Archive for September, 2010
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Bring It
Last night, Mark and I went to the mall. We were hungry, so we stopped at California Pizza Kitchen. I got the Pear & Gorgonzola pie.
It was ok – Mark’s Chipotle Chicken was really good though. While at said mall, I purchased a running skirt:
I gave it a shot today. I didn’t like that it rode up in the back. It also wasn’t that “light” – the shorts are kind of thick and made me feel hot. Other than that, it was comfortable and it has a pocket on the butt. Handy. Speaking of running, today didn’t go well. It was raining and thundering outside this morning, so I went on the treadmill. I really was not feeling it once I got on. After 2 miles, I didn’t want to go another step so I got off.
I’ve been unhappy with my training for the half marathon. I keep debating whether I should pull out. I’m undertrained, undermotivated, and dreading the half. My husband thinks I should just run it. I’ve been fantasizing about not doing it. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.In happier news, I got a great salad at Sweet Tomatoes this afternoon.
I had a few courses after this salad. Buffets for lunch are trouble. Well, buffets period are trouble. Later on, I got started on my clothes project:
Yesterday I complained that my clothes are scattered in 6 places in the house. I went around and gathered my clothes and threw them all onto the bed. That’s right, every article of clothing is on my bed in this picture. From every closet, every bin in the basement, every drawer in my dresser.
It was hard to let go of some things. I created several keep piles according to the type of clothing, and one pile for “definitely get rid of” and “think about”. I highly recommend the “think about” pile when you’re just not ready to let go. On the second pass, it’s easier to make a decision.
I found a couple of cool t-shirts:
The one on the right is a keeper (I lived in Okinawa when my dad was in the Navy and would have been 2 when we got this t-shirt… which actually belongs to my mom) and the one on the left is getting donated.
I got 2 trash bags to donate. I even have space in some of my drawers!
My half of the closet. It’s not much space and this is why I have clothes all over the house.
I didn’t feel like much for dinner after the big lunch, so I just made some baby food.
I mean, pumpkin dip. (I didn’t use OJ, just maple syrup and brown sugar.) Looks gross but tastes delicious!
I made a lot of progress on my secret projects this weekend. That, plus the closet clean out, and I’m feeling very accomplished. Bring it, Monday.
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Can You Ever Be Just “Whelmed”?
The title is a Clueless reference!
The last week has been so busy and stressful. A lot of the stress is work-related, although some of it has to do with some snafus with Girls on the Run, and some is personal. It had just felt like such a long week and I came home in tears and laid it all out on Mark. (Thanks honey.)
I felt like I couldn’t relax much last night. I even had a dream where there were glass mugs in a cabinet that were falling out because the shelves were falling apart. I was trying to keep them from falling by holding them up in the cabinet with my hands. But there were just too many glasses. I remember the glasses falling and shards of glass all over the floor. I couldn’t keep them all there by myself so I had to scream for help.
Pretty symbolic, right?
Onto some pictures of food. Earlier this week (… seems like forever ago…) Mark made dinner and I remembered to take a picture. Actually, maybe it was Mark that reminded me!
You’re looking at sweet potato fries, pork with Caribbean Jerk seasoning, and the remains of the broccoli that I already ate.
Last night Mark picked up dinner at Viviano’s, a local Italian deli. He got me spaghetti with meatballs (or is that just singular, meatball?), cheesy bread, and salad.
I supplemented that with a chemical relaxant.
It’s a glass Mark’s mom gave to us when we got married. You can see the butterfly – you might be able to make out my name too.
This morning I decided to finally try the Grilled Banana Sandwich I’ve been seeing a lot of.
These are my ingredients – bread, brown sugar, bananas, cinnamon, powdered sugar, and a couple of eggs beaten.
I dredged the bread in the egg, and placed it side-down on the grill. The directions of the recipe said to put the brown sugar on the eggy side, but I think that was wrong, and you might put the brown sugar on the other side. Otherwise, I guess I didn’t understand the directions! Anyway, I grilled the banana and toast in a grill pan. Check out the grill marks:
I sprinkled cinnamon on the bread, and after a few minutes, put the bread in the toast and sprinkled it with powdered sugar. One for Mark, one for me – I used a sandwich thin for mine, since I was going to run later and didn’t want anything too heavy.
I’m feeling better a ton better today than yesterday. I just finished a run and lunch, and now I have a couple of computer-related projects I am working on. They are top secret right now but I will reveal them when the moment is right!
I think I am going to make a list of personal projects I want to work on because it just feels like there are a lot right now – including going through my clothes. I realized the other week that I have clothes in 6 different areas of the house! My bedroom – 1) closet and 2) dresser, 3) bathroom closet (our master closet is tiny – which is why they made a huge bathroom closet, WEIRD design there) 4) the guest room closet 5) the coat closet downstairs 6) a bin in the basement. Maybe it sounds like I have a lot of clothes, and that is partly true, but the bigger problem is that the clothes are spread out everywhere! I need to go through them and donate some.
I think the clothes situation is feeling dire because one of the things I do when I am stressed is CLEAN. It makes me feel better! What do you do to unwind?
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Short & sweet
Work and life has just been really busy this week! I don’t have much time for an in-depth post but I just had to touch base with the blog world.
Today I ran for 50 minutes while watching a mixture of Tyra Banks, Oprah, and Dr. G: Medical Examiner (on Discovery Health).
I absolutely love Dr. G’s show. I always learn something new and there is something about the way the show unfolds that holds my attention. I like to watch her deductive thinking unfold, and I like to guess what she’s going to do next. Is she going to examine the heart? Order blood tests? Order medical records? I think some people might think the show is grisly, but I don’t see it that way at all! It’s more of a study in logic to me. Has anyone else watched it?
My Operation Beautiful note was featured on the Operation Beautiful website today! Head on over and check it out.
Friday is going to be another really busy day so wish me luck! I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend. What are your plans?
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Confessions
Confession 1: I ate fresh food from a gas station yesterday.
Confession 2: It was good.
This gas station – I can’t remember which one it was but it was a big name – was the Whole Foods of gas stations. There were tons of healthy choices to choose from – wraps, fresh sandwiches, fresh fruit, string cheese, yogurt, and more. And if I can get my meal without stopping at a second place, I’m going to. I admit I was a little afraid when I took a bite (I’ve had a really, really awful sandwich at a gas station before), but I was happy with this. It was a southwest chicken wrap, by the way.
Confession 3: I had a sip of grape soda yesterday.
(It’s empty because Mark drank it, I cannot tell a lie)
Confession 5: I love that they have a separate nutritional listing for the full bottle. Because let’s face it: no one drinks half a bottle. No one I know, anyway. Have you noticed this happening? Is this a thing? Cause it should be. If you know me, you know I hate math, and that includes adding.
Even though I have been familiar with reading nutrition facts even before we covered it in Home Economics in junior high (wow, is that weird that I’ve known how to read them that early?), sometimes I get confused.
Popcorn labels are terribly confusing. The first part is all about unpopped kernels – no one should be eating the kernels unpopped, so why do they even give the nutrition facts for that? And if you are the type of person that eats the kernels unpopped, do you measure out two tablespoons of it so that you can count your calories? Cause I’d like to pick your brain. Second, what I’d really like to know is what the nutrition facts are for the whole bag, for the same reasons I admire the grape soda nutrition facts label above. Maybe one day I’ll whip out a measuring cup and see what the damage really is. Maybe that won’t be soon.
And in more nutrition news, the Corn Refiners Association is trying to change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to Corn Sugar.
Possibly related, I started calling poop roses. Somehow, it still stinks.
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Lazy Sunday
It’s now the last day in Nebraska, and I finally have a tired dog on my hands. I slept in this morning and decided to make it a rest day even though I planned on running. I just wanted to rest.
We had a pretty laid back day today. It was the perfect fall weather – if I could have this weather for the rest of the year, I’d be ok with that.
For dinner tonight, my mom made stuffed acorn squash with a side salad and corn (naturally).
The recipe for the acorn squash is here, which my mom had gotten from my sister in law, Andi. The recipe for the stuffing calls for bulgur, ground beef, raisins, pine nuts, onion, cinnamon and nutmeg, and some of the squash. Since my sister in law, Mel, is a vegetarian, my mom substituted soy crumbles for ground beef. The stuffing tasted slightly sweet to me – I think it came from the taste of cinnamon and nutmeg and raisins and maybe the squash. I really liked it and I think everyone did. It would be easy to play with the recipe – use different grains as a base, make it more savory, etc.
On the side I had Shipyard Pumpkinhead beer. I would recommend it – the pumpkin came through.
Dad multitasked.
After dinner, we had lemon creme pie.
It will be sad to leave. We’re not looking forward to another day on the road! If we could get that teleporting technology available, that would be great.
About Me
My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
