WIAW (1) & Meal Budgeting

I have never done one of these before, but I always sometimes take photos of my food and so all I needed to do was get on the ball and take everything in one day and then remember to post them! (I didn't know it was green month, but oh well).

I know that some people get tired of food photos; everything looks so gross. So, my post is twofold. I have recently been doing a little meal planning. Not so much that I am changing any buying habits, but I made a goal to do a couple of things. 1) Try/Cook a new meal each month. This has actually turned out to be more like one a week**, but I didn't want to overload myself at first. And 2) Figure out how much this is costing me.

One of the reasons I decided to do this was that a friend of mine, who goes to Starbucks EVERY day, eats lunch out probably 3-5 days a week and eats dinner out probably 1-3 times a week, was saying how she wanted to get on track with her spending. She also wants to lose weight in time for a late summer wedding. She asked for my help.

So, on top of trying a few fun new recipes**, I decided to both price out some of my meals and do a calorie count for certain meals, so I could give her a good idea of what to make for herself. It's easy for me to tell her to just stop eating processed foods, but it's hard when you work long hours, don't really like to cook, and have kids. It's easy to buy things that you can nuke or throw in a pan. So, one step at a time. First, a few easy meals. Next, the world.

So, here, without further ado, is my first What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayons. And my first Meal Budgeting post, with both dollars and calories per meal sited. I tried to keep it short, so I wouldn't bore anyone to death. To me, crunching numbers is fun. I like to be aware and this helps me.

{Breakfast} 

Quinoa/Craisins/Sunflower&Pumpkin Seeds/Almond Milk (**adapted from THIS recipe) - $0.85 /254

 Coffee (x 5 with creamer) - $0.60 /100 

{total breakfast:$1.45 / 354}

 {Lunch} 

Brussels - $0.25 / 66

Greek Salad (goat cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, corn) - $1.04 / 201 

{total lunch: $1.29 / 247}

 {Dinner} 

Mac n Cheese (**adapted from THIS recipe) -$1.58 / 220  

Brussels - $0.25 / 66 

{total-$1.83 / 286}

{Snacks} 

Orange-$1.02 / 62

The whole bag of 1/2 cup Dried Apples - $0.72 / 220

12 Chocolate Covered Gummy Bears - $0.50 / 134 

{total-$2.24 / 416}

-----

TOTAL: $6.81 / 1303  

(note: these totals may be off. I am not a mathematician, nor a dietician, nor an excel mastermind. I apologize in advance for any rounding errors. Calorie info taken from Loseit) **this week I also made THESE. See, Pinterest isn't a waste of time after all. 

So, what did I learn? One, even though I hear that some people spend less than $200/month on groceries, clearly I am not one of them. Not with my snack habits the way they were today ($6.81 x 31 days = $211/mo) Two, eating out is expensive. Whether your habit is a latte ($5/day) or lunch out (easily $10/day), it not only can add up, but is more than an entire day's worth of home cooked food! Now, obviously I am not making gourmet meals over here, but even with a nice piece of fish ($2-$3 per serving) or meat or a fancy sauce or dessert, you can still spend less for an entire day than you can for one meal out!

Now, having said that, next week I am going to be traveling, so will be eating out a lot. Hey, you win some, you lose some. But today I am saving my money for next week's meat with fancy sauce and  dessert!

Have you ever broken down the cost of your food by the month/week/day? How much do you spend on groceries per month?Do you ever eat only one food group or one food as an entire meal (see above lunch)?

One Year Ago

One year ago yesterday, I wrote this post because I had just chopped off all my hair in the name of Locks of Love.

At the time, the cut I wanted was something like this:

source

This is what I ended up with:

Not quite the same. In the last year, I have gone through H with this darn head of hair, trying to grow it out long enough to put in a ponytail so I can keep it out of my face so I can run. No clip could tame it.

And then finally, about a week ago, success! No clips needed. I could put it in a ponytail. All on it's own! I was ecstatic. I had been waiting almost a year for this.

So hurray, right? Now I will finally leave it alone. But no. Not really. It was growing out all uneven and it looked like a rat's nest. I attempted some home repair, but only made things worse. So yesterday I bucked up and went to Berkeley to be a hair model. For $20, you have someone who has never cut hair before is in training practice on you. So that is how I got a new do.

This is what I wanted. Ironically, I had forgotten that last year I also wanted to be like Katie Holmes. Apparently I want whatever she's having, hair-wise. However, I have a pretty bad cowlick and bangs like that are a far away dream to me. I bet her stylist flattens hers down every day. My stylist only knows how to do pony tails.

So I got this instead. Notice I am already clipping it back. I hate having hair in my face.

So, just when I could finally put my hair up, I chopped it back off. Figures. What I thought was funny is that March 5 last year and this year both were chop of your hair day. It's my Hair-iversary. So --  Happy Hair-iversary to me. Here's to growing the new do out faster (and with less clips) than the old one.

Do you cut your hair often? (in the last year I went once) Have you ever been a hair model? Have you ever donated to Locks of Love? 

Also, I was featured over on Who's Your Editor yesterday! Pop on over and check it out when you get the chance! 

Sick Leave

My plan this weekend was to drive to my parents and stay the night, since I had a race on Saturday morning in their area. Everything was fine until Thursday, when I felt horrible. I was achy and hot and cold and tired. Remember the yoga and weights I did? I thought maybe I was just sore from that. But it didn't get much better, so I decided to go up to my parent's house early, since I wasn't going to get anything done. Soooo...Road trip!

I arrived Thursday evening and got right on the cozy chair with my blanket. It's so nice having Mom around when you are sick, even if she doesn't do anything. Just her presence is enough. She used to feed me chicken noodle soup and orange juice when I was a kid, but this time I was so hungry! Remember I mentioned that? And the not being motivated feeling? Well, now you have it. I thought it was feed a fever, starve a cold, but I was confused; it's actually starve a fever, feed a cold, so I guess I had a cold? Whichever I had, I ate a TON of food!

There's this place on the drive up that started as a Farmer's Market type store that sold whatever fruit and veggies they had in season. Now they have all that, plus candy and tortillas and nuts and pickled things and dried things.  So I stopped and bought a few of each ($0.99/lb for brussels sprouts) and ate most of a two pound bag of dried apples on the drive. I also stopped for a Frappuccino. Once I got home at ate some coconut peanut brittle, a piece of Mexican bread (Pan Dulce) and then dinner. What the heck! I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am usually not a fan of sweets. At all. Or bread. But these ones are red!

Pan Dulce -- This one is called a Concha

Friday was spent pretty much the same way and so I was wondering if I would feel well enough to run on Saturday. Luckily by Friday night my temperature was down and I decided to play it by ear the next day, but was leaning toward running the race. I know, I know, I need to take care of myself, but I was feeling fine Friday night and was banking on feeling even better the next day.

Saturday dawned bright and clear.

I felt good, so I decided to run. Race recap will be coming in a few days! 

What was your mom's go-to meal/drink for you when you were sick? Do you have a sweet tooth? Have you ever had Mexican bread?

Wine and Love (5)

Happy Thursday and Welcome to March! You know the drill; today we talk about what makes us whine, or why we feel like we need a glass of wine, vs what we love! Thanks to Nora for hosting. Make sure to go over to her site and link up!

{Wine}

- Top Chef is over! I won't spoil anything but the one I wanted to win, won! I guess this is kind of a funny wine, since I didn't watch the season really during the season. But I just caught up with it on my friend's On Demand and now I am sad that there is not another season to watch. That's what happens with the On Demand. They hook you!

- I have been very unmotivated lately. It's like being unmotivated begets being unmotivated. The less I feel like doing, the less I do and then I just feel like doing even less. Why is that? When I am super busy, I get so many more things done, even though I have less time. When I have time to actually do all those "to-dos" I always wanted to try/do, I don't WANT to!

- I have also been very hungry lately. Oddly enough, I have been eating more, but the things have less calories. I have been eating a lot of fresh veggies and salads and things like that, but I must be eating 10 pounds of food a day! ps I checked on Answers.com to see what the average person eats and it's 4.7 lbs/day.

- The weather has been a lot cooler this week. I am not REALLY complaining, because it's snowing in Mr. Lovely's neck of the wood (and yours?) but still, I was LOVING the 70 degree days last week! 

- Running or lack thereof. So far, I've only run twice this week. Again, see wine #2. It has been very hard to get out the door and just do it. 

{Love}

- Remember the Pilgrimage? My goal was to write 400 words a day, starting the 8th of February and going (at least) through the end of the month. My average per day was 488! I am happy about this, but want to try to step it up a little more in March.

- The weather this week. Okay, so it's not as nice as last week, but it's still not winter! So that makes me happy. It's actually perfect for running.

- Spring Break! Mr. Lovely, who went back to school, has a break coming up and we are going to hopefully spend it lying on the beach, sipping cold drinks and watching all the drunk college kids make fools of themselves. I mean, why not?

- This weekend I go to see my parents and to run my #3 Half Marathon. It is in a beautiful place and I am looking forward to the location, the race, and visiting with family!

- Remember this friend of mine? The adult? Her and I are going to a Chinese New Year celebration. Yes, we know it's a little late, but her friend, who is Chinese, is too busy during the actual time, so she has a party a month later. She spends over a week prepping for it by cooking up various things. I can't wait to see what she made! And eat it!

- Yoga. I did a half an hour today. I also did a half an hour of weights. It was one of my goals for the year to try to do something besides running at least once a week. It felt great and I did it while watching Top Chef so it was easy! I don't know why it's so hard for me to make time for it!

Do you do yoga? How was your hump/leap day yesterday? How is the weather where you are?

Then and Now: February

Maybe because we had an extra day this year, February was a little long for me. It went by fast but it was a weird month motivation-wise, emotion-wise and mentally in general I guess. This is strange, because I had a month filled with family, friends and good food as well as adequate exercise. However, for some reason, I am feeling a little strange this month. Hopefully March will bring a change in seasons and attitude!

Here is my February recap, the Who, the What and the Where, where I compare what I was doing one year ago to what I am up to now.

WHO:

2011: 

Mr Lovely, 

A Vietnamese Butcher and 

a thousand people, chickens and items on motorcycles.

2012: 

K and A and A, 

The parentals and

the Broski.

(as well as many other friends and family who are not pictured).

WHAT:

2011: 

Squid on sticks, 

Dragonfruit and

Pho for breakfast. 

2012: 

Frjtz fries,

Turkish sampler,

Beet salad and

an apple crepe.

Miles Run: 

2011 = 0 / 2012 =111

Lucky number 111! This is good, because I would like to keep up a base of at least 100 miles a month, since I may sign up for a marathon at some point this year and I want be halfway ready at any time!

Races: 

2011 = 0 / 2012 = 3

Thank goodness for virtual races! They are a fun and inexpensive way to supplement your normal racing schedule!

Bay Breeze Half Marathon (Race #2 of 12 in 2012)

Run For Sherry Virtual Race

Grandma Lill's 95th Birthday Virtual Race

Books Read: 

2011 = 3 / 2012 = 5

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford: This book was about a Chinese boy growing up in Seattle during WWII. He has a Japanese friend, and when she gets sent to the concentration camps, he is devastated. Not only that, but he has to deal with his father's hatred of the Japanese.

Tisha -  Robert Specht: This is a true story about a young teacher in the 1920s who gets sent to a small town in Alaska to teach. She learns quickly that the divide between the whites and Indians is deep, but somehow manages to not bend to the white men's prejudices. Her struggle is moving and her courage is inspiring.

You can see the other books HERE.

WHERE: 

2011: 

Cambodia, 

Vietnam and 

Thailand 

 

2012:

San Francisco, 

Home

What I see by looking back is that I am spending way more time with family and friends this year, which is great. I have also traveled this February, but only within the State, whereas last year I traveled much further. But no matter what year it is, the food is always good!

Do you like squid? Are you loving this February more or less than last February?

Beer Week

The week before last was beer week in The City and I actually just missed it (in case you were wondering, February is still strong beer month. There is still time!)  However, lucky for me, my brother likes to brew up beers of many colors. So I went to visit him last week and together with my broski, we bottled some brewski.

I have never bottled beer before so to me, it was fascinating and fun. Another fun fact is that the beer we were bottling was my favorite kind, Stout. So let's begin shall we? But first, a warning.

Maybe you can't read it. Maybe I had too much beer before taking that picture. But it says: "Drinking may cause memory loss, or worse, memory loss".

Also, the broski schooled me on the rules for bottling. {#1 Rule} When bottling, one must have a beer. One does not drink the beer one is bottling. However, one cannot bottle without a beer in one's hand. {#2 Rule} There is no number two rule.

Before getting started, we went to the beer store. I don't think that is what the actual name of it is, but to me, it is The Beer Store. They had hops, barley, bottles and much, much more. I could have looked around in there for a long time. But broski was in a hurry, so we got our bottles and caps and got out.

Three of many different types of bottles.

Barley and stuff. Isn't it fun!? It's like Whole Foods for beer lovers.

Then we went home, poured ourselves a beer and got started. To bottle, first you move the beer from the keg to a handy 5 gallon bucket. Or two. Before the beer transfer begins, you have to add a little bit of sugar water to the bottom of the bucket in order to get the carbonation process going. Notice the broski hiding behind the bottles? He's shy. Also, note the plastic cup of beer next to the buckets? See? I told you it was a rule.

Bottles at the ready, you siphon the beer into them one by one. I did this, and I managed to get a lot of beer on the floor in the process. After I filled up the bottles, broski put the caps on. To put the caps on, you get to use a cap thingy. That is the actual name of the device: the cap thingy. Go ahead, ask a brewer if you don't believe me.

After being capped with the cap thingy, the bottles were done! We labeled them and now they are ready for drinking.

This growler is mine!

Have you ever made your own beer or bottled beer? What is your favorite kind of beer? Have you ever seen or used the cap thingy before?

Hills for Lill

When R at Livin the Fit Life, who is a fellow runner and 12 in 2012 member, let us know of her plans to run a virtual half marathon in honor of her 95 year old grandmother, I was automatically in! I had my Bay Breeze Half last weekend that I had already run in her honor, but last weekend I thought maybe I would just run another 13.1 and use that one instead.

I am currently living in Oakland, and am finding new running routes each day. You may think that Oakland is like this all the time:

source

But it's not. There are a lot of nice places in Oakland. And by nice, I mean hilly. According to Garmin, the total elevation gain was about 4275 ft. See the hill right around the 40 minute mark? It went on forever. Well, 10 or 20 minutes, but they seemed like forever.

I went uphill for a really long time and finally found the park I was looking for. I asked some bikers if they knew of a path that was fairly flat and then directed me to the Sunset trail. Either I was not on the Sunset trail or those guys mislead me because the next mile or so was variable. It did "flatten" out after a little while and I had a nice couple of fast, easy miles before deciding that I had no idea where I was and so I turned back. I did not go the same way; I decided to take a different trail, which went pretty much straight down (see above around 1 hour and 15 minutes).

The good thing about all these hills was the view. I had a view of the entire bay and San Francisco, including the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate. It was priceless and well worth the effort.

I took a photo for Grandma Lill and kept going down the hill.

Since I turned around too early, this is how I ended up not running 13 miles. Instead, I ended up with about 10.5. I have this hangup about after I turn around, I don't want to just run around in circles to add miles. I don't know why. But once I turned around, I was like a horse to the stables. So I ended up finishing with about a 10 minute/mile average. But, since I didn't complete my distance, I will just use my Bay Breeze for Grandma Lill's 95th!

I leave you with this. Wessssiiide!

source

Do you prefer out and backs or loops? Do you like running or walking in new places or do you stick with the same route? Have you ever been to Oakland?

Feb Photo Fun

I am still working on the February Photo Challenge.  I have some posts in the works about other activities from this week, so until I get my butt in gear (and my mind!) you will be entertained with #febphotoaday only!

Day 16: Something New

I recently swapped books with fellow blogger Suz. I was so excited that my box arrived! 

Hurray for new books! This also falls within the guidelines of my 12 in 2012 book challenge.

Day 17: Time

I spent most of this day driving to the Bay Area to see friends and run the Bay Breeze. 

Day 18: Drinks

Post race wind down beverage

Day 19: Something I Hate to Do

Laundry.

 

Day 20: Handwriting

My planner.

 

 Day 21: A Fave Photo of Myself

Bottling beer with the broski. 

This one is a Stout. My favorite!

Obviously.

 

Day 22: Where I Work

 

Day 23: My Shoes

Same shoes, different closet.

 

Day 24: Inside My Bathroom Cabinet

Actually, this is my roommate's cabinet. She likes to have fresh smelling armpits.

My cabinet is a toiletry bag.

 

Day 25: Green

Running in Oakland yesterday.

You can't quite see it, but that glow in the distance is San Francisco. 

It was a gorgeous day!

In a few minutes I am heading to San Francisco for an Oscar party with friends. I have no idea what movies are nominated, but it will be fun to see everyone anyway! Also, my friends are on a fast; no dairy, booze, sugar, sodium, bread or caffeine (as well as a long list of other things), so it should be an interesting (and grumpy?) party!  What do you think? Should I bring a huge bottle of wine and a cheese platter?

How was your week? Did you do anything fun this weekend? Are you going to any Oscar parties?

Bay Breeze Race Recap

Race #2 of the 2012 Running Challenge went well overall. The Bay Breeze Half Marathon, held in San Leandro, was also a Brazen race, just like race #1. If you recall, I really liked the last one (Race #1 recap HERE), so much so that I signed up for another. They are pretty cheap, compared to other races, and a lot of them are on dirt or gravel trails or paths rather than asphalt. (photo credit)

So, I know you are all wondering: how did it go!? The race was scheduled for 8 o'clock, which was not as nice as the 9 o'clock start that the last one had. A friend of mine went with me and getting her and the baby out the door and to Peet's as well as driving the 40 minutes to the start, was difficult.  We made it, but I would have rather started a little later. 

The weather started off windy, as the course was right near the water. As always, I was confused about what to wear, and not in the girly sense. We went to pick up the packet and it was a madhouse. Even though the lines were marked with letters for last names, people were everywhere and it was not well organized. It was such a difference from the last one! Last time I just walked right up and got my bib with no problems. Also the shirt line (separate from the bib line) was a mess as well, so I decided to get it after the race. 

The race went well; after the first mile the crowd was thinned out enough that I didn't have to worry about passing people, or them passing me. Most of the course was right on the water and was a nice, flat, out and back. The only thing I could say I didn't like was that the gravel in certain areas was big pieces of gravel and my feet started to be a little sore by the end. You can kind of see it in the below photo.

photo taken by race volunteer

Once I finished, I went to the t-shirt line, which was still pretty unorganized and they only gave us shirts, no other goodies. So that was a little disappointing. I always like the little samples you get afterward and I need a new pair of running shoes, so one of those Sports Authority coupons would have come in handy. However, I was not too sad, since I knew there would be Its-Its to make me forget. I went toward the food and coffee area and was wondering what all the people were in line for, until I realized...that was the food line! There must have been 200 people in line! Next time, get the darn 5k people out of the way by the time the half marathon people come in! I couldn't even get a water!

I decided that I could just go and buy myself a $2 Its-It and my friend and I left to find one. So, I wish the packet pickup, swag and after party had been a bit more organized. Other than that, the course was great. And I finished. The End.

Photo taken by my friend K's and her iPhone

Just kidding. I got a new PR, and I am very proud to say that my average time per mile was under 8 minutes! My final official chip time was 1:42:40 or 7:50/mile. So I got under the 1:45 mark and the 8 minute mile mark. This is exciting because when I was in High School, my fastest mile was about a 7:55. So I beat my High School self! Woo hoo. Take that. I guess the course was flat and fast, just like they said. No wonder it's called the Bay Breeze! (funny fact: the slowest mile was mile 1 at just over 8 minutes; the fastest mile was mile 13 at 7:37. I guess I wanted to get it over with!)

I am still kind of bummed about the Its-Its though. Did you know they've been a "San Francisco experience" since 1928?  

My next 12 in 2012 race will be the Bidwell Classic on March 3rd.

Don't forget to stop by Jill's for Fitness Friday! Also, if you are following this site using GFC, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to this blog manually so you can keep seeing me in your Reader! You can also do it using the "subscribe" button on the left sidebar.

Have you ever had an Its-Its? Do you like ice cream sandwiches? What was your fastest mile in high school?

Wine and Love (4)

I have not done one of these in a while! In case you forgot, or you haven't done this before, here is the scoop. You list what things this week are making you reach for the wine and what things you are loving! Easy, right? You can go over to Nora's site for a linkup!

Things that are making me reach for the wine this week:

- People who walk three abreast on the bike trail and don't even consider moving when you try to pass by them, turning sideways and trying to be as skinny as possible.

- Drivers who drive 55 in the fast lane. In their Prius. So they can get optimal gas mileage for their car. I am all for you getting good gas mileage, but do it in the right hand lane please.

- The unknown. The fear caused by it. This may actually warrant a martini. Or a shot of whiskey.

- Pet hair. I went to visit my brother and now I look like a walking lint brush advertisement.

- That BMW driver on the freeway. Why is it that they are always jerks? 

Things that I am loving this week:

- Visiting my brother and his girlfriend. We had a great time hanging out, cooking, eating and catching up on Kitchen Nightmares.

- Spending quality time with K & A. Every time I go and see them, that little girl is bigger and bigger! I feel like time is flying by when I see her!

- Running in a new place each day! I like to map out different runs depending on where I am staying, so I ran in 4 different places this week! It keeps it from getting boring, even if it does take a bit more time to plan.

- Going grocery shopping. Yes, I love it. It makes me happy to buy food, prepare dishes and eat them! When I am having a bad day, cooking is my stress release.

- Being in the Bay Area. Near my friends and family and Trader Joes.

- Spring. Or whatever this is. It was 70 degrees today.

Overall, this has been a great week! I have more plans to see friends this weekend so it's shaping up to be another great week again!


How was your week? What made you want a glass of wine? What do you love about your week?