Food, the laundromat, and long legs

Funny thing about Texas Roadhouse is, I had never heard of it

 until years after moving away from Texas.  Go figure.

 Oh laundromat, although it was a little fun the first time, I doubt I'll be ecstatic to 

have to use you every time I want anything washed in the next few months.

 I was embarrassed when I realized Z had taken a picture of this, 

but then thought I might as well remind you all that I'm kind of weird in case you forgot.

 This has become one of my new favorite protein-filled breakfasts: egg whites, tomato, avocado, and turkey bacon on a whole wheat english muffin, ~300 calories.  Occasionally I'll add spinach.  I'm glad I found this guy to help with my not-so-fond-of-eggs issue. 

 A pic I found on Zuriel's phone of what will happen on occasion at his work.  This is what you get when windmills are placed in the middle of nowhere on open pastures. And I got intimidated by six or seven of them during a run last week, man I'm a wuss.

 Sashimi, sushi roll, soup, and rice...again.

 #longjumptrackstar

 I always forget my sunglasses.

 I was excited to show Zuriel just how close I got to them during my run!

I didn't think it was hot enough to make my dog need to lie down every 2 minutes during a quick walk and then proceed to collapse next to her water bowl once returning home.  I don't think she moved for at least two hours.  #dogownerfail

 

 I like tofu.  Sure I'd choose a medium-rare steak, marinated chicken breast, or salmon before ever considering tofu, but I don't mind it.  This was our first time cooking with it.  

 This is what happened one morning I had originally planned on having a nice long run but woke up not feeling so hot...I instead kept my grundge clothes on and caught up on e-mails and bills and reading a few blogs.  I purposefully wore a race shirt to remind myself that if I'm in the mood or I choose to, I can be a dedicated runner.  #selfesteembooster  #kindapathetic

 I have become more aware of my list of things I don't like or choose not to eat...and I wish I could lie and tell you I'll eat anything--apparently I won't.  Tuna is one of the foods I have never enjoyed--ever--because a) don't pretend it doesn't smell bad and b) every recipe with tuna has mayo in it and I do not, do not like mayo.  Wow, could I be a pickier eater?  Don't answer that.  Point of the story is that Zuriel so lovingly made this tuna concoction for me {another attempt at making me like one of his favorite foods} so I had to at least try it.  He put the tiniest scrimp of mayo possible and put lots of celery, pepper, and onion to mask the tuna-taste.  When I ate it with chunky bites of tomato, it wasn't half bad.

 

 Didn't I tell you we'd come to this same sushi place before and/or after seeing a movie?  Well, we did.  And this pic below is proof that Zuriel exceeds the wasabi+soy sauce limit.  I swear he can't taste anything but his tongue burning when he dips anything in that.  I don't think he even knows what sushi tastes like.  He's missin' out.

There are 17 pictures in this post (if you count the collage pics as 1 each) and 8 of them are of food.  I feel embarrassed.  But sometimes, what I/we eat, is the only exciting and/or noteworthy thing that happened that day.  No judgements please.  

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-Do you run with sunglasses?  Everytime?

I bought some a few weeks ago and then misplaced them, but I ran with them last week and loved it.  Such a simple, but genius piece of clothing for a long run.

-How do you feel about sushi?  Gross/bomb.com/questionably/tempura only?  And what's your view on wasabi...

Sometimes I put a little wasabi, but I usually leave it out.  And I rarely get sushi with anything tempura.

Lunch and dinner

These are times I look forward to because a) lunch comes at the perfect time and lunch dates are where it's at and b) dinner-time means Zuriel is home, you just can't beat that.  

This was my lunch date with Emily a few days ago.  We went to Rumbi's and it seriously satisifed a craving I didn't know I had. 

 I always love our lunch dates girlfriend

 This was dinner with Z two nights ago.  I think this was only the second time I've made chicken fingers, but after finding this recipe in my cookbook, I'll be making them again soon.

We commonly use gloves when handling raw meat in this house

 We don't buy pineapple all the time, but when we do, we get to use this guy.

Then last night we went to get sandwiches for dinner at Zuriel's fav sandwich place.  Have I told you how he could eat sandwiches for every meal and be perfectly happy?  So easy to please.  

Want to know something embarrassing?  Ok, I'll tell you.  We went to this same sandwich place two nights before this and they put cheese on my sandwich when I asked for no cheese (you order, then sit down, and they bring it to you) so Z brought my sandwich back and insisted they fix it.  So when they brought me my new sandwich they also brought out a coupon for a free sandwich as an apology.  So two nights later, we went back for our free sandwich. 

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-Which do you like better, lunch or dinner?

-Do you love sandwiches?  What's your favorite?

When we go to this particular sandwich place, I always get grilled chicken on wheat with lettuce, spinach, sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and ranch.  And sometimes onions and banana peppers.  But I'm not always in the mood for non-cooked onions.  Z got bbq chicken with everything on it.  He loves his veggies and I love his mother for it.

The extent of my 'couponing' and our shotgun date

Coupon for 'buy one daily special, get one free' + coupon for free chips & salsa after doing phone survey = a lot of good food for just $6.35

And when I say 'shotgun date' I mean we went to the middle of nowhere to shoot Z's shotgun.   Check out that blue sky.

Handing me the gun as I start freaking out {I haven't actually shot this particular gun since he bought it about 8 months ago, so I got nervous, it's powerful}

 How cheesy am I?

Leftover shells from someone else else's shotgun date...and my shadow.

"Babe, stop taking pictures and listen to me teach you how to use this, this is important"

I loved my neon orange Idaho hunter's hat.  Seriously.

We don't own an mechanical pigeon launcher {is that what it's called?}, and sadly for Zuriel, I'm not too consistent at throwing them with our little handheld launcher. 

After getting home we went for a 6-mile run, the details of which I'll leave for tomorrow.  Now, we just got home from getting a redbox and shrimp cocktail--another documented 'non-craving' of Zuriel's...


*Disclaimer:  the only reason we brought our lil' red non-manly car off-roading to go shoot guns is because Z was having car trouble with his truck this morning...he just thought you all should know that.


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-Do you 'coupon'?  I've heard of people who do it as their part-time job.

-Do you like to go shooting?  Have you ever been?
Before Zuriel, I think I've gone shooting three times.

Sorry, wrong number

After taking the pup for a walk, I did some errands that included returning stuff I shouldn't have spent the money on in the first place, buying a couple other things that could be argued to not completely be a 'need' but definitely not completely a 'want' {I can justify almost anything, it's a bad quality}, and getting groceries from Sam's club.  Silly me didn't pack enough snacks for my 'trip' to the city for errands, so I waited patiently in every line for the taste-testers at Sam's.  And don't pretend like that isn't one of the main reasons you shop at Sam's or Costco.  And because sometimes blog readers {mostly me} can't grasp that what they're reading actually happened or they get bored without seeing a picture, I took one of my cart while waiting for my taste-tester of marinated&grilled pork loin.  It was worth the wait.

Maybe this picture explains a few things about how our family rolls when it comes to food, maybe it doesn't.  But I hope you notice and appreciate the large tub of cottage cheese in the back left.  How proud of me are you?  By the way, I never mentioned how much I enjoyed the responses and suggestions to help my cottage cheese fear.  I'll let you know if I get the courage to broaden my horizon from my triscuits.  Some of the suggestions were: adding bananas & cinnamon & a sweetener to make it taste like banana pudding, or add blueberries, or add granola, or put it in a smoothie, or substitute it for ricotta in lasagna {I've actually done this one before}, or eat it with pineapple, and the most unexpected but funny one "Or, if you want to get realll funky, eat it on fritos. See how healthy I am??"  I loved that one.  And yeah, super funky, I just might have to try it.  What else is in my cart?  Because I'm sure you're so curious.  The big bag in the back is frozen strawberries for our daily shakes, underneath it is chicken breast, then you have your 5 dozen eggs {because between Z's egg fetish and my occasional baking, we finish them quicker than you might think}, grapes because they're delicious, pineapple because the taste-tester was beyond mouth-watering and the nice lady told me how to pick a good one, beef jerky because sometimes it just hits the spot {but mostly because Z almost can't live without it}, cliff protein bars because Z almost can't live without it, cliff mojo bars because I almost can't live without it, pita chips because they are bomb.com with the hummus next to the strawberries, the top of the bag you can barely see is chocolate protein powder, and lastly tortilla chips, because we're mexican and sometimes the only thing that sounds good for a snack is chips and salsa.  I can't believe how long that run-on sentence was, my english teachers would be so disappointed.

Now I have to document my attempt at going on a 'run' with my dog.  Yeah she may be tiny, but anybody who's spent 0.5 seconds around her knows she has energy to spare.  She's just a super happy, friendly, speedy energizer bunny who rarely stops and who would love to lick your face.  Z has always mentioned that I should take her on a mile run at the beginning or end of my runs.  So while I was walking her yesterday, I decided to give it a shot.  There were three attempts: 1) she stopped dead in her tracks after about 15 yards when she realized I wasn't going to stop running and she didn't see our home, 2) she stopped after about 4 seconds when she realized what I was trying to do to her again after she had clearly just let me know she didn't want to, and 3) she ran the last stretch home, about 25 yards, and I was so proud.  Not sure if she'll be up for it again any time soon, but it was fun while it lasted.

And I should probably mention my embarrassing moment that turned into just plain funny.  I have Z, my parents, and my siblings on speed dial.  Yesterday I dialed #5 to call my brother Jacob, waited for an answer, no answer, and then the nice computer-voice lady tells me his mailbox is full.  So I text him.

me:  You don't answer AND your voicemail is full??  Jeez.

him:  Sorry this just woke me up

him:  Who is this

me:  Wha?? It's Natalie.  Get out of here

him:  Sorry. What's up

me:  K just call when you're awake

him:  It's okay calling u now

I know I sound upset and not nice, but, I wasn't upset in the least and my siblings and I have this somewhat sarcastic-y 'tough love' kind of way we talk to each other {may not be ideal, but it works for us and we know we love each other}.  Then he proceeds to call me.  But, it's not my brother Jacob, it's someone named Monica.  Wha??  Luckily she was extremely kind and after a couple minutes of confusion, I realized I had called Jacob's old number because I never though to change it on my speed dial.  That just tells you how often I call my brother when he's had a new number for over a month.  It's okay, he calls me, so it works.  

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-Any Sam's or Costco goers?  What's your favorite thing you get from there?

-Please tell me someone has dialed the wrong number before...awkward but funny, right?

Recovery method: walking and eggs

Last night Z playfully and gently squeezed my leg...and it wasn't until that gentle squeeze that I realized how dang sore my thighs were.  The previous night, after I ran 5 miles that morning, I went to the gym with Z to lift weights.  Can I just say that I love lifting weights?  Especially free weights.  And especially in the are where the toughest of the tough lift weights.  Not that I'm as tough as them, but I like to be the girl lifting next to the tough guys just to show them that I'm not intimidated.  Ha.  I'm embarrassed just by typing it.  But while at the gym, I did free weights focusing on my legs and bootay.  Who doesn't want to firm up those buns?  This girl wants to.  It had been a while since I had focused all of my time with the weights on just my legs.  I got an awesome workout in just about 45 minutes and then called it a day and stretched and did some abs.

Then yesterday happened.  I woke up and felt a little sore, but nothing to keep me from running a few miles.  So I ventured out and ended up running 3.25 miles {every 0.0 and 0.00 counts}.  And I thought I'd incorporate a small hill to really use all those muscles that were sore from lifting to 'loosen' them up.  I don't know that I'd say they loosened, but they were definitely being used, and I could definitely feel it.  So I'm barely able to crawl into bed by the time the end of the day rolls around and I fall asleep rubbing my legs.  People, we're talking I'm more sore now as I type this out than I was after any of my road races {besides my very first half-marathon}.  I know.  Crazy talk.  And what may sound crazier, is I tried to run again this morning.  Yeah I got about 10 yards before stopping and realizing that for my morning workout, I'll be taking the dog for a walk.  But not till I have my breakfast for champions, consisting of egg whites and wheat tortillas as prescribed by Z himself...seriously, he said I had to have eggs this morning.  So I sent him these pictures of my breakfast.

At least Tina is ecstatic.  She's been on so many walks the past couple weeks.  Yesterday I went on a walk with one of my fav's and her baby.  Look how dang cute he is, sunglasses and all.  Not to mention his beautiful mama.

Thumbs up cool dude

Always giving the thumbs up

When it comes to exercise, I'm an advocate of rest days, cross training days, and walking days.  Sometimes walking days can work as your cross training.  I just have to remind myself to be  reasonable and smart about my exercise and to listen to my body.  And don't forget to eat your eggs.  Well, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I don't really like eggs.  I rarely eat them {unless it's an egg cooked into a toast...I'll show you later} and I especially don't like egg yokes.  But that's another post for another day.

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-Ever been so sore it made you walk funny or you had to forgo a workout?

You better believe it.

-Do you like eggs?  What about yokes?  You can say yes.  What's your favorite 'recovery' breakfast?