diet coke

many of you may know that i've fought my whole life against my diet coke addiction. i finally really cut back a few months ago and I only drink maybe one a week, a treat after my long runs. as i was getting ready for today's 20 miler, I realized I'd need to stop and purchase one for my daily treat today. and then it dawned on me that I haven't even thought about or craved a diet coke all week. before, I would at least crave it a few times a week. not this week! guess this clean eating thing is really working for me! (more about that soon, have to go get dressed for this insane run! the annoying thing is that it's 26 degrees now and will be almost 50 by the time we're done. makes it hard to dress!!)

humidity and marathon time!

i just walked the dogs for about 20 minutes and wanted to die because it was so humid out. it's 10:00 at night!! what the heck?!

I must apologize to my three devoted readers for slacking on the blogging. I always think about posting when I'm at work, and I feel like it's probably not good form to post at work. I'll try to get a bit better.

Ironically, I've actually started a second blog. I decided to start one solely about the food and drink, called ColYUMbus. :) It will have all of my CSA reports, restaurant reviews, recipes, etc. We'll see, I may get bored of both. :) ha!

One fun thing I did today was write down all of my training runs on a calendar. I'm officially into training for the Chicago Marathon! I've not been doing a good job of tracking my runs, which I need to do in order to stay on top of the training. It's starting to feel real now! On that note, I should probably think about getting to bed pretty soon since I have a long run in the morning. Have a great weekend!

Bay Area California Trip Re-Cap

Warning, this is a long one!

We left around 5:00 on Thursday and arrived in Oakland around 10 something. Todd’s friend Lou picked us up and we went back to his very cute house near Berkeley. We met his wife Sue there.

Friday, I woke up at the crack of dawn (time change!) and headed out for a nice run on the very close bike path. Lou and the kids (who are both freaking adorable) were up when I got back. That day, after an awesome authentic Mexican breakfast, Lou, "baby girl," Todd and I headed into San Francisco. Todd and I walked around the De Young and then the botanical gardens while Lou and "baby girl" played on the playground. We met up with them and Sue and headed to a beer store called City Beer where we tried some awesome beer. Then we drove to Berkeley and bought lots of incredible cheese at the Cheese Board (you get to sample everything first!!) and some pizza at their pizza place next door. They only do one flavor a day but it was delicious. After picking up "the boy" and hanging out, the four of us went to a fabulous dinner at Chez Panisse. (We did the café, not the fixed-price restaurant). I had a salad with green goddess dressing and some kind of fish. It was really wonderful.

Saturday I ran again and then we hung out all day and prepared for Lou’s big 40th birthday party that night. A bunch of his friends came over and he opened tons of bottle of mayjah beer. Unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of big stouts but I could at least appreciate that they were amazing for people who are.

I was prepared for a major hangover on Sunday but was pleasantly surprised. Todd and I went over to the 4th Street shops in Berkeley and walked around there. It’s a cute area with some good shopping. Also a cute little ice cream store called Sketch. Todd got vanilla bean with olive oil and sea salt which is shockingly good and not as weird as it sounds. I got less crazy but equally delicious vanilla bean with caramel sauce. 4th Street is kind of like a more real-life Easton, for those of you in Columbus. That night we went and saw “I Love You Man” at their local theater, which awesomely has couches, pizza, and alcohol. It’s like a slightly more cleaned up version of Studio 35 near me. The movie was hysterical although I didn’t think my secret boyfriend Paul Rudd looked as cute as he normally does in it.

Monday, we ventured out on our own. After renting a car, Todd and I headed up to Napa. We visited a ton of wineries, which I’ll try to remember as best as I can. I think I’ll actually do a separate post on just the Napa and Sonoma part of the trip, so I can post about each winery and what wine we bought (or as much as I can remember anyway). We stopped for lunch at the ever-fabulous Oakville Grocery. We stayed in Sonoma that night at the El Dorado Hotel, and had a great meal at their restaurant, the El Dorado Kitchen. I had the most amazing cocktail there. I forget what they called it, but it had lemon-verbena vodka, cucumbers, asian pears, sour mix, and I think maybe a splash of prosecco. It was so good that I had another the following night. My entree (some kind of fish, I can't remember) was really delicious. Todd didn't love the flavor of his but thought the meat was cooked really nicely. The hotel was very hip and cute. Our room was small but completely fine and we really loved the location, right on the square.

Tuesday morning, I got up and went for a run around Sonoma. It’s a very cute town. Our hotel room had a big balcony looking over the Sonoma square, so I insisted that we get breakfast form the little kitchenette downstairs in the hotel and eat out there. Only problem was the record-breaking 95 degree heat that made it boiling in the sun even at 9 am. We quickly went inside. ☺ This day we spent hitting wineries in Sonoma. We grabbed lunch at the boulangerie on the square and picnicked at Gundlach Bundschu, a nearby winery. For dinner, we had another great meal, this time at the girl and the fig. Todd had a really great scallop dish. My fish was not as fabulous but everything else I ordered was quite tasty. We finished it off with a cheese plate for dessert.

Wednesday, after I took another run (I finally found the bike path which was only about a block from the hotel, duh!) we hit some more wineries on our way out of town. Then we headed up to Santa Rosa to go to Russian River Brewing. Both the beer and the pizza were great. Then we drove back down and went into San Francisco. We checked into our hotel (we got amazing deal at the Mark Hopkins, home of the Top of the Mark) and managed to get the car returned by 5. BTW, Budget let us pick up near Lou’s and drop off in downtown SF for no extra charge! We walked around some shops on Union Street in the marina area (I need to go back there!!) and then had a great dinner at Nettie’s Crab Shack. I really enjoyed my crab Louis salad and the few bites of Todd’s crab roll (like a New England lobster roll, but with crab) that I could wheedle from him. Then we were able to meet up for a minute with my old friend Mike Rovins, who lives in SF now. It was really nice seeing him and catching up. Then we headed back to our hotel and had one last drink at the Top of the Mark, overlooking the city.

Thursday we had a quick breakfast (I was dying for lox on a bagel) and then I had a meeting for work at SFMoMA. It went fine and then they were nice enough to show me their new roof garden space, which is going to be a fantastic space. Todd and I walked through some of the shops near Union Square. I didn’t buy anything because I realized I’d already way overspent my budget. I had my eyes on a Kate Spade purse I definitely couldn’t afford. Then we headed to the Ferry Building and walked around all of the great shops there before having lunch at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. My veggie burger was awesome and I was so glad Todd ordered a vanilla shake so I could drink way more than my share. After that, we took a cable car back to our hotel, picked up our bags and took the Bart back to Lou’s house. That night, we headed over to a tiki bar in Alameda called Forbidden Island. Todd loves tiki bars, and this one did not disappoint!

Friday morning I ran again but I wasn’t feeling well so we kind of bummed around that day. We went back to the 4th Street shops in Berkeley and had lunch at Tacubaya. Very yummy Mexican. We walked through a few more shops and then drove up to Shattuck Avenue and hit the Cheese Board again. We also walked up the street to my great-aunt’s house to look at it. She’s 101 and not in great health so I didn’t stop to see her but it was cool to see the house again. We also went into an adorable paper store called Twig and Fig where they let me look at their letterpress! I love letterpress paper. We also went to a cool chocolate shop where we bought some amazing chocolate. Friday night we took Lou and Sue out to a great seafood restaurant Sue had chosen called Sea Salt. I know the guys loved their oyster shooters. My fish was delicious although not quite as good as what I had at Chez Panisse. The crab cakes and my salad were wonderful. Lou is a huge fan of the BLT trout sandwich, and I must admit that the bite he gave me was great. We had a few fancy beers back home and then went to bed. Saturday morning we left for the airport and got home Saturday night!

So, more to come, including winery reviews. ☺ This is obviously way too long already! It was a really nice trip. I returned home feeling refreshed and happy. :)

Completely Stuffed

This has been a big week of eating! I feel like a glutton now. :) It was Restaurant Week in Columbus this week and I definitely took advantage of it. I really need to eat light this coming week to make up for it though. I don't feel like running through all of the delicious food we ate this week, but I will give you a quick rundown of the restaurants:

Tuesday - Barcelona (wine tasting and tapas tasting menu)
Wednesday - The Refectory (3 course prix fixe with wine pairings)
Thursday - Lavash (not part of the Week)
Friday - G Michaels (3 course prix fixe)
Saturday - pizza from Hounddog's

No wonder I feel like I gained 5 pounds!!! I am officially on eating out lockdown for the rest of the month. :) I ran 12 miles yesterday but I don't feel like it even put a dent in my massive food intake. I'd run again today (especially since it's gorgeous!!) but my legs are pretty sore. Maybe this afternoon.

My awesome mom and stepdad are bringing me a car today. My awesome Pilot has been leased, and the lease is up this week. In an attempt to be incredibly fiscally responsible, I asked my family if I could drive my sister's car (my mom's old car) until Laura gets back from Korea. This will mean no car payment for a few months, so I can just save, save, save. I'm a girl who loves a cute new shiny car, so I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking to it. But it will pay off when I get a new car later this summer and have more money to put down on it. And my credit card will be completely paid off too. :)

Enough rambling! I had to work yesterday morning so I didn't get my normal routine of running and cleaning on Saturday morning, so I need to get this joint cleaned today. The one benefit to eating out and not being home all week is that it's pretty clean. :)

Happy weekend!

Ouch!

I'm not sure what I did but my left quad is freaking killing me. I did weights today at the gym and yeeowza, it's hurting. Please heal by tomorrow, as I want to enjoy the nice weather with a run outdoors!

I made a delicious (and healthy!) dinner tonight. Broiled salmon (with a slightly sweet mustard glaze), whole wheat couscous, and steamed broccoli with a little bit of goat cheese. Soooo good. And then I had some berries for dessert. Yum, yum, yum. So simple but so good! Of course, having two glasses of wine is probably not what you're supposed to do after dinner, but it's baby steps. :)

It's Saturday!!

Thank goodness it's the weekend!!! Yay! I finally got to get a nice long run with my group in today. I only did 9.6 miles, but that was great considering 1a) my legs were killing me from the squats the other night, 2b) my long runs lately have only been 8 miles, 3c) we did the giant hill and 4d) I only ran one other day this week! eeks.

Now I'm trying to motivate myself to finish the cleaning I started earlier. Will someone please invent a self-cleaning home? That would be lovely, thanks.

I was starving after my post run nap, so I hit Weilands, the slightly fancy grocery near me. I picked up a container of berries and decided to splurge on it. OMG they were so freaking good. I love, love, love berries and these were delicious. I could have eaten the whole pound in one sitting but I was able to restrain myself and only eat half. :)

Ok, I think I'm going to go clean now. The thought of having clean sheets on the bed when I get in it tonight is rather appealing, and I know those sheets won't change themselves...

so busy!

Sorry I haven't been updating, but I have been a busy girl. I'm taking it easy and trying to get caught up on things tonight.

I coordinated a wedding on Saturday, so last week was very busy with last-minute things for that. In addition to the standard coordinating stuff, I also designed and made their menus, programs, favors and seating chart. Here's a pic of the menu and favor mockups:


The wedding was on Valentine's Day, so they went with a Valentine's theme. (They went with the two hearts on top of the menu. They're conversation hearts, in case you can't tell.) Her dress had red in it and the bridesmaids wore black. They were so sweet and wonderful to work with. I coordinated a wedding for the bride's cousin in 2007, and the bride and groom met at that wedding!! How cool is that? Anyway, the bride looked absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed myself even though I was working. :)

After my whole day at the wedding on Saturday, I had to get my long run in on Sunday morning. The weather was cool but not bad and the trail was (finally!) clear, so it was actually a really nice run. It started off slow because I was so tired, but no biggie. And then I had to head in to work in the late afternoon. Our huge Andy Warhol show closed on Sunday night, so I had to go in for the final preparations and that sort of thing. My coworker and I always go in after the shows close and get ready. Since it was Warhol, they kept the show open later than normal, so I was there until almost 11 last night. And then today was the first day of de-installation, so that was hectic. It was an exhausting day today, but we actually got a ton done. We're moving really quickly.

And to start my weekend off, after the wedding rehearsal, Todd made a fabulous dinner for Valentine's Day, since I was busy on Saturday. He did an amazing job, and it was really delicious. Here's what he made:
Some brie and sausage to munch on
Soup: cream of cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil
Salad: Mixed greens with roasted beets, candied nuts, hearts of palm, sprouts and homemade blue cheese dressing
Main course: Seared scallops, herbed polenta and mint-lime snap peas
Dessert (made by me): Creme Brulee with triple chocolate brownie

yum yum yum! :) Plus wine and champagne. :)

Ok, that's probably enough yammering! I'll try to post more regularly now that the worst of the craziness is over. :)

TGIF!

Yesterday was not boring. I took the day off to go Christmas shopping with Todd. After I went for a cold run while he took a work call, we headed over to Easton where we met my mom and stepdad for lunch at Panera. Todd had never eaten at Panera before! I was shocked. Consequently, he did not pick the best sandwich, which is the Sierra Gobbles, in my humble opinion. That's Sierra Turkey for anyone who wasn't instructed on how to speak by my college roommate Chris. I also had their new chicken tortilla soup, which was pretty decent. After fueling up, we did some grueling shopping for a few hours before heading home.

I had week 5 of my beginner yoga class last night. It was just me and Adriane, as Shannon had a party or something. I'm not beginner, but last night was fairly hard. Maybe they just turned the heat up in there or something, but I got a little schvitzy.

I also got my cookies baked. I still need to frost them. Who knew it was going to be such a long ordeal??? Speaking of cookies, I also got a fabulous package of them from Sarah! I was sooooo excited to see that. I think I've already eaten 3. WTF? Sarah, this is NOT going to help my weight loss mission! :) It was extra exciting because last year my entire box of cookies got eaten by my dogs. My dad happened to stop by my house the day they arrived and took them inside for me. Not knowing what the precious box contained, he set it on my dining table. I arrived home later to a tattered cardboard box and little shred of baggies and ribbon scattered around the living room. It's funny now, but at the time, I was livid.

Hmm, maybe I should do some work now. :)

Another Obsession

Baked Cheetos. YUM. I pretend they're healthy because they're baked. It's a big fat lie.