Fried Things, Adventure Dog, Indoor Tornadoes & Other Random Happenings

Buckle up – this is looking like it will be another long post! Every day I think “I need to blog!” and then Basil poops on the back porch or there is another load of laundry to fold or something else to be done. I finally realized the other day that maybe spending time with my family & up keep of the house is more important than a new blog post everyday. Before Basil, it was possible, but now, it’s not. And that’s fine.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and at Chad’s instance, I started my day off with a huge bowl of Lucky Charms. Very fitting. I don’t think I’ve ever had Lucky Charms. Chad requested some “sugar” cereal the other day & I came home with Frosted Mini Wheats – that was my idea of sugary! We didn’t eat Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast Crunch growing up. We ate Cheerios, granola & Honey Bunches of Oats. And on special occasions, Life. I can really attribute my love for healthy food to my mom – I don’t think I ever ate any frozen lunches while she made my lunch or anything overly processed. Not eating Lucky Charms as a kid is probably why I have a stomach ache now – not to mention how creepy those “marshmellows” are – they were crunchy! I’m more of a faux fried egg (a squirt of Pam) and 1/2 english muffin in the morning kind of girl. Anyways, enough of that – but on to other unhealthy eatings!

Last Friday was “date night” & I wanted to fix something wonderful & special for dinner before we went to the movies. Sidenote: {Yes, we saw Alice in 3D & YES we LOVED it!! It wasn’t the traditional Alice in Wonderland story – it still had all the same characters & same general idea, but I think it was a combination of Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. We thought Tim Burton did a great job! Spend the extra $$ to see it in 3D – totally worth it!} Like I was saying – I wanted to fix something extra yummy for date night. We both love Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich and it is SUPER quick & easy. Well, while I was perusing the Pioneer Woman website, I saw a recipe for Onion Strings which sounded perfect together. Oh Baby! But I’ve never “deep fried” anything in my life & I’m still not sure that’s what I did. But there was batter & oil & I smelled like oil after – not good for date night! Here is what we ended up with though: and man were they tasty!! I think that Chad thought he had died & gone to heaven – fried food in our home?! Now life is perfect ;) But this is why I will never be frying anything again: The oil turned dark brown & there was SLUDGE at the bottom. It made my tummy sick & my heart sad that I put that inside of me! Oh but those onion strings did melt in my mouth! And our apartment smelled like oil for the rest of the weekend. I probably won’t fry anything anymore…for a while!

Saturday morning we got up & got everything together to take our adventure dog out to enjoy this awesome weather! We headed up to the Auburn State Recreational Area. Basil had so much fun splashing through all the mud, eating sticks & meeting new people   & dogs. We guessed it was about 3-3.5 miles round trip. Basil was worn out at the end of the day. I’ve read a saying “A tired Wiem is a happy Weim.” I like that!

Sunday we just laid low in the morning. We had big plans to get up early & head up to Wright’s Lake, but we were all too tired! We took Basil to the dog park instead & then headed to church at Veritas that afternoon.

On Monday I realized that at some point during the weekend, a tornado had blown through our apartment. I hate it when that happens! And it stresses me out a bit when things are messy & strewn all over the place. It took me most of Monday morning to clean things up, do laundry & dishes, vacuum etc… Laundry is my arch nemesis – there were several piles of this nature throughout the apartment laying in wait for me! There is an episode of “How I Met Your Mother” where Lily & Marshall get into a fight bc Lily likes a clean sink and would rather do dishes right away & Marshall doesn’t like to do dishes. That’s me & Chad. I hate waking up to this in the morning! And Chad likes to take the “let it soak” approach overnight so all the gunk is extra gunky and now mushy & disgusting for me to deal with in the morning! The plus side to the “let it soak” approach – more time to spend with my honey :) Monday we also had quesadillas for dinner – per Chad’s request! I tried to load them with veg to undo some of the intestinal clogging properties that naturally  come along in quesadillas. They had onion, yellow bell pepper, zucchini & squash & then ground beef with taco seasoning & Monterey Jack cheese. SOOO good & oooey goooey warm & tasty! Not a great picture to show what’s inside – but use your imagination!

Chad and I had also recently watched a documentary we got on Netflix called Running on the Sun. It followed some of the runners of the Badwater 135mi race in Death Valley in July. It was so intense! These crazy people were running in 120 degree heat! And it made me realize that I hadn’t run in at least 2-3 weeks – these people had such drive & determination. And I was feeling guilty about the quesadilla so I decided I would run on Tuesday!

It’s been hard to find a balance between getting Basil the exercise she needs everyday & getting me the exercise I need/want. I like walking with her & I know it’s beneficial to my health – but it’s just such a lower intensity than what I’m used to doing. Chad encouraged me to incorporate her walk into my cool-down from a run. Which is what I did yesterday & it worked out great! I did ~3 miles yesterday – I called it Three to Lonetree. Lonetree is the name of a street close to where I live, so I figured if I made a big loop, it would be about 3 miles. The Map My Run website is a great tool for running. If I could change one thing, I would ask that they could add a thing to tell you pace. Maybe it’s on the app that you pay for. It took me a while to figure out the app for my phone – I would randomly manage to turn it off in the middle of a run & lose the workout, but I’m getting it now! Then I took Basil for a walk – it was probably about 1.5 miles. We stopped to play in the nature reserve again, but the water is all drying up – which is the fun stuff! So we didn’t stay long. This is probably one of my favorite faces that Basil makes – it’s the “I’ve got a mouth full of mud but let me smile at you”! She’s so big!! After we got back Basil got to nap in her crate – and by nap I mean bark – while I did some yoga. I realized while I was running that my hip flexors were SO tight! Yoga has done alot to help me loosen my hips & hamstrings, but I still have a long way to go & want to make sure to keep stretching lots while I’m running. I did the Yoga Today free video for this week – it was a great challenge – working on inversions & preparation for shoulder-stands. I’m so excited! And I can definitely feel that I got a good shoulder/upper back workout in :)

For dinner last night we had the same Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps from a couple of weeks ago that I thought were too dry, but Chad loved. So this time I doubled the stir-fry sauce & added a few things I thought it needed – like extra brown sugar, mirin, & extra sesame oil & it turned out quite nicely. We both enjoyed them this time. And I steamed some baby bok choy to go with – sooo good! A little butter, a little salt & pepper & red pepper flakes & some minced garlic & onion. And just put the lid on until tender. My friend Jen introduced me to bok choy – Yay! No pictures though, sorry. I was so hungry – I scarfed it down too quick!

This might be a record for me as far as length goes – so I’m going to wrap it up! We are planning to head to our community group tonight for what is seeming like will be quite a green food feast! What are your St Patrick’s Day plans?!

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Calm Before the Storm

Basil has been a bit under the weather lately. Which apart from trying to guess when she is going to barf next, has been nice. She has been really mellow & sleeping lots. Granted, we knew when we picked a weim that she wouldn’t be a “entertain yourself” kinda dog where she can play on her own all day, but it has been nice to have a little break. But it does make me really sad to see her not her usual peppy self.

Yesterday Chad came home from work a little early & we headed out to the dog park – hoping Basil’s buddy Trevor would be there to play. He wasn’t there so we didn’t stay long. We ended up at this nature conservatory by our house. So random but it is several acres of land that has been preserved from being developed to encourage bird migration… It has all sorts of fun things to explore – rocks, tall grass, a small stream. Basil loves it all. Probably because she gets let off her leash and can run around like a wild thing & splash in the water & chase birds! She perked up a bit then but once we got home slept for about 5 hours straight until it was time for bed. Poor old girl! I was afraid she would be super wound up today – and it’s raining, so no good outside exercise – but she’s still fairly mellow & content to snuggle & sleep. She doesn’t have much of an appetite & that’s what worries me – she’s usually a little vacuum cleaner! Hopefully with all this sleep – she’ll feel even better tomorrow.

We didn’t do anything super for dinner – but it is something we both love: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup! The soup was homemade – leftovers courtesy of Marina, cooking her way through some Barefoot Contessa recipes. This soup had a perfect tangy kick to it – I loved it! And it warmed my heart & tummy, just the way soup is supposed to :) Sorry the picture is so dark, I was too lazy/hungry to get up and turn on the overhead light to take a picture – I just wanted to keep eating!

Yesterday morning I got to go out to the Flower Farm Inn in Loomis for a morning yoga class. Super cute! It’s a B&B with a citrus orchard, horses, chickens, a nursery to sell plants & veggies in the summer & a little coffee cafe. It was such a beautiful place to be able to go & relax for a bit & do some great yoga! They even have a truck with eyes painted on the windshield like the movie Cars!! I got a cup of hot tea (peppermint – my favorite!) after yoga and needless to say I was super relaxed & ready to tackle the rest of my day when I got back home. I think everyone should try yoga. There was an older man in the class – probably in his mid 60’s. If he can do yoga, so can you!

I think tonight is the night – Chad said we could go on a date to see Alice in Wonderland. I’m SOOOO excited! I haven’t read/heard any reviews. What do yall think if you’ve seen it? Did you love it?! Or hate it? But do you like other Tim Burton movies too? Don’t spoil anything for me, but I’d love to hear what you think!

Ok – I have to cut this off now, Basil is awake & running laps around the apartment. I think I need to intervene before she destroys something! Happy Friday :)

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The Last 5 Days in 1000 Words or Less!

Well, I’ve done it again. I’m getting good at the blogging hiatuses. Hiatuses. Is that even a real word? I think I would say it as I karate chopped someone in the throat.

Life is moving so fast these days. I’ll try to hit all the high points. And try to do better at consistently blogging. Try being the key word. ;) Basil is snoring in my lap right now, so I may be able to get in a good long post.

Lets re-wind to the end of last week & and we’ll start with foods we’ve been eating in the Hogue apartmenthold. Haha. I know I made that word up. I made Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops & an easy torn lettuce salad with tomato & feta last week. Yum. I always forget how much I love pork choppies. These totally hit the spot. We really didn’t eat anything interesting this weekend. I was feeling a little under the weather so we didn’t have any food adventures. By Monday I was feeling better though & ready to tickle another pallet. Pot Roast was on the menu. Of course I turned to my favorite place for a recipe, The Pioneer Woman & she did not disappoint! I also blanched some green beans & made Easy Mashed Taters – I love it when they have skin in there! We enjoyed a glass of red wine with our feast & I totally SCARFED it down – it was perfect comfort food!

Last night I made a roast chicken that I don’t really want to talk about. So please don’t ask.

I do want to talk about Basil though. And for this we are going to re-wind again. Saturday. The REI garage sale. We got up early & got in line. Basil went with us. She made lots of new friends. She was a good sport & a good snuggle buddy. Chad & I both have been feeling a bit cooped up lately so we decided to head out after the garage sale & get outside. We packed up our lunch & took some rock climbing gear & headed north towards Placerville. We were in the car for about 90 minutes in Chad’s bumpy truck. Oh, this is after we notice that Basil has a weird bug-bite hard knot looking thing on her belly & we gave her heartworm medicine for the first time with breakfast that morning.

We find the trailhead & park on the side of the road & get all our gear & head out. Maaaaybe 5 or 10 minutes into our walk, Basil hops off to the edge of the trail, heaves once & then barfs up everything she ate that day. Poor girl. But she doesn’t act sick at all. And she was hungry later & managed to keep everything down for the rest of the day. Weird huh? But we were totally impressed with her problem solving ability – if she wasn’t able to go on the same route that we did, she would find her own little way to go. And she was able to climb up pretty steep rocks that neither of us thought she would be able to do! She is going to be a great hiking buddy! I can’t wait to get her trained off leash so we can let her run free while we are out hiking! And she was totally wiped out Saturday which was awesome!!

But when we got up Sunday morning I heard Chad say “Uh-oh.” She had projectile vomited out of her crate & all on the floor in front of her little house. Impressive, no? But she still wasn’t acting sick. We made a vet appointment Monday & she couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She said it could be a number of several small things – but not likely something to worry about since Basil isn’t lethargic or acting like she doesn’t feel well. She is such a daredevil – she jumped off the table in the exam room – a total nosedive. She has gained 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks! It’s amazing how fast she is growing!!

I’ll wrap this up with a really quick version of what happened yesterday morning. Basil LOVEs to sunbathe on the back porch in the morning. And I love to let her do this while I do the dishes. She also loves to dig in the pot of my lemon tree. I do not love this. I went outside to put a stop to this particular behavior & while I was walking across the backporch to put the tree in a higher place out of her reach, I stepped in something soft, warm & smelly. It was poop. Thankfully I was wearing Chacos. Or not thankfully. Because it was aaaalllllll mushed in the treads. And mushed into the hem of my long baggy sweats. While I was dealing with my poopie shoes & sweats in the bathroom, I heard a funny noise in the kitchen. Basil had knocked over the trashcan to get to the meat wrapper from our pot roast from the night before. It was barely 7:45 AM. I can see the humor in the situation now, but at the time, I completely lost it. I spanked her & put her in a time out in her crate. I was so disappointed in how I reacted – just so completely emotionally caught in the moment – I couldn’t step back & use my brain for a moment to say – this is a puppy, she is just doing what puppies do- digging & exploring & smelling.

I am so not ready for children.

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Yoga at Home

Let me begin with this. Basil is a little yogi. She is the queen at “Angry Cat” after being curled up for a nap, I’ve seen her do “Up Dog” on several occasions coming out of her crate & she does “Down Dog” almost every time to warm up her legs, I’m sure, before prancing down the stairs to use the potty outside or go somewhere fun with me in the car. I’m going to have to take some pointers from her.

I’m not going into the yoga studio tonight in favor of spending some time with Chad outside of the apartment – a little mini date if you will. We’ll have dinner here first (Marinated Flank Steak & Brussel Sprouts – I’ll post recipes tomorrow) & then ditch the dog-child for some much needed time together. But the point of this statement was that I did some yoga here today, in the apartment. I took Basi-Boo on a walk & lured her over to “her spot” on a towel on the floor by the couch for her to fall asleep. Once she was snoring soundly I knew it was safe to make a little noise so I unrolled my cute purple flower-dy mat & logged onto the Yoga Today website for their weekly freebie class. And it didn’t disappoint! I cracked open the door to our little back porch to enjoy the crisp cool air & the clearing sky (it has been raining most of the last couple of days). The video was an hour long, but Basil only slept for about 45 minutes and “Down Dog” doesn’t work so well when a dog is actually attacking your hair – yoga isn’t so relaxing then – it’s hard to focus on your breaths while saying “NO!!” Hopefully I will get a chance to go back & do the whole class – I know they post a new video each week, I’m not sure what day they change. But it is definitely worth setting up an account!

Last night for dinner we had the breakfast burritos – and they were awesome too. I did scrambled eggs with garlic powder, S&P & tossed in some green onion & cheddar cheese at the last minute. Then I rolled the eggs in the burrito with bacon, some random leftover mushrooms that needed to get eaten, avocado & salsa. SO messy but wonderful. And we had fruit salad. I found some awesome red raspberries at Trader Joe’s the other day – uhhh – so tangy and sweet and refreshing! Pineapples are like candy right now too if you see them on sale :)

Short post tonight – but I need to get things ready – Chad will be home soon :))

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Basil Goes to the Spa

Wow, I’m not sure what happened, but I inadvertently took a weekish long hiatus from blogging.

This last week and a half has been tough. Chad was out of town on work so Basil was pushing her limits with me. Then it was raining & we were both cooped up in the apartment. Then Chad came home and I was so desperate for time with him but Basil still needed attention and, of course, she was needing to test her boundaries with Chad too. The last couple of days, I feel like things have finally settled down a little with Basil. Maybe she is starting to understand where her role is in our pack. But then she does something like pulling the mail off the dashboard & shredding it when I left her in the car for 20 minutes at Target. I feel pretty deflated. She did have a spa day yesterday though…

It’s been raining so much lately, and she’s gotten that “swamp dog” smell. It was time to intervene. I bought the best smelling dog shampoo I could find and warmed the bath water. She really is a cute wet rat. At first she was a little freaked out by everything but with lots of praising and rubbing & massaging, she  seemed to enjoy it. She of course wanted to cuddle when it was all over to warm up again & promptly fell asleep in my lap. I thought this was the perfect time for a pedicure…or would it be a manicure? I couldn’t stop giggling during the process – mostly at the thought of what Chad would say when he came home to the surprise! He was pretty impressed that I was able to pull it off! We did have one small mishap- anybody know how to get hotpink nail polish out of clothes? She jerked her paw while she was sleeping & smeared some on my nylonish pants. I tried nail polish remover, but it didn’t do anything.

I’ve also started yoga in the last week. I thought it would be something that I enjoyed – a good way to incorporate more stretching into my workouts. I know I don’t get enough of that in! My hamstrings are always SO tight. But I have LOVED yoga. Alot, ALOT! It is something I look forward to. I walk out of the studio feeling so relaxed, ready to come back to my life; tackle dinner & Basil & feeling more prepared to give to my sweet husband. It has also given me a chance to spend more time with my friend Marina. Her aunt’s yoga & pilates studio is running a 10 days for $10 so we decided to try it out together. You really can’t beat that with a stick! So if you haven’t tried yoga- DO IT! I’m still poking around on this website myself, but check out the Yoga Journal website & let me know what you think! It’s a magazine, but looks like there is lots of goodies online too :)

So what have I been eating lately, you may be wondering?! Good question!! I’ll narrow it down to two meals: one an utter flop & the other was quite tasty if I do say so myself!

The Flop: This is usually a fail-proof cooking method, so I would definitely recommend it & will post how under the cooking secion, but maybe with a different kind of fish. I was feeling adventurous at the Nugget & let the fish guy pick for me and the Mahi-Mahi was on sale so that’s what I bought. I made a foil boat & tossed in some spinach & mushroom & spices & butter (you can’t go wrong there, right?!). My first red flag should have been the cook time was waaay longer than the fish guy said it would take. But when it was finally done, it did smell great.  Best of all, minimal clean up. Worst of all: minimal flavor. I thought the lemon & the butter would come together nicely, but not this time. I think this fish needed bolder flavors – maybe lime & chili? I’m not sure, because the fish itself has quite a distinct flavor. I don’t cook fish much…

The success: Ironically this is another seafood dish! It is a Pioneer Woman recipe (so you know it’s good!) and I tweaked it just a bit – because I was super distracted at the grocery store & didn’t wind up with everything I needed once I got home – oops! So I made the Pineapple Skewered Shrimp. Really simple – just make the marinade, toss in the shrimpies & let ’em soak. And then while your grill is getting hot, assemble skewers! We also had a Miller family favorite – Roasted Asparagus. Yum.

Tonight we are planning breakfast for dinner – sooo tasty – breakfast burritos here we come! I’m definitely looking forward to that!!

Speaking of things I’m looking forward to – Alice in Wonderland comes out on Friday! I have been looking forward to this for a VERY long time! Johnny Depp & Tim Burton are one of my favorite combinations – I can’t wait to see their work on this movie!! And Friday is my half birthday :) We have dinner plans with friends Friday & are going to scope out the REI garage sale & hopefully rock climb Saturday – so maybe when the hype has died down, we can check it out in 3D!

Time to get moving, I need to wrangle Basil into her house so I can start getting ready for yoga!

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Queso

The little beast Basil is sleeping right now – she tucked herself away in her favorite corner under the kitchen table so I thought I would do a record quick post while there is some peace & quiet.

Last night for Community Group I made Queso. I have a love-hate relationship with Velveeta. It tastes soooo good (especially mixed with rotel, sausage, chiles & cilantro) but I always end up with a tummy ache after…maybe if I would limit my consumption to one bite that would solve the problem? But who does that!? Here’s a picture of the yummyness though:

Is there really any resisting this?!

Community Group last night was lots of fun – it was super laid back – we had great food & great conversation. The kids were a hoot & some of the guys had so much fun spinning them round & round until they couldn’t walk!

So last night we decided that Basil had to sleep in her house. And she did! She cried for maybe 15-20 minutes when we put her in & went to bed – we gave her a night light & warm water in a nalgene…geeze, she’s spoiled. I got up with her around 2 when she whined to take her out & she did her business & went back in her crate. She cried for about 10 minutes & went back to sleep! When Chad’s alarm went off around 6 this morning she was still sleeping but woke up when she heard our voices. I’m not expecting smooth sailing every night from here on out but it does make me feel better that our dog is capable of doing this – she’s not handicapped! Although she is starting to demonstrate some separation anxiety – which is a classic weim characteristic. She gets real whiney if she isn’t right next to you & will shake. It’s pretty pathetic – she’s still young enough, we’ve got to break this habit! We are planning puppy obedience school – SOON!

I took her with me to run a couple of errands & we stopped to play outside at a park – all the sniffing & exploring wore her out – so we played a little more once we got back home & then she willingly went to her house so I could go for a run. I just squeezed in a quick 2 miles & did a few lunges & abs once I was home while she watched me from her house. It’s got to be good that she can see me at home but understand she can stay in her house right?

Any tips on taking on a biting dog? I’ve heard you can bite them back or yelp like a dog. Or just the regular “No!”

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Good Morning!

I was up with the sun this morning, actually – up before the sun :) I met my sweet friend Marina for ~ a 4 mi jog before she went into work – and I think we did pick the coldest day of the week to jog – we were both bundled up!! But it was a great way to start the day – got the heart pumping & good conversation. I really needed that! Once I got back to the apartment I finally got the chance to try a workout video I borrowed from a friend a couple of weeks ago. It’s is one of Jillian Michael’s DVD’s: Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. I really liked it because it didn’t require any extra equipment – everything is done with your own body weight. I definitely was working up a sweat! She has 6 circuits on the video – I think it was number 5 – nearly was the death of me – there were burpees, squat jumps and standing mountain climbers! But I feel great after! And I was still sore from Body Pump! I’ll be honest – I was a little disappointed about Body Pump on Monday. I was running a couple of minutes late – so the class had already started; I was stuck at the back trying to catch up & I think it was a new teacher who had really bad form & really bad skills at leading into various exercises – she was calling out to do “4” somethings that looked exactly like “crazy 8’s” but when the actual instructor took back over it was a much better class. And I don’t think I used enough weight. I’ll give it another go on Friday. Chad & I did get in a run out to the watertower (maybe 1.5 mi total) after Body Pump – so I felt like we got a good work out in that day!

This morning after my workout DVD I had a great snack, full of protein, carbs & some great vitamins from the veg :) I also had some hot tea, which was perfect after my cool down – I had to open our sliding door to let in some of the chilly air during my work out & got cold really fast while stretching. I LOVE peppermint tea. I found some that is probably my hands down favorite from Harney & Sons. It makes your whole mouth tingle…you probably think I’m crazy!

For dinner last night we had one of Chad’s new favorites: Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich from the Pioneer Woman blog (can you tell I’ve recently learned how to insert hyperlinks!? hehe). Sorry the picture is a little dark – I had to snap one quick before the sandwich in all its glory got gobbled up! I threw together a little salad with lettuce, tomato & feta so I would feel better about all the butter I used in making that tasty meaty sandwich!

Today promises to be full – I have a pile of dirty dishes in the sink (up to my head), I’m making 3 Bean Asian Salad for community group tonight: this is one of my favorite salads- you don’t feel like you are even eating veggies – it’s an Ellie Krieger recipe (whom I met in Denver last October – she’s AWESOME!!), I’m going to get my finger prints done so I can work with the kids at church this Sunday (yay!) and I’ve been wanting to go by JoAnn’s so I can make my own grocery bags out of some cute fabric. We’ll see how much I knock off my list today :)

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Confession…

I LOVE a good avocado. And I ate 1/2 of one with a spoon straight from the skin with lunch today! They were on sale at the Nugget 2/$1…I bought 4. I couldn’t help myself! When they go on sale, I go a little crazy – we have avocado on everything. Yesterday we had avo on scrambled eggs with mozzo cheese, red pepper flakes & some garlic powder…oh yum. And I’ll probably make quac for dinner. They are only on sale until tomorrow – and I’m planning to go back for more. This is one exception I’m willing to make in the effort to eat more local, in season produce. I just can’t pass on a good avocado (when they are on sale, of course!).

So you remember Gustov the Grasshopper that lives on the screen door to our balcony right? Well I was a little worried because I hadn’t seen him in several days & then yesterday when Chad & I were heading out the front to church, I spotted him – just hanging out in our camilla! I guess he got tired of the scenery in the back? But then I realized I haven’t introduced you to our beautiful camilla plant either. I can’t really blame him for hanging out in the front with her…she’s beautiful, no?! And COVERED in blooms – so I bet at the end of this month she will be dripping with red flowers like this one and Gustov will have told all his grasshopper friends & Chad will have to beat them off with a stick! Hehe.

The sunshine was out again this morning – I got in a 2.6mi run – it felt great! There is a loop I can do around our house – there was a nice hill with some wind resistance. There is a class on base called Body Pump – Chad went last week & said he was sore so I’m fully expecting to get my tooshie handed to me this afternoon. But I think it will be a great way to incorporate some resistance training into my workouts!

I’m also about to walk over to Elliot’s Natural Foods (which is barely a block away from us) and see if they have any produce or meat. Chad said he went in one time & said the store was pretty small & walked right back out. I’ll let you know!

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I Learned Something New Today…

How to cock & point a semi-automatic hand gun at a pretend intruder. We have a couple (I won’t tell you where Chad hides them) and since we were apart some this last week Chad felt it was essential for me to learn the mechanics & basics incase I ever need to defend myself…

I didn’t post much this week – sorry – I was all over the place – literally & figuratively. Chad went to the Air Force “College” in Ohio to take a class & I went back to Dallas for a couple of days. We’ve only been married about a month but it was really hard being apart. One of the things that our pastor talked about & that we’ve enjoyed is the idea of oneness in a marriage. How when two people decide to get married they combine who they are to glorify & serve the Lord. We are still really new to figuring out what that looks like in our lives but we have loved figuring it out & having distance between us this past week & relying on the phone/texting as our source of communication this week was really awful & hard. I have pretty much been on a cloud since we have both been back at home :)

The main point of heading to Big D for a couple of days was to get my name changed on my drivers license. But I also got to spend time with family – which was great. Here’s a picture of my awesome nephew, Jack. He melts my heart. I also worked out with my parents at the 24Hr Fitness Gym in Rockwall. Duhn, duhn, duhn…the treadmill – Chad & I have been talking about interval training so I decided to take advantage of of this opportunity & I did about 2 miles of hill intervals – alternating between 4.3 & 7.0 mph (4.3 to recover & 7 on the hill & on a 30sec : 90 sec ratio). I worked up quite a sweat – on the 4th repetition I was getting tired and I wasn’t sure if I would finish the 6th (last). Needless to say my legs felt a little jello-y after! I did a light jog for another mile just to finish them off :)

So fast-forward to yesterday. I knew Chad had eaten alot of junky food this last week while he was gone so I decided to take a good snack when I picked him up at the airport. And I was super excited to use my new cookbook Clean Food! I wanted to ease into this cookbook – as it has loooots of spices & veg that I have never used. So I opted to make the hummus – who doesn’t love hummus?! The only slightly foreign ingredient this time was tahini – which I had heard of before but never used in my own kitchen. Here’s a close up. I would compare tahini to sesame seed peanut butter. I had to stir it before I started to incorporate all the oil and it didn’t really have the same sweet taste like peanut butter – I don’t think there is any sugar added. So I tossed everything into the food processor & revved it up! If it isn’t going & you still get chunks sitting still on top – you need to add more liquid! I had to add some extra lemon juice & water to mine to make it smoother. Also, make sure you put the liquid in first whenever you use a food processor. It’s just right! And then after it’s all pureed, you get this: Enjoy with pita chips, carrots, sweet peas, apple slices… the possibilities are really endless! And yes, that is my finger swipe in the side of the finished hummus – I couldn’t resist. It is delish. And your husband will thank you!

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Free Running

This happens almost everytime whenever I’m all suited up for a run, as I’m headed out the door, I realize that I have on at least two shades of pink- a strange phenomenon indeed! But that’s not the point of this post…

Today I was running on this 2ish mile loop around our neighborhood. There is an elementary school on part of the loop. Chad and I have walked/run in this area many times. There are always other families around and on the weekends there are usually families on the playground & in the little park adjacent to the school. Today the park was hopping – the weather is gorgeous!

But I saw something out of the ordinary today – on the other end of the elementary, on the same side of the road that I was running on was a homeless person – which in Dallas is pretty common to see, but not in Rocklin CA. Being the cautious, pink-clad female that I am, I decided to dash through the paved part of the elementary school & come out on the park/playground on the other side instead of running past the kind of random person walking strangely down the street.

So I cut into the school sidewalks and made it over to the park only to find myself fenced in! Ha! And there were families and children on the other side looking at me wondering (I’m sure) “where did she come from?!” Chad has many stories of fence jumping & other shenanigans from college (rappelling down the side of a church at night!) – I thought I could surely take this fence, besides it was only chest high! So I used some of the rungs at the bottom to get a little more height & boosted myself up & over…quite a feat if you know how truly clumsy I am! Chad will be so proud :)

On another note, I decided that since the weather was so great, the indoor plants needed to head outside to enjoy the sunshine as well – photosynthesis or whatever… ;) Gustov the Grasshopper (remember you met him when I was taking Chad’s sweater out to dry) was clinging to the screen again – daring me to trespass! We eventually made a truce – I invited him in for tea & we called it even! Look how great my daffodils are doing: How can this great yellow color not bring a smile to your face?!

Well, we are having dinner after church this afternoon – Sundays are my favorites – fellowship in the Word & fellowship with friends & food! I told the girls I would bring a salad so I need to get my tooshie up to SafeWay & get some yummy stuff to put in it. I hope everyone has had a relaxing weekend.

Be sure to check out my “about me” section – I’ve updated it & added to it – and added a link to our church, Veritas, under “the Truth” tab. Let me know what you think!

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