Eat, Run, Knit

Have you had enough snow yet?

2012-01-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

It's been a fairly eventful week here in Sooke, BC. Between losing hydro for 10 hours due to fallen trees, getting a tow truck stuck on our property while it tried to rescue our car (which did not have the capability to leave the 45 degree incline of a road on our own), losing Westfalia keys in the snow (thank God we found them), and having to walk the hour into town in order to get to the gym because our vehicles were buried for four days, well, there's been a lot of sitting and knitting, baking, and long snowy walks.

While I was trapped, I finished knitting my Ugly Rotten Fish Socks for the Skew knit-along going on over at nook.

Knitting a toe up sock was on my knitting New Years resolutions, so I'm very glad to have cranked these out so early in the year.

Ry says they’re ugly, I say they remind me of rotten fruit, and one of the boys I look after says that they look like fish. Sometimes thale knitting Gods smile down on me, other times not so much. These socks, while definitely a fun knit and quirky on my toes, were not smiled upon. I can’t blame the pattern, as a self striping yarn with shorter pattern repeats looks amazing when Skewed; and I can’t blame the yarn, because it is beautiful, soft and wonderful to knit with. No, it was simply my prerogative to combine the two.

As for the pattern, I can't say I'm a huge fan of the way these socks fit; they are tight across the top of the ankle, don't fit my toes properly, and the heel "origami" sits awkwardly below my ankle bone. Nope, not converted to the Skews, I'm still a die-hard top-down, heel flap, DPN girl. I'll be giving toe up socks another chance in the form of Anastasia Socks later in the year, but for now... I've cast-on for my second pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks :)

So, are you top-down, toe-up, or Skewed?

Quilts and Knit-olutions

2012-01-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

As you may remember, back in September I took a beginner quilting class at my local fabric store, Cloth Castle. While the first quilt was rather cute, the lines weren't straight, the cuts were rough, and I decided that Ryan and I should keep this first one for ourselves - if only to serve as a distant memory of where my sewing/quilting skills came from.

Not to mention that those surfing monkeys are just so darn cute.

Well my friends, here you have it, my second and third quilts. Ever. These are also the first quilts that I have ever made without a teacher's assistance and with intended recipients. I told you I was busy elving this Christmas season!

While I do love the act of quilting, I'm afraid I'm still a hard-core knitter at heart; the act of confining myself to a sewing machine, having to measure the fabric oh-so-carefully, ironing... oh the ironing... well... it's just not my jam. Hand me some sticks and string that allow me to zone out, unwind and take with me everywhere and I'm in heaven. I'll likely end up making more quilts over the years, but for now, 'twas the season and now it's time to get back to my knitting!

New Years Knit-olutions

Conquer a toe-up sock
After knitting 27 pairs of top-down socks, I figure it's only time...

Tackle Fair Isle

Tackle Intarsia

Continue to knit down the stash
Ideally, I would like to be 'stash-free' by the end of 2012. Given that I also had this goal last year, I am well on my way to being stash free and think it can be done!

"Ryan's Year of Socks", 12 pairs of socks for Ryan in 2012
Last year I knit myself 11 pairs of socks in 2011, now with 18 pairs of socks in my drawer I figure it's only time that Ryan's measely 3 pair stash is substantially increased.

I am pleased to announce to you all that I'm already on my way to accomplishing my first knit-olution!

This would be Skew from knitty.com. I am knitting this sock along with Rebecca of nook. for a Skew KAL and I don't think I've ever been quite so motivated to knit a sock in my life. Curious? Head over to nook. and join us!

Christmas Knitting Revealed!

2011-12-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, I bring you the knitting spoils of my 2011 Christmas elving :)

The Willis'

Pattern: Wool Leaves by Jared Flood.
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool in colorway 0861.

Ryan's Mother

Pattern: Knitted Neck Scarf by Martha Stewart.
Yarn: Lang Yarns Fantomas Color in colorway 0020.

Ryan's Sister

Pattern: Cigar by Kerri Cadd.
Yarn: Sirdar Family Worsted with Wool in colorway 703.

Ryan's Sister's Man

Pattern: Cigar by Kerri Cadd.
Yarn: Sirdar Family Worsted with Wool in colorway 703.

Ryan

Pattern: Signature Monogram Socks by Hazel Needham.
Yarn: Sandnes Garn Sisu in colorway 3308.

Pattern: Hacky Sack Hoodie by Stef Pulford.
Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Wool in colorway 9465 and Noro Kureyon in colorway 263.

Mom

Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder.
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in colorway Denim Blues.

Dad

Pattern: Waffle Rib by Charlene Schurch.
Yarn: Zitron Trekking 6 fach 6 ply in colorway 1806.

I certainly was a busy bee this year, getting started in October!
Tomorrow I will show you the two quilts I created this year as Christmas gifts as well!

So, how about you? Did you complete all you wanted to for Christmas this year? Are you still riding a Christmas high and planning your elving for next year?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I are both officially on leave and have decided to unplug completely until after the Christmas season.
Since we don't subscribe to cable or internet services, that means no movies and very little contact with our iPhones for the next several weeks! This will give us more time to slow down, enjoy each other and these precious last moments together before he deploys for six months in January (more about that later).

I promise to be back before the New Year and will finally be able to share all of my elving with you all! I cannot wait for the post-Christmas crafting reveal!!!

Merry Christmas all!

December

2011-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Home.
Warmth.
Love.
Holidays.

Om nom nom

2011-12-01T00:20:00.001-08:00

I told you I was going to share some food with you, and so I shall.

Shrimp with Tomato and Feta Polenta, from Daily Unadventures in Cooking.

Beef and Sweet Potato Stew, from Joy the Baker.

And a recipe of my own, Vanilla Cake Batter Oatmeal... om nom nom!

Vanilla Cake Batter Oatmeal

1/2C Old fashioned oats

1 Banana

1 1/2C Water

1/4t sea salt

1t Ground cinnamon

1t Pure vanilla extract

1T Chia seeds

1T Vanilla flavored protein powder (I used Jillian Michaels Whey Protein ‘Vanilla Cream’ Powder)

Unsweetened shredded coconut, to garnish

Rainbow sprinkles, to garnish

1. Using a small heavy bottom sauce pan bring oats, banana, water and sea salt to a "bubble" over medium heat (I can hear my oatmeal "phlouf" and gurgle from the next room), most of the liquid will be soaked in by this point.
2. Add an additional 1/2C water, along with cinnamon, vanilla extract, chia seeds, and protein powder, stirring to combine.
3. Allow oats to simmer on a medium-low setting until oats reach a consistency you enjoy - I like mine THICK!

Versatile Blogger

2011-11-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Last week I was overjoyed to see that Rebecca at nook. and Melissa at MisoCrafty awarded me with the Versatile Blogger award! For those of you who are not yet familiar with this game, it's a great way to find out more about the bloggey (meeee) and allow me to introduce you to some of my friends/favorite bloggers!

There are only a few rules:
1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Basically, the Versatile Blogger award is kind of like the coolest chain letter ever!

7 Things About Me
One: I love knitting (duh). But I actually love the process of knitting, the beautiful colors, the fiber in my hands, the steady rhythm of my needles, more than the finished objects. To prove my point, I have 18 pairs of socks in my cedar chest... I have worn five pairs... maybe three or four times each. This winter it's my goal to wear every single pair of socks I've knit; and more than once!

Two: I hate to shop. Except for groceries. I totally love grocery shopping!!!

Three: I have two degrees, a Bachelor of Music with honors in Music Education and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature. Both are from my alma mater The University of Western Ontario. Nevertheless, I am in the Navy as a non-commissioned member.

Four: I have osteoperosis, but that really doesn't seem to slow me down at all... which may or may not be a bad thing. I keep hearing horror stories about how If I don't slow down and really take it easy on my body that when I'm old and grey I may not be able to cough without breaking a rib... but really, life is for living, and I'm hoping that I'm slowly reversing my osteoperosis into a stage of oseteopenia through vitamins, careful diet and fitness. I have a bone density scan in December and I am very excited to see how I am doing.

Five: I cook a lot. Ryan and I probably only eat about 2 meals outside of the home a week, not including coffee dates! I really should start sharing more food with you again now that my cooking has become slightly more elaborate (as it always does through the cold months). Beef stews, butternut squash burritos, roast vegetables, spaghetti squash, slow-cooker chicken, turkey sausages, slow-cooker cinnamon maple applesauce... I could go on and on... but that would be rude because I didn't share any of it with you!

Six: I avoid refined sugar. While I have no aversion to the occassional treat, I do not consumer sugar at home. I use honey, agave, maple, stevia, bananas, or even dates to sweeten my foods whenever possible and don't have granulated sugars (or white flours) in my kitchen at home. I will eat a piece of cake or some cookies outside of the house that I know have been made with sugar, but that doesn't happen all that often!

Seven: Despite being a runner and loving it, I still have to force my booty out the door every. single. day. Working out never gets easy, it's all about priorities. I would much rather be sitting on a couch knitting most days, but I know that once I start and my blood starts pumping all my problems will melt away - even if it means just making it "one more minute. okay, now one more minute. another minute." One minute at a time, the time always keeps moving. I have to plan my workouts (runs, swims, bikes) into my day every. single. day. Whether that means stopping at the gym at 7:30pm on the way home from work after a 12 hour shift, or swimming after I teach yoga, before I babysit, on the way to go get groceries for dinner. Priorities. There will always be something else you could be doing. There are no excuses.

<3

Now the fun part, some awesome blogs I want you to know about! These are just a few of the blogs that I make sure to check out daily!

Amanda at SouleMama (craft + family)

Grace at Uncommon Grace (craft + family)

Shannon at Luvinthemommyhood (craft + family)

Amy at Family Feedbag (food)

Cindy and Colleen at 365 Less Things (minimalism)

Ashley at Healthy Ashley (health)

Melissa at MisoCrafty (knitting + family)

Rebecca at Nook. (knitting + family)

Kathryn at Knitty-Kat (knitting)

Ashley at Twwly (simple living + family)

Tanya at Our Little Fenton Family (family)

Angela at Oh She Glows (food)

Katie at Chocolate Covered Katie (food)

The Kitchn (food)

Rowdy Kittens (simple living)

Enjoy the reading :)

Comfort

2011-11-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

This happened.

I cleared the room to paint.

Not having much in the room to begin with, it wasn't hard to turn the place into a painting-friendly space. The absence of those few pieces of "us" made me realize how there is such thing as having too little. I am not an extreme minimalist, not by any means, but once the room was devoid of personal belongings (with the exception of several pieces of large furniture, as pictured) it felt... cold. Hanging out in the great room was no longer comfortable.

Painting occurred, furniture was rearranged, our belongings were reintroduced to the space, and ahhhh... home again. Now featuring "Brazil Nut" on the walls :)

It's a good thing we made the great room cozy just in time for...

SNOW!

Digital Clutter

2011-11-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Our society has become obsessed with surrounding ourselves with stuff; this we know.

But what about the increasing obsession with surrounding ourselves with people and our past? In specific I'm talking about Facebook, email and all those darn apps/notes on your cellular telephone; because these are issues I deal with!

Yesterday I widdled my facebook friends list from 760+ down to 270 (and slowly dwindling). As I looked through my friends list I asked myself "If this person were to call me right now and ask me to meet them for a coffee to catch up, would I?" If the answer was no, then why was I taking the time to read their facebook status updates and look at their newest photos on my news feed?

I also went through and deleted all of those old messages. They dated back to 2006. This is embarassing.

To further my Facebook "purge" I eliminated all apps, groups and pages that no longer apply to my lifestyle; I "like" Sony Canada? Really?

It was a long process, but oh my goodness was it worth it. Now when I glance at my news feed I am truly interested in what shows up there! Instead of reading about what the ex's friend from that cabin party 6 years ago is doing, I can see what that new baby is up to. I no longer have to waste my time sifting through the crap to find the gold. And new baby facebook updates are gold!!!

Along with the Facebook purge, I finally went through my e-mail inbox and cleared everything out. I use gmail, so by using the folders and color coding features I organized all those e-mails that I needed to keep and cleared everything else out. If you had an inbox on your office desk, would you really let 203823722484320 pieces of "new" messages/letters accumulate there?

Finally, the iPhone. I sorted through my contacts, my notes and my apps. Similarly, eliminating the excess and keeping the gold.

The result? A streamlined digital life; no longer do I need to sort through useless information and applications to find what I really want.

When there's nothing left to minimize

2011-11-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

The past month has proven to be quite an effective exercise in minimizing our material posessions (house tour here). How do I know it's worked? We have more room to breathe. Oh, and this morning when I was looking for my "one a day to throw away" (slash donate to the thrift store) I came up empty handed.

Sure we have multiple plates, bowls, spoons, pots, pans, dish rags, jackets, pairs of jeans, etc. But everything in our home has been widdled down to only those things we love, use, and don't see a need in getting rid of (so - I don't use our muffin pan more than once a month, but I kind of like muffins!). Minimalism does not have to be a life of extremism, living with only 100 posessions, out of a suitcase, etc. It is about finding what works for you and your lifestyle. I, for one, am not about to get rid of any of my handknit socks just because I don't need all 18 pairs!

One blog I adore is The Everyday Minimalist, who puts it quite well:

No one needs to get rid of anything they don’t want to get rid of as long as they love, use and/or display them regularly.

Throughout the month of October we did not spend a single penny on non-consumable items (food, gas, and bills are the only transactions in our bank accounts!) and surprise surprise, we do not feel restricted at all. To be quite honest, our bank accounts are a little bit heavier than usual, and we're feeling less restricted because of it!

While I do love the purge, I feel comforted in the fact that life is fluid. Stuff will continue to enter into our lives, and stuff will continue to need resassing and purging. It's all about balance. In the words of Frank Chimero:

Add things until it starts sucking, take things away until it stops getting better.

November

2011-11-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

November 1st means only one thing in my world: Christmas knitting is in full swing.

Just like the recipients, you will have to wait to see the finished products!

(Unless we knit together... in which case you'll be seeing all sorts of knitting on my needles!)

So, have you started your Christmas crafting?

A Birth Day

2011-10-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you wouldn't have taken so long If only you knew the wonderful world of wool you were about to be born into.

Congratulations to my best friend Tanya who gave birth to healthy baby Ethan Roy Fenton on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 at 7:35am.

There is more wool to come young one, just you wait and see.

Seasons In Transition

2011-10-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

As the frequency of which I reach for a hand knit sweater increases, as does my excitement for the months to come.

I am a winter girl at heart; having grown up in Ottawa I miss the snow and the brisk chill in the air that nips at your fingertips and nose in a way that only hot chocolate will soothe.

Now that I've relocated to the (ahem) wetter west coast of Canada, I find myself continuing to grow excited as the temperatures drop, regardless of the near-absence of snow and the increase in precipitation.

Here are a few things on my cold-weather ritual list:

Comfort Foods: Crock pot meals, stews, soups, warm bread straight from the oven.

Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables: It's time for squashes, apples and cinnamon to take the stage! There is nothing more satisfying then the natural transition of the local harvest.

Cozy Down-Time: Summer is a time when Ryan and I are always on the go; fishing, hiking, camping, road-tripping, and training. But when the weather becomes increasingly cold and gray I find it easier to slow things down, spend more time in my pj's and curl up with baked goods and knitting. Bikini body? What's that?

Winter Clothes: Hello handknits!!!

The Holiday Season: I love love love love love Christmas! The crafting, the baking, the family time, the decorations, the music, I could go on and on. Bonus, this year Ryan will be joining me in Ottawa/Montreal for my family traditions! I am so excited to have him included in my favourite celebrations!

Sitting By The Fire: Whether at restaurant, cabin, a friend's house or your own it's nice to get all cuddly by the fire as much as you can when it's chilly outside. The sound of crackling wood and the scent of all the luscious cedar is enough to make a girl fall in love.

Saunas and Hot Tubs: While we don't have the luxury of owning either, both are located within our local recreation centre that is a mere 3km walk away! Ryan and I are firm advocates of the sauna curing head colds if you can catch them early enough, so we tend to spend some serious time chatting away in these hot sticky spaces!

Winter Scents: Cinnamon, apple, spices, pine, cedar... there really aren't any scents more comforting than these!

Winter Hobbies: Hello easy excuses to knit and watch movies all the day long! You may be into cross country skiing or snowboarding, but me? You'll find me by the fire with my knitting.

[Photo by Tim Ayres]
[Post Inspired by 10 Cold Weather Rituals from ApartmentTherapy]

House Tour

2011-10-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Finally, a quiet morning to take you on a tour of my home!
While we're not completely settled just yet, there is still a custom bookshelf to build around the piano in the spare room and walls to paint, we are getting rather cozy in our little cabin; just in time for cooler weather and Christmas knitting season!

Front of the house

The main room

Kitchen (to the right of the main room)

Spare room view left/Craft corner (to the right of the main room)

Spare room view right (to the right of the main room)

Hallway (to the left of the main room)

Hallway (to the left of the main room)

View from the loft

Loft/bedroom view left

Loft/bedroom view right

Stash Diving

2011-10-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, the stash…

In light of my recent spring cleaning and desire to lead a life free of excess, I stumbled upon my yarn stash while working on confining “stashes” to their spaces; the stationary fits in the desk drawers, the books on the shelves, and the stash in it’s stash basket.

Airing the stash as Brenda would say, inspired me to continue avoiding the accumulation of stash and find projects to fit the yarn rather than projects that require new yarn consumption.

And so I present to you, a view of my stash, organized by date of acquisition!

Sure, it doesn't seem that large (and it's not), but when I sat down and began assigning projects to the yarn it made me realize... there's a lot of knitting to be done here!

Currently on the needles
1. Lingerie Socks in A Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna Cashmere Yarn
2. Signature Monogram Socks in Sandnes Garn Sisu
3. February Lady Sweater in Mission Falls 1824 Wool

The Queue
1. Cowl Shell in SWTC Oasis Solid
2. Skew in Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Hand Painted Repeater Sock
3. Hurricane Hat in Caron Simply Soft Shadows
4. Featherweight Cardigan in Malabrigo Yarn Lace
5. Killybegs in Garavogue Tweed
6. Spiral Cowl in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK
7. Otto (Teddy Bear) in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK
8. Tangled Yoke Cardigan in DROPS Silke-Tweed
9. Plain Stockinette Socks in Schachenmayr Nomotta Regia World Ball Color 4-fädig/4ply
10. Montague Bulky Lace Vest in Twilleys of Stamford Freedom 100% Wool

I’m still unsure as to what I will be knitting with the remaining yarns:

Brome Fair Handspun

Great Adirondack Yarn Co Silky Sock

Madelinetosh Tosh DK

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight

Warm & Wonderful Wool Farm Handspun

The Fibre Co-Op

Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine

Mission Falls 1824 Wool

Rowan Yorkshire Chunky Tweed

Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester 2/8

I also have a ton of leftover yarn bits and bobs from completed projects… I hoard yarn!

I’ve been considering knitting a Sock Yarn Blanket for quite some time now; I just love the idea of being able to look back over each square and remember a project or gift knit at various times in my life.

Busting the stash may just be my final push to start on this wonderful project!

Let the stash slog begin!!!

2011 Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon

2011-10-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

3:24:15

No matter how excited it makes you, no matter how much energy you have, singing Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel at the top of your lungs to onlookers and fellow runners will give you a stitch in your side. You will then have to run with one arm stretched over your head to releave the pain in your right oblique. Just don't do it.

Smile. Laugh. Be a ham. It makes the world rotate under your feet. It's true.

At times it will hurt. There is a difference between pain and injury. Know this difference, hopefully not from experience!

Always. Always. Always. ALWAYS throw your hands in the air and smile when you know your photo is being taken. Always. It helps you forget the pain of the marathon and make you want to do it again. And again. And again.

Always get a post-race massage. You may not think it's worth the money, but trust me. It is.

Never ever forget that you worked for it. Hard. Never. Ever. Forget.

26.2? I make that *@^# look easy ;)

Final Sweep

2011-10-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I am almost done "purging" through our house! The rooms are all cleaned, the excess has been sold/donated/thrown away, and I am finding room to breathe and get the things I truly wanted to get done, done.

Like finish hand-stitching the binding on my first quilt!!!

Be ready for a really good, photo-packed, house-tour included, post.

Coming soon. After my marathon :D

How Less is More

2011-09-24T14:22:00.001-07:00

In the past two months I have gone from this

[2001 Toyota Camry LE]

to this

[2010 Brodie Energy, my love]

to this

[Rebuilt 1988 Oldsmobile Firenza]

Let me explain.

In mid-August my Toyota Camry was in a fender-bender that resulted in a mangled hood. I say fender-bender, although the car was written off, because the other vehicle escaped unharmed and the force put upon my Camry for the hood to crumple was no more than 40km/h. However, regardless of how it happened, everyone was a-okay and the car was written off.

This all happened the day I flew to Ottawa for a two week vacation.

For two weeks I lived without a vehicle, taking the bus, a bicycle borrowed from my father, or walking. I didn't miss a thing because I wasn't used to life in Ottawa involving a vehicle. You see, my parents are "one car" kind of people, and that was simply the way it's always been. If both of my parents ever needed the vehicle at the same time, they would make do with the bus, a bicycle, or carpooling. My father bikes 12 months out of the year. In Ottawa.

Upon returning back to Victoria I was without a car.

Last time I was without a car I instantly purchased another (from the used classifieds). However, this time I decided to go without. Instead, I embraced my bicycle, public transit, and carpooling.

Until karma happened.

At least that's how I see it; you can only donate so much to the Salvation Army before something is bound to come back at you for free, right? Like 'ol moldy the moldsmobile, which was passed on to me for free by Ryan's best friend. You see, ol' moldy had been sitting, and molding, on his property for five years now. So he fixed her up to running order, I fixed her up to un-moldiness, and we now take longer journeys, the kind that were really tough to do on a bus in inclimate weather, together.

Lessons learned:

Embrace public transit: driving is stressful for me. I am not the kind of person who loves a good commute. Our property is located a 45 minute drive from my workplace. I do not enjoy these 45 minutes; infact, I drive as quickly as possible to get it over with, often becoming stressed out and agressive when other drivers are not equally speedy on the roads. I don't like driving.

While taking the bus adds a significant amount of time to my daily commute, I read. I knit. I breathe. 45 minutes of agrivation, or 90 minutes of relaxation... difficult choice?

Localize: prior to giving up my car I was making multiple trips into Victoria; that's roughly 2 hours round-trip spent in the car. I would spend two hours in my car in order to take a one hour yoga class; two hours in my car to spend an hour at a restauraunt; two hours in my car for a fifteen minute doctor's appointment.

It seems like an awful lot of time to spend in the car, aggressive and stressed.
I've now begun to seek out local alternatives to all of this commuting; teaching and practicing at the yoga studio that is a 15 minute bike ride from my home, planning doctor's appointments for times when I am already in town or when I can make one trip to accomplish multiple tasks. Best of all? Biking or walking into town for local cuisine and markets!

Exercise!

Appreciate every moment. This is ridiculous, but the Moldsmobile is such a "junker" that I have come to appreciate every single time I arrive at my destination without a dramatic journey. I have written a little jingle about "making it to work again" and do a little moonwalk dance. I sing to ol' Moldy. I think this is why the car is holding up.

Carpooling: I am blessed with living only a five minute drive from one of my coworkers, so we alternate driving - this ends up saving me almost a tank of gas a week! Bonus: at 6am when we get off the night shift I don't have to worry about driving - I can kick back and relax, if not doze a little ;)

More together time with Ryan: Since I am going car-lite Ryan and I have been spending a lot more time together, performing errands together and choreographing our days around each other so as to use only one vehicle instead of two. I love him. I love it.

FREE CAR + Less expensive insurance + going car-lite = big savings. Plain and simple, we have more money this way.

Up next: I remind you all that I don't know how to take anything in moderation by telling you that I am currently taking inventory of my worldly posessions. I shit you not. I have a list that includes every last sock and bottle of tylenol in the house...

I finally get back to some knitting, eating, and running - because suddenly with less stuff to take care of and less places to be, I have more time for all of the above!

Oh, and I run a marathon on Sunday... eeps!

On Stuff

2011-09-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally made the biggest purge-plunge of all, books.
Over the past several months Ryan and I have been planning and sketching up various custom bookshelf designs to construct around our antique piano - wall to wall, floor to ceiling. I had to build this bookshelf in order to finally organize my books, DVDs, trinkets.

[I apologize that I have no photos of my own boxed up books!]

The more I read on disassociation from clutter, the more I realize how much of the things I had to organize were simply clutter. Junk that I've been carrying around with me for years, stuff that represented my aspirational self (like I was really ever going to read Tolstoy for fun on the weekend... or finish knitting that sweater my mother started 30 years ago (striped grey mohair and peacock blue silk?).

Ecology textbooks, 18th century literature anthologies, children's literature books I never enjoyed... why was I hanging onto all of this? 5 bankers boxes of novels, whittled down to one box, containing only books I truly loved, would re-read, or reference on a regular basis (mainly my yoga texts).

[This photo makes my skin crawl]

While I still cannot wait to build a glorious bookshelf out of reclaimed lumber, I no longer need it. Organizing and displaying the stuff wouldn't have lightened my load, if anything I would feel the weight of the unread novels and my aspirational self even more than while this stuff was in boxes.

I would never think, not in a million years, that getting rid of stuff would make me feel so free.

Minsumer

2011-09-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

I love cleaning and organizing. It's that simple.
I love the look of a clean and tidy living space; the idea of organizational products send shivers down my spine.
However, it's only now that I realize that the joy of organization isn't in the organizing of the stuff I love, but in containing it; putting my 'stuff' out of sight; clean, empty spaces.

It took a long time to finally come to the conclusion that I am a minimalist at heart.

And so, after months of following wonderful bloggers like Miss Minimalist, Everyday Minimalist, and The Minimalist Woman, Ryan and I have taken the plunge: we have joined the quite revolution that is minsumerism. Slowly, we are working on paring down our personal belongings to the bare bones; keeping only those items that we use on a weekly basis or that bring joy to our lives (psh, like I'd give up my handknits or Ry his farmhouse antiques!).

It isn't always easy to let go of the "stuff", but slowly but surely, one item at a time, we are coming to find room to breathe.

I just realized I really don't even like that footstool.

Valerie Miles Photography

2011-09-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.

I submitted my 116th B.A.A. Boston Marathon entry. I am excited. And nervous!

There. I've adressed the lack of running content, so can we get back to knitting now?

Everytime I visit Ottawa I pack my recent FO's delicately in my suitcase (in a garbage bag to prevent any accidental airline spills from ruining my precious goods) and wait patiently to meet with my childhood friend, Valerie Miles, of Valerie Miles Photography. And by patiently wait, I mean repeatedly call and text her, demanding that she push aside all other engagements and meet with my handknits and I.

Notre Dame de Grace by Veronik Avery, knit in 006 Mission Falls 1824 Wool

Thermal by Laura Chau, knit in Blackberry SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock

Paraphernalia by Taina Anttila, knit in 1003 Austermann Step Classic

8 Stitches per Inch Socks by Ann Budd , knit in 584 ONline Supersocke 100 Sierra Color

Garter Rib by Charlene Schurch, knit in Mission Falls 1824 Wool, 006 Colorway

Notre Dame de Grace by Veronik Avery, knit in Violet HillSweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock

Garter Stripe Baby Socks by Jennifer Hoel, knit in Buttercup Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight

WIP Aquaphobia by Crystal Smith, knit in 112-Nemo Hazel Knits Artisan Sock

WIP Lingerie by Maria Näslund, knit in Nightingale A Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna Cashmere Yarn

Really now.

Can you blame me?

[Full size photos can be found by clicking here]

Eat, ***, Knit

2011-09-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

Where did the run go I hear you asking?

Despite not blogging about it, I assure you that training is trucking along as planned. On average, I have been logging roughly 55-75km running, 2 hours on the spin bike, and 2.5km in the pool on a weekly basis. Not to mention a few hours of strength training every week to keep my bones strong and my muscles ready for speed.

Speaking of speed...

I took first place in the women under 25 division at the CFB Esquimalt 10k in early August, with a finishing time of 44:38!

This little training buddy of mine has been tuckered out lately!

With only 27 days left until my 'A race', the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon, my coach and I decided it was time for a solid tune-up race.

Enter the McNeill Bay Half-Marathon.

I would be lying if I said that the race went fabulously and I managed to podium in the women's 20-29 division. But, for a tune-up, this race showed me (and my coach) quite a few little things. Allow me a moment to give you a play-by-play:

Night Before

Ryan and I sit down to a large bowl of pasta and chicken breast covered in marinara sauce and a little parm. No veggies, since veggies + racing = poops. And not pretty pre-race poops. Painful mid-race stomach cramping kinds!

Pack race bag with pre and post-race clothing, fuel, wallet, cosmetics, and knitting (for the morning car ride).

Lay out running gear for the morning, bib attached in advance, fuel belt packed (3 PowerBar Gels) and bottles filled in the fridge (1 Gatorade, 1 water)

In bed by 9:30pm, not wearing my compression socks for once...

Morning Of

5:30am wake up, dink around on my phone in bed for too long, 5:45am before I know it!

5:45am, spill Ryan's glass of diet coke onto my cedar chest while trying to rummage around for the light switch. Freak out and have to clean diet coke off of several handknit garments.

6am, start making oatmeal and coffee, now 30 minutes later than I should be - I should be eating by 6am (2 hours pre-race). Do my hair and makeup while oatmeal simmers.

6:30am, eat breakfast, throw on my race gear and put my race bag in the Westfalia.

6:45am, we're off.

7:30am, arrive at high school start/finish location; use washroom, run around the block to loosen up, perform 5 minutes of running drills, use washroom again, stretch.

8am, toe starting line.

Race notes

1 minute in, realize that my race is not with the 4 minute/km runners (6:26/mi), allow my ego to drop and fall back into a comfortable 4:30/km pace (7:14/mi).

Gag back a gel every 25-30 minutes along with a swig of water, consume gatorade inbetween fuel gels.

Despite slowing down and taking the hills slower than I wish I had, I finished this race strong. I sprinted across the finish line, passing three other runners in the last 500m, almost vomitting I pushed it out so hard. I then proceeded to turn around, walk a km back, and run Ryan across the finish line as well!

My finishing time? 1:41:16.

So what does this all mean?
It means I'm doing well. I'm happy with where my coach and my training has taken me so far and am very excited to lay it on the line on October 9th at the . I have total faith and confidence that I will be able to PR this year and smash my 3:25:34 out of the park.

Boston 2012, here I come - I register on Wednesday morning!

Sneak Peak

2011-09-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Thermal by Laura Chau, knit in SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock, Blackberry Colorway

Morning

2011-09-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

It is most definitely September; there is a slight chill in the air that reminds us of this. Fortunately, I could not begin to fathom a better place to be right now than on vacation. Whether at home or here with my parents, mornings are always the same beautiful sliver of perfection.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal
This bowl has been a morning staple lately, sweet, salty, oaty perfection. Without the chocolate chips it is my oatmeal base as I like to call it - the oatmeal I eat daily, prior to mixing in and topping it with the current flavor(s) of the week.

1/2C oats, uncooked (I use steel cut, although old fashioned or large flaked works as well - do not use instant or quick oats)

1 1/2C water

1 banana, sliced thinly

1T chia seeds

1t cinnamon

1t vanilla extract

1t sea salt

1T natural peanut butter

1T chocolate chips

1. In a small sauce pan over medium heat (I use #4 on my stove top), bring oats, water and banana to a bubbling-boil.
2. Reduce heat to low (I use #2 on my stove top) and stir in chia seeds, cinnamon, vanilla, extract and sea salt.
3. Allow oats to reach desired consistency before removing from heat, pouring into a bowl and topping with peanut butter and chocolate chips!
4. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Special note: If you do not have chia seeds, consider subbing in flax meal - although this will affect the flavor. If you do not use either chia or flax, reduce water to 1C as the chia or flax act as a "glue" that sucks up a lot of water when used alongside the oats! Otherwise, you'll have some very runny oats or a very long cook time!

Ottawa in August

2011-08-31T12:46:00.001-07:00

So far my trip has been heaven. Spending time with family and friends, eating amazing homemade food (and still getting to eat my oatmeal every morning, just like at home), keeping up with my training, and...

A whole lot of time to knit. Travel socks, coffee shop socks, hanging out with mom socks, movies with the family socks... so much sock knitting!

I wish...

2011-08-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

... I was curled up on my couch in my new Notre Dame de Grace Pullover ...

... knitting a Dipped Infinity Scarf using one of Tanis' beautifully chosen Dipped Infinity Scarf Kits ...

This kit in particular.

... consuming copious amounts of oatmeal, topped with a batch of Ashley's Cake Batter Cashew Butter.

I must try this recipe ASAP.

Thank goodness I am leaving for Ottawa tomorrow! I cannot wait to curl up on a couch with a big bowl of oatmeal, some knitting, and my mom!

Cheating

2011-08-23T22:49:00.001-07:00

I have a secret to tell you. It's something that I've been witholding from you for quite some time now; since May 8th, 2011 to be exact.

I am still blogging daily.

The only problem is that it is literally all in my head. Almost everyday while running, or while holding my pointy-sticks and yarn, we converse. I tell you all about the trials and tribulations of running, how wonderful my current project feels in my hands, or how utterly delicious my newest oatmeal creation is.

[Photo taken by MisoCrafty]

Then I realize that I don't have the internet... then our witty conversations slip away, and before long, the idea of writing a blog post seems insurmountable.

But I want you to know that I still think about you. Every. Day.

Luckily, today I do have internet access and felt the need to reach out and tell you that I miss you.

Oh, and that I am completely and utterly enthralled with my current knitting project, my Sweet Thermal. Literally all I am doing is eating bowls of voluminous oatmeal covered in dark chocolate and peanut butter, running countless training miles in preparation for the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon in 46 days, and curling up on my couch with my sweet, SweetGeorgia yarn.

PS: It has taken every fiber of my being to not attempt to summarize the past three months for you, to recall all our in-my-head-conversations. Perhaps sometimes less is more.

La Belle Vie

2011-05-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Moved in, got my first dog, ran a 10k road race, hired a personal running coach on a one year contract, and decided to run the 50km Scorched Sole ultra trail race.

Would you like to hear about my new baby? Of course you would.

Her name is Belle and she is a 9 month old German Shepherd/Husky/Rottweiler. Her birthday is July 15th 2010 and she is my new best friend and running partner (sorry Ryan). We found her through one of Ryan's mother's co-workers, she was stuck in the middle of a divorce involving children and property and pets, and unfortunately her old owner had to make the decision to give her a better life. Lucky for us, 12 acres seems to suit her just fine and she spends the majority of her time out of doors with us in the yard or on runs with me.

Okay, and maybe sometimes we spend our mornings like this...

Despite having a great new running buddy to protect me from the bears and cougars in our area, I have been in serious need of a butt kicking to get me back into my training. Enter the personal running coach. Yes my friends, I've hired a running coach on a one year contract through LifeSport Coaching. I'm pretty excited to start working with Mark Overton, who has already forced me to make some goals for this season; like a 3:15 marathon PB! Eeps!

Unfortunately, I am so bad at keeping you all filled in, but I suppose this is going to be life as we know it now that we are rural-folk. We had the Shaw internet man come to our house and make an assessment... $20,000 to have the internet cable laid down. Oh, but it's okay, because they will reimburse us $500 for it as a customer bonus. Ha. I don't think so.

And so, my dear friends, please don't leave me; I kind of like our relationship, don't you? I still get nervous butterflies when I think about you, so you can't leave me just yet!

Besides, I haven't given you the recap yet...

MOVING DAY

2011-04-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

I know you're all waiting on the edge of your seats for my 2011 Boston Marathon race recap, but unfortunately for you (and very fortunately for me), today is moving day!

Besides, the official marathon photo's are being put online today, and I think that would make for a much better race recap on Sunday night. Check back then!

Boston and Back

2011-04-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

I promise to recap this race. I know I don't normally do race recaps, but this one totally deserves it.

But for now... bed.

Packing

2011-04-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Our house is officially in shambles.

Today was our closing date on our new house and tomorrow morning I leave for Boston to run the 2011 Boston Marathon!

That's a heck of a lot of packing to be done!

It's a very good thing I have such a loving man who is going to install carpet in our loft and paint the house while I'm running off my badonkadonk!

In case you are so inclined, you may follow me on race day over at BAA.org; I will be sporting bib number 9812!

Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement and well wishes, you guys seriously rock my Marathon Monkey socks!

What Would Kitty Do?

2011-04-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

Our house was built in 2007 by the man we bought it from, using only timber fallen from the land for wood. How cool is that?

Well, yesterday he also revealed to us that it is built to emulate Moss Cottage, the oldest standing pioneer home west of Victoria.

[Moss Cottage]

[Our House]

Moss Cottage was built in 1869/70 by James Welsh for his bride, Mary Ellen Flynn, it was home to the couple for ten years.

Mary Ellen Welsh gave birth to six children over the next ten years.

SIX CHILDREN in our 781sq. ft. home? If Mary Ellen Welsh could do it, or Kitty (MEW, get it?) as I have come to nickname her, then heck, I'm going to have to hunker down and start zipping my lip about our lack of space. I'm already repeating my new mantra "What would Kitty do?" when it comes to anything home related.

Yet another fun fact for you all: our new house does not have the capability for internet or television. Yes, you read that right. Our property is rural enough that both internet and cable providers do not service our area. Television we can easily do without, having gone without television for years in the past - but internet? Well... what would Kitty do?

Comings and Goings

2011-04-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

There sure has been a lot going on around here lately.

Spring has sprung in our parts, and the anticipation towards owning our first house together as of Friday night has us making a lot of new and exciting preparations. Oh, and 12 acres doesn't hurt either now, does it.

:: Seeds for a future garden have been sewn.

[Butternut squash, spaghetti squash, sugar pumpkin, cantaloupe, eggplant, green beans, pickling cucumber, fingerling carrot, iceberg lettuce, buttercrisp lettuce, and cherry tomatoes]

[Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Mammoth Dill, Parsley, Cinnamon Basil and Peppermint]

:: The first offerings of spring are beginning to show up at our local farmer's markets.

:: Raw goat milk runs to a local farm are slowly becoming part of our weekly chores.

:: Seedy honey-multigrain bread loves have been emerging from the oven like they're going out of style; which they definitely are not.

:: Relaxing, educational mornings have been providing more fodder for my daydreams.

:: Said mornings made complete with an ongoing obsession with all things peanut butter and banana.

[Peanut Butter Banana Muffins, based on HEAB's Almond Butter Banana Muffins]

[Grilled banana with homemade peanut butter and coconut flakes, on seedy honey-multigrain bread, naturally]

:: A Notre Dame de Grace Pullover (Rav. link) is nearing the stages of completion; perfect for chilly spring mornings before the fire warms the house.

So many changes and beautiful new beginnings this spring!

Nervous in a Good Way

2011-04-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Because if I wasn't before...

then I certainly am now! Thanks for the constant reminders B.A.A. :P

It is Finished

2011-03-31T16:13:00.001-07:00

There are so many things I have wanted to tell you about over the past week, little blogger type thoughts about great posts; like that time on Sunday morning when I woke up craving an avocado so badly that I put on my running shoes, ran 3km to the grocery store, bought the perfect avocado and then ran home, cradling it it the palm of my hand like a baby animal - it was combined with steel cut oats, a farm fresh egg, some salsa and cheddar cheese to create a wonderful bowl of savoury oats.

But what I really came here to say, is that it is finished.

The Patons Afghan of Doom.

The afghan that's original name is "A Lazy Afternoon".

The afghan that I started knitting in 2003. For the record, that's 8 years ago.

The afghan that has moved, as an unfinished object, through nine housing relocations (I was once a University student afterall), and a trip to Guatemala.

I have carried the unfinished pieces of this afghan with me for a very long time. The better part of my young-adult life. Now that Ryan and I have purchased our first house together (more on that later), I decided that perhaps it's best for me to stitch together the pieces of my past and put it to rest.

On Monday I pulled out the pieces, soaked them, blocked them, and decided that it was finally time.

Time to put my past to use.

Pattern: A Lazy Afternoon by Patons
Size: Medium
Yarn: Patons Decor, ~21 skeins (4410.0 yards) in Aubergine, Country Pink and Pale Country Pink
Needle: US 7 - 4.5 mm

It is finished.

Right Now

2011-03-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

a la SouleMama

Right now I am...

::hopeful that our financing is approved before Friday so that we can purchase our little dream home, situated on 12 acres of land.

::celebrating a diagnosis. After six months, the doctors have found out I have PCOS. Not great news, but, like mother like daughter, and it's certainly not uncommon or unmanageable.

::not sick. Been there. Done that.

::not missing competitive running at all. Boston is in 31 days and I'm ready to have fun and take it easy. Training? What's that.

::dreaming of cold nights in our future home, curled up in front of our wood fireplace.

::awaiting mortgage brokers.

::knitting away my nerves.

If you can't tell, my mind is very consumed with thoughts and dreams regarding our next home. Nestled on 12 acres, this cosy upscale cabin is totally private with towering trees, nature wetlands, and sun all day long. Hydro, well, and driveway already in for second dwelling on property. Did I mention that the cabin was built by the owner a mere four years ago solely with wood milled from the property?

Perfect.

2011 Frontrunners Island Race Series

2011-03-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I have been participating in the 2011 Frontrunners Island Race Series this year. Having run only the final race of the series last year, I figured it would be great to try and run as much of the series as possible this time around.

The first race was tough, I hadn't run 8K non-stop since fracturing my hip. But with Ryan by my side, we made it in 44:45!

This is Ryan finishing. I'm the disembodied hand holding his arm as we cross together.

The second race Ryan and I split up, he motored out a 50:56, while I dragged along behind him at 53:58 (still awesome considering this was exactly 3 months post hip fracture/surgery!)

These are officially the worst race photos ever. I wish it was just Ryan and I being horribly unphotogenic while running, but seriously. Go look at this album and tell me if anyone looks good. He makes running look like the most painful sport known to man!

Seriously.

The third race... I forgot my running shoes. Yea... we drove two hours to get to the race only to find out that I left my running shoes at home. Lukcily we laughed it off and went for a nice drive through the country side and out for lunch at Steeples instead. Ryan didn't feel like running that morning anyway (I literally had to beg him to drive to the race and run it with me), so I suppose it was fate.

This morning's race went ah-mazing. I cranked out a 23:02 5K PB! And came in 7th in my age division! I've run faster than that in the past, but never on a timed 5K race, so I was pretty pleased! I've come a long way in a mere 5 months post-injury!

Obviously, only the elite's have photos online already, but I wasn't far behind ;)

So far, here's what my series looks like at a glance:

Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K, Jan 9: 44:45

Cobble Hill 10K, Jan 23: 53:58

Cedar 12K, Feb 6: I forgot my running shoes!!!

Hatley Castle 8K, Feb 20: did not run, we were out of town for Ryan's birthday

Synergy Health Management Ltd. Bazan Bay 5K, Mar 6: 23:02

Comox Valley Half Marathon, Mar 20: registered

Merville 15K, Apr 3: registered

Sooke River 10K, Apr 17: BOSTON BOUND!

So far I'm 9th place in my division, based on a points system. Hopefully I can maintain my standing in the top 10 this year!

Also, thank you so much to all of you who responded to my previous post, it means a lot to me. I was quite hesitant as to whether or not to "air my dirty laundry", as this is not usually in my nature and I have been keeping my disordered eating a secret for almost a year now. As stated, I have written up a post about what I've been going through, however, am not quite ready to share that with you all yet. Nevertheless, I feel the need to let you in, at least a little bit. Trying, right?

Trying

2011-03-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

While I want to fill you in on the joyous two weeks I just spent traveling around the West Coast in our 1985 Westfalia named Chimera, that just seems like an awful lot of work. So instead, I will leave you with one photo, and the promise that I had a wonderful time.

Instead of rambling about my adventures, I'd like to tell you where I am at right now. It's always so hard to come back after an extended hiatus.

Right now I am...

struggling with disordered eating. I've written a post about it, but have decided not to share just yet. Maybe one day I will be ready. For now, I will let you know that I have been seeing a psychologist and am slowly improving. I am still struggling with food and weight; very much so, but am working on it and am proud of how far I've already come. I've also kept this a secret from pretty much everyone except Ryan until now. To those of you I have shut out, I am sorry.

not really running nearly as much as I should be seeing as how Boston is in 43 days. I have not run longer than 19km since October 10th, 2010.

okay with the above point. I will finish Boston, not quickly or without a little pain, but I have no doubt that I will see the finish line in less than 8 hours. My running mojo is kind of dead at the moment.

incredibly surprised that I am okay with not having a strict workout schedule to adhere to.

just putting the finishing touches on a post about running with injury (which includes notes from my physiotherapy and running injury clinic at Parkway Physiotherapy).

trying. Really, really trying.

That's really all a girl can do right?

Edit: I realize now that this post is fairly broken, not at all eloquent, and sort of cryptic... what I really mean to project out to the world is that I am struggling. I am trying. I have improving. I am happy.

I am also in quite an in-between stage where I think it may be best for my mental health to withdraw from the running/healthy living community until I am better; however, am not quite willing to let go just yet. Can you sense my confusion?

February Love

2011-02-04T01:58:00.000-08:00

It's February. I love February. February means Ryan's birthday, and Valentine's Day!

Okay, okay. Maybe it's because I love decorating things with pink and red hearts.

Speaking of which, I may or may not have bought heart shaped window clings and stuck them to every window/mirror in the house today. Heck yes.

I also picked up heart shaped silicone baking cups - which currently contain banana bread. Ryan's favorite.

And a giant heart cookie cutter. Because I want to make heart shaped eggs and pancakes all month. Oh yes I do.

And maybe, just maybe, I will continue to make heart shaped treats all year long. Just because it makes me smile.

Banana Banana Breads
[Original recipe from allrecipes.com]

I didn't healthify this recipe at all, because sometimes a girl needs a little sugar, butter and flour in her life. And because sometimes it's best to not come between a man and his banana bread.

2C unbleached all-purpose flour
1t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2T cinnamon
1/2C homemade butter
3/4C sucanat
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3C mashed overripe bananas (approx. 6 bananas)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups (fills 16 muffin cups).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

A Healthy Balance

2011-02-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life calls for healthy chocolate chip cookie dough balls.

(I am currently obsessed with these. Recipe below.)

Sometimes life calls for steamed vegetables, grain fed hormone free chicken, hasselback potatos and homemade German red cabbage.

(Fine dining in pajamas. The best part about eating at home!)

And sometimes, life calls for camping. In the rain. In the middle of winter. And winter camping in the rain calls for veggie dogs, cheese buns, prepackaged granola bars and Caramilk liquor mixed with hot tea.

Oh. And let us not forget snowpants.

Because sometimes life just requires a healthy balance between salad and liquor.

And Angela's Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Chip COokie Dough Balls!

Ingredients:
2/3C cashews
1/2C + 1T regular oats
3/4C whole grain spelt flour (or other flour)
1t kosher salt
5 pitted medjool dates, chopped
1t pure vanilla extract
4T pure maple syrup
3-4T dark chocolate or my homemade raw chocolate, chopped (I used 2T dark chocolate chips and 2T peanut butter chips)

Directions: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non stick mat. In a food processor, process the cashews and oats until a fine crumble. Now add in the flour, kosher salt, and roughly chopped pitted medjool dates. Process until fine.

Add in the vanilla and pure maple syrup and process until the mixture comes together in a ball.

Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the 3-4 tbsp of chopped dark chocolate. Roll into balls.

Freeze for 1 hour to set. Serve immediately.

Yield: Approx. 25 balls.

Zoe's Stay-On Booties

2011-01-27T14:38:00.001-08:00

What is the best way to welcome a new baby into the world?

Have woolens waiting of course!

This pattern is Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties by Christine Bourquin, knit up in some lovely leftover Fleece Artist Nova Sock yarn (100% superwash merino), for one of Ryan's coworkers new baby girl, Zoe. Ryan was so excited to give them away that he forced his friend to open the gift up first thing in the morning, instead of waiting to get home to his wife. They were so grateful they even sent me a photo of her wearing them! I love when my handknits bring smiles and love.

Speaking of handknits; I have decided to start selling my handknits winter 2011 at a local craft fair. It will be a lot of work, but I think I can do it!

There were other things I wanted to tell you about too, like my week long diet detox, or my german red cabbage, or even and how my right knee is too hurt to run right now (she's sore and swells up with high impact activity, good thing I've grown attentive enough to my body to stop before it's too late!), but instead... well, I'd rather be knitting.

Detox Bandwagon

2011-01-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

I've gone and hopped on the detox bandwagon!

My head won't stop pounding from caffeine withdrawal. This is a good thing... right?

Quickly:

Why: This past week Ryan and I have found ourselves uncomfortably bloated, gassy, upset to our stomachs, and even so far as Ryan (TMI!) puking after eating a can of Chef Boyardee. We've slowly been turning a blind eye to sugar and processed foods sneaking their way into our diets and need to hit a restart button, STAT!

Avoiding: caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, artificial sugars (sucralose, aspartame, etc.) and processed foods!

Body: Inspired by Ashley, I begin my day by chugging back a warm glass of lemon water, dry brushing before my shower, using my beloved neti, and avoiding cosmetics for a week. ACK! I KNOW!

My head is pounding, so please swing over to Ashley's blog to see how she's been doing on her detox (she's on day 9!), or check out her Detox Day 1 for a full explanation of the benefits of lemon water!

Maths

2011-01-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

+

+ Doctor's approval to run again

=

I guess that means "Boston Marathon 2011, here I come!"

Not as Planned

2011-01-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Some days progress perfectly as planned. Yesterday did not. Fortunately, things sometimes just work out for the best regardless.

To start, some ship-related business kept me on base longer than I had initially expected; this resulted in a frantic drive to the gym to make it to a spin class. Thank you New Years gym rush, the spin class was filled 20 minutes in advance. Bummer. I did however manage to get a 5km speed session in on the treadmill - jogging 400m at a 6min/km pace followed by 800m at a 5min/km pace, repeated over 5.2km - followed by a 30 minute weight training session.

After some delicious Dill Pickle Soup and a change of wardrobe I headed across the lower island to babysit for the evening. While I was there, this happened.

As some of you may recall, November 2010 I wrote off a 2000 Toyota Camry LE in a snowfall. I sat in my car, sobbing hysterically, called my mom in Ottawa, and then decided to drive the 10 minutes at 10km/hr to my sailorman's sisters house and spend the night on her couch.

Thankfully, my sailorman was also stranded due to the snow, so we took his sister's Jeep to retreive him and we got to spend the night curled up on the couch together.

Today the roads are drying up (thank you rain and unpredictable weather) and I've booked my spin bike in advance.

Today things will go according to my plan!

Another Marathon Training Plan

2011-01-02T22:18:00.001-08:00

I must confess, I have blogger envy. My favorite bloggers are stay at home moms, professional bloggers, or even work in the food or fitness industry. Not I said the blind man. I am your typical working class woman, spending my mornings at a desk, struggling to find opportunities to get up and move; my afternoons spent cleaning up other peoples messes, and then usually babysitting until 8 or 9pm. I cannot get to the yoga studio on most days, the gym feels a million miles away, and outdoor activities are just not so appealing in the dark.

However, Ryan and I have started waking up at 5am, the wee hours of the cold mornings, dressing in about 82732 layers (okay, maybe only three), and heading out the door for a run.

It feels good to run.

In my Christmas stocking this year I received the new Runner's World magazine. It happened to contain an article for "less is more" marathon training. I like less. Especially when I am still in the throws of recovery from my hip fracture in October and am still completely devoted to running Boston on April 18th 2011.

The plan:

The article:
Way of the Renegades

The results:
I'm now on week 2 and things are going well. No pain, no leaps or bounds in terms of regaining speed, still a little limpy, but on Sunday morning I ran an 8km race in 44:45. Not bad considering my recent medical history!
On a completely seperate note, I cast off my first sock of 2011 last night! One step closer to my 11 in 2011 goal. Rock on!

Starting Out Right

2011-01-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

I'm back!

2011 started on an uber high note: a 5km "Resolution Run", my first run in 83 days! I finished in 36:30, but that's not what matters anymore.

Before my injury I was finishing 10km races in 44 minutes, now my speed has almost been halved, but I couldn't be happier. I have never appreciated the act of running so much.

I've also got a head start on one of my new year's resolutions, 11 handknit socks in 2011, by casting on for a pair of Paraphernalia Socks. Oh la la!

While we're in the knitting way, would you care to see my Christmas knitting this year?

First, there was something for the tree,

then, something for the Sailorman,

and something for his mom.

It's going to be a good year. I can tell.

2010: A Year in Point Form

2010-12-31T23:52:00.001-08:00

The good, the bad, the ugly. These are the major points that stick out for me regarding 2010!

January

Started Yoga Teacher Training

February

Ryan and I endured our first important days apart due to work: Valentine's Day, his birthday, and his mother's birthday.

Ran my first half-marathon.

Was bitten by the marathon bug and started training for my first full marathon.

March

Started blogging!

April

Took Ryan home to meet my family; they fell in love.

Became a certified yoga instructor!

May

Completed my primary training as a Naval Communicator and was posted aboard the HMCS Winnipeg.

Moved in with the man of my dreams and love of my life.

June

Ryan was deployed.

I turned 23.

I flew to Hawaii to spend a week with him while his ship was alongside Pearl Harbour.

July

My ship became heavily active and I got my first taste of life at sea. Not bad!

August

A lot of sailing and marathon training!

Placed for the first time in a race: 3rd place in my division, 44:52 in a 10km

September

A heck of a lot more sailing and marathon training!

October

Ran my first full marathon, placing third in my division and qualifying for Boston with a time of 3:23.

My family flew in for the marathon.

Stress fractured my femur during said marathon.

Stress fracture fully fractured two weeks later, leading to emergency surgery and three pins.

Ryan came home!

November

Wrote off my 2000 Toyota Camry LE in my first ever major accident (besides fender benders that weren't my fault)

Purchased a 2001 Toyota Camry LE!

December

My popops passed away.

Found out I have Osteoporosis.

And now...

2011 Resolutions!

$25,000 in savings account (put $10,000 in RRSPs)

Donate blood 6 times (appointment for 12 Jan 2011)

Volunteer at the BCSPCA twice per month

Say "Good morning/afternoon/evening" before anything else (I read an article about the positive reactions to this)

Knit 11 pairs of socks in 2011!

And to get to the bottom of this health business of course! I'm too young for broken hips and osteoporosis!

Wishing you all the best in the new year,
Sarah-Mae

Oops!

2010-12-28T23:33:00.001-08:00

I got so wrapped up in my yarn (and recovery, and the holidays) that you temporarily slipped my mind! I'll be back in the new year. Promise!

Chocolate, Rum, Coffee, Butter...

2010-11-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to post on how to make butter, since this is something the Sailorman does for me quite often.

Unfortunately, we found heavy cream on sale at the supermarket because it 'expires' shortly, so the Sailorman whipped up two honkin' sticks of butter while I was whipping up a Mocha Rum Cake and Easy Oreo Truffles and I forgot.

Please forgive me?

Next time, I promise, I will remember to photograph his butter making skills.

Icarus

2010-11-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

On January 11th, 2010 I cast on a handful of pink stitches, intending to make a "big ass shawl" out of them.

Almost a year later, including a seven month knitting hiatus, a strange moth like creature lies pinned to my living room carpet.

A big ass shawl indeed!

[P.S. I have actually completed several projects since my training/military imposed knitting hiatus and intend to have a photoshoot with my sailorman this weekend so I can introduce you all to them. They apologize for being so shy!]

Threes

2010-11-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

First the hip breaks.
Second, the car breaks.
Now my laptop has gone and broken itself too.

The sailorman's grandma says that bad things come in threes and to break two matches everytime you break something so that you get the other two done and over with as well. I just might have to try that.

There is always a silver lining though, and maybe silver linings can come in threes as well.

One, it's the holiday season. I love the family, the food, and the cozying up indoors. Plus, it's snowing, which makes cozying up indoors that much more gratifying.

Two, all is well. The military fully covers me medically, the car is being covered by my insurance, and my laptop is being covered by Apple Care. Plus, if required, the Sailorman and I can take a financial hit or two and still come out on top. Thank goodness for savings.

Three, have I mentioned family? Everyone has just been so darn amazing through all my little breaks over the past month and a half. I have been completely blown away by the sailorman's family. They have rushed to hospitals, driven me around, brought me random acts of Starbucks kindness, expressed constant concern about my wellbeing, offered me so much advice, and now, I'm driving their Dodge Caravan until my own vehicle is either fixed or written off.

Life. It's pretty good.

One of those days...

2010-11-20T14:51:00.001-08:00

Today I got into an accident on the highway that wrote off my car.

It's one of those days.

Luckily I was the only one in the car, and the only vehicle involved in the accident, and I'm fine.

My car is not.

I have a pretty good feeling that my insurance company is going to write this badboy off. Sigh.

On the bright side, I am fine, no one was injured, I have a wonderful sailorman who rushed to the scene of the accident and ran me a candlelit bath when I got home, and we have the means required to purchase a new car (I'm thinking a Ford Escape or a Toyota Corolla).
The downside, I loved that darn old car, I have a headache from the airbags deploying and crying, would rather not have to dig into our 'house fund', and am pretty sick of 'accidents' in my life lately!

Today's just one of those days.

Bake-Off

2010-11-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

I've gone and entered a charity bake-off scheduled for next Monday morning (the 29th).

I'm in it to win it.

So what the heck do I make?! Tell me, what is your all time favorite baked good?

Sorry

2010-11-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for leaving you for so long.

My new employer's house is full of almond butter, tahini, coconut butter, extra virgin coconut oil, apple cider vinegars, red quinoa, stevia,

Every imaginable spice,

And a puppy named Teddy.

It almost makes up for the sore feet and exhaustion at the end of the day.

Unexpected Changes

2010-11-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

One minute you decide to look for the occasional baby-sitting job to fill your spare time and earn a little bit of extra cash, the next, you're a part-time nanny for a family of five (and 6 month old dog).

I have been hired primarily to clean and tidy, pick up the children from school, and best of all: cook.

Things are about to change around Eat, Run, Knit!

I start Saturday. And I'm bringing Dough Balls.

Ridin' Solo

2010-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ryan has duty today, which means he's confined to ship for 24 hours.

Naturally, I've already cranked the heat up in the house, danced around in my underwear, and sat on the couch with my knitting for three hours already.

I'm only not holding this new yarn right now because I've decided to go rent a movie.

Gosh I love a good ~~girls~~ old lady night!

Warming Up

2010-11-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

As the temperatures outside cool down, I find myself drawn to foods that heat up the home and body. Goodbye green monster smoothies and raw fruits and vegetables for dinner; hello stew, soup, roasted vegetables and baked goods.

Over the past week two delicious soups (if you can can a chili a soup) have graced our home and bellies. I would like to share them with you!

Terrific Turkey Chili

This is not the most waistline friendly turkey chili recipe, but sometimes you need to splurge. Especially when it's one of the sailorman's family traditions to have chili on Hallowe'en day and this year it's your job to uphold the tradition.
Besides, small waistlines don't keep the heat in very well anyways!

3T vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 ounce package taco seasoning mix
1t dried oregano
1t red pepper flakes
2T tomato paste
14.5 ounce can beef broth
7 ounce jar of salsa (I used medium heat)
14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes, or coarsely chopped tomatoes packed in puree
7 ounce can chopped green chile peppers
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 can red kidney beans
1C shredded cheddar cheese

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble turkey into the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon to break apart as much as possible. Season with taco seasoning mix, coriander, oregano, chili flakes, and tomato paste, and mix until meat is evenly coated with seasonings. Continue cooking, reducing heat if necessary, until turkey is well browned.

Pour in beef broth, and simmer to reduce liquid slightly, about 5 minutes. Add salsa, tomatoes, and green chilies, and continue cooking at a moderate simmer for ten minutes. Adjust the thickness at any time you feel necessary by adding water.

While chili is still cooking, heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion and green bell pepper, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent and bell pepper is lightly browned. Add onion and bell pepper to the chili, and continue cooking at a very low simmer.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, and cook stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the zucchini and kidney beans to the chili, reduce heat, and continue cooking 15 minutes more. Again, adjust the consistency with water as needed.

Ladle chili into serving bowls. Top with cheddar cheese, and serve.

Curried Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup

Heads up, I love my pureed soup thick. We're talking baby food thick. So if you prefer a more liquidy soup, add more vegetable stock and adjust your spices to taste!

1T E.V.O.O
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, chopped
8C vegetable stock
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
* 1 butternut squash, seeded, roasted, peeled and cubed
2T curry powder

In a large pot fry the onion and garlic until onions are lightly browned. Add carrots, cubed sweet potato and butternut squash and pour in enough of the vegetable stock to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

Using a hand blender, or transfering the soup to a blender in batches, blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in curry powder and any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste!

* This is easiest to do by cutting the b-nut squash in half, placing each half cut side down on a baking sheet, and roasting until tender. Squash will fall away from the skin at this point.

The best part about making soup in our house is that it lasts all week. Yum yum yum!

How do you stay warm as the temperatures drop?
My favorite way is homemade soup, chai tea, knitting and curling up by the fireplace (even if the only one we have right now is electric).

Blog Changes

2010-11-08T11:01:00.001-08:00

Before I get into it, here are some things that excited me this weekend!

Breakfasts in bed.

[Don't be fooled, I made breakfast, Ryan carried the tray - I'm on crutches!!!]

Homemade fudge from Whippletree Junction.

Finding 50% off reduced priced yogurt (without artificial sweeteners).

Spending a grand total of #32 on groceries for the week. For two!

[These salad bags were on sale for $1 each!]

Meals out with friends and family.

"First Chance" craft fair finds.

["Awesome Sauce" is going on grilled chicken for dinner tonight!!!]

And knitting. A lot of knitting.

After much contemplation, I've decided to change the format of this blog. I don't feel as though a day to day "what I ate" blog is helping anyone out, especially not since my meals are usually incredibly simple and repetitive. Let's face it, I've eaten Curried Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash soup for about five meals this week already.

Where is this coming from? On Friday my doctor informed me that all my blood work came back normal, all my levels of vitamins, minerals, and hormones look normal. So why did I fracture my hip at 23? Anorexia. No, that's not actually the case - as you can all see, I eat plenty!!! However, the fact that my doctor brought up that I may have an eating disorder and that other doctor's that I have seen in the past have approached him in regards to E.D. suspicions scares the crap out of me. I work so hard to be healthy. To be accused of exactly the opposite was heartbreaking, to say the least. Yes, I have lost weight throughout marathon training, very possibly from not consuming enough calories for the level of training I was performing.

How does this play into blogging? After a weekend 'unplugged' and spending time with my Sailorman, I've decided that I have been thinking about food far too much in the past year and that I need to work on finding a healthy balance between my bowl of oats in the morning and maybe not feeling quite so guilty over a bowl of ice cream before bed. An extra pound or two of junk in my trunk won't affect my lifestyle or the way I see myself, so I need to find a way to let go of this fear.

So please bear with me as I figure out exactly what I want this blog to look like. But trust me, it will continue to provide great looking meals, recipes, knitting, and constant updates!

Eye Opener

2010-11-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Alright. Alright. I'm broken. I get it.

Yesterday I headed to hospital for some follow-up x-rays and a consultation with my surgeon.

Good news:

I'm already 11 days post-op!

I haven't taken any medication (except my anti-coagulants) for pain since the few days after surgery!

I'm healing straight! Everything with the pins is looking, no movement there.

I'm allowed to weight train and swim in the pool (provided I hold a flutter-board between my legs so as to ensure I'm not kicking with them) again!

My surgeon, upon asking me if I still plan on running 2011 Boston, called me nuts... he didn't say it was impossible, only that I'm crazy. I can accept crazy!

Bad news:

I'll be on crutches for another four weeks of no weight bearing.

After the next four weeks, I'll remain on crutches for another month and a half... with a little bit more weight bearing.

I won't be medically cleared to get back on ship for at least another five months.

While I am allowed to weight train and swim, it's only upper body. I feel like I'm losing fitness.

Have I mentioned that I'm still on freaking crutches?!

The verdict:
He scared the poop out of me. I suppose I needed it though.
According to my doctor, if the pins shift while healing, or I push the healing process too quickly then I could lose bloog flow to my pelvis... which would require a hip replacement. At 23. However, provided everything heals properly, my surgeon did a wonderful job and everything is lined up - meaning I'll be back to normal, with a little added reinforcement!

The solution:

On a medical category temporary posting. Meaning I work ashore in an office. Lame.

Sitting on my butt with knitting.

A little bit of mopeing around.

Watching what I eat.

Watching as I eat that little bit of extra chocolate.

Watching as I drink an extra coffee or two.

And trying to chill the heck out.

I know it sounds like I'm bright and chipper and handling the situation well, but that's not always the case. Sure I can see the silver lining, and in the end, I want to be fully healed for the rest of my life. However, this sucks. A lot. I want to hike, run, swim, spin, or even be able to carry a coffee from the cafe to the car (never thought about that one did ya?! How is a girl supposed to carry anything without the use of her hands?!)

But I suppose in the end, I need to try and fully grasp that life can't always be about fitness... right?

More Confessions

2010-11-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I ate my body weight in leftover Hallowe'en candy.

Okay, I lied. It was probably twice my body weight.

I felt guilty, so the candy has been put in time out. Out of sight, out of mind.

As for me, I've sentenced myself to time out too.

Look at that smile; salad, leftover chili, my couch, fireplace and knitting is hardly punishment! I just can't stay mad at myself!

Farewell October

2010-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Hallowe'en weekend! Mine was full of wonderful!

It all started with pizza,

followed by a pumpkin carving adventure with Ryan's little brother,

a 'tasting' party with Ryan's best friend consisting of u-brew beer and his grandfathers bee's honey,

hanging out on the couch with Ryan and my handknit penguin hot water bottle cozy (note that Ryan prepared the lunch plate, we are so alike),

dressing up like Mario and Princess Peach for his sister's Hallowe'en party,

deciding to spend Hallowe'en day dressed up like a cheetah,

making turkey chili (more on this later),

having friends over,

before heading to Heritage Acres for an Enchanted Hallowe'en!

Which included a ride on the model train, where Ryan insisted on screaming loudly as we passed through the 2m long tunnel and scared the poop out of some children.

And curling up with horror movies and a lot of candy. A lot. Not photographed because I am ashamed of how much I ate, but don't regret it for a moment! I am concerned about the amount of candy we have leftover in the house now though... I've been good so far and only grabbed a couple pieces today, but I don't know if I can moderate myself forever!

Did you do anything fun for Hallowe'en? If you dressed up, what were you?

Recovery

2010-10-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Long story short, I was released from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and got to spend a lovely three days kicking back with my mom and Ry. I'm no longer taking anything for the pain, and with the exception of a dull ache at the incision site itself, I'm not really feeling any - mind you, I'm also on crutches for six weeks (although I may be able to talk my doctors/physio/surgeon down...).

Greasy spoon breakfasts were had.

Delicious dinners were consumed.

Including all the indulgences.

Old cookbooks and etiquette guides were bought.

And now we're back to "normal" everyday life.

Curling up on the living room couch with books.

Baking up a storm.

Oh, and forcing delicious foods onto Ry.

Spending the evening sitting on the couch with my knitting and a television series.

And friends. We must not forget about friends.

Ryan is also being crazy overprotective, which is just way too cute. Hello shoe-tier and door-opener!

Despite the misfortune that's fallen on my hip over the past three weeks, I am so. so. happy my love is home and that I am so blessed to have both of our family's in my life!

Reporting to you LIVE

2010-10-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

From the Royal Jubilee Hospital!

Where to start... so, in all my excitement last night I decided to head to the gym for a spin class to burn off a lol energy! Unfortunately there was a little accident: while walking to my bike my foot gripped at the ground and jolted me forwards, I didn't fall, but the motion jerked at my hip and it let out a rather large crack. My heart rate instantly jumped up to 104 (from the 52 it was prior - I was wearing a heart rate monitor) and I knew something was wrong. I tried to stretch it out but once my whole leg began to tighten I knew something was wrong. To make a long story short, the pain got worse and worse, an ambulance was called and before long I was in the worst pain I've ever been in. Ryan's parents were contacted and came immediately, future in-laws do NOT get any better than Pat and Stu.

I was immediately taken to the Saanich Penninsula Hospital, it was here that the pain became absolutely unbearable and i knew something was big time wrong. After what felt like a lifetime I was seen by a doctor who I barely remember touching me, but asking me a lot of questions. He concluded that it 'must be muscular' and did not require an x-ray. I very rudely told him where to go and insisted on an x-ray; something was very wrong here.

And it was. Emergency surgery was scheduled at the Royal Jubilee Hospital for the next morning. So much for cleaning the house, meeting Ry on the jetty, or getting to provide him with the perfect welcome home after his deployment. Pat, who used to be a nurse informed me how proud she was that I insisted on what I knew I needed instead of suffering in silence. I must admit, telling the doctor 'no, I need an X-ray' over and over again was not easy.

But, guess who showed up after surgery?

Yes my friends, after five long months at sea, the love of my life has returned to me.

And he came bearing the gift of fresh organic foods!

Thank goodness too, because dinner was TINY!

I asked for 'whole foods' when the nurse inquired if I was on any particular dietary restrictions. While the food was greatly appreciated, it was totally not enough! It's a good thing Ry had brought the salad!

Later in the evening Ry went and picked up my mom from the airport - she flew in from Ottawa as soon as she found out, claiming 'it's a mom thing' and that she had to. And before I knew it, Ry, Pat, Stu AND my mom were by my side (along with treats from Starbucks).

I'm hoping to be released from the hospital today (yes, I am currently iPhone blogging), although i may not be released until as late as Tuesday.

My hip is, well, very sore, but the pain is already improving from what it's been the past two weeks. There is no longer any 'sharpness', just a long drawn out ache. Honestly, the worst of it all is that I am confined to a bed and that Ryan is FINALLY home and yet I still can't lie next to him in bed. Sigh.

Here's hoping they set me free tonight!

Elaboration Please

2010-10-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Cheese Danish Oats

1C water
1/2C old fashioned rolled oats
1/2C low fat cottage cheese
1 banana, thinly sliced
1T chia seeds
1t vanilla extract
1t cinnamon

Combine ingredients, adding cottage cheese in last and stirring until melty. Top any way you like your danish! Maple syrup was particularly delicious!

Recipe yields 1 bowl: Calories: 400

Lately I have been craving chocolate chipped baked goods. I decided that a 'civi. day' was as good as an excuse as any to bake up some sweet treats, indulge, and then bring the rest to work so as to get them the heck out of my house!

Civi. day means we don't have to wear our uniforms! It's a United Way fundraiser that occurs on the last Friday of the month, kind of like a 'casual Friday', only the difference between uniform and civilian clothing is night and day!

Everyone has been loving up on the shortbread all morning, especially when placed beside the coffee maker! Two thumbs up for this easy shortbread cookie! Bonus, I made them small so each cookie only packs 73 calories!

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookie

1C butter, softened
1/2C confectioners' sugar
1t vanilla extract
2C all-purpose flour
2C miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1T shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Mix in the flour, and then one cup of the chocolate chips. Shape dough into 2x1/2 inch logs. Place logs 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in preheated oven, or until firm. Let cookies cool completely before removing from pan (shortbread is brittle).

Melt the remaining 1 cup chocolate chips and shortening over a double boiler, stirring frequently until smooth. Dip one end of each cookie into the chocolate, place back on parchment paper until set.

Note: the shortening is required in this recipe (or some form of oil) to make the chocolate coating. I tried simply melting chocolate and it wasn't quite thin enough to dip cookies into. Butter didn't work at thinning it out either, so I resorted to throwing the shortening in afterall. I only coated half the batch in the chocolate dip though!

Per cookie (when batch yields 50 cookies): Calories: 73 | Total Fat: 5.3g | Cholesterol: 10mg

I ate four of these before heading to a spinning class instead of making the simplified eggplant parmesan (grill eggplant, add pasta sauce and parm. the end)! Eggplant can wait. Warm cookies are far more important!

Wait. Did you say spin class? You betcha! I successfully completed a 45 minute spin class without pain! Getting my heart rate up on dry ground felt like HEAVEN after two weeks of solely weight training and swimming. I didn't stand up at all, but I sure did push it. I'm going for another class tonight, this time with my heart rate monitor in tow - because I'm curious!

Warning: I may be AWOL for the next couple of days. Ryan gets home tomorrow morning (ohmygodohmygodohmygod) and after 5 months apart, I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time unplugged! I promise a heck of a lot of cooking and baking for my sailorman will occur, along with photos since he is returning with the point and shoot, so there will be a heck of a lot of photos and recipes to catch you all up with next week.

<3 Have a good weekend everyone!!!

Few Words

2010-10-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

I will elaborate tomorrow. Especially about the cookies.

Wednesday's breakfast: cottage cheese oats with a blob of triple-berry jam

Thursday's breakfast: cottage cheese oats with maple syrup

Tuesday's lunch: Eat Smart Asian Salad and smoked salmon

I snack a lot, primarily on fruit. Here is a rare picture of a snack, PAPAYA!

Wednesday and Thursday's lunch: raw veggies with sprout mixed bean dip and a Tim Hortons' coffee.

Eat Smart Asian Salad and mashed sweet potato and squash

Eat Smart Asian Salad

Chocolate chip shortbread cookie logs

Chocolate chip shortbread cookie logs

Chocolate chip shortbread cookie logs

Thursday's dinner: simplified eggplant parmesan

Thursday's dinner: simplified eggplant parmesan

Have a good night!!!

The Art of the Choke

2010-10-19T15:15:00.001-07:00

Hello strange creature, my name is Sarah-Mae and I plan on eating you tonight.

Yes, the rumors are true. I have never eaten an artichoke before. I'm not talking about artichoke dip, or artichoke in sauces. I'm talking about a real artichoke.

This is going to require some help. Yes. I googled "how to eat an artichoke". Here goes nothing!

1. If the artichokes have little thorns on the end of the leaves, take kitchen scissors and cut of the thorned tips of all of the leaves.

2. Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke

3. Pull off any smaller leaves towards the base and on the stem.

4. Cut excess stem, leaving up to an inch on the artichoke. The stems tend to be more bitter than the rest of the artichoke, but some people like to eat them.

Unsure about this choke business.

5. In a large pot, put a couple inches of water, a clove of garlic, a slice of lemon, and a bay leaf (this adds wonderful flavor to the artichokes). Add the artichokes. Cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 25 to 45 minutes or until the outer leaves can easily be pulled off. Cooking time depends on how large the artichoke is, the larger, the longer it takes to cook.

Still not so sure!

Artichokes may be eaten cold or hot, and are served with a dip, either melted butter or mayonaise. Having been told by a coworker that garlic butter is the only way to really eat an artichoke, I went that route. I can't say no to garilc butter.

Dinner is served.
Artichoke, garlic butter, and more leftover mashed sweet potato and squash!

1. Pull off outer petals, one at a time.

2. Dip white fleshy end in melted butter or sauce. Tightly grip the other end of the petal. Place in mouth, dip side down, and pull through teeth to remove soft, pulpy, delicious portion of the petal. Discard remaining petal.

Hmm...

It's good!

The deeper you get, the larger the 'white fleshy end' gets. Yum!
Continue until all of the petals are removed.

3. With a knife or spoon, scrape out and discard the inedible fuzzy part (THE CHOKE!) covering the artichoke heart. The remaining bottom of the artichoke is the heart. Cut into pieces and dip into sauce to eat.

My first experience with the artichoke? Yum! It was soft and buttery and had a flavour slightly reminiscent of a perfect asparagus tip.

It is a little bit of a task to eat the thing though (although it was so, so worth it!), so unless I'm planning on making this badbyo the center of a meal again, I think I'll be buying prepared artichoke hearts next time.

After dinner I ~~ran~~ hobbled over to the CornerStone Cafe for my first knit night since getting back from sea! It had been way too long! I'm so glad to be back.

Post-almond-milk-chai-tea-latte I headed over to the pool to test out my swimming today. It went so well!
After 15 minutes of lengths I started to feel some 'niggles' in my knee and hip, so instead of pushing through it like I normally would (and always do) I got out of the pool! I was (and am) so proud of myself for realizing that the 'workout' was not that important in the long run and to just focus on my recovery and what my body is allowing me to do. So proud.

Today is chock full of work, weight training, physio and errands! It's a good thing I fueled my morning with cottage cheese oats (a la Kath)!

Happy hump day everyone!

Warning: An Unhappy Post

2010-10-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

I can't hold it in anymore.
I am so incredibly jealous of all the bloggers training for upcoming marathons or even just mentioning that they went out for a run. I was supposed to be running a half-marathon on October 31st and another marathon on November 14th... and now I can't even walk.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have completed my first marathon, especially with such a wonderful finishing time, and am more than looking forward to running in the 2011 Boston Marathon. But I want to run now. I miss it. My body misses it. This sucks a lot.

I just don't feel 'fit' when I'm unable to lead an active lifestyle. I want to be running everyday, biking to the gym, heading out on a hike. But instead, I'm hobbling around like Tiny Tim.

I know I should be grateful that I still have my health and that this too will pass in time, but it's hard. Really really hard.

I just don't feel like myself without my fitness.

Cha-cha-cha-chai Excitement!

2010-10-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's official, for the next two weeks I am a desk-jockey; and not just your average desk-jockey, but one where people get up and do work for me because I'm injured. Ballin'. I'm even going to get my own parking space outside the building (instead of in the 1.5km away) Hopefully some solid time off of my feet will get me back onto my feet.

A full recovery feels even more important now that I've applied to run the 2011 Boston Marathon!

The following oatmeal was consumed this morning and held me over until noon! NOON!

Chai Tea Oatmeal

1C chai tea (steeped overnight)
1/2C old fashioned rolled oats
1T chia seeds
1/2 banana, sliced
2T raisins

Can you tell it's fall? I wake up and it's dark out, and by the time I eat dinner... it's dark out! I cannot wait for my point and shoot to return to me this weekend! Oh. And the sailorman!

The Canadian Forces is a small world; there are approximately 60,000 people enrolled in the regular forces employed across Canada. That sounds like a lot, until you start breaking it down into posting locations and trades. What I'm trying to get at here is that no matter where you go, you probably know someone. I have previously worked with roughly three quarters of the people I am working while attach posted to my desk-jockey job!

So, I abandoned my goat yogurt and banana Larabar and headed out for lunch with a friend instead.

As mentioned, I had no fresh produce this morning, so I was eager to jump on the 'house salad' at the pub, knowing full well it would be simple salad greens with a couple cut up veggies on top. As you can see, I didn't abandon my 1/2 PB&J sammich! Sprouted grain bread goodness!

Between lunch and physio I headed to the gym for a quick upper body workout. It made me feel strong and proud to be back in the gym again, even if all the exercises I performed where from a seated position.

Physio today was great! My physiotherapist decided she wanted me to try out the bike, which I was very very excited about! I peddled my little heart out (with no resistance) for a pain-free 10 minutes, ah! Perhaps I'll even be able to incorporate a spin class into this week?!

Seeing as how I had no produce, it was time for groceries. I bought a lot. A. Lot. I now have an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables to play with though!

Dinner was prepared.

Has anyone else noticed that I'm the queen of making "side dishes" whole meals? I am just so lazy, I'd rather prepare a whole lot of one thing instead of a bunch of different foods! Besides, I love steamed green beans. A lot. And squash and sweet potato. And what I love something a lot, I like a lot of it!

Have I mentioned yet that I'll be playing desk-jockey for the next two weeks?
That means It's time to get back into packing lunches! It's a good thing I bought this super cute lunch bag in Hawaii this summer!

Into the bag went...

Oop! You'll just have to wait until tomorrow!
Coming up this week: an artichoke adventure! Can you believe I've never tasted an artichoke before?!

The Art of Oats and the Return of Knitting

2010-10-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

First comes the brainstorm. What am I craving? Fresh summer fruit? Something warm and spicy? That one's easy today, I have been craving a hot out of the oven, ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie for the past week!

So, what makes a chocolate chip cookie taste so darn good? Brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, salt, flour, chocolate chips... drool.

Now, what do I want to fuel my body with today? Banana for sweetness, a hit of brown sugar, vanilla and some dark chocolate chips couldn't hurt either... oh, and let's not forget to top it all off with some ooey gooey melty peanut butter. Chocolate and peanut butter just go together ya know.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Oatmeal

1/2C old fashioned rolled oats, dry
1/2 banana
1/2C 1% milk
1T vanilla extract
1t brown sugar, packed
1T dark chocolate chips
1T natural peanut butter
Dash of salt

Serves 1 @ 457cal

After this delicious bowl of oats it was time to settle in with some knitting. Yes, it's true!

Although it had been rare this summer, my hands have started to ache for fiber now that the nesting season is upon us.

First came the practical knits, dishcloths and hand towels.

Followed by the fancy stuff. Namely, the alpaca silk cardigan I started knitting in the spring! It's not much to look at now, but I can promise you that my hands are in heaven and I can't wait to wear this luxurious little knit!

For lunch I whipped up a mammoth salad with spinach, yellow pepper, cucumber, cottage cheese, and some of my homemade sprouted bean dip.

I'm talking mammoth. This would be my ~4L mixing bowl.

With the last of the fresh fruit for dessert: a very lonely grapefruit.

Can you tell it's time to do groceries? I'm now out of fresh fruit and almost all my vegetables!

Today my hip was doing really really well, until I went to the pool... I swam 1250m very slowly, sat in the hot tub for about 20 minutes, and then almost fell on my ass in the change room - thankfully I caught myself, unfortunately, my hip helped catch me and the pain literally knocked the wind out of me. Poop.

I'm off to comfort myself with half of the two sweet potatoes and an acorn squash that are currently roasting in my oven. Eaten on my couch. With the electric fireplace blazin'. Comfort food at it's finest!

Wait until you see what I have planned for tomorrow's oats!

Creative Cravings

2010-10-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

I gave oats another chance; except I baked them; with coffee.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Oats

1/2C oatmeal
1/4C canned pumpkin
1/4C 1% milk
1/2T cinnamon
1 Starbucks VIA instant coffee
1/4C sliced banana for the oats, remainder for the top
5 chopped almonds

Mix all ingredients in a mini loaf pan, casserole dish, ramkin, etc.

Top uncooked oats with remaining banana.

Bake for ~20 minutes at 375F

Recipe serves one @ 350cal
[Adapted from Caitlin's recipe]

Yum! I puttered around the house nesting for the rest of the morning, namely, I sewed the last of the white curtains for the closet door. There's only a little bit of tidying up left to do and the apartment will be exactly the way I envision it.

I also went to the pool today, but it wasn't much of a workout. Thursday I was swimming a pain free 2.5km front crawl, today I swam one painful lap breast stroke. I listened to my body and sat in the hot tub and steam room instead and then headed home.
Being injured has made me realize how much I haven taken my health and fitness for granted; suddenly, my days revolve around how much pain my body is in - even getting dressed or in and out of the car has become a daily struggle. There are people who live everyday like this, my pain is just temporary.
And so, despite extreme frustration that one day I can be running a marathon and the next day lying in bed on my right side hurts, I am devoted to listening to my body; not pushing it to places it doesn't want to go, and appreciating every pain free moment to it's fullest.

Back to food!
Today's lunch and dinners surprised the hell out of me. When I was in university my garbage would probably consist of half a fridge worth of fresh produce that went bad. Now, I ensure my shopping cart is full of anything fresh that appeals to me, without a menu plan in mind, and love the challenge of trying to use it all up before it goes bad - even if it means eating a whole lot of raw fruits and veggies!

Lunch consisted of two corn tortillas with salsa, avocado and egg white as well as an orange pepper.

With an apple and some brie for dessert.

For dinner I really surprised myself. It all started with a cucumber. One lone cucumber that I bought for some reason and couldn't figure out how to use. Oh. And some sprouted mixed beans. I've never done anything with sprouted beans except throw them atop some salad and call it done.
Suddenly it hit me: mixed bean sprouted hummus with cucumbers for dipping!

2C mixed beans (mung, red + green lentil, pea, adzuki, and garbanzo)
4T sesame tahini
4 cloves of garlic
1T olive oil
1/4C fresh lemon juice
1t parsley

Combine ingredients in a food processor. Process!

Recipe makes 350g of hummus at 1030cal for the whole lot - divide appropriately!

(ugh. flash.)

This hummus was so yummy! It has a very 'earthy' taste, but substitute any beans (sprouted or not) and it would make a pretty killer hummus!

Since this morning's craving turned oatmeal (Pumpkin Spice Latte) turned out so well, I think I may just have do some more adventuring! Tomorrow morning's challenge: Chocolate Chip Cookie Oatmeal! I've been craving an ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie for days now!

Fall Nesting

2010-10-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

I'm about to step into noman's land.

I think I'm done with my oatmeal streak.

My morning bowl of oats, while delicious, have just not been quite as satisfying on my palate as they once were. No longer do I "mmmm" with every bite or come close to sticking my whole face in the bowl to get every last drop.

I'm unsure what to do about this! Yogurt and fruit? Toast? Cereal? We'll see what my tummy and fridge come up with in the morning!

This morning I had a physio assessment. One word. Ow. Thankfully I had an hour to kill between the physio appointment and the doctor's assessment, so I made use of a nearby Starbucks for a big ol' coffee and free wifi. I have never appreciated free wifi as much as I do now that I have an iPhone!

The doctor declared me "unfit for sea" and I've been posted ashore for the next two weeks until I'm healed up enough to be able to handle holding myself upright unassisted and the movement of a ship.

I needed some cheering up.

Enter the craft store... again... what?! There are some serious sales going on!
Luckily I brought a delicious snack to the doctor's with me!

Having this week off has prompted the domestic in me to go crazy and re-nest. The apartment has just been feeling too... cool and bright. Too summery. It was time to warm the place up.

Fall nesting really is one of my favorite things to do; puttering around the house, putting away the summery things, and pulling out the warm, lush, deep and comfortable winter items. I am a homebody. I love setting up my living space for warm nights cuddled up with my sailorman and a cup of hot cocoa.

Goodbye summery fabrics.

Hello easily accessible woolens,

and pumpkins,

and fall colors.

The bedroom still feels like my own little island sanctuary though.

For more tips on fall nesting, follow me.

Whew! Time for some lunch!

Lunch was taken in the bedroom with the loveseat and an episode of Love it or List it.

After lunch it was time for some crafting!

I love scrapbooking paper. I don't scrapbook, but it's inexpensive, gorgeous and so much fun to turn into other crafts! I picked up these two today with two specific projects in mind.

Firstly, my Starbucks mug needed a facelift!

The bottom of the mug unscrews for you to put your own photos and art in. I like to use scrapbooking paper and change it with the season.

A quick trace of the insert I had in there before, a quick cut, and bam.

Hamming it up!

The other paper with the map turned into inserts for two old picture frames with outdated photos that I didn't care for anymore.

Ontario and the West Coast! Ah. I love inexpensive fixes for outdated objects!

My stomach was growling again in no time and I was not feeling like making dinner. Enter Amy's Organic Split Pea Soup a couple of Ryvita Pumpkin Seed Oats crackers, and a bowl full of pickles. Yes. A bowl full of pickles.

Tomorrow I'll have to head to the ship and convince someone to go and get all my uniforms from my locker for me since the ship is sailing on Sunday and I am not able to maneuver through her guts. Sigh.

This injury is so frustrating, a week without running and I'm going nuts. I've swam three times now, but all I want to do is strap on my shoes and fly out the door.

Pumpcane

2010-10-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Get it? Pumpkin and pimp cane, combined! I'm so funny.

This morning I had some pumpkin oats (with chia seeds and Mighty Maple peanut butter). I froze my leftover canned pumpkin puree when I left for sea several weeks ago and it just didn't recover very well. Thankfully it's hard for pumpkin oats to be anything but delicious, so they were still yummy!

Another doctors appointment upgraded me from crutches to a cane! I have been hanging it on counters like all the other old ladies are doing around town, it makes me feel sophisticated.

My ability to walk rather easily with a cane has my hopes up that I will be able to run the Shawnigan-Kinsol Half Marathon on October 31st after all! So I swung by the craft store to pick up a few necessary items. Since the race is on Halloween and I am throwing all concept of time and pace out the window, I've decided to dress up for the run! Unfortunately for you all, my costume is being kept under wraps until race day.

Naturally I could not step foot into a craft store without things jumping into my basket! I could not say no to these fall colored mini-loaf pans ($1.50 each!)

Or this mini-muffin pan and mini-muffin cups! How cute?!

By the time I got home I was starving and reached into the fridge for some leftovers.

Combined.

With the last nibble of the leftover desserts from Thanksgiving for a little something sweet. Enter Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. Drool.

I wish I could take all of my photos with natural light. It just makes food look better!

My afternoon was spent reorganizing some nooks and crannies of my home, on the phone with IKEA trying to get my customer service issues resolved, and sitting on the couch with some knitting.

I swear I was sucked into a space-time continuum because when I looked up it at 6pm! So I grabbed an apple and headed to the pool for my 100 laps (2500m, 60 minutes) and some 'swirl pool'ing.

Late-night-post-workout dinner was an egg white and spinach scramble, a red pepper, and four veggie breakfast links.

Tomorrow morning consists of more physio and doctor's appointments. Four doctor's visits and one physiotherapy appointment for one irritated right hip. Seems a little excessive eh? Oh well, I just do what the military tells me to like a good sailor-girl.

Question of the day: What should I christen my mini-muffin pan with?!

Pumpkin head

2010-10-13T17:51:00.001-07:00

I have had pumpkin on the brain all day! Thank goodness I saved one of the pumpkin muffins from Thanksgiving, baked by Ryan's sister, for a rainy day!

Eaten alongside a huge plate of veggies for lunch!

Okay, so it really wasn't rainy out at all. I would have loved to head over to the SPCA today and taken one of the dogs for a nice long walk along the water in the fall sunshine, but alas, hobbling and dog walking shelter dogs do not really go hand in hand; or hand to hip. So instead I grabbed a crisp apple from my fruit bowl and decided to head out for a drive to the fabric store for some more white fabric to finish up the curtains to cover the bedroom closet, Starbucks for a tall Pumpkin Spice Latte and pound of their Anniversary Blend, and to hit up the pool for a mid-day workout.

Let me tell you, my body is healing from the marathon amazingly! Today's swim was night and day from yesterdays! Yesterday I could all but breaststroke due to pain, since 'frog kicking' wasn't irritating my hip. I covered 1700m yesterday in 60 minutes. Today? 2500m of continuous front crawl in 60 minutes! I felt strong and steady! I've also been able to rid myself of one of my crutches, walking much more normally "Tiny Tim" style. Hopefully tomorrow's doctor's appointment will grace me with a ~~pimp~~ cane and I can start getting my strut on! The sooner I'm walking unassisted the better. Trust me, I'm not rushing back into running (although I am registered for a half-marathon October 31st) until my body says "go", but it sure would be nice to be able to get back to some semblance of normal!

Speaking of workouts, I've begun updating my exercise log (link found at the top of the page) again now that the busy summer sailing schedule is over!

After my swim I returned home famished and quickly popped a spaghetti squash into the oven while I hopped into the shower to de-chlorinate!

Squash Spaghetti and Turkey

How to!

- Choose your own lovely spaghetti squash from your grocery store or local market.

- Cut spaghetti squash in half and place halves face down on a cookie sheet (lined with aluminum foil for easy clean-up)

- Bake squash at 375C for ~40 minutes or until tender.

- With a fork, gently remove the 'spaghetti' like insides!

- Choose your pasta sauce and toppings. I chose Classico Florentine Spinach and Cheese pasta sauce and leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

- Mix it all up and enjoy!!!

My spaghetti squash yielded roughly 6 cups of squashy goodness, 3 cups for tonight and 3 for tomorrow!

So. Full!
Well, not too full for a bite (or two) of homemade chocolate covered toffee from the dessert platter Ryan's mom put together for me... as a little pre-bed snack of course!

Tomorrow I start low-carb'ing it until Ryan gets home. More on that tomorrow though, I've gone and tired myself out today.

Hobbled!

2010-10-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really not one for race recaps, so unfortunately you will not be getting one. However, let me tell you that the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon is an absolutely perfect run; the scenery, the weather, the cheering stations, the crowd that comes out to support, the gear, the organization... it's all just wonderful!

Most of all, I think I am still riding the 'high' that comes with absolutely smashing my own expectations for my first race. It's been a long 18 weeks on the Boston Marathon Qualifier Program by Bruce Deacon, and I was not expecting to actually see such epic results from my training, especially since the majority of my runs over the past three months have been on a treadmill onboard the HMCS Winnipeg as we sailed down the West Coast.

But I did it, I wanted to run a sub-3:40 marathon and I ran it in 3:25:34, injury and all.

The race is over, the medal, award and race bib are tucked away into my 'race box', the family is gone, and now it's back to the real world!

I am still currently hobbling around on crutches thanks to an irritated right hip, but the doctors think it's nothing to be too concerned about, to stay off of it and listen to my body. I suppose this means a little imposed break from running! Oh well, the faster I can get back on my feet, the better.

Yesterday I headed to the pool and swam 1700m in about an hour, primarily breaststroke since the motion of the 'frog kick' is 100% painless. I got home completely exhausted and slept like a rock!

Since I'm hobbled and can't exactly navigate a warship on crutches I have been blessed with a few days off! After a little sleep in this morning I just wasn't feeling the oats. Enter ripe mango and goat yogurt:

I'll likely end up whipping up some more breakfast foods as my appetite increases later. But for now, my couch and my knitting are whispering sweet nothings my way and I think the pool is hollering for another dip today!

Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon

2010-10-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

3:25:34!
3rd Place Women 20-24!

This race qualified me for both Boston and to run the marathon distance for the Canadian Forces Nationals!

Did I mention I'm on crutches today?

I strained something in my hip in the last 500m, crossing the finish line at a very slow run, but a run nevertheless!

Hopefully I'll be good to go again in time for my half-marathon on October 31st!!!

But for now? Good food and some time off work.

Use it or Lose it

2010-09-26T00:30:00.001-07:00

It's that time of the week, time for "use it or lose it"!

Before I head back out to sea for the next weeks I need to ensure my house is ready! Aside from taking out the garbage, recycling, doing the dishes and tidying up, food also needs a little bit of TLC.

1) Check your expiry dates. Anything that is going to expire while you're gone needs to be taken case of - either by consuming said food item, or freezing it if possible! Ensure that those items that will not expire are still given a little bit of attention and placed in the appropriate section of your refrigerator.

2) Fruit and vegetables. Using them up in my ideal solution to extra fruits and vegetables; however, sometimes you just can't make it through all the extras. If the item is packaged and not yet opened (such as a bag of spinach I have in my crisper), check to see when it expires and deal with it accordingly. If I just can't finish off that extra bit I try to prepare it "to-go" as a travel snack, or, for fruit, I chop it up and stick it in the freezer for when I get home.

And so, cue use it or lose it breakfast.

The remaining plain goat yogurt with cubed peach and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice, and a toasted bagel with peanut butter and homemade blackberry jam. Yum yum yum! I loved switching things up this morning, yogurt and toast are perfect ways to
start the day!

Before I left for my Sunday run, I mowed down on another bagel with peanut butter and homemade blackberry jam and a banana.

Today's run was extra exciting because I had a running buddy!
Gab and I became friends immediately when we found a shared passion for running during Yoga Teacher Training early this year. While I'm training for a marathon and Gab is a Guatemalan Triathlete, we try to coordinate our training schedules every now and then for some quality catch-up time. Today, a 90 minute run around Elk Lake and the surrounding country roads.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love living on Vancouver Island?

Especially when I get to drive by pumpkins! I can't wait for these pumpkins to be ripe and ready when I get home from sea!!!

After a post-run apple and some more training talk, I headed home for some lunch and to continue packing and cleaning!

Cue use it or lose it lunch!

Wait... a Dr. Kracker Pumpkin Seed Cheddar flatbread? Apparently my photo went missing, this was my making-my-lunch snack, my lunch consisted of the remaining smoked BC salmon, a tomato, and two carrots!

I spent the rest of the afternoon deep cleaning the house, sewing a curtain to cover up the hallway closet, packing, tidying and kicking back with my couch and television!

Cue use it or lose it dinner!

A cheddar and egg white omelet, a red pepper and avocado. As you can see, I was on the verge of losing this avocado. Thank goodness for using it!

After all of that munching my refrigerator is ready to be left alone for two weeks!

Unopened: Gatorade, POM Wonderful, spinach, wheel of brie (um... yea...)
Will hold: Dr. Kracker Crackers (in fridge to preserve crispness), eggs, cheddar cheese, half & half, pumpkin puree, nuts and seeds, alcohol + all "fridge door" essentials (butters, jams, sauces, condiments and pickles!)

Ah. It feels good to leave the house tidy and organized!

Wait a moment, wasn't there one last Imitation Starbucks Pumpkin Scone hanging around somewhere? Well, I've even thought ahead enough to prepare tomorrow's breakfast - tangy and sweet, quick and easy - since you know, I have to leave for work at 5:30am.

I will try to update from the ship, however, upon returning from sea on October 8th my family will be here for my marathon on October 10, so updates will be few and far between until October 12th!
Have a good couple of weeks!!!

Imitation Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

2010-09-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said.

Note: The recipe that I provide below includes the slight modifications that I made while preparing these scones. The original recipe can be found here. A healthified and vegan version of these scones can be found over here on Angela's blog!

"Starbucks" Pumpkin Scones
Ingredients
Scones:

1C all-purpose flour

1C whole wheat flour

7T sugar

1T baking powder

1/2t salt

1/2t ground cinnamon

1/2t ground nutmeg

1/4t ground cloves

1/4t ground ginger

6T cold butter

1/2C canned pumpkin

3T half-and-half

1 large egg

Spiced Glaze:

1C powdered sugar

2T half-and-half

1/2t pumpkin pie spice

Instructions
Scones:
Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Form the dough into a ball. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Remove and let cool.

Glaze:
Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle over each scone (once the scone has cooled) and allow the icing to harden before serving.

[Recipe yields 6 scones; calories per scone (without glaze): 343]

While my heavenly scones were baking, I realized that since I woke up late and biked to the store to pick up a a can of pumpkin and some powdered sugar, that my stomach just couldn't wait any longer for breakfast! Some goat yogurt and Nature's Path Crunchy Maple Sunrise totally hit the spot whilst I sat on the kitchen floor and watched my scones bake!

Let me take a moment here to explain to you how good this cereal is. Before I left for sea two months ago, I literally ate a whole box of it. Not with milk. Not with a bowl. Not even with a spoon. Box held up to mouth, pouring. So. Good.

Once the scones were out of the oven, cooling and ready to be glazed I devoured one. Oh sweet heaven on earth, they are probably the best scone I've ever consumed. Honest.

Then, I used the leftover glaze (there wasn't much left) to sweeten my coffee with a little spice kick that complimented my scone perfectly. Om nom nom.

Today the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the temperature was a perfect 22C - I had to get out!
So I headed to Lake Matheson to meet up with a fellow military wifey and her dogs for an hour long hike around the lake.

I brought two scones along with me of course. And yes, I shared.

On the drive home I couldn't help but pull over and take a couple of photographs when I saw this...

All but the black ones!

I spent an hour and a half poking around my favorite used book store (it has a cat) and then decided it was time for a run before I lost the sun!

Be it the pumpkin scones, the 10 hours of sleep I got last night, the hike to limber me up, or just the absolute perfect temperature, I had a seriously awesome run. 62 minutes, 13km/8.07mi. I felt strong, relaxed, loose, and my mind wandered across beautiful thoughts and memories the whole time. I pull myself out for run after run in hopes that it will be one of those runs. Today was.

After a glass of chocolate milk, a shower and some pampering, it was time for a little dinner!

Looks a little out of my ordinary doesn't it? More on this one tomorrow, I'm off to dream of pumpkin scones!

The Final Countdown

2010-09-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not the final countdown, but the days until the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon are starting to whoosh past and since I'll be at sea for the two weeks prior to race weekend, well, now's the time to get everything at home sorted out!

On the way home from work this evening I stopped by the Running Room for some much needed fuel sources.

GU! It may seem trivial to the non-runner or the superspeedynotgoingtobeontheirfeetlong runners, but for the average distance runner, fuel is everything. So before a major marathon takes place in your home town, may I suggest stocking up on your favorite brand and flavors of fuel; you know, before the other 12386 runners show up.

Just incase you were curious, I take 1 GU Energy Gel every 40 minutes during a long run. Therefore, I plan on taking four of my tried, tested, and favorite flavors of their Roctane blend with me on race day: 2 Pineapple and 2 Vanilla Orange, they are by far my favorite energy gel's!

The Strawberry Banana and Mint Chocolate regular GU formula are also freaking unbelievably good, so I couldn't resist stocking up for future runs!

Yesterday was a seriously miserable day for my hands. 12C (53F), raining, windy, and did I mention I run along the ocean? Needless to say, my core temperature wasn't too shabby, but my hands were frozen. Solution: a pair of fancy-pantsy running gloves from the Running Room. Fancy you ask?

These puppies are so cozy, have great grip in the the palm and fingers, fit my hand wonderfully, have a super cute little wind-breaker for the fingers that tucks into the back of the hand, and they have tons of flexibility. Hopefully they will keep me cozy all winter long!

Regardless, I still plan on starting my race with a pair of cheapie gloves I can throw to the curb once I start to overheat!

The chill of yesterday's run haunted me while I was dressing for this evening's little 7km fun-run. It's most definitely time the time of year to bring out the layers.

I sweat like a beast, but man was I cozy!
Thank you capris, Underarmour Women's HeatGear Longsleeve, and cotton race t-shirt! Combination = perfect. The Underarmour wicks away the sweat and provides a great base layer, while the cotton provides that lack of breathability heat barrier! Wonderful. I knew I was saving on to all those crumby old cotton race t-shirts for a reason!

Enough about running gear though, it's time for me to mow back on this post-run fuel and head to a hot yoga class!!!

GlutenFreeda's Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Burrito

More on my pre-race strategy and how I plan on conquering winter-running later!

Foolish Me

2010-09-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

I love fall vegetables, but more than anything fall, I love pumpkin.
In the midst of my excitement over homemade applesauce and pumpkin puree I totally forgot about other fall goodies that make me bubble up with joy from the very tips of my toes!

Pumpkin Spice Latte's at Starbucks, and the walks my mom and I will take to go get said Latte's when my family comes to visit for my marathon.

Pumpkin Ale

The ritual of pumpkin chiffon pie with Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving dinner in itself! This year is also going to be a post-marathon celebration with both Ryan's and my family! They'll be meeting for the first time to celebrate my marathon achievements, and oh my God I'm going to eat a whole pie!!!

But back to the here and now.

Does anyone else think that my dinners are looking a little bit similar lately?

Exhibit A: Tonight's dinner (eaten while logging my run in my training journal!)

Exhibit B: Yesterday's dinner

Exhibit C: Tuesday's dinner

Perhaps it's because I make a whole turkey breast and then have enough to eat for four meals, or buy delicious "Asian Salad" kits that provide me enough delicious salad for multiple meals... or, perhaps it's just because I am cooking-lazy lately and when there is leftovers in the fridge I'd much rather reach for those, prepare a little meal without having to think or take the time to prepare a more exciting meal.

Last night after my run... well... after my run I was craving ICING. Not cake. Not cookies. Just the icing. Must have been the speed session talking!

Solution: 1/4C goat yogurt, 1t pure maple syrup, combine.
Need for ridiculously sweet and creamy food satisfied for a healthy little 55 calories! Mmmmmmm!

Lately my body has really been opinionated about what it wants, such as an icing craving, a random desire to attend a group class (yesterday's Kettlebells class) after months of not being able to attend due to work.
Tonight, post 75 minute (15km) run, I wanted hot yoga. And not just any hot yoga, a 90 minute class. Whew! That's a lot of working out in one evening! But my body is happy, I am pooped, and off to curl up with some baked sweet potato disks, miracle whip, and a can of Sprite Zero before bed.

[Aside: I apologize for the orangeyness of the photos as of late, the Sailorman and I swapped camera's for his trip so that he wouldn't have to lug a Nikon D60 around on his adventures and I could still have a camera. Therefore, I am using my Sailorman's Nikon D60 and I simply do not understand how it works when not using natural light... my trusty point and shoot will return with my Sailorman in a month though!]

6 Confessions

2010-09-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

1. I love counting calories; the lists, the math, the cute little notebooks... I LOVE it!
I tell you this because it's recently been brought to my attention that some of my readers enjoy themselves a little calorie counting as well! So, it is with nothing but pleasure that I vow to provide a calorie count with each of my meal concoctions, just incase you're interested!

2. I've already signed up for more races throughout the fall and winter to help keep me going! I don't want to let this running enthusiasm die after my marathon. While I will be 'racing' through the fall and winter I don't intend to take them seriously, in other words, these races are simply for the fun of running with people in places I've never been before! Plus race days are just so exciting!

31 October 2010: Shawnigan-Kinsol Half Marathon

14 November 2010: Boundary Bay Marathon

Three 10K's on the 20th of November, 27th of November, and 11th of December. I have yet to register for these races yet though!

3. If my fruit and vegetables aren't prepared beforehand or staring at me in the face when I open the fridge, I'm not likely to eat them. So, I make sure all fruit is sitting out in a bowl for easy grabbing, all vegetables are out of the crispers and on the top shelf, and any "preparation" fruit/veg is ready to go - such as diced up cantaloupe!

Here is a sneak peak into the hidden world of my kitchen!

Yes, that is a milk crate full of bars and individually wrapped items (Sharkies, ShaSha Cookies, etc) in the second last photo!

4. I could eat breakfast food all day long. I love breakfast. For lunch. For Dinner. For snacks. If it resembles a breakfast food, I'll probably stuff it in my face before you tell me what it is.

So naturally, after a tough Kettlebells Class this afternoon at the gym, I had some breakfast for lunch!

1/2 a Dempster's BodyWise 100% Whole Wheat Bagel topped with a thumb sized slice of cheddar cheese and 3 microwaved egg whites

2 Yves Veggie Breakfast Links

1/2 an avocado

1/2 a red bell pepper

Calories in this meal: a totally filling 360 calories!

5. I seriously have to kick myself out the door for a run that isn't "slow" or "easy". I've been procrastinating on today's speedwork session since the moment I woke up this morning! So long as they get done before the sun goes down I'm good, and I have yet to miss a run due to lack of motivation, but it takes a lot of mental anguish before I just get out and do it.

6. I may or may not have cracked into my pickle stash without telling you!

OHMYGOD SO GOOD! I am THRILLED with these pickles, so tasty, crunchy and dill pickley! My sailorman is a huge fan of both garlic and vinegar, and I know he'll be equally thrilled with how much both of these flavors stand out in the pickles!

Delicious Autumn

2010-09-21T22:42:00.001-07:00

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. -John Muir

I think it's most definitely time for some warm and comforting morning concoctions.

Carrot Muffin Oatmeal

Oatmeal Ingredients

1/2C rolled oats

1T chia seeds

1/2C water

1/2C 1% milk (or any milk substance)

50g shredded carrot (about 1/3C?)

1/2 banana

50 raisins

1t cinnamon

1t brown sugar

1t vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until liquid is almost absorbed. Turn down the heat and let simmer until oatmeal reaches your preferred consistency (I like mine thick!).

[Kath also has a great looking recipe for a Carrot Cake Oatmeal with a wonderful looking yogurt "icing"!]

Recipe makes one 525 calorie serving.

Needless to say, this was one of the best bowls of oats I've had in months. I would have literally licked the bowl if my face fit! The addition of carrot and banana did make for a rather large quantity of oats though, so not only was it delicious and filling, it was more than enough to keep me going all morning and into the afternoon!

While I'm sharing recipes, I enjoyed a non-photographed bowl of Maple Peanut Butter Apple Oats yesterday!

Mapple Oatmeal
Ingredients

1/2C rolled oats

1T chia seeds

1C water

1/2 macintosh apple, finely diced

1t cinnamon

1T Might Maple PB (or any PB of your choice)

2t Maple Flakes (or a dash of maple syrup)

Combine oats, chia seeds, water, apple and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until liquid is almost absorbed. Turn down the heat and let simmer until oatmeal reaches your preferred consistency (I like mine thick!). Top with PB and maple flakes!

Recipe makes one 350 calorie serving.

This afternoon I plan on heading to the base for a kettlebells class, as well as squeezing in an hour speed session this evening (20 minutes easy warm up, 12 X 1 minute at 5k pace/1 minute easy jogging, 20 minutes easy cool down).
Two workouts in one day?! I definitely felt the "class" bug bite me in the bottom this morning but I have to get my run in regardless!

I love days off at home!

A few pictures and a thousand words

2010-09-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

I've warned you, this post is a whole lot of rambling and not enough photos - it's what happens when your sailorman is deployed with your only point-and-shoot!

I'm back ashore! Until Monday at least, then my ship is heading out for another two week excursion - but then we're done for the summer!

So, let me fill you in on what's been going on around here before I left, while I was away, and now that I'm home.

Before I left I went on a serious summer-fruit preserving kick. I have a deep-freezer full of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, saskatoonberries, peaches and rhubarb, along with a butt-load of jams, jellies, sauces, and preserves.

Best of all, pickles and maraschino cherries! These were a first for me this year and I am super excited to crack the lids of the mason jars this winter!!!

Here is the list of "things in jars" so far this season, with applesauce and pumpkin puree awaiting perfect-ripeness!

Sugar-free Strawberry Jam

Traditional Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

Blackberry Jam

Blueberry Jam

Black and Blue Berry Jam

Rhubarb Marmalade

Peach Butterscotch Jam

Canned Yellow Plums

Maraschino Cherries

Garlic + Dill Pickles

While I was sailing I stuck to my training plan without missing a beat - even running 30km one afternoon on the treadmill... in sea state five. It was definitely not easy to train, between constantly being required at work, sleep deprivation from the training we were undergoing, having to do all of my runs on a treadmill, and then factor in sea states... well, let's just say I did a lot of unplanned hill sessions!

It wasn't all bad though, I promise. Since there is literally nothing to do onboard a ship except work, eat, sleep, and watch movies, I found a lot of time to work out - generally getting my run in as well as a crossfit or weight training session everyday. I also managed to get some good distance runs in in San Francisco (my run took me straight across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge), San Diego (they have quite the Naval base!), and Manzanillo Mexico (where it was hot hot hot and muggy muggy muggy!). I totally went on a shopping SPREE at Trader Joe's in San Francisco - so many delicious bars and healthy foods came home with me (which I will elaborate on later)

Furthermore, since the food is very similar to what you would find in a residence (read: breaded, battered, deep-fried, sugary and beige), I found myself eating a lot of salads, whole grains and peanut butter! Combine working out a lot and eating as clean as possible and...

I've lost two pants sizes! Naturally this called for a shopping trip today and three new pairs of jeans (What? They were on sale!) were purchased. This seals the deal that when the holiday season rolls around this year I am not going to be gaining any of the weight back. Sure I've been marathon training, but I've also been following an incredibly "clean" diet and incorporating a lot of strength training into my day to day routine. What I mean by all of this, is that even when I'm not training for a marathon, I'll still be running five days a week and sticking to my strength training and new eating habits. Maintenance, I've heard it can be a pain in the butt!

Either way, I'm ashore for the week and the first thing I did yesterday was strap on my running shoes and run the 30km from the ship to my shower! It was a good run and having not seen any of my favorite places to run for the past month and a half made for an extremely relaxing and beautiful homecoming run.

Naturally the next item on my list of things to do was groceries. Beautiful beautiful groceries. My fridge is now stocked way beyond what it should be for one week with avocados, bananas, yams, cabbage salads, smoked salmon, brie cheese... all the things I've been missing so dearly for the past month.

On to tonight's dinner...

Half of a turkey breast (about 245g of turkey!) slathered in Dijonnaise (because I simply love the stuff) and a nice big bowl of Asian Salad. This salad is totally my favorite "kit" ever, the sesame salad dressing is to die for, and the combination of almonds, noodles, and cabbage makes my mouth water.

Needless to say, I am still stuffed! I sipped on a Diet Dr.Pepper while organizing my kitchen and putting away my clothing, but it's been six hours and I still don't think I could eat another bite. Whooooo weeeeeee! Time to go lie down and enjoy a turkey coma.

Sailing, sailing...

2010-08-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

...over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
'Ere Jack comes home again

Five days at sea, two days ashore, five days at sea, two days ashore, five days at sea, two days ashore, a month and a half at sea... and I'll be back mid-September.

Thank goodness I've been able to keep up my running over the past two weeks at work! It's definitely coming out of my sleep hours, leaving me with roughly 6 hours of sleep per night, but it's better than nothing. Let me tell you, the Navy is not the place for fitness unless you possess extreme determination.

Ode to Berries

2010-07-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

One of the things about summer that I love most is berries. Fresh, local, juicy, berries.

Last night I went for a light 8km run (time: 40:00) followed by a beautiful evening walk along the boardwalk home. I am so blessed to live on an island, I could not ask for a more perfect location to pass my days; water, surf, sand, mountains for climbing, trails for hiking, farms for pillaging...

I digress... while walking home I spotted several huge blackberry bushes peaking over the side of the boardwalk. Since it was low tide, I hopped the guardrail, found the perfect berries and carefully carried my handful of treasure home.

So beautiful. Especially when combined with a morning bowl of oats!

What are some of the perks to living where you do?

Stress-Relieving Baked Goods

2010-07-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was just one of those days. The kind of day where you can't help but sweat the small stuff, and before you know it, all those small stuffs gang up on you and you just want to throw your arms up and declare "That's it, I'm done".

Thankfully, all the sweating of small stuffs had to do with work, which I have the privilege of walking away from and leaving my work at work.

However, then I hit traffic. There was a huge accident on the highway home, which made me regular commute half an hour longer than it normally does.

Needless to say, by the time I got home I had two things on my mind. A glass (or two) of white wine and baked goods.

Make no mistake, that's not a normal size plate... that would be a serving plater. Yes boys and girls, when I make baked goods, I go all out.

Enter an afternoon spent making homemade blueberry foccacia bread. Nommm.

Thank goodness for recovery weeks and rest days! No runs to fit in, no subtle niggles in my body from a hard run the day before, ahhhhhhh... relaxation.

I was out like a light by 10pm ^_^

Blueberry Focaccia Bread (from Woman's Day)
Recipe Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet (1/4 oz) rapid-rise active dry yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups blueberries

Recipe Preparation
1. Pulse sugar and lemon zest in food processor until zest is finely ground and incorporated into the sugar. In a large bowl, whisk 1/3 cup of the lemon sugar, 3 cups of the flour, the yeast and salt until blended.

2. Heat milk in a 2-cup measure in microwave on high 1 1/2 minutes, or until temperature registers 130°F on an instant-read thermometer; add to flour mixture with egg and butter. Mix with a rubber spatula until a soft, sticky dough forms; scrape dough onto a floured surface. Using a dough scraper to assist, knead with some of the remaining 1/2 cup flour to form a smooth and pliable dough, about 2 minutes. Cover the dough with the mixing bowl; let rest 10 minutes.
Note: I had to add almost another 2 cups of flour for my bread to reach a pliable consistency!

3. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough in half. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, stretch and pat out on parchment into a 12-in. free-form rectangle, about 1/4 in. thick. Scatter with half the blueberries and half of the remaining lemon sugar. On floured surface, pat out and stretch remaining dough slightly larger than the first piece and place over bottom dough. Press edges together and tuck under the loaf. Cover with a sheet of greased plastic wrap. Place baking sheet in a warm area. Let rise 1 hour.

4. Heat oven to 350°F. With floured fingers, dimple surface of loaf (pierce any bubbling with a knife tip to release air pockets). Scatter top of loaf with remaining blueberries and lemon sugar. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Slide focaccia onto a wire rack and cool slightly. Serve warm!

Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Dead.

2010-07-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

My camera that is.
I took it to a repair shop on Friday and they told me it would take about $125 to fix... and it's a year and a half old $200 camera. Not worth it. Especially not since Ryan and I bought the newer version of the same camera while I was in Hawaii, so in three months when he gets home I'll have that one to use. So until then, I'll be using our HUGE Nixon D60 that I don't understand in the slightest and is far from portable. Sigh.

Here are some snapshots from the past week.

Making strawberry jam.

Farmer's market haul.

Banana pancakes!

Lunch time snack plates

Garage sale signs (with help from an 11 year old!)

The initial move...

Priming.

Almost done... (the curtains are a little short, I'll be remedying this at some point this week!)

I've also been doing well on my running, getting 80.56km in last week and have already logged 57.37km this week (and will be getting another 18km in tomorrow). Yoga and weight training has been slacking due to working full time, training, and getting the work done on the house before I sail next month! Teaching yoga tomorrow morning though and am very much looking forward to a nice 75 minute yin class!

Photo-less :(

2010-07-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

Some days I just do NOT want to drag my butt out and run... like tonight for example. Especially not after wall-mounting a 26" television above my fireplace ^_^

However, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do it. I felt like a slug the whole time, like I was really dragging butt... buuuuuuut I managed to run 12.02km in 60 minutes! Not too shabby at all! Even if I was supposed to be doing speedwork tonight... ha.

Tomorrow I have to drive my car up-island to have the exhaust fixed on it, so I am going to throw my bike into the backseat, drive on up, bike into the next town (Nanaimo, BC) for the day and then bike back to my car. I should get at least 3 hours of biking in tomorrow!!!

I really wish I had my camera... I miss it quite dearly. I've made some good food over the past few days but am SOL for photos!
This week... I promise this week I'll take it to get fixed!

Accccck

2010-07-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

"English Sage" my ass... more like lime green!
I've tried painting this space an earthy green three different times now: attempt #1 = hospital mint green, attempt #2 = still mint green, and attempt #3= BRIGHT GREEN.

My goal this weekend was to get the bedroom done, but that definitely didn't work out. I'd be lying if I said I'm not pretty disappointed; I put a lot of work into this space! So I threw my hands up in the air, put my furniture back in, and will not continue to prime the rest of the room, paint the ceiling white and then return back to the limey disaster next weekend.

The photo above brings me to my next point though, why am I using Photo Booth for my photography? My camera broke on day number two in Hawaii. Sigh. The lens is stuck in an outward position and I have not had the time to take it in to get fixed because I've been so busy painting!

Grumble grumble.

Once I threw my hands up I stormed into the kitchen for some fueling. Enter smoothie.

Into my blender went:

2T Tropical Tango Vega

5 leaves of Kale (stalks removed)

1.5 medium bananas, frozen

1/2C diced mango, frozen

1/4C pomegranate seeds

2C water

4 ice cubes

Yum yum!!!

I have a 25km run to put in this afternoon once the sun starts to become a little less powerful. This past week has been a hot one, so I have turned to running later and later to beat the heat and avoid any extra dehydration. With my fuel belt in tow I have been having some fairly successful runs these past few weeks and am not about to let the sun beat me!

Back on Track, promise this time!!!

2010-07-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

To start: Hawaii was amazing. Due to the amount of awesome, it will be displayed in slideshow format to avoid crowding this blog with a million individual photos.

By sheer coincidence, my week on O'ahu happened to fall upon the same week as my recovery week in my training plan. Therefore, I got to have two rest days and only an hour and a half Sunday "long run" instead of 2+ hours. It was hot as heck down there, but I squeezed my runs in wherever I could. I ended up running in the evenings on most nights, however did have to run in the morning around Pearl Harbour on Tuesday since Ryan had to be on ship for a couple of hours anyways.

Either way, my excuse for not updating sooner is a little surfing accident that occurred on my last day on the island, as well as having finally received my military move, ie. 1927237123 boxes of personal effects that I've been sorting through and organizing. I've also started to paint the apartment, and unfortunately, have had to paint and re-paint the green color I chose twice already and am still not satisfied! Bah! Tomorrow I'll be heading back to the paint store to get them to readjust the color again... and hopefully not hate me!

Surfing accident. So, on my last day surfing in Waikiki the ocean kicked my ass. After catching a pretty sweet wave I bailed, only to have another surfer's leash wrapped around my arm and drag me a fair bit. Shucks. When I came up to the surface I took one look at my arm and three huge bumps and some bruising were already forming... "Ryan, I think I just broke my arm" were the first words out of my mouth. A lifeguard, two hospitals and some x-rays later, it's not broken, but I do have physio on it as I've strangled my forearm pretty good and sustained a minor tear to one of my rotator cuffs. Poop. Luckily I am relatively pain free and have some pretty sweet bruises to show for it!

Here's a ridiculous photo I took for my mother...

I finished re-assembling the kitchen last night, so food posts WILL be included tomorrow!

Video killed the Blogger?

2010-06-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Banana Coconut Cacao Overnight Oats

A typical lunch

Night!!!

Aloha!

2010-06-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

I told you overnight oats work!

I just thought I should provide a little evidence, just so now maybe you may all go out and prepare some oats, stick them in the fridge and enjoy 'em tomorrow!

Today the stars aligned and I managed to get to my Wednesday kettlebells class. It was a hard one! Let's just say that the 'cool down' was 75 KB swings and 75 pushups... I had to drop to my knees, but lordy lord were my arms rubber by the end of the class!

I need to give a mini-shout-out to the cooks onboard the HMCS Winnipeg. Not only is their food great, but they are just the sweetest people! Since I leave at 11:30am for my KB class, lunch is served and noon, and I get back at 1:30pm, I clearly miss lunch. So today I prepared a little salad and asked the cooks if they could throw it into the fridge for me. Not only did they throw it in the fridge for me, but they added trail mix and some leftover fruit to my post-workout dinner. Om nom nom! Like I mentioned in the last entry, I am desperately going to try to sneak a photo of what my lunches look like these days, because they're all basically the same and I think you all have a right to know how yummy they look!

Oh, and before KB I had a mug of Beef and Veg soup and half a 12 grain wheat bagel.

After work I headed back to the gym for a 55 minute run: 20 minutes easy warm up, 15 minutes of fartlek with 4 surges of 90
seconds to 2 minutes and recovery to fit within total time, 20 minutes easy cool down. Since I've started to get into the fartlek training I find it much easier to do it on a treadmill than outdoors. I LOVE running outdoors still, but being able to push "10" on the treadmill and sprint for a minute or so and then just dial her back down to the pace I was at before is amazing.

My guts almost busted on todays run though. I didn't remember that the training plan i'm following said "easy" before the warm up and cool down... so I ran at my marathon pace of 5:13/km... with 3:44/km sprints in the middle. I rolled off the treadmill post-run and fell right onto a foam roller in the corner with all the big dudes doing ab workouts. haha. I was a sweaty mess grunting and groaning on a foam roll, it made me snicker.

After my run I devoured a banana and headed home for a shower and some down-time. I picked up the new Best Health magazine this week, so I curled up with it while I ate...

More of my Simply Asia Soy Ginger Noodles & Sauce with prawns and a serving of Provide Smoothie.

It's official. I don't like "whole-food optimizers" with water. Not at all. I tried a Vega Vanilla Chai with water and almost puked, and today's Provide Smoothie was more bareable, but certainly not good. I think i'll stick to mixing them into smoothies - they taste SOOOO good in a smoothie!!!

After dinner and about an hour of flipping through my magazine I snacked on a date (a little 'woody) and sipped on a Asian Pear & Ginger (my favorite flavor so far) Kombucha Wonder Drink on my way to a 75 minute Yin Yoga class!

And now for the big news!

In only 9 more days I will be in...

HAWAII!

While Ryan is deployed we tried to find a foreign port that I could visit him in. Unfortunately, due to my own sailing and life schedule, the only port that aligned was Hawaii! I'm not complaining about the location at all, but it sucks that it's his first port - the middle of his deployment in a couple of months would have made for a nice even break, rather than seeing him for a week and then having to leave him again for another five months.

Either way, I am super excited to go for some long runs in Hawaii, do yoga on the beach, and spend some wild and crazy times with Ry!

Run, Run, Streeeeeetch

2010-06-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

I know I ensured you all that I would have a wonderful blog update, including such wonderful things as a half marathon race recap, some yoga talk, and an updated exercise log, but unfortunately I got a message this evening requiring me to be at work early tomorrow. So you will all have to wait, but I will also include a Vibram FiveFinger review (I've been a proud VFFer for two weeks now!) and some talk about my newly started physio appointments.

Today however, went exceptionally well!

I woke up to a bowl of vegan overnight oats (this photo is prior to the overnight part, it soaks up all the soy milk, I swear!)

Blueberry Banana Vegan Overnight Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup soy milk (I use an unsweetened variety)

1 T chia seeds

1/2 banana, sliced

1/4 cup blueberries
Mix it all up and pop it in the fridge overnight, in the morning you'll have a wonderfully summery bowl of cool oats!

At work I had 1 cup of cream of mushroom soup and a small orange as a morning snack. Fact: us Canadian Forces Sailors get soup-time at 10am. Why? Because soup has replaced the daily rum ration - that and a nice little bowl of warm soup is so wonderful if you've been on duty throughout the night!

Lunch was the usual, a plate of spinach with white wine vinegar as a dressing and a bunch of cut up vegetables (carrots, red and yellow bell pepper, cerely, cherry tomatoes and some cucumber) and two small squares of swiss cheese. I will try to grab a photograph of my usual lunch at some point this week, since I eat the same thing everyday. The 'main line' is usually deep fried or super heavy food, so I tend to skip it all and head straight for the little salad bar that the cooks set up.

After work I went on a nice 10km run (time: 51:15:58, pace: 05:07/km) and jumped right into dinner.

Since Ry and I had been so busy before he left we are totally out of produce. I mean totally. Dinner tonight was scraped up from the contents of our freezer and cupboards.

Simply Asia Soy Ginger Noodles & Sauce (yum yum yum) with prawns and edamame on the side. So yummy, quick and simple!

Once dinner was ~~inhaled~~ had, I head off to my knitting group for some great conversation and knitting!

I was recently re-bitten with the knitting bug (thank goodness, it had been almost three months!) and dove right into my Afghan of Doom.

This is an old Patons pattern that I started knitting roughly seven years ago... I kid you not... I've been moving this darn thing around in scraps for the past seven years (and that's a lot of moving!). I am determined to finally finish it this summer, especially since it's about 65% done!

Naturally, a knit night isn't complete without a nice long Yin Yoga class afterwards. My yoga studio and the coffee shop my group meets at are right next to each other, how convenient!!

It's now time for me to lay my sleepy yoga head to bed so I can wake up extra early tomorrow and pray I can still get my kettlebells class, 55 minute run, and yin yoga class in tomorrow!!! Oh, and that update of course!!!

Half of my Heart is Deployed.

2010-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

We decided it would be best for me to not head down to the jetty and wave his ship off; I didn't have to work until noon since I was sailing most of the weekend, he would be in the ship doing his job, and I would be on the jetty with a bunch of crying wives... I've already cried enough.

So instead, he kissed me goodbye and let me sleep, I woke up well-rested and headed to a 90 minute hot yoga class since it's my rest day from running.

Speaking of running, my distance is really starting to pick up (about 60km a week now) and I'm still feeling lovely. I work with a World Championship Ironman qualifier and several competitive runners, which has kept me really motivated throughout the day to get my runs in - even when they're on a treadmill at sea.

The treadmill... sigh. I love to hate it. I love that even while sailing I can get my runs in, and that I still get my release. I also love that I'm able to control my pace and just follow along mindlessly. Not to mention that one of the competitive runners has been standing by me on my runs to talk to me and push me to go faster (he had me sprinting 6 minute miles for minutes at a time!!!); it's been lovely!

Things to look forward to in tomorrows blog:

Fort Rodd Hill Historic Half Marathon Recap

Good foods

I start teaching yoga at West Side Yoga this weekend!

An updated exercise log!!!

I hope you understand

2010-06-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

My lack of blogging has not been due to a lack of will, reading your blogs as often as I can, running, eating, or even photographing my food. It has, however, been 100% due to the fact that Ryan, my sailor-boyfriend is being deployed in a mere 12 days and I am both trying to spend as much time as possible with him, as well as take care of the million pre-deployment tasks that always need to be taken care of. It's not easy being incommunicado for long periods of time for five months, for him or for me.

So much to do, so much to do!

I will be deeply devoted to my blog again once he leaves though.

Also, there is a wonderful birthday evening planned for me before he leaves (because he will be gone for my birthday), as well as a potential trip for me down to Hawaii while he's in port there this summer!

Slooooooooow Down

2010-05-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I thought I was going to have to head into work due to the ship's fridge breaking down, so I rush rushed out the door in order to still get the morning 13 km run I was planning in. Thankfully, as I was sitting in the parking lot strapping on my iPod and letting my Garmin find satellites, my boss called and let me know that everything was fixed and "Sunday Routine" (ie. day off) was in effect again!

I ended up taking the run rather slowly, 13.01 km in 1:19:25 (pace: 6:06/km), but it felt darn good to get out early and have the whole day to spend doing my own thang afterwards!

"Doing my own thang" = a noon hour hot yoga Power Flow class!!!

Ry got off early, so we packed up our bags and hopped in the car to begin our camping adventure! 'May 2-4' weekend requires camping. It just does!

We spent the evening and all day Saturday at a campsite along the Juan de Fuca Trail with friend's of ours. It was a wonderful and relaxing time, which included far too many marshmallows and a bag of chips, but camping isn't camping without loosening the belt a little!

Nick and Tanya

The obligatory constantly-burning campfire

Me! Nappin' in our tent

Our friends dog Shasta napping with me

Ryan's forest-made drying rack

Unfortunately, Ryan's really old shoes got too close to the fire...

And so, they were sacrificed and their loss was mourned

On Sunday I slept in... until noon and it felt like heaven. So much fresh air left me pretty tuckered out! Luckily Ryan was working all day so I didn't feel bad about holding back his day at all.

When he got home we took it super easy as he was pretty tuckered out as well. We watched Valentine's Day and ordered pizza!!!

You had better believe I held my own and ate half of this super cheesy pizza. Yum!!!

As Alison put it so wonderfully in a blog post: "Working through injury is a really humbling process. It really puts a lot of things into perspective. I haven't been as obsessive about my diet and my focus on trying to shed a few excess weight. Pretty much everything, including my destroyed painting, have taken a back seat to make sure that my leg heals properly and that I don't have to put an end to my embarrassingly short running career."

Now, while I'm not exactly injured, my recovery time has slowed down tremendously since getting sick several weeks ago. Combined with sore knees and stiffness through my hips when not running (since everything seems to loosen up and feel great when my feet are pounding pavement), I have started to put things into perspective, allowing my fitness and health obsession to take a bit of a break and allow my body to chill out, relax, and not hurt itself!

However, this doesn't mean not running...

Monday morning it was my turn to go into work to dress ship for Victoria Day (hauling up a whole butt-load of flags to make the ship look pretty). Thankfully the lines went up without too much trouble and I was out of there by 8:15am, leaving plenty of time to head home, wake up Ryan, and get our booties on the 19 km run that I didn't do on Sunday!

We ran 19km in 1:41:06 (pace: 5:19/km), not half bad! 19 units! (read on...)

Like I needed another excuse to run my little bootie off, on Thursday I picked up the paperwork required to apply for the Canadian Forces Physical Fitness Award for Aerobic Excellence:

There's the full scope of the award system here, but what it is in a nutshell is a way for the military to recognize those members who dedicate themselves to aerobic fitness. "The award is divided in 7 levels of achievement (I to VII). Each of these levels is broken down into in 6 sub-levels (red to gold seals), each of them requiring the member to complete 2000 units of aerobic exercise before moving on to the next seal."

Besides recognition and certificates and seals, the best part is that the captain of your ship is the one who presents you with the awards and seals (meaning your head honcho has to recognize you) and it goes on your personnel file, which looks really good towards promotion!

So far I have 47 units of the 2000 required to receive the initial award. I'm figuring it will probably take me about 8 months, but I'm okay with that. It's fun to tally up how many "units" my run, bike, swim, aerobic class, etc. has earned me based on their point system!

Today was generally very uneventful. I dragged my butt out for a 10 km run and am now very ready for bed!

What keeps you motivated?

Alive and Kickin'!

2010-05-24T22:09:00.001-07:00

My first week onboard the HMCS Winnipeg was hectic to say the least. It included two days of impromptu sailing and getting my workouts in was challenging. I've also started to have some pain in my right knee area that doesn't arise while running, but most certainly does while walking. Luckily it hasn't hindered my running much, although it has made me worry about running much more!

I promise I'll be back on the blog-train tomorrow and will hopefully be able to give you all a little bit of forewarning before dropping off the face of the internet again!

<3 <3 <3
I can't wait to catch up with you all!

Photo catch-up

2010-05-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Few words, many photos.

Friday: Cardio kickboxing class, 45 minutes resistance training, race kit pick-up, napping in the sun, campfire with friends.
Saturday: Fishing (= trout for dinner), bbq with parents (eating said trout), Robin Hood.
Sunday: Half-Marathon (some recap points follow the photos), hiking a mountain, swimming with friends, bed bed bed.

Ryan, picking up our race kits

Race kit!

Front yard naps

Saturday morning brunch

Saturday in the boat, "fishing" (ie. supporting)

Licorice snacks (required)

Ry's trout

Trout dinner (Ry's family had hamburgers)

Angel food cake (also required)

Pre-race food

Post-race food

Hiking (Ry, Steve and Barbie)

Oak Bay KOOL Half-Marathon runty recap!

From the moment I put my runners on I could feel something wasn't right with my left foot but ignored it... until one minute from the start gun when I couldn't stand it anymore and unlaced... to find a splinter right in the side of my left foot! I pulled the splinter out in time to lace up, hear the gun, and have to RACE to the start line with Ryan in order to keep up with the pack.

I took my first "energy gel" during this race and actually found it helped quite a bit! Ry and I fired an Orange Vanilla Carb Boom! down range at the 15km mark.

We ran the whole race together, holding full conversation as we went, it was so nice! At one point I told a woman that she was clearly our pacer and she laughed and said "Please, you guys are my pacer, and you're talking the whole time too!!!" I talk too much!

Ry and I crossed the finish line sprinting and holding hands. I can't wait to see the photo!!!

In case you missed it, we both finished in 1:48:56! I am so proud of him for running his first "official" half-marathon!

Now to prepare ourselves to not die on the oh-so-hilly Fort Rodd Hill Half-Marathon in 19 days!

Today was my first day on ship and due to being soooo busy I had a very hard time eating... at all! Scottish oats for breakfast on the drive to work, a mango and some strawberries at 10:15am, and then some Panda Puffs on the drive home at 2pm. Spring Rolls and Pad Thai with Ry at 5:15pm.

Note: Make more time for food at work tomorrow!!!
As you can tell, much food was left un-photographed this weekend. I would love to say that I will be able to photograph everything I eat again from now on, but now that I'm on ship I won't be able to: cameras are definitely not allowed on my persons while at work and meals are supplied by the ship, which I will be taking advantage of as much as possible. I'm going to have to figure out a new blog format to accommodate for this!

Lazy Weekend!

2010-05-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the complete lack of blogging lately, I'll make sure to update on the events of the past three days tonight. For now...

Oak Bay KOOL Half-Marathon finished in 1:48:56!

and I got to cross the finish line holding the love of my life's hand, I couldn't be happier!

Sick-be-gone!

2010-05-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

Because I've felt like poop lately I have not been up to the challenge of being photogenic, and so I apologize for the rather lame blog posts lately consisting mainly of food photographs and brief sentences about what I've eaten and the exercise I've done.

On the bright side, I am feeling much better today and hope to be back to my usual chipper self by Monday, which also happens to be my first day onboard the HMCS Winnipeg!

So for now, please bear with my rather scant photographs of some delicious food I ate yesterday and severe lack of insight into my life!

Thursday Lunch-Box

Breakfast

1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds. Topped with peanut butter, crofters fruit spread, and coconut butter.

Lunch

3 grain bun with spinach, 1/2 avocado and 3/4 of a PC Thick & Juicy Vegetarian Portobello Swiss Burger (it was freezer burnt and had to be cut away at).

Snacks

1 grapefruit

1 tomato

Homemade 'trail mix' (raisins, pepitas, cashews, almonds and hazelnuts)

~~V8 low-sodium vegetable shot~~ (didn't drink it)

Thankfully at 11am I was told to take an 'extended lunch' until 1pm. What is there to do on base for two hours when you prepare your own meals? Well, I decided to use the time to head down to the gym to get a Whittle my Middle II workout in. Of course, being at the gym I couldn't actually just work my abs, so I also tossed in about half an hour of upper body resistance training. I love lifting weights, but I hate working my core!

After the gym I wandered back to the school in my gym gear, grabbed my lunch and sat outside to enjoy my lunch in the gorgeous weather. The sun was shining and I was happy. Lunch was okay, I can't say I'm too keen on veggie burgers, mind you, I've never even really enjoyed 'real' burgers either.

I finally got off work at around 2pm and drove home completely exhausted. The moment I got home Ry was in his workout gear, ready for a run. Crap. All I wanted was sleep!

Fortunately, he proposed running to the pool (7km), some laps and some hot tubbing, followed by a run/walk home... after I had a quick cat nap.

We strapped ourselves up with camelback, I fired a piece of creamsicle fudge down-range for a sugar boost, and we were off like turtles.

I had originally been planning on completely scraping my run in favor of sitting around on my behind, but Ryan's determination to get out for a run (with or without me) pushed me out the door. I did warn him that it would be slow going since I am still hella sore from the kettlebells class yesterday and don't want to push anything too hard before the Half-Mara on Sunday.

Thankfully, I reminded myself of Allie's membership to the "something club" midway through my run (something is better than nothing) and stopped for a walk. What was originally supposed to be a 7km run to the pool, lengths, and 7km run home turned into a few lengths and a lot of playing around in the pool and a 12.57km walk/run (time: 1:27:26) there and back. It felt good to not push myself, and quite frankly, it was so beautiful that I couldn't resist a nice long walk along the waterfront. I love love love living on an island!

When I rounded the corner to the house I could hear Ry's guitar (he ran ahead because unlike me, he wanted a good run) and when I saw him my heart exploded with love and he said one thing "bananas?". I guess my crazy boy was craving a banana and wanted some of my foodie goodness to be added in.

Naturally, banana soft serve was necessary, and after all of our activity I figured I would beef it up with a scoop of chocolate protein powder (Ryan's stuff)!

We each had about 1 banana a 1/2 a scoop of chocolate protein powder's worth and it was soooooooooo good. Ry even brought it up for his parents to try because yes, it was that good.

After our soft serve I hopped in the shower and got re-dressed to meet friends for dinner at the Gorge Point Pub.

I had a diet coke, an asian salad (mixed greens, lettuce, red bell pepper, pineapple, mandarin oranges and oriental noodles in an asian seasame dressing) with prawns added on and a few of the sweet potato fries that Ryan got with his huuuuge bacon cheddar burger!

It was a good meal with good people, but my palette needed something more...

A Tall Skinny Cinammon Soy Latte from Starbucks of course! Mmm mmm mmm!

After such an exhausting day the warm milk (even with a little caffeine) knocked me right out and I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow at 11:15pm.

Thankfully, this morning I woke up feeling much better than yesterday morning, so perhaps my immune system has come back from it's adventure outside my body and decided to help a chica out!

How has your week been? How are you feeling in your body right now?

Things I am excited about

2010-05-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

I will post about what I did today, tomorrow! So for now, here are two things I am pretty stoked about!

Yesterday before the kettlebells class I decided to walk over to the gym early to get a Whittle my Middle II workout in! I've decided to start incorporating a lot more core work into my exercise regimne. Why you ask?

Clearly, for abs like these!

Okay, maybe not... my problem is with my lower back. It's strong. Like really strong. What's the problem? I can't do core workouts without my lower back kicking in, and when my lower back kicks in too much on a day to day basis it starts to feel pinched. Solution? Gain equal ab strength... and maybe get abs like those.

Last night I also submitted my order for a Road ID elite braclet.

I've been contemplating the idea of identification tags during physical activity for a while now; what if I do get hit by a car? What if something actually does happen to me when I'm out on a run. They sure as heck aren't going to get much information out of my Garmin or my iPod if I can't respond.

Wow... how responsible of me! When did this happen? Naturally, my name and birth year and important to responders, followed by the fact that I am a Canadian Forces Sailor, my hometown, and then numbers to call: Ryan, his parents, and finally my parents. I'm pretty excited for this to arrive in the mail!

What are you excited about?!