Starved Rock October 2011

Going where I've never gone before...



Seriously, I haven't used a porta potty in 20 years. Bill has never laughed so hard.

Walking Back in Time

B and I went on vacation to visit his family in Michigan. At one point we walked out on a pier to see a lighthouse. Apparently, that walk took us back to our childhood selves.

I am the oldest of 3 girls and our mother's motto was safety first. She didn't want anything horrible to happen to us, and we really took to heart when she told us all the bad things that could happen if we weren't careful. To this day I have not been bitten by a rabid squirrel; thanks mom. So, I approached the pier Jon G style, marching dead center, clutching my purse, looking down to avoid tripping on cracks in the concrete, and making mental notes on how to operate the life preserver poles.

B, as the oldest of 4 boys, was raised by a mother who was clearly outnumbered. When they were younger they would try to climb the whole length of rocks without touching the pier. Oh hell no. I tried to explain to him how he would slip and fall and crack his head open. His lifeless body would float out to sea, as he would be unable to catch the life preserver I would throw. He was content to just stand on them and get his picture taken. My palms were sweating the whole time.

He then spent the next few yards trying to convince me to get my pic on the rocks. I finally agreed; I get all wild and crazy on vacation. I was very fortunate not to die. You never know when the Earth will tilt and the laws of physics will no longer apply.

I hate that dog so much...

I made her a birthday cake. Actually, as with most things that turn out really well, Mandi did all the work.

Rain Delayed

So what do you do to pass time during a rain delay? Why take silly pics of course. This rainy night at the ball park clued me in to the fact that I only want to go out in public with a giant umbrella from now on. It is like you are in your own little world, or you have a force field up or something. Anything that separates me from the general public I'm a fan of. I needed it Friday night when we were at the movies and the jerk behind me kept kicking my seat. He then put his bare foot on my arm rest! I jumped up and whipped around to hiss at him. It would have been so much more satisfying to shove an umbrella up his ass. Seriously, were you born in a barn? Keep your friggin shoes on and out of my personal space.

CSA pick up 2

No pictures this week, I forgot before I started prepping everything for storage/eating. So what was in the bag this week? Lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce. Literally three types. Also radishes (this time the fancy French breakfast kind that you can't get in stores), green onions, green garlic, tarragon, white turnips, and...strawberries! They were so little and cute we ended up just eating them plain before, during, and after dinner. The green onions were immediately turned into a Spicy Sesame Noodle dish, which I loved but others were not so keen on cold noodles (I'm growing Thai basil on my balcony).

Last week I was pretty successful in using up everything. Some of the green garlic and onions were tossed and ashamedly a bit of asparagus was. It got left at Mandi's house and I kept forgetting to retrieve it and they aren't veggie fans. The real hit was with a Rhubarb and Raspberry Crostata. I loved the crust; I want to try to to use it with other filling combos. I just roasted last week's radishes. I hope to give this week's a more unusual treatment.

So far, so good. I'm anxious to get out of lettuce season and on to the more substantial items, but eating seasonally is part of the game.

Eating Good in the Neighborhood

In an effort to be more like my hippie Madison friends, I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture). I signed up for a half share of veggies through the Good Earth Food Alliance. Every other Tuesday for the next 20 weeks I'll go pick up a box of locally grown vegetables, herbs and occasionally fruit. My first pick up was yesterday and I'm overloaded. The haul included green onions, scallions (rare to see true scallions in the store), chives, rhubarb, asparagus, Napa cabbage, salad greens, radishes, and broccoli rabe. We grilled up the asparagus last night and tonight I downed the broccoli rabe. Can't say I loved the broccoli rabe, but that is the nature of the CSA. You just have to roll with what you get and embrace eating seasonally and being adventurous. I'm quite excited about it. Tomorrow night will be a Thai shrimp soup to use up the green onions and cabbage and there will probably be a raspberry rhubarb tart this weekend. Hopefully I can keep up this level of enthusiasm all summer :)

True Confession

Sometimes I like to bury my face in the white fur on her chest. That is so gross, but she is so damn soft and lovable. Who am I?

Graduation Present

 

So for the past 8 weeks I've been taking Intro to Therapeutic Massage at the local community college. I toyed with the idea of becoming a licensed massage therapist, so I could work nights and weekends for fun money. Turns out enrolling in the program commits you to 6 hours every Saturday for a year. Not really what I had in mind. I wish I could keep going for 3 hours a night on Wednesday for 2 years, but, alas, that track does not exist. But I definitely want to be able to give friends and family one step up from a regular back rub and showcase my new edumacation, hence my "graduation" present to myself, a real table. I love, love, love it. It is portable, well as portable as a giant table can be for a 5'1" person. Mandi got to be the first Guinea pig and she really enjoyed it. She has never had a real massage, so she has nothing to compare it to, but it was relaxing and felt good so I'll call that a success. I find the process of massaging relaxing so it was a win win. I'm taking appointments now ;)

Blizzard!!! Yay!!!

So I've got a Snow Day today. Yay! Well yay for now until I have to try to drive in it tomorrow. I love walking in the snow. I can't wait until the weekend and I can go tromping through the woods. The drift in front of my front door is 33 inches. I loved busting through it. It was clear I was the first person out and about this morning and it was very eerie. I can see a main Peoria artery and the Interstate from my apartment and there weren't any cars on them. When I was scooping my car out a maintenance truck drove up and asked me if I was planning on going anywhere. I told him no, and he was like good, you won't make it past the stop light. Good to know. He thought they would have everything plowed by this afternoon. I remain skeptical.

Happy New Year

Another one bites the dust. 2010 included such fun times as getting an I-pass and heading up to the suburbs, getting back to geocaching, buying a swimsuit and sitting in a hot tub for the first time in decades. It is a wild and crazy life I live kids. I've also kind of fell in love with house plants. My one aloe has turned into a collection of succulents, growing herbs under a grow light and trying to force a bulb. I also have taken a liking to winter hiking. It is so much better than hiking in the summer. I like how cold and peaceful it is, the snowier the better. I think by the end of January there'll be enough sunlight to go regularly after work. I need to soak it up while I can; I know when it warms up it will lose its appeal.

Health and Wellness wise I did a couple of cycles of P90X and Insanity. Hardest things I've done fitness wise for sure. I was in a super intense 2 a day workout cycle for a couple of months, but that just made me tired and hungry. So I've quit cardio and settled into a strength training routine using the P90X discs. Sad to say I'm still a bit gigglier than I was a year ago, gluten is the devil man. And sugar, sugar is also the devil. But on a positive note, I am wicked strong. Seriously, I can kick your ass. I can do a really nice pull up and my arms and back are jacked. Here's to 2011 including way less junk food and 30lb dumbbells.

What else is in store for 2011? A class at the local community college in massage therapy, possibly volunteering as a non skating official for the local roller derby league, and the bittersweet return to Internet dating. Lots to look forward too!

Happy Birthday To Me (Almost)

So my birthday week is well underway, Wednesday I will be "almost 30" to quote my mother. Thanks a lot lady! Hey, you're almost 50. For the record, I'm turning 29 for the first time. My week started with a surprise trip from Xena from Singapore. Crazy, huh? We partied hardy at Bear and Yoshie's house Friday night and shopped till we dropped Saturday. It was super fun, a $1200 car repair bill was a bit of a mood killer, but I tried to shake it off as best I could.

I hate the dealership, those bastards. According to S I only got screwed out of $335, so that's good, I guess. Saturday night was ROLLER DERBY!!!!. I loved it so much. VIP tickets are the way to go. I would be willing to pay another couple of bucks per person if I could be guaranteed the seats that we had this time. They have try outs November 9, maybe Bear and I give it a go. Really, we just want to ride the bench in our Hot Topic costumes.

Sunday was a trip to Grandma's for a potluck and ice cream cake. S opted not to go, he had had enough of me and my family by then :)

Yesterday flowers from my mom arrived, they are purples, pinks, and blues. Gorgeous as usual. Becks does a great job. Then flowers from S arrived today. It is a very pretty fall bouquet. There are a couple of really interesting blooms and the vase is a lovely chotchkie :)I'm such a lucky gal. The fun keeps rolling on with a birthday lunch and shopping with mom and dad on tomorrow afternoon and a Here Come The Mummies concert in the evening.

Labor Day 2010

A great success. Let's see if this slideshow of my day is as successful. Thanks to Bear for photo documenting the day.

Success!

Sweat matted hair, no makeup, and uni-boob, one sexy look for a 4th date huh? Date 2 involved geocaching on a well-traveled walking trail. It was super successful. S is a natural and he requested doing harder ones in the future, “something more in the forest.” The fear of him raping and murdering me has passed, so into the forest we went. Geocaches are rated using a 1-5 scale for difficulty/terrain. I generally stick to 2/2s and below. Well Sunday morning we went after a 3/3. The notes online said if we came at it from the wrong direction it would be a 3/4.5.

Oh my God, we must have come at it from the wrong direction 4 times over. At one point I was on my hands and knees climbing up a muddy, basically vertical, creek bed. There were frogs. It was so hot and exhausting. We spent an hour climbing around within a tenth of a mile of the cache. We finally ended up on the right ridge and then the “distance to point” numbers on the GPS began dropping like a rock. I started squealing, “That fallen tree, that fallen tree, it has to be there,” I staggered over and collapsed on the tree. At this point I don’t really know my name, the date or the current president. I rolled over and sat up on the log , 5 seconds later he sits down next to me and puts the cache on my lap. It was stuck in the end of the log. It took us an hour and forty five minutes to trek to within 200ft and then 5 seconds to find it. We rested for 5 minutes, finished the Gatorade and then started the hike out. It was better going out, but still took another 30 minutes. I was dead, but it was a real sense of accomplishment. There is no way pre P90X and Insanity I would have been able to make it. There was so much climbing and balancing, my quads and lower back were on fire.

Post a 45 minute break to get cleaned up, we went to The Sterling Family Restaurant for breakfast. I celebrated with a gyro omelet, hash browns, rye toast, and a quarter of a sweet potato waffle. If they would have had a cinnamon roll I would have ordered that too (that was the only disappointment with Sterling Family). I’d go through it again to eat that breakfast guilt free :) Two thumbs up.

New Toys

When I first started The 30 Day Shred over a year ago, I didn't have shoes to wear in the house. So I just didn't wear any. Eventually I started developing callouses on the ends of my toes from doing push ups. I drug my feet (ha) on purchasing shoes because I can be really cheap if I just don't care about something. I finally bought shoes when every single toe was jacked up. I wish I hadn't waited so long, those callouses are taking forever to Ped Egg off. So when I started noticing callouses on my hands from weightlifting/pull ups, I knew not to dick around. I do not want my hands looking like my toes. Enter in these babies. The cheapest ones they had, and green, my favorite color, to boot.



Well I have come a long way from the days of The 30 Day Shred, because then I bought a heart rate monitor. I have started doing cardio interval training and apparently I need to be "in the zone." I think if I feel like I'm going to die, I must be "in the zone." But if knowing exactly how close to exploding my heart is will make this work better; I'm in. So I picked up a monitor. It has continuous monitoring. Basically that function allows me to sit on the couch and try to get my heart rate as low as possible. I feel I am not using the product as intended, but it is addictive. I hit 43 beats a minute at one point, hahaha, me and Lance Armstrong baby!

The Giant Cookie

On my way home from work I pass a sign for The Giant Cookie on Knoxville Ave. It is a really nice sign, it jumps out with a great logo. A Giant Cookie smiling and wearing a chef's hat advertising homemade cookies, ice cream and ice cream cakes. I never stopped because I'm usually in a rush to get home to get P90X underway (exercise mention in a post about gorging on cookies). A few weeks ago I noticed the same sign at 2244 West Glen Avenue. It is in the strip mall just east of the intersection of Glen and War Memorial. That worked out for me to stop because I'm over there Saturday mornings. Basically The Giant Cookie rocks my face off.

The cookies are indeed giant. Family favorites include Butterfinger and Turtle. She usually has well over a dozen flavors to choose from. I think the cookies are $1.25 each, buy 6 get one free. For $5.95 you should get a "mini ice cream cake" It is essentially 2-3 cookies layered with ice cream and homemade toppings. They come in chocolate chip, praline, and peanut butter. Unfortunately they have been out of peanut butter both times I've been in. I think that will end up being Yoshie and mine's favorite. Right now Yoshie prefers chocolate chip while Bear and I love the Praline.

She also sells ice cream by the scoop, and has a few different flavors. I think you can get a Blizzard type item too. I've never done this because I'm usually getting my treats to go. I'm guessing they are probably just as delicious as everything else. One little nit-pick, there is no seating. So you would just kind of have to stand around to eat your ice cream.

I don't think the Knoxville spot is occupied anymore, but I've never asked her. I love that I've only been in there twice, a couple of weeks apart but she remembered who I was and asked if the people at the party loved the cookies. I had to lie, Bear, Yoshie, and I demolished all the cookies before said party. They didn't know what they missed. I'm a little worried that she only remembers me because she doesn't have that many customers. So I'm trying to get the word out. The Giant Cookie is a great local business.

Unrelated to the quality of the food product, I love that she loves her logo. It is embroidered on the polo she wears and she puts a sticker of it on the ice cream cake containers. It is just a really nice operation.

Green Thumb

So I was inspired by my sister's garden adventures and decided to get my horticulture on. Actually, I was inspired by the guilt of keeping a 2ft across aloe plant in a 6 inch pot. That's the beauty of an aloe, you don't water it, keep it in a dark room, in a too small pot and it it just keeps on ticking.

I love succulents. They remind me of Grandma Gryp's home in Geneseo, she had a bunch of Hens and Chickens. So when I ran across a magazine picture of a bunch of succulents in a dish it caught my eye. I decided to recreate it. Bear was skeptical. In fact she was creeped out. Hens and Chickens make her skin crawl. Unfortunately I lost the picture, so I couldn't show her how cool and mod some succulents look. She was a good sport and quickly came around. She actually found me the PERFECT pot at JoAnn's, it is 17 inches across but only 8 inches deep, and a lovely slate gray. It took Bear and I 6 stops at 4 garden centers to make 3 purchases. We love a good treasure hunt. This fed our obsessive compulsive nature like none other. We got to hem and haw and drive in circles to make sure we got it just right. And we did. I give it a 10 out of 1o. Seriously, that never happens. Our life motto is, "I wish...." followed by a nit pick. No wishing here. Love It! Love it so much it got moved from its original home of my bedroom and out on to the dinner room table. Not only did the aloe get breathing room it is now going to have sunlight. Upgrade!

Happy Birthday Xena

Xena, consider this a birthday present for you. So what have I been doing? Umm, not much, hence the lack of blog posts. It is day 45, the half way point of P90X for me, woot woot. Is it working? Yes. Do I look like the infomercial? No. I don't follow the recommended diet plan, so I can't complain. My thighs feel a bit firmer and my stomach does as well. I should have taken measurements and pictures before I started. There is increased definition in my arms, back, and shoulders. And there must be some general change in my torso shape, because when shopping for new clothes I can fit into small shirts about as often as mediums now. However, this is kind of a mystery because my bra size remains frustratingly static. How is that possible? Shouldn't I at least be seeing a decrease in the band size, if not the cup size? I guess I shouldn't complain too much, if the band size did decrease without a corresponding decrease in cup size, I'd be off into unknown letters of the alphabet. Seriously, my whole goal was to get The Rack down to something approaching normal and it just won't shrink. Gee I wonder if it is all the god damn peanut butter and chocolate chips I eat or that P90X is primarily a strength training program and not a weight loss program? Nah, it is because the universe hates me.

So this is the dilemma. I really like P90X because I get off on lifting heavy stuff and I hate cardio. But, if I really want to lift the ultimate heavy thing, me, then I need to lean out. That's right, I'm back to wanting to do a pull up. Problem is, according to the internets I need to drop another 25lbs for this to be realistic. It is kind of sad that I look like an elf, and it is still not enough. Is it realistic for me to get lean? Debatable. It isn't going to happen doing P90X, that is for sure. The 15lbs stuck on my chest is impervious to P90X. The internets says I should start doing the Shaun T Insanity workouts in place of the P90X cardio days to burn more calories. If you told me a couple of years ago I would be ordering exercise programs off of the TV I would have laughed in your face and said screw that I'll be getting the Ron Popiel Food Dehydrator. My sisters and I have wanted that since the early 90s:) Did you know that his daughter Lauren, the one who makes the strawberry fruit roll up with her friend in the infomercial, (she is about 12 at the time) ended up dating Justin Timberlake for a minute a few years ago. How funny is that? So yeah, to lean or not to lean, that is the question. I'm going keep on, keeping on, and at the end of 90 days we'll see where I'm at strength wise. If I don't think the strength is there, I'm not going to bother trying to get lean. If I can do the negative move (lower myself down from the bar in a controlled manner) then I'll probably dive into Insanity, how very appropriate:) So there you have it, Happy Birthday!

Jigga Whaaa?

So I just read a list of 10 "Best New Romantic Getaways" According to Bon Appetit you should "Liven up your winter with a quick trip to these spots that have stellar food, a warm welcome, and a certain off-the-beaten-path appear." On that list....june in Peoria Heights....I mean I am sure it is great restaurant and I am all about the Peoria area getting some good press, but come on! What the heck about Central Illinois screams romantic getaway? I can support the off-the-beaten path aspect, but romantic getaway, ummm not so much.

Evenings with my yenta

So part of the greiving process is spending every non working moment with my sister. Really, not that much different than normal. Bear and I have been working on getting back on the horse...that horse being match.com. Remember when eharmony called me an asshole? Oh, yeah I remember. So Bear has some highlights over at her blog, you should check it out.

New Year's Post

So I have been inspired by Sister Bear to look back at 2009 and name my top 3 events. Suffice to say, 2009 was was real roller coaster.

1. I got unfat and Shredded. In fairness that process started in 2008, but the most intense work was done in the beginning of 2009. "Moderation" in 2008 took me from obese to overweight, but I wanted to be average. The light bulb came on, if I was going to eat in "moderation" I was always going to be moderately fat. I am 5'1", my resting pulse is 54 beats, my blood pressure is 106/62, even my breathing is slow! I have no metabolism. So 2009 started with calorie restriction (carefully monitoring fiber, protein, calcium and taking a multivitamin) which finally made the unfat goal (BMI in the average range) obtained around June of 2009. 70 lbs gone. From on my way to morbid obesity to average. Yay average! I started The 30 Day Shred. I still do it almost everyday and lost another 5lbs and gained a ton of muscle. Pretty crazy, from quickly approaching a size 20 down to a size 2 jeans by August of 2009. I don't care if that is vain, you can suck it. The world is a much nicer place when you are thin. It is unfortunate, but that is reality. I do have much more energy, my cholesterol levels are insanely awesome, and I am very strong if that makes you feel better :) Sometimes I flirt with the idea of losing the last 25lbs to get lean enough to do a pull up, but let's face it, my face would just get more hatchet-like, my butt would get flatter, and I'd still have a ginormous rack. You can't fight genetics. So I am working on maintaining, well in truthfulness getting the 5 holiday pounds back off. Goal for 2010, stay vigilant.

2. Bear moved to town in June. Yay Bear! I love her and Yoshie dearly. I can't imagine not living next to them ever again. She just provides so much companionship, support, and help. Any task I have to do, she will help and it will go more than twice as fast. Yoshie is always good for a laugh. Bear and I are high strung and his levity is good for us. I am so glad that we are growing as friends. My sister is now one of my Besties. Goal for 2010, convince Tottie to move to Peoria too :)

3. Fall of 2009, fell in love, awww. It was very fun and all encompassing and a real learning experience. Unfortunately, the beginning of 2010 has left me pondering the old question, "Is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?" And that sucks, hardcore. I'm still in the grief stage, but life goes on. I can't let this define my 2010. Goal for 2010, find a new man. Well men, you can't stick with the rebound :)

So that's my top three. Not mentioned were getting the new apartment in October (yay), Xena moving to Singaport in August (boo), getting really good feedback at work including a raise despite a wage freeze (yay, but still boo cause they took away the 401k match and have announced more of the same in 2010). Here's hoping for more yays than boos in 2010.