14 Miler

First long run in my pretty pink Mizunos!!! I spent the first 10 miles dodging puddles and sprinklers, and by-passing sidewalks covered in dirt and sand. I don't want to mess up my pretty pink Mizunos!!!

I spent the last four miles running through a torrential downpour. I came home looking like a drowned rat:


Good thing I went with the all black ensemble this morning! My pretty pink Mizunos are now my soggy pink Mizunos:

Does anyone else have a dog who likes to lick you when you get done running? Sick. Get away from me, Ari.

Indecision No More!

I'm kind of indecisive. I'm supposed to pick up beer for a trip to the lake and before I even get to the liquor store, I'm a jumbled mess. Conversations in my head:

Oh I know! I'll bring Bud Light Lime! I love Bud Light Lime!

But... sometimes I like just a regular Bud Light. Maybe I should just get regular Bud Light.

But... it's summer. Summer is perfect for Bud Light Lime.

But... I really only like to drink like two of those at a time. Then what will I drink?

Maybe you should try something new.

Oh sure. Then I'll end up with some crap beer all weekend and my trip will be ruined. RUINED!

Stop being a drama queen and buy some damn beer.

It's like they knew I was coming and that I would be walking around the liquor store mindlessly until in a wave of panic bought something ridiculous like Smirnoff Ice. It's like they made it just for me. Look how pretty it looks on the bar:

I love you Bud Light Party Pack inventors. You saved my weekend!!!

It's All Greek to Me

It's finals week. So what am I doing? Procrastinating, duh. I have 3 tests and a project to do by Thursday, so it seems like a good time to blog.

Today was our final meal prepared in my food prep class (tomorrow we make candy!). My group chose to do a Greek themed meal which we prepared this morning. We usually don't prepare a whole meal, but since we did this time, we actually sat down in the dining room to eat with real dishes. Such excitement.

My group:

Our white and blue table setting was inspired by the Greek flag.

Our first course was a cucumber & yogurt soup:

The main course was a pita stuffed with hummus, roasted veggies, and sprouts. The side dish is a baked eggplant topped with a tomato mixture:

It was super yum! This was my first time making pita bread. I was amazed at how easy it was and how much better it tastes than store bought!

And the big finish:

I will have dreams of this chocolate hazelnut gelato for as long as I live. It was amazing. Amazing. This was also my first experience using an ice cream maker. So easy! Who knew?

And, because I like to kill time when I should be studying... check out my new shoes!!!

Mya says, "Why you get new shoes and Mya has no dog bones?"

Ari got a little crazy because usually when I'm putting on running shoes it means we're going running. When he realized we were not going running, he decided he hates the shoes and attacked:

So, that's my day folks. What have you been up to?

Things that Are Great

1. Morning runs. How much fun is it to run down the middle of the street because it is too early for cars to be out? Pretty fun. I always feel amazing after starting the day with a run.

2. Jack. You haven't seen a lot of him lately, so I'll make up for lost time with a plethora of pictures.

Jack gave me a lesson in gardening this morning. Apparently he's got a bit of a green thumb.

Watering is very important. You may even want to water the deck. We all get thirst sometimes.

Just dump it all on there. That's right, don't be afraid to get a little wet yourself.

Fill 'er up.

Dump 'er out.

Stand there and be cute.

Pay attention.

More cuteness. Never ever stop being cute. These are Jack's life lessons.

3. Cinnamon Rolls. The Pioneer Woman. My mother-in-law. Not necessarily in that order. Our breakfast, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman via Cheryl:

Okay, I didn't think to take pictures until we'd already stuffed ourselves with the best cinnamon rolls ever.
Cheryl pointed out that I was photographing the flat rolls. The ones we ate were much prettier than those. Let's take a look at our pan:

Oops! We ate all those. :) Let's take another look at the flat ones. The ooey-gooey deliciously flat ones:

Just know that ours were prettier. Now, if you want to drool some more, please go over and check out the cooking section of The Pioneer Woman. And if you want to laugh, check out her Saturday Morning Confessions. Not only is she incredibly endearing, but she's hilarious too. And maybe you can give her some suggestions on the age old dilemma of Spanx vs. dessert.

4. New Coach bags! You know when you're just hanging out, having a great day and BAM! You get blind sided with a new Coach bag? Okay, not that it happens a lot...

... there isn't much that makes me happier than matching Coach bags. And cinnamon rolls. And my family. And morning running. 4 great things.

In The Mail!!!

Mizuno keeps surprising me with their new use of colors! My shoes used to only come in blue, but then last fall they came out with purple, which was totally awesome. And now they have pink!!!

I feel like a traitor for ordering running shoes from Zappos.com, but Garry Gribbles was out of my size at all of their stores. They offered me some lime green ones instead, but there was no way I could buy them after seeing the pink! I'm so excited to receive my new shoes in 3 - 5 business days!

Oink.

Another field trip today! Remember when I said that I was worried the dairy would scare me out of drinking milk but the opposite actually happened? Well, we didn't get so lucky today at Alewel's Country Meats.

We've been doing a unit on preparing meat in class this week and went to the local meat processing plant... I don't know if I should be calling it a plant. That makes me think of big industrialized buildings, and this was totally the opposite. It was a very small, family operation. Which you know I love.

We met in the retail portion of the building where they sold all kinds of steaks, sausages, sliced meats... anything you wanted really. And I was doing good. Then we moved into the break room where we listened to Mr. Alewel talk about how Alewel's has been in his family for three generations and how they've grown and how they do business. I really liked the guy and it was really cool to hear their story, especially when he told us about Wal Mart moving in next door to them and how they struggled and made it through and are doing better than ever.

We toured the facility and Mr. Alewel showed us where meat is stored, and smoked, and sliced, and marinated. And I was doing just fine. I stepped over some myoglobin that had spilled out of one of the machines and onto the floor, but I was fine. I was really proud of myself for being tough, even as we passed racks of carcases and boxes of quail.

And then Mr. Alewel announced that we would be going into the slaughter room to see the pigs. OMG. I did not realize that all of that was going on one room over. He explained all about the humane process of... ya know... killing them. But I couldn't do it. I was the only one who didn't go in and watch. But they basically slid open a huge door and everyone walked 10 feet over and watched the whole thing go down. So I could see their faces, and I could hear what they were saying, and I could see the pig carcasses go by. Oh my goodness.

And now my heart just hurts. I thought it would go away, but it just keeps getting worse. I cried in the car coming home from a test tonight. I didn't even see anything really happen but I can't get the whole thing out of my mind. The gal I carpool with said something about how if she is okay with eating it, she should be okay with seeing it happen. I really want to be okay with seeing it. I really want to be tough. It's not like I think eating meat is wrong, because I don't. But I hate that I couldn't watch it and I hate that I feel so sad for those pigs. I just can't handle being in a room with something that is living and breathing and then all of a sudden its life is taken away. I know it is a pig and not a person. It just made me terribly sad.

Baghdad.

Foods class today was all about international cuisine. We each chose a country to research and then gave a presentation on their food culture and history. The day left me hungry, but also totally inspired. I love to travel. And I love to explore different foods. I don't know that we will be traveling internationally for a while, so I guess I will just have to be satisfied with trying to convince Drew to try Indian food with me. It's trickier than you'd think.

I did my research paper/presentation over Spain. I love Spain. It is really the only country whose food culture I've actually experienced. I've been to London, but only really remember eating at a Mexican restaurant. I've been to Portugal, but spent the majority of my time there on a booze cruise... not exactly your traditional Portuguese cultural experience.

So I chose Spain, because it gave me a chance to share my experiences and talk about myself. And we all know how much I love to talk about myself. The real challenge was how to work the puppies into the presentation. I thought I was out of luck until I was putting together the Power Point and realized I didn't have a photo to go with my slide about the Spanish tradition of siesta. Puppy nap time? Problem solved:

Mya is surely going to be pissed when she finds out that Drew took her spot in class. She's the real fame whore of our house.

So, the whole experience got me thinking about the last time I had to give a presentation on an international country. Thinking back... way back... yep. It was in seventh grade. We were learning about Europe and each of us got to pick a country to research and present to the class. I chose Ireland, because I'm Irish. Super Irish (that's another story for another time).

Somehow my BFF Nicky was not in class that day to pick a country. So the next day, when the teacher told her to choose any country because they'd all been assigned so she'd just have to double up with someone, she obviously chose Ireland too. Duh. Half the work. Our teacher gave us a nice little lecture about how we needed to do our own research and he didn't want us to work together at all. Uh, yeah right Mr. Moore. Like you would even know.

We split the work up and each researched half of the material and then shared. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I didn't even question her when she told me the capital of Ireland is Baghdad. Sounds good to me. So I stood in front of the class and told them all about Ireland... and its capital of Baghdad. And my teacher didn't say a word. The next day, Nicky stood up and gave her presentation on Ireland... and its capital of Baghdad. Busted. Mr. Moore totally called us out in front of the entire class for cheating.

And that was the last time I ever cheated off of Nicky.

Prairie Fire

No, Prairie Village is not on fire. But Wichita is.

I've been very noncommital about running a marathon this fall. I've actually been following a training plan for the last five weeks, but keep saying I'm just going to see how I feel. Well, with five weeks down, I feel like it's time to commit. So, on October 10th, I'm going to run the Prairie Fire Wichita Marathon.


Nothing like a little hometown spirit to motivate you, right? Or a rabbit on fire??? This is the first year of the race, so I'm not sure what the fire bunny has to do with anything, but I guess we'll find out. The race is a completely new course, which looks much better than the old one. I ran Wichita in 2008 with Sam and the course was... interesting. The beginning went through Derby and then 10 miles were spent running on the army base... where the spectators weren't allowed. I'm not talking crap. It was a very well run little race. It just needed a new route. And now it has one!

I'm using Hal Higdon for my training schedule again this time around. But instead of the Novice program, I'm stepping it up and trying his Intermediate training program. I figure, this is my fifth time training for a marathon, surely I'm past the novice stage, right? The increase in mileage has always made me nervous in the past. But this time, I'm putting on my big girl pants and hitting the pavement. The biggest difference in this plan is that you add another day of running. Instead of taking off the day before your long run, you run a medium length (5 - 8 miles) at your goal marathon pace. This makes you a bit more tired for your long run, which teaches you to run when you are tired. Get it?

So far, so good. I'm up to 12 miles tomorrow and have been feeling pretty good throughout! I kind of like the addition of longer runs. It makes me feel tough.

Tough and hungry.

Got Milk?

The Shatto Milk Company is a family owned dairy farm somewhere out in Missouri. You may have seen their milk in glass containers sold at Price Choppers around town. They are super cute. I loved everything about this little dairy farm... well, maybe not the smell.

We started our tour off in the milking room... or whatever they called it. I was seriously nervous that I wouldn't be able to drink milk after today, but I was pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of the whole process and how dang nice they are to their cows. It probably helped that all of the cows had names.

Here's one of the gals (they called them "the ladies") hooked up to the milk machine. The ladies are milked twice a day:

This is Pat. She is a Root Beer Milk Cow. She produces root beer milk. They also have banana milk cows, strawberry milk cows, and chocolate milk cows. I didn't get to meet any of them.

And here I am milking Clara:

Okay, when I heard I was going to learn how to milk a cow I was pretty excited. This was more of just squeezing an udder while getting your picture taken. Milk came out, but I wouldn't call myself an expert milker.

Meet Annie. Annie was born on Sunday! She is only two days old and was just the sweetest, skinniest thing ever:

Next we moved on to milk tasting. The flavored milks were seriously good, and seriously rich. They are all made from whole milk... which kind of put my stomach in ropes. Delicious, but dangerous.

This is the butter, cheese, and ice cream room:

Who knew all of my favorite things could be made in one little room? And here is one of the old milk delivery trucks that has been restored:

Shatto still does milk delivery in the area. The milk is packaged in glass bottles which can then be returned and reused. This is the processing room where the bottles come straight from the cleaning machine and are filled with milk, capped, stamped with a sell by date, and sent off to the market:

These guys are bottling banana milk that came from a cow this morning. Once it reaches the grocery store, it is usually only 12 hours old. That is fresh!

I just loved everything about this little dairy farm. Everyone seemed so passionate about their job and the product they produce. When asked about growing their herd of 300 ladies, our guide told us that there is demand for more product but they want to grow responsibly. They don't want to grow so fast that it affects the quality of their product.

The whole experience just gave me warm fuzzies. And stomach cramps. I kind of pride myself on having a stomach of steel, but the bottle of root beer milk I bought kicked my butt. I think I'll have to stick with the skim milk from now on.

Rambutan & Dog

We gave presentations today in Foods class over an exotic fruit or vegetable of our choice. I chose rambutan. Don't know what that is? It looks like this:

I took that picture as part of the assignment was to supply the class with a photo of our fruit or veggie. Well, since I actually hunted down the little rascals, I kind of felt like the photo was unnecessary. But then I remembered how much the perros like to be part of my class presentations. So I took more pictures for the class:

Yes, I am a crazy dog lady. But isn't it kind of endearing after I admit to it? I just love those furries so much and want the world, or at least my class-mates, to enjoy them too. And honestly, I think the teacher probably appreciates my efforts. I mean, I searched the city for these dang little fruits and the guy who did mango couldn't even bring one in. Hello, they sell those at Price Chopper. For that, you deserve another picture.

Ari says, "Give me the rambutan!"

Our next presentation is on a foreign country and their food culture. I chose Spain, obviously, because I have pictures of me in Spain eating drinking. The only problem is, the puppies weren't around when I was in Spain so it is going to be tricky to work them into the Power Point. Any suggestions? Anyone know how to photo shop a Boxer onto a booze cruise?

Tree Kicker.

What is the opposite of a tree hugger? Maybe a tree kicker? Or a tree-hater? Let's go with tree hater. That's what Drew is. He hates trees. They keep his grass from growing, drop stuff on his car, and most notably; they fall down.

Hey, remember this? Well, our neighbor's tree fell onto the power lines and into our yard. This was our first experience with the evil trees. It turned out to be a big ordeal, mostly because our lovely neighbor was being even more of a B than usual. We had an estimate to have the branch removed and it was something outrageous: a few hundred dollars. Even though technically it was our responsibility to remove her tree from our yard, Drew mentioned something to her about splitting the cost. That conversation ended with her slamming the door in Drew's face after screaming at him to keep his dog quiet. Hey. No need to drag the kids into this.

Evil Tree #2. You may also remember (or not) a few months back when a tree from our other neighbor's house split in two and was threatening to come crashing through our bedroom wall. It was gently resting on their roof, but a strong breeze would have sent it crashing into our marital bed. Drew happened to be going out of town and our neighbor happened to have just died, leaving no one to take care of said tree. Drew made me sleep in the guest room until someone finally came and took it down.

And that brings us to present day: Evil Tree #3:

Smaller branch, but that didn't stop it from busting out part of the fence that Drew worked so hard to build.

There was a lot of yelling, spewing hate words towards tree populations everywhere, and even some talk of picking up the branch and throwing it into the neighbor's yard as she seems to be away from the house at the moment.

I guess three strikes and you're out (Drew's a baseball guy) because Drew has sworn up and down that we will never live in a house with trees again. No. Trees. That kind of puts a crux in my plan to live in Prairie Village until my dying day, as it was named an official "Tree City" by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Can you imagine the look on our realtor's face (Hi Judy!!) when we tell her that we don't want to see any houses that have trees in or around the property? That should go over well.

As for now, I think all of my hard fought efforts to turn my husband into a tree hugger are out the window.