Sat, Sun, Mon

Saturday we fixed some plumbing. The project is now complete! We had to reroute the hot water to the kids shower, the kids sink and the dishwasher. Done!

Then I played Mom a bit and carpooled kids to parties, went to Target, etc. If you have an aqua kitchen, look for cute clearance items at Target like canisters and paper towel holder, etc. But don’t look there for a headband with a large funky black flower, because you won’t find it.

Sat night we went to a party for a Ragnar Relay friend. It was billed as a “beer pong” party. I’ve never played beer pong and neither has Brian, and I don’t drink beer – but we went and we learned. I’d prefer a germ-free margarita version.

Sunday I started the day hungry and with a bit of time to kill, so I made Speedy Banana Bread Pudding for me and Alice. No one in my family eats the end pieces of the loaf of bread (but me) so we usually have a bunch saved up in the freezer. I defrosted a bunch of slices (8?) and a mushy banana I had stored there that Alice left in her locker. I mashed the banana, tore up the bread, added a few eggs, a bit of milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger. Then I cooked it up in a buttered pan and served with maple syrup and almond slices on top. YUM!!

Brian and I have been wanting to repaint our front shutters. They were forest green and faded in 10 years of Florida sun to light green. We found a spray paint at Ace Hardware for outdoor vinyl in a violet color and sprayed those down. Bright and cute! I’ve already overheard the neighbors complement them.

That night I was a kitchen beast. I had Indian food cooking to store up for work lucnhes, Mexican food for dinner that night, and choc chip cookies for the kids’ lunch boxes in the oven. We followed the Nestle Toll House recipe, but instead of 2 sticks of butter we used 1/4 stick butter, 1/4 cup oil and 1 banana. They kept a great consistency and the added banana flavor was light and subtle. We also added cinnamon.

Today – Monday – I started the day with 2.2 miles around the park with Brian. For me it was a hard push, for him it was “slower than after I got a cramp in my calf at the end of the marathon.” :P

I came home, stretched, did 60 bicycle crunches, showered and went to work.

wendy-lanternI’m lucky running didn’t bother my feet because Friday I was at IKEA for a couple hours with a client/friend in 2.5″ heels and got a couple blisters. But she gave Wendy a polka dot hanging paper lantern for her room, and the smile on her face was worth it. Plus, I let her climb on her desk and use the drill herself to hang it.

Tonight Brian is grilling turkey burgers, and I have an alum foil packet with asparagus and garlic in the toaster oven for me (drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chili powder and pepper) and edamame steaming up for the girls.

Work has been busy! Working on a couple new web sites. Learning a bit about MX Servers. Life is busy, but good!

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New week, new weather, new sushi

Thurs night my daughter asked to skip karate. She had a hard day so she took a long, hot shower, and I worked until 6:20.

Friday I started the day bonding with the Stairmaster. Then I had Core Conditioning class. I went in prepared to count crunches and plank minutes for my 2010 goal, but the whole class was planks and crunches. I’m goignt o guess 7 mins of planks and 100 crunches just for fun. That’s not crazy considering it was a 30 minute class.

Then I did some yoga – more for my brain than for my body.

I told Brian we had just spent 3 weeks straight with the kids almost every day, and I was ready for some adult time. I had a gift card to a coffeehouse downtown, and we had a meeting downtown, so we left early for the meeting and had lunch at the coffeehouse together. We used to hang in cafes and drink hot cocoa and sink into couches in our 20s all the time, and just walking in the place made us feel at home. I had sesame soup – the same base as tahini, with carrots, onions, peas, a few gnocchi and something lemony. And probably cream. I Googled some recipes but they were for black sesame soup, and this was more like a lemon sauce you would put on chicken. It was awesome. I also had a portabello mushroom wrap with feta and tomato inside. Brian had a Roast Beast sandwich, which was pressed and I’m guessing had cheese.

bubblesWe visited my friend’s photography studio because she was collection supplies for Haiti and I scavanged the house for medical supplies, soaps, tampons, etc. Her studio had moved to a new location I had not seen yet, and it was cool to walk in and see a great big photo of my girls on the wall!

So we had our meeting, finished work, and continued our “adult time” with a trip to a wine tasting with my friend Michelle.

Saturday Brian had a 20 mile run and I had a cleaning marathon. I told myself I would clean until noon. Little did I know I would wake up at 7:30am. I did some in the garage, some in my closet, some in Alice’s closet, helped Alice turn her desk into a vanity with a makeup tray and little mirror (trip to Target with gift cards), and much, much more. But I had a good excuse – company Sat and Sun.

Saturday night we had friends who also have 2 daughters drop their girls off at our house while the grown ups went out to dinnner (more adult time!) We went for sushi since Brian decided last weekend he actually kinda likes it. We shared some edamame and sashimi, then shared 4 sushis. Brian kinda cheated with a Bang Bang chicken roll, I got the volcano roll with the warm conch and crab on top, our friends got a spider roll and a fried sushi rock tuna roll. We also tried saki for the first time, which I can do without. I promised Alice I would bring home sushi for her and surprised her with a 007 Roll – calamari, salmon, and crab wrapped in rice and seaweed, lightly battered and fried and then topped with dynamite cream sauce. It was HOT!!

We returned home to join the girls for some Wii time.

Sunday we invited over a French family that just joined the girls’ school. Every time I welcome a new family I wait for the mom to ask me about a local hairdresser, and sure enough she did. I wonder if my stylist knows I send new parents her way all the time… Brian was working Sunday night, and I was melting down Special Dark miniatures someone gave my daughter and dipping strawberries into them for me and the kids. I don’t have a double boiler, but I understand they keep the chocolate from burning when it melts, so I took a small saucepan about 1/3 full with water and put an empty, small Pyrex bowl in it. I added the chocolate to the bowl and sure enough as the water boiled in the saucepan the chocolate melted in the bowl and did not burn. The bottom of the bowl against the bottom of the pan made a loud shaking noise, but it worked great.

Today – Monday – MLK Day – I woke up to 55 degrees and 0 percent chance of precipitation. Perfect running weather! I ran 3 miles and I think I walked less than a minute total throughout the 3 miles, which felt great considering I hadn’t run through a mile on a treadmill in a LONG time. I finished with 40 bicycle crunches, 20 crunches, 30 seconds plank straight arms, 30 seconds on each side with last 10 seconds with one leg raised, and 30 second plank on elbows.

I wore some items while running that I got free to review for my blog. One was a shirt that protects your skin from the sun’s harmful rays. The other was a spibelt to hold my mp3 player, cell phone and house key. I’m going to describe them both in my next post. I have to drop off a daughter’s friend and this got long enough.

2010 goal update: 4520 crunches, 103 minutes of plank remaining.

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Good start + Born To Run

For me, today is the real start of the new year. I spent the 1st with cousins. I spend the 2nd and 3rd driving across the country. So now it’s back to real life.

borntorunsmWhile sitting in a car for 2 days, I read Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. AWESOME book. Now on my list of favorites. One of those books that will change how you think and stick with you forever. What a great way to start the year – with a book that made me laugh, cry, and think introspectively. It’s about running, but it’s told as fiction. And it’s also about shoes, food, Mexicans, loving life, learning to run better, ultra-racing and a lot more. I give it an A++!!

Last night I treated myself to nearly an hour of yoga. I need to unpack and mop the floors, but more than that I needed to reconnect my body and brain after 2 wks of winter vacation. I had DVR’ed “Yoga for Life” on a new cable channel called Veria.

I started off today needing to feel clear and organized. I cleaned out my purse, made a list of what I want/need to accomplish this week, ate a few raspberries in a dot of vanilla yogurt and hit the gym. Some running (telling myself “easy, just think easy”), some lunges with a 10lb ball, crunches on the captains chair, walking pushups on the BOSU (just a few, gotta work my way back up now that my shoulder is better). I did the first 20 mins of a ZUMBA class, just for FUN! I also have 3 free Boot Camp classes coming to me but they are not at a time that fits in my schedule. If you are a Lifestyle Family Fitness member and want my certificate you can have it.

almondbutterWhen I got home I tried almond butter for the first time. All the healthy food bloggers swear by it, but the price tag has kept me away. My father in law got a free Kettle almond butter and passed it to me. I spread it on some homemade banana bars I made last night, and it was yum!!

Now I need to log off to print photos at Walgreens for Alice’s science fair board. Project due tomorrow. She tested how bananas brown at different temperatures. Don’t worry, no bananas were wasted from her experiment. They all turned into muffins.

(As a graphic designer – if you need quick prints I recommend Walgreens. Cost, coupons, color, online convenience and trimming are taken into consideration with that recommendation.)

You should get off the computer too and go buy Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Seriously. Does anyone know if Rolling Oats carries chia?

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