Happy Friday :)

Best Run in such a long time!
  Today I had one of the best runs I think I have ever had, I think it probably had to do with a nice cool/overcast morning. I ran for 6.26 miles in 64 minutes. I had originally planned to run 5.5 miles, but at mile 5 I was feeling really good- so I changed my route and ran a little farther. Even after I was done, I thought I could go a bit farther- for whatever reason I didn't. I will say, the problem with running more than 4miles for me is that it generally takes a long time and then I need to spend some time icing and stretching- so its nearly a 2 hour ordeal. 

       After lunch, I went to New Seasons Market for some lunch and then dropped a gift off at a friend's house. Before I left my house I put some chili in the crockpot. I used this recipe. But I swapped the chicken for 1lb of super lean ground beef that was in my freezer. The end product was super yummy!

On the side there are some tortilla chips I found at New Seasons, they are called Guiltless Gourmet in the mucho nacho flavor- baked and soo yummy! I also ate 1/4 of a small avocado- I've only recently decided I really like avocados and this one is actually the first time I've ever purchased an avocado. 

For tomorrow:
Homework
Beaverton Farmer's Market with the Madre
Either shorter run or workout at the gym!
Costume kickball party- I'm going as a golfer
 

Salad, Salad, Salad!

Summer time and warm weather makes me crave salad! For the past few weeks, I've eaten a ton of salad. Tonight was no different. I made a Cobb like salad out of whatever I had in the cupboard and fridge.

My salad consisted of butterleaf lettuce, broccoli slaw, chevre goat cheese, 2 slices of skinny bacon, 1/2 a green pepper, marinated artichokes, a few spoonfuls of black beans, some leftover croutons, and a little bit of light ranch! It was fan-freaking-tastic!

4th of July and A crazy day of clinic time

4th of July was fairly uneventful. I ran nearly 6 miles and spent the day getting ready for clinic and the week. I ended up eating dinner with some friends and then heading back to my house early. When I got back to my neighborhood, I sat on my neighbor's lawn with everyone else on my street and watched some firecrackers. Phoebe stayed inside and was fine. Around 10pm I came inside and found a sleepy dog, then I made a huge mistake! I decided Phoebe should go outside before bed, so we went outside and at the very minute we went outside my crazy neighbor decided it was time to get out the super illegal fireworks (the big boomers that places like Disney World use). Whelp, the make a long story short- Phoebe fully freaked out, decided I was the best thing to hide under, started hyperventilating and shaking. So the Pheebs slept with me that night and then in the am was still freaked out and had to be bribed to go outside! But, I am happy to report that Phoebe is fine now. 

The next morning I was up at 5:15am to go to the clinic! Ah, I'm not a morning person! Clinic was fun, learned a ton and I'm getting more comfortable with Ob patients. It was a long day, we saw patients for almost 11 hours! But, I love my preceptor, she is a published author and so compassionate about what she does. Phoebe spent the day at doggy daycare and my mom picked her up for me and dropped her at my house. I came home to a tired dog, ate some dinner, sipped some wine and collapsed in my bed for 10 hours! Being a student in clinic really is exhausting and stressful!

Grandma's Party
Grandma's birthday party last night was a hit! The almond joy cake was amazing! We ate a few different salads, breads, snacky stuff, beef tenderloin which was amazing! We drank lots of beer and wine and then finished with my amazing cake and some cheesecake from costoc- because there were 20+ people at the party!
                  After my run yesterday morning I quickly made spinach dip and then headed to my parents house to make the cake, which took nearly 3 hours from start to finish! aah! So other than cake making and party time, I really didn't accomplish anything else yesterday. And then the party didn't get over until 10pm- so it was an all day affair!

Sunday 
              Today, my mother and I planted roses! Six to be exact. We were in the yard for 5-6 hours, but in a few months, my roses bushes should be beautiful and very fragrant. We planted: The Lady, Gold Medal, Scent-sation, French Perfume, St. Cecilia, Elle, and a mystery rose! Most of these roses are Hybrid Tea Roses, one is a Grandiflora (I love that name!), one is a David Austin Rose, the mystery is likely a miniature rose, and all my other roses are shrub roses .
                I decided to skip the gym or running today, gardening all afternoon is enough! Hopefully I'll run or get some gym time in tomorrow.
4th of July
            Not sure about my plans yet, likely something casual with friends and a BBQ! Hopefully Phoebe stays ok with the firecrackers like in previous years :)
Dinner
            Probably eat some leftover curry chicken salad, roastetd potatoes and canelope. 







.

Almond Joy Cake :)

Today we celebrate my Grandma Edith's 88th Birthday! She is my only living grandparent so we are doing it big today, 20+ people to my parent's house with lots of food! As usual, I'm doing dessert and appetizers! Both Gma and I have a love for all things coconut and chocolate, so I decided to try this recipe for Almond Joy Cake from Rachael Ray's May magazine. I also be making one of my two favorite spinach dip recipes, this one makes Cold Spinach Dip. I highly recommend this dip, its super tasty! Since, I can't find any pics of Grandma and I, here is one of my parents and I from 4 years ago when I graduated college! Happy Saturday :)

Pop Chips...oooh soo yummy!

I love PopChips , maybe a little too much :) Especially BBQ flavor- but I love all things BBQ :)

Getting back into this!

I read all sorts of blogs and so many of the authors blog daily if not 2-3 times in a day! I seem to struggle with blogging even every 6 months! So this week, I'm going to try to be a blogging maniac, lets see how it works! I'm headed out for a 5 mile run soon and then mom and I are going to Heirloom Rose Farm in St. Joseph OR to buy a few more roses for both of our yards. If you ever need to buy some roses I highly recommend Heirloom and they ship! Until then I'm sipping on some coffee with almond joy coffee creamer, and considering making this perfect iced coffee from Pioneer Woman! it looks soo yummy!

Weight Watcherizing food!

On occasion I weight watcherify recipes I find, so I can eat them on a more regular basis/ not feel guilty about eating certain foods! On this occasion- it was a baked ziti like pasta dish. I found the recipe on this awesome couponing/faith based blog. I substituted a lot of ingredients, but the overall ending piece was yummy and filling! Here is the link below to the blog and the original recipe. Below
  Alyssa's Pasta and Spinach bake
Kat's weight watcherized pasta and spinach bake!
8oz of pasta- I used whole wheat thin spaghetti (I think you could use any type you want)
nonstick cooking spray
18 Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs, I think you could also use ground beef or italian sausage, or the original recipe calls for 1lb cooked chicken
1 26-28oz can/jar of pasta sauce- I used a cheesy garlic flavor
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes drained- I used a can that had Italian seasoning already in it
3 pieces of Laughing Cow Low Fat Swiss Cheese
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup Italian Blend shredded cheese or Mozzarella
5-6 teaspoons of graded parmeson cheese

-preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray casserole dish with nonstick spray
-boil water for pasta, cook al dente, because it will continue to cook a little in the oven
- spray nonstick spray into skillet put in frozen meatballs or whatever you are using. Pour in 1/2 pasta sauce and all the diced tomotoes. Cook together until meatballs are defrosted and cooking. 
-add laughing cow cheese to sauce/meatball mixture and stir in until pasta sauce is a little orange colored. 
-drain pasta and place into sprayed baking dish
-add spinach to meatball/sauce mix and let it wilt for about 1-3 minutes
-add spinach/meatball/sauce mix to pasta and toss/mix well
- spread 1/2 cup of cheese on top of pasta
-pour other 1/2 of pasta sauce over the pasta and then cover with the rest of the cheese and the parmeson cheese.


bake pasta dish uncovered for 20 minutes, eat and enjoy!


For ww people, this ends up being around 9.5 points for 4 huge servings. I ended up being pretty full after 1/2 of my 9.5 point serving- making it more like 4.75 (I round up to 5).  goes great with salad!

Exercise TV on Demand!

One of my new favorite things! On the days I'm feeling lazy, and don't feel like running or going to the gym- I turn on exercise TV on demand!!! So far, I've tired some of the bollywood workouts- can we say super fun? I've also done a few kickboxing workouts and some of the strength training videos. They are all pretty short and entertaining and I feel like I get a pretty great workout by doing them. Exercise TV also has some free videos on their website as well as on itunes. I advise trying exercise tv out!

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/bhangra-squat-0054

Veggie Soup!

I made some of my veggie soup last night, it is loosely based off of the Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable Soup recipe, its yummy, easy, and completely guilt free. I actually ate it for breakfast today! I don't really measure much when making this soup, and its a little different every time I make it, you also can ommit some of the veggies if you don't have them on hand or don't like them- just either add veggies you like or decrease amount of broth you use. 
Ingredients:
-carrots chopping or sliced, I usually chop up baby carrots about 1/2 a small package
-1/2 cup diced onion (I use frozen onion, and I probably use about 1/2-1 cup)
-1 bell pepper chopped (fresh or frozen)
-2-3 stalks of celery
-1/2 package of frozen green beans (fresh fine too!)
- 1 diced zucchini
- handful of spinach chopped a little bit
-2-3 nuggets of frozen crushed garlic from Trader Joe's
-2-3 nuggets of frozen crushed basil from Trader Joe's
-1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste
-1/4-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
-1/4- 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt - I used Lawry's
A few sprinkles of Italian Seasoning mix
2-4 cups of chicken or veggie broth

In a large saucepan sprayed with non stick spray saute the carrots, onion, pepper, celery, garlic, basil over low heat until everything is soft maybe 5-10 minutes

Add tomato paste, green beans, salt, and spices. Add broth and simmer for 15-20 minutes covered or not. Make sure everything is cooked

Stir in zucchini spinach and heat for another 3 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Oh! and I forgot the most important part of the race, I ran the ENTIRE thing! this was my goal! My time was 2 hours 22 minutes 28 seconds, this puts me at an average of 10:51 miles which is a little slower than my usual pace of 10:20, but I blame the first two miles for screwing that up! Lastly, I ran with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure team, I raised $500 towards breast cancer research! Yippee!

13.1 baby!

all of my hard work finally paid off! I ran the Inaugural Portland Half Marathon on 10/10/10 starting at 7am! Portland is notorious for our ridiculous rain, but most of the time its a misty sort of rain. Starting on 10/9 we had intermittent downpours and on 10/10 all we had were downpours! Therefore I was completely soaked prior to starting the race- we all were! But, after all this training, I was going to run no matter what! The first two miles were super slow because we couldn't get through the crowd, they were probably somewhere around 13 minute miles, then after that I started to RUN! My knee was bugging me around mile 6 and then it started feeling better! After mile 10 I thought I might have lost my mind, but I was sure as hell not going to stop! As soon as I saw the mile 12 marker, I sped up- I was excited! At mile 13 you could see the finish line, the crowd was cheering and I was smiling, I sprinted the very last part of the race, and according to my mother I looked great and still had a strong stride! At the finish line they give you a medal and blanket around you and then you are led through the food tables!!!! I had all sorts of juice, candy, donut holes, chips, and fruit (didn't eat much fruit- who really cares about fruit after running 13.1 miles?) After the run I found my mom and we took some pics and went out to breakfast! It was a wonderful day, and I hope to run this race again next year :)
As for future races, I will probably be running the "Run Like Hell 10k" on 10/24 and the jingle bell 5k in December.

I'm in Charlotte, NC! By the time I leave tomorrow, I'll have been here for a week! I've had a little too much fun with Cassidy, Dan, Lucy and sometimes Ethel. A few first this week. First time ever eating a chimichanga- not bad! First time running in the summer in NC. First time seeing cows and horses while running. First trip to Wilmington, NC, first time I've seen the Atlantic Ocean in 1.5 years! We spent the entire trip to/from Wilmington watching Friends- which made the trip much a lot funnier than usual!
We spent one day at the pool, it was lovely, I realized I haven't layed by a pool all summer! We went to a theatrical production of Mary Poppins in downtown Charlotte, it was fun- a little strange because they added new characters and songs! We also watched the first two seasons of Dexter, it was awesome!

Today we went to a Greek Festival at a church. We even saw a celebrity- Angie Harmon, she was very beautiful in person. We enjoyed some Greek cuisine and lots of people watching. On our way home we drove threw some absolutely beautiful neighborhoods that in my dreams I marry someone who will buy me one of those houses!

We also watched a little 30Rock- which is ridiculously funny and I love it! I was introduced to Cookout this week- an NC fast food chain, and I drank not one, but two banana fudge flavored milkshakes! They were AWESOME!!!!
Spent some time with an extremely sweet doggy- Lucy and a nearly feral cat- Ethel.
Hopefully I'll be back in a few months, need a good dose of Sanford! Great week spent in Charlotte with my bestie!

Melissa's Adventures in Living Life: GONE FOR A RUN GIVEAWAY!!!

Melissa's Adventures in Living Life: GONE FOR A RUN GIVEAWAY!!!

running and all its issues

I started running about 5 years ago, I used to hate running and then I found a training schedule in a magazine to go from walking to running for 30 minutes in about a month. I've been hooked since! For the first 4.5 years of my running I was a treadmill enthusiast. Since realizing running outdoors is way more fun, much more convenient, and a better workout, I have since stopped using treadmills as of about February (I think I've run on then about twice since then). Since realizing I had it all wrong about running, I've started running ALOT! I have all sorts of routes mapped out and playlists on my ipod, I also track my runs on www.dailymile.com. I even signed up for the inaugural Portland Half Marathon!
Well all was going well until the first week of May. I had worked up to running 6 miles and I did it!!!!!! I also ran those 6 miles in a relatively new pair of shoes...BIG MISTAKE!!!! I some how sprained my ankle (there was no trauma, no fall, no major even that i can remember). Either way I tried to run for another week or two after that and then finally went to the podiatrist, they took xrays (I don't even know why they bothered- I knew nothing was actually broken- for God's sake I was still running on it!) So I decided to take 2 weeks off hoping a miracle would happen, I then started physical therapy, and have since had many ups and downs with my running, I haven't run more than 3.5 miles since then, and I'm hoping next week to work up to 4miles. I've purchased new shoes, various ankle braces, done number exercises, and spent approximately 30 minutes per day just stretching my legs! AND obsessing about my running issues the ENTIRE time! who would have thought, 5 years ago I HATED running, now its making me crazy! I have learned, that i have overly flexible ankles (I guess my ligaments and tendons are quite loose!) Which has made my right calf very sore because according to my PT, Bob, my right calf is trying to keep my ankle stable so its working over time! AAAHHHH, seriously, I've been obsessing about my stupid right lower leg and ankle for almost 6 weeks!
the actually purpose of this post, was to talk about my delving into the world of acupuncture! I have my first appointment on Friday and its absolutely amazing reading all the lit online about the benefits of acupuncture. I already feel like i might end up being a little overly excited about acupuncture after my first appointment!
on an awesome note, I've lost about 19lb with all this running and weight watchering.....in fact I need to buy some new clothes! yippee :)

Gardening....

Who would have thought that I would end up loving digging around in the dirt? I've become a gardening freak! I also have gardening ADD, I can't remember where I plant certain things, and probably end up planting other things over them. So far this spring I've planted I think about 16 roses, numerous sunflower seeds, multiple daisies, nastrisums, pansies, dahlias, petunias, asslyum, babies breath, sweet peas, marigolds, baby tears, cucumber, 2 kinds of pumpkins, 2 kinds of peppers, zucchini, green beans, strawberries, gerber daisies, vinca, and a bunch of stuff that I can't remember! Something about gardening is so soothing and mind clearing! I've become the crazy garden lady :)!!!!!! So much so, I also have a large collection of planters on my back patio that I have recently named "the farm." Laugh now, but guess who will not have to buy produce this summer! I have even taken pictures of some of my plants....just so I can do a before and after! Oh well, to health, wealth, happiness, garden beauty, and nutrition?

Life is gooood :)

So much is going on lately! I've heard from all the schools I applied to, I was accepted to all of the programs, and my decision is made- I'm going to OHSU! I picked them because its a 3 year program instead of 4 years. I don't have to move, and there are lots of single men going to school up there! I also signed up for the portland half marathon- its the inaugural half, they have never had one before! I already started training, and I track it on www.dailymile.com. I'm up to 6 miles, and its going pretty great so far. I've also lost about 15lb, with the help of weight watchers and running. Overall these days life is good, and I'm going to really try to be a better blogger!

OHSU is a go!

I ended up being chosen for an interview at OHSU here in pdx. It was for the family practice specialty for both the masters in nursing and doctorate of nursing practice program. I didn't think the interview went amazing, not bad, but no fireworks! Interestingly enough though they chose about 25 people to interview and most about 21 of them only applied to the masters program. The instructors hosting the event stated it didn't matter whether or not you applied for the msn or dnp program and they were more interested in the fnp specialty itself. Either way, I think they may have been lying because they need to have a dnp program, they can't just not admit anyone and not have it! Either way, something amazing happened

Exactly two weeks later, I was sitting in my living room and I heard the mail carrier drop my mail off, I thought about getting it later but then it occured to me, my letter may be in the mail. So I jumped at the chance and went outside to find a LARGE OHSU envelope! I ripped it open and saw

MY LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE!

I could barely talk, let alone hold still, I jumped around, called my mom mostly out of breath! I haven't been this excited in a long time! Finally all of my hard work has paid off!


With this in mind, I'm not 100% sure I'll be attending OHSU, I want to wait and see if I get into University of Portland, there are a few glaring pros and cons of each program. But, I HAVE AN OPTION!
So happy grad school apps are not over and I can move on with my life :)

I'm a bad blogger!

So much has been going on! In January my grad school applications continued and drove me a little nuts! I also went a little stir crazy with the horrible Oregon winter weather.
I found myself with 8 days off in a row, unexpectedly. I decided to go visit my best bud Cassidy and her hubby Dan. I also spent some time with their pets, crazy Ethel and the very enthusiastic Lucy :). It was a bit chilly there, but we had fun! Cassidy and I attended a zumba class at the YMCA, it was a bit more of hip/hop meets zumba, but it was ok! We ran a little bit here and there which was awesome because when Cassidy and I hang out, the junk food appears :) We both have a bit of a sweet tooth and NC definitely has lots of interesting choices as far as food goes. The first night in Charlotte we went to an awesome bbq place called Lancasters, Cassidy and Dan recommended the "Redneck Fries" oh goodness, I now crave these daily :). Redneck fries consist of some really awesome french fries, topped with NC pork bbq, cheese, bbq sauce, and ranch dressing to dip them in! I was in heaven then and a few days later when I ate the leftovers :) We also made sausage balls (another southern favorite that Cassidy has introduced me to) we ate these for breakfast, they consist of breakfast sausage, cheese, and biscuit mix. Dan made us his chicken corn chowder, he gave me the recipe and I've already made it since! We also ate chocolate rice crispy treats, a treat we used to eat in Miami. Another favorite was the White Trash aka the chex mix treats with the chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar...oohh la la! Another night we made chicken and cheese enchiladas, also super yummy but such a pain in the butt to make for a single person like myself! Kellie, Cassidy's lovely sister came down to visit, it was so great to see her! That day, Dan went to Bojangles and purchased some take out! It was yummy, I love the fries, but of coarse all good things must come to an end and I got sick to my stomach!
I swear we did more than eat! I'm starting to salivate from just typing about all that food! We ended up watching a lot of Law and Order SVU, Friends, and Weeds. Cassidy and Dan had not really watched much Weeds before, but they are pretty stuck on it now! Cassidy and I did a bit of shopping, walked to doggy a bit, Dan helped me with my grad school stuff. Overall my trip was too short and Cassidy and Dan were soo gracious and hospitable! Miss them already :)


pics to come!

oh goodness!

Phoebe and I on xmas morning


Well, so much has been going on with the holidays.....Thanksgiving came and went we had about 20 people at my mom's house for dinner, I made the mashed potatos, yummy!
In early December we had my cousin Willie's wake at my mom's house, it was hard to relive his death, but he definitly celebrated his life.
The ER christmas party ended up being a wild night, I was very hungover at work the next day, it was painful! Christmas was hectic as usual, never have my shopping done early, it was a small gathering this year, just my parents, brother, and Grandma! My brother stayed at my house, always interesting, he could not stop commenting on how I had nothing edible in the kitchen for him to eat (he doesn't like diet food). This highlight of that was when I walked into the kitchen and he was eating about 4 100-calorie packs of cookies :). Bob also purchased a snuggie for Phoebe, she isn't so sure about it, but I think she likes being that warm. We had one snow day last week (I was at work, not too exciting). I was given the great gift the spend a good amount of time with some of my best friends during these last few weeks, Ashley, Hilary, and Lauren. Nothing is better than getting to see some of "my people." New Years Eve was not soo exciting, Ashley and I ate pizza, drank vodka and diet coke while watching Sex and the City rerun until about 10pm, then we met up with some friends at a NYE party, it was alright but I think we probably would have just as much fun if we had stayed watching Sex and the City. Otherwise, keeping myself extremely busy with grad school applications, so not that exciting! If I have to describe why I want to go back to school one more time I might scream! Other than that just doing weight watchers (I restarted after Thanksgiving), haven't lost a large amount of weight so far, but i'm feeling more in control/ slightly empowered. My jeans are fitting a bit better and my stomach is definetly smaller (I notice, others don't) Things are good, every day is filled with new blessings and adventures. Recently two of my friends gave bith, both to healthy boys, so happy for them! My resolutions this year are to run 300 miles, run a 1/2 marathon, and to lose weight. I hope to also start grad school! Anywho until next time :)