Day 5 without a camera: The Big Fat Greek Kids Birthday Party

Hi everyone! Today was a beautiful day in Chicago! I slept in a bit which was fabulous - it's surprising how little sleep I've been getting this summer. During the working school year I always plan to get a good 8+ hours a night, but once summer rolled around I started slacking in this area, and it has been great to catch up the last couple of days.

I quickly ate a banana while checking my email, made Mike a Green Monster per his request, and then went to the gym for spinning class.

I haven't been to spinning in weeks, and part of me was dreading it - spinning always kicks my butt in a major way! It's always amazing that I can run an easy 10 miles, but will huff and puff my way through an hour-long spin class. However, though it started a bit tough, today's class was great! I felt as if I had an abundance of energy that sustained me through the class, which was noticeably different from the last few times I attended spinning. I can tell that "cleaning up" my diet is definitely helping my workouts!

Then I snacked on another huge, avocado salad, this time made with avocado, carrots, homemade dressing, spinach, and turnip greens. This was my first time buying turnip greens (I got them by accident!) and they worked out ok. They were a bit tougher than spinach, but not as thick as kale. I probably would prefer spinach for its milder flavor, but it's nice to switch things up to get the benefits from different nutrients!

Mike and I hit the road, and our first stop was Sports Authority where I stocked up on Body Glide, and Mike got a new pair of roller blades. This is great news as it means that we can resume going for our run/rollerblade excursions along the lake together! :)

The rest of our day was spent at a Greek fam birthday party for two siblings. Our godson was turning one years old, and his brother turned six. Like all good Greek parties, this one lasted well into the night and involved large quantities of alcohol, about 56 different types of desserts (no galaktabutiko, to Mike's chagrine), and of course,

The wet t-shirt contest!! What, you don't do this at your family parties?!?! And all this time I thought this was normal....

Yes, my adult husband was the unofficial winner of the wet t-shirt contest that he apparently entered into with his toddler-aged cousins. It basically involved a lot of young children trying to attack my husband with water balloons and squirt guns. Clearly, college Greek systems across America stole the wet t-shirt idea from Mike's Greek fam - the nerve. "Hey IU, I want my wet t-shirt contest back!"

Aside from watching my poor husband get pummelled by small children, the other highlight of the night was that my fabulous Greek (and Italian :) ) in-laws told me that they bought me a JUICER!!!! Not just any juicer, but the head honcho of all juicers, the Breville!!!

I haven't seen this marvelous piece of machinery yet, but my understanding is that it is the Brevile Fountain Plus. I was soooo excited to hear about this and I would like to give a shout-out to Yaya, John and Dora!!

The party was stocked with an enormous amount of delicious-looking food, but I stuck to the basics - tons of veggies with guacamole, a HUGE plate of Greek salad, and some fresh watermelon. I also snacked on an Amazing Meal bar and some awesome samples of yummy-flavored walnuts and almonds that I received in the mail this week - once I have my camera back I will write more about the company that sent these.

When Mike and I got home tonight it was late but I of course was still hungry for something to snack on, so I made my version of a Raw Almond Joy.

So simple - In a food processor (although you could probably mix this easily by hand), add 1/2 c. almond meal, 2 T. cocoa powder, 2 1/2 T. agave nectar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla.

Blend, and this becomes just like a melted, gooey Almond Joy. I was too impatient and dug in immediately, but I would imagine that you could easily make these into cookies - either by baking them "traditional" style, or dehydrating them to make them more "raw-acceptable". Since I don't have a dehydrator, I'm going to start experimenting with using my oven on a low temp and leaving the door cracked - have any of you tried this before?

Tomorrow I don't know what I am more excited about - getting my hair cut, or getting my camera back!! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :-) and don't forget to enter my Holey Donuts giveaway!

Day 4 without a camera: Mike's Day

This is a random picture I found on Google Images - it's not of my particular running group - but it IS of my CARA running group and was taken in the same park that I ran by this morning!

This morning was a 10-miler. I have to say, last night I was super excited to run today - I think because last week's 9-miler was awesome! I went to bed super early... around 10..... but was so giddy about the run that I didn't fall asleep until almost 1am! This did not bode well for waking up at 5:15, but oh well!

It was a decent run, overall! I hate to complain - it wasn't super hot and I wasn't really sore at all, but it was super humid and, being a heavy-sweater (unfortunately for my running buddies), I was pretty uncomfortable during most of the run. I hate nothing worse than the feeling of being coated in what feels like an inch of sweat! Luckily it wasn't literally that bad :) but it felt like it. Either way, it was great to complete the run, and it will be nice to have a "cut back" week next week when our long run is only 7 miles!

Two minor but annoying issues that I had with today's run:

1) After running, my hair gets SERIOUSLY TANGLED. We are talking it took me well over 30 minutes of pre- and during-shower combing and conditioning to get the knots out, and even then I lost an enormous amount of hair. Does this happen to anyone else, and if so, what do you do about it??? It's only bad during super long runs when I sweat a ton. I plan to cut my hair this week so maybe that will help slightly....

2) Backtrack to my first 1/2 marathon back in 2006 - around mile 10 I got stung by a bee! Poor me! Or not.... turns out what I thought felt (and looke like) a bit sting was actually just CHAFING that only showed up on one leg and not the other. Damn my thighs... you are a pain in the ass on a daily basis, but while running you elevate your annoyance factor to a whole new level!

Today I had the same thing!! Same right thigh, same rash-type thing (sorry for the TMI, guys!) Now this is much more aggravating than the tangles since this is something that truly starts to be quite sore, and I would love to stop this from occurring during the marathon. Aside from losing inches in my thighs (easier said than done!) and using Body Glide (a stick of vaseline type stuff that is in a deodorant style stick) - do you have any other advice for this PRESSING issue? no pun intended... ;)

For breakfast I enjoyed a Green Monster -- Don't worry, I didn't eat your mascot, Red Sox fans! Mine was of the smoothie variety and was packed full of iron, protein, and loads of nutrients.... yum!

I should also mention that I snacked on some dates during and after my run. I used to love Jelly Belly sports beans when I trained for marathons in the past, but I really don't want to be eating that raw sugar, HFCS crap if I can avoid it. I'm hoping to go to Whole Foods this week to see if they have any more natural alternatives - any ideas, runners?

Today was "Mike's Day"!! Let me explain. When I was in grad school getting my Masters in Social Work, while learning about family/couples therapy, I heard about how some therapists will recommend "wife day" and "husband day" to get the couple to focus more on the needs of their spouse.

I think that this idea is not just good for couples "in crisis" but is also simply a good thing to do on occasion - well, just to have fun! So I ran the idea by Mike, and he liked it. I let him have his day first - aren't I just the sweetest ;) - so while I had my Green Monster, I made him some whole wheat waffles.

Then we walked to the neighborhood park to play some whiffleball!For lunch I made an avocado salad. I was SO excited that my avocados were finally ripe!! (Putting them in a brown paper bag with a couple apples definitely works, but it takes about 2 days). Since I am camera-less until Monday, here is another Google Images pic. Because it was "Mike Day", much of the afternoon looked like this....
.... and this was me

Just kidding!!! :)

We basically had a lazy day that involved drinking - at Mike's request - which would have been better if it was my choice (wine), but we drank beer, per Mike's Day. I am proud to say that I had THREE..... which is about two more than I have had in a row before lol. One was a Bud Light lime, the others I am not embarrassed to admit that I added a lime.... and stevia to! Hey, it helped! ;)

I later made a small batch of almond paste-type cookies, which are similar to a Greek cookie that we often eat, but are vegan, and raw! We ate the dough raw - we could, since it didn't contain any dairy products. Oddly enough this filled me up for almost the entire day (or was that a result of the beer?)

Mike's "Day" was pretty low-key, cuz he wanted it that way.... "Val's Day" next week will be a bit more exciting, if I say so myself :) The most thrilling part of today was when I baked up a batch of chocolate peanut butter cookies with choc-PB filling... they looked slightly like these, but were chocPB inside instead of straight PB!All I wanted for dinner was a 1/2 avocado, which was fab. I suppose it's possible I will keep muching later on though since it's only a bit past 9pm now and I feel like I haven't eaten enough calories today to make up for burning about 1000 during my run earlier.... We are finishing up Mike's Day by watching Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay... haha, can you tell it was his choice of movie? ;)
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Last night I forgot to mention that my dessert was comprised of an entire Newman's Own Organics dark chocolate bar, which was great! I would have preferred a higher concentration of cocoa (this was only 56%) but I definitely enjoyed it nonetheless!

Good stuff:

Check out Whit's Getting Fit's first giveaway, an amalgam of awesome stuff you will for sure want to win!

Travel Eat Love is also having a giveaway - this blog girl is giving away a sweet cookbook!

Last but not least, An Apple a Day is having a giveaway for anti-oxidant rich jam

Phew!! Ok I'm done for today. I'm pretty psyched to have the camera back Monday, I know you guys are sick of my Google Images pix.... I am kinda having fun with it though :) Please don't forget to check out my Holey Donuts Giveaway, which will be running through Wednesday! Happy Saturday night everyone!