M.I.A.

Is more than just a surly rapper.  I have been missing in action for the past three weeks!  Apologies!

Our vacation was great.  HelL.A. was amazing.  It is the promised land when it comes to yogurt and expensive houses.  San Fran was impressive as well.  It boasts roller coaster streets and dementors!  Because of the FOG, people — they must be breeding!

I even met some famous people!

It doesn’t seem like he shares my excitement.

No food photos in this post — sorry!  I’ve been busy setting up my classroom (with my mom’s help, of course!)  Here’s how it’s looking.  I’ve got a new green wall!  Also, do you like the bulletin board brown or white?

That’s the brown (with blue and yellow — clearly I can’t decide what I want).

Here’s the white.  It’s actually a marbled paper.

Ahhh, school.

Here is the final thing.  In an effort to have better luck at my 15 mile run that I attempted on Sunday (I only made it through 13 miles of it) I’m telling all of you that I will be attempting the 15 miles again this Friday.  Please watch out of me on the roads.  If you see a crumpled pile of girl on the sidewalk please stop and take me home.  I’m being facetious. I fully plan to complete this epic run — even if it wrecks me.

Yay for blogging!  I’m back!

All My Dreams Are Coming True!

I’m so enjoying my vacation but I HAD to tell you that I am in food paradise! Here’s proof:

We started with N And Out Burger. The fries have a neat texture. Like memory foam!

Then we went to Yogurtland! More like ice cream heaven! Mine had choco, pistachio, and strawberry yogurt with fudge, oatmeal, walnuts, strawberries, chocochips, and Heath pieces.

Then we went to Trader Joes! Holy moly! Healthy and cheap! I want to go to there.

ATTENTION!

Friends, unfortunately I will be taking a short hiatus from blogging for the next week.  Here’s a clue about what I’ll be doing instead of blogging:

Finally, I hope I run into this guy in dropping some dope beats in the club.

Have a happy week, everybody!

Wonderful Wednesday: KNIVES!

Knives can be scary.

But you need them.  They are good for lots of things.  Like:

• cutting potatoes
• cutting cans
• cutting pennies
• slicing tomatoes
• smooshing garlic
• opening champagne in a fancy way

Most likely you already have some knives — but they might not be wonderful.  Here are my knives:

They were a gift 4 years ago from Kellen when I was on a BIG Rachel Ray kick.  They are made by Furi and have nice grippy handles.  You might not be comfortable using super sharp knives, but they are actually SAFER than a duller knife.  You have to use twice the force to cut through things with a dull knife so if you slip you are gonna really slice into yourself.  Don’t get me wrong, it hurts like a mofo when you slice yourself with a sharp knife.  I cut into my thumb the second week I had these and thought I might die — but trust me, sharp is the way to go.

Here’s why they are so wonderful:

• There are three of them, so no matter what you are doing there’s a knife to help you do it!
• They don’t spot when you wash them.  You know how cheaper cutlery sometimes spots.
• The Furi logo on my favorite of the three knives is fading — I just love that I’ve used it enough to cause fading!
• Four years later they are STILL sharp.
• When I cut with them I feel like a chef!

Here is my favorite of the knives.

So go out and get yourself some good knives.  Nobody likes chopping with a steak knife.

Thing One and Thing Two

The idea of these two things running amuck in your house while you aren’t home is unsettling.

Luckily, these are not the two things I have to talk about.

THING 1:  The now somewhat elusive Kombucha.

For those new to kombucha (like me) it is fermented chinese tea!  YUM! Fermented tea!  I tried it because lots of bloggers have been talking it up, some have been making their own, and it has recently been taken off the shelves of Whole Foods due to concerns over its alcohol content.

At the top of the bottle there are strands of culture left in the tea, so I shook it up.  It seemed like a natural thing to do upon seeing crap floating in my drink.  Right after shaking it up I saw this:

Waaaaay down at the bottom — DO NOT SHAKE.

So I googled “why you shouldn’t shake kombucha” and found that the only issue is that it makes it more bubbly.  I opened the lid CAREFULLY.

I took a sniff.  Oh, this stuff does not smell like something I should put in my body.  BUT I do watch a lot of Bizarre Foods and the host, Andrew Zimmern eats many fermented things, especially in Asia.  So I get myself a straw (to avoid the culture at the top — I’m a pansy. What, you wanna fight about it?) and take a sip.

It’s more than a little like vinegar.  I put it down and resign myself to the fact that kombucha will never be our tea.  Moments later I found myself thinking about the vinegary tang of the drink.  I had to go back for another sip.  And another.

It turns out that while I would never describe this as a “yummy” drink, there’s something to it.  I personally love to sip something while I cook dinner and this would be perfect for that!  I can also see it being a great thing to have if you were going to bars and didn’t feel like drinking.  You can’t drink it quickly and it’s got a tang that alcoholic drinks often have.

I give it 4 out of 5 iPods.

THING 2: These completely amazing cookies.  They were on sale at the checkout counter of Fresh Market.  How could I resist!

I could literally nuke these for 20 seconds in the microwave, put them on a plate and serve them to guests, telling them that I baked them myself.  They taste ridiculously good.  Not like most store-bought cookies that taste plastic-y.  You know the flavor I’m talking about.  Like they have sat in their wrapper WAY too long.

Plus, check this shiz out:

Good for my belly AND Mother Nature won’t bitch slap me for being irresponsible. DOUBLE WIN!

Eat bite is full of dried crans, oatmeal, and walnuts.  I have to go eat one before I drool down the front of my t-shirt.

Buy these cookies.

Breakfast of Champions!

Because I’m a champion!  I ran exceptionally fast this morning — 3 miles at 9:54 pace.  I know, I know, there are lots of people out there who are faster than me.  But here’s the thing, if you are a runner you know that running, while it seems like a sport where you are competitive with others, you are actually competing against yourself the majority of the time.

So today, I kicked yesterday’s run in the bootay, thus, making me a champion.  So the breakfast I (the champion) ate this morning becomes the breakfast of champions!

One egg, a half a whole grain sandwich thin and strawberries.  I dipped the sandwich thin in the egg.  Because that’s how this woman rollz!

Here’s a fun fact about strawberries I read in Woman’s World Magazine: They help in the bedroom! The seeds are full of zinc — which, apparently, is good for a good time!  Strawberries are in season RIGHT NOW!  So grab your man and take advantage!

Looks Like Kellen Isn’t The Only Award Winner In the Hizzouse!

Kellen won an Emmy last year.

But I won the Versatile Blogger Award!  HUZZAH!  Cameron over at Ingenue Mom thinks I’m versatile!  WIN!  I love Cameron’s blog because I love reading about being a new mom from someone my age! It’s such an interesting subject to me.  Plus, Cameron is very into organic things, blogging advice, and taking adorable photos of her baby girl, Isis!  So part of this award is sharing 7 things about myself that you might not know and then passing this award on to 5 4 other bloggies!  I’m going to tell you my 7 fav. foods (in no particular order)!

1. Pasta salad from WalMart

2. Strawberries

3. Nuts, especially almonds and walnuts

4. Spinach

5. Zucchini

6. Bananas with nut butter

7. Choco milk!

So I’m going to pass this award on to the following awesome bloggers!  Go to their blogs and taste the happy!

The Winedown

Not Really Blog Material

Healthy And Fun

High On Healthy

I love you guys!

Thank Goodness For Other Blogs!

Bonjour!  I haven’t blogged in a few days.  I also haven’t read anything in my google reader in a few days.  As a result my iPhone is screaming that there are 70+ posts, 196 tweets, and 3 blog comments that have yet to be looked at.  Sorry Interweb, I took the weekend off.

This is what I lurrv about blogging.  There are sometimes when I just don’t get to it, or want to take a break — and that’s okay!  It’s not a job, it’s not a class, it’s not homework.  It’s something I have complete control over.  I decide the hours I blog and the effort I put in.  I can even blog whilst sipping on my second glass of Pino Grigio if I feel so inclined.

So I took the weekend off.  It was Kellen’s birthday so I was making oreo pie, a giant sign to put on the garage door, and being sneaky.  The weekend was full of fun and indulgence!  So after two days of not so great meals I felt like what I wanted more that anything was REAL FOOD, not too much, mostly plants.  Thank you, Michael Pollan.

So here’s my breakfast.  Two eggs and strawberries.  YES PLEASE.

There were a lot more strawberries on the plate, but I got through them before I remembered to take a photo!

So the title of this post is “Thank Goodness For Other Blogs!”  Here’s why.  Whenever I have had a not so great couple of days it usually coincides with not reading other food blogs.  I get so much inspiration from other bloggers.  Their recipes, workout plans, and books they are reading always find their way into my life.  So this morning when I woke up I knew that I was going to want to read at least one of my fav. bloggers to remind myself how great it is to eat well and take care of my body.  So when I clicked on Healthy Tipping Point this morning I was thinking I would see something wonderful Caitlin had eaten or a fun workout she had done.  Instead I found THIS.

In case you never click on the links I post on here I’ll give you a quick and dirty of the thing that really hit home for me!

React appropriately when you don’t eat super well! If you are thinking about what you eat in terms of being healthy for life then having a couple of off days are not going to set you back in the long run.

There’s no need to give up for the week, the month, or half a year just because you had deep fried chinese food and a couple rum and cokes!  When your body feels tired, overly-full, and generally out of whack what it DOESN’T want is more nasty crap.  LISTEN to what your body is telling you:

“‘Tums! Okay, that was fun, but seriously, I am not cut out to process gobs of fried deliciousness over and over.  Once in a while, okay!  But I’m tired.  Could I please have some juicy fruit and a lot of water?  Thanks, I love you!”

Then I say, “I love you too, body!  How about some strawberries and eggs?”

Right now my body is thanking me by feeling seriously great!

What will your body thank you for today?