Rants, Recipes, and Running

There's a special season in the Sonoran Desert each year called "The Monsoon". It's a portion of the summer where it rains for about 20 minutes around 4 pm every day (hopefully). People get a little crazy in the time preceding "the monsoon". There is worry it will never rain, that the earth will dry up, the animals will die, and we will be forced to eat cactus forever (until they dry up, too). We are in quite a horrible drought over the past few years, and it's getting concerning. A lot of people from other parts of the country find this statement silly. They say, "Well, don't you live in a desert? Isn't it supposed to never rain?" This is not true. Deserts can go a long while without water, but it still needs it. Without water, there is no life. ( Duh ). Yes, there are desert regions where it is all sand. But Tucson is not like that. We actually have a great deal of vegetation, gardening, and there are even farmers in Arizona! An...

Since I started doing the 3 sports that make up a triathlon last year in April, I immediately jumped to the goal of doing a Half Ironman. A Sprint tri just didn't do it for me. I finished feeling like I could've done more miles on each! But then we moved to San Antonio for the summer, came back & got acclimated to like at home, marathon training started...and pretty soon I lost the bike & swim. But I've decided I really want to go for it this October! The only limiting factor is the price. It's a $200 race entry. Plus $15 USAT fee. Plus a hotel for the night. Plus I assume there will be bike repairs that come along the way. And I'll probably need to get a tri-suit. And, well, money doesn't grow on trees. For the time being, I'm going to try. I mean Tri ! I also have to put weight lifting on the back-burner for this, as there just aren't enough hours/days in the week! The hardest part for me is the bike. I will really struggle having my but...

Happy Saturday! Here are my "current" currently's. Current Book : "If I Stay". It's an easy summer read...which I'm in dire need of, with my poor reading skills lately. It's about the outer-body experience of a teenager who got in a tragic car accident. She's watching her body in the ICU, and trying to decide whether to stay or go. It's really interesting to the nurse in me. Current Excitement :  It is looking like the next guarenteed weekend Ryan & I will have together is in August when we go to Minnesota for a week @ the lakes w/ family! Lame that he works so much during July, but I'm focusing on the positive!! Cannot wait to see family and meet my niece/God-daughter Evelyn! Current Fashion : I'm really loving the maxi dresses. Only for evenings out. It's too damn hot to wear a maxi dress during the day in Tucson (for this girl, anyhow). Current Drink : Iced Green tea with Raspberry @ Starbucks. I've sipping ...

I think it's been established, but Ryan and I are a bit spontaneous when it comes to weekend get-aways. Back in May, we had planned on going to San Diego for a 3-day-weekend last weekend. But Ryan's work scheduled changed 6 times (I'm not exaggerating). So we decided to put that dream on hold for while. We didn't know if he was going to have the weekend free until 3:45 pm on Friday. And when he called with the news that he did - I started packing like a mad-woman. We had the car loaded up, and we were headed up the mountain by 5:30 pm for a camping trip! We were having a discussion with someone recently about camping, and how it's so much work and planning. But we have proved that theory wrong! But our "camping skills" did not happen overnight. Here are a few tips about camping, that I've found help tremendously. And I will finish off with a short rant about the "ugly" of camping. 1.  Heavy duty plastic containers will be your best fr...

I've been finding my "mojo" in the kitchen again lately, and we've been cooking some really fun stuff! I made a recipe last week that I had to share. It was so fun and delicious. I thought this would make a really good dinner party appetizer. Especially in the summertime. How I came up with it: We bought our 1st "produce share" through a Groupon this month. It was $20 for a basket of fresh, organic, local produce. In the basket, we got eggplant (and green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges, and garlic. Mmmm). I'm not a big eggplant fan, but was determined to find a way to like it. So I decided that basil and tomatoes (and cheese) make everything good. Ingredients: (super easy!) 1 eggplant, sliced handful of fresh basil leaves sliced tomatoes whole mozzarella 1/2 cup balsalmic vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil s & p to taste How to make: Slice the eggplants, and soak in a container with the olive oil & balsalmic (10 min) Grill for ab...

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing lately. Last year at this time, we were packing for our 5 month adventure to San Antonio, TX to Randolph Air Force Base. I remember feeling optimistic. In fact, I remember thinking San Antonio was going to be this lush, green, fabulous city of love. It wasn't . It had a fake, man-made river with cheesy chain restaurants along it, that drunk people frequently fell in. It was in a horrid drought. The highlight of San Antonio was it's movie theater that served delicious beer and food! I didn't love San Antonio. However, believe it or not, I look back at that phase is fond memories. I am recently finding myself longing to relive some of those days, believe it or not. I counted down the days to returning to AZ, but I remember even thinking, "I'm going to look back on this phase with a soft heart...." I was right! I miss cozy nights of crock-pot scrambled eggs in our humid & tiny Air-Force-Inn hotel room. So here ...

I stole this one from my sister Lisa . These are always fun! They are also a good distraction when I just don't know what to blog about....;) 1.   What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?   Stumble into the bathroom, put on my contacts, get dressed in my workout clothes that I lay out the night before. If I'm lifting weights, biking, or swimming - I eat a piece of toast with peanut/almond butter. If I'm running, I chug a big glass of water! 2.  What do you eat for breakfast?   Whole wheat toast with peanut butter or almond butter for a pre or post-work out. Before leaving for work I will make a smoothie with berries, spinach, protein powder, flax seeds, and almond milk. 3.  What’s your go-to weeknight meal?   Fish tacos. We always have tilapia in the freezer - and it takes 10 minutes to cook.   I season and cook the fish with peppers and onions. Serve it on a tortilla with spinach, greet y...