breakfast|Chia Seed Me

Feb 16, 2011 Posted by candice on Feb 16, 2011 in Eat clean, Great Books, breakfast, juicing, raw, smoothies, vegan | 7 comments

let’s talk raw – juices and smoothies

Yesterday was a big day for green smoothies in our house. The husband drank his first one.

While he’s had sips of mine before, he didn’t really like it and has never shown any real interest in drinking them himself. For starters he doesn’t like banana, and since that’s the main ingredient in mine every day, it’s no wonder he sort of turned his nose up at them. But in the spirit of wanting to up the health factor in his diet, he decided to give them a go. And he’s actually really liking them! He obviously knows the way to my heart:)

Unfortunately I didn’t get a pic, but I ended up buying a bag of mixed fruit – peaches, pineapple and strawberries – and using that for sweetness instead of banana. I also added a big handful of spinach, soymilk, 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass and ice.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m currently reading Kris Carr’s new book, Crazy Sexy Diet, and I’m loving it. As a wellness warrior, she advocates eating only raw food, preferably liquids (juices or smoothies) until lunch.

According to Kris that means “green juice, green smoothies, purified water, and teas.” But this doesn’t mean that you have to starve as you can have as many servings of them as you need. And “if that’s not enough for you, no worries, solid foods are definitely an option.” I’m not one to jump on unrealistic fad diets, but as I’m learning more about the benefits of raw food, juices and smoothies, I am becoming more and more of a believer that the more raw foods you can incorporate into your diet the better. I feel overwhelmed (in a good way) by all the information I’ve absorbed, and while I want to share it all right here right now there’s just too much!

For now, I will say that one of the best things about starting the day off with green juice or a green smoothie (after a big glass of purified water with lemon of course) is that it gives the body an instant shot of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, protein and oxygen, plus a major hydration boost. And the body barely has to do anything to digest it! Little work + lots of healthy stuff = pure energy and vibrance.

One thing to remember though is that when our bodies are used to digesting and storing more acidic foods, it will take a sort of short detox phase to adjust as the body gets rid of toxins. During that time you may in fact feel less energetic…but just give it a few days to a week and you’ll be so glad you did. It took about 3 days for me, and this morning I felt noticeably more energetic than previous days.

There was a time when I didn’t understand how juicing was so good for you. Doesn’t it remove all the good fiber? Won’t it raise my blood sugar if the fiber isn’t there to balance out the natural sugar in fruit? While it may raise blood sugar a bit, it won’t be a big deal as long as the overall ratio of veggies to fruit is about 3:1, as fruit has more natural sugars. And make sure they are vegetables that are low on the GI scale – like cucumber instead of carrots. A great one to start off with is 1 whole organic (or peeled if it’s not organic) cucumber, several stalks of organic celery and a small apple. But have fun playing around with different combinations!

Coming full-circle now, let’s talk smoothies again. Smoothies are almost just as amazing for the body as juices…and they also keep you full longer. The body does have to work a bit to digest them, but still not nearly as much as with solid food, and the fiber provides longer lasting fullness and energy. Plus, they’re easier to make.

As Kris explains, “the difference between a juice and a smoothie is that a smoothie leaves no pulp behind – it contains all the fantastic fiber of the ingredients. The tough cellulose structure of the produce is broken into tiny pieces that are easy for your body to digest and assimilate. Think of it as a pre-chewed blast of optimum nutrition.”

My green smoothie was just a smidge different than usual this morning. In an effort to keep it 100% raw, I subbed in water for my usual almond milk. I was kind of concerned that it would loose it’s delicious creamy factor, but I could hardly tell a difference!

2 big handfuls of organic spinach + 1 banana + 1 cup water + 1 scoop of Amazing Grass (with a side of folded towels:)

As I talk more about raw/vegan food, I want to make it clear (as always) that whatever each individual can do that improves their health and quality of life is like gold. If that means introducing green juice or green smoothies once a week or eating three raw meals a week, then that’s great! The fact is that no one is perfect and the more we put pressure on ourselves to be perfect – in any area of our lives- the more we’re setting ourselves up to fail. I’m currently trying to eliminate sugar from my diet as much as possible, but yesterday afternoon I got a serious craving and nothing but the vegan peanut butter cookies I’d made for the husband would do. So I ate one. And it was delicious. It didn’t lessen the healthiness of my morning and I can definitely tell you it improved the healthiness of my mind because it reminded me that perfection is overrated and food is to be enjoyed. The thing I’m realizing though, is that the more I use food to take care of my body and promote energy and vitality, the more I do enjoy it.

Amen?

This morning I’m spending some time going through my yoga class for tonight. I only have two classes left! I’m really going to miss teaching and am hoping I can get a new position asap. Also on the schedule for today is three tutoring appointments and of course…packing. I probably don’t even have to say that anymore, huh? It’s kind of a given that there will be packing going on here during any down time for the next week and a half. Crazy times.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday – the week is almost halfway over!

*Note that I’m only talking about food intake up until noon. Kris doesn’t necessarily advocate eating a 100% raw diet.
**I also want to add that while I am really enjoying Crazy Sexy Diet, and I feel like I’m learning a lot of valuable information, Kris writing style is very forward. At times she uses language that could be a bit offensive to some, and while I personally don’t like it, I choose to look past it because for me the information is worth it. Just an FYI if you’re considering reading the book.

let’s talk about food

Thanks so much for all the sweet well wishes for the husband’s first day on the new job. Ya’ll are so sweet. I texted him mid-day to see how it was going and he texted back “it’s going really well. A great company to work for…and so much to learn!” Today and tomorrow are basically just orientation days, and then Wednesday will be his first day in the office. That is, unless the predicted 6-10 inches of snow keeps him home (fingers crossed:). Anyway, I’ve always been so thankful that he has a job he loves, and I feel that way even more now. Every time I ask him about how he’s feeling regarding the change, he just starts talking about how great he feels about this company and the difference they’re making in people’s lives. Yay.

Now let’s just see if I can get a job as well!

I started off yesterday morning with a serious craving for yogurt and raw oatmeal.

1/3 cup raw oats, whole soy yogurt, chia seeds, dried cranberries and cinnamon

Totally hit the spot. Sometimes I feel myself getting tired of foods that I’ve been eating a lot of, and all it takes is scrolling back through my blog a little bit to find inspiration. I can almost always find a basic meal that I haven’t had in awhile to bring back all fresh and new! This oldie was definitely a highlight to start the day.

Other highlights for the day included but were not limited to the following:

painting my nails mint green

spending a little extra time with God this morning

making my green smoothie with a scoop of natural peanut butter and chocolate almond milk for lunch

having a really great conversation with my mom on the phone this afternoon

eating yet another leftover cinnamon roll for a snack this afternoon (I know). One a day does = moderation. It does!

I have had two tasty meals in my head all day today, but I’ve been on kind of a weird schedule (hence the green smoothie for lunch), so I haven’t been able to make either one of them. One is the veggie chili I made for the husband’s work party a couple of months ago, and the other is a really simple lunch idea that I just can’t get out of my mind. I’m thinking I’ll be enjoying it for lunch today, and if so then I’ll share it later on! As far as the chili goes, I think it’ll be the perfect meal for Wednesday when we’re all snowed in again. mmmm.

The last part of this post has been pretty much all about food, ha! Food is where it’s at, though. Even Mr. Squirrel agrees.

He sits right outside our kitchen window almost every morning, munching on all kinds of nuts and seeds. Gives me a hankering for nuts and seeds myself, just watching him.

But really food is such a big part of life, you know? We need it for fuel and nourishment…but it also affects us in psychological ways. We celebrate with it. We comfort with it during times of loss. We have memories attached to it.

I’m not encouraging emotional eating in the sense of eating to hide or cover up emotions, but we’d be crazy to say that food isn’t tied to something besides a physical need.

I’ve never really talked about this on the blog before, but in the past I’ve had issues with emotional eating, and it wasn’t in a positive way. Sometimes, whether I’d be feeling stressed, sad or just plain tired, I would go straight to the pantry and just eat mindlessly. And then when I would finish, I’d feel guilty and even more stressed, not to mention physically kind of sick. I remember at times feeling like I’d never be able to break the cycle. I ate healthy enough all the rest of the time and exercised enough that I never really put on any visible weight, but the emotional weight it was adding on was not a good thing. It was a bad habit…and I needed to break it.

It has been a long time since this last happened. I still get carried away with the chips and salsa occasionally (okay, often;), but it’s not the same kind of destructive behavior. It’s no longer me trying to cover up an emotion…it’s more just about liking blue corn tortilla chips a little too much. ha. I think the point that I really was able to gain control of what I was doing was when I recognized the true issue behind the behavior. After a lot of prayer and internal processing, I realized that I was eating at these times in an effort to relieve the negative emotions I was feeling inside. Food was a way to cover those emotions up by doing something that felt good right at that moment.

Besides identifying the root of the problem, another thing that helped a LOT was realizing that just because I disappointed myself by doing this didn’t mean that I should punish myself afterwards. When I treated my body that way I needed to do something really nice for my body in turn…rather than beating myself up about it. So, I started going for a long, slow walk, taking a bubble bath, or just cuddling with Olive for a bit. I also spent some time identifying the specific reasons why I would eat, and then made an alternative plan for each negative emotion, such as laying down for a twenty minute nap, getting into downward dog and holding it for 20-30 seconds or spending some time in prayer. Basically, I was ready to tackle the problem itself, whatever problem it was, rather than trying to put a band-aide over it.

After so many weeks of implementing my new plan, it became a habit, and now I don’t even think about it. I’m not saying it was an easy process, and I definitely had my fair share of set-backs, but in the end it was so worth it. Every time I would fall back into the behavior, I would take time to really process through what I had really been feeling in the moment, work through that emotion (if it was anxiety over my job, I would take 30 minutes and problem solve or call my teacher friend and ask for advice). And through the whole process, not only have I gained confidence in my ability to eat in a healthy way, but I’ve also become more confident in handling conflict and anxiety.

I don’t know if I’m the only one that has ever dealt with us, but somehow I doubt it. Just the other day I was talking to the husband, and it suddenly hit me that I hadn’t eaten in this way in a long long time. I realized that I’d totally forgotten what it was like and is totally out of character for me to do something like now. I know there’s a possibility that I could fall back into the habit someday, but it feels good to know that making slow progress toward a healthier way of dealing with negative emotions has brought me to a place where I feel much more confident in my relationship with food. Isn’t that how it should be?

Anyway, these are just some thoughts I’d been pondering lately, and I thought I’d share them. I used to think this issue was something I was ashamed of and wanted to hide. I’m still not proud that I struggled with it, but I realize now that we all have battles such as this and the best way to overcome those struggles is to bring them out into the light.

What is something you’ve overcome through a lot of time and hard work? How does it feel to be in a place where you feel confident and at peace in regard to that issue? Or are you still working through something and trying to get to that place?

random musings on a snow day

As promised, we got quite the snowfall overnight, and today the husband and I both got a snow day! I love snow days because they’re the perfect excuse to stay home with the husband all day and be lazy get lots of stuff done! We’ve now found out that we’ll be having another snow day tomorrow. On my agenda: pack pack pack. We have three weeks left in our house, and I haven’t boxed up one thing. eek.

Unfortunately I really wasn’t too productive today…but I don’t really feel bad about it. We slept in about an hour later than usual and then got up and made some amazing breakfast.

I used a whole wheat boxed mix and then spread natural peanut butter on one half and Earth Balance on the other. Topped with pure maple syrup and banana slices. So gooooood.

After breakfast we got a little bit of work done in the office and then layered up and spent some time out in the snow!

This was the most snow we’ve had this year by far, and it was so pretty.

Olive is the funniest thing – she isn’t a big fan of the snow and acts like she’s going to die if she has to be in it for more than about 5 seconds. We took her out with us for about 10 minutes and she was trembling all over in her little coat. Poor baby. At one point, she and the husband were on the porch and I was out in the yard, so I started calling to her, trying to get her to come to me. She minds us so well that when I started calling her she kept thinking about coming, but really didn’t want to get in the snow. Finally I won her over.

She lasted about four seconds. But it sure was cute.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping, cuddling, watching movies, eating…and now at 11pm we’re finally getting some work done. That’s the way we roll I guess.

In other news, I know I talked about this a little bit already, but I’ve decided to try and get a full-time job. I figure the husband and I could really use the money as we’re moving into our new house, and seeing as how we’re becoming “live-ins” with one of our sets of parents, I don’t think I want to be home all the time! I’m really struggling with what to do during this transition period. I really want to keep doing what I’ve been doing – tutoring, yoga, working on the biz – but I think it would be beneficial for me to branch out and try something new (full-time) for awhile. Once we have little ones, I want to be a stay-at-home mom, so now’s the time if I want to work again.

Some of the ideas so far (some far better than others): zoo worker, Starbucks shift manager, emergency dispatcher, and the one that I’ve actually applied for and am somewhat excited about – supervisor for a children’s program at a hospital. I’ve also considered going back to teaching, but I really need something right now.

If you guys have any great ideas – send them my way!!

And now for some random thoughts to end the evenings:

I am missing Thailand so much lately! I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s always a bad idea go out in foot deep snow wearing ankle socks
Splitting a 1lb bag of peanut m&m’s with your husband over the course of 2 days is not wise
Never wait until the night before a snowstorm to hit up Walmart
If you are on city water and you lose electricity, you WILL still have water
Old houses = cold

I’m off now to get some sleep – my eyes are getting very heavy. Hope you all had a great Tuesday!

Did you get any snow? What kind of job do you do (if you don’t mind sharing!)?

to buy grass? or not to buy grass…

It was a sad moment this morning when I discovered this

No more grass:( I’m still deciding which breaks my heart more – the picture above or paying twenty five big ones to restock. hmmm. I’ll have to think about that one. And I’ll have a few days to figure it out since I can only get more in the city, which won’t be until Friday.

I was able to scrape the cannister enough to have one last grass-filled green smoothie.

It’s seriously cold in these parts today – there’s even a chance of snow flurries later on. A girl can only hope!

I do have to admit that green monsters are getting less enticing day by bitter cold day. I have to bundle up tight to be able to enjoy it. It’s so worth every little chill bump, though. I really love mixing up my breakfasts and trying new things, but nothing makes me feel as awake and energized as one of these.

In other news, unfortunately I do not have any baby pics to show you today. We didn’t stay at our friends’ house for long before we had to rush off to have dinner with the Korean couple that I tutor. I didn’t even get to hold her, which I was kind of bummed about…but maybe next time:) It was still fun to get to see her and catch up with our friends for a few minutes – we hadn’t talked to them since they had her, so we got to hear the short version of her birth story and all about how parenting is treating them so far. They were so happy; it was sweet:)

I spent the last part of the afternoon making a crock-pot full of vegetarian chili and some homemade cornbread muffins to take to them. It smelled so good in my kitchen all afternoon – it was all I could do not to snag a bowl!

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, no salt added
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added
3/4 can tomato puree
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano
ground red pepper, to taste

Directions

Add all ingredients to crock-pot and mix well. Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for at least 2 hours.

This was a very basic recipe, similar to soups/chilies I’ve made before. That’s what’s so grand about it though…it’s so easy to make and it warms you from the inside out.

And you can’t have chili on a cold night without cornbread muffins. I found this vegan version here, and I didn’t change much about it, just a few minor tweaks. It was pretty good, but next time I think I would tweak it some more….maybe add a bit more sweetener, like some agave or something? I’d also like to try using part spelt/whole wheat flour.

While this muffin was a tad bland on it’s own, it was delicious with Earth Balance spread on it. I didn’t eat any chili since we were taking it to our friends, but I’m sure this would also be awesome crumbled on top of the chili.

Vegan Corn Muffins

Ingredients

3 tsp egg replacer
1/4 cup water
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 tsp sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 12 muffin tin or use muffin liners.
In a small bowl, combine egg replacer and 1/4 cup water. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well.
Add egg mixture, olive oil and water to dry mixture and mix until smooth.
Fill each muffin tin with batter.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Slather with Earth Balance or enjoy crumbled over a hot bowl of chili.

Dinner with our Korean friends was great last night, too! I look at all of my tutoring students as great friends, and sometimes it seems weird to me that only a matter of months ago, I had never met them! Today is my first day to meet with my new 4th grade Korean student. I don’t get to hang out with kids very often anymore, so I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m off to plan my yoga and PiYo class and then meet up with my friend Grace for lunch. We’re going to my favorite sandwich place today…I can already taste that heavenly bread….mmmmm.

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

What is your favorite splurge item that it kills you to spend the money on, but you just can’t bring yourself to not buy it?

cheesy noodle dish + blog reading tips

Hi!

This morning Jon and I hit the gym a little late, so I did a really quick interval run. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get the motivation to kill it on the treadmill, but when I do it’s nice because I get done so much faster and I feel so good! Unfortunately I didn’t have time for weights or ab work, but later I did spend some time running through my PiYo class for this week.

I also spent some time catching up on some of my favorite blogs over breakfast!

1/3 cup oats, handful of frozen blackberries, 1 tbsp chia seeds cooked in 3/4 cup water for 2 minutes. Add a couple spoonfuls of soy yogurt and another sprinkle of chias (just for fun:) = best oatmeal ever. creamy. thick. delish.

I hate when I get behind and I feel like I don’t know what’s going on with everyone. This morning was like catching up with friends…I love all my blog friends:)

One thing I’ve been having a hard time with lately, though, is time. No matter how bad I want to catch up and comment on everybody’s blogs, I just don’t have enough time. I can sit for an hour at some point in the day, reading and commenting, and still feel like I’ve only gotten through about half, which for me is about 15 or so. I just feel like I don’t have much more time than that to give to it, especially by the time I post on my own.

I feel like I see so many bloggers who comment on tons of blogs, and I just don’t see how they have time to do it. Is there a secret that I don’t know about? I use google reader, but by the time I click out of it to comment, I’m not sure how much time it really saves. What gives?

I’m hoping I’ll get some tips from some of you on how to read and comment on more blogs in less time!

Moving on.

For lunch today I made one of my favorite meals, but in about 1/4 of the time it took me to make it last time!

Cheesy “noodles” and brussel sprouts

Instead of cooking the spaghetti squash in the oven, I poked holes in it with a fork and put it in the microwave for about 12 minutes. When I took it out, it was just the right amount of softness and I sliced it open with ease. In less than 2 minutes, I had cleaned out the seeds and then scraped out the “spaghetti” strands into a bowl.

this is what it looks like after being cooked and cut in half

and after separating out the strands

While preparing the squash, I placed a bowl of halved brussel sprouts in the microwave with just a little bit of water for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Next, I mixed together 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 2 tbsp hummus and about 1.5 tbsp water. I whisked it until it had a smooth consistency. Last, I combined about a cup of spaghetti squash and 1/2 cup of brussel spouts before pouring the sauce over top and mixing it all up.

I added a dash of black pepper and ground red pepper for some kick!

Delicious! This is one of my favorite meals. The credit does not go to me though – I think I originally saw this idea on Heather’s blog, and I think Gena actually came up with the sauce idea. I know some of you may think it sounds like a crazy idea for a recipe…when I took this to work for lunch last year, my coworkers thought I had lost my mind. Try it before you knock it though. It honestly tastes like a big bowl of creamy, cheesy pasta! Added bonus: it took me less than 15 minutes to make, and it heats up well too if you’re looking for lunch to take to work.

I know some people have a problem with using microwaves. Honestly, I haven’t done enough research to voice an opinion, but I try to choose my battles. And right now, that’s one I’m going to choose not to worry about. If I had more time, I would just cook the squash in the oven, but on days like today I’d rather have microwaved spaghetti squash than none at all!

I’m off to meet a new tutoring student. This is my first student who is not an adult – he’s a fourth grader! I’m not used to this, so I’m crossing my fingers it’ll go well. Hope you all are having a great day!

brrrrrr!

No one told me how cold it was going to be here in DC!

Something you may not know about me – I have a small obsession with watching the weather. Outside real time and through my Weather Channel iPhone app. I love looking at the hour by hour forecast. Oh, and the 7 day is almost more than my little heart can handle! I get so excited.

So, needless to say I was watching DC weather like a Natzi over the last week or so. According to my calculations, it was supposed to be in the low 70’s this week.

Well, apparently those calculations were wro-ong!

It is downright cold here…so cold that most of the locals are in coats, hats, boots…you name it. If it’s a cold weather accessory, it’s walkin’ the streets of the District (I can totally call it that now that I’ve actually been here, right?!).

Unfortunately, this unsuspecting tourist did not pack for frigid temps. Luckily I did bring a couple pairs of jeans and threw in my light trench coat, but I am kicking myself for not bringing my boots and some long sleeve shirts. Oh, and I almost bought some gloves at Urban Outfitters today. I’m kicking myself for leaving those behind too.

I digress.

Despite the cold, I am loving DC! Something else you may not know about me is that I am so in love with the east coast I could marry it. Seriously. Jon and I drove up the east coast on our honeymoon, and I’ve pined away for it ever since. I knew I would love it here (in DC) too…and I couldn’t have been more right.

Now, here’s my list so far of things that have surprised me about DC:

One. how cold it is.
Two. how friendly the people are. there are some seriously friendly people here – and so helpful!
Three. the number of runners out and about throughout the day.
Four. how much the area around Capitol Hill reminds us of Paris. Anybody else?

Okay, so now that my lovefest has commenced, let’s go forth with the story of our trip here yesterday.

Jon and I left our house around 7:45am (right on time, thankyouverymuch) and hit up Starbucks on our way out of town for some coffee and a bite to eat. I gotta say, Starbuck’s Oatmeal is the way to go if you’re out and about in the early morning hours.

Okay, I am aware that this picture does not look that appetizing. But I promise you, they don’t call it “perfect” for nothing. Have I ever lied to you before?

After an hour and a half of driving in torrential rains, getting lost and making a circle around the entire perimeter of the airport, we finally got parked. This is not the first time that using directions from our iPhone has failed us. It literally led us on a wild goose chase down all kinds of windy back roads and plopped us down right at the entrance people use to fly private jets. Riiiiiight.

So, after nearly having a nervous breakdown and then a panic attack, we made it into the airport looking like a couple of wet dogs as we raced to check in. At that point I split off from the husband because unfortunately we were booked on different flights (his was booked through his work).

Luckily we both made it to our gates in time. After the hour-ish flight, I landed at O’Hare in Chicago for an hour and a half layover. First things first. Find some healthy food, stat!

I have to say – in my humble opinion, airports have really improved in the way of healthy eats. At least larger airports. Unfortunately it does cost half your life savings to obtain said eats, but they’re there. Per the usual, I had planned ahead and packed rice cakes, larabars, dried apricots, apples and bananas in my bag for this trip. But I always end up eating my packed stuff for breakfast and snacks when I go on vacation…and by day 2 or 3 I’m usually getting serious fresh veggie withdrawals. So, I had decided that if there were any good veggies to be had at the airport, I was going to splurge on invest in them. Enter – the best airport lunch ever:

Mixed greens salad with grilled veggies and pita wedges on top. With a balsamic vinegar dressing.

and a green juice

I used to think these Naked juices had added sugar – not sure why I thought that. This was 100% juice – including several fruits and broccoli, spirulina etc. It was delicious! And I felt on top of the world when I finished this lunch. Full of veggies:)

After I landed in DC a few hours later, I snacked on some spelt pretzels while I waited for Jon and his coworkers to land. Then it was off to the hotel to drop our bags and on to dinner!

Jon and I were desperate to get into the heart of the action and see the sights, but being in a new city we weren’t quite sure where to get some food first. So, we walked around the area where we’re staying for a little while and spotted this cute little Thai restaurant. It had us at Sawat-dee (hello in Thai).

If the traditional Thai greeting when we walked in the door didn’t charm us, then the egg rolls, cashew tofu, and sweet little Thai waitresses picked up the slack. We were enamored.

Highlight of the night: Jon and I ordered the same dish, but I substituted tofu for chicken. In the end we realized that Jon had been served tofu as well, and he didn’t even realize it until 75% of his food was gone! We couldn’t tell my looking at it because it was fried, and apparently he couldn’t taste the difference. ha!

After dinner, we took the bus and metro down to Capitol Hill. We strolled around, taking in the beauty of everything all lit up and taking pictures like we actually thought they would be good without at tripod.

freezing my tail off while waiting for the train

a fuzzy Washington Monument

hello there Abe

hello there Mister Obama

We were exhausted by the time we were ready to head back to the hotel, so we decided to hitch a ride in a cab. We had a crazy funny cab driver from India with an awesome accent who we found to be rather entertaining. That is until he drove off without giving us correct change, leaving us $10 short! What was that I was saying about friendly people…

I kid, I kid.

Anyway, that’s the long and short of day 1 in DC! Day 2 was a bit more eventful and definitely better for photo opps. I’ll be back tomorrow with the details:)

Jon will be in meetings all day tomorrow, so I’m thinking I’ll head over to Alexandria (Old Town) to explore a little bit. I was quite taken with it’s quaintness when we passed through on our way from the airport. Actually, it might be better if I didn’t go there – I don’t think I’m ever gonna want to leave!

See ya tomorrow!

want some cookies?

And the celebration of fall continues…

Breakfast this morning.

Overnight oats prepared with 1/3 cup soy vanilla yogurt, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 canned pumpkin, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp molasses, and a sprinkle of unsweetened dried cranberries. I also made a trip to Panera with the husband before work – a bagel for him and a half decaf black coffee for me.

Today has been ultra busy because I’ve been preparing for a trip! We are leaving tomorrow night with some friends to roadtrip somewhere across the U.S. I’ll leave you with a hint as to where it might be.

I’ll choose one comment out of all of you who guess correctly by tomorrow night at 8pm, and I’ll mail you a batch of my very favorite homemade vegan cookies.

Let’s face it – I’m really just looking for an excuse to bake cookies for one of my fabulous readers. I love you guys:)

G’night!

bring on the carbs

Happy 2nd day of fall! I can’t believe I forgot to tell everyone Happy 1st day of fall yesterday because I am so darn excited. Last night I heard our weatherman say “a fall cool front will be moving in this week,” and I about jumped out of my skin. It sounds like I’m being really dramatic, but I really am that excited. I am in love with fall:)

Jon and I literally drug ourselves out of bed (it was one of those kind of mornings) and went for a four mile run this morning. I was feeling really strong until we hit our first hill, and then everything went downhill fast, literally and figuratively. I think I was dehydrated – it wasn’t even that hot out and there was a nice breeze, but my neck and face felt like they were on fire and my body felt like lead. Very pleasant indeed. We took a couple of short walk brakes and came in just under 42 minutes. I was feelin’ pretty blah, but still so happy that we finished. Our half marathon training is finally looking up a little bit at least, considering we’ve actually stayed committed to our training this week.

Today has been a very “work from home” kind of day, meaning I didn’t leave the house all morning. When the husband called around 11 to say he had to work through lunch I knew I had to get out of the house. Obviously I had no choice but to drive straight to the little bakery we ate at yesterday.

Instead of ordering the same sandwich, though, I just bought an entire loaf of that same bread, haha. I wasn’t kidding when I said how good it was. By the time I was driving across town to get it, I was already starving and developing a serious headache. So, naturally as soon as I got back in the car, I inhaled two pieces. It was so good. Let me say that again – it was so good!!!

Then I came home and recreated that beautiful sandwich, just with different veggies and hummus instead of pesto.

arugula, sprouts, pickles, hummus

with a red pear on the side

I have been wanting to try arugula for months now, but I never can find it! After I picked up my bread, I dropped by the grocery store to get some bananas and happened upon some organic arugula. score! Is it strange to be so excited over a leafy green?

Anyway, I’ve been so excited about my sandwich that I breezed right by breakfast.

I was out of spinach and bananas this mornings, so I had to fore-go my green monster. I opted instead for shredded wheat n bran, a sprinkle of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, frozen blueberries and soy milk. It was a nice change:) I was actually craving cereal last night before I went to bed, so this really kind of hit the spot this morning.

Anyway, I must run. I do just want to say a quick thank you to all my sweet readers for reading my blog- you all are one of the main reasons I keep writing everyday.

And that’s a wrap:) I hope you all have a lovely day – enjoy the cooler weather if you’ve got it and enjoy the last days of summer if not!

labor day love

There is nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a long run.

Maybe I’m being a bit dramatic…but it really is one of the best feelings in the world. We pushed hard this morning and finished six miles in just under an hour including walk breaks.

As I’ve mentioned before, running has become increasingly difficult for me lately, and I’m not totally sure why. But it’s redeeming runs like today that keep me going and keep my love for running alive. It was painful to keep a good pace…but I just kept telling myself to dig deep and show myself what I can do. It felt so good to sprint to the finish.

We drove out the the lake path this morning, and I munched on half a banana on the way for a little bit of carby energy.

It’s kind of blurry because it was still kind of dark outside. And I couldn’t hold still in the car. The husband is a crazy driver.

When we got back I took a long, hot shower and then fixed up a protein filled breakfast.

I cooked one organic free range egg with one egg white in the microwave for 2 minutes. With about 20 seconds left, I threw some spinach on top. After the microwave stopped and toaster popped up, I sandwiched it between two Van’s Flax waffles, with a light spread of Spicy Garlic Hummus and a dash of salt and pepper.

I wasn’t sure about the addition of hummus…but I decided to go crazy and try it. It rocked. Bigtime. The combination of flavors was just perfect! Don’t you love it when that happens? The only thing I forgot was the chia seeds. Doh.

It is such a beautiful day outside – the husband and I are going to head out and see where the wind takes us. No guesses where that might be, but I’ve got high hopes!

Enjoy your Labor Day!

Love and chias:) C

Who is your favorite artist that your listening to these days? The husband and I are really loving One Republic. It’s a bit different than my usual Diane Birch and and Sara Bareilles…but has a really awesome vibe.

work it. own it.

Wow.

That’s all I have to say about this evening. I have spent so much time attempting to get my computer/photo problem under control, and tonight was no different. I’ve definitely made a lot of progress at getting my photos transferred from iPhoto to Flickr, but I still have a long way to go! Come on little Macbook – you can do it!

As predicted, Jon and I headed to the gym this morning for our 3 mile run, and it was the best run I’ve had in awhile. To be perfectly honest, it was the first run in awhile during which I didn’t walk. Even though I’m a big proponent of walk breaks, I have to say it felt fabulous to kick it into gear this morning! I owned that run:)

In fact, I feel so good today that I think I’ve gained a renewed motivation to kick butt on my runs from now on…even when they get really uncomfortable…and even outside. Once you taste the feeling of success, you don’t want to let it slip away!

Anyway, once I got home and showered I was having a serious craving for some greek yogurt. I have no idea where it came from, but it came upon me suddenly and with such force that I actually drove all the way to Walmart and bought some just for breakfast. Absolutely nothing else would do. I also decided that I couldn’t live without these beautiful raspberries while I was there, so I brought them home with me too.

greek yogurt over a toasted Van’s flax waffle with raspberries and sprinkle of chia seeds

This meal was so pretty and fun that I had to break out our nice flatware. It actually might be only the second time I’ve ever used this flatware. whoa.

Lunch and dinner were easy – Pita Pit and leftovers. That’s the way it’s gotta be sometimes, ya know?

Tonight was the last yoga class I’ll go to and not be the instructor! Kind of a crazy feeling. I am loving teaching PiYo so far, and I’m super stoked to start yoga as well. It’s such a fun challenge to come up with new classes each week, and I am so excited to build on each one and see everyone improve throughout the rest of the year.

Yoga is just cool that way:)

Well, guys, I gotta cut this short and get to bed. Dealing with technology all day has completely zapped me of all energy. Hopefully tomorrow will be a less frustrating day as far as that goes!

Yay for Thursday!

silence is golden

Good morning!

As soon as our alarms started buzzing this morning, Jon and I headed out for an early morning 3 mile run. It was a beautiful morning, and I was kicking myself for not having my camera. Please let me know if you’ve mastered the art of carrying your DSLR while running ’cause it seems the best moments happen while out on the road:)

It was the perfect time of morning as the sunlight was just barely peeking up over the horizon and glinting off the tops of the fields. Has anybody ever told you that Oklahoma has the prettiest sunrises and sunsets? Well, we do.

Second only to this maybe.

Sunset during our time in Halong Bay, Vietnam

This morning was just one of those moments when I could hardly believe the beauty. The perfect way to start the day.

There was a biting chill in the air this morning as well, and despite my hands going numb it felt quite refreshing. Three cheers for fall! Have I mentioned that it’s my favorite season?

After I got back and showered, I blended up a green smoothie. Anytime I go more than a couple of days without one, I start to have withdrawals

2 handfuls of spinach, 1/2 banana, 1.25 cups almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 heaping tbsp Vega powder

I changed it up a bit this morning by swapping chocolate Vega powder in for Amazing Grass. I was a little nervous adding 2 heaping tablespoons of powder because I have yet to use a protein powder that didn’t make my smoothie chalky tasting. I can honestly say that this one did not! It added 12 grams of protein, 2 servings of veggies (like it needed more veggies:), 2500 mg of omega 3, 6, 9, 1 billion probiotic cultures, only 100 calories, and a hint of chocolaty goodness! And by the way, Vega did not ask me to review their product; I’m raving out of pure love of the product:)

Technically, this powder is supposed to be added with just water for a quick and healthy shake on the go – I’ve been a little hesitant to try it, but I think I just might have to now!

On a different note, now that I’m working from home, I’m finding out some things about myself that I didn’t know before.

I really do like working at my desk better than on the couch
I have a lot more discipline than I ever realized
a good cup of iced coffee goes a long way with my mood and productivity
I really can control the urge to snack even though I’m 4 seconds away from chips and salsa at any point during the day
If/when I begin to feel lonely or isolated, I must book it to the coffee shop asap to avoid the downward spiral
I don’t feel lonely or isolated most of the time
I like to work in silence

I often feel the need to have music on in the house – especially when I’m there alone. It really does motivate me, and it’s nice to have some noise going on because unfortunately Olive doesn’t provide much good conversation.

At least she’s cute.

But I’m realizing more and more how nice it is to just work in silence. With the windows open and the sun shining in, it’s rather inspiring to just have quiet all around. I think it also helps me to focus better, and my thoughts have the freedom to take me wherever they want:) You should try it! You just might be surprised how nice it is to just be quiet.

Do you find that you work better with music or in silence? What about working out? That’s a whole different topic, but do you prefer to workout with music or enjoy the silence?

baby love

Look who made her debut today!

This is little miss Sophie, Jon’s boss’ new baby girl. She arrived late last night, so we stopped by to see her this morning. We don’t mess around when it comes to babies.

Isn’t she beautiful?

You know what else is beautiful this morning? The weather!!

I’ve been pining away for cool fall mornings. Isn’t fall such a wonderful season? This morning we headed out for a run, and my first step out the front door took my breath away! I didn’t check the temperature, but it had to have been in the upper sixties. My fingers actually got a bit achy cold during our run.

I soaked it up.

For our training run this morning, we ran 400 meters (.25 miles) four times (with a quick walk break in between) at the pace we would run a 5k. We normally run a 5k at about a nine and a half minute mile, but it was hard to keep that slow of a pace when only running 400 meters at a time. So, we ended up averaging about an 8:30 pace on each one.

We’re incorporating this type of run each week in an effort to improve our half marathon time. We ran our first half marathon in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 20 seconds. I was actually pretty proud of that, considering it was our first one. And considering Jon and I aren’t the speediest runners around, it will be a challenge for us to improve upon that. But we love a good challenge:)

Before we hit up the hospital this morning, we ran by Panera because the husband has been itching for a breakfast bagel sandwich. It’s a special treat for us to go grab breakfast or coffee together in the morning…and it totally makes my whole morning.

I went all out and got an iced half caf americano:)

Once I got home, I made up a quick Ezekiel english muffin with a smear of natural peanut butter and sliced banana. It paired perfectly with my iced coffee.

A cool, breezy morning + breakfast out with the husband + sweet baby time = the best morning ever. The rest of this day has a lot to live up to!

can’t help but love her

This girl has been very naughty today.

Doesn’t she look evil?

I had an Outbox conference call today, and she waited until 2 minutes into the call to decide that she absolutely could not wait another second to go outside and relieve herself. So, I’m sitting at my desk with the call on speaker phone, trying to learn a new program that we’ll be offering to clients. She comes prancing in, collar jingling at what seems an unnaturally loud decibel, and jumps up, putting her little paws on my leg.

Anytime she does this, she gets this very knowing look in her eyes that says “take me out NOW, or else!”

Sometimes I forget who’s the adult and who’s the dog.

Seeing as how there is no way for me to let her out right away, I reach down to pick her up (and make her stop staring at me) at which point she scoots back really fast, slipping on the wood floor and landing on her face. She immediately regains her footing and in is instantly back on my leg, staring me down. This routine ensues for another several minutes with me throwing her silent threats by motioning with my hands to say “no more treats!” and “I’ll spank you!” To no avail.

All I can say is good thing it wasn’t a video conference call.

Anyway, we’ve since made up…but next time there’s a conference call on the docket, somebody’s going to her kennel!

You know I can’t help but still love her:)

Today was a stretch and strengthen day per our training schedule – a perfect opportunity for PiYo! The Tuesday class at our gym is really challenging. The type of challenging where you’re swearing half way through that you’ll never go back. And yet you do…because you love the way it makes your muscles sore, but so strong.

I threw down a handful of grapes on the way out the door.

Apparently I should have thrown down a lot more because half way through the class my energy hit rock bottom and my body was begging for fuel. Oops.

By the time I got home, my body knew exactly what it wanted. I really didn’t have a say in the matter.

For the perfect egg sandwich – mix up one free range organic egg + one egg white, sea salt and black pepper, pour it into a small microwavable bowl and cook it for 2 minutes. Don’t forget to spray the bowl first! Not that I would know any other way;)

I sandwiched it between a toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel muffin – the perfect little sandwich in under 5 minutes flat!

Side note: I wouldn’t actually suggest using the cinnamon raisin muffin variety for this sandwich. My heart said yes, but my tastebuds said no.

Lunch today was simple as I was trying to get ready for my conference call and didn’t have much time!

Amy’s low sodium Lentil Vegetable soup

I also had a few tortilla chips with salsa and more grapes on the side.

I’m currently drying some tears – the result of a really emotional thank you/explanation email to one of my principals from last year. You know, sometimes I still miss my teaching job so much it hurts. So thankful to God that I know it was the right decision. Time to pull myself together, though, because I’ve got one precious little hour left in which to finish off my list of to do’s!

Don’t forget to enter the chia giveaway. These chias need a loving home!

Oh, and if you missed my PiYo guest post at the lovely A Side of Sneakers yesterday, go check it out!

better when we’re together

Yesterday we spent the entire afternoon and evening cleaning the house from top to bottom! We did the basic cleaning of everything and then had to fix the closet explosion. While it wasn’t too fun cleaning all day – it was much more fun doing it together!

Especially when I walked in to see this

Gotta love the combination of a cute husband and some soft scrub:)

Anyway, we finally stopped cleaning last night in time to eat up some well deserved leftover enchiladas…followed by some froyo. Unfortunately I was so wiped out I forgot the camera, so no pics.

Breakfast this morning was made by the husband

Ezekiel english muffin with natural peanut butter and 1/2 sliced banana. I had this x2

I inhaled this on the way out the door to church. Somehow we run late to church every week! We only live 5 minutes away, but for some reason we always wait ’till the last minute to get up and then race around like crazy people to get there. And every week I swear I’m going to get up earlier, but it’s always the same story. Better late than not at all I suppose. It’s funny that I’m late so often, considering how much I hate it.

This past year, I got in the routine of leaving for school about a half hour before I really had to leave. It was awesome because most days it gave me extra time in the morning to grade/plan, and then on the days when I couldn’t find my keys or it was raining cats and dogs, I wasn’t late! It was a great system really…one that I need to reinstate into my life.

Right now we are seriously low on groceries. One of my top priorities for today is to make a grocery list and go stock up for the week. When we are low on groceries, there is one thing that tends to happen a lot.

Eating out. Hence today’s lunch.

Whichwich sandwich – avocado, tomato, lettuce, bell pepper, pickles, mushrooms and pesto on whole wheat

I’m not gonna lie – it was absolutely delicious. But I’m so ready to have our fridge stocked with fresh food and make home-cooked meals!

This afternoon is sure to be busy – I’ve got to buy groceries, work on Outbox, do my photography homework among other things.

I’ll be back tonight with an update on what our plan is for marathon training. I have mixed feeling about our plan, but I feel sure it’s the right decision.

Have a great and relaxing Sunday!

Are you a person who’s always late or always early? Do you early birds have any tricks up your sleeve on how to be more timely?

the small things

Hellllooo!

Hope you are all having an awesome Saturday!

Jon and I had a bit of a late night, so we slept in really well. A little too well actually:) Guess out bodies needed the rest!

We did end up seeing Eat Pray Love last night, but before that we saw something even better.

We decided to drive by my school so I could reminisce one last time

And then we happened to look up (and to the east)…

and the sky looked like this!

We looked to the west, where the sun was showing it’s last bit of light before sinking below the horizon, and saw this. Notice how you can faintly see the pattern of blue stripes coming up out of the clouds.

That stripe pattern was thrown from the western sky all the way up and over to the east, becoming more vivid as it went.

It was amazingly beautiful, and we could have sat in the parking lot, watching it all night. But within minutes it began to fade as the sun disappeared for the night.

So off we went for a different kind of entertainment!

Eat Pray Love was a great movie. Unfortunately I hadn’t yet finished the book, so I can’t really say which was better or how many crucial parts were left out of the movie. All I can say is that I really loved it. It was impactful in that it made me realize how strong we really can be if we are able to shut out the distractions of a busy and hectic life. It also reminded me that I need to relax and enjoy the small moments of life a little more. I get so caught up in what I need to do next, and I always find myself rushing through those small meaningful moments that really should be what gets me through. And of course it gave me the travel bug. Traveling is one of Jon and I’s deepest joys in life, and I itch to go again. I really want to go back to Thailand. But there are also so many other places I want to see. I’m thinking about making a travel page on the blog, with pictures and a little bit about our time at each place. I’m thinking reliving our past travels may help pacify me for awhile:) What do you guys think?

For breakfast this morning I had an awesome breakfast of soy yogurt, peanut butter Puffins, dried cranberries and Kashi U

I also had a Supercharge Me cookie and half of Jon’s You Got Peanut Butter in my Chocolate cookie:) Cookies for breakfast. Why not?

Supercharge Me recipe to come later tonight!

I’m off to clean our house seeing as how it has gotten out of control since I was gone last weekend. Also on the list for today is grocery shopping!

fingers crossed

Happy lunchtime folks!

I started this morning off with an ice cold green monster.

2 big handfuls of spinach, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 tsbp chia seeds, 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass, 1.25 cups almond milk, ice

Have you tried a green smoothie yet? I know some are really intimidated grossed out by the thought of spinach in their smoothie. But you can take my word for it – you cannot taste it! So the questions isn’t “why put spinach in your smoothie?” The question is “why not?!”

A couple hours and pages of writing later, I was ready for a snack!

This yogurt bowl contained 1 container Whole Soy yogurt, a quarter of a banana, and some granola that was on sale at the health food store the other day – Bakery on Main Cranberry Maple Almond Granola.

I guess it was a little much for just a morning snack, because lunchtime has come and gone, and I’m nowhere near hungry. o’well! Guess I’ll fit lunch in later on if I get hungry.

I’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon fighting with iPhoto and Flickr as I try to transfer all my photos over. Does anybody want to volunteer to do this for me? Puh-lease???

One thing I wanted to mention is about a new site that’s totally worth checking out: Healthy Living Blogs.

Healthy Living Blogs is a new resource for the health blogging community. Created by Lindsey of Sounds Eats, HLB is a site designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. Bloggers and readers can explore the site and find more blogs to love, bloggers in their area, and forums to deepen healthy discussion and support. So, check it out when you get a chance!

I’ll see you all later. I’m planning on making a new tofu recipe tonight, and I’ve never had much luck in the tofu department, so I’ll be back tonight with either a great new recipe for you…or a catastrophic fail. Cross your fingers:)

life happens

Good morning!

Well, I ended up getting about 1/4 of my to-do list completed last night, so it’s gonna be a crazy day! We’re going to shoot for leaving around 6:30ish tonight, so hopefully I’ll be able to get it all done before then.

Having gone to bed at about 1:30am, I made the executive decision to skip my run this morning in lieu of getting straight to work. I hate the way my body feels when I skip my workout, but sometimes life happens and you just gotta roll with it! I told myself that if I get everything done I can hit up the gym later this afternoon. lol. You and I both know that’s pretty laughable:)

I decided to come to the coffee shop this morning because our house is such a disaster and I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist cleaning it if I stayed home. Obvs. there’s no time for cleaning today, so I’m just going to avoid it like the plague. Sorry babe:) Anyway, I was craving veggies like no other this morning, but alas, I needed something I could make in a hurry and throw in a ziplock bag to take with me – so pb banana rice cakes it was! I’ll have to load up on veggies at lunch.

and an iced soy latte

So far throughout the course of my photography class, I think my photography skills are getting worse before they get better! I’m in this weird phase of knowing how to use most of the settings, but still a baby as far as experience goes. I’m really enjoying the process of learning it though, and I’m anxious to get better.

I’m off to do some editing – I’ll see you all a little later!

fun and kind of crazy

Goood Mooorrrninng!

Whew! This morning has been sort of crazy! Jon and I rolled out of bed and booked it to the gym for a quick run on the treadmill. We ended up having to cut it short because we were running late, so we knocked out 2 miles in 20 minutes. Marathon training needs a serious boost after this past week :/

I was so excited once we got home and waited in anticipation for Caitlin on The Today Show. Let me just say she was awesome and so inspiring! Check out the video on her blog if you missed it.

After almost missing her segment (luckily I was taping it) for some crazy unknown reason that I still have yet to figure out (something goofy about our TV) and then finally getting to watch it, I jumped in the car to go get the husband some coffee. I went from coffee shop to Jon’s office to Walmart to the other Walmart (you’d know the first one didn’t have what I needed) and back home in the next hour. I was hunting for some white washcloths to use in my PiYo class tomorrow morning (eek!). I bought some lavender aromatherapy oil to spray on them, and I’ll be giving one to each person to lay over their face during the final relaxation segment of class. My current PiYo instructor does this, and I love it! So, I thought it only right to carry it on:)

Anyway, with all the excitement I didn’t even think about breakfast, but opted to stop and pick up an iced soy half caf latte from Starbucks

This latte tasted exceptionally good today – not sure what they put in it, but I’ll take it!

Today isn’t going to get any less crazy anytime soon. I’ve got a lot on my plate, especially now that I’ve spent the whole morning either in the car, in Walmart or watching The Today Show. On the agenda – go through my PiYo class a couple more times and tweak some things, work on Outbox and do my homework for photo class!

I’ll leave you with a picture Jon snapped of me and the baby last night when we were practicing with the settings on our camera. Remember when I said I did something kind of fun and crazy the other night, but I had to tell my mom first?

Here’s a clue

You may need to click on the pic to enlarge it. Any guesses? I may have to give another clue. We’ll see:)

Hope you had a great morning!

a crazy week: wrapping it up!

Hey!

I want to start with a shout out to Caitlin from one of my very favorite blogs, Healthy Tipping Point. I’m sure many of you are already avid readers, but if not you must stop by and check it out. Today is a very exciting day in the blog world because Caitlin’s book Operation Beautiful hit bookstores across the country!! Way to go Caitlin! Snag your very own copy at Barnes and Noble, Borders or Amazon.com.

Today has been only semi productive:( Honestly, these last few days have been sort of tough. I’ve just felt a little down in the dumps for no particular reason. And it’s definitely affected my productivity levels. I’m really hoping things start looking up soon!

Jon and I kicked off our morning with a fairly brutal 3 mile run. We got started way too late, and therefore it was way too hot! We actually ended up walking between miles 1.5 and 2. But, fortunately we did finish strong so it wasn’t a complete disappointment. Some days are just like that, ya know?

Stats

Distance - 3.o miles
Avg Pace - 10:48 (walking killed our pace obvs)
Best Pace – 7:59 (told you finished strong)

Splits
Mile 1 – 10:09
Mile 2 - 12:42
Mile 3 -9:34

After our run I was so overheated and dehydrated! I’m certain that my lack of hydration during our runs is responsible for how tough they’ve been. Today my mouth felt like cotton and it was hard to swallow I was so thirsty. It’s quite the conundrum, though, because I really don’t want to carry water for short runs. Camelback or hydration belt – neither is very comfortable, but for long runs I make it work. I guess I really don’t have another option though – I’m just going to have to start carrying water every run…at least until it cools down some. bah.

Needless to say after we got back I couldn’t even stomach the thought of a heavy breakfast, so I made up a little fruit plate

Which of course left me starving about an hour and a half later. Enter mid-morning snack of homemade Classic Garlic hummus, baby carrots and a few Back to Nature crackers.

Tonight Jon and I met up for a late dinner with our friends, Jonathan and Grace. We had such a great time catching up…aren’t friends just the best thing in the world??

We went to McAlister’s, a cute deli that we don’t really hit up that often. I used to think they didn’t have very good vegetarian/vegan options, but I have come to know better! Tonight I went with the veggie pita with honey mustard on the side. And a side of steamed veggies.

delicious!

Okay – now on to finishing up the series of posts about this crazy last week. If you missed it, here is part I, part II and part III.You would think after the chaos that had ensued since arriving at the lake, we would have high tailed it home. But oh no. We Marsh/McCoy/Fryar girls are not to be deterred when it comes to lake fun!

So after lazing around in the water for an hour or so, I decided I’d give wakeboarding a whirl. I have been skiing since I was 6 years old, at which age they had to tie my skiis together because my little legs weren’t strong enough to hold them steady:) I’ve wakeboarded a couple of times, but always struggled with it a lot more.

So, I dive in, get myself all fastened onto the board, wait for the rope to tighten up, and yell “GO!”

I don’t think at that point I really expected to get up. It had been so long since I’d done it, I expected it to take me at least a few tries. But no.

I popped right up on top of the water, wobbling like crazy and trying to maintain my balance while my mind attemtped to register what was happening. Before I had even absorbed that I was in fact on top of the water, the front of the board dipped slightly, getting caught in the wake. My body continued to propel forward, while my feet remained fastened in the boots of the wakeboard, causing me to violently slam into the water face first.

My first thought was that I was either A. going to die, B. have a concussion and/or C. black out.

Thankfully, none of the above happened. But as I floated to the surface, waiting for the boat to return, I seriously could not feel my face. The entire front side of my body felt as if it had been slammed into a concrete wall at a high rate of speed. The wind was knocked out of me and every cavity of my body was filled with water.

All I could do was moan.

After several minutes, I began to regain feeling in my body and my mom and sister hauled me out of the water and into the boat. No more extreme sports (as my husband calls it:) for Candice. We decided to call it a day and head back in.

Fifteen minutes of painful jolting later and we were back at the ramp to load up. Of course only to discover that the boat trailer tire was completely flat. Flat as a pancake.

We proceeded to spend the next hour and a half waiting, while some nice men helped us get it fixed.

I took the opportunity to get in some yoga.

And that was that. After having the tire fixed, we said thank you to the nice men and made our way back to the cabin. I packed up and headed back home, sad to be leaving such great time with my mom and sis, but exhausted after two full days of unexpected glitches. And with a slight headache.

So, you can imagine my distress the next day when Olive ate an entire bar of dark chocolate and had to be rushed to the puppy emergency room. I was this close to deciding to crawl back into bed and try again next week. lol.

I’m off to bed now, so I’ll “see” you all in the morning. Hope you had a great day!

Back to what I mentioned at the beginning -

What do you do for hydration? Do you carry water on every single run? Any brilliant ideas? Heck, any ideas at all??

Oh, yeah – and I did something kind of fun and crazy tonight…but I’ve gotta tell my mom before I spill it on the blog. lol. I’ll tell ya about it soon:)

a positive negative

Good morning!

Jon and I stayed up way too late last night working on stuff. Fortunately we were able to pull ourselves out of bed in time for a 3 mile run, per our marathon training plan.

I don’t like to be super rigid with a training plan, but most of the time following the plan we’ve chosen works for us. There may be weeks where we rearrange our runs a bit to accommodate our schedule, but for the most part we like taking the guesswork out of it…and just stick to the plan!

As promised, I did figure out how to calculate splits on my Garmin. It really wasn’t that hard; I’ve just never had the motivation to do it. It was fun this morning, tracking each mile and trying to pick up our pace for the next mile. We started out pretty slow, but we did manage to have negative splits!

Total time: 29:45
Average pace: 9:54
Fastest pace: 7:51

Splits
Mile 1- 10:21
Mile 2 – 10:01
Mile 3 – 9:23

After our run, I threw together 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup raw oats, blackberries and blueberries.

I inhaled about half of this and then flew out the door to PiYo!

Just like yoga, PiYo is all about a mind/body connection. And today my mind was on vacation. Somewhere tropical, I’m thinking.

I was feeling very tired from our run, and my concentration was all over the place! By the last 20 minutes or so I worked it out, though. I was pretty excited to accomplish a couple of poses I’ve been working on

not perfect, but I’m getting there!

I’ve got a busy day ahead because I have to drive back to the city again for another orthodontist appointment. This should be the last one….ever, though, so I’m excited about that! Also on the to do list for today is working on some Outbox stuff and working on PiYo.

My PiYo instructor asked me to cover her class next Friday, August 6th. That will be my first class ever!! While I’m a little freaked out, I’m super excited! I’m the type of person who will overthink things to a fault…and with this I know I just need to jump out there and DO IT!

Hope you all have a great day!

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”~Ambrose Redmoon

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