Cuban Pen Pal

I can’t believe it is already time for another foodie pen pal post.  May went by way too fast.  This month I hit the jack pot with a box sent from Megan at I Run for Wine (best blog name ever).   She also has rocked out a few Run Disney races. Seriously folks – a match made in heaven.  Check out all the awesome stuff she sent me:

Megan is from Tampa, which has a strong Cuban influence.  When she asked if I wanted something local, I told her to send me her favorites and boy did she deliver.  She even wrote something specific about each item on a post-it, which made opening and checking out the items a little more special.  I could just feel all the time and thoughtfulness that went into packing this box and am so thankful! 

Now on to the specifics: 1905 Salad Dressing with a recipe of a salad to make with it.  This salad looks seriously legit and I can’t wait to give it a try.  She also sent a brochure with the history of the restaurant where the 1905 dressing originated.  Super interesting.

I am pretty pumped about trying this pink sea salt – I have seen a jar at Trader Joe’s and wanted to give it a try.  I predict that spicy garlic grinder with last approximately 1.5 weeks in this house.  Ever since I opened the package I have been having spicy garlic dreams….

Megan swears by these jelly beans.  I plan on trying them on Saturday during my half!  Hopefully they will kick my booty in gear!

I told Megan that I had been craving candy lately, so she sent me some peanut butter fudge.  Yum!  I will have to open that when Dan is around so I don’t eat the entire thing in 3 seconds.

I can’t get rid of my current coffee fast enough so I can try this brick.  It smells divine.

This is what I am most excited about.  Curry Masala dip mix.  Curry and Masala are two of my favorite words.  Putting them together could only mean good things.  I can’t wait to bust this out when we have friends over.  Or maybe I will make it when no one is over.  Hehehe. 

THANK YOU Megan for such an awesome and thoughtful box.  You have definitely raised the bar and even inspired me to make my foodie pen pal packages more thoughtful and interesting.  I sent my package to Madeline over at Food, Fitness, and Family if you want to check it out. 

If you want to join Foodie Pen Pals, contact Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean or click on the button below.

Eats

Breakfast kept me going through the morning.  The more hot sauce the better.

I had an extremely klutzy day yesterday.  First, I was sitting at my desk talking to a coworker and grabbed my cup of ice water, which I didn’t put the lid on all the way so when I went to take a sip I instead dumped the cup all over my body.

Talk about a wake up call.  Good thing my dress didn’t absorb much.  But, my chair sure did. 

Then, I went to microwave my packed lunch and was talking to another co-worker.  When I took the container out of the microwave I dropped it on the ground and my lunch spilled out everywhere.  So, I had to go downstairs and buy lunch.

I am a mess. 

Dinner was much more successful, but only because Dan did most of the cooking.  We had Ryan and Hannah and their children and our friend Brad over for a light summer dinner outside.

I could eat this dinner every night for the rest of my life and be happy. 

I also made the SkinnyTaste peanut butter pie.  Even a klutz can’t mess that up. 

Run

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill while watching the first half of the Glee season finale.  I hope to finish the second half today. 

Thought for the day:

Points Breakdown:

Daily points (30) + Acitvity Points (6) – Eating Points (36) = 0

Weekend Recap

My lovely friend Chessa was nice enough to post a few of her pictures from over the weekend.  So, I did what I always do – steal them and act like they are mine.  Thanks Chessa!

The details: We went to Truman Lake, which is only a little over an hour drive and was not crowded at all for a holiday weekend. We camped at the state park campground and left our boat at the marina next door.  Clean and convenient.  If you live in Kansas City and are looking for a great place to camp / fish / boat – this is the place that I recommend. 

Dan wore a captain’s hat the entire weekend, which everyone thought was hilarious.  Every person he passed / drove by referred to him as “Captain.”  One woman even said that he “looked like a walking party.”  Sigh. 

Brad (on the right) was the best first mate in the world.  He took care of the anchors and such while I relaxed on the front of the boat like a bum the entire weekend, except for the few instances where I got out to swim (but then I just laid on a raft). 

The above is not the best picture of me, but I included it to show how Lilly was the entire weekend.  She loved being on the front of the boat and catching the wind in her ears. 

When we weren’t on the water, the girls spent a lot of time playing Rummikub – one of my favorite games. 

The boys cooked, played frisbee, and ate Slim Jims like they were going out of style.

Although we lathered up with sunscreen, the weekend left us a little pink.  Dan was the worst, and Chessa took this picture because she said that Dan and I were the same color.  Hehehe.

Camping Food

My favorite part about camping is the food (of course).  So, I thought I would share our menu because when I started camping I never knew what to bring other than hamburgers and hotdogs.  I am proud to say that we didn’t eat one hamburger or hotdog the entire weekend.  This menu was thought up mostly my Meghan and Chessa.  I had little to do with it, but again am taking all the credit. 

Saturday Lunch: Deli sandwiches and chips (I know, nothing special, but we were in a hurry to get out on the water).

Saturday Dinner: Walking tacos (basic idea here) 

Sunday Breakfast: breakfast burritos

Sunday lunch: sausage and crackers, fruit and veggies with dip and hummus (on the boat)

Sunday dinner: beef, shrimp, and veggie kabobs and grilled corn on the cob

Monday breakfast: bagels and cream cheese (We had to do something simple so we could pack up and get out of there)

My mouth is still watering typing all of that delicious food. 

Yesterday’s Eats

The food I ate yesterday wasn’t nearly as exciting, but did include a lot of leftovers from the trip. 

Breakfast was typical cereal topped with the best blueberries I have tasted this season.

Lunch included leftover bologna from camping and reminded me of my childhood.  I really wanted to go to the vending machine, buy some Dorritos, and crunch them in between my sandwich, but I refrained. 

I heated up the leftovers from Thursday night for dinner.  Still good.

Dessert was also leftover from camping – I could not resist.  Yum. 

Thought for the day

Points Breakdown

Daily points (30) – Eating Points (35) = -5

A Pictureless Weekend

Dan and I are back from a weekend of camping and boat riding.  We had a great time relaxing and hanging out with friends. Unfortunately, none of those moments were captured by my camera, as I have already dropped one camera off a boat in water and was scared for a repeat. 

My friends took a few pics, so hopefully I will get a few of those up here soon. 

I did get one picture before we left to go camping.  Check out what my friend Chessa found hanging out on our front porch.

Yikes.  I am going to think twice about walking around barefoot in my backyard from now on.

Last night we went to my grandparents’ house for a fish fry.  It was great to catch some cuddle time with my favorite kiddos. 

Other than that, my camera got a well-deserved break.

As far as running goes, I ran 6 miles with Courtney Saturday morning before we let to go camping and since then my legs have been resting. 

Back to the daily grind today. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great short week. 

Thought for the day

I’m on a Boat

Yes, we are the lovely neighbors that pull our boat out into the middle of the cul-de-sac to work on it all night.  (Check out that crazy cloud.  I am currently sitting on my covered patio watching sheets of rain pour down.  Smells wonderful.)

We are going camping this weekend and planning to spend the days on the lake, so naturally we wait until Thursday night to fix the problem on the boat that we have known about all year long. 

The good news is that it is done!  Thanks to a little help from our friends, we are *hopefully* destined to a fun filled weekend on the water. 

Eats

I fell off the no-cereal bandwagon.  Mmmmm…..

I packed some hearty snacks with my lunch. 

The cottage cheese in the morning and the avocado in the afternoon did a great job of holding me over for the day.

Dinner was an old favorite - Asian turkey meatballs with sesame lime sauce .  Delicious as always. 

I was a little disappointed when Dan said he couldn’t eat dinner with me, but I also wanted to get the boat fixed.  Our friends Eric and Aubrey were visiting and Aubrey graciously talked to me while I was eating.  She is just two days away from her due date and very pregnant.  I wanted to take a picture of her, but she said that type of stuff wasn’t meant for the internet.  Ha!

Run

I procrastinated my run until after work, but finally got my rear on the treadmill for a tough hill workout.  I completed the following 5 times at my half marathon pace:

• 2 min at 0% incline
• 1.5 min at 6% incline
• 1 min at 0 % incline
• 1 min at 7% incline

For a girl who keeps her treadmill at 0% this really put it to me.  My legs were burning by the end. 

A weekend camping means a weekend without the luxury of the internet.  So, I will check back in here on Monday.  I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!

Thought for the day:

Points Breakdown:

Daily points (30) + Activity Points (6) – Eating Points (30) = 6  I missed dessert :(

Extra Rest Day

I typically only take one rest day per week, but yesterday I didn’t run even though Monday was a rest day.  That 10 miles on Sunday really left me tired.  This would normally be fine, except that I am going to the lake this weekend, so there will probably be at least one more rest day.  I know that people need breaks every once in a while, but less than 2 weeks before my half marathon is a less than ideal time. 

Oh well, it is what it is, and I guess it is better than getting injured 2 weeks before the race because I pushed myself too hard.  Plus, it gave me all this extra time to get absolutely nothing done. Why is it that when I am super busy I get most things done, but when I only have a few things to do, nothing gets done?

How many rest days do you take?

Eats

Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday and again enjoyed outside.  Every morning when I let the dogs out the weather seems so beautiful that I need to go out there and enjoy it.

Lilly was super jealous. 

My dogs don’t beg when I eat inside, but outside is fair game to them.

Lunch was nothing special.  You should see my (lack of) grapefruit eating skills.  I have to wipe my entire cube down every time. 

Dan and I tag teamed dinner.  I made the rice

and he made this ground chicken veggie hash.

The combo was delicious.  That bowl was only one of my two servings.

I had a fruit bar for dessert (3).  Tastes like summer.

Thought for the day:

Points Breakdown:

Daily Points (30) – Eating Points (31) = -1

Flower Power

Two things made me feel much older yesterday. 

One – I planted flowers in flower pots in front of my house.  Isn’t that something that real adults do? 

After planting my garden I called my grandparents to tell them about it.  My grandpa has a gigantic garden that puts mine to shame in every sense of the word, but I wanted to let them know I was trying and ask if they had any tips.  I also mentioned that I wanted to buy flowers for the pots that were currently the home to weeds and dead flower stems, but I was just too overwhelmed.

How in the world do you chose 10 little plants out of thousands? 

I asked my grandma how she picked out all of their flowers – again, she has plants and flowers and bushes and trees around their house that would also put mine to shame.  She just laughed and said, “This week, we are coming up to help you get some flowers.”  And they did.  Gold bless them. 

Two – after we planted the flowers we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to grab some dinner.  As we were waiting to be seated the hostess approached me with a huge smile on her face and said, “You look so familiar.” 

Me: “You look really familiar too.  I went to Belton, did you?”

Hostess: “No, I went to Ray-Pec.” (A town right next to Belton.)

Me: “Oh, what year did you graduate?” 

Hostess: “2011” 

What?  2011?  Like last year?  I honestly thought this girl was my age.  What delusional world am I living in when I think I am the same age as a 19 year old???

Me: “Ha, well that isn’t how I know you. I graduated in 2003.”

Hostess: “Wait, were you a counselor at Belton Summer Camp?”

And that was when I realized how I knew this girl.  She was one of my favorite campers in my 9 year old group when I worked at the summer camp 10 years ago.  And now she has graduated from high school.  And I thought she was my age.  Yikes. 

After that confrontation, I had no choice but to drown my sorrows in spicy garlic buffalo sauce.

I also ordered extra carrots and celery and munched away as I was catching up with my grandparents.

Other Eats

I had an open faced egg sandwich for breakfast while silently willing my garden to grow.

I discovered something very dangerous at lunch.  I didn’t pack my lunch, so I headed down to the cafeteria to grab a salad or some soup.  I was waiting in line when I heard a woman behind me order a gyro.  That stopped me in my tracks, as gyros are one of my top 5 favorite foods.  I couldn’t help it. 

Ignore the fries in the background.  They came with the gyro, but I didn’t eat them.  I keep on telling myself that was the only time that cafeteria is going to make gyros and I can’t go down again and check.  Ever.

Run

Courtney and I ran 4.5 miles in the beautiful outdoors.  The weather was perfect.  Such a nice and refreshing way to start my morning. 

Thought for the day:

Points Breakdown:

Daily Points (30) + Running Points (9) – Eating Points (39) = 0

Out with the Old

…and in with the new!

After the trail running and hiking in North Carolina my kicks were more than worse for the wear and in some serious need of replacement. After more miles than I would like to admit, I finally purchased a new pair of running shoes. 

I have a two step process for buying running shoes.  First, what shoes are on sale?  Second, of those shoes that are on sale, which color do I like?

I know, that officially makes me the worse running blogger in the world.  I know that I should go have my run / gait / arch measured and buy shoes that would fit me better.  But, one thing that I have always loved about running is that the equipment is minimal – all you need is you and the open road.  I also have been blessed to not have many foot, ankle, or knee problems and felt the shoes I had before we fine.  Also, my grandma gets me a new pair of running shoes every Christmas, so every other pair is complimentary. 

However, one of my friends recently bought shoes the lovely people at the running store recommended and she claims she feels “like she has a new set of legs.”  Now that would be nice.  Next time.

Eats

I enjoyed the same breakfast I did during the weekend.

Typical lunch.

One of our friends stopped by with some leftover salad that his mom made.  How sweet is that?  This salad was delicious and veggie packed. 

Combined with leftover Indian meant a flavorful dinner that I didn’t have to cook.  Very nice.

I didn’t run yesterday.  After gardening on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday my legs were sore and tired. I am also getting ready to go bust out 5 miles with Courtney, so I am super glad I took a break yesterday.

Thought for the day:

Points Breakdown:

Daily points (30) – Eating Points (30) = 0