Where's the Beach?

Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone's week is going smoothly. Mine has had it's ups and downs - guess it was part of last week, but we don't have to get into technicalities. Disasters: Saturday I had set out for a run. It was one of those runs where I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it at all. But then it was like a complete cathartic experience - sometimes a run is like a really good cry. Oh, and then you do cry at the end of 9 miles when you walk into your kitchen and see this disaster. The picture doesn't quite show the total carnage. Maddie had gotten my purse and my lunch bag off the counter. She completely shredded the inside of the bag. She pulled out nearly every item out of my purse. She managed to open up my wallet and chew up gift cards, my CPR card, money. She literally ate a tube of chapstick (only the cap remained), chewed into Imitrex, ate the entire package of gum minus one sliver of the outer packaging (but no wrappers survived), she exploded ...

Last week Jason had picked up some heirloom tomatoes. I had grabbed kale. I really had no specific plans for the kale, and Jason had just been using the tomatoes on sandwiches. But when it came time to come up with something for dinner, I thought the kale and tomatoes would go really well together along with some Greek flavor profiles like olives, feta, sundried tomatoes. Initially, I thought I might just go with quinoa, but realized I had some Israeli couscous in the cabinet. So, I decided to go with that instead. I knew it would have a lot more texture and bite to it. And if you don't have the Israeli couscous, you can use any grain of choice. I think orzo pasta would also be fantastic.  Greek Style Kale Couscous Salad Ingredients: 1 cup Israeli couscous 1 1/4 cup water 1 large bunch kale, de-stemmed, chopped  1/2 small red onion, chopped 1 tbsp minced garlic 1/2 cup white wine or vegetable broth 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, reconstituted and diced 1/8 cup kalama...

TGIF! Hope everyone's had a good week. Mine has been a little hectic, but all good. I got in some really great runs, a fun bike ride with Jason and Amy, and also enjoyed a great lunch with a good friend (she was my physical therapist) who unfortunately moved away. Even cooler, literally, I got in a great 8 mile run in unheard-of-for-July temps - 68 degrees. Um, what month is it and where do I live again? Not complaining though. It was nice not being drenched by mile 1. I've done something similar to this before, using the letters of FRIDAY to talk about the week. I thought I'd do it again just for fun (and 'cause I can LOL). F - Fitness: running, riding, lifting R - Recipe: Greek Style Kale Couscous Salad (will share on Tuesday) I - Inspiration: Inspired by my dad who refuses to let age define him D - Day break: 2 pictures of this morning's sunrise. A - Awe: In awe of the progress my niece is making in her fitness journey Y - Yikes: How on ea...

As I mentioned previously - and took way too long to put together - I wanted to take you all on a run (or walk) with me. The idea came from a post that  A manda (aka Miss Zippy) had done, and I just loved the idea, loved reading the other posts that came out of that idea as well. So, here's where we'd go. We'd start off up hill, get that part out of the way first, well, until the return from the river, but I might not mention that part ;-) Hopefully we'd have a beautiful sunrise as well. Even if we didn't, I'm sure we'd have a great run or walk though. If it was the first time we were meeting, it'd be impossible not to get lost in conversation. We do have some gorgeous architecture in the area, so I'd try to point that out. And if you were new to the area, I'd want to take you up closer to the governor's mansion. It's a really nice section of the neighborhood with some of my favorite homes.  I would definitely ...

I don't know about you, but when it's hot out, I tend to crave more watery fruit like pineapple. We've also been grilling most days, especially while we were painting the kitchen cabinets. Since I just happened to have a pineapple on hand, I decided to come up with a way to grill it. At first I had thought about sandwiches, but I ended up going with a quinoa salad instead using tempeh and veggies. I wanted to try to infuse more of the pineapple flavor in the tempeh while it poached, so I also made a puree of the pineapple. Grilled Pineapple Tempeh Quinoa Salad Ingredients: 1 pineapple 1 package tempeh - cut in half then lengthwise for 4 pieces 1 not-beef bouillon cube 2 cups water (or broth and minus the bouillon) 2 tbsp minced garlic 1-2 jalapenos, seeded if you prefer less heat Small nub of fresh ginger 2 bell peppers (I used green and yellow) 1 large zucchini, cut into thick strips 1/2 cup quinoa (I used red) 2 cups water Directions: Turn on your grill...

Happy Friday! I've been really enjoying the recent Old School Blogging - List of 5's posts recently. So, I thought I'd jump on board for Fun for Friday . I think these posts definitely lend themselves to Fun for Friday . 5 Things I have passion for 1.  Family 2.  Running 3.  Sharing healthy living with others 4.  Healthy eating 5.  Cooking 5 Things I'd like to do before I die 1.  Visit Italy - see where my great-grandfather lived 2.  Publish a book 3.  Make enough money to be able to donate wildly and freely 4.  Gosh this is harder than you'd think..... 5.  See #4 5 Things I say a lot 1.  F*ck 2.  Drats 3.  I wish 4.  Maddie Stop It 5.  Watch out Heathy 5 Books or magazines I've read lately 1.  Changing Lanes, Kathleen Long 2.  Beth Gutcheon, Gossip 3.  Come Closer, Sara Gran 4.  Runner's World 5.  Better Homes and Gardens 5 Favo...

After talking about being stressed yesterday , I thought I would take today to re-read and share some quotes that I find inspiring and energizing. I don't often post a lot of quotes, but sometimes, they really can help change your perspective or give you a new outlook on things. Are you a quote person? I'd love to hear your favorite quote. And I can't forget Way to Go Wednesday . Here are my shout outs for the week. Who do you want to give a shout out to? Kat from Sneakers and Fingerpaints just passed her NASM exam. Lisa's (RunWiki) husband completed a 27 mile endurance swim . Carla (aka MizFit) gave away her Strength (A must-read post) Mrs. StuftMama herself is back to running - slowly but surely after a run-stopping injury.

Show of hands - who feels stressed out today? I have both hands waving wildly. I found the above on pinterest (and why can't you embed them any longer with direct link?) and realize that it's very true. However, at the same time, a lot of why I'm stressed is because of things I've brought upon myself - like the kitchen cabinet redo for starters.  I've definitely been stressed out about things out of my control, but try to avoid letting those things stress me out like they may have in the past. But how do you deal with things that you sort of started yourself?  Right now, there's not enough time in the day to get everything sorted out and done that I need to be getting done. I guess I'm just getting ahead of myself over and over to the point of feeling behind. Does that makes sense?  However, I've started noticing some effects like headaches, muddled thinking, being more accident prone than usual, irritable and borderline depressed.  ...

I would love to talk about how relaxing the weekend was, how much time I spent in the pool, but that's not exactly how it was. We're still contending with the cabinet painting fiasco right now. The project was started on July 4 and now it's July 15. I will say, that we did do ourselves one huge favor on Saturday - we went to the lake with Jason's brother and his family. While we should have been painting, we both desperately needed to get away from that project, step out of the stress zone, and just try to enjoy and relax. Of course, we had to come back home to the upheaval which is our kitchen. I should start from the beginning: I had this brilliant idea to paint our cabinets white. I found a kit by Rust-Oleum - Cabinet Transformations in Pure White. I read reviews, and they were mostly good. I found it on sale at Home Depot and convinced Jason that we should go for it. He read reviews as well, and he agreed. The kit came with a de-glosser, no sanding required. I...

I know that on Wednesday I said I'd be doing a follow-up post where I take you on a run with me. But, I haven't had a chance to get photos yet, and I think that's an important part of that post. I really want to share a route with you. In the meantime, I thought I would do a light-hearted, Fun For Friday post of 5 things for the week. 1. Painting kitchen cabinets Notice the streaks after 2 coats. Supposed to have covered in 2 coats. Yep, not working out as planned. I had hoped to do some fantastic post about this product that we used. Now? Um....no way. 2. Grilling Since the kitchen is in complete disarray, dinners pretty much have to be on the grill or microwaved. So we've had grilled veggie salads and sandwiches. Jason picked up some wood planks he found on sale and let me tell you, grilling tofu on a plank = yummy. 3. Humid Running As I discussed on Tuesday , humidity throws a wrench into running. Thankfully, we have a "cool" front moving...

You may have seen a few posts about a Favorite Run . Amanda (aka Miss Zippy) came up with a wonderful idea about taking readers along with her on a run, basically sharing a favorite run.  I have loved reading these posts. They simply make me smile. They remind me so deeply of what I love about running, what I love to the core of my being about it. If you haven't seen any of these, definitely check them out. Here are just a few: Angela at Happy Fit Mama Christine  at Love Life Surf Debbie at Live from La Quinta Thinking more about running, I mentioned briefly yesterday about Amy and I having a lengthy conversation about what running means to us, how it can literally save your life even.  I thought I would talk about my Favorite Run in two parts. First, talking about what running means to me each time I go out. What it means to share that same passion with a friend as well. Not everyone really gets it. And that's ok. But runners like to shar...

A Humid Relay Run This morning was sort of a funny kind of run. Sometimes Jason will run a couple of miles with me before I meet up with Amy. We end up usually meeting around 6:10-6:15 depending on mileage.  Today she was going to run 2 miles with a friend then we were going to meet up closer to 6:30. Now I had to change my route/timing situation. You know how it is, you know exactly which route puts you exactly at x time. Oh now I had to think ;-) It was funny because Jason and I did pass Amy and her friend once right when they were just about to get started, then again as they were heading the opposite direction from us. Jason and I ended up with 3.4 miles together, then it was a trade off of running partners.  Jason and her friend were done, now it was round two of the run. Amy and I zipped on along chatting away…and sweating away too. When I checked the weather before the run at 5:30 am, it was 77 degrees, humidity was 83% and dew point of 71. Folks...

I'm both glad and slightly annoyed that it's Friday. How is that you ask? Well, because we were off yesterday, today is sort of like Monday again. But, it's also Friday again. Talk about making your week all sorts of confusing right? I won't even talk about how jealous I am of everyone who took the day off today. I hope they're enjoying the lake, pool, whatever they're up to. Yep, don't think about those of us at work while you're off playing....nope...not jealous ;-) Since yesterday was a holiday, I thought it'd be appropriate to play off of that for Fun for Friday . We didn't do anything exciting. No parties or cookouts. I guess we were sort of lame. Of course, I knew I had to be getting up the next day. So here's how our 4th went down: Jason worked half a day I woke up far earlier than I had wanted At 6:15 am I was cleaning out cabinets because we are going to paint them I found an old crockpot and texted Amy to see if she wa...

TGIW - It's a weird holiday week for Americans - we have Independence Day tomorrow so today is sort of like Friday. I guess that made yesterday Hump Day. But then most of us work again Friday so that's like having 2 Mondays and 2 Fridays. With me still? All I know is that I'm looking forward to a much needed rest day tomorrow - from work and work outs.  I've been having trouble sleeping, lots of tossing and turning, then waking up at 4:30 am. Yawn. Thank goodness we're still having mild weather right now. That gives me something to look forward to with the running - that and meeting up with Amy. It was a gorgeous morning to be out running. Very peaceful. Oh and I saw a family of 6 very plump raccoons scurrying about. Hard not to smile at that sight, or taking a minute to enjoy architecture (the picture really doesn't do this former church justice). I got in 2 miles then met up with her for another 4.5 miles for a total of 6.5 miles. We were both sort of...

Miles and Miles   Happy Tuesday! Don't know about you guys, but I'm super excited for a short week. I'm also super excited about a major cool down we have had here. Last week it was 100+ degrees. Then over the weekend we had a cold front move through. Usually a "cold" front at the end of June means 95 degrees instead of 105. But this time? For real cold front.  We actually have low temps again. As in 65 degrees low. A-mazing! Let's just say I've covered a lot of miles recently. Sunday Jason and I biked about 27.5 miles. Then yesterday another 20.4. Lots of miles being covered here. The only downfall of this cooler weather is crazy winds that are bringing it in. This morning I managed my first double digit run since mid-May. I got in 10 fantastic miles and it looked like I had run not swam. I got a little over 3 in then met up with Amy for 4 before finishing out the rest of the miles. Oh, another perk of the cooler temps? A speedier run that didn...