Monthly Archives: May 2010

Hello! It’s another beautiful day! I hope you’re able to do something you enjoy!

I had a GREAT time last night getting together with some of “the girls.” We are an interesting bunch of women and it’s kind of interesting how we all know each other. I met Emily when I was in college. She taught piano lessons and I needed some help with my piano playing skills. After awhile we realized that instead of me paying Emily to teach me piano I was really paying her to be my friend because we always ended up talking the whole time! I also met Becky in college but we didn’t know each other too well. She would play piano for the church choir on Sundays. All three of us (Becky, Emily and myself) got really close when we all worked at the same parish together. Through Emily I met Nicole who’s husband is good friends with Emily’s husband. Polly I have known since grade school and she actually took over my position when I left the parish that I worked with Emily and Becky at, so that’s how they know Polly too. We are all married and of the five of us I’m the only one without children. Nicole is expecting her second in September! So now that you know a little bit about this group of friends here are some pictures from our night out. A few of us started out at Wine Guyz a wine bar located near the river.

I had never been here before and it was a really great place. They had a lot of wine, some good looking appetizers, and even some sandwiches. I had a glass of pinior and Emily and I shared a mozzarella, tomato, basil plate, so good!

Then we headed over to Buzzard Billy’s to meet up with the rest of the girls. Becky got The Blue Buzzard which I just had to take a picture of!

I thought I’d try something a little different and ordered the Veggie PoBoy! Check out the description of this sandwich.

Veggie Poboy
A delicious blend of artichoke hearts, mushrooms, red bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, sautéed in olive oil and garlic, then finished with a hint of Asiago cheese. The best vegetarian sandwich you’ll ever eat. Served on a grilled French roll.

And it looked pretty too! I got mine with hushpuppies. I could only finish about half of the sandwich it was that filling.

It was really delicious! I am finding I don’t miss meat very much when I can have such tasty veggie sandwiches!

When we were finished with dinner we headed over to The Bodega, a cool smoke free bar just up the street. I finished off the night with a glass of their homemade peach sangria.

Here we all are!

From left to right: Emily, Polly, Me, Becky, Nicole (plus baby!).

It was a really fun night. We are going to try and make this a monthly thing. I hope it works out! That’s all I have for now! Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Hey friends! How’s your Saturday going? It is BEAUTIFUL here! All around town I see parents helping there children move out of their apartments since the Universities in town are out for the summer. Our town is about to get very quiet for the next three months. I have nothing on my agenda today except for fun things! But first as promised here is my enchilada adventure from last night.

Venison Enchilada’s

If I haven’t mentioned it before my husband is an avid hunter (avid doesn’t really begin to describe him). My motto is, “there’s always something to kill.” We generally don’t buy any meat and only eat what he brings home. It wasn’t really difficult for me to get use to eating venison. The way we cook it I can barely tell it isn’t beef. In fact eating beef actually gives my tummy problems. However canned venison does look a little gross.

It is rather handy though as it is already cooked. All I have to do is warm it up in a sauce pan.

Once it is warmed I add some taco seasoning, salsa, cheese and a little water letting it simmer.

Next it’s time to fill the tortillas but first a very important step, I got this trick from my handy dandy Betty Crocker Cookbook. First you dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce, this gets them nice and mushy and flavorful.

Then you fill the shell with the meat mixture.

You fold and roll the tortilla and place in a greased baking dish. At this point my hands got pretty messy so I couldn’t take any more pictures. Here is the finished product.

Sprinkled with cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t they look delicious when they come out of the oven?

    Here’s my plate with some salad, I also went back to a second enchilada!

So there you have it! Maybe not the healthiest meal since I used flour tortillas but venison is low in fat and I use reduced fat cheese. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than going out for Mexican AND we have tons of leftovers (I made 10 in all).

Well, it’s about noon now and I’ve already taught group cycling and Zumba. To fuel up for that crazy insane work out I had the most delicious green smoothie! It had

• 1 C skim milk,
• 2 C Spinach
• 1/4 C Lemon juice
• 1 orange peeled and cut up
• 1 C frozen pineapple
• a splash of vanilla almond milk

This was so good! It tasted like and Orange Julius! I rarely put oranges in my smoothie but I might have to start doing it more often. I also had an egg white puff (for protein) with hot sauce on an Arnold’s sandwich thin.

This totally kept me going through almost 2 hours of teaching classes! Well, I gotta get this stinky body in the shower and then eat lunch. Tonight is Girls’s Night! I am super pumped! Some of us are starting out at Wine Guyz a local wine bar that I have NEVER been to! Then we’re headed to Buzzard’s Billy’s (remember we went there a few weeks ago with Gardner?). It should be a blast and the girls have been warned that my camera will be coming with! Other than that I have no plans!

Hope you’re having a great day!

Hey there! I bet you were wondering where I went! No where really, just really busy and I didn’t feel like I had much to write about. However, now that I think about it there is always something to write about! I didn’t have to spend any more late evenings at work but I have been very busy. I’ll try and catch you up on everything.

Workouts

On Wednesday I taught a kick butt 6am cycling class a the YMCA. The past few days have been rainy and cold. I couldn’t imagine being too warm while working out because when I got to the Y I was FREEZING! Well, by the end of the class sweat was dripping off my face as well as the faces of the class participants. AWESOME!

Thursday I did day 2 of the Peak Phase Triathlon Training Strength program. I was still a little sore from my previous workout on Tuesday so I lowered my lower body weight and modified a few of the exercises still working the same muscle groups. It went much better than Tuesday’s workout. It felt hard and I worked up a good sweat. Then I hit the pool for a 30 minute swim. My arms felt a little like led at first but then I felt great and really rocked out the last 20 laps.

Today I did an AWESOME 60 minute run. Finally the rain has gone away. It was a little cold when I started, I was wearing pants, a short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve pull over, and mittens. By the time I was done I was down to the short sleeve shirt and pants (of course). My pace was a little slower than my last 60 minute run but I was cool with that.

Cooking

As far as fun things I’ve cooked lately, I’ve got NADA! The last thing I really cooked was In a Jiffy Spelt Burgers I’ve been eating these all week for lunch. Since work has been keeping me busy the husband has done most of the cooking this week (he’s so wonderful!). Maybe tonight I’ll break out the camera because I’m making venison enchiladas!

New cool find!

So today at work I had to do some really boring office work so I thought I’d find some new podcasts to listen to. I discovered this great, relatively new podcast from  Marathon Training Academy. They give GREAT advice for those wanting to train for a marathon (no I’m not training for one… yet), they are easy to understand, short, to the point, and really entertaining. So check them out!

That’s all I’ve got for now! I’ll be back tomorrow! Hope you have a good weekend, looks like it’s going to be GORGEOUS!

Hey everyone! How’s your Tuesday going? My has been pretty good except for my morning workout!

So, if I haven’t mentioned it already I work full time at a church. Not just any church, a Newman Center which means we are the Catholic Church associated with a public University. It’s finals week here, a week that both brings joy to my heart (because I know summer will be coming soon and my work load will be lighter), and a sinking feeling in my stomach. We do our students a great service by allowing them to use our space to study. We also provide them with food and beverages and leave our building open late so they can study as long as they need to. Someone needs to stay here and make sure the coffee is brewing, the snacks are plentiful and to lock of the building. My colleague and I take turns watching “the house.” Last night it was my turn. It really isn’t that bad. I have my laptop, some books, some knitting and basically just sit here. The only problem is it messes with my whole sleep schedule. Last night I didn’t get to bed until 12:30am (very late for me!). I slept in until about 8:00am. I still wanted to get a workout in before heading to the office so I fueled up and headed to the Y. I started the Peak Phase of triathlon training which mean I changed up my strength training exercises and boy were they hard! Single leg squats?! Push ups on the stability ball?! Are you kidding me?! I made it through just barely and then needed to run for 40 minutes. I planned to run on the treadmill since the crappy weather we usually have in March is now here in May. I got on and could tell this was going to be tough. I tried for 5 minutes, then I stayed on for 10 minutes. Then I told myself that if I still felt like it was too tough after 20 minutes I could quit. Well,20 minutes couldn’t come fast enough! I don’t know if I was over tired, underfueled, dehydrated, too hot, just plain mad that I was inside running for the first time in months?! It was awful. I felt kind of guilty for getting off early but I just couldn’t do it. There is definitely a reason the training plan pairs strength training with swimming and not running. It’s just too difficult.

So, that was my morning! Other than that work has been pretty quiet and I don’t have to work tonight. I just hope I can get to sleep early tonight so I can get up and teach cycling tomorrow.

With all my free time last night I created a new page! The Best of the Girl With the Pink Sneakers I read through all my posts since the end of January and picked out some of my favorites and even organized them! I know I haven’t been blogging for very long but it was fun to reread some of my posts and see how I started adding more pictures. I hope you enjoy!

Have a great night!

Hey there! Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. I just sort of unplugged for awhile. Always a good thing to do.

We had a lovely mother’s day brunch at our house with both my mom and mother-in-law, plus the dads, and my brother and his girl friend. Can you believe I didn’t take any pictures? Crazy right? I did take a few shots before I left for church. You see, both of the dishes I cooked were made in the crock pot.

I got bother recipes from Stephanie’s cookbook. I made the over night egg bake and pancakes. The egg bake burned a little on the edges but everyone said both tasted great! My brother’s girl friend made FABULOUS blueberry bread pudding. I really wish I would have taken a picture of it! It was so good!

Remember the baby robins that came to nest right outside my kitchen window? By this weekend I could tell that they were getting a little too big for their nest.

One by one on mother’s day they all left the nest.

They were so cute hopping around our yard. I really was fascinated watching them this spring.

Today I did my loooooooongest brick workout to date. I road 90 minutes and then ran 15 minutes. My bike ride was so HARD. It was really windy out! I was headed into the wind for most of the ride. I really had to work hard. I pretty much road the exact route of the triathlon. It was fun to venture out on a new road but heading into the wind I sure felt weak and tired. When the wind was at my back I felt like I was in cruise control! It was really tough. I totally made up for it with the run. The whole time I was riding I thought “How am I ever going to run after this?” But I started running and was maintaining my normal pace. Then I just started to pick it up, I mean it was only 15 minutes after all. A few times I glanced down at my Garmin and saw my pace had dropped below a 8:00 mile (just barely)! It rocked. So when all was said and done I felt like I had a good workout! I think I have two more workouts like that planned before I taper!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Hope your week is off to a good start!

Hey blog world! I sure hope you’re having a good Saturday! I have kept myself very busy! I got up really early to teach a Group Strength class at the Y. I had a 45 minute bike ride scheduled for today (per my tri training schedule). Considering the weather today is more winter like than spring like I opted for a 45 minute cycling class. I sweated like a beast! It’s fun to take a class taught by another instructor, I seem to work a little hard when I know I don’t have to talk or give instructions. I then took my sweaty self to the Co-Op to buy some fresh produce for mother’s day brunch. I got home and took a hot shower and then got to work on brunch. I am making two things in the crock-pot (2 separate crock pots) an egg bake and pancakes! This way I can turn them on, head to church and when I return they should be done (hopefully). I also made a salad. I had so much going on I needed the mixer AND the food processor!

Actually I used the food processor to make Angela’s Jiffy Veggie Spelt Burgers. I haven’t made these in awhile and was really craving them. So many pretty colors!

Aren’t food processors great?!

Well, that’s about all from me! I’ve got a little cleaning up to do around here. The “boys” are off hunting again. Look what Gardner brought me for putting up with him 3 weeks in a row.

If they’re up to it, we might go some where fun for dinner. We’ll see! Have a good day!

a total BAD ASS!

Why is that you ask? Because I ran for 45 minutes in the cold rain! And I LIKED it! I haven’t run for a week due to my foot injury . I actually haven’t had a good run in a long time. I always seem to be really sore from strength training or some other workout I did and running just seemed like a chore. I knew I wanted to run today. There’s some non blog related stuff going on in my life and I just knew a good run would help me sort through my thoughts. I considered running indoors on the treadmill but I just couldn’t bear the thought of it. Once I got out there and started running I felt good. The rain wasn’t too bad and I warmed up quickly so I just went for it! It was AWESOME!

As promised I have a product review for you. Please know that I am not getting paid to review this product and I just want to share with you other ways to be healthy besides food and activity. A while ago a woman I work with at the Y told me about Shaklee a company that sells, vitamins, cleaning products,  beauty products and more. One day I was cleaning my bathroom and some toilet bowl cleaner got on my shirt and totally ruined it! It kind of freaked me out that the products I use to clean my house have such strong, harsh chemicals in them. I asked my friend if she had any samples of the Shaklee products I could try out. She gave me this

This is their basic H2 multi purpose  and glass cleaner concentrate. That one little sample made TWO bottles FULL, one of multi purpose cleaner and one of glass cleaner.

I used the multi purpose cleaner to wipe down my kitchen counters, the fronts of my kitchen appliances, my bathroom sink, shower, AND toilet. I was very pleased with the results. Real Simple reviewed green cleaning products and said that Shaklee’s Basic H2 was the best valued green cleaner. I believe it! I couldn’t believe such a small amount would make so much and be so effective. I think I might have invest in this product.

One more fun picture to share. Look at the cute baby robins nesting outside our kitchen window! They are almost getting too big for the nest!

So cute! I just love watching them! My big plans for the weekend are hosting a mother’s day brunch for my mom and mother-in-law! Hope you have a great Friday!

Hello friends and fans! Just thought I’d pop in to say hello. Nothing really new or exciting to report. My foot feels almost 100% better. I’m even going to try and go for a run tomorrow even though it’s suppose to be rainy and cold. I’ve almost completed 7 weeks of triathlon training! Next week begins the Peak Phase! I see some long bike rides in my future. I’m hoping to ride the actual course some time next week. I also found out that our friends Gary and Christy are moving to West Salem (where the tri will take place) and their new house is ON the race course! They plan on being there to cheer me on!

I hope to do a product review tomorrow and maybe get a new page on my blog going. I can’t wait for the weekend! Have a good one!

Hey folks! Hope your Tuesday is going well. No complaints over here.

Well, it seems that I may have another slight injury. This time it’s the ball of my left foot. You know how it feels when you get a small stone in your shoe? Well it feels like I have a small stone in my foot! Not sure how this injury happened. A few possibilities might be the 32 mile bike tour I did on Saturday. I know I ALWAYS use my left foot to balance when I come to stop. It’s possible that I just over used it Saturday. Or it could be the fact that I was running around in high heels at my niece’s first communion celebration. I don’t usually wear high heels and I could have just stepped wrong. I don’t think this injury is anything major. It hurts a lot less than it did yesterday. I was able to find a sub for my Zumba class tonight. I tried practicing a few moves yesterday and that really aggravated my foot. I’ll take tomorrow off from working out (swam today) and won’t run until Friday so I think I should have plenty of time to heal and be good as new. I don’t know if I’m getting older, paying closer attention to how my body feels, or training a lot harder than I’m use to but I sure seem to be injuring myself a lot training for this triathlon. I had the shoulder/arm injury right before I started and then the back injury. The funny thing is while I am actually training I don’t have a moment where I feel like, “Oh no! I just hurt myself” it’s only afterwards.

I don’t have anything else real excited to share with you except my lunch.

That’s GIANT sweet potato that I nuked in the microwave for about 8 minutes and then topped with a mixture of black beans, salsa, and hot sauce. I then sprinkled some feta cheese on top. DELICOUS! Accompanied by a kiwi. Yes, I do eat the skins, did you know you can do that? You can’t really taste them but they do have a weird texture. It just makes eating a kiwi easier!

Hope you have a good day. I’m looking forward to a little R & R with the husband tonight.

Hi there friends! So it’s Monday again! Here we go headed into another week, the first week of May already!

This post might be a little long as I have a lot of catching up to do! Saturday  night after work I headed to my parent’s house to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I also showed them my blog. They were pretty excited so I’m sure they’ll be reading (hi mom and dad!). I made two salads to take with me. A broccoli raisin salad

And a lentil and bulgur salad. This picture is not the finished product, before serving you add feta cheese, tomatoes, and chopped walnuts.

I got both recipes from SparkPeople. They were both delicious and fairly healthy for you! We also had ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!

Yesterday I was up bright and early to head out of town to my niece’s first communion celebration. She was so excited and we had such a nice day to celebrate!

My sister-in-law makes cakes for a living. Here’s the one she made for my niece’s celebration. Check her out at

Sweet Creations By Caren you may even see my wedding and shower cake on her site!

Well, after getting stuck in traffic we got home pretty late! I’m a bit tired. My legs were actually not sore at all after my bike tour on Saturday. I’ve been busy cleaning the house all morning. I need to practice some Zumba moves and then have a brick workout planned for the afternoon.

Hope you’re having a good Monday!