Gods in Alabama

Hey readers! First of all, I wanted to point out to all of you that I've added a couple new tabs to my blog in the past few days: Recipes and Reviews.

Recipes, although pretty simple right now since I'm working on my chef skills, has a collection of recipes that I've shown you all on my blog. I do not include the recipes that I use directly from someone else's blog, because they aren't mine! If I adapt a recipe I'll give credit to where I found it. 

The second tab is reviews: of just about anything! Right now I have restaurants and eateries that I have visited in both Chicago and Kansas City while writing this blog. I decided to only include those, since those are the ones I have pictures and fresh experiences of! Hopefully I'll be able to add some more Chicago ones soon!

Reviews also includes book reviews - I have a lot more coming and I take suggestions for books to read! Although I have limited free reading time! Over this summer I read a ton of books for pleasure because I had forgotten how much I love to read! Law school can do that to you. 

I'm also planning on including reviews of products that I've used in my posts, but that will probably come this weekend! Speaking of reviews, here's another of a great, fun read! 

While flying back to Kansas City, I finished the book Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I found this book, and a few others, by searching on amazon.com for book lists for women in their 20s. I wrote down a few titles that looked interesting, and this one caught my eye. The story is about a young woman named Arlene Fleet who left her small hometown in Alabama after High School without looking back. Although this may sound like a typical girl running away from small town life, Arlene wasn’t running from the town, she was running because she promised God that if he kept her secret she would never go back.

However, just as the story begins her life in Alabama shows up in Chicago, causing her to return to Alabama for her relationship with her boyfriend, but more for herself. She realizes that she can’t run from her past anymore and heads back in an attempt to settle many unresolved problems and face the secret from her past.

Gods in Alabama was a great quick read and definitely kept me interested the entire time. The author reveals the story in a way that keeps you guessing. I kept thinking that I had figured out what happened, but then she reveals a new twist in the story that I hadn’t anticipated. I hate it when I figure out a book before I even get started, so stories like these are great for me.

I also loved many of the characters in the book. For one thing, Arlene believes that she and her aunt, who practically raised her, are very different people. In reality, however, they are both stubborn women who like to be in control and protect their loved ones with great ferocity. Personally, I felt like I identified best with Arlene’s cousin, Clarice. Not because she was the gorgeous cousin who got all the attention (haha, definitely not) but because she was “glossy” on the outside, trying to make sure she came across as strong and always happy. Perhaps she also took up the theory of acting the way you want to feel. She worked very hard throughout the story to perk up their moods and not let things get to her. Something I’m working on!

If you’re looking for an interesting and somewhat quick read to mix it up, I’d highly recommend Gods in Alabama. I certainly enjoyed the story, which was very different from other books I’ve been reading.

Other book reviews:

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Simple Veggie Soup

For dinner last night I realized I had a lot of veggies in my fridge and needed to use them! I decided to make my own Simple Veggie Soup! With a baked sweet potato... of course. 

And while I waited on the sweet potato to cook, I munched on half a peach!

my last one from the farmers market!

Simple Veggie Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup Plain soup mix/puree (I used broccoli, would also be good with black bean!)

1 T chopped green onions

1 T chopped sweet onion

1 cup chopped veggies (I used green and yellow squash as well as eggplant; other options are carrots, broccoli, kale, mushrooms - get creative!)

1/2 cup beans (I choose chickpeas, since they were in my fridge)

Salt and Pepper to taste (I add just a bit of pepper)

1. Chop up the veggies and put them together in a bowl with your beans; steam for 2-3 minutes depending on veggies
2. Put 1 cup soup in a bowl big enough for soup + veggies
3. Add steamed veggies to soup
4. Heat for 2 minutes

Ta Da! Veggie soup! Very simple and quick to make when you're hungry and ready to eat! You could also make it on the stove-top... but this is more my style, haha. 

I served mine with a sweet potato on the side, but another great option would be to add a grain to your soup, such as brown rice or wheat berries! 

All my veggies, ready to be steamed! 

This is the soup I used - from Whole Foods! Trader Joe's has some great ones too!

Soooo many vegetables, it's insane! I think I'm set for the week! 

This morning I had my very last workout with my trainer! He's leaving my gym and I'll be sad to see him go; I never know how he comes up with the stuff that we do! Oh yea, and he's really nice, haha. One thing I'll really miss is learning to box! Most sessions with about 15 min left, he'd teach me a bunch of boxing moves - I'm not exactly good (don't have good reflex skills), but it's so much fun! Something I'd definitely want to look into in the future. Today we did almost a half hour! I enjoyed it and was not happy it was over! 

Before my workout I had a snack of 1/2 cup Kashi Puffs cereal with the last of my farmers market blueberries! I was pretty hungry... since I somehow woke up at 5am... 

Despite my snack, my stomach was growling the whole time! So I ran home, showered, and made up a smoothie! 

In the smoothie is 1/2 cup almond milk, spinach, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 scoop vanilla protein, a bit of flax, a Truvia packet and a smidge of vanilla! I ate it with some Trader Joe's Bran Flakes. 

Have you ever tried boxing? Any other fun sports that you like to do? 

Late Night Baking!

When I got home from class last night (around 8:30... not exactly "late night" but late for me to get home) I decided to make something I'd been dying to try: A Single-Lady Cupcake from Chocolate Covered Katie! I love that she features several baked recipes for just one person, I never make baked goods because then I'm stuck with the whole batch! That can be dangerous...

I used the recipe she has posted on her site, however I didn't have any applesauce. So I thought to myself, what else could I use? A Peach! Haha, I'm crazy, I know. I took some peach (without the skin) and microwaved it and mashed it up. Same thing as applesauce, right? I also added a little cinnamon to the mix because I thought it would go well with the peach!

Everything mixed together! 

Final Product! 

Turns out, the peach worked pretty well! It tasted good, although next time I'll use the oven method and not the microwave method. I think that will give it a fluffier texture. This was almost rubbery on the outside. That also could have been due to my "peach method"...

yes, I broke it open with a spoon... It was still steaming!

This morning I had a 3-mile run on my workout schedule, so I was up early and out the door! It was such a gorgeous morning for a run!

I love getting up early to run here in Chicago because I can watch the sunrise over the lake! I ran 3 miles at an 8:43 min/mile pace. However, I'm about to kill my phone. I've realized that mapmyrun isn't the issue... It's that my phone is old and is having GPS issues. I walked around my street for about 6 min trying to get it to "find" me! It was really frustrating! 

After my run I came home to stretch and then headed to a hot yoga class. I love going to yoga after I run because it calms me down and stretches me out! It's really relaxing and I feel great when I leave! And let me tell you, I sure need to relax today. I have an interview this afternoon for a summer job! Yes, in law school you start your summer job search the summer before... It's ridiculous. Anyway, I have a few interviews coming up but this is the first one and I'm nervous! Time to go make myself a smoothie, prepare for the interview and read for class! 

Have you ever tried hot yoga? Or just normal yoga? I used to not like it because I would giggle the whole time! Good thing I grew up... sorta. 

Weekly Workouts and Resting

This morning I had a workout with my trainer, who's leaving my gym on Wednesday! So I scheduled one more workout with him for Wednesday. I'll be sad to see him go, and I'll be honest, nervous about working with someone else for the rest of the sessions that I have! But change is good... I guess. Haha.

When I got back I made myself a Peach Banana smoothie and packed up for school.

In the mix: 1 frozen peach (from the farmers market!), 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 cup almond milk, somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups spinach (got a little crazy..), 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, and a heaping tsp of flax! I also added a packet of Truvia and a splash of vanilla to add to the flavor, although I'm not sure I could taste the vanilla... too much else happening.

Speaking of scheduling workouts, on Carrots N Cake this morning, Tina talked about how she schedules her workouts every Sunday for the week, and this is something that I do as well! I love reading Tina's blog because she has such great advice about running and strength training workouts to go along with it, as well as great recipes! Her book actually helped me out a lot this summer and got me off of calorie counting! You should definitely check her out!

(source)

This week, here's a look at my workouts: 

Day	Workout
Sunday	5 mile run + 75 min hot yoga class
Monday	Workout with trainer
Tuesday	3 mile run + hot yoga class
Wednesday	Last workout with trainer L
Thursday	2 or 3 mile run + hot yoga class
Friday	Power sculpt yoga class
Saturday	Strength training workout at gym

You'll notice I don't have a rest day planned in, that's because I took a rest day on Saturday instead of Monday this week because I had to work in some time with my trainer. I might end up just taking off Thursday, but sometimes I don't schedule the rest day because my body just says NO! one day! (I'm already thinking Thursday is going to be rest day... maybe just 2 miles and no yoga). 

I typically decide my workouts on the weekend, and then put them into my Google Calendar. I have everything in there! All my classes, social events, meetings, and workouts! I even have different colors for different things, and since it syncs with my phone, it makes it so much easier to keep up with everything!

The Importance of Rest Days

My first 10K 1 year ago!

Talking about how I need to schedule a rest day into my workout-week got me thinking about why it’s so important to have rest days. I found an article on sportsmedicine.about.com that discusses just this issue. Back when I was trying to lose weight last year, I’ll admit I would go 2-3 weeks without taking a rest day. I had the mentality that taking a day off was weakness and it made me feel guilty. Now I’ve learned that rest days are essential to help our bodies recover and perform well.

The article discusses how recovery allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues and without this time to repair, the body will continue to break down, which results in over-training.

The article also mentions that there are two types of recover: short term recovery and long term recovery. Short term recovery, or active recovery, is the time immediately after intense exercise. An important part of short-term recovery is eating the right meals after exercise to replenish energy stores and fluids lost, as well as optimizing protein synthesis (proteins are used in our body to build muscle, among many other things). Long-term recovery are those built into what the article calls a “seasonal training program”, which includes recovery days and recovery weeks that are built into a training schedule.

5K with my dad! 

One of the most important parts of rest days are that they help you avoid over-training, which is definitely an issue I dealt with. I was doing so much interval running on the treadmill last spring that I pulled my IT band. Even after my injury I kept trying to make up for not being able to run by over-using the elliptical machines. I thought I wasn’t burning as many calories as I was running, so I had to work longer and harder! This just made my injury worse!

And personally, I think rest days are good for your mental health too! Sometimes we can get so set on achieving our goals that we forget to find balance in our lives, and eventually the exercise we are doing is no longer fun! When I couldn’t run anymore, I realized that I missed it not because of the calorie-burning, but because it was a great stress-reliever! I enjoy running and am so glad to be able to throw on some tennis shoes and go run when I feel the need to! I really learned a lesson from my injury and I’m being cautious to not over-do running! Slow and steady and I’ll be running a half-marathon before I know it!

How do you feel about rest days? How many do you typically take during one week?

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

It was a beautiful morning for a run here in Chicago, and a great day to try out my new shoes! 

Today was my long run, 5 miles! I haven't run 5 miles since last February and with my ankle and knee bothering me, I was pretty nervous. I went out thinking, walk or run, just finish those 5 miles! Well, not going to lie, the first 3 were pretty rough and I had a side cramp that would just not go away. However, I ended up finishing very strong and feeling like I could keep going! I guess I just need to get through that initial hump. 

However, at 4.5 miles my earphone kept falling out, my playlist ran out, and then the wind kept whipping my sweaty ponytail into my face! (Hence the blog title... still can't believe how young that girl is! I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth...). Anyone else have these frustrations?? 

Anyway, I finished the 5 miles in 45 minutes and 39 seconds, which put me at a 9:06 min/mile pace. I was pretty happy with that! When I got back and stretched and rolled out, and then it was time to eat! 

On the menu today was banana oats and a strawberry protein smoothie! The oats were made with 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 a banana! (ate the other half before my run). 

The smoothie had 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup almond milk and 1 scoop vanilla protein powder. Just like a strawberry milkshake! Although I must say, the smoothie without the banana in it was just not the same...

After getting some work done I decided to go to a Hot Yoga class. My shoulders were so sore from my workout with my trainer Friday and I knew it would also be great for my legs after my run this morning. When I got back it was time for lunch! 

I decided to make a giant salad with spinach, shredded carrots, cucumbers, chickpeas, mushrooms, sweet onion and some raspberry-infused balsamic vinegar! 

Hit the spot. Probably going to be making some Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt in a bit for dessert... Now it's time for the last of my reading, figuring out lunch for the week, and relaxing in this beautiful weather! I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday, and for anyone on the East coast, stay safe and dry! 

Green City Market

I have exciting news! 

Can you guess??

Okay, I'll tell you...

I got new running shoes!!!!!

Well, I'm pretty excited. I've been needing new shoes for a couple months now, but I wanted to wait until I started up running again, and then I just never made the time to go! To get my shoes I went to Fleet Feet Sports. They have tons of different brands and all the sales people are great with helping you find the right shoes for your specific needs. They also offer training programs for various types of races and sell plenty of other running gear in their two locations! 

I tried out a few different styles, but ended up choosing Adidas' SNOVA Glide. I loved them because they are light weight but gave me plenty of arch support. So comfy! I can't wait to try them out on a run tomorrow! I wore them out of the store and headed straight to the local farmers market, Green City Market! 

It was a beautiful day out, not to hot but plenty warm for me! Perfect for the market, and everyone else thought so too; I'd never seen it so busy! 

"Green City Market's mission is to improve the availability of a diverse range of high quality foods by providing a marketplace for purchasing sustainably grown food and to educate, promote, and connect farmers and local producers directly to chefs, restaurateurs and the greater Chicago community. We also support small family farms and promote a healthier society through education and appreciation for local, fresh, sustainably-raised products."

I'm a big fan of local foods and helping out all these local farms and businesses, so I try and go whenever I can! Plus it's just fun, I love strolling through and looking at all the kinds of produce and products. There are also food stands: Italian food, bakeries, tamales and crepes! 

I ended up getting some peaches and blueberries from Ellis Farms! Sooooo delicious! I wish I had stayed around longer but I was getting hungry and ready for lunch with my brother and sister-in-law! We ended up going to a placed called Frances' Deli. It's a favorite of theirs, and was very busy (and loud) today! 

They have been in Chicago since 1938 and in 2011 they were a Michelin Guide Favorite and a Bib Gourmand Winner! And I just thought it was a local deli... We went for lunch, but they also have great breakfast food! I came here before when my whole family visited last March! I got their grilled chicken salad, which ended up being a great choice. 

I got it with low-fat honey mustard dressing and dipped the chicken pieces in the dressing; it was almost like chicken tenders in honey mustard sauce! Which was an all-time favorite of mine growing up (okay... still is). My brother got his chicken sandwich on what they called Black Bread? Not sure about the name, but the bread was amazing! Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

What is one of your favorite childhood dishes? 

Read Evidence or Take Survey? Survey.

Well, it's Saturday morning, how's that weekend To-Do list coming? Well, it's coming... Haha. Got a lot of cleaning done yesterday and one school project. I've got a lot of things on here I'd like to do today, such as the Farmers Market! I'm also going to try and chip away at the school work... yay. 

In the spirit of getting my school work done, I started out by going through my Evidence notes and re-writing and organizing them (during class it's a scramble to type whatever I can that the professor is saying!). What is that on my desk? Oh just had to whip out my dictionary to look up a term:

 I decided to start with Evidence because we ended up only having one class this week, aka I'm starting small and moving on to more daunting tasks later. Our class Monday was cancelled because the professor had to give closing arguments in a murder case. Totally normal. Happens all the time. Haha, well I guess in lawyer world it does, but I was thrown off by that e-mail!

My stomach was bothering me this morning, so for breakfast I just had some sliced up fruit. Nice and fresh.

So this morning, Chelsey on Clean Eating Chelsey did a fun survey that I thought I would do so people could get to know a little more about me! And so I could procrastinate...

5 Words to Describe Myself

• Observant
• Sarcastic
• Loyal
• Reserved
• Controlling (I like to have plans, okay? Haha there are two people I can imagine laughing at this right now...).

4 Favorite Foods

• Ice cream - just about any kind
• Fresh fruit - again, haha just about any kind
• Cereal - this includes oatmeal! 
• Indian food

3 Things I'm most Proud of Accomplishing

• Going to law school and doing well! (so far...). When I decided to go to law school I went through the whole process by myself, no counselor or anything. I just set my mind on it and figured it out on my own! 
• Having this blog for THREE WEEKS. Honestly, I tend to get bored with things pretty quickly. Although this blog has been ridiculously time consuming, I really enjoy doing it and I hope you all enjoy reading! 
• Keeping Neville alive. Okay, so this is really his biggest accomplishment, but I couldn't think of much else. I've done a lot of little things I'm proud of, like finishing my 10K last year, finally losing my college weight, graduating college and doing well, everything that I did for my sorority, having some really great friends, etc. But Neville has lived for over a year! Everyone is shocked when they hear he's still alive. As I am I... 

And yes, he was named after the character from Harry Potter. I felt they had similar
personalities... and clearly similar resilience. 

2 Favorite Workouts

• Jazzercise!!! I used to go in college, but now when I'm home I go with my mom! 
• My cardio/weight training workouts: 10 min cardio, 15-20 min weights, 10 min cardio, 15-20 min weights, and then 10 min cardio! Breaking it up makes it more fun, and I always feel like I've accomplished something afterwards! 

1 Thing to Expect from my Blog

• ME! That's all I've got! Since my blog is so new I think I'm still figuring out exactly what it will entail, so stay tuned and be sure to leave comments! Let me know if you have questions about me or would like to see me write about anything! 

Thanks for reading! 

What's one of your biggest accomplishments?

Funny "Foto" Friday

So for today's Funny Foto Friday, I have quite a gem for you, straight from the IL State Fair! You didn't think I showed you everything, did you? 

Well, if anyone here is in the market for a buggy (yes a buggy, like one that you would pull with a horse), then I have a treat for you! 

No, it does not come with the horse. But, there is a lovely caution sign on the back. Here's a nice close-up:

My favorite part of the poster? The description: "Very Nice". Now, who wouldn't jump at this opportunity?!?

After my workout with my trainer, I came home and made up a smoothie with 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen berries, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1.5 cups spinach, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/2 T flax and 1 packet of Truvia. 

I topped it off with some of Julie's granola! I found the recipe on her blog, Peanut Butter Fingers! I love her blog, she's so personable, has great recipes and it doesn't hurt that she's also a Kappa Delta! 

To make the granola, I combined all the wet ingredients in a bowl, and then added the oatmeal and mixed it together. The End. Wasn't that easy? I actually only used 1 T of Honey and Since I used PB2 powder, I think it ended up being a lot less PB too... So mine was probably more dry than the recipe should be, which is fine by me because I made it to put on top of my smoothie! 

After mixing, I spread it out onto a cookie sheet and then baked it in the oven. My oven is pretty old-school so I ended up leaving my granola in there for about 14 minutes. It turned out great! 

Going to my brother's tonight to watch the Chiefs game! Last year I decided that I would become a better football fan, which meant I knew when the games were and if they won... This year I'm learning players! 

Is anyone else excited for football season?

I'm A Chef! Sorta...

I am very excited because I finally have my own "recipe" to share with you! (other than smoothies). It's Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt! I tried it out last night with blueberries, and today I'll show you how to do it with strawberries! I rarely buy fruit on the bottom yogurt because it always has way more calories and sugar than plain yogurt (duh...). But I LOVE mixing in the fruit! So I made my own with fresh berries!

Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt
serves 1
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 packet sweetener (I prefer Truvia)
Berries or fruit of choice (only a small handful necessary)

Start with some sliced up strawberries (or any berry or fruit of your choice).

Then, microwave the berries for about 30 seconds. Mash them as best you can with a fork or the back of a spoon. Add a packet (or less) of truvia (or another sweetener), mix it up, and the microwave it again for about 15 seconds.

At this point, you can either put the fruit in the fridge or freezer to cool it off. I, however, have been eating it warm, because it tastes more like dessert that way! Whatever the temperature, add 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or yogurt of choice) and DIG IN!!!

I love mixing it in slowly and getting the big pieces of fruit, and the sweetener added to it gives the fruit juice a more syrupy texture. So good! Ok, so this is a really simple recipe. But it's the first one I've completely made up! I hope you enjoy it!

I also had some blueberry oatmeal for breakfast! 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup water, handful of blueberries. Microwave for 3 min!

So my goal this weekend is to get control over my life!!! For me, that means tackling my to-do list! I started out this morning with a little coupon cutting...

I considered cutting out the Old Spice coupon... a friend at summer camp used to use Old Spice because it smelled good! Alas, I did not... too risky. I'll stick to my dove. 

And then I made up my giant to-do list! Please note this doesn't even include working out or blogging... But don't worry, some of the things on there are fun! Like going to the farmers market, or watching my Netflix DVD! Gotta return that since I'm switching to only instant streaming... stupid Netflix.

I decided the most important task to start with was cleaning Neville's fishbowl! In his bowl are a bunch of little plastic purple rocks. I always had just rinsed them off and tossed them back in... Until today I realized how dirty they were! Look at the difference between a dirty one, and one I just cleaned!

So yes, I spent 20 min cleaning each and every rock. Neville better love me. But he was very happy about his clean bowl!

Now it's time to tackle more of my list, and workout with my trainer at 11am!

Do you prefer getting your chores done during the week and completely relaxing on the weekend, or are you like me and save them all for the weekend?!