30 weeks

Another friday has come and so has another week of this amazing pregnancy. Today is officially 30 weeks... 10 more to go.

I have gained 30 pounds so far, which is crazy to say out loud. I don't feel as though I am big enough to have gained that much weight. Oh well. I am eatting very healthy but still enjoying my sweets.

I still haven't had any major issues. Baby and I are healthy.

We have been attending childbirth class which is informative. However, If I had the chance to do it all over again I would have done the 1 day class instead of the weekly class for 5 weeks. The instructor drags things on. I am sure that it is nice for some of the others to break things down VERY simple, but for us it seems like overkill. Thankfully, next week is our next week.

Well there are 2 more days in 2011... Any plans for New Years Eve? I think we are just staying home. Maybe a hike for sunday :)

New Years Resolutions!

As the New Year is coming upon us very quickly it makes me think about what I want to make for resolutionas for the upcoming year. It is bad that I can hardly remember what my resolutions were for 2011?

I must say that going into 2011 my life is at a completely different spot than last year. Last year, I was preparing for moving across the country, getting married that February, and starting a new job. Going into 2012 I have a whole new set of challenges ahead of me. One of the biggest ones is preparing to have a baby, due in March. We are also building a house, that is set to start in April, so the preparations are in full swing. Things are not moving slowly around here.

As far as resolutions go I would love to continue running, once I am able. My mom, who had ACL surgery in October are already planning a half for late spring/early summer.

Obviously lose the baby weight as soon as possible.

Continue to eat healthy.

Stay in contact with friends even those far away. This week has been an eye opener when a close friend had major surgery that was completely unexpected. It makes you realize that we are not untouchable and even though we are in our late 20's early 30's bad things can happen.

I am still struggling to come up with other resolutions. Any ideas?

Do you make resolutions? What are they for 2012?

25 Holiday Questions

Well, things have been super busy lately. But I thought I would join in on the fun around the blog world and answer some questions about Holiday traditions.

• Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
• Hot Chocolate - Eggnog is a little too rich for me. But Wally decided that he like it this year! 
• Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
• Some unwrapped and some wrapped.
• Colored lights on tree/house or white?
• Colored lights for both when we were growing up. Now colored on the tree and white for on the house.
• Do you hang mistletoe?
• I never have, probably never will.
• When do you hang up decorations?
• Start bringing stuff out the day of Thanksgiving :)
• What is you favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
• Acorn squash with apples
• Favorite holiday memory as a child?
• Being able to unwrap on present Christmas eve (always PJ's) and going to a campfire.
• What is on your christmas wish list?
• My big gift  I am asking for this year is snow shoes.  I have pretty much everything I need and since we are in a rental home we don't have a ton of room for extra STUFF.
• Do you open gifts on Christmas eve?
• As kids we did, but as I mentioned earlier it was also PJ's. It is something that I would like to continue with my children even if there isn't a bonfire/party to go to.
• How do you decorate your tree?
• Lights go on first then the ornaments. This year we have a Christmas tree decorating party, sort of. We had friends from out of town here and we all decorated it together. It was a nice change.
• Snow? Love it or Dread it?
• Love it! I'm DREAMING of a WHITE Christmas.
• Real tree or Fake?
• Real one. The fake ones look nice and last longer. But; A) aren't good for the environment (tons of plastic) and B) don't smell like Christmas.
• Do you remember your favorite gift?
• I must say, I probably have on the the worst memories or anyone I know. I am sure I got some great presents over the years but I don't know if I have a favorite. I do love my new pillow I got last year.
• Favorite holiday dessert?
• Cookies - All kinds - I'm not picky.
• What is the most important thing about Christmas for you?
• Spending time with family.
• What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
• I can't say that I have one favorite tradition.
• What tops your tree?
• Growing up we had an Angel, however Wally and I now have a Star
• Do you prefer giving or receiving?
• Both obviously. I love when I think I have found a great gift that the person will love and didn't ask for.
• What is your favorite Christmas song?
• My new favorite song is the 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser.
• Candy Canes? yuck or yum?
• Love them. But I love almost All candy.
• Favority Christmas movie?
• Miracle on 34th Street
• What do you leave for Santa?
• Milk and Cookies, and Carrots for the Reindeer.
• Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?
• We were allowed to go through our stockings and play with the "Santa" gifts, before waking up our parents.
• Do you prefer to shop on-line or at the mall?
• Times are a changing... I used to be a mall shopper however it seems as though the gifts I want to give now a days are harder to come by and this year I did a lot of my shopping online, thanks to free shipping. Also www.ebates.com is a great site where you can get a % of money back that you spent.
• Christmas letter or card?
• Christmas card. However my mom has been writing letters to go inside the card for as long as I can remember.

27 weeks

27 weeks!!

I am officially 6 months pregnant and I feel great. I have to give a lot of credit to my husband for helping me to stay active these last few weeks. As many of you know I ran until about 22 weeks. At that point there was just too much pressure in the pelvis that was not comfortable and having to pee every 15 minutes was just plain annoying. I had to plan my runs where I knew I would have somewhere to pee.

I recently had my 1 hour glucose test- which came back NORMAL! yay! I was a little nervous because this momma is craving sweets and I didn't want to have to watch what I ate. I must say I am doing pretty well. Making sure I have enough calcium because the baby sucks it out of you, fruits, and veggies, to balance the chocolate and ice cream :)

Are you all ready for christmas? I have surprising done a lot of my shopping online. I am quite proud of myself. I only have my father left to buy for, the dogs, and stocking stuffers! Then get the wrapping done. I am so excited to get some christmas baking done as well.

House Update:
Things are going along as planned. We have a foundation, well, and they are working on getting the power out to the house site. Now it is just sit and wait until April for the building to start. Well... no sitting around here. We are working with a kitchen designer to plan the layout and researching appliances and getting quotes for that.

Sorry its been so long...

So for some of you that know me there are some major things going on in my life right now. One of the biggest things is that I'm PREGNANT! yay!

It has been an amazing adventure along theway. Baby A has run many races including: Providence Rock N Roll Half Marathon (9 weeks), Chicago Marathon (18 weeks), and RnR NYC 10K (20 weeks).

18 weeks in Chicago

 I am now 24 weeks pregnant and really starting to get BIGGER. However still feeling great. I was really blessed for not having any morning sickness, just some major fatigue that made training for all those races a chore.

24 weeks

 So on top of having a baby we are also building our new home. This is our new foundation that was just put in last week. Things are going to start moving fast. I sure am glad that my husband has got that part organized while I worry about the baby stuff.

 Another picture in Chicago at Navy Pier

 And the Chicago Marathon finish! It was such a great race. It got a little warm but better than freezing your butt off... which I have done before. Wally stayed with me the whole time which was awesome. Oh and by the way...he didn't train at all. Only an 8 mile run 2 weeks before. He has been working like crazy and didn't have time. We ran the Chicago Marathon for the American Liver Foundation, and he ran in place of my mom because she recently tore her ACL and was having surgery the week after. Thanks Mom!

18 weeks - Chicago Marathon Finish

So, my goal is to start blogging on a more regular basis. It was tough before, My husband was traveling all the time, the dogs needed attention, and I was so tired, which didn't leave much more energy or time for blogging.

It's almost Thanksgiving, which means that our family will find out if we are having a BOY or GIRL. I made cake balls with the color inside. I'll keep you all updated.

Leftover taco salad

Leftover taco salad

CSA goodies...turnips and garlic scrapes

Hello everyone,
Once again life seems to move very fast and time just gets away from you. As I mentioned before wednesdays are the day I pick up produce from the CSA in Concord. This weeks bunch included; lettuce, kale, radishes, turnips, garlic scrapes, tomatoes, and kohlrabi. I had to look up kohlrabi and garlic scrapes.

 Kohlrabi is a German turnip and according to wikipedia.com it has a similar taste to broccoli stems, it can be eaten cooked or raw. You can even eat the greens. I can't wait to see what fun receipes I can come up with. Unfortunately I only recieved on of these babies.

Onto dinner...
I started off with roasting white turnips; peeled, washed, and quartered.

 Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.
 Place on baking sheets in oven @ 450 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The garlic scrapes... similar to chives...nice garlic taste. They are the curling tops of the garlic plant.

 I decided to add these to some mashed potatoes...

 And the main course.... Venison steaks... (there were 3 of these and the dogs got to them while I was putting clothes away upstairs :(  not a happy camper)

Seasoned with Salt, Pepper, and Grill Mates Seasoning

 The final product!!

 A word about steak seasonings...
Typically for the venison we don't need much just a little S&P, maybe garlic powder. We had bought these in Oregon to try something new. Wally is NOT a fan of the Mesquite seasoning. I can't tell much of a difference and will pretty much eat anything. Sometimes I try to sneak it on when he doesn't see me cooking and he can still tell!! Oh well, I hate to waste it and throw it out.

Workout: None today. 6 miles on Sunday.
The heat has been killing me. I guess I should get used to it, probably won't get much better for a little while. I also heard that Chicago can sometimes be a HOT one.

P.S. - Wally and I ended up really liking the turnips. It is something I probably wouldn't have bought on my own.

hot and humid

Yesterday's run was supposed to be an easy 3 miles.... When I got home from work the sun wasn't out (yay!!) so I immediately leased up the dogs and headed out on our normal route down to the buffalo farm (I am NOT joking about this one) and back.

Man it was tough to breathe... It started to rain on us once we turned around which was ok by me. The rain was nice and cool but you could still feel the heat coming off the pavement.

We stopped a few times for the dogs to do their thing and I had to pee once as well. I always end up drinking a TON of water on my drive home from work (that's my excuse anyway). Even still 3 miles in about 30 minutes not too bad for being extremely tired and having a hard time breathing.

Just keep lacing up those shoes... thats my plan.

Runners World Quote of the Day
Running has given me an opportunity to reach out and be a benefit to a fellow human being.
 
Mark Goldstein on the Komen Race for the Cure, a 5-K that raises breast cancer awareness

House Update:
Still clearing land
Making an appointment with mortage consultant to get options
House plans nearly done
Get quotes from other companys for house kits and builders

Toenails

Yesterday's workout was a good one. My training plan called for 7 mile tempo run or 30 min of hills (or hill repeats). I choose the hills.

I took the little pup with me because I knew he would keep running up and down those hills with him.

This workout started with 1 mile warm up, 6 laps up and down a semi-large hill (run up, short walk 10-15 seconds, jog down easy), then 1 mile back home. I did all this in my five-fingers!!

I was one sweaty mess when I ended and got compliments on how well behaved my dog was. That was good to hear. However, he is much more well behaved when he is tired.

I am very excited to start running more in the five-fingers. About a month back my boss asked if I would train for a race in them and write about it in the newsletter. My plan is to do a marathon. I have already done a 5K, so just a few more miles right ;)

As for training woes, I came across this article today about runner's getting black toenails and having them fall off. This was something that I was just talking about with a patient of my. I have yet to experience this. He hasn't or his brother (who also runs marathons).

The article states that the most common cause is wearing shoes that are too small and that this is pretty common for marathoners and "almost a rite of passage for ultra-marathoners". If this is something that is caused by the wrong shoe size when not just get some new shoes?

Meals have not been all that exciting... egg sandwichs or smoothies for breakfast. Lunch; salad with strawberries and fish. Dinner; salad with something on top... or today was a baked sweet potato with black beans, pepper jack cheese, salsa, and a dollop of daisy.

Do you have plans for the holiday weekend? Running any races?
- I have family coming up to visit very exciting. Going to melting pot with Mom and Ashley. Maybe run in the 4K on the 4th in Concord.

Anyone need a running buddy?

Until later....

What motivates you?

With all of this rainy weather it is hard for me to get motivated to run outside and I don't have a treadmill :(

Once the rain goes away it feels as though it is 90 degrees and humid... not the most comfortable running temperature. Wally says that I should just get up and run earlier in the morning. I don't know how much earlier I can get up. I am already up at 6-ish, when I feed and walk the dogs, feed the chickens, water the garden, eat breakfast, make my lunch, and shower (whew)...

I am sitting here wondering what motivates others to get and keep moving...

I have a few things that keep me going

• Races - sign up for them. I hate to wast money so I almost always train for them.
• Runner's world quotes - I get them in my email.
• Running magazines/website - sometimes I am too cheap to actually pay $4-5 for a magazine I read in an afternoon so I just browse the website.
• Competition - when I lived near my mom, I would run with her, or just talking with her to see what she ran for the day would make me want to go out and run at least that!!

I love that my next marathon (Chicago - Oct. 9th) is going to be with both my mom and one of my best friends who now lives in Wisconsin.

My philosophy on running is, I don't dwell on it, I do it.
Joan Samuelson

The weather is finally cooperating... the rain is stopped (at least temporarily). So I decided it would be the perfect day to go Strawberry Picking. The place I went to doesn't pick on sunday and I decided to postpone my long run til tomorrow.

I did pretty well. They are sweet and juicy. I picked all of these beauties in about half and hour.



 I think it's adorable when you see little kids picking berries with their parents. It is even funnier when the parents are getting upset that the little ones are eating the berries out of the bucket that they just picked.

 And lunch....
 leftover pizza from The Common Man in Concord.
Cripsy thin crust with diced tomatoes and olives...yum...
And Mud pie for dessert (not pictured)

Workout: to be determined...

Question:

What do you do with all the berries you pick? Do you pick your own berries?

A: I do pick, usually I just freeze them, but this batch might turn into jam and/or ice cream!!

Have a great weekend!!

Juicy...

Good morning all...

the other day I decided to try overnight oats in a jar, as you may see in many other blogs such as (Julie, Tina, Courtney). I was initially not to sure about how it would turn out but I was pleasantly surprised.

To my jar I added;

1/3 c. oats

1/3 c. water

1/3 c. of skim milk

2 tbsp. chia seeds

1/3 c. frozen blueberries

a small handful of kashi go lean crunch

yumm.... don't mind the mess of the computer, eatting and reading blogs in the morning ;)

This was my mid-morning snack... as most of you can tell I can't always make it until lunch because my stomach starts grumbling.... Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a second to eat something other times not so much.

Juicy... mmm.....

Dinner plans... was salad with baked stripper... but when I got a call from Wally saying that he was going to be home for dinner I decided to add sweet potato fries to give hime a little more substance.

First, the salad - organic greens I received from the CSA, tomato, green pepper, and mushrooms.

Second,

Sweet potato fries -

bake at 450 for 20-30 minutes - stir about half way through

I coat them in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Also sprinkled with a little paprika once on the baking sheet.

The main course...

Baked stripped with butter and more paprika from this website

2 large fillets of stripper (or any fish)

1/2 onion slice thinly and separated into rings

1/4 c. butter/margrine melted

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp lemon pepper

1 lemon

sprinkle of paprika (recipe called for cayenne pepper)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Dip fillets in melted butter. Place on broiler pain (I just used a baking sheet). Sprinkle evenly with lemon pepper and paprika. Place onion rings and sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce.

Bake 8 minutes. Turn broiler on 500 degrees- allow fish and onions time to brown (3-6 minutes). Remove, cool for about 3 minutes. Any serve with lemon juice.

I will leave you guys with some picture of the new property!!

Yesterdays workout:
P90X -Cardio X and 1 mile sprint with the pup.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Congrats to Vanessa would gave birth to a healthy baby boy last night!!


This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

First Egg, creamed spinach, and banana bread...

Workout - Yesterday - 9 miles - Hot and hard to complete. My training plan called for 11 miles and I just couldn't do it.

Today - nothing... oh well...

So to start with... when I came home this afternoon I found our first egg from our 2 chickens. They were given to me from a patient of mine and she warned me that they may not lay for a week or so with the change in scenery...





 Emeril's Creamed Spinach: with a few modifications
1/2 c. chives
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tbsp. of butter
1/2 c. half and half

First - boil 2 lbs of spinach for 2 minutes and set aside
Second - melt butter over medium heat, heat up chives and garlic until soft...

 Add spinach to mixture...

 Add 1/2 c. of half and half - simmer until reduced by half

 Enjoy immediately...

 We had it with chicken tonight ....

Next up was Banana Bread  - Wally has always eaten the bananas before they go bad so we bought extra to make this little treat.

 As I am writing this Wally has already eaten 2 slices. I must say it is delicious :)
I found these pictures of Calvin the day that we left Oregon. :(

Do you ever get nostalgic over a place that you weren't there very long?
Wally - quite often - "absence makes the heart grow fonder" it goes for more than just people.
How wise he is...

Early release for me!!

The benefits of being salaried at work means that when I don't have patients in the afternoon I get to leave early (at least when the boss is out of town ;) ) And I had tons to get done on my to-do list.

First I headed to staples. My new purse I got from a purse party, Thirty-One, had started to un-ravel at the seams. The company was great and almost immediately had a replacement on for me. The just asked that I send back the damaged one and even sent me a UPS tracking sticker for return postage!



After dropping that off, I headed to Marshall's. It has been so long since I have been shopping.
I came home with some goodies... a new pair of running shorts (I was looking for a new skirt, like runningskirts.com), dress socks (in desperate need for new black socks), and this....

A key holder... I love the antiquey look of it. Right now my keys just get thrown into a glass bowl and Wally's are who knows where. I am excited to get this put on the wall.

When I got home there was a package for me and I new exactly what it was...



From nuttyguys.com 

I had gotten a groupon a few weeks ago and have been looking through the website deciding what I wanted to get. I ended up with: mixed nuts butter toffee, sunflower seeds, dried pineapple cubed, ginger crystallized, and wasabi almonds. I think I am most excited to try the wasabi almonds!!

Since I was home early I figured the dogs deserved to go on a nice long walk and that's just what we did.. through the woods. I let them off the leash for a little while so they can stretch their legs... Those guys can RUN!!

When we got back, they got dinner and I headed out to pain this... My new chicken coup... A patient of mine has 2  chickens that don't get along with the rest of the pack and she has 18 chicks that need the space she has been keeping them. Wally was more than excited when I told her she offered them to us and quickly began putting this together. I must say he is pretty talented. This coup is all recycled material from his work and our house. It has a metal roof so the snow won't get stuck which means no shovelling. Yes, up here in New Hampshire they get TONS of snow that sometimes requires it to be shovelled off the roof so it won't cave in. Today I got busy painting it... Not too bad if I don't say so myself.

 I thought I would throw in a picture of my little garden...

 My pups relaxing after their adventure today. Calvin looks a little brown because he is probably covered in dirt! 

 I was reading about everyone's iced coffee and I was inspired to make some. I did things a little differently. I did my research about cold-brew iced coffee and it sure was worth it.


Cold Brew Iced Coffee from: SmittenKitchen
2/3 c. coffee grounds
3 c. water

Stir together, cover, and let sit for 12 hours or overnight.
Strain twice through a coffee filter, fine mesh sieve, or sieve covered with cheesecloth. (I used a coffee filter and it worked perfectly).

In a tall glass: fill with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water. Add milk if desired.

I must say this was the most delicious iced coffee I had ever made. It is well worth the 12 hour wait.

Yesterday was the first day of my Local harvest CSA pick up. This week was tons of greens including this on Pak Choi, aka Boc Choi. I had no idea what to do with this so I immediately jumped on the internet and did some searching and found this receipe.

Pak Choi and Rice

 1 small onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and I used 5 jalapenos and 3 banana pepper slices sauteed in a little EVOO.

 Left over pork spare ribs that were cooked in the crockput with some extra BBQ sauce... in separate pot...

 Add chopped up pak choi to soft onions... steam for about 5 minutes... the website said to be careful not to overcook or the pak choi will lose its flavor (which is definitely a distinct one).

 The complete meal consisted of:
- steamed rice
- smashed butternut squash
- pork in BBQ sauce
- steamed pak choi with onions, garlic, and jalapenos

The jalapenos were a substition for pimentos, which I didn't have. It was a good change in flavor from the onions. The pak choi was interesting texture but I don't know if this is something I would buy on my own. I still have a little more to use. Hopefully we don't get more of this next week.

We also got, arugula, spinach, lettuce, chives, parsley, and beet greens... Can't wait for more fresh food!!