for lunch, ride to work together etc), but it’s also the one that pays about $350 a month less. The other one is about 20 minutes from his office, but only about 10-15 minutes away from our new house. I’m supposed to go in this afternoon to talk to the latter one a little bit more and meet some of the other instructors. I’m pretty excited! I was afraid I’d have to get a random job like Gap or something that I don’t really care about, so I’m just happy to have the chance to do something I love.

We’re also busy this week trying to get our Mini fixed (from getting rear-ended) and back on the market to sell, which is harder than one might think. Blah. Crazy times, crazy times. People keep telling me that one day I’ll look back on this time and miss the craziness. People love to say things like that when your life is turned upside down.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll have some more good (and more definite) news to report on the job front later today. I hope you’re all having a fanstastic week!

Do you have spring weather where you are?
Our weather seems to be confused, thinking this is November instead of March – it’s freezing!

nothing sweeter

Happy Friday!

This morning what started out as a bad attitude ended up as an amazing run. Lately, the husband and I have been trying to do our short runs together before he goes to work in the morning, which works out great because he doesn’t have to do his at lunch, and I can get my workday started extra early. But this morning, as soon as I opened my eyes I knew it was later than it should be. We overslept by a good 45 minutes and had to rush just to get ready in time. I really didn’t feel like driving down to the park to do my run, and I debated between that and just running on the street. I don’t like to run on the streets by myself out here because there are a lot of loose dogs…but I also really don’t love doing laps where one time around equals less than 1 mile. But alas I decided to get my butt down to the park and get it done.

I played a little trick by telling myself that I could walk as much as I wanted, but I had to get in the four miles. Worked like a charm. I ended up not walking at all and finished in record time (for this race training anyway).

I actually started off a bit slow and the first mile was a bit uncomfortable – about 10:30 pace – but I steadily increased my pace throughout and then kicked it into high gear, running the last mile at 8:30.

The whole time I just kept chanting to myself “it’s okay to be uncomfortable!” One thing I’ve learned about running is that there is a difference between pain and discomfort. If I’m experiencing pain, I stop. Because nothing is worth sacrificing my body. But if I’m just feeling uncomfortable, I take that as a sign to push harder and get through it. Pushing through discomfort always garners the best results. Running (at least training for longer distances) isn’t necessarily supposed to easy. If it was easy, then everyone would do it, right? If it was easy, then crossing the finish line wouldn’t feel like someone just handed over all you’ve ever wanted wrapped up with a little bow on top. Hard is worth it. Uncomfortable is worth it.

I am so excited about this weekend because my BIL and SIL who live in Tulsa are out of town, and they offered to let us (me+husband+Olive) stay at their house. We miss our furry baby so much it hurts, and nothing could make this weekend better than getting to spend the whole thing with her (and each other). I’m thinking there will be lots of exploring Tulsa, Lost marathons (we’re re-watching all the seasons), naps, photo taking and a long run on Sunday (followed by another nap:).

This past week hasn’t been an easy one. I’ve been pretty stressed about all the job stuff (read: I don’t have one), and I’ve really been struggling with wishing away time. I just want to get to June so we can move into our house and feel like we’ve officially transitioned to our new life; this in-between stage doesn’t suit me very well. I know there is goodness and joy to be found in every stage of life we experience, and I’m trying to step back and focus on all the blessings in my life. I think the more I try to seek out happiness despite my circumstances, the harder it is to find. Happiness has to be felt inside, and it stems from contentment and finding joy in the little things – breathing in fresh air, the intense flavor of dark chocolate on the tongue, having the ability to see all the bright colors emerging with the new season. The more I remind myself of how wonderful it is to be able to see, feel, smell and experience every moment of life, the more it becomes ingrained as a natural part of my day. Moving from the negative to the positive.

And speaking of the positive – this family that I told you about a few months ago is finally getting their sweet little girl this weekend. I can’t imagine many things that could be sweeter.

Takes a deep breath, wonders at the air rushing out of her lungs and steeps in the peace found in this moment of being alive.

pink lady

Yesterday I was really feeling the fruits and veggies all day. Maybe it’s the onset of spring and all the flowery, warm goodness it brings that brought the longing for fresh produce.

It started off in the morning when I woke up craving a strawberry smoothie. I have no idea where it came from…I haven’t even had a strawberry smoothie in months. But I could just envision the creamy pink coldness coating my throat as it went down. I had to have it.

While I normally like to keep things simple, I decided to doctor this lady up a bit by adding a little homemade coconut butter and a half a banana. I was feeling a little tropical I suppose.

1/2 banana, 1 cup almond milk, 1 handful frozen strawberries, chia seeds and ice

All day long I worked on a cover letter and resume for a job I found the other day. I’ve been applying for a lot of jobs as of late, all of them jobs I’d be satisfied doing. But this job is one that I would LOVE to do. It fits in line with things I really care about, and I know I could be really successful at it. Needless to say I have a lot invested. A degree in nutrition is not required, but it is preferred, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up. But it’s kind of hard to keep them down. I’ve done all that I can do, so now I’ll just wait. And keep applying for jobs of course. The plus to all of it is that I’m getting pretty good at the art of writing cover letters, a task I used to absolutely despise.

Continuing to feed my craving at lunchtime, I pulled out leftovers of a meal I made the other night. You guys know I love a good stir-fry, and I found this awesome sauce at our local food store the other day. I always find it really difficult to find a pre-made stir-fry sauce that doesn’t have added sugar, so I nearly jumped up and down in the aisle when I discovered it!

Love teriyaki. Love pineapple. That’s all.

At least I thought. Unfortunately later in the evening, the husband was checking out the ingredients and informed me that it has fish sauce. FAIL. I have to be honest – I’ll still continue to eat it until the jar is gone (hello $4), but obviously won’t buy it again. The search continues.

The sauce really was just as perfect as I thought it would be for my stir-fry, though. I chopped up a green bell pepper, three carrots, an onion, frozen broccoli and some asparagus, stir-frying it in a bit of olive oil until the veggies were tender. Then I added about a cup of edamame (protein!) and some raw cashews just for kicks. All served over brown rice.

hi!

One of my absolute favorite meals. And the husband’s too. Darn that fish sauce.

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In other news, for those of you who read my post last Friday, you know that I am having a bit of a problem with my blogging workflow right now, and I’m in the market for a new plan. Yesterday I clicked over to my old blog for a second and happened to notice a post title of a blogger on my old blogroll. I don’t read Kath’s blog normally, but the title “House Neat Home: Blogging Behind the Scenes” caught my eye, so I clicked on over.

And discovered the coolest little gadget that I didn’t even know existed.

Yes, that would be a wireless SD card. Aka my dream card. Am I the only one who thinks it is a huge hassle to constantly be unplugging and plugging in my card? (rhetorical question) And as you all know, my adapter broke last week, which meant that I couldn’t plug it in at all. I am so excited about this.

Basically with the wifi card you can take pictures, and if you’re within range of your wireless network (you can program in multiple networks), then the photos will automatically upload to your computer in a folder that you designate. If you’re outside your network when you take the photos, then it will wirelessly upload them the next time you turn your camera on in your network range.

The only thing I’m still trying to figure out is if it uploads raw images, or just JPEGs. I need raw, so that could be a deal breaker. I’ll update as soon as I find out…fingers crossed.

Have any of your heard of this before? I was so surprised when I found out about it, and I just thought I’d pass it on!

Anyway, this afternoon the husband and I have an appointment with a small business consultation company to talk about some Outbox logistics, so I’m picking him up from work in about a half hour. There may be a cupcake stop involved later. Just maybe.

when in doubt…

Last Friday I got an email from my sweet friend, Amber saying that there would be live music at one of the quaintest little coffee shops in town located in Full Circle Bookstore. I didn’t know what our evening plans were yet, but the husband and I are always down for live music! We arrived about an hour late and finally found a seat in the far back corner. And when I say a seat I really mean a seat. We shared it. I never mind having an excuse to get a little closer to the husband anyway

I was so excited to meet Amber for the first time! She was exactly like I had pictured her, which I think is such a great thing. I love it when people are so real on their blogs that when you meet them IRL they are exactly as you imagined them. Amber also had her two cute kiddos and her husband with her, and I loved getting to meet the whole family. Sadly, the picture of us must have been eaten by my camera because it is no where to be found.

The music was great too – a group of violinists called The Stringents who covered all kinds of old and new songs. We love groups like that! Anyway, I got so caught up in talking about our time with Olive over the weekend, and I totally forgot to mention our epic Friday night!

——————–

This morning the husband and I got our mojo back by heading out for our four miler before the sun had even shown its face. We both had a great run despite the hills, crazy strong wind and a short bout of stomach troubles for me. It sure felt good to have a great workout already done by 7am. Love it when we drag ourselves out of bed that early!

After sending the husband off to work and taking a quick shower, I decided to make some breakfast. After browsing a few recipes online, I finally settled on Angela’s spelt pancake recipe.

It was super easy – just a matter of mixing the dry ingredients and then adding milk! I actually had to add in more milk after mixing it up because it was a little too thick; other than that I followed the recipe exactly.

plus

equals

These were pretty tasty. They were maybe a little too dense for my “loving”, but overall not bad.

Also making its debut in my kitchen this morning: coconut butter. For the last couple of weeks I have not been able to get the smooth, tropical white goodness out of my head. Last spring I bought my first and only jar because it was on sale at our local health food store. It was Artisana Cacao Bliss Raw Chocolate Coconut Butter, and it was divine. Considering I really didn’t want to go spend $10+ on a jar today, I decided to try my hand at making my own.

Unfortunately it turned out to be a little bit harder than I thought, and I ended up looking like this:

Coconut in my hair. coconut in my eyelashes. coconut everywhere really. I didn’t even know it was there until about an hour later, too. Glad I work from home currently.

Anyway. I started out by adding 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut to the Vitamix and setting it on variable speed at about 5 or 6.

It seemed to work at first, but then I couldn’t get it to stop sticking to the sides, and I began to feel like I wasn’t making any progress at all. So I added another 1/2 cup, thinking that it might help to have more, but also hoping I wasn’t just wasting even more of my precious shredded coconut. This helped for another minute or so, but then the same thing kept happening.

At this point I was getting really frustrated (read: hungry) , so I just slathered some of the coconut chunks (and apple butter!) on my piping hot pancakes and called it breakfast.

But a little while later, I was back at it. At this point, I was just so mad that it wasn’t working that I probably would have done just about anything to salvage it…so I added more coconut. One whole cup more. Desperate times people….

Hallelujah, it worked! In fact, it worked amazingly well. Within minutes the mess in my Vitamix had turned into a creamy pool of white just ready to be poured out in one smooth stream. Beauty.

Lesson learned. When in doubt, add more coconut. I think that might become my life motto actually…kind of has a nice ring to it.

Now I’m ready to start practicing with add-ins, namely cocoa. Perfect in a green monster, on an Ezekiel english muffin, as an oatmeal topper and much more!

I definitely think this would also work in a regular food processor as well.

I’m off to work on more job applications. I’m quickly learning that applying for jobs could be it’s own full-time job, and honestly I wouldn’t really mind it. Does that exist?

What’s your dream job? If you could restart at age 18 and do anything you wanted to, what would it be?
I would either go to school for a combination of nutrition and writing or just a degree in writing – like journalism maybe. With an English Education degree I was somewhat close to that, but it seems maybe not quite close enough.

weekend photo overload

Another successful weekend in the great OKC. The husband and I ate and explored until our hearts were content…and we did most of it with the little baby in tow, which made it all the bettter.

We started off Saturday afternoon at Panda Express because it was the only veggie friendly restaurant that had a nice outdoor patio just begging for us to relax on it.

One of my not so healthy loves is lo mein noodles and spring rolls. mmmm….Asian food.

After lunch we headed down to the Plaza District, a quaint little area in the heart of OKC dotted with vintage shops. One of our friends from college opened up her own handmade boutique a few years ago, and I’ve been itching to stop by and check it out. It was just as cute as I’d imagined.

One of the best parts about this little shop is that it’s pet friendly. We carried O around for awhile, but eventually let her down to make friends with the shop dog. She wasn’t toooo excited.

And she was a good little baby while her mama tried on some clothes.

After shopping for a bit, we decided to hit up the much talked about little cupcake shop just a couple of miles way.

Cutest little cupcake shop ever! Even counting the ones in Old Town Alexandria that I fell in love with last fall. Very quickly I’m finding out that OKC has more than a few things going for it.

I ordered the highly recommended iced coconut latte with soy. yum! And the husband and I split this little gem – chocolate cupcake with a mocha chocolate icing.

We liked.

After letting our little snack settle, we were off to our next destination – the Paseo District – for a little walking and sightseeing.

She still loves me:)

And then the long drive back home. She was tuckered out.

After we picked up Olive at my grandma’s, we were cruising along toward the city when we suddenly looked at each other and we knew exactly what each other was thinking. Our little family was finally together again, and it felt like everything was right in the world. I still have moments of weakness when I think to myself “why did we decide to give her up?” “What were we thinking?”

We’re now 3 weeks down and 13 to go. Just trying to keep whittling it down.

I spent most of yesterday on the search for a job. I’m having a bit of a hard time with it. Sometimes I think I just analyze things too much…and it gets me all stressed out. I’m hoping to be able to find something this week, but so far I’ve kind of struck out. Hopefully I’ll have better luck today!

Is there something in your life that you’re having to make an effort to stay positive about? What do you do to help yourself stay focused on the bright side?

starting with a rant and ending with a happy friday!

Warning: rant ahead.

Can I just say that sometimes I really hate technology? K, thanks. Sometimes I REALLY hate technology. For a long time I had trouble figuring out a good workflow for taking pictures, editing and uploading them and then saving them without overloading (read: sloooowing down) my computer. Finally, a few months ago, the husband and I brainstormed and came up with a decent flow. It was still kind of a pain in the you know what, but it was better than before.

Step A – Take photos
Step B – Remove card from camera and plug it into the camera using a USB camera card adapter
Step C – Open photos and immediately delete any that are not worthy of keeping.
Step D – Move all remaining photos to a folder on the desktop.
Step E – One by one, drag photos into Photoshop for editing. After editing each one, save it to the same folder, but with a different name (I don’t want to lose my unedited raw images)
Step F – Upload the entire folder into Flickr, labeling it by date and tagging as needed
Step G – As soon as a few folders have accumulated on the desktop, copy them to a DVD and store in a safe place.
Step H – Delete photos from the desktop

Sounds pretty involved, right? Well, that would be the reason why there are currently about twenty folders of pictures on our desktop. I really need to take a day (or a week) and upload all of them to Flickr and then copy to DVDs. But let’s get back to the reason why I hate technology right now.

So everything was going just fine until about a week ago when my camera card USB adapter stopped working. Walmart special, people. Apparently the only option of getting photos onto the computer without it is plugging the entire camera into the computer via the cord that came with it (which I’ve learned is not too good for the camera or the card). The biggest problem with that method is that you can only import the photos through iPhoto, and iPhoto does not accept raw. Which means I can’t edit using Photoshop. Bah.

On top of that, it seems that the husband nor I can get much service on our phones out in these parts. So, any photos I take with my iPhone are essentially useless because I can’t get enough of a connection to email them to myself.

Anyway, I took some pictures earlier today with my dslr, and now I can’t even get them to upload through iPhoto. The “import” button is grayed out and it won’t let me select it. Needless to say, this post is going to be utterly pictureless.

That’s all.

———————–

This morning I went for a four mile run per my half marathon training, and it was a tough one! Some runs are just that way. I kind of felt like I was dragging the whole time, and my pace was up and down like a kid on a rollercoaster. I finished in 40:52. I got to thinking though, that when I have a super tough run but I stick with it and push through I probably do just as much or more for my training than when I sail through. So score one point for building up endurance and mental power!

For lunch I poured 3/4 cup of Amy’s Vegan chili over a bed of greens with an apple (I’m on a huge apple kick right now!) on the side. A spin off my current favorite easy lunch. It was the first time I’d had the chili, and it was pretty good. Honestly the crumbled tofu in it was so similar to the consistency of ground meat that I almost couldn’t enjoy it. I had to keep telling myself over and over again – it’s not an animal, it’s not an animal.

This afternoon I’m heading to the city to get a haircut. A couple of people asked me about it recently, and for the record I am growing out my pixie cut…at least for the time being. I’m trying to be really low maintenance and not get worked up about the bad “inbetween phase,” but as we speak there is a mullet inching its way down the back of my neck, and it must be reigned in. Hopefully at my appointment today, I can get it cleaned up a little bit but lose as little ground as possible on the path to longer hair. This will be my first time to get it cut since we moved, so I’m going to somebody completely new, which makes me a little nervous. Cross your fingers for me!

The husband and I are going on a little date tonight. My friend and fellow Okie, Amber, emailed me today, saying there will be live music at this cute little bookstore tonight. So, we may stop by there. We shall see how it goes. Also definitely going to be stopping by BestBuy to get a new camera card reader, so tomorrow there will be lots of pretty pictures! Spring has almost arrived here, and I’ve been doing my best to capture it.

And before I go – a few old pictures of our sweet baby just because I miss her so much.

her favorite spot – on dad’s freshly ironed clothes

second best to hanging her head out the window

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

our very own pipes!

Good morning!

Today is another high fire danger day, which means that the wind is blowing about a hundred miles per hour (exaggeration). So, like a baby I skipped my run, opting to have my cross training today instead of tomorrow. I’m already kind of regretting that because my body is itching for a run, but there’s always tomorrow I suppose. I’m going to try to start pushing through even on bad weather days because as I learned 2 years ago, it’s good to be prepared for bad weather on race day.

Anyway, this week marks 14 weeks in the countdown until we (are supposed) to get into our house. We’ve had our meeting to finalize our plans, they cleared our lot, and as of yesterday they’ve put plumbing in! I was so excited when we pulled up. I always tell myself that there’s probably not going to be anything done because then there’s less disappointment if nothing has been…and it’s all the more exciting when it has! Last week I went by and they had cleared the lot and marked off the perimeter of the house. So excited to see the footprint of where we’re going to live, I took a little video. Oddly, you have to click the link for the video to pop up in a different window. Oh, and I get really awkward when I talk on camera.

housemovie1

housemovie2

It obviously looked a little different yesterday. I can’t believe those are our very own pipes! heh.

So that’s the progress on our house. We should be getting an appointment at the design center soon, so we can go pick out fixtures, carpet etc. I’m so excited about that part of it, but also nervous because I’m not really known for being a good decision maker.

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As I mentioned yesterday, we have been spending a lot of time in OKC the last couple of weeks. Which means that we’ve been eating out A LOT. I’ve been around here more for lunches, mostly keeping it simple and vegan with some soup, a piece of fruit, some hummus and either pita bread or a few crackers. This meal isn’t the most cost efficient lunch I could have, but it’s been nice during this phase of transition. And it’s so good. You guys know I’m a fan of simple meals.

Amy’s black bean soup, Flackers, hummus, apple

For dinner we’ve been eating at home some – mexican pasta, spaghetti – but we’ve also been trying out every new (to us) restaurant under the sun! The other day we hit up a place called Lotsa Noodles that we’d heard a lot about from our favorite Stillwater barista. The husband found a Groupon for it, and we got $16 worth of food for $8. Lotsa Noodles is exactly what it claims to be – nearly every dish is a noodle dish, and there is every type of food you can imagine from Thai to Cajun to Italian. The inside has a pretty good vibe, but the menu is a little overwhelming for a first timer. There are so many options, and the menu itself is electronic and kind of hard to read as it scrolls and flashes periodically.

After much debate, I ended up getting a Thai dish, which consisted of rice noodles, red bell peppers, green onions and sprouts all doused in a slightly spicy and ultra creamy peanut sauce. The flavor was palate pleasing, but I was a little disappointed in the veggies – I could barely find them! I guess maybe I should have expected that, but I’d rather have a lot of veggies and fewer noodles rather than the other way around. Guess that’s why it’s called Lotsa Noodles instead of Lotsa Veggies. It was also a pretty heavy dish, which was okay because I was able to take leftovers home. But even so, I just felt kind of weighed down when I left. While I liked what I got, I probably would try something different next time. And if I crave Thai food in the future, I’ll probably hit up a Thai restaurant.

The husband spontaneously went with a Cajun flare by ordering fettuchini noodles with a spicy cajun sauce. Only after eating a few bites did he realize that on the menu it had two peppers next to his dish, touting it to be the spiciest thing on the menu. Oops! He still enjoyed it but downed more water in that 20 minutes than he probably has in the past week! That dish was not messing around.

All in all we enjoyed Lotsa Noodles and probably would go back again someday to try something different, especially if we found another Groupon. With such an epically large selection of places to eat in OKC (in comparison with little Stillwater), it probably won’t be anytime soon. But you never know.

Let’s be honest, though, the best part of any restaurant that serves Asian food is the fortune cookie. Especially with a fortune like this:)

my hands look GIANT

I’m off now to speed walk against the wind for a couple of miles, and then I’m going to – you guessed it – head to the city. Yesterday I went to Gap to try and exchange two pairs of underwear for different sizes, but somehow ended up with only one pair in my bag when I got home last night. How do these things happen? It’s rather embarrassing calling Gap at 8:45 last night to try and explain the how and why of my underwear being left on their checkout counter. But hey, underwear aren’t cheap! So, this afternoon you can find me explaining the story to yet another sales associate while trying not to make too big a fool out of myself.

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

What’s your favorite simple, healthy lunch?

running + coconut lemon cranberry bars

Hello!

This morning I got up and headed to the park to get my training run in. I’m still putting in 3.5 miles twice during the week and then a longer run on the weekend. I have to say, my runs have been going so well. I really think it is the yoga I’ve been doing. In my past races I wasn’t doing yoga yet, and I think it’s making a significant difference. I’ve also really been pushing myself to get my pace down, and I can tell a significant improvement in my long run endurance. It feels so great to see so much improvement, and I’m getting so excited about the race!

After my run I came home and did a half hour of yoga before getting ready to head to the city. My best friend from high school lives in OKC, and I am so excited to finally be in the same town as her for the first time in almost ten years. We met in 2nd grade and were practically inseparable from then until graduation. It was so so good to catch up today!

I have spent so much time in the city this week doing all kinds of stuff. When we decided to take this new job and move from Stillwater, we got so excited to live in OKC. Then we moved to my hometown. Which is not quite the city. It’s about a 40 minute drive, so it’s not too bad…but not a short drive either. So pretty much every day I’ve found some reason to go there – gotta meet the husband for lunch, gotta take something back to the store, gotta grocery shop – and usually I just pack my laptop, books, and anything else I need to work and set up camp at Starbucks for the remainder of the afternoon.

Obviously spending hours at a time away from home means there must be snacks packed. I try not to leave myself at the mercy of the Starbuck’s pastry case or a drive through, so I found myself needing ideas for portable, non refrigerated snacks to take along. Enter Angela’s Coconut Lemon Cranberry bars (click for full recipe). Moist on the inside, flaky on the outside, with a medley of sweet and citrus – tastes like a sunny day at the beach. Sign me up.

First, juice and zest your lemons!

Make a chia egg by combining lemon juice with chia seeds and allowing it to gel for about 10 minutes.

Next, turn 1 cup of oats into oat flour in a blender or food processor. It’s so fun to watch the whirling blades transform oats into flour in about 10 seconds flat. I really shouldn’t say stuff like that out loud.

Add all the dry ingredients together. Combine the wet. Then mix them all together and press into a baking dish before dusting the top with shredded coconut and chia seeds.

Bake until the edges are brown and the top springs back when you touch it.

Allow to cool, and then enjoy as you close your eyes – envisioning the crashing waves and the smell of suntan lotion and lemonade.

These bars have been the perfect on-the-go treat this week as I’ve been out and about around the city. I think they’d also make great pre-workout fuel or a dessert treat before bed.

Anyway, today I’m going to start the day off with some yoga and then spend the day shopping with my mom and aunt who are on spring break. Even though I haven’t exactly earned a spring break, I’m kind of pretending I’m on it anyway because next week I start my new job of substitute teaching. I hope you can tell how excited I am. Really.

Are you on Spring Break this week? What is your favorite SB memory?
Mine is from 2005 when I went to Thailand for tsunami relief. A life changing experience I’ll never forget. I never really was a beach person, so SB beach vacations never really appealed to me. I know. I’m crazy.

one crazy day

To all my fellow bloggers – do you ever get so much built up that you want to write about that you just don’t know how to fit it all in?

I was overflowing with topics already on Friday, and then we had the most crazy unforgettable day, so now I just don’t even know what to do with myself.

As I mentioned on Friday, the day started with my mom coming in to tell me about the disaster in Japan. It didn’t seem worthy of mentioning then, but there was also an earthquake here that morning. It was small as always, and I didn’t even feel it…but it did wake my mom up. That was only the beginning of the craziness here in our new town.

After spending several hours that morning meticulously watching the Japan coverage, I decided to get geared up and head over to my grandparent’s to run on their treadmill. While the temperature outside could have almost been considered warm, the wind was out of control. I’ve run on some windy days, but yesterday it was gusting at over 40mph, and with soreness from yoga still lingering I just didn’t have it in me to fight it for 3.5 miles. I also thought maybe I could feed my addiction to staying current on the Japan situation since my grandma has a tv in front of her treadmill. While I was able to continue watching the coverage, the only “local” channel covering it was in spanish so I relied on the few words I know…and learned a few new as well, ha.

After my run, I gave Olive a quick bath, chatted with my grandma, and then headed back home. Around 1:30 I walked through the living room, noticing that my step-dad had the news on in the living room. At first I thought he was watching Japan as well, but quickly realized that it was something local. I soon learned that some fires had started in town and were burning just about mile from our house.

We had plans to cook dinner with some friends that night, so I started chopping some veggies in the kitchen while keeping one eye on the tv. The fires were only beginning at that point. Throughout the rest of the day, they not only kept spreading, but also news ones were popping up all over town.

I had gone to the city to meet the husband at work around 3:30, but at 4 we decided to head back to the house because the news was saying another fire had started about a mile from our house and was moving in our direction. We raced home, only to find that the main road leading into town was closed down, other cars lining the shoulder waiting to get through and firetrucks in every direction. A thick cloud of black smoke hung low over the horizon, making it appear as if the entire city was on fire. And it nearly was.

With my mom’s dog who was locked up in the house heavy on our minds, we turned and raced north of town, making a big circle around and finally getting through to our house. While helicopters flew low overhead with bags of sand dangling down, we rushed around to set up sprinklers around the house and gather important items in case we had to evacuate.

Thankfully, we never ended up having to evacuate, but much of our little town was burned, and over 30 homes were reduced to nothing but ashes. Sadly we had to cancel our dinner plans, and the rest of the night was spent with everyone a little on edge as we watched fires continue to smolder on the news.

What a tragic day it was all in all. As stressful and unnerving as the whole day was, and as much as the loss of our town weighed on my mind, I still couldn’t stop thinking about how much worse the disaster in Japan was and all the homeless and distraught people thousands of miles away as well.

Sunday morning the husband and I left early for our six mile training run. We ran down toward the area that had been burned the worst, and I could hardly believe it. There were so many houses burned completely to the ground. And we only ran by a small area. Heartbreaking.

On a brighter note, we were able to complete our six miler and we’re on track for our half marathon at the beginning of May. I’m getting so excited. I somehow managed to pause my Garmin on accident, so I don’t know exactly how long it took us, but I don’t really care that much either. Deep down I can’t help but hope for a PR for this race, but I’m going to be happy regardless. Working a total of three jobs, the husband has had a harder time keeping up with training the last few weeks, so he’s struggling a bit more on our long runs. We’ll run it side by side no matter what, though. He pulled me through the last few miles of our marathon two years ago, and if I have to do the same for him this year I will. We run as a team no matter what!

after our first half marathon

Go team McCoy! ha.

Still to come in the next few days if things settle down around here a little bit: another new restaurant we tried on Saturday that was so cool, recaps of my new yoga classes, a few eats from the last several days and a video update on our house (yay!). Ever since Friday, this weekend has been great. I really think my favorite part of it might have been our run this morning – I felt like I could have went on for miles. Either that or going to visit Olive this afternoon. I miss my baby:(

Do you prefer running alone or with a buddy?
I admire anyone who can train for a marathon without a running buddy – that takes some serious mojo.

praying for japan

I was in the kitchen making the husband’s breakfast when my mom came in and told me that there had been an earthquake in Japan. Since turning on CNN soon after, I’ve been glued to the tv.

Watching the images is taking me back to several years ago when reports of the tsunami in Thailand/Indonesia were splashed across newspapers and tv. I still remember it like it was yesterday – sitting in the OKC airport waiting for a flight to see the husband’s family in south Texas – staring in disbelief as I took in the news. Along with the rest of the world, I stayed glued to the tv for the next few days as my heart ached for the people who were affected.

Just three months later I made my first trip to Thailand with hopes that I could help in even the smallest way. Three years after that, I made my second trip to the south of Thailand for more tsunami recovery efforts. It’s hard to believe that three years later these people were still suffering from the devastation.

On Pratong Island in 2005, I remember staring at the loss and pain in the eyes of a man as he told me his story of that awful day. A fisherman by trade, he had gone out to sea early in the morning and had no idea that anything unusual had happened. He arrived home a few hours later to find that the wave had washed over his entire island home, taking his entire family with it. I think of him this morning as the reports of the devastation in Japan flow in, and I pray for the Japanese people.

This wasn’t the post I had planned this morning, but with the events of this morning I just can’t focus on posting about Coconut Lemon bars or yoga.

Let’s just continue thinking about and praying for all the people who have been killed, injured, are still trapped and have lost family members and friends in Japan. Praying that God will bring comfort, safety and peace.

our first mardi gras

Last night the husband and celebrated Mardi Gras for the first time ever. I’ve never been to New Orleans, and I’ve never really seen the point in celebrating all the way up here in Oklahoma, but when I found out that one of my favorite restaurants was hosting a shindig (albeit a low key shindig), I was suddenly feeling very festive.

105 Degrees created an entire raw 3 course dinner for Mardi Gras – gumbo, red beans and rice – the works. Don’t hate on me for saying this, but I’m not a big fan of either of those dishes, so the husband and I went for the parsnip noodles and the lasagna instead. Oh, and the kale chips…can’t forget the kale chips.

There was live music and waitresses (“guides” as they call them) wearing masks as they flitted around from table to table taking orders and explaining the ins and outs of raw food. This was my first time to order anything beyond a smoothie or a juice, and it was just as lavash as I had anticipated.

The parsnip noodle dish was a mixture of spiralized zucchini noodles and parsnip noodles (which would be so easy to recreate), soaked in a cashew pesto sauce, with tiny half tomatoes, coconut “bacon” and chopped walnuts. We were most intrigued by the coconut bacon – made by marinating the flesh from a coconut in maple syrup and tamari and then dehydrating it. It didn’t taste like bacon at all, but definitely looked like it.

Surprisingly the husband liked it more than I did, so I gave most of them to him…while he didn’t care for the kale chips (what?!) so I got the whole little bowl to myself. mmm. I was surprised how much different they were having been dehydrated instead of baked, and honestly I liked the baked version better. But that might be just because it’s what I’m used to. The baked are more crisp and light whereas the dehydrated version is more dense and stiff. Both delicious nonetheless.

The lasagna was a layered masterpiece of flat zucchini (or cucumber?) noodles, spinach and tomato slices filled in between with a macadamia nut ricotta cheese, sun dried tomato sauce and cashew pesto sauce. It was beautiful and tasty, and the only downside was that it was crazy hard to eat! I didn’t want to mess it up, but it was impossible to slice through, so we ended up having to demolish it in the end.

The food at 105 Degrees is fantastic, but I think what I love most is the atmosphere. Sometimes I wish I could just go hang out there all day – watching the chefs do what they do and soaking in the clean lines and the smells of fresh juice and veggies. I just love being there. I actually feel that way about that entire area of Oklahoma City – such a refreshing place to be, about to become even more so as Whole Foods looks to be coming along quite nicely.

It would have been the perfect night, but unfortunately on the way to dinner the Mini got into a scuffle with a car three times its size when we got hit from behind by a big black Expedition. Having just exited the highway and stopped at the light at the end of the off ramp, we were chatting away when all of a sudden we heard a crunch as we were jolted in our seats. We were kind of in a not so good part of town, which could have been a bad thing, but it worked out in our favor because there was a homeless man, sign in hand, standing about two feet from our car, who saw the whole thing and was quite excited (a little too excited) about being our witness. So that was good. The cops came and helped us setting things, but the damage was insignificant enough that within a half hour we were on our way to dinner.

Thankfully everyone was okay, and I’m super proud of our little car because it held up quite nicely all things considered. We drove away with a few scratches and a cracked bumper, and now we play the insurance waiting game until we can get it fixed.

———————–

More to come on lots going on here in the country this week – a peacock sighting by the husband, a run-in with the town sheriff, delicious lemon coconut bar making, and trips to the city for some yogaaaaa! The husband and I have held strong and haven’t been to see Olive even once since Sunday night (we decided it’s best for her and us if we don’t try to go see her every day). We both miss her so much and comment to each other every day about what we’d be doing if she was here. We’re a week and a half down, with fourteen and a half to go until our family can be together again. Not that I’m counting.

Did you celebrate Mardi Gras? What’s your favorite part?
My favorite part was just having a good reason to go eat dinner at 105. Oh, and the masks were pretty cool too.

some fun news

So it has been pretty interesting living with my mom and step-dad so far. Two sets of adults sharing a house who are used to having all their own space is expected to be quite interesting I suppose. Truly, though it has been fine, at least on our end…Clark?

Thankfully, they worked really hard before we got here to set up the house to where we’d have as much of our own space as possible. We have the whole back bedroom to ourselves (thankfully we aren’t sharing that, ha:), a bathroom, and the front bedroom has been turned into our very own office. Really the only thing we have to share is the kitchen…which is funny because it’s not only the place where I make the most messes, but also the place where my mom is most particular (it’s true mom – you know it). And btw, there’s nothing wrong with being particular. Better that than not caring, eh?

Anyway. So I’ve tried to be really careful, cleaning up after myself and the husband and trying to make sure I do my part. This afternoon, I went in there to make some lunch, finally deciding on some Amy’s black bean soup and an apple.

First, I tried to clean some items in the sink, only to find that the sink was not draining. What the heck? Seeing as how the other day the bathtub stopped draining, I’m thinking the husband and I must have put some kind of curse on the drains in this house. It is almost brand new after all.

Anyway, so I finally gave up and decided to heat up my soup – I put it in the microwave, covered it with a paper towel, pressed start and stepped out into the garage for a second. When I came back I realized my paper towel had fallen off and soup had exploded all over the microwave. Crap. So, I start cleaning it all up and just when I almost had ever last spot off, I realized that I had laid the dish towel down right in the middle of my soup.

I’m a walking disaster. Fortunately I did get everything cleaned up eventually, and I got kind of tickled about it because I had made such a big mess…and it just kept getting worse.

Moving on.

I have a little secret to reveal that I’m pretty excited about.

Well, a secret and a confession really.

My confession is that I’ve been keeping a secret, and my secret is that I’m training for another half marathon!

Relax people. Stay in your seats.

I’ve actually only run one half marathon ever, which was in Phuket, Thailand in 2008.

The following year we ran the full marathon in Oklahoma City!

While I’m so excited about the race, I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid. Some of you may remember last fall when I announced that the husband and I would be running a full marathon. Then a couple weeks later I announced that we were dropping to the half. Then a couple weeks after that I admitted total defeat when I declared that we would not be running any part of the race afterall.

I just didn’t want the same thing to happen this time, and I wanted to get through the move/change in routine before I made it public. But now I’m ready. I’ve decided I’m not going to let anything stop me from running this race – I’ve been enjoying my runs so much! I’m currently on week 5 of my 12 week plan, and this past weekend was the five mile long run.

My current schedule for this week is:

Monday: yoga/PiYo – I went with PiYo this morning and it kicked my butt
Tuesday: 3.5 mile run
Wednesday: 2 mile run or cross train – TBD
Thursday: 3.5 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: cross train – TBD
Sunday: 5 miles again

There is truly few things that feel as good as the accomplishment of training for and running a race. In my experience the training is as much or more challenging and rewarding than the race itself. But crossing that finish line feels pretty good too.

What goal (s) are you excited about accomplishing in the coming months?

happy to be back!

Hellooooo!

First. Thanks so much to everyone for the sweet comments this past week. They were such a highlight of my week, and I appreciate the support and encouragement from all of you so much. I didn’t get to comment individually, but just know that it touched me so much to read your words. What would I do without my little blogging community?

Second. I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news? I’ve set a new record on CSM!
The bad news? I’ve set a record for the most number of days I’ve ever gone without posting.

This week was a call for a little mini break from the blog – and really from the computer in general, aside from some mandatory Outbox work. I missed everyone so much, and I’m happy to get back into my groove. But first, time to do a little catching up. I believe a situation such as this calls for some bullet points.

Last Saturday doubled as moving day and the husband’s 28th birthday. My family + MIL came up to help, and we packed, loaded onto a giant truck, drove to my hometown, unloaded the giant truck and drove back to our house that night. We are so thankful for everyone who gave up their day to come help – it made the process so much easier and faster!

Even though it broke my heart, I resorted to ordering a cookie cake from the grocery store. I was set on making his cake myself, but on Friday when I looked around and my kitchen was all packed up except for the Vitamix, I realized it wasn’t going to happen. The Vitamix can do a lot of things, but…

We spent the rest of the weekend sleeping on an air mattress in our empty house because we had to close on Monday. It was kind of like one big long slumber party…I kind of liked it:)

I had one big find during the whole moving process – my Nike running pants! I bought these back when we were training for our marathon a couple of years ago, and wore them every chance I got. Then they disappeared. I searched high and low…but apparently not low enough because when our dresser was being moved out I spotted them hanging from the bottom drawer. I was ecstatic!

On Sunday we went to our Sunday school class for the last time *tear and then spent the afternoon napping, working and cleaning. We had agreed to have dinner with some friends that night, but when we got to the restaurant realized they had planned a going away dinner with all of our sweet friends. We were so excited!

Monday morning we got up early and finished cleaning the house before the husband headed up to his old office for a bit and I did a bit of work at the coffee shop before heading to closing. Closing on our first sold house went great – seamless aside from a bit of sadness at handing over the keys:(

After closing the husband and I met up at our favorite little downtown cafe – Cafe Bella. We have so many memories there, and it was an appropriate choice for our last meal in Stillwater.

I went all out with a falafel pita, jalapeno chips and an IBC.

Late Monday afternoon I headed over to my grandparent’s house to drop off Olive. I spent a couple of hours there with her, visiting with my grandpa and grandma while Olive checked things out and made herself comfortable. As expected it was difficult leaving her, and it has been difficult each night this week going to visit her and then having to leave her again every time. It’s probably a lot harder on us than it is on her, though. My grandparent’s are showing her a good time – loving on her, brushing her, taking her for drives and walks, and letting her sit and watch the cows out the window. I just hope she doesn’t start loving them more than us!

btw – that’s not a cow, it’s my grandma’s dog, Maggie. You can’t see the cows in this picture.

Olive and the husband – happy to see each other one night this week when we went to visit

Between working, commuting and going to see Olive in the evenings, we have been so crazy busy. I’ve driven up to the city to see Jonathan as many days as I can, and we’ve enjoyed spending time there…trying to pretend that we’re already moved and settling into our new life. One day for lunch, we tried a fun new restaurant that is only a mile or so from where our new house is being built called Cool Greens. They specialize in build your own wraps, salads and flatbread pizzas…and most meals come with a serving of couscous on the side. I’m in love. There aren’t many restaurants like this in Oklahoma, so humor me for being so excited:)

We drive by our house whenever we can, which ends up being about once a week. It can begin to drive you mad after so many times of driving by, hoping to see some progress. This is a picture I took last Tuesday – the lot has been cleared, but no foundation poured yet!

Our first weekend after officially being moved we spent in the husband’s hometown with mom and dad McCoy. You’d have thought it was Christmas eve with how excited we were to pick up Olive and head out of town on Friday night. A whole weekend with our baby, hanging out and relaxing with MIL and FIL and getting some much needed rest was almost too good to be true. We spent lots of time cuddling (with Olive and with each other:) and I even finished a book I started last summer. Felt like a major accomplishment!
I’ve applied at several jobs around the city, but for now I’m going to try and make a little money substitute teaching while I figure out what I want to do. I have to be honest – I’m not that excited about subbing. But I also don’t want to rush into a job. I want to take my time and decide what I want to do with this new start I’ve been given. Even though I didn’t really ask for it, and I technically would have chosen to keep my old job…a new start can’t be a bad thing, can it? I’m going to try and make the most of it, remembering that there’s a reason for everything.

So that’s pretty much it from my week-long hiatus. I thought about all of you everyday, and I missed connecting – but all the changes made for sort of a tough transition and I really just needed some time to sort through things, keep up as much of a routine as possible and support the husband. The adjustment process is still in full force, but I’m ready to start incorporating as much of our normal life as possible. This blog is such an integral part of my life, and I realized that more than ever this week. I’m so happy to be back!!

I hope you all had a great week and are enjoying warmer weather if you have it. We’re almost to Spring, and it can’t get here soon enough!

Last thing – as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve agreed to do another product review for CSN stores. I’m so torn between reviewing a dehydrator and a small food processor. I can process some things in the Vitamix, but others are just so much easier in a food processor. I’ve been wanting one for awhile now. However, I’ve also wanted a dehydrator for a long time and clearly there is so much I could do with one! I’m a little bit worried about having space for the dehydrator while sharing a kitchen with my mom, but I’m sure it could be figured it. So, I need your help. Food processor or dehydrator???

catching up: job news, running, food

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