oats

Community Folks

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Tate and I are community people.  Wherever we go it’s not long before we have a dinner date with a couple or Tate’s off on some sports adventure with a new buddy.  We love spending time just the two of us and have done plenty of that over the years but we both thrive on friendships.

Over the last ten years we have lived in four states, two countries, and spent a cumulative 10 months traveling.  Ours is now a crazy, mixed up, global community!

One thing that we were both excited about “settling down” here in Virginia after a year and a half abroad is the idea that we can build a community that we might continue to be a part of for a long, long time.

We have made some great friends already but it takes time.  Lots of time.  Charlottesville has been our home for nearly three months and I feel like I am still an outsider looking in.

On the other hand, I need to be grateful that the seeds that will grow into our community have been planted and are starting to germinate.  Last night we had a really lovely dinner with some new friends and their daughter.  We walked a cold mile to their place, passing through the downtown mall.

I met Anna when I worked at the orchard (she was a customer with Oregon plates so I struck up a conversation!) and we immediately clicked.  Tate instantly loved her also and it was great to meet her husband last night.  The wine flowed free and we talked like old friends.  Tate and I were both in very good spirits as we walked home after dinner.

And more good times with great friends are scheduled for today!

Kath is coming over in an hour to take me to her gym!  The first Friday of every month is bring a guest for free at her ritzy gym so we are going to take BodyPump together.  Maybe we’ll even get up the nerve to do some jumping jacks between sets ;).  Safety in numbers!

We are getting back together with the Team Math (Matt+Kath) this evening for a little gallery strolling and a dance performance.  These two were some of the first people we met in Cville and now feel like olds friends!  I love that rarely more than 5 days goes by without the four of us getting together for a walk or a meal.

Today was one of those mornings where I was thinking about breakfast before I got out of bed.  It doesn’t happen often but I kind of like when it does because the anticipation makes the meal taste even better.

Now I am all full satisfied from hot coffee and this,

A thick slice of toasted homemade whole wheat, a fried egg, cottage cheese, and salsa!  Love me some protein!  I ate this breakfast minus the egg yesterday and it kept me going for hours and hours.

Old Truth: My body prefers protein over grain carbs

New Discovery: Yep, it’s true, protein “holds” my appetite longer than grainy carbs.  I did some experimenting with this recently and as much as I love oats, eggs keep me going longer.

Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away

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Unfortunately, the running dread that I woke up with on Friday morning lasted all weekend.  Fortunately, I had great workouts anyway!

Yesterday’s run.  Lots of wine+not much sleep=slooow leisurely run.  After a few miles the two (petite) cups of coffee I drank finally kicked in and I was able to speed up a bit and actually run some sprints.  The whole run felt excellent and reminded me how much I LOVE RUNNING! I covered 4.55 miles along this route and appreciated the cooler temperatures and even the tiny bit of drizzle.

My mother-in-law brought me a stack of Vegetarian Times magazines along with the pumpkin, this women knows me so well!  The first magazine I browsed had a recipe for falafel, which sounded perfect for lunch since I had garbanzos soaking in the fridge already.  It is so rare for me to follow a recipe and this one I followed almost to a T!  I didn’t have baking powder and I sprayed the pan to cook them instead of the 1/4 inch called for to panfry. Here’s the recipe, they were very tasty!

We also had spinach salad, corn on the cob, and the yogurt sauce from the recipe

And these AMAZING corn chips

No salsa necessary (I never thought I would say that about anything!), these buggers are perfect straight out of the bag.

After lunch my darling husband made my day!

Those are raised beds for our garden! Yay!  And they are made with free lumber from a nearby construction site (he asked permission)! Yay!

The herb garden is coming right along

My sister sent this gorgeous “pineapple sage” over with my mom as a housewarming present

We have wonderful neighbors right next door. In fact, they helped us in our decision to buy our house.  We were a bit skeptical about the neighborhood but after meeting them during a walk-through we felt much better.  Pascal and Jasmine have been so kind and generous since we moved in, Tate even showered over there the first two days we lived here while our plumbing was being fixed.

They invited us over for dinner last night and it was really lovely.  They have lived all over the world and their 1880’s house is full of incredible furniture and artwork from Africa, Russia, and France, including three GIANT armoires that have been in the family for over a hundred years that they shipped here from France!

Pascal is French and cooked all French food and served delicious French wine.

And so much food! I think we ate for 2 hours!  In the little pots in the back is a zucchini soufflé, the bowl of brown is an eggplant puree, and the quiche, oh the quiche, is smoked salmon.  They also served a warm and crusty baguette, harring (which I was able to politely ignore), homemade aioli, a tasty tapenade of olives, garlic, and anchovies, and dessert!

Upside-down apple pie!  Oh, how I wish you could hear the French name from Pascal, it is much more beautiful and fitting for this lovely thing than my description.

Whew!  I crashed after all that lovely food and wine!

Today is a cool and rainy day here in C’ville and I must say, I am not complaining!  It was definitely a day for oats.  Pumpkin oats.

Homemade pumpkin puree.

The “oats” turned out to be more pumpkin than oats but was awesome nonetheless, especially with 1/3 cup warm soymilk, a tablespoon of chopped nuts, and two pinches of unsweetened coconut.

I am going to puree a bunch of pumpkin to keep in the freezer so I can have pumpkin oats at the press of a (microwave) button.

Mission Get Moving had a very successful 6 week run.  I got moving.  A lot.  Everyday.  So I think it’s time for a new mission.

Introducing

Mission 10k PR

I have run a few 10 k’s in the past and I honestly don’t remember what my times were but I don’t think it was under 55 minutes so that is what I am going for.

There I said it.  It’s out there.

My plan to achieve this involves increasing my endurance through long runs and my speed through sprint workouts.  The 10k is the Charlottesville Fall Classic a mere 3 1/2 weeks away.  I know, it’s a bit late to start a training program but I have been running several times a week for almost 2 years now and upped both my speed and distance lately already.

Mission 10k PR Week 1

  • Long run 6.5 miles
  • 2 speed workouts (34-50 minute runs with sprint intervals)
  • 1 easy run (35-50 minutes)
  • 2 days full body workouts (upper, lower, and ab strength)
  • At least 3 yoga sessions

It’s going to be a good week!