What you probably don't know is that this wasn't my first speed dating rodeo. Oh no! The first time was called pre-dating and I did it while doing the whole ever-so-healthy on again / off again thing with my ex-boyfriend. No worries....it was during the off again phase. A friend participated in the event with me. When we were done, we met up with my off again boyfriend and some of his friends and then hung out for the rest of the night (and then he became my on again boyfriend once again). See...healthy!
Since I had done the whole deed before, I did have somewhat of an expectation in my mind - not for actual results, but for the set-up, I suppose. That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was to wear heels. This kinda coincides with the first mistake which you will learn more about in just a second.
My third mistake was believing what I hear and not questioning specifics.
I'm sure there are more, but for purposes of maintaining my self-esteem, we will cut it at 3. =/
Okay, so here goes...
The speed dating was offered by Eight Friends Out. Their normal concept is to put 8 people at a table together for dinner - 4 guys and 4 girls. Before dessert is served, they switch out the guys from another table so that you get to meet even more people. Normally, the dinners are broken into age groups of 30s/40s and 50s+. Obviously I attend the 30s/40s events and I'm always so disappointed when it turns out I'm on the younger end of things. The last dinner I attended, in fact, I ended up sitting next to a *gentleman* in his upper 40s (nice...NOT) and he made some stupid comment about not being interested in younger women because he found them to be boring...they lacked the capability to have stimulating conversation, etc. WHAT?! I mean first of all, it's just a terribly rude comment to say considering it's quite obvious you are sitting next to a younger woman. Secondly, to make such a blanket statement is so ignorant, it's obnoxious! Finally, I'm bored listening to you talk, so SHUT-UP (thank you). So, yeah...needless to say, I took a hiatus from attending events until last night.
Last night called out to me because it was an event for 20s/30s and not a dinner. I didn't really have any high hopes for it. I figured if anything else, it should be entertaining. I really can't even say that much. I arrived about 15 minutes late, purposely, and all dolled up. I looked good, if I do say so myself! The event was held at Arcodoro's, a restaurant I had eaten at once before with a friend. I got my name tag and was told by the organizer that the drinks were on special for us for $4. Nice! I went to the restroom to make sure I didn't have raccoon eyes from my dramatic smokey eye effect, and then went to the bar to order my vanilla vodka and soda. It was more like soda with a splash of vanilla vodka, but hey...$4, so whatever. I started a tab. While waiting for my drink, the organizer informed me to line-up once I was done. WHAT?! Line-up? We doin' a little line dancin'? Um...okay. So I looked behind me and sure enough...the girls were lined up on one side and the dudes were lined up in front of them - all were standing. Hmmm...the first time I did speed dating, the girls were spaced out sitting around various nooks and crannies of the rented out bar the event was located in and the dudes made the rounds. It was...kinda comfortable. This was like a group of team players lined up to do the hand slap and say "good game!" Let's give a shout-out to wearing heels while sporting a pelvic stress fracture, shall we? Had I known I was going to be standing in them for an hour+ (and given additional information for the evening), perhaps I should have just gone with my flip-flops or rocket dogs???
There was a table full of name tags for people who signed up, but didn't show up. To think our little area could have been more crowded. yay. So, there were 5 more girls than guys. Two of the girls stood all unapproachable off to the side awaiting their turn to "date" while the other two girls and I dated each other until it was our turn. Eventually, I just dated one of them until I was left dating myself. That was an awkward 6 or 8 minutes. I decided to make nice with myself and buy me a refill. Ah...another soda with a splash of vanilla vodka. Oh look...it's now my turn to date. There were 8 guys in total. They were all perfectly friendly and polite. Some were easier to talk to than others, none worth mentioning specifically. While dating my 4th dude, they decided to bring out the appetizers. It's really cool talking to someone for a precious 6 or 8 minutes while stuffing cold-that-is-supposed-to-be-hot food in your mouth. Yeah, it was like that. After dating my last next-ex, I returned to the bar for my 3rd and final soda with a splash of vanilla vodka. The organizer called out to me and asked me how I felt it went. I told her it wasn't what I expected, that I had done it once before and it had been better organized, BUT that it was nice to see younger people finally (yep...always trying to see the silver lining). She bounced some ideas off of me for future events to get more of a turn-out. I then sauntered on over to a group of girls. We chatted for a bit and then they invited me to join them at Taco Milagro for some late night dinner. First, I had to go close out my bar tab. Imagine my shock when my bill was $24.75. I inquired about the $4 drink special and was informed that was only for four specific drinks. Oh, nice to know. Perhaps if you are going to charge $8.25 for a drink, it ought to be vanilla vodka with a splash of soda. Just sayin'. I then went to the organizer and asked her about it. Yep..oops...she meant to tell me it was for four specific drinks. lovely. =/
I met the 3 girls at Taco Milagro and enjoyed some food, iced tea, and music. I wish I could say I enjoyed the company, but well...one of them was friendly...another one okay, and the 3rd was anti-social. Ah well...
So there you have it. I dated 2 girls, myself, and 8 dudes last night all while paying a hefty price for spunky club soda and further agitating my pelvis (as in I'm a new kind of crippled now) - all in the name of trying to find my heart's companion. Never a dull moment in this 30-something year old's life...
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
no half marathon for me
Went back to the doctor today...
Not a big shocker that he said walking the RunGirl 13.1 would NOT be a good idea. For the record, I'm still picking up my race packet, though. Long sleeved tech t-shirt? Yes, please! Technically I paid for it, right? I may not have earned it, but well...circumstances beyond my control.
He went into his spiel about 4 to 6 weeks for recovery. I explained to him that this weekend will make 6 weeks since my last run, so I don't understand why we don't have more progress. He countered with the whole...4 to 6 weeks once I *rest* it. Huh?! He suspects that all the walking around in the parks was a wee bit counterproductive to my recovery. He then explained my elliptical usage should be on a low incline. Ohhh....ooops! I was mostly doing my mileage on the weight loss program which is kinda up and down. Yeah, apparently that wasn't right. Well...in my defense, I had not done the elliptical in 3 weeks either. He said stress fractures are tricky and we have to be patient. Hmmm...back to that whole patience thing. Yeah, I don't have any of that.
He told me that these things never happen at a convenient time - it's always when someone is working hard for something which is what makes it so devastating. He was quite sympathetic, which I appreciated, BUT well...we had one more matter to discuss... I asked him about the Aramco Houston Half. I explained that I had knocked my full down to the half and was now wondering what my status was going to be for this race. He said he wants to see me in another month and we can evaluate at that time. I told him that I have until 12/19 to bail out. He said he hates to tell me I can't do something I've been working towards and then asked me if I could walk that one...he would feel better if I walked that and thought I would be in a position to walk a half marathon in another 7 1/2 weeks. Um...that's not how I saw me taking Houston. It has a 4 hour time limit for the half, so yeah...I could totally walk it in that time, BUT this isn't what I wanted...this isn't how I imagined it. It's bad enough it isn't the race I initially signed up for, but now to not even be able to RUN the half... I know what you are thinking...I was perfectly willing to walk the RunGirl 13.1 if he would have allowed me to. It's different. RunGirl 13.1 is like a local half...it was part of my training...Houston was the big ticket item. I don't want to do it half-assed. Houston has a policy in place that if you can't race, you can defer your registration for 2012 (by 12/19). I have an email out to the committee to find out if they will honor my full marathon registration since I had prematurely knocked my registration down to the half 3 weeks ago. Regardless of their answer, I will be deferring my registration to 2012...come half or come full.
So, there you have it. No RunGirl 13.1. No Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Just me wishin', hopin', and prayin' for a full recovery in the next 4 weeks so that I can get back in the game. I only have a year to prepare for a marathon, after all, and we all know it's gonna take me that time to get my act together - mind, body, and spirit!
Not a big shocker that he said walking the RunGirl 13.1 would NOT be a good idea. For the record, I'm still picking up my race packet, though. Long sleeved tech t-shirt? Yes, please! Technically I paid for it, right? I may not have earned it, but well...circumstances beyond my control.
He went into his spiel about 4 to 6 weeks for recovery. I explained to him that this weekend will make 6 weeks since my last run, so I don't understand why we don't have more progress. He countered with the whole...4 to 6 weeks once I *rest* it. Huh?! He suspects that all the walking around in the parks was a wee bit counterproductive to my recovery. He then explained my elliptical usage should be on a low incline. Ohhh....ooops! I was mostly doing my mileage on the weight loss program which is kinda up and down. Yeah, apparently that wasn't right. Well...in my defense, I had not done the elliptical in 3 weeks either. He said stress fractures are tricky and we have to be patient. Hmmm...back to that whole patience thing. Yeah, I don't have any of that.
He told me that these things never happen at a convenient time - it's always when someone is working hard for something which is what makes it so devastating. He was quite sympathetic, which I appreciated, BUT well...we had one more matter to discuss... I asked him about the Aramco Houston Half. I explained that I had knocked my full down to the half and was now wondering what my status was going to be for this race. He said he wants to see me in another month and we can evaluate at that time. I told him that I have until 12/19 to bail out. He said he hates to tell me I can't do something I've been working towards and then asked me if I could walk that one...he would feel better if I walked that and thought I would be in a position to walk a half marathon in another 7 1/2 weeks. Um...that's not how I saw me taking Houston. It has a 4 hour time limit for the half, so yeah...I could totally walk it in that time, BUT this isn't what I wanted...this isn't how I imagined it. It's bad enough it isn't the race I initially signed up for, but now to not even be able to RUN the half... I know what you are thinking...I was perfectly willing to walk the RunGirl 13.1 if he would have allowed me to. It's different. RunGirl 13.1 is like a local half...it was part of my training...Houston was the big ticket item. I don't want to do it half-assed. Houston has a policy in place that if you can't race, you can defer your registration for 2012 (by 12/19). I have an email out to the committee to find out if they will honor my full marathon registration since I had prematurely knocked my registration down to the half 3 weeks ago. Regardless of their answer, I will be deferring my registration to 2012...come half or come full.
So, there you have it. No RunGirl 13.1. No Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Just me wishin', hopin', and prayin' for a full recovery in the next 4 weeks so that I can get back in the game. I only have a year to prepare for a marathon, after all, and we all know it's gonna take me that time to get my act together - mind, body, and spirit!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
until tomorrow...
You know what sucks?
Being honest with yourself sucks, that's what!
It's easy to be in denial. It's easy to pretend that everything is okay. Facing the cold hard truth is hard. Why? I surely don't know....well maybe I do know, but I don't like to say it out loud.
Yes, yes...I'm still whining about my injury. I am very sure you are sick of hearing about it. I know I keep talking about how I am bound and determined to power-walk my half marathon this weekend "NO MATTER WHAT" as long as my doctor approves it, of course. Why wouldn't he, after all? I mean I'm talking walking, not running. I know why he won't, though. This is me being honest. I'm not better.
I don't understand why I'm not better, though. I've been taking the double dose of Calcium with Vitamin D as he told me to do. I have not run. I even laid off the elliptical (which he did not tell me to do, but I was hoping rest would speed the recovery). I know that walking the Disney and Universal parks for 8 days were hard on my injury. Is it possible that this set me back?
I switched my full marathon to the half a few weeks ago, when I was diagnosed, but now I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to do that half. Here I am 7 1/2 weeks out and I haven't run in 5 1/2 weeks. This is quite daunting to me. I have until 12/19 to make a decision. I want to welcome 2011 with this half marathon. I want to be able to train for this race successfully. I want to be healed. *Sigh* Doctor tomorrow...I suppose I'm getting a head of myself and I need to wait to hear what he says. Maybe the cold weather is just agitating my injury. Maybe I'm just being a worry-wort. Maybe...
Until tomorrow...
Being honest with yourself sucks, that's what!
It's easy to be in denial. It's easy to pretend that everything is okay. Facing the cold hard truth is hard. Why? I surely don't know....well maybe I do know, but I don't like to say it out loud.
Yes, yes...I'm still whining about my injury. I am very sure you are sick of hearing about it. I know I keep talking about how I am bound and determined to power-walk my half marathon this weekend "NO MATTER WHAT" as long as my doctor approves it, of course. Why wouldn't he, after all? I mean I'm talking walking, not running. I know why he won't, though. This is me being honest. I'm not better.
I don't understand why I'm not better, though. I've been taking the double dose of Calcium with Vitamin D as he told me to do. I have not run. I even laid off the elliptical (which he did not tell me to do, but I was hoping rest would speed the recovery). I know that walking the Disney and Universal parks for 8 days were hard on my injury. Is it possible that this set me back?
I switched my full marathon to the half a few weeks ago, when I was diagnosed, but now I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to do that half. Here I am 7 1/2 weeks out and I haven't run in 5 1/2 weeks. This is quite daunting to me. I have until 12/19 to make a decision. I want to welcome 2011 with this half marathon. I want to be able to train for this race successfully. I want to be healed. *Sigh* Doctor tomorrow...I suppose I'm getting a head of myself and I need to wait to hear what he says. Maybe the cold weather is just agitating my injury. Maybe I'm just being a worry-wort. Maybe...
Until tomorrow...
Monday, December 6, 2010
these are a few of my favorite Christmas things...
Day 1 of 3 off and what did I accomplish?
1 doctor appointment down, 2 more to go.
cleaned the kitchen
cleaned the dining room
cleaned the family room (and decorated it for Christmas)
saw Love and Other Drugs
went to Old Navy to get a couple of sweaters (buy one, get one free) and some long sleeve t-shirts
cleaned the guest bathroom
cleaned my bedroom
Not too shabby, I think considering this girl is a major procrastinator!
Curious to see what I can get done tomorrow!!!
Here are a few of my favorite Christmas things...
My Great Grandmother made Christmas stockings for all her great grandchildren. When we were younger, "Santa" made sure they were filled to the gills - which made the fact that our stockings were HUGE extra specially awesome! My mom made it clear a few years back that "Santa" was no longer interested in filling our stockings. Boo on that!
My Grandma buys all her grandchildren the Swarvoski crystal snowflake ornament of the year. So far, I have 11 of these beauties. 2010 will make snowflake #12. I always strategically place each snowflake on my tree so that the lights hit them just right! Here is the ornament from 2001!
Many moons ago before I was old enough to gamble, younger sister Linda, my brother Eddie, and I would use up my parent's generous cash donation in Vegas to play the Midway games over our Thanksgiving vacation. On our first day there, we saw "the Christmas rats" (or so we called them) and knew we had to have them. They were "expensive" in the way that midway games often are - in other words, they cost a lot of tickets, so we knew we had to work hard to get them. We did just that and on our last day, we accumulated all our tickets and had enough to buy each of us our Christmas rats. Linda and I got the girl one and Eddie bought the boy one. Technically, we had enough tickets to buy older sister Cathy (she was of gambling age) a Christmas rat, too, BUT we got greedy and started getting all kinds of junk. My college peeps will remember "Club Kim" which came from this greed! ha! In the end, we bought Cathy a lopsided ugly little dog. She said, "oh thanks, it's so cute" and then threw it away before we left for the airport. I still have my Christmas rat and love it (probably more for the story than the rat itself).
Last, but not least, I bought this snowman family from Sam's Club several years back. I love snowmen and I just think this little family is so cute! I always change where I display it - this year, it's on the dining room table!
What are some of your favorite Christmas decorations?
1 doctor appointment down, 2 more to go.
cleaned the kitchen
cleaned the dining room
cleaned the family room (and decorated it for Christmas)
saw Love and Other Drugs
went to Old Navy to get a couple of sweaters (buy one, get one free) and some long sleeve t-shirts
cleaned the guest bathroom
cleaned my bedroom
Not too shabby, I think considering this girl is a major procrastinator!
Curious to see what I can get done tomorrow!!!
Here are a few of my favorite Christmas things...
What are some of your favorite Christmas decorations?
Saturday, December 4, 2010
something to think about
I'm finally sitting down to catch up on some of my DVR. Practically every day this week my father has asked me if I've watched the Thanksgiving episode of Parenthood. I told him I'm never going to watch it if he keeps asking me. Yes, I'm a terrible brat. I'm also a liar because I totally watched it tonight. It was, of course, good. I love that show. I love the family dynamics - in a way, it reminds me of my family - a loud, chaotic family that has its issues, but clearly loves each other.
The other day I was having a conversation with younger sister Linda about my struggle regarding my injury and this upcoming RunGirl 13.1. I registered for this race to have yet another opportunity to prove something to myself. In the end, I will fall short. I always do. Even if my doctor allows me to power walk it, I won't be completing it in the fashion I would have liked to, you see. I won't truly have the glory I so long for. Truth be told, even in the Aramco Half I am now going to be participating in on January 30th (in lieu of the Chevron full marathon), I still won't have the glory I long for as I'm not doing the race I planned on doing and I'm not even going to be able to do this race as well as I want given that it is now 7 weeks out and I have not run in 5 weeks. I'm my own worst enemy, I know. I'm seemingly never happy with me. Someday, I will start being my own best friend. It's just not today, but alas...in typical me fashion, I digress. My point is that I'm bound and determined to complete this sucker even knowing I will be doing so with disappointment. First of all, I signed up for it. Second of all, I paid money for it. Thirdly, I want that really cute medal.
Linda did encourage me to watch The Biggest Loser: Where are They Now episode that aired Thanksgiving week. She said there was a former contestant named Holly who was disappointed with the outcome of a race and said something that reminded her of my struggles as of late, particularly my last half marathon. I watched the episode tonight and cried along with Holly. I knew her pain, her heartbreak. I then went back and watched her again and typed up what she shared.
"You can get through anything.
The other day I was having a conversation with younger sister Linda about my struggle regarding my injury and this upcoming RunGirl 13.1. I registered for this race to have yet another opportunity to prove something to myself. In the end, I will fall short. I always do. Even if my doctor allows me to power walk it, I won't be completing it in the fashion I would have liked to, you see. I won't truly have the glory I so long for. Truth be told, even in the Aramco Half I am now going to be participating in on January 30th (in lieu of the Chevron full marathon), I still won't have the glory I long for as I'm not doing the race I planned on doing and I'm not even going to be able to do this race as well as I want given that it is now 7 weeks out and I have not run in 5 weeks. I'm my own worst enemy, I know. I'm seemingly never happy with me. Someday, I will start being my own best friend. It's just not today, but alas...in typical me fashion, I digress. My point is that I'm bound and determined to complete this sucker even knowing I will be doing so with disappointment. First of all, I signed up for it. Second of all, I paid money for it. Thirdly, I want that really cute medal.
Linda did encourage me to watch The Biggest Loser: Where are They Now episode that aired Thanksgiving week. She said there was a former contestant named Holly who was disappointed with the outcome of a race and said something that reminded her of my struggles as of late, particularly my last half marathon. I watched the episode tonight and cried along with Holly. I knew her pain, her heartbreak. I then went back and watched her again and typed up what she shared.
"You can get through anything.
You're gonna fall down.
Things are not gonna go perfect.
You're gonna have a bad day.
You're gonna have a bad race.
All this bad stuff can happen,
but it's like...it's what you do with that
that determines how you live your life"
You know what I realized? I have fallen down a lot this year. You know what else I realized? I conquered a lot, too. You won't fall down, if you don't get up/out and try, BUT you can't ever succeed if you don't try either. Maybe it really is about the journey...the experiences and not necessarily the end result. It's kind of something to think about.
Friday, December 3, 2010
a very Merry weekend - EXTENDED
Yay! It's Friday night! Am I normally this excited about Friday nights? Nope! Why is this one so different? Well, my friends, I am embarking upon a 5-day weekend! Woot! Turns out that I've been uber healthy (um...when it comes to sickness, not injury) this year which means I have all 6 of my personal days left. My company allows us to carry over our days until the end of February, so I've decided to use 3 of my days Monday thru Wednesday and then save the other 3 for the first couple of months of 2011!
Tonight I decided to put up my Christmas tree, but then I got lazy when it took me an hour and a half just to get it standing. Yikes! Truth be told, it was really the first strand of "tree" that gave me a bit o' struggle. It appears the branches got all kinds of twisted and by the time I got them untwisted, I was about ready to go buy either a new fake tree or a freakin' fresh tree. Needless to say, I decided it best to get back into the Christmas spirit and actually enjoy decorating it by waiting until tomorrow. =/
What's on the agenda for the rest of my little siesta? First and foremost, I decided to take the opportunity to get some doctor appointments out of the way - 3, to be exact. One of these is a follow-up on my pelvic stress fracture. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I'm still wishin' and hopin' that my doctor will say I can power walk the RunGirl 13.1 on 12/12. If he says no, though, I will abide by his ruling, but I will pout. Secondly, I plan on getting my Christmas shopping done. Thirdly, I want to catch up on a few movies. I've been eying Burlesque, Love and Other Drugs, and Morning Glory. Finally...and this is the doozy...I want to declutter, organize, and deep clean my house room by room. I have a small home, but I've lived in it for almost 10 1/2 years, so it's accumulated quite the non-essentials. I'm not going to be so silly as to think I'm going to get rid of all non-essentials, but I can definitely cut back. Let's just say I would love to be able to proudly display my 2 spare bedrooms with their doors open.
I'm looking forward to having some me time at home - no stress, no pressure, just a general outline of "things to do" and the time to do it!
May you all have a very Merry weekend!
Tonight I decided to put up my Christmas tree, but then I got lazy when it took me an hour and a half just to get it standing. Yikes! Truth be told, it was really the first strand of "tree" that gave me a bit o' struggle. It appears the branches got all kinds of twisted and by the time I got them untwisted, I was about ready to go buy either a new fake tree or a freakin' fresh tree. Needless to say, I decided it best to get back into the Christmas spirit and actually enjoy decorating it by waiting until tomorrow. =/
What's on the agenda for the rest of my little siesta? First and foremost, I decided to take the opportunity to get some doctor appointments out of the way - 3, to be exact. One of these is a follow-up on my pelvic stress fracture. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I'm still wishin' and hopin' that my doctor will say I can power walk the RunGirl 13.1 on 12/12. If he says no, though, I will abide by his ruling, but I will pout. Secondly, I plan on getting my Christmas shopping done. Thirdly, I want to catch up on a few movies. I've been eying Burlesque, Love and Other Drugs, and Morning Glory. Finally...and this is the doozy...I want to declutter, organize, and deep clean my house room by room. I have a small home, but I've lived in it for almost 10 1/2 years, so it's accumulated quite the non-essentials. I'm not going to be so silly as to think I'm going to get rid of all non-essentials, but I can definitely cut back. Let's just say I would love to be able to proudly display my 2 spare bedrooms with their doors open.
I'm looking forward to having some me time at home - no stress, no pressure, just a general outline of "things to do" and the time to do it!
May you all have a very Merry weekend!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
pocketful of randomness
So...December, we meet again. It's like WHOA...where did the year go? One minute 2010 began and then I blinked away a whole year....well 11 months. I don't want to discount this month (not yet, anyway).
Injury update: I'm not gonna lie...the first two days of my vacation in the Disney parks were ROUGH. I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up for the remaining 6 with all the walking and standing and the jarring (some of those rides were no joke). On day 3, my hip/leg decided to cooperate, for the most part. It would only cause me grief when I stopped walking for a while (lunch or a show) and then tried to get back up again. I forgot my anti-inflammatory pills at home, so Advil Liqui-gels and I became besties. As soon as I returned home to Houston, my hip/leg just started aching something fierce. Though I wanted to jump right back onto the elliptical, I know that rest is what I need to recover. I'm still hanging onto the hope of being able to complete my RunGirl 13.1 on 12/12 - just as a walker instead of a runner. I have a follow-up with my doctor next week and he will let me know YAY or NAY. I realize I'm probably just setting myself up for further disappointment by hanging onto this hope, but...well...it's how I roll.
I *heart* Christmas music. Did you know that about me? I'm seriously torn right now about what to listen to while in the car - Christmas music on XM Holly 23 or my latest audio book? Certain songs make me sad...lonely for some reason. Other songs make me all kinds of nostalgic. Have you ever heard of Elmo & Patsy? They are the singers of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". They have some really silly songs on their album like "Percy the Puny Poinsettia" and "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake", just to name a couple. My mom loves their songs. I love that - she's so funny/quirky!
I've been cooking all kinds of things this week. On Monday night, I made my butternut squash soup. Last year, someone gave me the tip of using light cream cheese in the soup instead of cream to get that creamy texture. It cuts out tons of fat and calories and tastes great! The ingredients are simple - butternut squash, apple, onion, salt, peppercorn, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream cheese. If you want the full recipe, just let me know! On Tuesday, I made a macaroni and cheese casserole with cauliflower (vegetarian recipe - FYI). I got the recipe from Carrots 'n' Cake, but modified it slightly using 2% cheese in lieu of full fat, skim milk in lieu of 1%, greek yogurt in lieu of lite sour cream, double fiber bread in lieu of bread crumbs or whole grain bread, and adding garlic salt. Tonight, I made homemade applesauce. I peeled and chopped up 5 granny smith apples and put them in a pot. I then added some water - not a whole lot - just enough for the apples to simmer. Next, I added a dash of salt, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, a bit of vanilla, and 1/3 of a cup of sugar substitute. I let it cool on the stove until it was the chunky/saucy consistency I wanted. The house smells FANTASTIC! I am also planning on making a killer chicken soup this week with all sorts of veggies - mushrooms, onion, celery, cabbage, yellow squash, and zucchini. I'm also going to add great northern beans and barley to my soup for substance!
Oh...I might have done a little happy dance today during my lunch break. Why, you ask? Well...I went to Kroger to buy me some of my Carb Master yogurts just to discover they added 6 new flavors to their line! There are hardly any low carb / low sugar yogurts on the market. I think Dannon makes one and it's ridiculously expensive, only 4 oz., and comes in 2 flavors. The Carb Master yogurt is 6 oz and tastes delicious. I think they already had 8 or 9 flavors, so adding 6 more is HUGE! The new flavors are vanilla chai, spiced pear, tropical fruit, raspberry yumberry, strawberry colada, and carrot cake. So far I've only tried the carrot cake and it was DELICIOUS! Can't wait to try the others! I bought two of each flavor!
Okay, well this was a pocketful of randomness kind of blog. Happy December to you, my lovelies!
Injury update: I'm not gonna lie...the first two days of my vacation in the Disney parks were ROUGH. I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up for the remaining 6 with all the walking and standing and the jarring (some of those rides were no joke). On day 3, my hip/leg decided to cooperate, for the most part. It would only cause me grief when I stopped walking for a while (lunch or a show) and then tried to get back up again. I forgot my anti-inflammatory pills at home, so Advil Liqui-gels and I became besties. As soon as I returned home to Houston, my hip/leg just started aching something fierce. Though I wanted to jump right back onto the elliptical, I know that rest is what I need to recover. I'm still hanging onto the hope of being able to complete my RunGirl 13.1 on 12/12 - just as a walker instead of a runner. I have a follow-up with my doctor next week and he will let me know YAY or NAY. I realize I'm probably just setting myself up for further disappointment by hanging onto this hope, but...well...it's how I roll.
I *heart* Christmas music. Did you know that about me? I'm seriously torn right now about what to listen to while in the car - Christmas music on XM Holly 23 or my latest audio book? Certain songs make me sad...lonely for some reason. Other songs make me all kinds of nostalgic. Have you ever heard of Elmo & Patsy? They are the singers of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". They have some really silly songs on their album like "Percy the Puny Poinsettia" and "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake", just to name a couple. My mom loves their songs. I love that - she's so funny/quirky!
I've been cooking all kinds of things this week. On Monday night, I made my butternut squash soup. Last year, someone gave me the tip of using light cream cheese in the soup instead of cream to get that creamy texture. It cuts out tons of fat and calories and tastes great! The ingredients are simple - butternut squash, apple, onion, salt, peppercorn, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream cheese. If you want the full recipe, just let me know! On Tuesday, I made a macaroni and cheese casserole with cauliflower (vegetarian recipe - FYI). I got the recipe from Carrots 'n' Cake, but modified it slightly using 2% cheese in lieu of full fat, skim milk in lieu of 1%, greek yogurt in lieu of lite sour cream, double fiber bread in lieu of bread crumbs or whole grain bread, and adding garlic salt. Tonight, I made homemade applesauce. I peeled and chopped up 5 granny smith apples and put them in a pot. I then added some water - not a whole lot - just enough for the apples to simmer. Next, I added a dash of salt, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, a bit of vanilla, and 1/3 of a cup of sugar substitute. I let it cool on the stove until it was the chunky/saucy consistency I wanted. The house smells FANTASTIC! I am also planning on making a killer chicken soup this week with all sorts of veggies - mushrooms, onion, celery, cabbage, yellow squash, and zucchini. I'm also going to add great northern beans and barley to my soup for substance!
Oh...I might have done a little happy dance today during my lunch break. Why, you ask? Well...I went to Kroger to buy me some of my Carb Master yogurts just to discover they added 6 new flavors to their line! There are hardly any low carb / low sugar yogurts on the market. I think Dannon makes one and it's ridiculously expensive, only 4 oz., and comes in 2 flavors. The Carb Master yogurt is 6 oz and tastes delicious. I think they already had 8 or 9 flavors, so adding 6 more is HUGE! The new flavors are vanilla chai, spiced pear, tropical fruit, raspberry yumberry, strawberry colada, and carrot cake. So far I've only tried the carrot cake and it was DELICIOUS! Can't wait to try the others! I bought two of each flavor!
Okay, well this was a pocketful of randomness kind of blog. Happy December to you, my lovelies!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)