Foodie Penpals July Reveal...

For July I got to send a box to Darylnn at Little Blog Dress. An example of how small the world is Darylnn used to date a member of the band the Nixons and has been to Norman, Oklahoma. Does anyone remember their song Sister? Loved it.

Anyway. My Foodie Penpal this month was Jennie at The Messy Baker Blog. Her blog is so cute. I must make her Chocolate Banana Cake Batter Shakes. I just love the day when my box comes in the mail. It was like Christmas in July.

this box was full of goodies from Trader Joes. It makes me sad that we are so lacking in good grocery store options here in Oklahoma.

I can't wait to make the Bismati Rice Medley. It's only been about a million degrees here so cooking is not so much fun. I keep thinking that it's gonna cool off soon. It can't stay this hot forever.

The coconut bonbons were dark chocolate and very yummy. Carson liked that they were dark chocolate. Then there was the Cookie Butter. This might be my new favorite thing. The fact that I can't get it here in Oklahoma makes me very sad. We just like it by the spoonful, it said to eat it on pancakes so Camy has it on her waffle and said it was awesome.

Two kinds of salsa were in the box too. The double roasted salsa is already gone.

Salsa in a breakfast burrito with two egg whites, fake sausage, blue potatoes and Laughing Cow Cheese. The perfect breakfast on the go. I even managed to not spill any on me on the way to work.

The last bit of yummy goodness was three Larabars. I had the apple pie flavored one the other day and I was surprised that it had only real food in it. Nothing I had never heard of. I usually stick to my Luna Bars but I'm gonna have to pick some more of these up.

Again it was a very good month and I can't wait to see what comes next month.

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Injury Update...

It's been almost two weeks since I was not able to stay on my feet and ended up sprawled on the road less than a mile into my morning run. Even after two weeks the injuries from the fall are still visible.

Here are pics from the end of last week.

The remains of the scabs are gone now. I discovered my knee is still pretty tender when I did a child's pose at yoga tonight.

My hands are almost back to normal now I only have one scab left on my left hand. I think that one is going to be a scar for a while.

Two weeks later and I am getting back to normal. We did have a scare on Monday when Abby took a spill on the same road. She got back up and we went on to do 10 x 20 seconds sprint with 40 seconds recovery. It was pretty brutal.

I just hope there is no more falls in the near future.

 

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WIAW #11...

I tried out a new recipe tonight that I'm using for my WIAW post this week.

I got home tonight, straightened up a bit and hit the iPad for some dinner inspiration. I came across a recipe for Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls.

I followed parts of the recipe and changes it a little bit. In the end I had a bowl with quinoa, black beans, corn, cheddar cheese and salsa. It was yummy.

Quinoa made with veggie stock. I believe you need to add as much flavor as possible and veggie stock is way better than plain water.

Black beans, one of my favorites. With a little onion, garlic, veggie stock, chili powder, coriander and ground red pepper. Next time I might have to add a jalapeño to add a little kick.

The finished dish. I know my mad photography skills are probably making you super envious. Just know that this dish was about a thousand times better than this photograph. It's always nice when a new recipe turns out well the first time around.

Some other highlights from the week...

Layered veggie enchiladas from the Whole Foods website. You can find the recipe here. Make this tonight.

Lunch wrap filled with hummus, carrots, broccoli slaw and kale served with a side of pretzel crisps. Have you tried Pretzel Crisps? Don't leave the grocery store without them. You won't be disappointed.

It was a very tasty week, maybe a little too much eating out, it's been too hot to cook. Now I feel inspired, we'll see if it lasts next week could be a post full of sandwiches and granola bars.

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Running in June...

I thought I should recap my running from June. I started running again after I got released by my doctor post-injury. On one hand I was quite nervous about running again, on the other I was so sick of not running and was ready to get back out there.

Here's how the month ended up.

Total miles for the month were 38, that's the smallest total for the months I was able to run in the last twelve months. I'll take it though. I am feeling stronger every week and I have big plans for the months ahead that don't just involve running.

Will I make it to my goal of a thousand miles in 2012? Right now I would say probably not, but no matter what happens I am looking forward to the journey.

Running is hard, not running is harder. I'm glad I'm back out there pounding the pavement. I would like to not pound the pavement with my entire body, I'm working on staying on my feet now.

Run happy.

 

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Norman Conquest 2012...

Last weekend we instead of going for a long run in the brutal heat we decided to get out our bikes and get in a ride. Rochelle and I took pictures while we waited for Patti to get to our meeting spot.

How cute is her Arizona top?

I, of course ride in a running shirt. I do have the shorts though. We rode about 28 miles, some of them pretty darn hilly to get ready for this weekend.

 

Saturday was the Norman Conquest bike ride. Kendra and I rode it last year, this year Rochelle and Patti and I signed up to do the 22 mile hilly route. {The longer the ride the more hilly it is, the 22 mile was hard bit not like we were gonna die.}

Of course there were pre-ride pictures.

And rest stop pictures.

I stole this picture from the OK Runner Facebook page, Patti took them. This was about five miles into the ride. Craig was seriously in the weeds when we got there.

The best part about bike events? They are so laid back, no timing chips, no timing period. Everyone stops at the rest stops, and they have fruit and cookies and even pickles.

Patti got some action shots when she was waiting for us to catch up to her. We weren't being slackers, we just weren't being speedy like Patti was.

Action shot number two. You can't tell, but we were kinda dying here. It was hilly out there.

The second best part of the bike event? After you finish and they don't give you your time they feed you. Burgers, {even veggie burgers}, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans and even cookies.

Ross did the ten mile town ride with Austin, and he went and picked up Avery so they could eat with us.

Austin was a junior police officer that day.



Avery took this picture on my phone. She also took this one...

Such a funny girl. Later in the afternoon we all went swimming and Avery wanted to see behind my sunglasses, she said she knew it was me, she just wanted to make sure.

It was a fun day, and I am loving being on my bike. Can't wait for the next ride.

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July 4th...11 Days Later...

The girls were in Virginia for July 4th and from what they say there was a bush and a small fire. I haven't confirmed this. Our holiday was much less exciting.

We saw fireworks at The Trails on Tuesday night. We meet up with Abby, Brian, Ross, Rochelle, Austin and Avery at The Garage for some pre-fireworks fueling.

Avery sat by me. She is such a funny kid.

After we ate we headed out to check out the festivities before the show.

There were club specials for the grown-ups and snow cones for the little people.

How about those boots?

As the sun went down we picked a spot and then watched the fireworks.

The moon was crazy bright, too bad the picture is crazy awful.

I got up on the 4th and headed out to meet Abby, Rochelle, Patti and Cliff for a run at 7:30. It was horrible. It was hot and it was 5 pretty horrible miles. I have had some much better runs since then, which is good because I wanted to quit forever at that point.

We did dinner at the Brown's that night. I should have taken a picture of the amazing black bean burger Ro made just for me, but it vanished too quickly. Take my word for it, it was wonderful.

It was a nice holiday, too bad it had to fall on a Wednesday.

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Running is Dangerous...

I got up to meet my friend Ro for a run this morning. It was just the two of us and we decided to sleep in and meet at 5:30 at the Y.

The most important part of our story has to be the construction going on in Norman. Robinson is open but Flood is closed south of the Y, so there was more traffic on the route we run from the Y to get to Robinson.

Because of this we had to run on the left side of the street {the right side}, instead of the right side {the wrong side} where we usually run. When we were almost to Robinson we crossed the street to turn right. It was here that there was a small bump in the road that I couldn't manage to pick my foot up enough to get over.

I fell flat on the pavement, in true baseball style. You might remember the spill I took last August, this was much worse. I laid there on the mildly gravely road for a moment and assessed that I hadn't broken anything and then Ro helped me get back up.

The hardest part was that we headed back to our cars. Going on just didn't seem a wise decision. We had only gone .80 mile and when we got back to the parking lot to our usual stopping point we had gone a whopping 1.5 miles in about 22 minutes. I have said before that if you are gonna run any less than a 5k it's not worth getting your clothes dirty. I was a little disappointed in the painful turn of events.

Here's my left hand.

And my right.

A little road rash on my left arm.

And my left knee. The site of my most recent knee surgery, but thankfully not the same leg as my stress fracture.

My left knee isn't scratched up as horribly as it could be, but it is quite swollen. I don't think there is any internal damage, I can hear Josh saying "It's just a flesh wound".

 

In response to the pictures I posted on Facebook, I got this text from my brother.

It's funny that I am so afraid of falling on my bike and I have only done that once but I haven fallen while running twice in the last year.

 

True friends will pick you up when you fall down and either run on with you, or walk you back to the car.

 

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WIAW #10...

I feel like its been forever since my last WIAW post. This one will be a What I Ate Tuesday night post.

I tried making polenta a while back. I bought it already made so you could just slice it up and top it with whatever you wanted. Tonight I decided to give making it for real a try.

I have had this in my pantry for ages, so I read the directions and it seemed easy enough. {Not that I would have not tried if it seemed more difficult.}

You basically bring the water and salt to a boil, add the polenta and then simmer it for about 30 minutes.

I think I should be sure to lower the temperature a little quicker next time, it seemed to run out of liquid a little faster than I wanted.

After about 25 minutes I stirred in a little butter and then poured it into a greased baking dish.

I let it set while I sautéed some mushrooms in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then topped it with pizza sauce, the mushrooms, some sliced mozzarella and a little parmasean cheese.

Then I popped it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Please ignore the fast that the inside of my oven could use a little cleaning. I wonder if it has a cleaning setting, I actually think I have some cleaning supplies for it under my sink. The phrase "I really want to clean the oven today" NEVER crosses my mind. I do often think I should clean it, but that mostly happens when I am placing something in the oven, which is not the best time to start spraying chemicals.

Anyway...

It turned out pretty good. I think the polenta will take some practice, and I might even have to try making the cream of wheat-style version of it. Maybe a touch more salt next time.

I firmly believe you have to make something a few times before you write anything off or name it your favorite. Next time I think I'll use shredded cheese and maybe a few more veggies, but for now I have leftovers.

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West Virginia, It's a Whole Separate State...

On Friday morning Jen, Karen and I loaded up the cars and Haden and headed to West Virginia. Our destination, Buckhannon, West Virginia, where my parents grew up, where Karen and I were born and where we spent vacations and summers growing up.

I was born there by accident. When my mom was about 33 weeks pregnant, and my parents were living in Virginia, she was visiting her family and happened to go into labor. She had no idea she was having twins before she made it to the delivery room. I can't imagine the shock she must have felt when she found out.

We meet my Aunt Julia, my mom's older sister for lunch and then decided to drive around town a bit to relive old times. We first went hunting for the house my mom grew up in.

We were relieved this was the house because the other possibility was not quite so nice looking. I have very vague memories of visiting this house as a kid n

Next we drove by the house our great grandma Lena lived in. I have more memories of this house. I remember my grandma cooking in her kitchen, playing in the backyard and walking to the little store that was a few blocks away.

The house is a duplex, one on top and one on the bottom. We didn't look at it but I remember the backyard seeming big. I also remember Karen getting hit in the head with a yard dart and needing stitches. {Who thought that toy was a good idea?}

Just down the street from this house is West Virginia Weselyn University, where Karen went to college. She lived back there longer than any of the rest of us.

Next we went and found a flower shop across the street from the walk up Dairy Queen.

 

it was about a million degrees out that day. We were expecting cooler weather on our vacation but it was just as hot or hotter as it was at home. So to cool off I has a chocolate shake.

If you go on vacation with Jen there is always ice cream.

We picked up the flowers we ordered and headed out to the cemetery.

The flowers we got were really pretty, although I don't think they survived the storm that rolled through not long after these pictures were taken. We didn't stay long, and there wasn't much time for sorrow, it was just too hot. It's always nice to get back there, but I don't believe for a second that my mom is there. I won't get into a discussion about what comes after death here.

We then headed out to my Aunt Julia's house.

Julia and my Uncle Chuck live in an old farmhouse. We spent summers in this house as children and I have many wonderful memories of it. That big front porch still makes me want one of my own one day, one summer we painted it. It has always had a porch swing or two, another thing I will have one day. I'm not ashamed to say that I used to spend time on that porch killing flies. Yes, I know it's a farm, but I used to be afraid of flies.

We immediately got in my cousin Leah's daughter's pool when we got there. This is an old farmhouse and it does not have air conditioning. Something this city girl was pretty worried about. We got lucky and it turned out to not be an issue. But first...

We got to meet the chickens. There is no chicken coup so the chickens roost in the trees. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "free range chickens".

This one almost got after Chuck. Momma chickens don't really like people coming around their babies.

Not long after these pictures a severe storms moved through the area, and the surrounding states. The power went out at about 8pm and didn't come back on before we left the next morning.

After we got on the road it took us an hour on the interstate to find a gas station with power to get gas. We got lucky we got out when we did, and we waited in a long line to get gas. It took days for the power to come back on. The storm had hurricane force winds and it took out power to thousands of people.

The kids even experienced a tornado warning in Virginia and got to hang out in Linda's basement that night. Carson and Camy both said it was not quite as scary as the tornado we had here in Norman, and the basement was much bigger and more fun than our storm shelter.

So it was a short trip to the place where I was born and then we headed back home to the end of my vacation.

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