Is It Friday Already?

I survived my week!  Sorry I didn't do much updating (other than posting a few Formspring answers), but I like having photos on the blog and I didn't have time to download them from my phone until today.  This will be a pretty long post, so grab something to drink and get in a comfy position.

Monday was pretty much a typical day until the evening.  After work and running I attended a Yelp Elite BBQ party at Radius.  Here was the menu:

Unfortunately, I got there 30 minutes after the event started, but in that short amount of time they had already run out of the pulled pork, brisket, corn bread, and most of the potato salad!  The wings were pretty tasty though and I liked the space and the owner's impassioned speech about his employees and using local ingredients, so I'd definitely try it again for a regular meal.

Tuesday was a little more of a challenge because I had to fit in a cross-training workout along with work and The Go-Go's concert later at The Fillmore.  I decided it would be easier to work out before work instead of running around like a crazy person after work, so I got up extra early to do my 50 minutes of cross-training at the gym (25 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes bike, 10 minutes stair climber in case you're interested).

I met my friends at The Fillmore later and we took a photo of the collage that turned out to be what was used on the awesome free poster that they gave away!  

Artwork by Jason Mecier

The collage was gorgeous as you can hopefully see.  (The iPhone just doesn't do it justice.)  The artist's name is Jason Mecier and you should check out his website to see some amazing work.  He's a mosaic artist and will make artwork out of anything.  This piece of artwork had everything:  tampon boxes, make-up containers, bandage boxes...the works.  Really beautiful.  The poster was cool, too, so I'm going to Cheap Pete's on Geary and get one of their white frames:

Anyway, The Go-Go's came on at 9 and played until 10:15.  They were as good as all the times I'd seen them in the past and everyone had a blast!  The band was tight, Belinda's voice was strong, and they were all getting along and having fun.

I was counting and the first show I saw was their last tour in the 80's with Jane at the Greek Theater.  Then I saw them twice in the 90's:  once at Shoreline Amphitheater with The B-52's and Psychedelic Furs and later at The Warfield.  Then I saw them a few years ago at The Independent on Divisadero.  

Here was the setlist from my trusty iPhone notepad:

Vacation

Tonight

How Much More

Get Up and Go

Mad About You (cover of Belinda's solo song)

Lust to Love

Mother's Little Helper (cover of The Rolling Stones song!)

Automatic

Fading Fast

Cool Jerk

Cool Places (cover of the song Jane sang with Sparks)

This Town

Unforgiven

Our Lips Are Sealed

Skidmarks on My Heart

We Got the Beat

Encore:

Beatnik Beach

Fun with Ropes

Head Over Heels

Wednesday I came home from work and prepared a huge pasta salad for our company picnic on Thursday.  There was a lot of chopping and dicing involved, but here was the finished product:

I must say that it turned out really well!  Pasta salad isn't that complicated, but I did use a recipe that I ended up tweaking.  For one, it called for 8 oz. of tomato sauce to be mixed with 8 oz. Italian dressing.  That sounded weird to me and it sounded weird to other people, too, so I just used 16 oz. of Italian dressing.  I also omitted the mushrooms and used a yellow pepper that I had on hand.  Whole wheat pasta would have made this even healthier, but I wasn't sure how that would go over at a company picnic.  

Speaking of healthy, I made these awesome (and relatively healthy) "no bake" cookies right after the pasta was done:

Just oats, maple syrup, cocoa, and peanut butter.  They satisfy my sweet tooth without making me feel guilty!

After making the pasta salad and the cookies, I went to a free yoga class at Lululemon on Union St.  It was from 7:30-8:30 and it was the first time I'd taken a yoga class from an instructor other than one at 24 Hour Fitness.  (Oh, except a couple of Bikram classes, but that's a whole other arena of yoga.)  It was crowded, but I felt great after class.  I might start going on Wednesdays after my runs since it's so convenient.

Yesterday was the first night that I stayed in all week and it was so nice!  We left our company picnic at Golden Gate Park around 2:30 and I drove up to the Beach Chalet to change into my running gear and do my 5 mile training run.  It was so great for a couple of reasons:

1.  I ditched the heart rate monitor and decided to rely on what felt right as an "easy" pace instead of relying on the monitor.   Runs were becoming less enjoyable and I felt that I was able to converse (the path wasn't crowded, so I talked to myself for a while to see if I could carry on a conversation and keep my breath) running at my regular easy pace.

2.  The route was one that I hadn't done in quite a while, so the variety made it more interesting.  I was running across from Ocean Beach, the path had small rolling hills and wasn't crowded, and the weather was nice and cool like I like it!  I have 7 miles to do on Saturday, so I might do this run with an additional 2 miles tacked on somewhere.

Tonight I'm still in a staying in mood and I need to rest up for the run tomorrow and all the other stuff I'm doing this weekend.  I'm going to put off making banana bread until tomorrow afternoon and read my new book from the library tonight and maybe watch the last episode of True Blood on my Netflix DVD.  

In addition to finishing my re-read of Harriet the Spy, I'm now reading Orange Is The New Black by Piper Kerman.  It's about a woman who did some drug trafficking for a girlfriend for a short time in her early 20's and then had to pay for the crime 10 years later when she was indicted and eventually sentenced to 15 months in a women's prison.  I just started it and I'm hooked!

How was your week??

XOXO

Healthier Eating - New Breakfast!

I've been reading a few fitness and healthy eating blogs and have been inspired to attempt to make more of my own meals and vary what I'm eating. 


Here's one breakfast dish that I’m going to work into my diet a few times a week.  It’s really easy to make and contains a good amount of insoluble fiber, Omega 3s (see my recipe), and even some protein. 

Overnight Oatmeal

There are a lot of recipes for Overnight Oatmeal on the internet and I don’t think you can really mess it up, but I based my recipe on one that I read about on Peanut Butter Runner.  I think her dishes look a lot more appealing than mine, but I'm still learning!  Here's what I used:

• 1/3 cup regular oatmeal
• 1/3 cup almond milk (You could use any kind of milk, but I’m partial to Blue Diamond’s Unsweetened Vanilla, which has 1 gram of fiber for 8 oz., but only 40 calories.)
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (You could probably use any flavor you like, but I like buying plain so I can use it in place of sour cream or add honey, granola, and fruit to it to make a different type of breakfast dish.)
• ½ diced banana
• 1 Tablespoon Flax Seeds (You could skip these.  However, 1 Tablespoon contains only 35 calories, but a whole 4 grams of fiber and a lot of Omega 3s.  I just happened to have a bag in the cupboard waiting to be used.)
• Dried cranberries (You could probably try any dried fruit here.  I'd suggest dicing up any larger dried fruits, like mango or apricot.)
• Cinnamon
• Any other fruit that’s in season (I added blueberries, but you could experiment.  I’m thinking about shredding up some apple next time.)

Put all of these ingredients in a covered container, stir, and leave in the fridge overnight.  In the morning the oatmeal will be nice and soft.  You can add other things if you wish, like nuts, other fresh fruit, coconut…the sky’s the limit!  I’ve been adding a tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Mango Butter, but you could also add any other kind of jelly or jam or even some more milk. 

This makes one serving, but if I'm eating it on the weekend (when I'm not rushing to get to work) I like to have half of it first thing when I get up and then the second half of it after a workout (if I head out right away to exercise) or right before I leave the house (if I've been puttering around for a while). 

The Weekend...So Far

After last night's festivities at Bloodhound and then dinner at Rocco's Cafe, I had a pretty good night's sleep (even though I was awake in the middle of the night when a 3.3 earthquake centered in Berkeley hit and I felt the building shaking).  I woke up a little after 7AM and was super eager to use my new Nathan Quickdraw Elite water bottle that I bought yesterday for a long run.

As a little background, I normally don't carry any water with me on runs.  I know that sounds insane, but I pretty much use the same routes that I learned when I was part of a training group.  Those routes just happen to have water fountains conveniently spaced for hydration.  (Also convenient is the fact that I don't sweat profusely!)  What's not convenient is boredom with the same old routes and the need to venture to new territories (that don't have fountains).

A couple of weeks ago I tried an 8-mile run that incorporated a hilly part of the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October.  I was venturing into unchartered territory, so I brought my water bottle that fits in a waistband and sits at my back.  I thought I was going to scream before it was over.  Belt riding up my waist, bottle bouncing on my back...no bueno.

Anyway, I did a 10-mile run this morning using my new hand held bottle and had a much easier time of it!  Granted, I ran one of the same old "water fountain" routes, but at least this time I didn't need to stop for hydration!  I had to transfer the bottle from one hand to the other once in a while, but that wasn't bad.  It fit comfortably on my hand and I didn't find myself gripping it tightly.  The fabric was also soft.  It was worth giving up the freedom of empty hands to be able to get rid of the belt!  (I might give it to my Mom.  I think it might work better for walking.)

After having a gel manicure and a pedicure this afternoon (aaah...), I came home to try to make dinner and tomorrow's breakfast from scratch.  I'm not really that good at cooking and improvising, but dinner turned out great!

Dinner a la Fog Chick

This probably looks like a disgusting mess, but it's quinoa, broiled eggplant (that was marinaded in Trader Joe's Sesame Soy Vinaigrette dressing), zucchini sauteed in soy sauce, a tablespoon or so of plain Greek yogurt, and a couple of tablespoons of salsa (also Trader Joe's).  It was filling, but it was tasty and I feel good.  (Oh, and I paired it with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.  Yes, Trader Joe's Charles Shaw.  Sorry, but that stuff is good!)  Best of all, I have leftover quinoa, eggplant, and zucchini, so I might try to incorporate the veggies into an omelette or something tomorrow morning.

So, it's Saturday night and...Fog Chick is staying in.  I have several different options tonight (Club Vogue at Cat Club for dancing, New Wave City at The Blue Macaw for dancing, or all-you-can-eat shabu shabu in Japantown with friends), but I just feel like staying in and hanging out by myself.  That probably sounds weird, but sometimes I need to be by myself.  At heart, I think I'm a loner.  Plus, I have too much stuff going on next week and I'm stressing out about getting enough rest, not eating or drinking too much, and getting all my workouts completed.

I have dinner plans Monday and Tuesday (which means I'll have to get up no later than 4:15AM each day to go running and get to work on time), a Yelp Elite Event on Wednesday (I can do my run after work and still make it), and cocktails and dinner Friday night with a friend.  With all that going on next week, tonight's agenda is trying to finish my book (about Madame Tussaud), catch up on writing some Yelp reviews and uploading some food photos, and maybe working on this blog a little more.  (Oh, and maybe buying some new music from Amazon.com and finally watching the Netflix DVD that's been sitting here for two weeks.)

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'm doing.  I kind of want to see English Beat at Stern Grove, but I'm leaning toward SFMOMA (Picasso/Matisse exhibit) and maybe a movie and glass of wine after the museum.

What fun stuff are you doing this weekend?