A Bit Behind

I'm a little behind in my posting!  The weekend was a lot of fun.  Eric and Ann were in town and we went bowling, shopping, hung out, etc.  We always have so much fun when they are around.  On Monday I woke up with a pretty bad headache so I ended up staying home and Chris and did double doctor duty!  We went to the chiropractor in the morning and followed that up with the acupuncturist.  This time I got the cupping procedure done on my back, HOLY MOLY that is kind of uncomfortable.  She also did this scraping technique and afterwards it looked like I'd been through a war.

Last night we got together with my mom and her new husband (Joe) to celebrate their marriage!  We got to meet Joe's kids and also got to see my brother/sister-in-law, aunts/uncles and grandpa.  It was a nice party to honor them.  I get double family time this week because my cousin Mike's engagement party is on Saturday!  Love being with my family.

Tonight we go back to the acupuncturist, tomorrow we have a couples baby shower and on Friday we get to see Ann who is in town again for another class.  It's a busy week for us, but it's also a very fun one!  

Not Much Today

Don't really have any stories or things to talk about today so I'll just post my food.

Back to Acupuncture

When Chris and I first tried to get pregnant it was taking longer than expected.  We had tried for almost a year and nothing was happening.  As girlfriends do, I talked to some of my friends and realized I wasn't the only one.  I wasn't worried about not getting pregnant, but was getting increasingly frustrated when each month "Aunt Flo" would come to town.  A few of the girls I talked to highly recommended acupuncture.  One of my friends at work tried to get pregnant for seven years.  She went through a few rounds of IVF, had a miscarriage, but was still hopeful.  She started going to acupuncture and within a few months was pregnant.  I knew that one of the VP's at my company (also a good friend) went to an acupuncturist who was located in Oak Brook, right in the middle of work and home so I asked him for her information.

Both Chris and I started seeing her last year.  I was going for fertility and he was going for that as well, but also to help with his allergies/BP/etc.  We started going on October and by January we were pregnant.  While it didn't work out that time, it was good to know that we were able to conceive.  With the stress of the failed pregnancy, grandparents passing away, Chris's health issues, etc. we stopped going to the acupuncturist for awhile.  Fast forward to Chris's follow up with his cardiologist last week.  He recommended that one of the things that Chris looks into is homeopathic medicine.  We started talking again about going back to the acupuncturist, so last night we did.  I don't know 100% if it works or the study behind it, but I do know that it's nice to just relax/meditate for 30 minutes (I try and not think of the fact that I have 30 needles poking out of me).

It really doesn't hurt!  For me she puts the needles in various places (legs, stomach, hands, ears, head) and I lay there, usually super relaxed and then she comes back 20 minutes later, I flip over and she does the same on my back.  Chris however leaves there looking like he was abducted by aliens!  He gets the initial "poking" as we call it with the needles, but for his second 1/2 she does a "cupping" technique where she puts these round cups for a lack of a better word all over his back and they create a suctioning effect and are supposed to release the toxins.  After she takes them off she scrapes his back.  It looks like huge, circle hickies all over his back with scratch marks.  I usually leave there either feeling super relaxed or a bit dizzy.  Yes odd I know but hey whatever works!

The best thing about it all is that it's covered by insurance!  We each have like 70 more sessions that we can use before the end of the year so I have a feeling we'll be there a lot.

A Little Sore Today

I'm a bit sore today, not from any particular workout, but from the best day ever yesterday :)  I watched my three nephews while my brother and sister-in-law went to the Bears game.  Hanging around with an 8, 5 and 2 year old is a workout in and of itself!  We ran, played, chased, had tickle fights, had Aunt Cole carry them, etc for almost 12 hours.  You won't ever hear me complain though!  They are the three best reasons to feel sore, I love being with them so much.

The rest of the weekend was great as well.  Friday night we had an impromptu hangout session with my Uncle Tim and Aunt Jeanne.  Saturday during the day we hung out with my mom, then went to church (yes church!) and then another impromptu hang out with my friend Eve and her husband Pete.  Notre Dame and the Bears both won this weekend, so the weekend was a huge success in my book!

Happy Friday!

Wow what a change in the weather!  Earlier this week it was almost 90, today it's 57!  Fall is my favorite season, so I'm happy to see the weather change.  I love all things fall - football, changing colors, cozy clothes, windows open, all things pumpkin, PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES, fall festivals, etc.

I've decided to restart my 5K training.  There are a few I'm looking at doing, one that I'd like to do is in November www.ditkadash.com (how fun does that look)!  I didn't complete the full training for the last 5K so I'd like to start over and go through the whole program.

Sweet Treat!

A few weeks ago Chris and I went to Costco (shocker!) and tried some of the samples.  We always get sucked into buying the samples :)  This one was worth it though!  Dark chocolate covered banana slices, YUM!  It's the perfect sweet treat.  There are only four slices per 100 calories package.  It's enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but not to over indulgent to feel bad about eating it.  It's a winner in our house!

Last night's dinner was super random.  I made Mahi Mahi, which usually I really like, tonight not so much.  I had some of it and I just wasn't feeling it.  So I had a random array of various items, vegetables, hummus, sun dried tomatoes, etc.   

We Will Never Forget

New Foods

Yesterday consisted of a few new food items.  Last Thursday we had a tailgate pot luck at our office.  My department was in charge of the "mains" so we decided to make Sloppy Joe's.  One of my team members made turkey ones and I said I'd make the vegetarian ones.  I found a recipe online and got everything together.  I got to work early so the crockpot could work it's magic.  At lunch time the lentils were still raw!!  I quadrupled the recipe so I have a feeling that was the issue.  I ended up ordering pizzas to cover my "main".  By the time I went home, I had a crockpot full of vegetarian Sloppy Joe's.  They actually turned out pretty good, I would make them again, but not so much at once.  Below is the recipe.  I've been eating it without the bun, so it's more like a chili.

Also last night I made the second pasta that we got at the Farmer's Market a few weeks back.  It was an onion/leek flavored pasta.  It didn't have nearly as much flavor as the Italian spice one did.  While the pasta was cooking I sauteed some zucchini in a pan with garlic and Italian seasoning.  I also cut up some chicken sausage and put it in there to warm up.  I put the pasta sauce in the same pan to warm it up as well.  Good reviews all around :)

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe's:

1 cup dried lentils, picked over (not red lentils; they would get too mushy)

1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

15 ounce canned tomatoes

1/4 cup + 1 table spoon tomato paste

3/4 cups onion, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (about 3/4 cups)

1T apple cider vinegar

1T garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1T chili powder

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more depending on your tastes)

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker; stir until well combined and cook on high, covered, for 3 to 4 hours on high or 7 to 8 hours on low, depending how fast your device cooks.

Taste test to ensure lentils are cooked through. If not, cover and cook in 30 minute increments until soft.

If too much liquid remains, cook on high without the lid for 30 to 60 minutes, keeping in mind these thicken as it sits.

I found this recipe on this blog.

First Official "5K" in the Books!

My first official "5K" is complete :)  I put it in quotation marks because according to all of our running apps it was not a full 5K.  It was more like 2.5 miles as opposed to 3.1  Either way I'm happy I did it.  We previously had signed Chris up to be a participant, but that was prior to his heart stuff, so his sister Kathleen went in his spot.  We got down to Peoria on Friday afternoon and went to get our running packets.  They contained a t-shirt, a packet of neon powder and our number bib.  The race wasn't until Saturday at 8 pm so we had a lot of fun hanging out on Friday and Saturday.  We got to the race location around 7:30 and we were SHOCKED by the number of people there.  There were thousands of people.  My bib number was 11657 and Eric and Ann were in the 4000's it was crazy!  As we walked to the start everyone was throwing their color packets at everyone else, so we were neon even before we started :)  They were letting runners go in waves every 5 minutes.  We kind of jumped to the front of the line and bypassed the long wait.

We had no idea of what the course looked like, it was hidden away.  Chris took lots of pictures of us at the start and finish which was nice!  Our wave went and Kathleen took off, she wanted to get a really good time.  Eric, Ann and I all started jogging together.  Once we got a few minutes in we saw part of the course.  It was an open fair ground field and you went back and forth across it following the path they'd laid out with cones, in the dark!  The problem with it being at a fair ground is that there wasn't a paved path, it was just an open field full of rocks, stones, holes, etc.  After almost tripping a few times, Ann and I decided we were going to power walk it.  We saw a few people wipe out, not our cup of tea.  Every 3/4th's of a mile or so we would go through a "glow station" which was basically 6 people throwing neon powder at you.  Some didn't have the best aim, we had it up our noses, in our ears, lol.

The second part of the course wound us through the animal stables (thankfully they weren't full!)  Again pitch black at times and a bit scary, there would be large curbs to look out for, animal "droppings", etc.  I had my phone so as we came close to the end I was able to text Chris and let him know we were almost at the end so he could look out for us.  He saw us coming around the corner and video'd our jog in.  Overall it was a fun atmosphere and experience with friends, but super dangerous.  I don't think I'd do a night run again.

The website told everyone to dress in costumes and crazy colors.  I looked online for how to make a tutu and went to Hobby Lobby for the supplies and made Ann, Kathleen and I each a tutu.  Kathleen hooked us up with the glow stuff.  The whole weekend was a lot of fun, kind of giving me the Monday blues, but I'll just keep looking at the pictures and enjoying the memories.

Me, Kathleen, Ann and Eric at the start

Us at the finish

My running buddy

Chris and I at the end

Great friends

Me at the end

Weekday Blues

I had the best weekend with all of my family in town and am a little sad that they're gone.  I seriously cannot get enough of them.  We had such a nice celebration of my grandparents life and then spent the weekend together.  I am truly blessed to have the family I do.  I thank God for them all the time.  We may not live in the same town or even state for that matter, however when we get together it's like we pick up where we left off.  At one point on Sunday my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much!  I love you all.

This weekend is the big 5K!!  I will admit that I am NO WHERE NEAR where I'd hoped to be in training, but at least I did some.  I'm getting very excited for it though and hope to find some others coming up soon that I can really train for and hopefully run the entire way.