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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

Oh my goodness.

This weekend was crazy.

I'm pretty sure I ate enough for 3-4 horses, a couple of pigs and a goat.





What is that you ask?  That my friends, is a lobster pot pie.  Because what else should you do than put a lobster in a pot with cream and veggies, put a crust over top, cook it away, then take it out of the pot and reconstruct the lobster on the plate (the crust is underneath)

But I get ahead of myself.

This weekend I graduated!



I am officially awarded the doctor of physical therapy degree.

Needless to say I am thrilled.  Three years of hard work, but I made it through, and now I get to start my life doing something I love.

As my family was in town, there was lots of eating and fun to be had.
 
 
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Oh my goodness the pesto here was out of this world!  I think my family and I were eating it off the spoon by the end of the night.

And of course on Saturday night we were at Bourbon Steak

 

Which is of course where I got my Lobster pot pie.

The other highlights here included the bread, which was rolls in a cast iron skillet with truffle butter (yum!) and the Chai tea at the end of the meal, which was the best tea I have ever tasted in my entire life.  So good that I'm pretty sure I'd go back and spend 7 dollars on a to-go cup of it.  

And this doesn't even include all the small meals that I also ate for lunches and other times.   

Needless to say I have been avoiding my scale all week and am terrified as to what Friday will bring.  However,  in the grand scheme of life, one week doesn't matter, and this weekend is hopefully one I will remember for the rest of my life.  



Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Week #1 Run #1

So, in an effort to get myself back onto an exercise habit, here is my first run of the week. 


No judgements or putdowns just yet.  It was a hard run because it was warm again and I again chose to run at one of the warmest points in the day.  But I just have to keep going, a couple of these every single week for a few weeks and I know I will be going farther and easier. 

So here's to the start.  May I have the patience to become a runner yet. :-P

Monday, May 20, 2013

This is an automated message

Due to the excessive nature of graduation weekend and job interviewing, Sarah will not be blogging today.

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

Thanks for your understanding. 

Friday, May 17, 2013

Friday Weigh In

Hi everybody!

Quick post to let you all know I'm down a half pound this week!

Last week: 217.1
Current weight: 216.6
Weight loss: -.5 lb

I'll take it! Especially since it will probably go away this weekend as I have lots of eating planned for graduation weekend :-)  I'm going to do my best to enjoy every bit of it, without going overboard and making myself feel sick.

One other quick note, I've been plugging away at blogging for only a month now, but I do notice an uptick of page views on my Friday weigh ins which is great!  However I've never gotten one single comment :-(  So, please, leave a comment, good/bad/anonymous just so I know that it is real people looking at my blog and not some weird computer program!

Thanks!!

I'm off to gradumatate!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

How did I go 13.1 miles?

I can't believe it was really only a couple weeks ago I managed to move my body for 13.1 miles.  It certainly doesn't show in my running.






I'm taking a couple of steps backwards with my running.  Starting out with much shorter distances and really trying to push myself through them.  I want to run a 36 minute 5k when I finally decide on a race.

So, not a great start, but definitely a new goal for me.  Run 3x a week and post them here.  Starts on a Sunday and ends the next Saturday, so I won't get in 3 runs this week, but that way I don't have to worry about my graduation this weekend. 

I also need to start running either earlier in the day or later.  It is pushing 90 degrees outside and it is pretty warm to be in the sun. 

Went a little crazy at Wegman's yesterday and will probably be posting me attempting to cook again later today.  First I have to go get my regalia (!!!) for tomorrow, and maybe a Jettie's sandwich.....

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

....

So, it turns out if you do absolutely nothing on a given day.........you will have nothing to really write about the next day.

I guess I should get out there and do more stuff.

So today I'm going outlet shopping!  I have graduation this weekend and a job interview (!!!) on Monday, so I'm gonna go see what I can find to make me look snazzy.  Pray to whatever deity I please that I ignore the numbers and just choose things that make me look good, the weight will come off in good time.

As far as my weight goes, I've felt very icky this entire week.  Like I've eaten too much, my stomach feels like lead, pretty bad reflux (which I generally don't get unless I eat too much, particularly eat to much of something like tomatoes), and just general malaise.  However, when I got on the scale this morning to cheat peek it was actually down a tiny bit, so I can't have been doing that badly?

Probably get to go to Wegmans for lunch today.  Which is awesome.  Wait for a Wegmans post coming up soon, because I can wax poetic on that lovely store for awhile.

Sorry that this post is totally random and full of not very interesting facts. 

Have a great hump day everyone!!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Exercise habit

The first time I lost any significant amount of weight and kept it off was my freshman year of college.  I joined the crew team at school and got to wake up every morning at around 4:30 am to get 2-3 hours of exercise before the day began. 

I enjoyed crew, and the weight came off easily, even with the occasional late night pizza runs, and all you can eat style at school.

I think one of the reasons for this was because with my early morning crew, and my late night musical rehearsals, I preferred sleep during the day to eating, and would often forget to eat.  I think this led to a more intuitive style of eating, where I ate when I was hungry. 

Since then, I get on exercise kicks, where its easy for me to exercise daily and I enjoy it.  Then I go through periods where I don't get any high intensity exercise at all, and it becomes very difficult to get back into the habit of it.  This isn't to say that I don't get any exercise at all.  One of the very best parts about having a dog is that he gets me up at least 3 times a day to go for walks, and since the weather has been beautiful, I have probably been walking at least 3 miles a day with him.  

IMAG0139.jpg

Honestly who could say no to that face?

I know exercise isn't the key to losing weight, but I do know that it is key to increasing energy, making me feel strong, and is, I believe, one of the cornerstones of health and happiness. 

So yesterday, after doing 30 minutes of Jillian's Body Revolution and feeling fantastic about it, I spent a good amount of time researching 5k's in the greater Washington, DC area.  After ambling for 13.1 miles, I want to see if in 4-6 weeks I can really take my time down for only 3.1

I still haven't made a decision, a lot of them are pretty expensive for only a 5k.

However, I am certain I want to set up a training and exercise schedule for myself and see how closely I can stick to it, and see how fast I can do a 5k.

Does anybody have any races they are doing in the area this summer?


Monday, May 13, 2013

A weekend in Wilmington

No sooner had I published my Friday weigh in, I was packing up and driving to Wilmington, DE for the weekend.

My dear friend Emily was stage managing an opera over the weekend and had wonderful things to say about it, so I went up to enjoy it.

On our way up we stopped at Jetties for lunch sandwiches. 


I could not make myself take a picture before I had eaten half the sandwich.  For those who don't know, this is called the Nobadeer, but everyone I've ever met just calls it the Thanksgiving sandwich.  It has turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on sourdough bread.  It is amazing.  That is all. 

When we got to Delaware we changed and headed over to the theater. 





The opera was really good.  Grant Youngblood who played Macbeth blew me away he was so phenomenal.  Which I didn't expect at all from such a small opera company. 


Saturday was rainy and chilly all day, so when Sunday turned out to be beautiful, Emily and I went to Longwood Gardens for a couple hours. 





The gardens were spectacularly pretty, and it was a beautiful way to spend a couple of hours. 






My favorite were the lilac trees, but I didn't get a picture of them.  I just love the smell of lilacs.

One thing I definitely did over the weekend was eat too much.  Last week I ate out a lot but I worked hard to ensure that I never felt really gross afterwards. This weekend was a super fail for that.  I definitely feel sluggish today.  However, it was a lovely weekend, so onward and upward, I'll have to really listen to what my body says it needs today.  

How was everybody else's weekend? 

 

Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday Weigh In

I guess there is no reason to put this off.....

Last week's weight: 216.1
Current weight: 217.1
Weight gain: 1 lb

 
original characters and comics by Jim Davis

The thing is, I'm not even all that sad about the number.  I'm actually a little impressed, because this is how my week went.
Friday- wings at Buffalo Wild Wing with blue cheese dressing
Saturday- Mongolian BBQ for lunch and Gallerie Bistro amazingness at dinner
Sunday- Carrabas for dinner
Monday- Steak dinner at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse
Tuesday- Pho for dinner
Wednesday- Cafe Rio with chips and guac for dinner
Thursday- Wegman's Burrito and chocolate covered strawberries for lunch.

So I guess what I'm saying is that this week was almost like me going on vacation, and coming back only 1 lb heavier.  And that 1lb could be water retention, or a mixup, or anything.  So there really isn't any reason to be upset over this weigh in. 

All I really need to do is embrace the healthy at least some of the time perspective.  Eating in just once or twice this week might have made a completely different number on the scale.

And on that note, I'm off for the weekend to Delaware to see an Opera my friend is stage managing.  So more eating out!  

How did everybody else do this week?

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Sometimes I hate laundry day

Today when I woke up I told myself I was going to go for a run. 

Nothing long, nothing strenuous.  In fact, I was really only planning two miles, I could of course go more if I felt like it, but didn't need to.  I told myself just getting back out there because I haven't run since the half marathon.

It's laundry day.  All of my capris are disgusting, so I told myself, it's only a short run, wear your shorts.  You do your exercise DVD's in them and those are 30 minutes too. 

I walked Magic a mile (then he was tired)


And I turned on runkeeper and my music, and headed out. 

Now, the problem with wearing shorts while I run, that doesn't occur while I'm doing strength or circuits, is continuous friction between my thighs. 

I only wanted to go two miles, but by one mile I was readjusting my shorts every 2 seconds, and by 1 1/2 miles I was in so much pain I stopped and walked the rest of the way home. 

(I took a picture of the lovely red bumps, but then figured NOBODY wants to see that)

So, I guess I walked 1 1/2 miles this morning, and slowly jogged 1 1/2 miles this morning.  Win for 30-45 minutes of moderate good for my heart exercise.

Fail at getting back into jogging.

AlotOfExercise.png 
hyperboleandahalf.com
Oh well, first steps and all.

Anybody else hate laundry day?   

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Lazy.....

Part of the problem with not having a job, or any real plan for the day is that occasionally I get into very lazy moods.

 
pusheen.com

Honestly, I can pretty much say that I have done nothing interesting, or noteworthy the past two days.  I haven't even been all that great at thinking about what I'm eating, and trying to objectively contemplate how my food is affecting me.  

The scale this week might be scary.  

But, since I have nothing interesting to say, I'm going to go back to reading pintester.com.  

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Gallerie Bar and Bistro

In less than two weeks I have my graduation from physical therapy school.

I've had my dinner reservations for Saturday night since about two and a half months ago.

So on Friday evening, when my older brother and I found out that my little brother had totally dropped the ball on his own graduation dinner, we went into panic reservation mode.  We honestly didn't expect to be able to get anything amazing, after all over 10,000 people graduated from OSU this past weekend.  So we made a reservation at the first place my brother found on open table that looked pretty good.



Oh man.  This place was AMAZING.  It's only been open for about six months at this point, inside the downtown Hilton hotel in Columbus.

It has an Alice in Wonderland lamp.


The executive chef is Bill Glover, and he works with local farmers and businesses for almost all of their produce, cheeses, and meats.  Not only that, but they are currently working on a sustainable garden and bee hive colony on the roof of the Hilton to become even more sustainable.

The food was incredible.

I didn't manage to get any pictures of the appetizers, firstly because I hadn't quite hit "blogger mode" yet, and secondly, because it was a late reservation we were all STARVING.  We got beet carpaccio, which was a nice little salad with thinly sliced beets, beef tartare with a quail egg, and an appetizer of bone marrow.

The bone marrow was incredible, they gave us three huge bones with marrow in it, with toasted bread, a bacon and onion jam, arugula, and capers.  My whole family devoured it.  I really wish I had gotten a picture.

The entrees were just as amazing as the appetizers.

I got this incredible chicken dish.


It was roasted and stuffed with a chicken/herb mousse to keep it moist, on roaster fingerling potatoes, with apple slivers and a truffle sauce on top.  

Of course in my family, we never just get one dish, life is all about sharing! So of course I also got to sample:

The duo of duck with red cabbage marmalade (another of the best things I've ever eaten in my life)




French Gnocchi




 And rabbit pappardelle

Also eaten, but not pictured was my little brother's filet with frites.  Which was good, but he didn't really want to wait for me to snap a picture.  We got sides of asparagus and roasted Brussels sprouts as well, the Brussels sprouts being positively delicious.  

Our waiter was incredible, telling us different things about the dishes, recommending things to us.  All in all it was a fantastic meal, and I highly recommend it to anybody in the Columbus area who is looking for a nice dinner.  Don't be thrown off that it's in a hotel.  Take advantage!

Has anybody else ever eaten here?  Or had something amazing to eat recently?

Monday, May 6, 2013

The weekend I didn't get enough sleep.....

So on Friday, because I had procrastinated preparing all week, was a crazy, run around like a chicken with my head cut off kind of day.

First there was a minor freak out because for some strange reason, my plane ticket wasn't there on my united site.  After that was resolved I popped out to get a mani/pedi and my eyebrows waxed.


After that I grabbed a quick lunch and headed on the metro to DCA.



Except our plane was delayed, and we would have missed our connection in Newark.  So we ended up having to hop on (a very expensive) taxi ride over to Dulles airport to get a direct flight to Columbus.  

Once in C-Bus the weekend was a blur of staying up late and getting up early.  I will go into more details about certain stuff later, but needless to say some highlights





And some lowlights:
 

I hope everybody's weekend was great! Further discussions on some of the amazing food I had and how much I love flying further down the line. 

Friday, May 3, 2013

Friday Weigh in

Today will be a quickie, as I am scrambling to pack and get ready to head to Columbus, Ohio this evening for my baby brother's college graduation!

Last week's weight: 216.6 
Today's weight: 216.1
Weight Loss: -0.5

Honestly, I'm still pretty thrilled with this drop.  Considering how much I ate over the weekend, and that I peeked at the scale on Monday I consider this a major win.  And it is absolutely still heading in the right direction.  

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Love of Libraries

When I was growing up Saturdays were Library Days.


 My father read to my brother and I almost every evening growing up, and I was a voracious reader myself, so come Saturday we would make the trek to the library after Synagogue to exchange our books for the week.  Dickens, Dumas, Alcott, and many others gave me new worlds to explore, adventures to have, and friends to meet.

Inn nearly every city I've lived in, my first stop was at the local library to pick up a new library card.  It didn't matter if I also had a University library at my disposal, I felt better having a public Library card.  In fact, I still have two key tag cards from two different public library systems on my car keys.  (I'm pretty cool I know)

So, it is kind of surprising that I have now lived in DC for two years, and had not gotten a public library card.  I blame it on grad school.  And partially on my kindle.  But in either case, I finally made the trek to get a new library card.


There is just something about a Library.  Maybe it's the way it smells.  Or all of the books stacked next to each other in endless rows.




Either way, I went in just to get the card so I could put library books on my kindle for my upcoming trips.  And walked out with this....


And this was me being conservative.  There were at least 3 other books that I thought about getting at the same time.  Because I may be slightly insane. 

So please forgive me if I cannot be found for a couple of days.  I will be curled up in my new-to-me double papasan, with a cup of tea and Mr. Bryson.  An author who I am slightly obsessed with.

Does anybody else feel this way about libraries?  or books? 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May Goals!

I have noticed a number of bloggers who do monthly goals.
In the spirit of attempting to join the blog community I add mine here.

May Goals:
  1. Eat mindfully 90% of the time.  
    • I feel that giving myself even a little bit of wiggle room helps me to feel empowered, and make it a real choice.  I can then make the choice to ensure I am really listening to my body, because I have the chance to "ignore it" if I need to. 
  2. Enjoy my graduation from PT school. :-)
  3. Put together a reasonable board study schedule and stick to it.
  4. Complete my HIIT training exercise every day. (I'm doing this with a friend and am pretty excited for it!)
  5. Do at least 2 touristy things in DC and blog about it. 
  6. Take lots of pictures!
 Here's to a wonderful and productive month!

Not a chef.....or the time I tried to make Tamale pie.

Yesterday:

It was a rainy dreary day.

As I perused some of my favorite blogs, I noted that two of them (carrots n cake and runeatrepeat) had recipes for warm, hearty, casserole type dishes that I wanted straight away.  A dinner idea was formed.

I hate cooking fun meals for one, so I called up a friend and asked him over for dinner.

Recipes were perused online.  I ended up deciding to put together a number of ideas, the basic recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, the idea of using lots of veggies from here, and the idea to use cotija cheese from this.

A shopping trip was made:

Veggies were chopped up and browned:


Meat and other deliciousness was added:




Everything was put together and put into the oven:


30 minutes later.....Dinner!

It was spicy.  I think using the jalapeno and the fresh salsa from Safeway took it just past where I'm comfortable.  But it was very tasty.  

Tamale Pie

Filling
1/2 lb ground turkey
3/4 medium onion diced
1 zucchini, peeled and diced
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and diced
1/2 cup (I just used what I had left) frozen corn
Fresh salsa or pico de gallo
3-4 oz cojita cheese
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
Salt to taste

Topping
3/4 cup corn flour
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder

Disclaimer:  I am not a food blogger.  I know the amount of time/effort and photographs that go into making a food blog what it should be.  I just wanted to share my dinner, since it has been awhile since I've actually put some effort into it.