Sunday, June 20, 2010

Baltimore 10miler

Yesterday, I completed my 2nd 10 mile race - The Baltimore 10 Miler. The course was hilly which is why the last 2 miles were slow!
It was hot and I was tired after the race. I drank a bottle of water, 3 glasses of gatorade, and ate an apple. ~15min after the race I started not feeling well, very nauseous. My friend and I were meeting more friends for brunch at Golden West Cafe, so we headed over to put our name on the list. The nausea wasn't getting any better. My friends ordered breakfast and I ordered a Sprite and a plain biscuit. Before the food came the nausea peaked and I tossed up the apple and gatorade in a bush around the corner from the restaurant! Ahh I felt so much better :) I guess an apple on an empty stomach wasn't the best idea. The food at Golden West Cafe looked great and my friends gave it great reviews. I guess GAH and I will have to check it out...

Mile splits:
1 - 8:52 - thick crowds, weaving in and out of people
2 - 7:57 - downhill
3 - 8:12
4 - 8:21
5 - 8:33
6 - 8:33
7 - 8:32
8 - 7:20 - I think the mile marker was off, my best straight out sprint mile is 7:27!
9 - 9:07
10 - 9:28 - 1:24:59!!

~12min faster than the Annapolis 10miler in August 2009.
133rd woman out of 1795 women
38th out of 397 in the 30-34 age group!


Enjoy!
-ELT

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Sick Kitty

Artichoke (AKA - Chokie or Arti) is my 4year old adventurous tailed cat! (Gus - is my other 9 year old Manx)


Arti likes to get into things - she likes to drink the shower water; she dips her paws in the water bowl after using the litter box - sanitary reasons??; she loves kitty treats and will do tricks to get one; she loves to eat and play; she likes to eat rubber things - Lance Armstrong bracelets will be eaten in a matter of minutes!; she likes to look outside but runs away when you open the door; she runs to the door when I come home; she is up and at the food bowl as soon as I am up; she likes to sleep under the blankets; she is terrified of the vacuum cleaner; she likes to lick paper especially with fresh ink; and I just love this kitty.


A few weeks ago I came home to a lovely hairball - eww! I have dealt with Gussy's before so I didn't think much of it. Both cats eat Hairball prevention cat food and get the nasty malt-like toothpaste prevention stuff to limit the amount of hairballs I have to clean up. I knew it was Arti's hairball because there was a rubber band in the hairball, I mentioned she likes to eat rubber stuff?!

I cleaned it up and didn't think much about it.

I guess the hairball and some other toxin (the Vet thinks she licked something bad or ate something unsettling) cause Arti to get sick. She was vomiting clear liquids and not eating for a few days.

I took her to the vet and they kept her overnight (I did miss my kitty, but Gussy had a ball being an only-child for the night!). She got IV fluids (she is sporting cute shaved arms - the latest in Kitty Fashion!) and her blood work came back normal - thank-goodness she didn't have serious disease. We have special bland Rx cat food that both cats will be enjoying for the next month!


The apartment has been kitty proofed and she is not allowed to lick the bathtub water and paper!

-Enjoy!

ELT




Friday, June 11, 2010

Chile Brownies

I like to bake. One day I would like to open a bakery. I even have the name already picked out - Favorite Choice! I'll tell you the story behind the name later....


Last fall at work, there was a chili and brownie cook off - perfect!I love to cook chili and brownies, but I don't eat red meat or pork, so I knew my turkey chili wouldn't win, so I decided to make NM chile brownies!
In case you didn't know, red and green chile are a staple to any New Mexican's diet.
You can get green chile cheeseburgers at McDonald's, Wendy's, Sonic etc. The official answer to the question - Red or Green? is Christmas!
I prefer green over red, mainly because red chile is usually cooked in a pork broth or has some pork in it.

My brownies won for Most Original Ingredient! and now I am going to share the secret recipe...

NM Chile Brownies -
Find your favorite brownie recipe - homemade or out of a box.
Diced frozen NM green chile - defrosted
Dry crushed NM red chile


Follow the recipe as directed with a few modifications -
Usually the recipe calls for water, replace the water with "green chile" water from the defrosted green chile.
Add 1 tablespoon of the defrosted green chiles to the batter.
Add 1 tablespoon of red chile to the batter.

Continue to follow the directions for making your favorite brownies and once you have the brownies in the pan, sprinkle the dry crushed red chile on top for decorations.
Bake as the recipe suggests and enjoy!

I would definitely have an extra glass of milk when enjoying these brownies!
-Enjoy!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Baking

I decided to make a cake for my Aunt's birthday!

Chocolate-Raspberry Layer Cake from Bon Appetit June 2010
.
Professional pics -

My cake -

It was very tasty.

I guess opening the bakery might be sooner rather than later.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Wedding update

We have been making lots of progress on the wedding:

Venue booked (that was done awhile ago)
Caterer tasting done (mini sliders for the cocktail hr!!)
Florist found and flowers selected.
Cupcakes selected (no wedding cake, 6 flavors - old fashion yellow, quatro leches, cannoli, peanut butter mousse, ancho chocolate mousse, and dark chocolate mousse)Lego cake topers (yes we are nerdy and I love lego men - as a child we had legos, but my dad would never buy the sets with the men, so now I have my own lego wedding people! - hope the cats don't make them their toys!)
My dress, the bridemaid's dresses, and tuxes are done!
My shoes purchased (reception shoes - hint - I was a converse tween and Ed Hardy makes shoes...)

Invitation are here (plus other paper products for the wedding) from EarthlyAffair - We are keeping the wedding "green" and I really wanted beautiful fall themed recycled paper invitation. The owner Jennifer, was wonderful to work with and I highly recommend her company. She has also been a great resource for other earth friendly ideas for the wedding. She even sent me two tubes of organic chapstick as a thank-you. Another plus, is that her company is located in Georgia, so we helped stimulate the local economy!!


Additionally, all the paper products for the wedding are 100% recycled paper. We are using Nashville Wraps Eco-Friendly Packaging for the cupcake to-go boxes and guest bags.

For the more furgal person, Vistaprint has a new line of eco-friendly paper products.

Keeping the wedding "green"has been easier than I thought!

In keeping with the "green" idea, there will not be programs and we ask all our guests to please recycle any of the wedding paper products after the wedding.

-Enjoy!
ELT