Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Nice Little Saturday

This weekend, I did my long run on Sunday (since I knew I would be drinking at the concert and a long run + any amount of booze does NOT work for me).  

That meant that I had a Saturday morning (and day!) free in longer than I care to remember.

It was glorious.  I love running and all, but, man alive, it was nice to have a Saturday without sweat.

I sweetly convinced David to go to the Farmer's Market with me.

I got the mother load.  I love vegetables!  I love fruit!  I love the farmer's market!
My basket was heavy and my feet are ugly.  Oh well.

David bought some flowers...without me telling him to!  What a great man!!

I was so excited that I snapped his picture without warming.  Sorry, poodle!


Once I got home, I unloaded my haul...
We have...strawberries, cherries, broccoli, kale, celery, mushrooms, snap peas, squash, zucchini, raspberries, peaches, pears, and red potatoes.
There's also a pineapple in the back, but that's from Sam's.  Not quite ripe yet.

Note to Tom: Did you see I bought KALE?  Send that recipe my way, sir!

After our trip to Soulard, David headed off to school to get some work done.  Poor kid.

I headed to Tower Grove for the Festival of Nations.  I used to work at the organization that sponsors this event, so it's always fun to go and see old co-workers and clients.  I made a point to meet up with my darlings Erin & Khadra...but stupidly forgot to snap a picture.  I stink.

I did manage to get my photo-taking priorities straight, taking a picture of the Canadian food booth's sign proclaiming "Canadian Bacon Lollipops."

And then, because I kept obsessing, I went back and got one.
Oh yes, maple-sugar nut glazed wad of meat.  I love you.
It was probably the best and worst decision I've made in months, all rolled into one happy moment.

After that heart attack-inducing bit of pork, we met up with some of David's friends for an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet.  It was a gluttonous day.

My long run on Sunday was 17 miles.  I doubt the 2000 calories I burnt negated my pork/rice coma from the day before.  Oh well--- I love bacon from all nations (Canadian/American/??) and it was worth it.

Bacon!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Rascal Flatts

On Friday night, Steph, Martha, Nick & I went to see Rascal Flatts at Verizon.  Nick didn't realize that he would be the only guy, but he handled the night pretty well.
Mostly, we made him our personal photographer.
We found some random liquor booth where they made us delicious drinks in guitar-shaped cups.



I really liked my guitar full of yumminess.

The concert itself was cute.  I'm not the biggest Rascal Flatts fan, but for $10 you really can't complain.  Steph and I spent a lot of the concert dancing like idiots and trying to pick Martha & Nick's wedding song.

I don't think we convinced them to use Rascal Flatts in their wedding, but we gave it a solid try.

I think there were some highschoolers who were out of their parents' line of vision for the first time ever.
Serious PDA issues.
Ok, maybe they weren't highschoolers (note the beer), but they were still inappropriate.

Not as inappropriate as some of the outfits.
I don't think I've seen overalls in public in 10 years...unless you're thinking about my grandpa, who totally rocks his overalls.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Random Workout Thoughts

I've really been upping the level of my workouts lately.  Since this round of marathon training only requires that I run 3 days a week, I've been doing some awesome cross training in the form of both swimming and biking.  Turns out that I'm really working out no less than an hour a day, six days a week.
Weight loss?  Not so much.  Oh well.


I've been seeing and hearing a lot of interesting things that I keep meaning to blog about...but then I forget.  You know how it goes :)

Last night, I saw a man walking his dog who had an awesome, white, ZZ TOP-esque beard.  Wednesday, I saw him riding his bike.  I hope to see this man every time I'm at the trail--that beard is awesome.

Then there was the lady wearing the old-school sweat suit.  You know, the kind that I assume wrestlers wear to sweat weight off before a big match...it's basically a plastic shopping bag and was clinging to her with condensation visible.  Sick.  I figured she was trying to sweat off some water--but then she was chugging from a water bottle.  I dunno.

I also ran past a mom and a little girl riding together on a bicycle-built-for-two (sing it-- you know you want to). The little girl informed me, "Good job with the running."  Awwwww.

On Wednesday, I was riding my bike at Grant's Trail and some guy in JORTS was drafting off me for like 7 miles.  It made me SUPER uncomfortable because I could hear him, probably a foot behind me, huffing and changing gears.  It killed my self-esteem, but was probably worse for him.  Seriously--who drafts off a chick on a California Cruiser?  Only a man biking while wearing jorts.

Tuesday I did speed work at the Affton.  While I was there, a guy doing lunges.  He did a full QUARTER of a mile.  Can you imagine this?  I can barely do lunges across the room without whining and screaming in pain. I asked him if he was training for something or just a bad-ass.  Turns out, he's just a bad-ass. Impressed.

I run in Forest Park most weekends.  The past few, I've seen a man with dreadlocks down to his feet (literally, ankle-length). Merrily power-walking.  That's a lot of hair to drag around a park.

In case you don't know, I upload all of my workouts onto Dailymile (there's a widget on the right side of the screen).  Dailymile automatically posts on to Facebook, meaning the whole world gets to see all of my workouts.  Most of the time, the feedback is positive...but one of David's friends did a status update calling people like me narcissistic.  I know it sort of is...but I really like the accountability.  I get a lot of positive feedback from people I talk to on a regular basis.  What do you think?  Should I stop the narcissistic posts and just start playing Farmville?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Good Little Wifey.

Yeah right.  Not so much a good wifey.

However, I've been trying hard to get back in a routine, what with work/school starting back up and all.  Over the summer, either David or I was gone literally 6 nights a week and I have ZERO motivation to cook a decent meal when we weren't eating together.
Is that weird?  We lived mostly off random food I threw together, cottage cheese, lean pockets, and whatever foods and veggies I scored at the farmer's market.

Now that school has started for both of us (although, I feel like I should clarify that I WORK at a school while David GOES to school-meaning David actually works harder), I'm trying to get back in a routine.  David's gone Tuesday and Thursday nights for class, which means that I'm going to cook every Monday and Wednesday.

Monday... we had turkey tenderloin, brussle sprouts, and baked beans.

Last night... KABOBS!!!

Yeah, I made a lot.  I am a fan of leftovers.

We also had corn on the cob.
Maggie REALLY wanted some corn on the cob.  So did Veronica Breadbasket, for that matter.

I'm trying to plan out future meals... so far I'm seeing stir-fry, turkey meatball spaghetti, and LOADS of veggies in our future...cause veggies are cheap right now at the market.

Any suggestions??

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Chafing

I went on a long run on Saturday, wearing my new favorite shirt...

Seriously, I love this shirt.  

The only problem.... the shirt gave me some major chafing issues.
Yeah, I know you can't really see it.  But trust me... the underside of both of my arms was rubbed RAW from the seams on my new favorite shirt. 
 I didn't have this problem the other time I wore it...but it was only on a speed run.  Turns out, I'm going to need to use some body glide before using it on another long run.

I was OUCHY, but discovered a new secret weapon in the running war (for the record, it's me vs. my body).

Yep, diaper rash ointment.  I smell like a diaper, but my chafing was gone by Sunday evening.

Honestly, though... I bought the Walgreen's brand.  I'm cheap like that.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Races

On Friday, David and I went to Illinois to watch races with his friend Bob and Bob's wife Lindsay.

We went for the last Party on the Park where you pay some small cover and have a buffet dinner and unlimited $1 booze...which would have been awesome had I not had a 14 mile run on Saturday and been able to drink.

Still, it was fun.  We ate some fried food (actually, a bit too much fried food) and wagered on horses.  The first race had a horse named Maggie Bee.  Of course, we bet on her since she shared a name with our Maggie Roo... and Maggie Bee won!

I spent most of the night trying to convince David that he should bet on animals with silly names.  
He didn't listen, no matter how hard I tried...

But I convinced Lindsay to bet on a horse named Mark the Cat.

Mark lost.  Poor Lindsay.

Bob was suckered into "buying" this silly bucket for $5.  Even though it said Sam on the bottom and seemed useless...useless, until it became a hat.

It started raining on the way out and Lindsay commandeered the bucket.

Sorry for the blurriness...it's hard to walk and take night shots :)

We hit the world's largest rainstorm on the way home...seriously, we were doing 20ish mph on the interstate.  It was scary, but it made me really grateful for my run-imposed sobriety.  I don't think anyone should have been driving during that monsoon with a single drink.

Someone was looking out for us!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Sad news

I love QuikTrip.  I think that's the cleanest, happiest gas station in the land.  I will occasionally stop on my way to work for a soda since there are tons of locations and you could get a 32 oz soda for $0.59... $0.61 after tax.

Sadly, horribly, I stopped this morning and discovered that the 32 oz sodas are now $0.69!

What?!??!?!?!?!?!  This throws off my whole system.  Now I might as well stop at Circle K where you can get any size soda for $0.69.

I am disheartened, QuikTrip.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my friend Jess!
We were lucky enough to celebrate her birthday on Sunday by seeing Eat, Pray, Love and a glorious Mexican dinner at Amigo Joe's.

Happy Birthday!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Millions of peaches...


School started today!  We went back to work last Wednesday; however, for some reason, it was a no work day yesterday.
I'm not going to lie... a three day weekend was nice, even though I had only worked a total of three days so far :)

To celebrate our last day of freedom, I went peach picking with Martha and Nina.


The peaches were glorious.  It was really hard to restrain myself (they pick a lot faster than blackberries), and my basket filled up a little too fast.

The only gross part was that there were so many peaches on the tress that some were falling off and rotting on the ground.

Ewww.  Maggie totally cleaned off my flip flops when I got home.

Since I netted 10 pounds of peaches (at a mere $1/pound!), I made 2 clobbers yesterday.

I think cobblers are pretty.

I also DEEP-CLEANED my house.  Typically, floors are David's responsibility.  Since he broke his arm, he's been unable to keep up with the task.  And before that, well, we were gone a lot.  A lot of both of our responsibilities got neglected :)
Here's the hair.  
Our bedroom.  Notice the quarter for scale.

The guest room.  Pile's smaller.

Main living/dining area.

Good God, Maggie.  It's a good thing I love you!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bike

This is my bike.
I love her.  I bought her with birthday money from Mom and Dad when I turned 25.
She was great back then... I was WAAAY out of shape, and she was perfect for riding the mile and a half I lived from Wash U.

Then I moved and this loverly ended up living in my friend Jess's basement for the last, um, 2.5 years.

Sorry, Jess.  You were a real trooper on that one.

Anyway, with my marathon training plan, I only run 3 days a week and I need to fill in another 3 days with cross-training.  The pool at my gym is kind of a pain to get to (because of class schedules and kids camps), so I decided to drag out my old friend.

While I still love my bike... she might not be the ticket for the biking I want to do.  It's really tough on my pride to be slower than, um, everyone on the trail.  Plus, this sucker is HEAVY.

The other day I was on the trail and I had a nice chat with a random guy.  He let me know that my seat needed to be higher and gave me some other random pointers.  He also let me know that I would really struggle to compete with my California Cruiser.

Oh man!  It's no secret that I want to do a triathlon eventually.

I need a road bike!

Reality check: road bikes are expensive.  

Some girls I work with are doing a sprint distance triathlon on Sunday... and one of them was telling me that I should do it with my California cruiser.  It's a 300 yard swim, 18 mile bike, and 5k.  I could do the swim in 20ish minutes (full guess b/c I have no idea how long my gym pool is) and the 5k in less than 30 minutes.  But the bike would take me over 90 minutes.  Doesn't that seem a little disproportionate?  
I don't know if my pride could handle being the slowest person on the bike portion.

I think the triathlons will have to wait until I can save up for a bike.  Ugh.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Cast!

Today was another big day in the Brady Household... I went back to work (summer break is over.  Sad news!!!!) and David got his cast on.

First they took off his splint (and allowed us to wash his stinky arm).
He didn't have much bruising at all but the thumb area of his palm was pretty swollen.


The doctors fixed him up with an awesome new cast.


You'll notice that he chose a black cast....right now the plan involves a sticker of Truman the Tiger and a gold sharpie.

Cute.

What's not cute: now I have to mow the yard.  I am not a fan.

In six weeks I can forfeit the yard as my responsibility.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Broken!

Last night, David was scheduled to play in 3 different softball games... two with his men's league, and one in our Brentwood league.

David's first game went well...and in the 1st inning of the second game, he made an outstanding diving catch.  Scarily, he didn't stand up right away and his left arm started swelling almost immediately.

After a few minutes, I managed to convince him to go to the urgent car.  Turns out, David broke his wrist.
That awesome diving catch... probably not worth it.

They gave him a splint and sent us home... the doctor thought that he would probably swell quite a bit more and didn't want to cast it right away.
So... we get to go back tomorrow to get a cast.  

I hope he lets me be the first to sign his cast!!

Monday, August 9, 2010

10 years

On Saturday, I met up with some of my old classmates for our 10 year reunion.

Crazy.

It doesn't look like there are a ton of us, but it's not bad considering that only 42 people were in the class.

This group actually all started kindergarten together.
We decided it would be cute to pose in our old classroom...sadly, Mrs. Dawson has retired.

We met at Buzzard's for lunch and then got a tour of the elementary/middle/high school.  It wasn't that big of a deal--all three "schools" are in two buildings across the street for another.
David found this gem while wandering around.  
Thanks, hun.

After that, we went to Topeka, ate dinner, and went bowling.

I stink at bowling, but I am really good at drinking.

I also managed to convince some of the people to come back to my parent's house and raid the beer room.  I think I finally stumbled to bed about 3am, which is way too old for lame me.

I woke up with a headache and to this...
David informed me that I drank several bottles of champagne and threw a frog at a girl that I've known since I was born.
Classy.

On Friday, on the way into town, David and I stopped in LaCygne and went to an auction.

We bought some awesome stuff...
First, David bought a fireman's suit.  I need to get a picture of that, but it's 103 degrees today.  Not appropriate weather for fire suit photo shoots.
I spent a dollar on this hat...but then was informed that it came with a ratty recliner.
Luckily, my Uncle Larry hauled the recliner to some barn in the country.  Yes!
Mom bought this... I think it's really cool.  She didn't give it to me, though.  Sad.
And this hat came with a pitcher I bought... I think Grandma looks bad-ass.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Kitchen!!!!

I've reached a stopping point on my kitchen... the floors still aren't done, but I'm hoping to get that knocked out sometime in the near future.  No rush.  I need a break :)
For your reference, this is what the kitchen looked like before...

Not terrible, but not me.  

Here's the now....






What do you think?