1. In case you haven't noticed yet, I have a fun new blog template! I'm still trying to work out all the bugs (um, why aren't my pages aren't coming in full? and how do I get rid of the abbreviated posts with the Read More link?? Sorry about that!) But isn't it cute? Just wish that was a cat drawing instead of a dog. Well, it was free, so I'll take it! If you have any advanced blogging advice, please share as I spent all of last night digging around the internet for answers.
2. The Blue Angels are consistently amazing. This week has been the Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration here, and I went to watch them do an airshow over the water yesterday. Even though I hear them over our house every week, it never gets old! Also amazing is the package I got for winning Britt Dill's giveaway! It was a lot of cool wooden Americana signs that will hang proudly in our apartment. Thank you Britt!
3. Ever since my crazy 5k/concert weekend, I've been relaxing. I haven't worked out since Saturday, and I need to get on that!
4. I think this new-ish YouTuber is hilarious and fabulous! Her name is Hannah, and I wanna be her friend. Here is My Drunk Kitchen (profanity warning!!):
5. B's birthday is this weekend and he wants to go kayaking. I'm excited because it's on my 101 List, but it will be my first time in a boat since the sailing incident. I'm thinking this might get interesting in a bad way again. But hopefully I won't freak out!
I chose to make Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce (p. 500; also online at their website). I had all the ingredients and followed the recipe exactly (minus the optional cilantro garnish). Since I'm picky and not that great of a cook, I find this is the only way I can try a new recipe. Following recipes as they were written has actually helped me appreciate some of those foods I couldn't tolerate before. I will disclose that I usually don't taste things as I go because usually they're too hot and I end up just burning my tongue. I also don't usually know enough to fix something that's gone bad, so I just say screw it. We only have so many spoons anyway.
What I tried to eat for dinner last night.
After I served it, B and I were sitting there eating, and apparently he was watching me. He asked, "Why the frowny face tonight?" I told him that I wasn't really liking the dinner I prepared. He said it was okay and kept on eating. If you read the recipe, you'll see that there were red peppers and green onions in this dish. I had gotten one or two pepper pieces already and didn't really like them (yes, they are actually spicy to me, I decided last night). I wasn't happy, but managed to eat some of it. Then I got a bite with the green onion and the red pepper and all the sauce. Once I put it in my mouth, my taste buds staged a REVOLT. My eyes starting tearing up and I had to run over to the sink and spit it all out. I haven't done that since I was a little kid!! I felt terrible, and tried to shove a bunch of apple slices and animal crackers in my mouth to cleanse my palate. I ended up having to brush my teeth and scrape my tongue, and the taste still lingered back there.
What I actually ate for dinner last night.
I was so mad at myself. I was frustrated about being so picky, being a bad cook, and a lousy homemaker. B told me that I shouldn't cook stuff I don't like (I apparently still hate onions of all types), and that it's really okay to have chicken every night of the week. He even said he'd eat the leftovers of the offending dish, since he knows I hate to waste food. Thank God for that man.
Have you had any truly awful cooking or eating experiences? Also, I would love to hear if anyone actually tries (or has tried) this recipe and likes it. If so, please tell me what you liked about it!
Note: I'm sure at least a few of you are wondering if I'm pregnant and that was the cause of this event. I can say for a fact that I am not pregnant right now, as I know my cyclevery well and it is way too early for any signs to be happening.
This has been one of the harder ones so far, but it was awesome!
✔ 21. Run a 5k with B - use the Couch to 5k training plan to do it
If you just recently joined me here, or if you forgot, my first few weeks of Couch to 5k were summed up in this post. Around Week 6 of my 9-week plan, I started getting shin splints. The shoes I had been running in were ancient and didn't have much support to begin with. I found some new shoes, but because of the extra support, they weighed more than the old ones. I ran just fine with them, but it sounded like I was slapping the pavement the whole time even though I was running in proper form. Some days I absolutely loathed running. Other days, I was neutral about it. I don't think I ever fell in love with the sport.
Anyway, I purposely got up super early Friday morning to catch the Royal Wedding and also as a way to adapt my internal time clock for the next day's race. Saturday morn, we got up around the same time and headed to downtown Pensacola to catch the bus for our Fiesta 5k race. It was a point-to-point race, so a bus took us to the starting line, and we would be finishing near where we parked the car. We ended up catching the very first bus and had to wait almost an hour at the starting line. B was whining about it the whole time.
I didn't bring my camera--this was taken after we got home and I'd taken off my knee brace by then.
However, it was a beautiful morning and a beautiful course that was mostly downhill. I had a few goals for this race: not walking, not puking or feeling like I needed to do so (this happened the last time I attempted a 5k because I hadn't trained at all). Another goal was to finish with B and maybe even hold his hand across the finish line. You can imagine how he felt about the latter. He picked up some speed on the downhill part, so I had to work really hard to catch up. At the very end of the course, a 9-year-old boy bolted with the two of us to the finish line. I was sprinting against B, and he was trying not to beat the kid and have everyone hate him. I did grab his hand as I finished slightly ahead, so it kinda looked like I was dragging him. We both finished with a time of 31:08, coming in 161st and 162nd. It definitely helped that all the really fit people were running in the 10k and not the 5k part! Also, the first 10k finisher did not beat us, so that's a triumph right there (his time was 37:26).
My sweet race bib, with electronic timing strips on the inside. Fancy.
As much as I thought I hated running, I felt AWESOME after this race. We even got free bagels from Bagelheads! I think I might even do some more this summer, if I really love the charity where the money is going. I may not do them with B though, since he'll just whine the whole time. His co-worker likes to run though, so maybe I'll just do them with her.
So this weekend also included my two choir concerts. While we were waiting around for the start of the race, I started singing one of our songs to myself. It's called "Guide My Feet," and I know it's cheesy that I took a metaphor completely literally like that. But I convinced B to record it yesterday, so here's the Gulf Coast Chorale singing it. I'm toward the top left, behind everyone, the youngest-looking one in the group.
(Yes, this was at my fabulous church here in P-cola. I love the color, and the acoustics were impressive. It's hard to find a Catholic church built in the past 15 years that isn't stark white. Also, B was sitting too close to get the whole group in the picture. This is about half of us.)
