old age?

my body feels like it's moving through molasses. i'm tired, oh so tired.

praying

praying for my man who's taking the bar exam tomorrow and wednesday. praying for my jewel who hasn't seen much of her papa in the last two weeks (or should i say last 4 years) and desperately misses him.

Blackberry time!

it's blackberry season! here are a few shots from our time at the farm...

i may be a bit crazy....

lately, i've been obsessed with getting in shape. i mean, really getting in shape. i mean, when i want into a room, i want the guys to take a mental note and think - don't mess with that girl because she intimates me. think demi moore in the GI Jane movie, not WWE. ok, maybe this isn't realistic in the world of 6 feeters, when i'm 5'2 (and that's rounding up). but it's my little goal these days. side note, don't worry, i'm not going to take steroids - that goes against my health views, sheesh people!

unfortunately, this fatigue thing i'm dealing with isn't exactly helping. although, i have a feeling my man wouldn't really want me looking like that.... or does he?! hummmmmmmm

i figured it out!!

running with someone else is not only fun, but sometimes God uses it to run an idea by ya (ok, corny, i know....)

while running this morning, i asked my running buddy what motivated him to get to the gym. we talked about why he went to the gym and it hit me like a big set of bricks. my man's love language is b-ball. that's what got him into the gym, the pool, and whatever else he did to stay in shape. all of it was for his love of basketball and to be a better ball player. so, now all i have to do is encourage him to get back on that court and the rest will follow...

what a great way to start off the day!

vbs - exhausting fun

just a quick note to fill you in on this week.
this is the first one our jewel has been a part of and i'm glad we did it. i'm glad i'm volunteering - esp for this one so that i can see what she's doing. having said that - i'm totally wiped out! more than once this week i've come home and totally zonked out! my workouts this week have been subpar and i can't wait for tomorrow to be over so i can have some energy back.

a friend of mine has suggested looking into being anemic. i've been anemic before so i wouldn't be surprised if i am now. if i am - that could also a reason for my fatigue. so the search continues....

lazy summer days, long gone

i can't believe how fast the summer is going by. it's already the middle of july. i was so looking forward to the summer, where we could sleep in, chill out, have some playdates, and just enjoy each day. but my goodness! last week's summer camp went by in a whirlwind. this week's vbs will probably be the same... and before i know it, i'm sure august will be upon us. i'm longing for a day of reprive w/ my man. i'm hoping that we can get a weekend get away, just the three of us to some place other than there - to just enjoy! maybe after the bar?!
speaking of which, please pray for it. it's coming up the end of this month and the stress level around here is quickly rising.

Vegetables and sausage recipe

Here's what we had for dinner tonight. turned out pretty good.

4 sweet italian sausages
3 medium potatoes - diced
2 carrots - diced
1/2 onion - diced
handful of collard greens- roll up and cut in slivers

sprinkle on 1/2 package of the lipton's savory herb seasoning and two rounds of the OVEE. cover w/ aluminum foil. in oven for 45 minutes on 350 and you're good to go.

i know what you're thinking. that the lipton's seasoning is bad for you and what am i doing w/ that? i know.. i know. but i'm in a cooking rut and haven't really wanted to really cook. so that's my shortcut. you're right. it's high in sodium, so just don't use the whole package :)

it's good. really.

80's workout videos are so passe

the girlie workouts are not so girlie anymore. this is day two of a double workout and i'm wiped out!

yesterday, i ran 5 1/2 miles, then headed over to the gym for a kick-boxing-ish type class. later on, i went back to the gym to spot my man. ok, that last one didn't count as a workout, but still, i was so tired.

today, i felt like i spent the entire day at the gym. i got there for a 9:30 spin class. stayed for the 10:45 core class. ran over to show our condo to someone. came back and then headed to the pool w/ my man during his study break. i gotta admit, i felt a tinge of guilt not having our jewel w/ us (she's in summer camp).... esp when she asked when we were going to the gym today...

i'm so sore from working muscles i don't normally, that i just want to down myself in a glass of wine and then go to bed. but i'm off to a VBS meeting. i'm really hoping my running buddy bails on me tomorrow.

Vietnamese spring rolls

ok, for someone who is asian, you'd think i'd have a flexible palate, at least with other asian foods? but i don't. i'm really quite particular about trying new things and i don't really care for a lot of other asian foods... thai, vietnamese, esp pho!, and all of those south asian countries...

but these vietnamese spring rolls are a major exception. i made 100 a few days ago. i probably ate about a third of them!

here's someone's recipe on them. i link it here just to give you a picture (since i don't ever remember to take any) and a recipe that in my opinion would be too long for me to indulge.... so here's my version that i've adopted from a vietnamese friend of mine (that's how i know it's authentic)...

vietnamese fried spring rolls:

ground turkey - one package is enough to for one package of the wrappers
diced carrots
diced onions
salt
pepper
fish sauce - i don't know, a few squirts?
i even splurged and added vietnamese vermicelli noodles, but you don't have to
spring roll wrappers

no measurements... just eyeball it. mix all together (except the wrappers, silly)

place wrapper so that it's a diamond in front of you. put meat mixture in the middle. bottom tip comes up to cover the meat mixture, then the two sides, and then you roll it. might need a little water on the top tip to keep it tucked in nicely.

when all done, deep fry and then enjoy with the sweet chili sauce. so good!
the only thing was that it took me forever to roll these and then to fry them. it took me roughly 3 hours start to finish. i thought that by making a whole bunch, i could freeze them for later. it didn't last long enough to freeze. actually, i did freeze a bag, but took it out the next day because everyone wanted more.

hope you give it a go!

motivating that special someone

how do you motive someone? in particular, how do you motivate your man? the last few nights we've been going to bed around 2am. that's late - even for me. i've been trying to help my man study and so i've been making flashcards. i like to color coordinate, flag, and highlight them. call it neuritic fun but my man has other words he'd probably use to describe them. (sorry, i digress). anyways, i think that he's getting rather tired of studying. understandably so, but with the test 3 weeks away, it's not exactly time to ease up. so what can i do to encourage him? trash talk doesn't seem to work - i've already learned.

trash talk also doesn't work when trying to motivate your man to work out. you'd think it would work since you see that in sports all the time. but maybe when it's coming from your woman, it's not quite the same thing ;) for YEARS, i've been trying to convince my man that it would be a good thing to get back to what he was lifting in college. so far, there has been no motivational tactic i've tried that has come even remotely close to persuading him.... sigh sigh sigh.

so tonight, when my man asks if i want to go to the gym, what do i say? let's have ramen instead! LOL

Before and after

here's my latest project...
what a difference a little fabric makes!

but i'm indecided... to paint or not to paint. that is the question. leaving it as is still makes it look a little too country for me but on the other hand, it's definitely a lot less work!! if i painted it, probably black??

parenting delimma

our jewel LOVES to pray. but lately it's become more about her and less about God. it's like she's putting on a show or something. sometimes she's gotten upset if we don't let her pray FIRST. so we're trying to figure out 1. how do you discuss this w/ a 4 year old to make her understand and 2. how do we correct this without it turning into something negative.

annual company picnic

every year, my man's company goes all out, hosting a family picnic for all of their US employees. really! it's crazy crazy. they rent out an island in new york. they fly you up, put you in a posh hotel, and give you per diem. but that's not even the best part. my man said it's like christmas day for me. there is just an endless amount of food everywhere. it's all about pacing yourself and strategizing but in the end, you always leave feeling full, satisfied, and a little sick :)

let me break it down for you. each food station has a different theme. there's the BBQ station that featured pork ribs, seseme glazed salmon, corn on the cob, hamburgers, and hotdogs. then there was the carnival station that included corn dogs, fish and chips, funnel cake, donuts, ice cream. moving further along, there was the international section: samosas, vietnamese breads, jamacian beef patties, and crepes. fyi the crepes were awesome! moving to the right, you had the mobile museum (yup, they had two mobile trailers with fossils and stuff from the natural history museum. i think the theme was dinasaurs - we didn't even get to that one). but the food there was sliders, hot dogs, onion rings, and french fries. ok, i saved the best for last, in the center they had crabs, shrimp, corn on the cob, finger potatoes. they seat you down and then put the beautiful feast of goods right onto the table (yes, they had paper table covers). it was cooked in a cajun style. yum! did i also mention they had a fruit stand? and i never did find the popcorn cart... that served kettlecorn :( and then they had drink stations all over. they have your standard beer and wine. but every year they have one specialty drink. this year it was pimm's. i'd never heard of it but oh was it good. pimms liquoir, lemonade, pineapple, cucumbers, oranges, and mango. it was awesome! i had to limit myself to two because it was mighty hot that day. of course they had the carnival rides for the kids, the bumper cars, hammocks, plastic pools for the kids, dance floors, swings, face paint, etc... but they also brought in a roller skating ring for it. it was the first time our jewel went skating. i think she dug it. and what would a picnic be w/o ice cream carts wheeled around all over the place.

ok, i'm leaving a whole lot out, but you get the idea. it was awesome. every year i look forward to it, almost for the entire year. then the day comes and goes before i can even blink. the next day, i'm already dreaming of the following year's food ;)

a few shots from the day. we always seem to forget to take pictures of ourselves... it's a lot easier to take pics of our jewel...

workouts

we eventually got sucked in and joined a local gym. i have to admit i've been resisting joining this gym for a while now for several reasons:

1. it's expensive!!
2. it's about 10/15 minutes from home - round trip that's 2-3 miles that i could have gotten in just during the drive time.
3. i don't like doing what everyone else is doing...
4. i've never been a member of a gym before and i think i've been able to get by w/o it, so why start now?

well, here's why we eventually decided to
1. it's 24/7 and given my man's schedule, this was crucial
2. my man really needed to work out. he's been going on 3/4 hours of sleep for the last 4 years, eating horribly, and not working out... and it's taken it's toll on him.
3. they do have child care as well, so after our workout, we pick up our jewel and then head over to the pool. since they have both an indoor and outdoor pool, i'm hoping this will continue year round.

so having said that, this is week 2 at the gym and i can tell that i have certain muscles that have felt gravely ignored until now. in a crazy way, it's nice to feel that good soreness again.

today was a double workout, a 6 mile run at 6:30am, then a total conditioning class 12 hours later. i'm so tired!!

i'm still trying to get myself to their 5:30am spinning class, but so far, i haven't even been close :)