Category: Recipes + Food

All the love

By , June 18, 2018 6:01 am

I had an amazingly fulfilling weekend abounding in enjoyable conversation, silly jokes, and encouragement. Typically, being around people all the time for a few days in a row emotionally drains me, but not when it’s the right people. It was a pleasure the entire weekend with great people – my great people!

FRIDAY!

Bobbi and Riyanti picked me up at 5:30 am on Friday, and Bobbi drove us to Duluth (thanks, Bobbi!!!). It’s been FOREVER since I’ve seen Riyanti, and Bobbi and I haven’t spent much time together recently either, so the trip flew by because we were gabbing the whole time. We only stopped twice and were in town by noon. Woo hoo! (And thanks for letting me crash your drive to Duluth, ladies!)

We met a college friend of mine, Jessica, at her office to pick up bleacher passes that she had for the race (for Bobbi, Riyanti, and their friends to use to spectate after they ran the half!). And we all went to Pizza Luce for lunch. Bobbi and I ate there when we road-tripped to Minneapolis a few years back and I thought she’d mentioned then that they were in Duluth, too. I was so happy they were. They have a ton of vegan options and my pizza was delicious!!!

I got “The Rustler” – “topped with mock duck, pineapple, banana peppers, red onion, cheddar and mozzarella on BBQ/red sauce.”

While we were getting ready to order, it started storming like crazy outside and the power flickered on and off a few times. Bobbi had warned me how nutso the weather is in Duluth (how rapidly it changes), but I had to experience it to understand it.

Me, Riyanti, Bobbi, and Jessica

It was nice to catch up with Jessica, and I appreciated that Bobbi and Riyanti were easy-going about the day’s schedule (when they didn’t have to be, and still had the expo to go to, and a 5K to run that night!).

We went to the expo and it was crazy-crowded like Bobbi warned me it would be. We ran in to the friends Bobbi and Riyanti were staying with, and chatted with them for a while. Then as we were walking to the expo, we walked by Kara Goucher and I impulsively said “Hey, Kara!” Gosh, what a dork. She said “hey” back. Face. Palm.

Bobbi, me, Rityani, Kelly, and Carly with “Grandma”!

I struggled with the crowds at the expo and felt my heart rate go up, and the blood drain out of my face. I just tried to stay out of people’s way!

Gina and her friends, Bob and Jessica (a different Jessica!), who I was staying with, were still around the expo, so when we were done, Bobbi and Riyanti dropped me off and I left with Gina and her crew to go back to the rental house.

Gina found a gorgeous house to rent in the woods, northeast of downtown (thank you, Gina, for coordinating all that!). It was calm and relaxing, and perfect for this weekend – we could “cook” (aka, heat up food), wash our stinky clothes, relax without hotel noise, and spread out. The house had a huge workshop outside and seemed to be on a few acres. Steven would have loved it!

I got to share a room with Gina! And Fred, the fish.

We spent the evening catching up and discussing race strategy. Then it was lights out for an early wake-up call!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday, the four of us ran the marathon! And they all had great races, yay!

Bobbi and her friends used the bleacher passes and were waiting for me to cross the finish, which I greatly appreciate, because they were cold, and I took longer than I thought I would. My tracker actually showed I stopped so Bobbi texted me during the race to make sure I was okay. I felt bad making her worry, but also appreciated her concern. (Yeah, lots of use of the word “appreciate” in this post – I think that was my word for the weekend!)

Bobbi and Riyanti also had stomach issues during their races, so I asked if they thought it was something we all ate on Friday – maybe Pizza Luce? They theorized it was the fiber in the Triscuits we had on the car ride up. That very well could be. Oops. Sigh. Triscuits are now known as “Trouble-Maker Triscuits” to us three.

Gina, Bob, Jessica and I made the long walk to the car after the race, and went straight back to our rental house to clean up and chill out. I loved hearing about everyone’s races, and appreciated how encouraging they were to me about mine. People had been telling me what I did was “badass,” which was nice, but it helped to share the disappointment with people who had run the same distance at the same race as me, and could understand exactly what I was saying about the race, and commiserate about their past marathon struggles. The marathon is a long distance and you never know what will happen on race day!

A side note: someone asked me if I thought about stopping earlier to get my knee looked at, instead of at mile 23 (when the fall happened at mile .25). I did. But every sign I passed for a medic said “Drop off or medical help” and I was worried I would drop out. Also, the stops were a bit off course and I didn’t want to add that much extra to my overall mileage. Ha. When I did finally stop, it wasn’t an official medic, it was the Navy volunteers. They, and the medics at the end, both told me they had way less people visiting than usual because the weather was so good. Yay! I’m glad it was and so many people had great races!!!

After we all cleaned up, we went out for an early dinner. Gina found a place in town that had some vegan options (fried avocado yasssss!!!)! Gina always takes care of me, and I appreciate it (there’s that word again!).

When we got back, we watched some of the Chris Mocko Show on YouTube, enjoyed ice cream we picked up after dinner, and later watched the Breaking Two documentary (so good!). We spent the evening chatting about the race and life, and I felt very in the moment and lucky to be spending time with caring, thoughtful people.

Me, Jessica, Bob, and Gina

During they evening, they all worked together to bandage up my knee (Jessica is a nurse, woot!) and all “signed” it. Ha!

SUNDAY!

I thought my body would let me sleep in on Sunday! Not so much – I was up shortly after 5:00. But that’s okay, because it meant I had more time to chat with Gina, Bob, and Jessica before we left.

Bobbi and Riyanti picked me up at 8:30 am, the same time Gina, Bob, and Jessica had to drive back to Minneapolis to catch their flight.

Bobbi, Riyanti and I had breakfast, then headed out at 10:00 am. And had a HELLA hard time getting out of Superior, Wisconsin. Sigh. The north section of the highway we needed to take through most of Wisconsin was being shut down for flash flooding (see article here) with no detour set up. We tried simple/close detours on our own, but the back roads were already flooded!

We came up with a longer detour route, and had to drive through two instances of low moving water to even do that. Eek. The detour we took ended up adding about an hour and a half on to our already long drive, and we weren’t thrilled, but made the best of it, and were happy to be together for it! Although, I would say I definitely got a bit slap happy. It was hot out (mid 90s) and every time we got out of the car, I felt sicker (with a headache). But I didn’t get sick (throw up) in the car, so that’s a win!

I enjoyed hearing about their races. They did the 5K/half marathon challenge and enjoyed it (minus the re-route at the end of the course due to construction), and had a good time staying with their friends! Bobbi and Riyanti were super sweet about my crap race and told me they were crying when they saw me run in holding hands with Bob, because they were so happy I was finishing with a good friend and not out there alone. I was extremely grateful for that, too.

Bobbi dropped me off at 6:45 pm! What a long day. And again, thanks to her for doing all the driving.

Steven had dinner ready to go and we ate and watched a bit of Mad Men then did our Sunday evening chores and went to bed. I tried to minimize the amount of times I had to go up and down the stairs, because that isn’t going so well (normal post-marathon quad soreness).

I was telling my college friend Jessica about my race on Saturday, and she said she understood why I enjoy running when I have such a good support group, and how cool that is. It really IS cool. And makes my heart happy. Despite the race not going so great, I still had an amazing weekend and am grateful I got to have all of those meaningful (and silly!) conversations!!!

Carb loading = done!*

By , June 12, 2018 9:16 pm

My parents visited this weekend through this morning! The purpose of the trip was for Mom to go with me to NeoCon, but we also celebrated Mom’s birthday, and Steven and Dad got a lot of projects done (I’ll cover all those in another post!).

Oh yes. And I did all the carb loading. I am ready for Saturday’s race. And a few more marathons. Oops.

*unfortunately, you should carb load three to two days in advance… not a week to five days, ha! And yeah, I know it’s “carbo” loading. I don’t like adding the “o”!

FRIDAY!

I taught Fitness Boxing on Friday night for the first time. I usually teach it Saturday or Sunday but I don’t have any free weekends this month, so Friday night it is! I’m glad we had a decent turn out for the different class date.

Mom and Dad got in to town shortly after my class ended and they drove with Steven to meet me at El Famous Burrito. I ordered everyone’s food since I got there first and had some funny stares with the table all set up, waiting a few minutes for them to arrive. No, this is NOT all for me!!!

SATURDAY!

Saturday was Mom’s birthday!

I started the day off with a short run with Dad while he rode his bike. Then I took Mom to see Book Club.

Not the best movie I’ve seen, by a long shot, but we had fun!

While we were at the movie, the boys started the projects. Here is a preview pic!

We rented that boom lift – we don’t have one!

We brought home subs for lunch, and ate with the boys, then had trifles for Mom’s birthday.

These were supposed to be a cake, but it got hella effed up, so we salvaged it in to trifles. And it was amazingly delicious.

The boys got back to work after lunch and Mom and I screwed around for an hour laughing about a race where you run with a “hobby horse,” then eventually we signed me up because it’s so ridiculous (more details on that later!).

We ran errands and shopped that afternoon (while the boys kept working), then came home and made lasagna (and cornbread and broccoli!) for Mom’s birthday dinner! Seriously. ALL THE CARBS.

Vegan lasagna base, one side with vegan cheese, one side with regular cheese

And yes, we ate more cake after that!

SUNDAY! 

On Sunday Dad and I went on an even shorter run/bike (sigh, taper) than the day before. We wanted to both ride, but it was raining on and off all morning and not safe for me to ride my road bike in that, nor for either of us to be out in the fog and potential thunderstorms! Wah.

So we had a chill morning of chatting, which was nice! Mom and I made a return and got some groceries, then made sandwiches for lunch and hung out a bit before visiting the lake.

Mom and I hung out at the house after the lake visit, and when the boys were done working, we went out for dinner at The Shanty. We called it a night shortly thereafter since we were off early to NeoCon on Monday!

MONDAY!

Mom and I spent most of Monday in the city at NeoCon. I unfortunately started the day feeling beat and was completely exhausted by the end of it and not very much fun after we finished at NeoCon. Sigh. I’m not good at being social and around people for all of my waking hours, even when it’s people whose company I love and enjoy. I’m drained.

We made tacos for dinner, and had fun sharing stories from our days. Then Mom and I made vegan chocolate and caramel cups, which my snister surprised me with the materials and caramel to make! Yum!

TUESDAY!

Dad rode with me one last time Tuesday morning. I’ll miss his company – for the conversation and for making me feel like I can run faster (my legs felt so heavy today despite a “rest” day yesterday).

Steven picked up donuts and vegan muffins so we ate those then Mom and Dad hit the road late in the morning.

As always we had a fun visit and really appreciate their help with things when they’re here! Now, why do I feel exhausted even though I wasn’t the one working on projects all weekend? (Seriously though, I’ve been so tired the past few days I feel like I could fall asleep, or snap, at any moment – not good!)

Too hot for touching!

By , May 29, 2018 4:49 am

Our weekend was AWESOME and I hope yours was too!

FRIDAY!

Although, Friday started out on a serious note. We took Data to the veterinarian because he’d had diarrhea for three weeks (we thought it was getting better, hence not taking him sooner). The vet ran tests to see if he has a malabsorption issue, or irritated dietary tract. Data has lost over two and a half pounds since his March vet visit. Our poor old man cat.

Sigh.

I should hear back from the vet midweek. It’s likely we’ll have to give Data meds, or change his diet (which he will NOT make easy – he’s a PICKY eater). He still has diarrhea.

While we were there, I remembered to ask to visit the kittens!

There’s six kittens, three males and three females. I definitely need to adopt two, right?!

Friday night was quiet after that. I was exhausted from not getting enough sleep (broken record). I was productive in picking out an outfit for the the outdoor barnyard wedding we’re going to next weekend, though. I’m planning to wear the dress in the top right corner.

Collage I made to send my mom and snis

Of course, we watched a movie Friday night. We finished All I See Is You. Blah.

SATURDAY!

On Saturday I woke up with the sun to do hill repeats before teaching fitness boxing.

I taught, then took my car to the dealer to get the piece replaced they forgot to swap out before.

We had lunch with Mad Men, then I got groceries and picked up these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Craving satisifed!

sooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooooodt

I thought I would pull weeds when I got back, but it was in the high 80s (or low 90s?!) and hella stuffy out. I tried to spend time on the balcony and it was even too hot for that. Ugh. So we stayed inside for the evening, reading a bit, then making dinner and watching Patti Cake$ (entertaining, seemed like a newer, Jersey version of 8 Mile to us).

SUNDAY!

I didn’t need to set an alarm Sunday, but the kitties woke me up nice and early! Thanks, guys!

Actually, it was nice to have a relaxing morning eating breakfast and reading on the balcony before we left at 8:00 for the race.

We ran the Chocholic 5K in Burlington, then headed to Milwaukee for the Brewers game. Rachel got us tickets as an early birthday gift for me! I’ve done a Spartan Race at Miller Park, but this was my first time being there for a game.

Guys, I LOVE ballpark food. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s such a fun part of the experience! And all the ballparks seems so savvy with vegan options now! I could eat three hot dogs. I stuck to one. Hee.

We had a fun time watching the Brewers play (and beat!) the Mets. I was glad Rachel got seats that were in the shade because it was freaking HOT – as Steven and I like to say “too hot for touching.” Ha. We were careful not to bump arms or legs as we sat next to each other at the game. And to take a few breaks to walk around the concourse (and get more food and drinks) and cool off a bit.

It was fun to chat during the game and catch up. We love spending time with Rachel and Kevin! And yay for our first game of the year! Next month, we’ll be back at Miller Park to see the Royals play the Brewers! Woot!

When we drove home I started to get a headache and feel a little heat sick. I wasn’t surprised – I surely got a bit dehydrated (despite drinking a lot of water), and had a frozen daiquiri, and was sitting in a cold car after being out in the sun! A cold shower felt good when I got home, but I felt a bit off the rest of the night! We watched Baywatch and went to bed early.

MONDAY!

I was nervous about doing my tempo run (twelve miles at marathon pace!) Monday morning with it being in the high 60s/low 70s, and after eating and drinking a bit differently than normal, but I nailed it and felt great!

I was back at the house a little after 7:00, changed clothes, and got to work pulling weeds. Finally! I wanted to do that last weekend but it was too rainy and cold.

Several hours later, I was done, and took a cool bath to relax. We had lunch and watched another episode of Mad Men, then put the hammock outside on the balcony and hung out out there!

Pretty soon it was time to prep ALL THE FOOD to grill! Steven brought our grill home from storage this week. We’ve lived in this house for two years and almost four months and it’s our first time grilling here! We just didn’t think of it. We weren’t big grillers before because it was so unpleasant (spend time outside) to grill in the neighborhood we used to live in.

But now?! We can put it on our patio and it’s relaxing and peaceful! And delicious! Yay! The only annoying part was the mosquitoes (I got SO MANY bites this weekend), and that it was a bit hot!

We also grilled fruit that we had for dessert!

Um, so we ate dinner at 5:30. Ha! We usually eat past 8:00 on Mondays because that is when I get home from teaching! It was nice to eat early, watch a bit of Star Trek Beyond, then do a few chores/tidying up, and get in bed early with a book. Ahh, what a relaxing day!!!

I’ve been conditioned…

By , May 26, 2018 11:35 am

… to want a Pop-Tart*.

Sigh.

For a few weeks in a row, I’d see a Pop-Tart, still in its wrapper, on the shoulder of the highway close to home, as I finished my runs.

I started to look for it. I got excited about seeing it. I liked thinking about eating a Pop-Tart as I finished my runs. Brown Sugar Cinnamon, without frosting, please.

Then one day, it was gone!

But I still think about it, every time I run past that spot, which is at least three times a week.

Sigh.

I need to get my hands on a Pop-Tart.

(Since I obviously don’t have a Pop-Tart to share a picture of with you, here is a photo from my run this morning, instead!)

*This is apparently how they spell it – the hyphen was a surprise to me. The more you know!

Celebrate good times, come on!

By , May 21, 2018 5:44 am

This weekend was all about birthday celebrations. Yay!

FRIDAY!

Friday was awesome from the start because:

  • I had the day off work and could take a nap in the morning (I had a cold and haven’t been sleeping well… I say that like I wouldn’t have taken a nap anyway, ha!)
  • I found out I won a $10 Starbucks gift card from Shelley!
  • My Shitterfly magnet order came!
  • I registered for Grandma’s Marathon in June in Duluth, MN!

In the evening, we met up with Jen and Troy for a late celebration of Jen’s April birthday. We ate at a local Thai place with delicious food that actually gives you appropriately sized portions. Everyone commented on how it was the right amount of food, and that they totally would have eaten more (because it was so good!), but were glad we weren’t given more so we could get movie theater treats later. (Don’t worry, I am not turning in to someone who complains about receiving “too much food”! I am all about the leftovers! I guess I appreciate a normal sized portion when I am giving an eff about what I eat?!)

Pad See Eiw is always my go-to Thai order!

After dinner we headed to the theater to see Deadpool 2!

My gosh, I laughed throughout the entire movie. Only a few jokes fell flat on me, and I was proud I understood 99% of the joke references (ha). I had so much fun, I would see it again in the theater (on $5 movie night Tuesday, of course). It reminded me of how much fun I had at Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. COMPLETELY different movies, but it’s a blast to laugh so much. Yay!

We went to a 9:50 pm showing (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so that was a late night. I was in bed after 1:00 am, up for an hour from 4:00-5:00, and out of bed just before 6:00 am, because, (I had a) cold. Sigh.

SATURDAY!

I started Saturday off with a short run and ride, then taught fitness boxing and dropped off my bike for a tune-up (I like to get one every spring before I spend more time on it outside).

We had a small lunch then were off to my favorite coworker’s son’s first birthday party in the city!

I hit my raw “I didn’t get enough sleep” breaking point on the drive but rallied through and was able to be social at the party. Phew.

The decorations were ADORABLE (homemade, of course) and my coworker had special vegan food for me, including a piece of vegan cake OH EM GEE YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

When we got home, I read and took the short nap I needed so I could make it through the evening.

We watched Mad Men with dinner, which we just started this week, and I am seeing for the first time! We tried to use a free FandangoNOW rental code to watch Black Panther, but it wouldn’t work since it’s linked to my email, and the Roku is linked to Steven’s. Sigh. If you know how to fix that, let me know (I couldn’t figure it out with my internets search).

SUNDAY!

Sunday morning was productive AF. I woke up naturally at 5:00 am (after getting seven hours of sleep!), was done running by 8:00, and did errands from 9:00 – 11:00. I found almost everything I needed and didn’t have to wait in line anywhere to check out. WINNING! (I think it helped that it was early, and raining).

When I got home, I prepped the produce for the week, then we ate lunch and watched more Mad Men and generally had a lazy afternoon with a few chores (like programming my car), but mostly relaxing! Yay! (We had planned to do yard work but it was raining… and 40° out.)

I finished reading Scott Jurek’s new book, North, which made me want to reread his first book. I loved that this new book (about his 2015 attempt to get the fastest known time hiking the Appalachian Trail) included both his and his wife’s perspective. His wife, Jenny, was in charge of crewing for this over forty day event and it was interesting to see things from her perspective.

We watched the Netflix movie Anon with dinner (we were gonna watch Cargo but I was worried that might be too gory to watch while eating!). Meh. Oh Netflix and all your bad Netflix original films. We love watching movies (as you may have picked up on, ha!) and we’ve given a lot of Netflix ones a chance, but they’re mostly meh! (Anyone else watch The Titan?)

But anyway. Yay for a quiet Sunday! One more weekend left in May which BLOWS MY MIND. I don’t feel like summer is around the corner!

Axe throwing! And donuts!

By , May 14, 2018 7:00 am

(not together, sadly)

We visited Anne and Terry in Cleveland this weekend!

It was the first time both Steven and I had been there, which means… new pin in the map!

FRIDAY!

Most of Friday afternoon and evening was spent driving. It’s a six hour drive, plus some, when you leave during Chicago rush hour traffic. Happily, traffic was a breeze in Indiana and Ohio!

Anne picked up personal pizzas for everyone from Mellow Mushroom (which we’ve had before in Texas and enjoy despite their sometimes odd service), and we ate at 10:00 pm. Totally normal dinner time (ha, the four of us always joke about eating dinner at 4:00 pm so it was funny to be eating so late)!

Teriyaki tofu, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper, and vegan cheese

Of course, Heidi kept me company during dinner!

SATURDAY!

Anne and I had plans to run in the morning, but we decided not to set alarms because we went to bed at midnight. So I was impressed when I woke up and my watch said 5:30 am!

Um, Kim, that would be because your watch hasn’t reset to eastern time yet. It’s 6:30, derrrrr…

But we still got our run in! We went to Brecksville Reservation, part of the Cleveland Metroparks trail system close to Anne and Terry’s place.

The park was gorgeous! It’s a treat to see so much green, after our forever long winter. And I enjoyed seeing the places in person Anne’s told me about. And of course, getting to chat during a run!

After our run we were off to a main event of the day – getting donuts at Brewnuts. Anne is a supporter of my Vegan Donut Tour of America, and Brewnuts has several vegan flavors each day! This weekend’s flavors were Oreo P’Nut Butter and Lemon Ginger (the rest of the group tried Raspberry Chiffon, Hot Nut Frycake, and Strawberry Sprinkle).

The flavors were AMAZING! Everything tasted light and fresh. I thought the Oreo one was going to be my favorite but I ended up loving Lemon Ginger! Definitely four drooly faces.

State Date Name Flavor(s) Rating (0-4) Photo
Kansas 1/15/18 Mud Pie Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois 2/7/18 Do-Rite Chai Maple
Illinois 2/17/18 Holcomb Hollow Lemon Vanilla
Ohio 3/23/18 Holey Toledough Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin 4/1/18 Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio 5/12/18 Brewnuts Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter

We went to a park by Lake Erie after. The sunny skies from the morning were replaced with fog and it was chilly (naturally) by the lake, and also, windy enough for paragliding (ha, not by us, but maybe next time!)!

Guess what we did after that? Got MORE donuts. We went to Anne and Terry’s favorite donut place, Becker’s, so Steven could try those donuts too… but not then because we were all full (duh don’t be silly).

But not too full for lunch, which was leftover pizza and hummus and carrots! YUM!

After lunch was the main main event – more donuts! Just kidding – axe throwing (really, hatchets)! We tried it at Cleveland Axe Throwing. We’d already signed up online and signed waivers so we got to walk right in and get to throwing, after a brief safety instruction and a little bit of guidance and practice of two-handed and one-handed throws.

I’ll admit, at first I was really frustrated because nothing I threw would stick, but I eventually got the hang of it, as I thought of it as a strength move and talked myself through it like one – step and hard release, throw with your hips, exhale as you throw, etc.


Steven and I got matching bullseyes once

We were on teams of girls vs boys and had to come up with team and individual names (we kind of wished we had known that and could have prepped those in advance!). We were “You Axed 4 It,”  featuring 2 Axe 2 Furious and Lil’ Orphan Axie, and the boys were “Maxe Professionals,” featuring Maxe Payne and Mad Maxe (Why didn’t I think to use my maiden/middle name which has “ax” in it?! I don’t know!). The teams competed in several point tallying games and a version of tic-tac-toe.

I had fun, but it’s definitely something that can be frustrating if you aren’t successful at least a few times, or don’t have good pointers (for example, halfway through, our guide suggested I move my hands down the axe and I did much better after that… maybe we should have spent more time on form to start?).

Steven won the final competition, so he got the “Lumber Lord” tattoo!

We chilled at home after axe throwing (my arm was tired!) then got dinner at Taco Tonto’s. The service was baaaaaaaad, but I enjoyed trying their vegan nachos, and tacos!

And of course, we had to continue to vegan tour after that, by stopping at Mitchell’s for ice cream!

Steven casually showing off his tattoo while eating the vegan Salted Caramel Pecan ice cream

So. Much. Good. Food.

Anne had been telling me about how she noticed a lot of places out here have vegan options, and they sure do! Crazy that Cleveland is like that… and that we don’t see more of that near where we live in Chicagoland!

SUNDAY!

We were going to hike Sunday morning but it stormed during hiking hours (much like right now, as I took time off from work this am to run but it’s pouring rain)! Boo. So we had a relaxed morning. Anne and I went on a run (yay!) and the boys watched part of John Wick.

Then we went to the best restaurant ever, Melt Bar & Grilled.

Oh. My. Gosh. The menu is mostly crazy awesome options for grilled cheese sandwiches that you can completely customize. The menu is EXTREMELY vegan friendly with several meat substitutes, and two kinds of vegan cheese. I could tell the waitress really understood veganism too, by the questions she asked.

We got Wild Tofu Wings,

Hangover Fries,

and I got the Melt Vegan Cheeseburger (made with the Impossible Burger),

and Steven got the Backyard BBQ.

Everything was amazing and I found myself feeling giddy with excitement to try my sandwich after the appetizers were so good. I was actually clapping my hands when I saw our dishes come out! It’s totally not healthy, but such an awesome treat (and so fun to be excited about food!). I’ll be thinking about that sandwich for weeks and months.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and left! Sadness! We hit the road at 1:00 est. We did four shifts of driving and got home at 6:00 cst. A little quicker than our way out there, thankfully.

The kitties were happy to see us! They had even given Steven a card to give me that morning, aww.

Although right when we got home, Data did a very messy poo in his litter box that required cleaning walls and mopping floors after. Yeah, I’m calling the vet today.

After that it was our normal trip unpacking and Sunday evening chores!

We had such a fun time hanging out with Anne and Terry and eating our way through Cleveland! We both miss our monthly dates with them. I hope we get to see them when they’re in town this summer, and of course, at their new place in Columbus!

Random Thoughts Thursday 177

By , May 3, 2018 6:20 am
  • These oreos. Delish. [not sponsored]

  • THIS HUMMUS. Heart eyes emoji! And paired with Everything Pretzel Slims?! Cat making home alone face emoji! I’m not actually a plain Sabra hummus fan but their flavored hummuses are D-O-P-E. If anyone local EVER finds “Taco Inspired,” please let me know! Gina gets it for me when I visit her in Dallas and I can’t find it here! (Yeah, I used their locator tool but I never trust those.) [not sponsored]

  • That random book I picked up at the free library at the train station, The Salt Line, is hands down my favorite novel of the year. I apparently really dig novels set in the near dystopian future, that aren’t written pompously, like that last book I read in this genre. I may check out more by this author, and the books it’s been compared to on Good Reads (Station Eleven and California).
  • I tried to pick up another book yesterday at the train station, but the one I chose had a slight issue… wah. Ha.

  • If the weather is decent for my half marathon on Saturday, I’ll be wearing this guy! I have an old (2013) half marathon PR of 1:51:15. However, summer has arrived here, and I’ve been running in the 70s/80s this week, so we’ll see!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 176

The rest of the weekend (family & food)!

By , April 9, 2018 12:42 pm

The 5K I did this weekend was in my hometown, so I got to see my parents, my brothers and their families, my grandma, my aunt, AND! my snister and her family because they came up from Kansas City for the weekend! Woo hoo!

We rented a house with Snis and her family (it was our first time doing that in our hometown), and it worked out well!

Us with Snis and fam

FRIDAY!

We got in around 6:00 pm on Friday and hung at the rental house with Snis, Will, William, and Mom and Dad. Christina (Snis) gave me this beautiful painting she had done of Snow. I’m looking forward to finding the purrfect spot to hang it.

Artwork by dimdi

She gave it to me at the same time I got a text from Bobbi, who was checking in on the cats for us, saying how strange it was not to see Snow at the house. Aww, sad face. It IS strange and we miss him so much. I still get choked up about him being gone, from time to time. Mostly now though, it’s just stories and me saying I miss him. I’ll really love having this painting of him to remind me of him each day. It’s such a thoughtful gesture from Christina and her family.

On Friday we began our culinary tour for the weekend, ha! Half of us got Thai food, and half of us got pizza. And Christina and I enjoyed vegan cupcakes Dad had picked up for us during the day!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies & Cream from Scratch Cupcakery

SATURDAY!

Saturday was the race, but more importantly, it was my sister-in-law Alyssa’s birthday! I was pumped we were going to be in town to celebrate with her! After the race, we all hung out at Grandma’s and the kids did an Easter egg hunt, then we went out for lunch. Ha, again, it was a half and half split of pizza and Asian food (half went to The Other Place, and half went to HuHot).

There was a basket for us!

We came back to Grandma’s and had MOAR cupcakes!!!!

Christina, Alyssa, and me

And hung out together for a lot of the day.

Christina taught me a dance move I’ve been wanting to learn

We finished the night by going out for drinks (and bar food!) for Alyssa’s birthday, at a bar my uncle owns in town. Another aunt of mine was there working, so we got to see her too, yay!

SUNDAY!

On Sunday I ran with Dad,

William still doesn’t know what to think of my running outfits

then we packed up to go home! We stopped by Grandma’s and a few of us went out for Mexican food,

then we hit the road. My hometown was supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow, and the storm started while we were at lunch, so we wanted get ahead of it. We did, thankfully, but staying ahead of the storm meant we had to cancel meeting up with my other grandma. Bummer. Maybe next time I try to meet up with her in April there won’t be a snow storm?!?!!??!?!?!?!??!?! WTF.

The drive home is about five hours. We stopped at Aldi and I used the new Aldi keychain (that holds a quarter) my snis gave me. Love it!

Then we got home, I got a few cat cuddles, then immediately unpacked and did laundry, because I love that part of returning home.

So yeah, that was my weekend. Lots of driving, hanging out, and eating (and a little bit of running) – exactly what I expect from a weekend with the fam! And while we didn’t do much, I was worn out when we got back, so I am glad I took a half day today and could chill in the morning!

I could have used a million more William cuddles this weekend!!!

Things I do: exercise, errands, nap, and EAT (donuts)!

By , April 2, 2018 6:23 am

Thanks for reading these long arse weekend recaps! I enjoy writing them and appreciate you reading them!

There was no reason for last week to feel as long as it did. I was glad when it was finally Friday night!

FRIDAY!

We kicked the weekend off by going out for MOD Pizza. MOD’s a build-your-own-pizza place (think Subway or Chipotle style) with unlimited toppings! And they have vegan cheese!

MOD’s one of the very few places I like to get pizza out. I prefer Steven’s homemade pizza, or no pizza at all – I’m actually not a much of a pizza fan! But MOD… drool.

We ran an errand after dinner and picked up Pitch Perfect 3 to watch. It was silly, but entertained us a lot more than other movies we’ve rented lately!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday I got my run in before the wicked winds hit (25 mph winds with 40 mph gusts, no thanks), did an indoor bike ride, then taught a fitness boxing class. The class had an egg hunt theme – I put the workouts on little slips of paper in the eggs, and the students “hunted” for them to find out what workout we’d do!

It was fun for me since I had no idea what order the workout would be in. It ended up being a high intensity class, and the students liked it, yay!

I handed out goodie bags too. I had goodie bags for twelve, but I had two cancellations an hour before class, and three no-shows. I typically have a cancellation (and sometimes a no show) for every single class I teach, but when it’s a big number like that, it makes me a bit frustrated/disappointed. Oh well. That meant I had leftover goodie bags for my boss’s kids!

I ran errands after teaching – Aldi and Walmart pickup. This pickup did not go as well as the last one. It  took a long time, and the employee seemed overworked and was rude to me (about being there “early,” when I had received a notification my order was ready…?!). Hopefully the next time I try it, it goes better. I did have a good reality check NOT to be too upset about this FREE service while I was there, when I saw another customer who’d been waiting since before I arrived, leave, in her car, without her pickup, with her window down, screaming at the employee. Eek.

After food prep for the week, and lunch, we ran MOAR errands – Target and Kohl. Why so many errands on Saturday? Because I’ve been burned before, leaving shopping for Sunday, only to have everything closed because it’s Easter.

I wonder if everyone else had the same idea, or it was just normal Saturday shopping, but GAH there were too many people out and it made me anxious and stabby. Sigh. I needed more of this on Saturday:

and less people.

Happily, Saturday night was quiet. We made tacos, watched The Beguiled, and I read a bit before bed.

SUNDAY!

When we saw on Holey Moley Doughnuts’s social media page that they were going to be open on Easter, we knew it was a sign we had to go. Three months after making it a goal to get there, we finally did!

It was overwhelming when I got there, and saw they had THIRTEEN (not an April Fool’s joke!!!) different vegan donuts I could try. AHHH!!!!!

We got seven flavors (including one we’d had before and knew we like). Clockwise from top left: chocolate cake with vanilla glaze, cinnamon sugar (have had before), banana bread, s’mores, raspberry, samoa, and apple fritter (under chocolate cake with vanilla glaze).

We didn’t try: blood orange, chai, maple pecan, passionfruit coconut, peanut butter, or grasshopper.

These are all cake donuts, and the flavors are phenomenal. We both liked samoa the best, and couldn’t get over how the banana bread donut tasted just like banana bread. Yum.

I like these a lot, but they sit a bit heavy (um, could that be because I ate about three of them…?! nah), which just reminds me yeast donuts are my favorite! Which is why they only have 3.5 drooling faces below.

State Date Name Flavor(s) Rating (0-4) Photo
Kansas 1/15/18 Mud Pie Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois 2/7/18 Do-Rite Chai Maple
Illinois 2/17/18 Holcomb Hollow Lemon Vanilla
Ohio 3/23/18 Holey Toledough Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin 4/1/18 Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter  

The rest of my Sunday was just as amazing as the morning. I took a nap when we got home (less than six hours of sleep both weekend nights had me yawning and rubbing my eyes all morning), we ate lunch and played with the cats with the toy the Easter Bunny left them,


Ha, I had to include this one first cause it makes us laugh so hard!

Data played a little, but mostly watched

then I did my donut fueled long run, and we made our Easter dinner!

Now, to recover from the weekend…

(I usually don’t mention what Steven is up to during the weekends when I am exercising and doing errands without him. This weekend he was working and installing a security camera at the house. He’s usually working a bit, and doing some sort of project!)

Anne brought the vegan donut tour to me!!!

By , March 26, 2018 6:16 am

Well, my weekend started out AMAZING, because SEE TITLE ^^^

I was already stoked Anne was in town (for a Sunday race in the city) and we’d get to hang out Friday night, but then she shows up at our house with these beauties?!?!

OMG YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They’re vegan donuts from Holey Toledough, in Toledo, OH. Anne stopped on her drive in to get them for me! Isn’t that sweet? (pun not intended, ha)

The flavors were cinnamon roll and blackberry hibiscus. Hands down, these are best donuts I’ve had this year. They’re yeast donuts (my preference over cake), and they got everything right – they were light and airy/fluffy, with great flavor, and the perfect amount of icing. I’ll be thinking about these donuts for some time to come. Yum.

State Date Name Flavor Rating (0-4) Photo
Kansas 1/15/18 Mud Pie Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois 2/7/18 Do-Rite Chai Maple
Illinois 2/17/18 Holcomb Hollow Lemon Vanilla
Ohio 3/23/18 Holey Toledough Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll

And that was my entire weekend! Ha ha ha, I kid.

Before we indulged in donuts, Anne and I did her weekly long run together, yay! I stupidly dressed too cold, and the wind made me feel even worse. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I loved having all of that time to chat!!! <— duh, broken record, any time I get to run with a friend.

After our run (and donuts!), we made enchiladas for dinner,

then tried to watch Downsized. We almost made it to the end! What a neat idea for a movie. Too bad it never went anywhere.

Anne is one of Data’s favorite people to sit on

The weekend could only go downhill after that awesome Friday, right?

Ha, it kind of did. I woke up a little before 3:00 on Saturday with a headache, and could NOT fall back asleep. So I got up.

I worked on blog posts, rode my bike, read a little, tried to nap… then hung out with Anne when she got up, and left to teach fitness boxing (and go to Aldi) shortly thereafter.

When I returned home, I had to take a nap since I got less than four hours of sleep. I LOVE naps but I wanted to work on something for Steven and was not happy I was too exhausted to do so. Sigh.

While Anne was here, she told me about the Walmart Grocery app and I decided to give it a try for Sunday pickup, when I’d be near a Walmart. Imagine my surprise when I got a text during my run that my order was ready. On Saturday. Doh, I had requested the wrong date! I sped up and hurried home so I could go get the order during the window I asked for. I’m not sure if that matters or not, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way!

Pickup was hella easy, and I was impressed by the service (it’s free!). I will definitely use it again. I don’t like to shop, and really don’t like wandering around in (ANY) big box stores.

And they gave me a goodie bag with samples! Thanks to my lovely assistant for modeling it on the dining room table. Eyeroll. (He’s not supposed to be on the table, or counters, for that matter.)

Steven asked me why I hadn’t used it before – if I didn’t know about it. I did! I saw someone talking about it online, but all that person does is promote stuff, which makes me not see them as a valid source for reviews (seems insincere when every post is “this product/service is THE BEST EVER!”). I had to hear it from Anne. Sorry, internet marketing – I still use legit word of mouth.

Saturday night was chill! We watched a show and a movie and made dinner (pasta with sauce and meat-a-balls-a! <— have to say it that way).

I took NyQuil so that I would be able to fall back asleep whenever I woke up during the night, Saturday, and it worked! Hurrah!!!!

On Sunday I did my long run and was able to work on the thing I wanted to help Steven with. Yay!

I also got my manicure. Thank you to everyone who voted on the color. I did stick with blue, since it matches my singlet, but went a bit lighter, with “Gelato On My Mind.”

We felt like going out Sunday night (who are we?!) so we met Jen, Troy, and the kids for bowling. I was surprised at how busy the lanes were for a Sunday night. It was hectic! I felt like I couldn’t focus and my bowling was all over the place, but I still had fun.

Picture in which it does not look busy at all, ha

And we were still home and in bed by 9:20 pm! Win win! Ha.

I’ve been reading at night to help me fall asleep, and right now, I am reading Hanna Who Fell from the Sky, a novel about a young woman who lives in a polygamous town that she’s never left, and is about to turn eighteen and be married (to a man who has several wives and many children). Before her wedding, she meets a stranger who makes her think more seriously about things she’s been subconsciously questioning about the way of life in her community. I am curious to see how it ends! And I have just over a week before it’s due back at the library to do so! Ha.

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