Juicing: Green Limeade

Green Limeade, a photo by becoming brown on Flickr.

I made a juice right before this one that sounded great in theory but was HELLA sour in practice. I learned that I cannot add more than one sour fruit at a time or more than one citrus at a time, and be able to happily drink it. I can, however, tolerate green things. My problem with the green drinks is actually textural, so putting this juice through the screen helps a lot.

Via Flickr:

Green Limeade Juice

2 limes

1 (or 2 cups) spinach

(depending on your tolerance level)

1/2 cucumber

2 gala apples

Juicing: CAL Juice

CAL Juice, a photo by becoming brown on Flickr.

My husband and I got a juicer in December because I was curious about juicing.

I really enjoyed juice before this, and would drink juice from the store on a pretty regular basis. Unfortunately, that juice is filled with fillers and sugar and other things. I’ve enjoyed experimenting so far. This is one of my favorite juices that I’ve found.

Ingredients:

1. Two gala apples
2. two limes
3. a cup of baby carrots

Take two gala apples. Core apples and cut into chunks to fit in juicer. peel and section limes. put limes, then apples, then carrots through juicer. I usually strain the final product because I do not really like pulp. It makes the juice a lot smoother. And then drink. This usually gives you about two servings of juice.

M:PT 2013 Pattern Week

 

May 5  |  May 6  |  May 7

May 9  |  May 10  |  May 11

So I’m doing the Mission: Put Together challenge for the month of May. 31 items, 31 days to wear them and come up with different combinations and accessories and things to make it look different but put together. This is mostly motivation for myself to get out of workout clothes for a little while during the day and to get dressed for my husband.

Most of this week had people putting together stripes and polka dots for their clothes. It seems that those two patterns are the most prevalent right now. They’re popular. As you see, I have a wide range of patterns. From stripes to flowers to several types of animal prints. It seems like I actually prefer the leopard and zebra print the most. Perhaps I’m a bit more wild than I thought.

All in all, it’s been a fun project. Really inspiring to see what other people put together and how to make myself more presentable outside of the gym.

On Diet

I have been working on a semi-Paleo diet platform for at least the last two months. Not including the week I spent with my parents in Colorado. (Went pretty far off diet that week).

Discoveries. After the first month, February to March, I felt so much better I wanted to continue. So I took a day or two off, ate some bread and some cheese, got violently ill, and went back to a semi-Paleo type schedule.

Semi-paleo for me means, I eat lots of fruits, veggies, and eggs. I am not big on meat so I still don’t eat more of that than I did before, but I eat eggs to get the protein required and I definitely eat more eggs. I LOVE hard boiled eggs. On a good week I can eat a dozen hard boiled eggs by myself. That’s saying quite a bit!

We got a juicer in December, which was also a really good purchase. I know ‘drinking your calories’ isn’t sanctioned by Whole 9, but it’s something that really helps me. It’s combative. It helps me prevent giant amounts of waste from fruits or veggies about to go off that I would end up throwing out. If the carrots are drying out, I just throw them in the juicer with some apples and limes and it’ makes a yummy juice!

Most mornings I grab two eggs or some nuts and fruit with my coffee that is now sweetened almost entirely by coconut milk. Which yum, I love. Didn’t know that! I did know I was lactose intolerant before this experiment though.

I have noticed that I am a lot stronger. I don’t get tired halfway through swim workouts anymore. I have a lot more stamina for runs too. I went to a run club with the Beltline group last week on Thursday and in spite of it being at the tail end of my day, I had plenty of energy to keep up with the group on a 4 mile run. (After I swam my 3000 that morning, and biked 6 miles, and lifted weights, and then walked from Georgia Technology all the way to my sister in law’s house and back to Piedmont Park.) And my run speeds are better. I’m still around a 9 min mile, but that’s great with this group ’cause it puts me in the front third. And I love not being at the back of a race anymore.

I’ve been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred this month as well, and along with eating Paleo, I have noticed that it is much easier for me to start to notice muscle definition. Which is so cool! I lifted weights seriously for a very long time before I got married and I never had that much muscle definition.

One negative thing, though, my husband and I noticed today that because of eating so much cleaner, my body is much more sensitive to the things that it was already sensitive to. For example, we went out to Mexican with my sister in law. Husband and I shared nachos. Nachos came with cheese, jalepenos, pico, guacamole, sour cream, and ground beef. Yummo. I felt okay through dinner. We hung out there from 5 to 8. At 8, my stomach cramped up. I ran to the bathroom and… well, pretty much dinner decided to make me very ill again. Apparently both the lactose and the gluten made my gut unhappy.

More reason to continue to eat like a caveman, I guess.

 

M:PT May 7

M:PT May 7, a photo by becoming brown on Flickr.

JJ in the black collar, and Nones has the orange collar.

Wearing. Brown zebra print dress – Ross Turquoise jacket – IZOD White sandals – Clarks Turquoise necklace – Claire’s

I had a really awful day. A combination of ear infection plus air pressure plus vertigo had me pretty much on the sofa all day. But my husband took a moment and took me outside with our doggies to take pictures after we walked them around the block. And even though I’m still sick, it made me feel better. (The way they love on my sure doesn’t hurt either.)

M:PT May 2

M:PT May 2, a photo by becoming brown on Flickr.

Via Flickr:  Color. Super loud flowered dress.   Flowered dress. Fuchsia, electric blue, red, brown, tan, yellow, purple, and beige flowers. From Malaysia. Bought at the Pike Place Market.   Oatmeal Cardigan – Ann Taylor   Pearl Sandals – Clarks  Apologies for the gym locker room photos. Also, hair is done up in a french braided pompadour ponytail style because I had a running club meet up about two more hours after this. Needed good stay-in-place hair.

Super busy day for me! I attended my first ever Atlanta Beltline run club at Park Tavern in Piedmont Park. We ran about 4 miles and I ran at a 10 minute mile pace. Not bad, just about my comfort zone. Met a few people briefly. Got Sophia’s hat. And hoping to go back for the next one next month.

M:PT May 1

M:PT May 1, a photo by jennifer l brown on Flickr.

This week’s challenge: Color. See the flower?

Blue dress with orange, yellow, and red flower print. Altered by me. – Ross.

Black cardigan. – Ann Taylor.

Black boots. – Clarks.

A rubberized black lattice headband in my hair if you look closely.

 

Today it was a bit more of a struggle to get pictures uploaded than I expected. Also, see the smirk? I am the most awkward tripod-photo-taker ever. My husband and I discovered that when he got me the iPad Mini, it meant I could no longer just stick a SD card in the little gadget we have for the iPad and plug it in. Because our cables are entirely different for the new iPad Mini and the new iPhones. First world problems.

Tonight I am being Ms. Domestic and making dinner, cereal bars and possibly altering the race t-shirt I got at my 5k on Saturday. Because it is way too big. But it’s cute enough to wear if it fit. Hope ya’ll have a great Wednesday.

31 for 31: Mission Put Together

Today I decided off the cuff, following over from Janssen’s blog, that I am going to attempt the 31 for 31 challenge of Mission: Put Together held by Definitely RA.

First off, I sorted my things and only came out with about 25. So I know for a fact that I have another polar fleece in the mail that I am including whenever it arrives. I will add the picture on the website for that. Or the link. So much for the picture. It’s a polartec aircore parka.

So technically I’m doing this but with slightly fewer items.

Bottoms:

Not including leggings in this list because I pray I won’t have to wear them. Anyway, it’s May in Georgia. It’s hot here in May except first thing in the morning.

Clockwise from top left.

1. Brown and blue print skirt I made in my sewing class.

2. AE Hi Rise Jegging. Dark Indigo Wash.

3. Old Navy. Roll hem plaid shorts.

Dresses

I am a huge dress-wearer. Especially when it starts heating up in the South. I bring a cardigan or a polarfleece jacket with me to help me withstand the A/C in the busses and buildings, but most of the time, this is my wardrobe. A bunch of these are from our trip to SE Asia this last fall. So I don’t even remember which pop up shop or small market vendor we bought them at. I might be able to tell you which country.

Clockwise from top left.

1. Ross Dress for Less. Blue flowered dress. Altered by me.

2. Ross Dress for Less. Brown zebra print dress. Some five years old.

3. Ann Taylor. Petite XS. Turquoise animal print maxi.

4. Malaysia. Blue and pink t-shirt dress. Picked up at the outdoor market.

5. Malaysia. Blue tulip dress. Bought at the indoor mall our last day there.

6. Thailand. Southwestern print pink and turquoise dress.

7. Hong Kong. Bought at the outdoor market. It came with a grey overshirt but the thing was the weirdest shape. I always just wear the dress by itself.

8. Thailand. Actually bought it at a vendor at Pike Place Market in Seattle the first time I went there with my husband. Pink, blue, brown, and tan seventies flowers.

9. One dress didn’t fit in the picture. It’s another Ann Taylor. Purple animal print with the cap sleeves. PXS.

Tops

Clockwise. Starting at the top left.

1. Ann Taylor. Dust blue t shirt. Petite S.

2. Wet Seal. Teal striped roll sleeve t. S

3. IZOD. Black polar fleece jacket. XS

4. Loft. Pink tank shirt. Petite XS.

5. Old Navy. Teal elbow sleeve tunic. XS.

6. White House Black Market. Black and white polka dot peplum top. S

7. Ann Taylor. Bright blue t shirt. XS

8. TJ Maxx. Coral tank top. Not yet worn. Hoping it fits in with the rest of my stuff!

Sweaters

These may or may not get used. May in the South is usually really hot. (Er, by my standard but I am a Colorado girl still.)

From top left.

1. The same IZOD jacket in the last photo. Not counted twice in my 31.

2. Ann Taylor. Merino wool v-neck cardigan. Black. PS.

3. Ann Taylor. Merino wool v-neck cardigan. Oatmeal. PS

4. Old Navy. Bright green hi-low hem sweater. S

5. Eddie Bauer. Navy striped sweater. PS

Shoes

From the top.

1. Chacos. Brown and electric blue. Size 5.

2. Clarks. Nude. Peep toe heel with ankle strap. Size 5.5

3. Clarks. White (called pearl). Three strap sandals. Size 5.5

4. Clarks. Black. Riding boots. Size 5.5

5. Merrell. Brown. Hiking sandals. (name Sidekick Deck.) Kids size 4.

I only ever wear certain earrings. All of them are diamond studs. I hate dangly stuff and I change clothes SO OFTEN to swim or run or bike, there’s no point. Also, I am one of the few people who mostly never takes her earrings out. Even to swim. I wear my wedding ring. The only jewelry I might wear sometimes are necklaces (of which I have 3 or 4.) and a scarf (which I have 2).

Whirlwind Weekend: Fort Collins

Today I am over at Everyday Reading writing about a whirlwind weekend visit to my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado and the six things you should see and do if you should ever visit there. Click the link on Everyday Reading to check it out.

Bombing Boston

The bombing as told by NY Times.

So I’ve been running a 5k or more everyday on the treadmill to prepare for the Northside Beltline 5k next weekend. Today was no different – swim with Swim Atlanta, bike for an hour, run on the treadmill.

At the end of my run I got a text from my mother “There’s been a bombing at the finish line at the Boston Marathon.”

Now Boston is a big deal for runners. You have to make a time qualifier. This is one of the six marathons in the World Marathon Majors. It runs through historic old Boston, Framingham, Newton, and Wellesley (which is where my mom grew up).

So far there are two known deaths in this case. Both seem to have been spectators. Spectators! You know … Those people who come and cheer you on at a race? Right. Like my husband. And I’m not even angry because there was a bomb but because I now have to worry that Wes will get killed at the finish line on one of my races. And I can’t live without him. That is the ultimate horrible fear.