Just going to do a random update

Friday was very low-key, and we stayed home.  Saturday I went to a wine restaurant with AC and enjoyed two flights of wine (okay, and maybe 1 or 2 full-sized glasses too!).  I had the Red flight and the Italian flight.  There was only one I didn’t like – and Italian wine that I swear smelled like cat pee.

We munched on hummus and then ordered a light lunch.  Mine got screwed up (had to argue that it really did have cheese on it even though the chef swore she didn’t put it in and said they were walnuts…).  So rated very high on the wines…not so much on the food.

Saturday in the latter part of the afternoon was absorbed in soccer.  I am wickedly pleased to announce that Chelsea beat Bayern!  My team…won their first UCL championship game.  Ever.  So proud!

I went to DC for work Sunday, and was fortunate to spend some time in the city (and I love DC – one of my fav towns!).  I stopped in Richmond on the way to have lunch at Whole Foods and to hit up a 3 day sale at REI and pick D up his sleeping bag, camping cook set, and chair.

I came home late on Monday – talk about a whirlwind trip - but it was a good trip!

This morning I made 3 smoothies.  One blueberry and coconut (which I drank before work), one pineapple and kale, and one avocado and spinach.  I wish I had taken pictures – they were beautiful!

I busted out my pineapple/kale smoothie and proceeded to be mocked by a room full of people.  One of the nurses actually said “hey…do you know so-and-so in such-and-such dept?  She eats healthy too – just like you do.  You two should hang out”.  I was speechless (which doesn’t happen often, trust me).  It’s like saying to someone who lives in a really big city…”Hey…do you know Bob?”, and expecting them to say yes.

I’ll update normally this week now that I’m back in town and managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep last night.  But until then, here are some pictures

my Whole Foods lunch

Washington National Cathedral. A stunning church, and fun to walk through. Helen Keller is entombed there. And there’s a sculpture of Darth Vader on the Northwest tower. How cool is that? I also took the Gargoyle tour. Too much fun.

a bad representation of the beautiful stained glasses

my “good morning” picture Monday when D dropped R off at school. Love getting these every day.

tonight’s BAS. Romaine, onion, beet, avocado, cucumber, and tomato with a homemade dressing. Happy end to a raw foods day.

FOOD

I don’t honestly remember all the food I’ve had since the 14th. I do know that my nerves kept me from eating anything decent on the 15th until dinner time, and then I had an awesome veggie wrap at Quenna’s. They have their awesome Tofu Tuesday, and I had a tofu veggie wrapped in red cabbage leaves, and D and I shared an appetizer of avocado stuffed tomatoes. Probably my favorite thing ever.

I packed up leftovers in my latest bento box…which was definitely the talk of the office on Wednesday!

Yesterday was A’s birthday (17!!!). She picked The Public House for her birthday dinner, and we had a great time. I had the vegan chicken fried steak. Just crazy (but crazy in a good way). AC came out to join us for cake and bday wishes too, and brought A beautiful flowers. It was a very nice dinner.

FITNESS

3 Crossfit classes this week! M is now able to do 10 pull-ups, which just amazes the heck out of me. He also claims to hate the running, but he beats all of us all the time. He’ll get there. I swear, someday I’ll have a kid who loves to run like I do.

Wednesday we had some really wicked rain storms. Since our crossfit WOD was very running based, all the classes still ran outside (as long as there wasn’t any lightening). Right when M and I got to class, it was pouring. Warm up options were two laps or 300 meter row. I rowed. M went for the laps in the pouring rain. By the time we did the rest of the warm up (stretches, shoulder rows, walking lunges, and goblet squats), it stopped raining. So M was soaked all evening, while the rest of us just dodged puddles!

LIFE

It’s been a good week. A crazily busy week, but a good one. I had a big presentation Tuesday evening that (despite my near anxiety-inducing day), went off very well.

I had a crazy speech professor in college. He was extremely mean to everyone, and this was probably the most difficult class I took. We gave impromptu speeches in each class, and were given only 2 minutes to prepare. All critiques were loud, public, and unforgiving. If I said “ah”, or “um” more than twice – failed grade on that speech. As a result, two things happened. One – I know how to prepare for a speech very, very well. And two – I have massive public speaking anxiety, to the point where I can’t eat for hours before hand, and want to puke up until the moment I start speaking. Once I start…I’m fine. He taught me how to be well prepared and how to practice and how to read an audience. But he also taught me the humiliation that I will face if I screw it up, stumble on my words, or have any nervousness apparent in my speech. So thank you professor what’s-your-name…and poo on you too!

Yesterday was A’s birthday. She had a nice day at school, and we did our normal family fun thing. I baked an Orange Dreamsicle cake, and we got her a nice stereo for her car (it will play Pandora through her iPhone while charging it…think it does other cool things too). M got her a stuffed Pokemon, and R got her a snuggie. We’re a snuggie loving family, but A always mocked us. Until we caught her “borrowing” everyone elses. They all have names too, and she named her new one the Plumonator.

The sad thing of working these long hours, is that our normally family movie-watching time has been reduced to nearly nothing. Having a big family means staying home a lot, and we’re big movie fans as a whole. Unfortunately, the past few weeks we’ve started half a dozen movies, pause them to herd everyone off to bed…and never come back and finish. In the past week or two alone, I’ve watched half of Knight & Day, half of Dogma, half of Tranformers 3, and half of Avatar. It’s a darned good thing I’ve seen all these before, or I’d be angry!

In lieu of writing more, here are a ton of pictures

FOOD

Lunch (as it was) and dinner yesterday was up in Williamsburg.  I munched on some butterless popcorn at Busch Garden’s and we went out for Asian food when we left the park for dinner.  I had some veggie sushi, tempura broccoli, and steamed spicy cabbage with rice.  Very yummy.

This morning I had a cup of java and then a green juice.  Today’s was romaine, apple, pear, orange, and celery.  I must say the amount of green juice I drink is inversely proportionate to the amount of coffee I want.  Basically, green juice is as awesome as caffeine, and I drink less coffee when I make my juices.  Could totally be psychological, but I’m rolling with it anyway.

green juice – seriously packs quite a health punch, and I highly recommend them

A little later in my morning, I had a blueberry, coconut, cinnamon smoothie.

could have used more ice – or could have used frozen blueberries to make it thicker. This was really a whole foods juice, but still fantastic.

Lunch was leftover spicy black bean and rice salad and then a snack of tortilla crisps and hummus.

Dinner was a BAS of marinated lentils on top a bed of romaine lettuce with red onion, cherry tomatoes, and avocado slices.  All very tasty, so I can’t complain (though I may be a bit biased since it’s food that I made!).

today’s BAS!

FITNESS

Sunday was a rest day (unless you count hiking around the park and chasing R in a rope climbing obstacle course).

Today was run and crossfit.  I did a short run this morning, and then crossfit after work with M.

After the warm-up (300 m run, stretches, push-ups, bear crawls, shoulder rolls, and arm rolls), we got ready for the WOD.  No skill work today; apparently this WOD takes a while to finish.  I love how they all have names.  Today, we did the Barbara.

The typical Barbara consists of 5 timed rounds of: 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, and 50 squats.  Did I mention that it’s TIMES FIVE??  Oh, you do get a 3 minute rest between each round.

Our studio broke it up into normal experienced people – who did the full Barbara (it’s called doing the Rx…or the prescribed workout).

Beginners did 3 rounds of 10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 40 squats, with the 3 minute rest period.  Intermediate did 4 rounds of this one.  J (our coach) told us beginner only.  And it was tough, I tell you!  Though I did feel strong enough to do a 4th round, J wouldn’t let me (or M…who admittedly was half-way through a 4th round).  She said it’s not that we don’t have the ability to knock it out – but our bodies aren’t used to those high reps yet, and we can cause real damage if we don’t follow the rules.  I believe her!

It rocked though, and my times were:

Round 1 = 3:54, round 2 = 3:52, Round 3 = 4:02.

LIFE

Yesterday we spent part of the afternoon at Busch Garden’s.  It was a beautiful day, and we had fun wandering around, riding rides, and goofing off as usual.  It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be, so that was nice.

yep, only my kid would want a sno cone without any flavor. So we paid the full amount for what is essentially a bucket full of crushed ice.

For Mother’s Day, my youngest made me a pretty card and my son bought me crossfit socks!  They’re so cool – and practical (protect your shins from the big barbells).  D got me a card, and he swears he’s going to buy me jewelry too.  Guess we’ll see on that (and if he gets anything from me for Father’s Day)!

my socks from my incredibly thoughtful son. He even picked them out to match my shoes!

Today was work, though I mostly was prepping for my big presentation tomorrow.  I have a tendency to do a lot of prep, work myself into a blubbering nervous wreck, but then it always goes off well.  I’m already a nervous wreck (sleep?  who needs sleep?!?), and I imagine I’ll be a regular basket case until 6 or so tomorrow.  Then I’m making D take me out to dinner.

For tonight, I’m going to read, do some gentle yoga, and try to relax enough to get a decent night’s sleep.  Wish me luck!

Snatch.  It’s a GREAT movie….watch it if you haven’t seen it.

FOOD

Yesterday was a big food day.  I spent a good portion of the day in the kitchen, preparing way more food than I needed to for the small BBQ we had.  Here are the things I made:

A spinach/avocado dip (totally my new favorite thing – just spinach, avocado, lime juice, and seasoning salt), salsa, spicy black bean and rice salad, fruit salad, a GF pasta salad, a non-GF pasta salad, veggie/lettuce salad, 2 homemade dressings, marinated lentil salad cups, and brownies.  Those were the side dishes.  D manned the grill for all that entailed.  Oh, and I made a big batch of smoothies for the kids (orange, grape, pineapple, and vanilla coconut milk).

I had the GF pasta salad for breakfast this morning, and we’re spending the rest of the day at Busch Gardens, so that’ll be where we have dinner!

most of the food spread out on the table…

FITNESS

I did get my 4 mi run in on Friday.  It was such a beautiful day, that I couldn’t resist.  I’m still trying to get used to my new running shoes.  I really, really want to love them, so I’m hoping my numb toes on my right food when I was done wasn’t related to the shoes…

Saturday morning was yet another crossfit class!  That makes 4 for this week!

We started out with a run to warm up, followed by stretches, walking lunges, and squats.  We then did drills on the snatch, learning to break down each section of the lift, and then put it all together.  We did that for about 20 minutes or so.

Then it was time for the WOD.  Today’s WOD was Isabel, which consisted of 30 snatches for time.  I’m still pretty light on the weights as I get used to the movements and build up strength.

Over the past week or so, I’ve been looking at the shoes everyone wears in crossfit.  I feel my running shoes are a bit bulky for some of the movements, so after doing some research, I picked these shoes up!  They’re minimalist crossfit shoes, but still corrects my under-pronation when I run….and since we do a fair amount of running in crossfit, I didn’t want to risk not having the appropriate support for that.  I love these shoes!

Inov8′s!

LIFE

After work and running on Friday, M, R, and I went to run some errands.  We stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods to look at weight lifting gloves, but decided against any for now – until we can get some advice from the coaches at Crossfit.

From there, it was dinner time, and we hit up a Mexican restaurant in Virginia Beach.  Then it was off to Fresh Market to pick up groceries, and then head home.

While I was out and about with the youngest two kids, my husband was off with A in downtown Norfolk.  They went to a yoga class, and then to dinner down there.  We all met up at home around 9, and headed off to bed.

After working out Saturday morning, it was back to the grocery for a few things, and then home to cook.  A co-worker of mine and his family came over so A and his daughter could work on the dress A is making for J’s dance.  I figured it would give the girls several hours to work on the fashion thing, and the adults could hang out downstairs.  M had a friend over too, so we had a fairly full house.  The kids played outside a lot, and we all hung out, ate, chatted, and D spend a lot of time showing off his new TV.  It was a very nice evening.

Today we’re going to Busch Gardens!  As soon as D gets home, we’ll be taking off for the afternoon of roller coasters and fun.  I was thwarted last weekend, but I got to pull the Mother’s Day card for today, so no one could actually say no

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday, and Happy Mother’s Day!

FOOD

The nice thing about making a big Indian feast of the weekends, is lots of leftovers!  After my java and green juice both Wed and Thursday, I had leftover Indian food.  Spicy curry may be strange for some people to eat for breakfast, but not me.  I have a theory about that though – and not just because I get sick of oatmeal and smoothies being my only “bfast” food options.  My Dad worked nights most of my life, so it was completely normal to see him eating spaghetti at 9am.  I just take after him!

For lunch Wednesday I went to Cutting Edge with LC.  I had the blacked vegan chik’n wrap with spinach, mango, and a vegan aoli.  Yum!

Lunch on Thursday was a work lunch at Pasha’s.  I had my favorite standby of kale and beet salad and a red lentil soup.  AB had the maiden cake at my urging and loved it.

Dinner last night was a total cheater meal, taking me back to the very early days of my vegetarianism.  I threw a bag of frozen Boca crumbles into a pan with a jar of organic pasta sauce.  Boom…spaghetti.  I can’t remember the last time I had a meat substitute, but it was quick and filling.

Breakfast this morning was a banana and cinnamon smoothie, with some brown rice protein powder added.  I’ve become a total addict of this powder – 1 gram of fat, 3 grams of carbs, and 23 grams of protein per serving.  Talk about a powerhouse!

FITNESS

I was hoping to run on Wednesday, but it just wasn’t in the cards.  Aside from it raining all day, my hair appt went much longer than anticipated.  By the time I got home around 730, all I wanted to do was have dinner and head to bed.  So…Wednesday = Rest Day.

Yesterday was….you guessed it…crossfit!  M is the best motivator ever since he totally loves going.  I got home from work, and we hit up the 530 session.

We did our regular running warm up (2 laps around the building), some stretches, and some squats.  The first 20 minutes were spent working on any skill that you wanted.  I picked the Clean to work on.  Both of the coaches were helping me break down the move so I get it right.  I have a tendency to try to curl the bar instead of pulling it straight up my body.  I’m sure I’ll get there eventually….

We then did pull ups – do max pulls up 4x, with a 2 min rest between.  I of course cannot to a strict pull up (means no momentum…but hell…I can’t even do THAT yet), so I used a band.  My max at any one time was 8 reps.

We then did a workout called the Dizzy.  Timer set for 10 minutes and then do 50 kettlebell swings, followed by as many reps as possible for 15 second handstand hold, 10 sit ups, and 15 squats.  I got through 5 rounds.

I really do enjoy Crossfit, and M is fully into it.  I have come to the conclusion though, that my body will be forever sore someplace.

Today is a beautiful day, and I have the time to hit up a run right after work.  D and A are going to yoga tonight, so that will be cool.  They’re also doing an intro WOD (Workout Of the Day) at mine and M’s crossfit place tomorrow to check it out.

LIFE

Let’s see.  I had my hair trimmed on Wednesday evening.  I don’t get haircuts very often, but I’ve been trying to get a trim at least every 3 months now.  My hair has gotten quite long, and that’s when I usually skip cuts.

Thursday after work and working out was watching part of the season finale of The Voice, and then going to bed…where D finally got me to watch an episode of Dr. Who.  It was actually pretty good.

After work today will be mostly housework.  We’re having a small BBQ tomorrow afternoon, and I need to get some cleaning and yard work done.  If I have time!

Now I’m off to another meeting.  I actually meant to post this last night, so there may be another post later today!

FOOD

Yeah, today was a really yummy food day.  Fresh, light, and full of awesome energy.

I had a cup of black coffee this morning, and made a fresh green juice to drink as I was getting ready for work.  My standard this week of a head of romaine lettuce, cucumber, lemon, ginger, pear, and apple.

Just before leaving for work, I made up a Vega Berry smoothie with some water and a banana to drink in my morning meeting.  I seriously can’t get over how yummy this one is.  I’m loving the new line, and can’t wait to get all the flavors.  I used to feel the need to mask the taste with tons of fruit, but I don’t anymore.  Adding the banana is really more about making it creamy than adding any flavor.

I went to Quenna’s Raw & Vegan restaurant for lunch between meetings.  Today is their Tofu Tuesday, so I ordered one of those specials (and it’s by far my favorite dish there so far).  It’s the Tofu Pocket sandwich loaded with TONS of veggies (all raw of course), a “sunbeam” salad, and these divine avocado stuffed tomatoes.  I wish we had more restaurants like this where I live, but I am grateful to at least have one.

I desperately wish I knew how to make this….

Dinner was a quick fix Taco Tuesday.  Just a couple of corn tortillas with mashed black beans, onion, tomato, lettuce, hot sauce, and vegan sour cream. 

FITNESS

Crossfit with M again.  Even though I woke up sore as hell, we checked out the website to find out what the workout of the day was to see if we thought we could handle it.  Since for me it was my legs and bum that hurt the most (hello, squat hell) and today’s workout looked to be mainly arms and cardio, we figured it would be a good balance and we could handle it.

We started out by doing 50 meters of bear crawls.  Which suck.  Not just because they’re hard, but because I’m highly uncoordinated.  The rest of the warm up was push ups, back extensions, and mobility stretching.

The skill workout was called a 5-3-3-1-1-1 of overhead presses.  So we set up our racks and grabbed our barbells.  The point was to do a warmup of 5 reps and then do 5 reps with one weight.  Rest.  Do 3 reps with added weights – twice.  Rest.  Then do 1 rep with even more reps – three times.  By the end of the last one, your arms are shaking.

Then we did the WOD called Annie Goes for a Run.  It should have been called Watch Crissie Not Puke.  It was intense, but finishing felt fantastic.  This is a workout for time, and I finished in 16:41.  Here was the workout:

500m run, 120 reps of jump rope, 400m run, 100 jump ropes, 300m run, 80 jump ropes, 300m run, 60 jump ropes, 200m run, 40 jump ropes, 100m run, 20 jump ropes.

Tomorrow is no crossfit – mainly because I have a hair appt.  If I can walk though, it’ll be a run day.

LIFE

Neither D nor I got much sleep last night.  Not for anything bad, but we were both pretty wound up and it was about 1 when we finally fell asleep.  The alarm and I were not on speaking terms this morning.

Work was good, and no complaints there other than being 15 minutes late for one of my executive meetings.  I hate that, but I was stuck behind a bridge opening, and there wasn’t exactly a way around that.  The only good thing about that is this is the meeting where I always get picked on for my green smoothies.  Being late meant the discussions were in full swing and there was no mocking my breakfast.

The afternoon was light and I got caught up on emails.  Then it was time to go home, change, grab M, hit the gym, and then make dinner with D.

For now, I’m going to enjoy a glass of wine, read some of my favorite blogs, and go to bed nice and early!

FOOD

Sunday morning was really only a quick soy latte on my way to pick up a friend’s daughter to run some errands.  Coming off feeling sick, I didn’t have much of an appetite, and the coffee was more than enough.

Lunch was a smoothie, and dinner was supposed to be at Busch Garden’s.  Alas….M and D didn’t want to go, so I had to cook.  I didn’t feel like going to the grocery (though I felt just fine and healthy….but lazy), so what did I do?  I whipped up a 6 course Indian feast!  I’m sorry, but it’s just cool to think I have the foods in the house just lying around for that

For inspiration on what to make, I emptied the majority of my spices onto the kitchen floor to look through.  I’ve become a wicked spice snob…

all courtesy of the Spice House and Penzy’s!

I first made a homemade Garam Masala blend because I was out (hard to believe I ever run out of spices).  Using the dry container of my vitamix, I put in some whole nutmeg, cinnamon, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, and I think a few other things. and blended up an amazing spice combo.  I needed SO much less than the jarred McCormick’s stuff I had just run out of.

So, here was last night’s menu: basmati rice, garlic naan, green lentils, tofu mutter, cauliflower and potatoes, and even a desert!  Vanilla/cinnamon/coconut rice pudding.  I have to say, it was all yummy (I didn’t have any naan, but the rest of the family gobbled up 9 pieces), and I was quite proud of the meal!

yummy in-home Indian buffet

yes…dessert in a martini glass. It’s a spin-off of something my Dad used to make me for breakfast all the time. It’s short grain sticky rice, and I simmered it in vanilla coconut milk, and added lots of cinnamon, a little vanilla extract, and a very small amount of sugar.

This morning was another green juice.  Romaine, lime, cucumber, apple, pear, and pineapple for this one.  So, so yummy.

can’t get over how much I love these. I couldn’t have imagined as a child that I’d grow up craving lettuce in my juice!

Lunch was leftover Indian food (and believe me…I have TONS leftover), and dinner was a BAS with a Country French Vinaigrette and a small bowl of pasta with beans.  I used gluten-free spaghetti noodles, and made a sauce of veggie broth, Italian seasoning, garlic, sautéed onions, salt, cannelloni beans, and green beans.  Nothing fancy, but it was light and tasty.

my Big A$$ Salad, Veggie/Bean Pasta Bowl, and homemade dressing courtesy of a Penzy spice mix.

FITNESS

It felt so good to feel normal again!  Today I went for a run in the morning, and hit up crossfit with M after work.  It was my first “real” class (no more training wheels!), and it was tough!  We did our warm up and stretches, then got into skill drills for cleans.  Bascially a barbell (mine had no weights yet) that you start to dead lift, and then eventually get into a deep squat and stand with it on your shoulders.  We drilled for about 20 minutes to get corrected on form, and then got into our WOD (workout of the day).

Today’s WOD was simple (but by no means easy).  21 cleans, 21 pull ups, 15 cleans, 15 pull ups, 9 cleans, 9 pull ups.  For time.  I was done in 9:57.  I will admit that my pulls ups were on rings and not the straight barbells or bands.  I did try to make them as difficult as I could and still pull myself up.

I know that was only 10 minutes…but I swear, it’s the most intense 10 minutes I’ve ever experienced.  You know how Jason Bourne describes how he can run flat-out for 10 minutes before he starts to shake??  Yeah.  Call me Jason.  I was shaking when I was done.  But it was awesome anyway.

LIFE

One bonus of being sick this weekend was D taking M to crossfit.  Not only did D get to see what we’re doing, but he spent a good while talking to the owners and getting a feel for the place.  Later that day, M told D that he really wanted his Dad to do it too, because it would be good for him.  The strength training would strengthen his back and lessen the frequency of back related pain (his PT told him 10-15 yrs ago that the only thing D could do for his back was to strengthen his back muscles to provide stability to his spine, which would lessen the pain).

After thinking about it for a few hours, D told the kids that he’d start crossfit this coming Saturday.  Our eldest A has been wanting too also, so they will begin together.  Yay!  A crossfit family affair   I can see R getting into it in a few years too.

The point is…I’ve spent untold years trying to convince D to workout.  All it took was some puppy dog eyes from our son and he’s toast.  I can’t believe I didn’t think to try that tactic long ago!  And I think he’s serious, since he’s at yoga as I type this.  On his own.  Of his own volition.  Yay!!!

Saturday morning I picked up my friend’s daughter to take her fabric shopping with A.  My friend asked if A would be willing to make his daughter’s dress for her 8th grade dance next month.  So off we all went (A, J, and J’s mom) to hit up the fabric store.  The girls were like kids in a candy store.  Afterwards, we all hit up Trader Joe’s and the Asian Market.  It was a nice morning, and A and I were home just after noon.

Since D and M tanked our Busch Garden’s plans, I decided to pout and read for a while before I got busy in the kitchen.

Today was business as usual, and feeling back to myself again (yay raw food!  Or honestly, the virus passed.  But hell…I’ll give my food the healing credit).

FOOD

Today was mostly about keeping things as light as possible. Juices, smoothies, raw blended soups. Anything to keep my stomach from revolting what I put in it while also getting good nutrients into my body as quickly and efficiently as possible.

After a quick cup of coffee this morning, I made a fresh juice. Admittedly, it’s the first one I’ve made in awhile. As much as I like the cooler weather of fall (and even winter as long as it doesn’t get too cold), I do lament the lack of yummy fresh fruit and veggies. I love the winter squash, but something tells me a juiced butternut squash is pretty gross.

So I made a green juice of romaine lettuce, green apple, pear, lemon, cucumber, orange, and ginger. It was absolutely fantastic!

A few hours later, I made a spicy spinach raw soup. That was quite good too, and light yet filling.

I’d been wanting to bake something, but it’s been so hot I haven’t been willing to turn the oven on. I decided to make chocolate chip cookies in the toaster oven! They came out great, and I think my husband has eaten a good dozen or so already.

Dinner was grilled veggies, corn on the cob, and a Tofurky sausage. While very tasty, I can tell it’s sitting heavier than I’d like. Should have had a smoothie.

FITNESS

At 8:00 this morning, I woke to M shaking me and saying my name. As soon as I came to, he asked me how I was feeling. Hard to tell when woken from a dead sleep, I can assure you. There was a crossfit class at 9, and he wanted to know if I was feeling better. D apparently told him last night that if I was still sick, that he’d take M to his class.

After waking up and having a quick cup of espresso, I told M that I’d manage and we’d go to class. I was in my room getting dressed and he sent me this text: “If you’re not feeling well at all do not go. I don’t want you to go feeling mediocre. Dad said to wake him up if you weren’t up to it and he’d take me”. He’s so cute and thoughtful.

So D took him, got to see how intense the Crossfit workouts are, and took a few pics of M getting his workout on. D also talked to the owners, and maybe, just maybe….he’s interested in joining us! That would be cool.

LIFE

Last night D took M to see The Avengers in 3D. It was a late showing, so the girls and I were in bed before they got home. Apparently it’s a really great movie, and if I’m up for it, I may take the girls tomorrow.

Today was low key. I caught up on some blog reading and recipe compiling. I was getting stir crazy, so I ran out to the farmer’s market. I was drained when I got home, but I picked up a few yummy things while there.

D once again grilled up an amazing dinner, and everyone enjoyed it. Now A is off to attend a few school related art shows and M is at his school’s last play of the year. Hopefully that means an early night to bed for me

So here I am….9 days between posts.  I cannot express how absolutely horrible I feel about that!  I will say that life has gotten so busy lately, that I haven’t had time to read any blogs in the past 9 days either.  Both of which make me very sad.  I will do my best to not write a novel, and to still give you a good idea of my Food, Fitness, and Life in last week and a half.

FOOD

Theme of the week?  Grilled vegetables are awesome.  My friend H at Where’s the Beach blogs about grilled veggies all the time.  I will admit…I don’t know how to grill.  Oh sure, I have an indoor grill, but that’s just not the same.  We had a gas grill.  In fact, we’ve had a couple of them over the years…and nothing (and I mean nothing) ever came out on it.  After our cabin camping weekend for my birthday last October, and D’s intense fun at cooking over coal, I went out and bought him a weber charcoal grill.  We’ve used it a ton, and he’s never screwed up a thing.

So after MUCH reading at H’s site, I finally bought a grill basket.  Not really knowing what I was doing, I put some quartered red potatoes, asparagus, and broccoli in a bowl, and coated everything in olive oil and garlic powder.  D grilled them…ate so many while he was grilling…that I had to make up a second batch.  All I can say is YUM.  Served with a side of very spicy grilled tofu steaks (pressed tofu topped with Vulcan Fire Salts, Chipotle Chili Powder, and Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce), and a gluten-free warm pasta salad (really….pasta with a homemade Italian dressing tossed in), and dinner was ready.  I will say, the tofu was really spicy…too spicy for R…but otherwise amazing.

this is the second batch…

Monday nights dinner. Notice the very small portion of veggies…that was all I could get from the first batch due to my husband picking them off the grill and then running into the house to tell me how awesome they were.

The only other highlights this week are on the smoothie front.  In an effort to deny my stupid cold any more entrance into my body, I’ve been loading up on the superfruit smoothies.  If that fails, I’ll kill the virus with wine.  Either one has equal odds of working at this point.

Option 1….

Option 2.

FITNESS

Crossfit!  Crossfit!  Crossfit!!!

Oh my, this is fun.  It’s hard and pretty much everything hurts the next day, but it’s awesome.

M and I went Tuesday for our final Element’s class.  I started coming down with my cold that day, but went anyway.  I am proud to say I didn’t barf on anyone, nor did I pass out.  We ran, we lifted weights, and we did a team challenge.  And I’m so very glad I went.

LIFE

Where to begin!?!  Despite the cold I’ve alluded to earlier, it’s been a very good week and a half.  Let’s see….

It started on Sunday with me becoming a Godmother to my friend AC’s little boy.  He’s such a snuggly baby, and here’s a pic of the two of us at the party after the baptism.

E just ate and I was burping him. This picture looks staged, but it wasn’t!

Life wise, it’s been mellow.  Last weekend was all about the baptism.  AC’s family came in from TN and we had a BBQ on Saturday where I got to meet them all.  They were great, and her Mom gave me a list of authors to read (we found we liked many of the same).  I’m always looking for new books, so that was cool.  Her Dad is just a hoot, and we chatted about quite a few things, and her brother is in the same field as D and I are, so that was cool too.

Sunday was the church and the yacht club to celebrate the day, with JC’s family coming in from different areas of VA, as well as friends of theirs too.  It was a busy, but very nice weekend for everyone I think.

Happy News!!!!  My very favorite soccer team, Chelsea FC, beat Barcelona to get into the FA Cup Finals!  It’s the first time EVER for Chelsea (and they were founded in 1905), and they will be playing Bayern Munich on May 19th.  I’ve been frantically trying to find a local pub or sports bar that’s going to play the game.  In the mean time, I ordered a hat and new t-shirt!!!  The hat is blue (they are called The Blues after all), but due to stupid girly stereotypes, the women’s t’s only come in pink.  Even so…I’m ready (even if few others in the US near me even knows who they are).

Go Chelsea!!!!

Here is a random pic.  Every day, D takes a pic of him and R as he’s dropping her off at school and texts it to me.  It started when I was in WI last Jan, but he’s done it every day since.  It’s the favorite part of my morning, and I loved this one, so I thought I’d share.

R kissing D just before school. How can this NOT be a great start to my day??

I have to talk work for a brief second, since it’s those crazy hours that have kept me away from blogging.  I’m not complaining though – it’s been a lot of work lately, but it’s been great.  The project I’m working on successfully made it through Phase 1, and I’m on track to finish Phase 2 (aka – FUNDING), by the end of this month.  While totally wiped out on some days, it’s been intensely rewarding, so I’m totally not complaining.  But be patient with me if I’m a bit vacant now and again…

And here’s my final picture to you.  It’s funny, and if you’re reading this Friday night, it’ll be even funnier.  So yes…may the 4th be with you…

FOOD

Sunday’s dinner was a lot of fun. I spent part of the morning planning the meal (settled on 4 Indian dishes plus rice), and then did my grocery shopping round (Trader Joes, the Asian Market, Fresh Market, and Harris Teeter), came home, and spent an hour or so prepping. I chopped, diced, pureed, blended, and packed everything (down to almost all the spices) in bags to bring with. I even brought my rice cooker!

So off D and I went around 4, and we hung out, cooked (mostly I cooked), hung out, and played with E (AC’s baby…and my soon-to-be Godson). It was really nice, and I was proud of the food. Visions of catering danced in my head all evening….

Yesterday I decided I really wanted braised cabbage. Keep in mind, that I’ve never actually had braised cabbage, but I thought it would be a fun thing to make in my pressure cooker. Here’s the recipe….I’ll will say that I just loved it. And what’s cooler than purple food?? Served with some pan toasted tofu in tamari, corn on the cob (plain), and a baked spud, it was awesome.

Crissie’s Spicy Pressure Cooker Red Cabbage

Ingredients

*1 head red cabbage

*1 medium onion

*2 medium jalapeno pepper, minced

*1 tsp caraway seeds

*2 tsp salt

*2 cups water

*1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

*2 tbs agave nectar

*1 bay leaf

1. Shred cabbage (it’s easiest using a food processor)

2. Chop the onions and hot peppers (can us any hot pepper really). I also used a food processor for this.

3. Mix all ingredients into the pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 9 minutes. Use the quick release method.

4. Remove bay leaf.

This morning was a Vega smoothie. I’m seriously loving this stuff. So high in great plant proteins, fiber, vitamins, minerals…and it’s the best tasting I’ve had yet. I like it just fine mixed in ice water, but today threw in a banana and a handful of mixed frozen berries.

I hate to admit that dinner was a banana. I’ve been running around (literally) like crazy all night, and just didn’t have time.

FITNESS

Where or where to begin? M and I started Crossfit on Saturday. We went to an intro class at a Crossfit place by us (and these are big warehouses….where all the military and police go…not some polished gym!). I was sore for 2 days. So what did we do?? Went back today and started the Elements series. It’s 3 classes in a week that teach the moves and forms. It’s brutal. But in a good way.

Each day has a warm up, and a WOD (workout of the day). Possibly skills/strength things too. We do things like olympic style weight lifting, running, squats, burpees, box jumps (which intimidate the crap out of me), push ups….reminds me of boot camp! 5 minutes of these circuits is harder to me than running 5 miles. So cool….

M is kicking butt at it. He scores highest in everything (some of the workouts are timed….do as many reps or rounds in a specified time, etc). And he’s loving it. How can I not keep going when my child loves the workouts so much?

When we got home, I changed into my running shoes and went for a run. I have a feeling my legs aren’t going to work well tomorrow.

LIFE

Life is good. Had a major success at work – and feel like the intensity of the past several months has paid off. It’s by no means done…just this phase…but it was pretty monumental, and I’m trying to just relax for 1 day and enjoy the milestone.

D and A are both sick. Stomach ickiness and general malaise, so they’re basically quarantined.

We did have an impromptu outing on Friday night. We were home and in jammies when we found out our friend’s husband’s band was playing at a battle of the bands for a local radio station – just down the road from where we live! D has never seen RS play, so we gathered a few friends and headed up there.

When we got there, some death metal band was playing and I was afraid my ears would bleed. The second band was better – a bit more my style. Then RS’s band came on – they do mostly 80′s hair band music. It was great. My husband and my one friend both had WAY too much to drink, so as the designated driver, it was sort of fun to babysit them. D had a blast. It was cute!

Okay, so I’m off to bed finally. Been a hectic day (but what’s new there??).