I Voted

I haven't been on here in a while. My excuse is totally legit, though. I went back to teaching. I am totally consumed with lesson planning these days and getting back into the swing of being in the classroom. It's exhausting but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am one happy girl.....which is more than I can say for the other Lady of the House. Darcy is none too pleased with the fact that she is left home alone all day and has developed some rather destructive habits in my absence (i.e. chewing on my bedding). I've had several discussions with her regarding this unacceptable behavior but she just isn't getting it. She's upset that she can't go to work with me anymore and feels like she's been given a cruel and unusual punishment for a crime she didn't commit. Despite her dissapointment, she practically tackles me in excitement the minute I walk through the door. Once she's settled down a bit......it's game time.

How can I say no to that??

Now that I've given my excuses for not blogging I'll get back to the real topic of today's post. It's a historic day in America: Election 2012! After our inservice at school, I high-tailed it to my local polling place to cast my ballot. Luckily, I got there just before 4 p.m. so there wasn't much of a line. I literally spent all of 10 minutes there (no joke!). I'm not going to jump on a political soapbox but I do think that as American citizens, we should all take advantage of this amazing freedom and let our voice be heard. So if there's still time and you haven't done so yet.......GO VOTE!

 

The Color Run

I know, I know. I have been seriously neglecting my blogging duties the past few days. I have a good reason, I swear. I just can't tell you about it.......yet. But it has kept me quite busy the last few evenings and robbed me of precious sleep. All I can say is, it's worth it, and I'll hopefully let you in on the secret tomorrow.

I did want to put up a quick post about the 'happiest 5k' I have ever participated in: The Color Run! If you've never heard of this color-wonderful event, you really should look into it and sign up if it ever comes to your area.

Team "Chase the Rainbow" headed downtown bright and early Sunday morning and got to LP Field just as they were getting ready to start the waves. 

Clean and white before the race!

 



We ended up in wave #9 and got to the start line around 9:15ish. The course started just outside LP Field, went over the pedestrian bridge, down Printer's Alley, across the Cumberland River, and back to LP Field. At each kilometer we were doused with a new color of powder.

Kilometer 1: Yellow! Kendra and I just had to stop for a quick photo :)

 

Molly & I outside after km 4 - the blue station

 

The race ended back outside of LP Field. Every ten minutes, they did a big color toss using the packets of powder we had received in our race packets. Runners gathered around the stage and 3....2...1.....

 

Color!!!

 

Molly, me, Sam, & Kendra Post Color Run!

 

This race was a blast! We had so much fun out there and literally laughed from 0 to 3.1! We're already looking at fun options for next year. Foam anyone??



 



 

 



Ring my (kettle) bell!

Halloween is getting closer. Maybe a little too close for comfort. And you know what that means.......

Ugh. The dreaded candy bowl. My daily mantra for the next 13 days is "Just Say No". It might not be so bad if I could limit myself to just one but I generally can't so I am avoiding it altogether.

Work was really slow today and the doctors at the clinic had recently put a bug in my ear about how effective kettlebell workouts are. I've never tried one and I wasn't really sure where to start so consulted one of my most trusted resources: Google. In my search, I stumbled across Jillian Michael's Shred-It With Weights. Like her other DVD's it got some pretty stellar reviews so I decided that was a good place for me to start, especially since I've had so much success with her workouts in the past. Lucky for me, Barnes and Noble had it in stock, and on sale. SOLD!

After making my purchase, my next stop was a few doors down at Dick's Sporting Goods to make a kettlebell selection. Talk about overwhelming. I had no idea what size I should get so I whipped out my cell phone and dialed up Dr. Lane. Can you believe he thought I was calling him from the reception desk at the clinic and was just too lazy to walk up to the break room to talk to him? Unbelievable ;) I told him that, no, I wasn't at work anymore but that I needed some advice on picking out the right weight for a kettlebell. There was some muffled discussion between him and Dr. J but they swiftly determined that I should go for one that was 15-20 pounds. That sounded outrageous (albeit flattering) but I figured they knew more about it than I did.

 

Kettlebell. Check. Shred-It With Weights. Check. Let's get this workout started!

Shred-It With Weights is no joke. It was challenging to the point where I felt like I was working really hard but not so much that I wanted to give up. The time went by fairly quickly and I found it enjoyable despite the fact that I couldn't do all the moves. There was lots of room for improvement - which is kind of exciting. I love struggling with a tough workout in the beginning because I know that if I stick with it I'll get stronger and better at it. So motivating! My entire body feels like jell-o right now and I can only imagine what I will feel like tomorrow. This was everything I wanted in a workout. And more.

Post-workout (and subsequent shower), I sipped on a chocolate protein shake while I cooked up my dinner. I had another Stuffed Chili and Cheese Potato, just like I said I would in yesterday's post (don't say I didn't warn you). I'm so sorry for the terrible picture. I truly am.

Clearly, it does not look as delicious as the stock photo. How many more days until I get my iPhone?

Workin' out, Eatin' in

Well, hellloooo. Sorry about being MIA yesterday but I was still dragging so much from the busy weekend that I just couldn't pull a coherent blog post together.

Now that the half marathon is behind me, I have made a goal to get back into doing regular strength training. I avoided it while I was preparing for the half because I was too afraid of getting sore and it impeding my running. No more excuses. Time to make it a habit so that all muscle fatigue and soreness will be behind me when training kicks in again after Christmas.

On Monday I had to be up extremely early to take my dad to the airport. I didn't have to be to work until 10 so I figured I might as well get my workout done. I opted to do Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown. I was still feeling some stiffness from the race so I thought this would help stretch me out. It did stretch out my muscles but it was definitely a challenging DVD. I was sweatin'! After that, I decided to keep the momentum going and took Darcy for a quick one mile run around the neighborhood. Productive morning!

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little sore in my shoulders from the yoga so I opted against a Jillian repeat. I sifted through the many workouts I've pinned on Pinterest and settled on this one:

It took me about 15 minutes to complete and I felt like I really had worked my whole body without completely exhausting it. Didn't seem too intense......at the time. This morning my glutes and hamstrings did not let me forget this seemingly innocent little gem of a workout. I will definitely be re-visiting this one.

Due to the soreness in my lower body today, I really wasn't feeling like running even though I had a four-miler planned. I procrastinated in the break room while chatting with the doctors for a bit before forcing myself off the futon and heading to the greenway. Darcy and I managed to kick out 4 miles in about 38 minutes. Took a little bit to get warmed up but we found our stride about half way in. As always, I was glad that I had forced myself to get out there. Little buddy wasn't complaining either.

I came home and made a fantastically quick and simple dinner. A stuffed chili and cheese potato. Hard as it may be to believe, I found this recipe on (everybody now!) Pinterest. It may not look like much, but it made a pretty hefty portion. This is the article photo because a) we all know the camera on my phone takes crappy photos, and b) mine didn't look as pretty on the plate so that really left me with nothing to work with.

When I started making it, I was sure that 1/2 cup of chili was not going to be enough but it ended up working out perfectly. I cooked the chili and broccoli mixture on the stove for the entire 12 minutes that it took to prepare the potato. Once the potato was ready I just cut it open, dumped the chili mixture on it and topped with cheese. Voila! This is a recipe I will make again and again. It's just a good 'stick-to-your-ribs' kind of meal that will be perfect for chilly winter evenings......and for dinner again tomorrow night. And maybe even Friday as well. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Happy Hump Day!

Miller's Grocery

It is no secret that I love a good local joint. I will take a quaint, local cafe over a large chain restaurant any day of the week because they just always seem to have a special atmosphere to them that could never be duplicated in a cookie-cutter building with the textbook decor. On Sunday after church we went to this fantastic little cafe in Christiana, TN called Miller's Grocery. It's an old country store that was restored in 1995 into "an antique filled, country cafe featuring home-style Southern cooking and award winning "from scratch" desserts." They kept the name as a way to pay homage to the original owner, Mr. Stanley Miller.

Tuesday through Saturday they serve a standard meat & three cafe menu but on Sunday is when the magic happens and it turns into an all-you-can-eat buffet. I thought my eyes were going to pop right out of my head at the very sight of the massive southern-style spread of food. We all made the executive decision that we were going all in and just attacking the buffet with reckless abandon. The only problem was where to begin?? Logically, we opted to work our way from one end to the other.

Enter my salad plate:

I basically grabbed a bit of everything that looked good. There was coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, broccoli salad, a couple of green salads, the dressed tomatoes, and a couple of fruit salads. I have to mention one fruit salad in particular because it was just so unique. It had crushed pineapple, marshmallows, and shredded cheddar cheese. Sounds like a wretched combination but it was absolutely delightful and I might have gone back for seconds.

Course number two involved the "meat & three" portion of the meal. It included breaded fish (catfish maybe??), meatloaf, and chicken tenders.

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't take any of the plain veggies. I was too distracted by the cheesy squash casserole, homemade macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes and the cheesy broccoli casserole. Yes, there was a definite cheese theme going on. I also managed to snag a few of these little gems:

Corn nuggets are a revelation. They taste like breaded creamed corn. The outsides were perfectly crisp and the insides had a sweet creamy-ness that I did not know existed. I almost needed someone to check my pulse because I was sure I had died and gone to food heaven.

We had to take a little breather at this point. We were getting pretty stuffed rather full but there was absolutely no way we were going to pass up Miller's "made from scratch" dessert. I'm sure had we skipped it we would have been breaking all sorts of rules in terms of buffet etiquette so we had to take one for the team and press on.

This is the blog-appropriate dessert plate. Basically what that means is that my first one was so full, that I was a teensy bit embarrassed to photograph it and post it online. I'm afraid you might have lost some respect for me. But there was more. Much more. This is actually plate number two.

The dessert buffet was loaded down with pies, brownies, cobblers, and cakes. I, of course, loaded up on anything with cheesecake, chocolate, peanut butter, or a combination of the three. Pictured above is the peach cobbler, chocolate pie, and pecan pie. I only ate a couple of bites of the pecan pie because it just didn't do it for me. I want less filling, more pecans. It wasn't "nutty" enough for me. Make whatever jokes you deem appropraite. I can laugh at myself.

After about an hour an a half of talking, eating, drinking coffee, and eating some more, we finally waddled outside to go our separate ways (my way was in the direction of The Avenue for some boot shopping, but more on that later). I really can't say enough good things about our experience at Miller's Grocery. Everything was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area - just make sure to call ahead for reservations. That place is hustlin' and bustlin'!

The Middle Half

Race day started bright at early at this house. My alarm was serenading me at 5 a.m. and I was out the door by 5:30 to pick up Molly. The stadium was absolutely buzzing when we got there - I always love the atmosphere at races. Even if it's just a 5k, there's always excitement in the air.

We were off and running shortly after 7 a.m. The route wound through the historical spots of Murfreesboro. My favorite was probably Oaklands Mansion because everyone was in full historic dress out front cheering us on as we ran by.

I finished with a new personal record of 2:19:46. I was really hoping to be faster since this course was basically flat compared with the hilly Nashville terrain that we covered at the Country Music Half back in April but really, my only goal was to get a better time in general. Mission accomplished.

I know I'm going to catch a ton of flack for this but I would not do The Middle Half again. There was so much hype surrounding it that I thought it might become my new favorite but to be honest, I didn't really care for the route. The best sights were at miles 4 & 5 and then the rest really wasn't much to look at so I just got plain bored out there. Unfortunately, I was spoiled with my first 1/2 and now my standards might be too high. I will say that the race was extremely organized which made it a pleasant experience overall. Plus, how much can I really complain when I had my dad cheering me on down the final stretch to the finish line?

Two Days in One Blog Post

What a whirlwind yesterday and today have been! The schedule was fairly light at the clinic yesterday so we spent the day making the reception area look festive by putting up all the Halloween decorations. I jetted out of work around 2:30 to go pick up my dad from the airport. We grabbed some Starbucks on the way home and then went to O'Charleys for dinner. My dad ordered the Prime Rib Pasta and I ordered the Bruschetta Chicken. This dish was fantastic - like, 'last meal' good! The chicken breast was topped with melty mozzerella cheese and the traditional balsamic tomato and onion bruschetta. On the side was steamed broccoli and a grilled tomato. DIE! And by the way.....this entire dish is only 470 calories? Oh. Em. Gee.

Today my dad and I were up and at 'em right away. We ate a light breakfast at home (I had an egg and avocado on toast, he had a bowl of cheerios) before heading out to do a little shopping and then we went to pick up my race packet for tomorrow. A neon pink Brooks tech shirt!? Amazeballs. Neon is the new black people.

The swag bag is always an exciting part of packet pick-up for me. It's fun to see what kind of odd goodies they throw in among all the random candidates for the recycling bin. I'm pretty excited about these two items from Dr. Nate's Naturals:

I'm all about natural products - especially local ones. Turns out Dr. Nate is not only a real person, but a Murfreesboro native. The products are 100% natural and are never tested on animals. The website claims that the Natural Lip Therapy (Retail Price: $4.00) is the "best balm you've ever used!" I put some on a little bit ago and it really reminds me of C.O. Bigelow's Mentha Lip Shine sans the 'over-powering, don't even try to eat or drink' minty taste. Who's a fan? This girl! The toothpaste (Retail Price: $5.00) is fluoride free and my dad is currently being my guinea pig upstairs and giving it a whirl.....so more on that in a hot minute.

This evening Molly came over for our traditional pre-race pasta dinner. Her parents recently moved down here from Chicago so with the three of them, my dad, and me, we had a full table! Thank goodness for neighbors that also have counter-height kitchen tables that can loan me an extra chair. Ha! We had spaghetti with a choice of garden veggie or meat sauce, garlic bread, and a delicious side salad that was loaded with dried cranberries, hard boiled eggs, and grilled chicken. For dessert we had a neopolitan angel food cake. Yeah, it was every bit as good as it sounds. So fluffy and light; not too sweet. Great food and great company.

It's almost 9:30 so I better get to bed before I turn into a pumpkin. I've got an early morning and need to get a good night's sleep if at all possible.

P.S. Final verdict on the toothpaste from my dad: He said it tastes good and his teeth feel clean. However, he noted that "it's not real foamy." So there you have it.