Clint's Birthday

Yes, I am the greatest wife ever and organized a birthday extravaganza! First I presented him with his gifts to get excited about for later. Then we hopped on this



to go here:



After we enjoyed our wings, we headed to Tracey Aviary at Liberty Park. We watched a bird show and attempted to rescue a baby quail.











Then we went to the dollar theater and watched The Adjustment Bureau. Finally we returned to the house for dinner, presents, and the awesome cake that I made. Well, it looked awesome, but was a little dry. What can I say, it was my first attempt at making a layer cake.

Karen's Wedding

Well, I've gotten quite behind in my blogging. So let me start updating you all about my summer! Of course, I must first start with Karen's wedding--the excuse to miss the last week of school! Wheeeee!


Here is the lovely bride right after the blessed event.




Doesn't she look happy?! Here are a few other photos for your enjoyment (and mine).

Shopping

Sigh. I saw the perfect mustard yellow cardigan online. I stalled about buying it because I hate buying things online (or buying things in general) and now it is out of stock. Does anyone else hate shopping? I have a horrible collection of socks with holes in them and socks that sag down into my boots, but I still never buy new socks. The last times I bought new socks, one pair immediately sagged, and the other pair developed holes after only a few wears. I figure, what's the point?

First Crocus

I saw a little yellow crocus on an "adventure" run today with the team. It's the first crocus of spring! Huzzah! I didn't get a picture (since I don't manage a jogging photography club) but I will attempt to use a photo from freestockphotos.com.




Yesterday we did time trials. I ran the 800 and the 1600 by myself while the team was resting. I forgot that when you haven't done any speedwork in a long time your arms tingle when attempting it. I also forgot that you cough. I mentioned this at my book club last night and one of the ladies told me that when you get old you cough like that just from going up the stairs!

I suppose I should make dinner now. I am making this:



My changes are that I used less peanut butter (half a cup) and I added some sweet chili sauce. Also I shaved some raw carrot on top. Yummy! You can find the recipe on my friend Sara's blog.

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis

I have this thing called exercise-induced anaphylaxis. It makes running hard sometimes...like today. I can't eat too close to when I run, or I will go into anaphlactic shock. Usually it just manifests itself in a variety of weird symptoms like itchy gums/lips, stomach pain, problems breathing, and, most comically, swollen eyes. (My sister-in-law told me when my eyes swell up I look like a camel. If it happens again, I suppose I should document it...but the whole point is NOT to have it happen again.) If I'm stupid about it I could end up the the emergency room again, like that one time (or just panting and lying on the floor of someone's kitchen).

So usually I just avoid eating near running. But sometimes this is a pain because I don't want to run when I'm starving. Last Saturday I went for a run too close to my bowl of multigrain cheerios, and I don't think things were the greatest. I suspect that wheat is something especially not good to eat near runs. I had an allergist do a prick test and he just told me not to eat anything before I ran (and take an allergy pill everyday, but I rejected that advice.) But I seem to have decent luck with oatmeal.

Well today I was in a hurry to get my run in before meeting up with a friend--I didn't have time to eat a bowl of oatmeal and then wait for hours. So I just ran hungry....but felt suprisingly lethargic. I'm not sure if it was the no food or something else. It seems like a fair amount of people run in the morning before breakfast. At any rate, the run today was no bueno (for me and my goals anyway). 3 miles at like 9:40 pace. This doesn't exactly seem on track to running a half marathon next month at an 8 min pace. So...we shall see. I seem to have decent luck running after work.

Who else has weird/comical medical conditions?

What I Wore

So, here is a non-frumpy outfit that I wore. Sorry that the pictures didn't turn out so well--I am upset by the blurriness and that the colors aren't very true. I attempted to have a detail image on the pants because they have really cute buttons, but you can't really see them. Oh well. Also, I cannot format pictures in blogger for the life of me.

Anyway, I also got a haircut and color. You like?

Agave, Chia, Quinoa

So, I went to part of my stake women's conference last Saturday. (I only went to part because it started at 7:45 am or something ridiculous like that.) One of the classes I attended was called "Word of Wisdom Cooking".

The class was basically about healthy eating, and I am giving myself a pat on the back for my recent decision to start eating plain yogurt with cranberries and honey or agave as opposed to the really sugary stuff that comes in cups. I tried a "healthy" brand of yogurt once that I hated because it had maple in it, but I've discovered it's not that bad to mix it myself. (Especially when my husband is in charge of doing the dishes, and hence washes my daily yogurt Tupperware that I bring home from work. Yes, I eat breakfast at work.) I am also giving myself a pat on the back for already owning agave and chia seeds. I am drinking a chia fresca right now. :)

Anyway, as a result of the class, I finally bought some quinoa that I'm going to experiment with. The teacher was also really big on green smoothies. I thought I would experiment with those too, but I couldn't will myself to make one after my run. It seems like so much effort. Mix everything up, wash the blender, blah blah. I just ate a banana with peanut butter instead, and I will eat my spinach in a salad at dinner.

Even though I am jumping on the quinoa bandwagon, I'm not becoming a health nut. The lady that taught this class gave us a bunch of links to healthy eating blogs,some of which I thought were clearly over board in part. For example, who has heard this idea that we need to make our bodies more alkaline and hence purify our water with reverse osmosis, remineralize it, then ionize it? Also, I never plan on making my own mayonnaise. Life is far too short for that type of nonsense.