1.  This fella!  Our four year wedding anniversary is coming up and we’ve been together for a total of 8 yrs!  And we haven’t killed each other yet!!   

2, These two crazy girls!  I can’t imagine my life without my dogs- it would be so very empty!  These girls mean the world to me and I love them so much!!

3. New opportunities.  We recently had the opportunity to move.  So we’re moving to Dallas!  I don’t loooove Dallas and am a little sad to be leaving country life but this move will give us so many opportunities for the future!  I’ll be so much closer to school plus those two girls above will get a nice backyard to play in, which we don’t have now!

4.  This blog!!!  I’ve made so many new friends through blogging even though some of them live across the country from me!  I’ve always loved to cook but I never knew that I also loved to write my own recipes until I started blogging.  It’s one of my absolute favorite things to do… in fact as soon as I finish typing this I’m headed to the kitchen to test out a new muffin recipe I’ve been dreaming up!

5.  A new career path!  I volunteer for a program called Cooking Matters.  The last course I volunteered as a course assistant and had such a blast.  There’s a new course starting next week and I’m going to be the nutrition instructor this time.  What’s so crazy about this is that the course is in Cleburne where I taught as a music teacher for 4 years and eventually decided that teaching wasn’t the career for me.  It’s going to be a little strange going back there to teach, but it’s a completely different content and something I’m much more passionate about!  Time to dust off my teaching skills and put them to use again!

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Now it’s your turn!  What are you thankful for today???

First of all official grades are in for the semester- I ended up with A’s in Anatomy and Physiology Lecture, Biochemistry (did I already mention that I made a 100 on the final for that class?) and Literature in Nutrition.  Those A’s are fantastic and I’m very proud of them but I’m most happy about the B that I got this semester in A&P lab. 

Even though I looooove making A’s (I’m a straight up nerd!) I’m really really happy for this B!  Between a TA and a lab coordinator both on a major power trip and no one EVER knowing what was going on in that lab (seriously it was horrible!) and no one in the class ever making above an 84 on a practical I’m very okay with that B.  I honestly thought it was going to be a C and that ugly little letter is absolutely NOT allowed to be on my transcript!!  So I’m surprisingly okay with this B.  But next semester look out… I’ll be back to straight A’s!!!

Anyway on to the topic at hand!

Skinny vs. healthy…

This is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately since the weather started warming up and people started declaring it to be “bikini season”.  Seriously don’t you hate those two words?!  I’m hoping that I don’t just end up going off on a rant about this but start a conversation about it.  Let’s talk about this!

The number of times I hear the words “get your body bikini ready” in one day is astounding!

Look at what I found through just a quick Google search…

Bikini Body workout from Self Magazine  It even comes with pictures guys!  Apparently this is what we should look like…

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Here’s another…

Bikini body in only 4 weeks?!  And another picture…

 
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Also can we talk about this new book by The Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper?  It’s called The Skinny Rules.  Seriously that’s what it’s called.  Here are just a few of the more ridiculous “rules” I noticed while flipping through this at a store…

• Go to bed hungry (what the what?!?!)
• No carbs after lunch (it really says that- I can’t make this stuff up!  No distinguishing between complex carbs and refined carbohydrates and why one is better for you than the other.  Wow. Just wow.)
• No potatoes (Apparently potatoes and all carbohydrates are evil)

Oh and he also claims that he has new and emerging science to back all this up but never cites a single thing to actually back up these insane claims.  Just another “diet” book by a celebrity trainer who is absolutely NOT qualified to give out nutritional advice.  Shame on you Bob Harper.

There are so many examples out there of why we should be “skinny”.  But why do we need to be skinny?  Why can’t we just strive to be healthy?  What’s the difference?

I have to quote Allison, a friend from school on this one (even though this has been on my mind a lot lately she inspired me to actually write this post)…  She posted about this on Facebook recently.  She was referring to this article.

I was thinking just the other day how tired I am of seeing this stuff, and all the other “get bikini ready” stuff on every news segment, TV show, commercial and website.  This cycle will never end until women everywhere stop promoting it themselves and decide to be healthy not skinny”

I totally agree!

This also came up in the conversation…

Being overweight is not healthy, being underweight is not healthy. Healthy is putting nutritious food into your body (the right amount) and getting strong through exercise.  The point is that it should not be about the "perfect" bikini body or about appearances, instead we should be promoting TV segments and magazine articles that focus on living strong and healthy for life, not for bikini season.

Preach it sister!!

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think there’s anything wrong with rocking a bikini if you feel comfortable and confident in one!  I don’t happen to (and probably never will) so I think that maybe I resent the fact that all these advertisements are only showing the super skinny people in their bikinis and making women feel like they aren’t healthy unless they look this way.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?  Seriously this would be great to have a conversation about- just leave a comment below!

These delicious little cookies taste like a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie had a love child.  That’s no joke friends… I never joke about cookies!

I felt like cookie monster when I was making these.

Mmmmm… COOKIE!!!

But finals have been taken and I’m waiting for grades to see if my hard work paid off for the semester!  I only know two grades for certain so far- an A in my Literature in Nutrition class and an A in Biochemistry (I made a 100 on the final y’all! Whaaaatttt??) Everything else is up in the air a bit and one I’m borderline in so I’m praying they show kindness and curve it up- I’m like 1 point away, c’mon!)

So anyway over the last few weeks I’ve been working with Emily White Designs (formerly known as The Blog Fairy) on a new design for my blog!  And I absolutely ADORE what she came up with for me!

I told her I loved retro-y housewife and I gave her the colors I wanted and she really delivered! (seriously I adore 50’s stuff- In my head I’m totally a housewife in the 50’s).  I love the cute gal up at the top juggling the veggies and the pinks, greens, and blues!  I just love it all!!!!  I’m going to do a little more personalizing my widgets (how cool is it that she gave me widgets at the bottom?!) over the next few weeks but other than that how cool is my new blog???

So thank you thank you thank you Emily!!  I just adore it!

Also Emily is fantastic to work with guys!  If you are wanting a blog redesign (or even if you just want something small done- she does a la carte stuff too!) take a look at her site- you will not regret working with her.  She had so much patience with me especially since I was going through finals at the time of my redesign and my communication skills weren’t that great.  And also I had no idea what I wanted when we started- she really just took my ideas and made them into something I love!

YAY for new blog designs and YAY for being back to blogging!  I have so many recipes coming at you over the next few months!

We spent part of the day with family- my brother and his wife and my brand new little niece!! My parents and my sister in laws wonderful family was there and we had some serious chow for Easter lunch!  We had two types of grits, spinach salad, asparagus, biscuits, and these black eyed peas! (also I think there was ham there, but honestly I pay absolutely no attention to meat).  We also had really great seats at the Rangers game and watched them whoop up on the White Socks!

These black eyed peas are pretty amazing over grits or you could serve them with some corn bread and a big ole mess of greens!  The key to the deliciousness of this dish is the smoked paprika, so don’t skimp on it! (tip: in grocery stores that have bulk spices smoked paprika is super cheap- we’re talking 50 cents versus the $5 you’ll pay for it in a bottle!)

Hope you love this as much as I did!

The wildflowers are the best part of spring.  Our roadsides are absolutely covered  in them!  Seas of absolutely gorgeous bluebonnets!!  I’m in heaven during bluebonnet season!

Also walking/jogging/biking on the Trinity Trails is absolutely amazing right now! 

Yes we have trails for our horses, however we don’t have pooper scooper laws for them unfortunately!!

So pretty!!!

One day when I took a new trail head I came across a gorgeous waterfall area!  Turns out it is the only natural waterfall in Fort Worth!!  It’s breathtaking!  I’ve been back twice since then and just sat and stared at it and had some prayer and reflection time.  It’s so serene and you really put a lot of things in perspective when you’re staring at the natural beauty God created!  Also I don’t think many people know about this area- there’s never anyone else there!

I couldn’t decide which pics I liked best so you’re going to have to look at all of them! (click on them if you want to see them full size)

Gorgeous!

So anyway…

Here’s my recap of race day!  If you missed part one of my recap you can see it here!

Race day!!

I had gotten everything together the night before and it was all waiting at the door for me to drag my booty out of bed and get going.  I woke up with some GI issues (we’ll just leave it at that) and it certainly made my race pretty miserable.  Once I got to the race I took some back roads and would around the back way to fair park and didn’t hit a lick of traffic!!  This is a great race day tip by the way- find the back roads to get to the race and you won’t have to sit in race traffic!

My only complaint about the race was the shuttle situation to the starting line.  There was no information on how to catch a shuttle.  No signs.  Nothing.  So myself and a huge group of people were wandering around fair park trying to find the shuttles.  We couldn’t find anyone who actually knew where they were, they were all pointing us in different incorrect directions.  We wandered around for 30 mins trying to find these shuttles.  When we finally found someone who knew where they were they were a freaking half mile away!  Across all the parking lots (if you’ve ever been to fair park you know how gigantic it is) on the other side of the park!  WHAT?!  So we all take off running because it’s like 7:45 at this point and the race starts at 8.  As soon as we round the last corner and finally see the shuttles they tell us that they’re closing down the shuttles for the morning so we’re flat out sprinting and I am literally the last one that they let onto the shuttle.  Holy crap!  Seriously why couldn’t they start and end the race at fair park.  There’s more than enough parking and space.  I mean c’mon people the shuttle situation was ridiculous!!

We finally get to the starting line at 8:05 and the race had already started.  But I was in one of the last corrals so it was okay.  They had a countdown and a fresh start for each corral, so that was pretty cool!

So we get started.  The weather is lovely and I’m feeling pretty good despite the tummy troubles I was having.  I am making really good time for the first six miles and was loving that they had so many bands along the course.  At 10K I was on pace to do my half marathon at around 2:30.  Then around mile six all hell broke loose.  The course was straight uphill from miles six to about mile 9. 

Pure. Misery.

My stomach was hurting and my legs were hurting.  The hills were so steep that I eventually had to give up on trying to run the whole thing.  I started to do a walk/run and the course got a little easier after mile 9 but my legs were shot.  My 2:30 pace went to a 3:00 pace.  I didn’t really have much of a choice since my legs were done at that point and I made a new plan to just finish in under 3 hrs.  So I tried to just enjoy the bands along the course and the conversations of the people around me (most of them were doing the walk/run thing too).

The plan was to just finish!  And I did!!

I finished in 2:56:46 which is about 8 minutes faster than my last half marathon!

Exhausted face…

Second half marathon.  Done!

Part I is the Expo and Part II will be the actual race recap.

Expo Day

So I went to pick up my packet at the Dallas convention center and there also happened to be an auto show there the same day.  It was nutso!  Parking was almost impossible.  I couldn’t find any free parking so I ended up having to pay $10 for parking.  Blah. Hey Rock ‘n Roll, you should have your expo at fair park next time! (seriously)

Finally got my packet and race shirt and got to wander around the expo a bit.  It was a good expo- I got lots of free samples!

Really Brooks?  So weird!

I love when CLIF is at an expo- they put out SO many samples!  You can pretty much eat a meal at their booth!

Race goodies!

Hey look- it’s a race shirt that’s NOT WHITE! (YAY!!)

I wandered around downtown for a few mins after the expo- I wanted to get my money’s worth since I had to pay for parking!  Even in the middle of the city we like to incorporate a little nature!

And then off to my favorite food truck (Zombie’s Food Truck) for a little lunch!  They just happened to be about a mile away from downtown Dallas that day.  They’re usually in Fort Worth.  I eat there a LOT!  Like enough for the owner to know me by name and yell out “hey it’s Sarah Snacks!” as I walk up. Whoopsie… (Hey, you gotta support the small local businesses!  Especially veg ones!!)   Next time you’re in fort worth look them up!!

Hey….

What’s a vegan zombie’s favorite thing to eat?

Graaaaaaaains!!!

Hahaha!

I got the beer braised (vegan) brat (braised in local beer, Rahr out of Fort Worth to be exact!), topped with caramelized onions and two kinds of mustard on a whole wheat bollio roll!  Oh my goodness so good!!!

I’m going to do a whole review of the Zombie Food Truck eventually, but I want to try everything on the menu first! 

Then it was home to relax for the next day’s events!

Part II of the recap coming at you tomorrow!!

First I had contacted someone who had helped me with my blog previously but they were charging $260 just to take a look at it.  Sorry, can’t afford that!  The next person wanted to charge me $300 to look at it.  Wow.  (And the thing that the first two people were saying was wrong with my blog wasn’t even what was wrong with it!  Glad I didn’t pay them the money and decided to keep looking!!!!)  The next person I found did wordpress troubleshooting for $50.  And if he couldn’t fix it he wouldn’t charge me.  SOLD!  Turns out something wonky happened when I had upgraded wordpress to the latest version.  He found a lot of weird files in places that they shouldn’t have been in. (Thanks for that by the way wordpress.  Lame.)  So he cleaned it all up for me and reinstalled wordpress on the bloggy and I was back in business.

P.S.  I’ve heard people are having TONS of issues with this new wordpress upgrade!  So think about it very carefully if you decide to upgrade.  And be prepared in case there are any issues!

So here’s what you do (and what not to do) when your blog breaks!

If you have a virus on your blog:

• Unless you know what your doing and how to look for the virus and how to fix it, just leave it alone and find someone to fix it for you!
• First run your antivirus to make sure it’s not your computer that is causing the problems.
• Then go to We Watch Your Website.  Get a years subscription (it’s only $39.95- you will not be able to find a site that will do it for free. Trust me.).  Not only will they get rid of the virus for you they will continue to watch your site for threats.  They check it every 4 hours and if they find something they take care of it immediately.  The subscription is for an entire year. 
• Even if you don’t have a virus on your blog it’s a good idea to get this kind of a service for your blog.  Do it for your readers.  Do you want to unknowingly give them a virus?
• That’s it.  They’ll do all the work for you.  Your job is done!

If your blog is broken:  (The virus thing was easy to get fixed.  This is where I realllllly freaked out)

• First of all do NOT freak out!  Don’t cry.  Do not take down your site or start deleting anything.  Do NOT try to fix anything if you don’t know what you’re doing! You will likely make it worse!
• Find someone who you can keep in your corner in the future in case anything goes wrong with your blog.  I’m not so good with all the code and all that business so I need someone to help me.  It took me a few days to find someone. but I ended up finding Blog Crafted and he’s now my go-to blog guy!  He charges $50 for wordpress troubleshooting and if he can’t fix the problem he doesn’t charge you!  He had my blog fixed within an hour.  Seriously.
• Sit back and let them fix it and know that you won’t spend the next few days freaking out trying to figure out what’s wrong with your blog.  TOTALLY worth the money.  And your sanity!

Well now that I’m back in business I’ve got a few recipes and a half marathon recap that I should be able to get posted this week.  Hooray!!!

The day before the race I headed over to Will Rogers Memorial with Laura to pick up my race packet and peruse the expo. 

Before we headed over there we hit up the Fort Worth Food Park with her cousin Jennifer and chowed down on some Food Truck food!  I got the spicy asian flatbread from the Good Karma Kitchen Truck.  It’s my new favorite thing in the whole entire world.  I’m completely obsessed with it.  The Good Karma Truck is fantastic- I’ve tried their chili and their taco salad before and I’ve yet to have anything from them that wasn’t delish!

And the ladies that own the truck are soooo sweet!!  They just gave us a lemon bar to try and it was FANTASTIC!!!  To die for.

When hitting up the expo I was on a mission to test out a marathon stick.  I finally found the booth and I loved it!  I bought one and I have used it every day to work out my muscles and haven’t gotten sore once after working out even though I’ve been pushing myself really hard this week and would normally be incredibly sore.  Bottom line get one!  This little thing is life changing! (though I would recommend trying it out at an expo before you buy it because there are several different kinds)

RACE DAY….

The weather was great- a little chilly, perfect for race day!  The 10K started at 7 am.  At first I thought that sucked but since it started so early I didn’t have to sit in one bit of traffic going into or out of the race.  I also got a primo parking spot right by the starting line.  Score!  After that I didn’t mind at all that it started early.

The course was great too.  It definitely wasn’t easy.  There were several pretty tough hills but I kept going and only walked through water stations(I cannot run and sip- I end up with water up my nose and hacking it out of my lungs any time I try).  It also helped that a chunk of the race was on the part of the Trinity Trails where I do my training!  Familiar territory= super awesome!

This was my second 10K and my time was much much improved!  My last 10K time was 1:24:52.  This race my time was 1:16:46!!! I took EIGHT MINUTES off of my previous 10K time!  WOW!!!  Eight. Minutes.

Happy camper face!

Sweet finisher medal…

Tired face crossing the finish line… (look at my Polar HRM on the outside of my sleeve- nerd alert!)

Apparently I give photographers dirty looks (this is my “I do NOT plan on paying $40 for this picture so why bother” look) 

Has anyone ever had a good picture taken of them at a race?  Just curious…

The only negative thing about this race was the post-race food.  It SUCKED.  This is what they gave us.

I wish I was kidding about this. I didn’t even realize this was what was in the bag till I got out to my car.  Needless to say it went in the trash.  They were offering some kind of nasty fake yogurt too.  GROSS Cowtown- seriously?!?!?!

The last time I ran this race (I did the 5K) the post-race food was fantastic.  What in the world happened???

Anyway I had a blast running this 10K and I’ll definitely do it again next year.  Hopefully they’ll have better food!