1. Trip. Sam and I have been talking for a few months about taking a trip to visit a family member. His dad is in Atlanta, I have aunts, cousins, and grandparents in Pittsburgh, he has an uncle in San Francisco, we both have family in Florida... Basically we have have lots of great places to visit and people to see! I think I've figured out the best time for me to take off work, so now I just need to get it approved, Sam needs to take the time off, and we need to buy tickets! Hm, when I write that out it doesn't like we're actually that close to a trip...
2. Running partner- A girl I went to high school with recently posted on Facebook looking for a running partner. We weren't friends in high school. We were both on boards of different Young [Political Party] clubs and worked together planning a debate, but I think that was the extent of our interaction. Still, I commented on her post and it turns out that we live just two miles apart. She lives in the other arts district in the city. My neighborhood is the hipSTER spot and she's in the hipPIE area. We have a run planned and I'm looking forward to it, but also kind of nervous! What if our pace doesn't match up? What will we talk about?
3. Errands- I buy groceries/household supplies/pet things from lots of different stores. One place has the best prices on organic produce, but I get vitamins from the health food store, and spices from the Asian market, and so on. Normally it's not that much of a hassle, but this week we ran out of everything, so I have a million stops to make.
4. Library- I used to buy any book I wanted to read. I wanted to have them so in case it was great and I recommended it to someone I could just pull it off my shelf and lend it to them! That was great, until in college when I was in a new apartment pretty much every year and, DUDE, books are heavy. I realized I was constantly moving a collection of books that I had no real attachment to. Pretty soon after they came out my dad got me a Kindle for Hanukkah. I love the convenience, but it seemed expensive for a book you can't physically hold in your hands. For a while I was buying used books, figuring if I just donated them or sold them back to Half Price Books when I was done, it was no big deal because, meh, it cost few dollars to begin with. Recently, I've rediscovered the library. I don't know why it took me so long to end up there! I mean, I was the kid with my own library card with my name scrawled in newly-learned cursive on the back. I LOVE the library, but I find it a little stressful. I feel a lot more pressure to finish a book knowing that it's due back soon. I have two reserves ready and I'm putting off picking them up, because I'm not done with my last book yet, so I don't want to start the clock ticking on the time I have if I can't even start them, and it's just a lot of pressure, OKAY?
5. Poop- I started my morning picking up cat poop from the bathtub and dog poop from the living room. Our stupid foster dog is perfectly housetrained when it comes to peeing outside, but is convinced that the corner of the living room is the only possible place for poop. Super adoptable, right? Does anyone want a pit bull with a janky leg, a skin allergy, and the promise of poop in your house? Not everyone at once, now!
6. Short run- Thursday mornings I do a short neighborhood run. Depending on my miles for the rest of the week I do either 3.5 or 4 miles on Thursday. Somehow the difference of half a miles seems huge. In reality, it adds or subtracts MAYBE four and a half minutes? But somehow when I have 3.5 planned I hop out of bed and out the door thinking "I'll be home in no time!"But when 4 is on the schedule? I reeeaaally have to talk myself into it.
7. Sunday dinner- We've recently started hosting Sunday dinner at our house. My mom comes, Sam's family came last week, and next weekend a friend from school is joining us. I love it. It encourages one good mopping a week, I love nothing more than feeding people, and it's just a nice way to end the weekend. I'm hoping that it becomes the type of thing that our friends and family remember each week and join us whenever they can.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Low Fat Vegan Apple Cake
I made an apple cake last weekend for Rosh Hashanah. I suppose the responsible thing to do would be to post it before the holiday was over, but it's a good fall cake too! It's dense, which I like in a bundt cake. The texture is great and it holds up well.
Low Fat Vegan Apple Cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 45 minutes
Serves 12-18
Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl combine flax meal and water and beat vigorously until well combined. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, and spices. Add the flax mixture, applesauce, oil, syrup, and vanilla, stirring as you go. The batter will be very thick, so if you have a stand or handheld mixer, this is a good time to use it. Fold in the apples (I used two granny smith and one Gala and I didn't bother to peel them). Grease a bundt pan and transfer the cake batter to the bundt pan. Use a rubber spatula to pat it down. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Shana Tovah! And I won't judge if you eat a slice for breakfast... I mean, it is a holiday.
Low Fat Vegan Apple Cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 45 minutes
Serves 12-18
- 1/4 c. flax meal mixed with 1/4 c. water
- 3 c. all purpose flour
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 heaping t. cinnamon
- 1/2 t. cardamom
- 1 c. applesauce
- 1/4 c. canola oil
- 1/4 c. maple syrup
- 2 t. vanilla
- 3 apples, chopped
Shana Tovah! And I won't judge if you eat a slice for breakfast... I mean, it is a holiday.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Greek Fest 5k
Oklahoma City has a pretty great annual Greek Festival. I've been before and there's dancing, art, tours of a Greek Orthodox church, but most importantly, food. OMG, the food. One of my favorite bloggers, Jennie runs with a group called Running to Drink and I imagine I'm the lone member of a Running to Eat All the Hummus group. Anyone want to join a hummus fan club/running group? The bib fee for this race includes free entry into the festival (ie, hummus), so when I saw that I immediately logged into SignMeUp.com and registered.
The race started at 8:30, which seemed a little risky to me. Sometimes in mid-September Oklahoma is cooling down already, but sometimes it is still thousands of degrees, so I felt great anxiety about signing up for a race that started two full hours after my normal running start time. It turns out I was worried for nothing because the weather was great for running. It was 59 degrees and drizzly.
I woke up a little before 7, got dressed, gave the cats some ear scratches, and ate a banana spread with peanut butter. I got to the race site a little before 8, picked up my bib and chip, and milled around stretching. I met up with a guy from work, Robert, who runs a 5k just about every weekend this time of year. I jogged a little bit to warm up and then it was time to start! Robert and I started together, but he took off ahead of me around the half mile mark. The course ran down a main street into a neighborhood, so there wasn't much scenery to enjoy. Around mile 1.5 I caught up with Robert and then passed him. I knew I was pretty close to the front and passed a woman about my age who I'd been neck and neck with for about a mile. Around mile 2.5 I started to feel a little nauseous. This has happened to me before at 5ks. I don't know if it's from pushing myself harder than I'm used to, or nerves leading up to the race, but I knew I wasn't far from the finish so I backed off a little bit on speed and just concentrated on keeping my feet moving. The girl I passed earlier came out of nowhere and was ahead of me. With the way I was feeling I knew I couldn't catch back up with her and she ended up finishing just a few seconds faster than I did.
At the finish I looked down at my GPS and it said 24:13. A PR! I was surprised when the results were posted and it showed my gun time at 24:48. I would still be perfectly happy with 24:48, but it seemed like a big difference. Several people were complaining that their gun time was off their GPS time and everyone was saying it was by about 30 seconds. The race organizer blew it off at the time, but I got a call later from someone with the timing company who said that the person who shot the starting gun was using a watch without a second hand, so they just assumed it was at 8:30:00, but many people had come to them saying their time was off. They were calling people to ask if they had used a GPS and then used that the determine when the starting gun was actually fired. The results online put my time at 24:13, so that's what I'm sticking with!
I ended up as the third place women's finisher and won a $15 gift card to a local running store. I drank some water, talked to Robert for a bit, and then got in my car. The festival didn't actually start until noon, so anyone wanting to attend is supposed to wear their race shirt when they go back for free admission. Saturday is normally my long run day, so I planned to run again after the race. I drove to Lake Hefner, which is on my way home and has nice trails for bicyclists, runners, and walkers. On the way there I drink some more water and ate a pack of Justin's chocolate peanut butter. My first mile at the lake was pretty rough, but after that I got into a rhythm and the time flew. I intended to get in 5 more miles, but I didn't turn around soon enough so by the time I made it back to my car I had run about 5.6 miles. 3.1+5.6= 8.7 AND I get to go back to the Greek Festival this weekend and eat my hummus. Great Saturday!
The race started at 8:30, which seemed a little risky to me. Sometimes in mid-September Oklahoma is cooling down already, but sometimes it is still thousands of degrees, so I felt great anxiety about signing up for a race that started two full hours after my normal running start time. It turns out I was worried for nothing because the weather was great for running. It was 59 degrees and drizzly.
I woke up a little before 7, got dressed, gave the cats some ear scratches, and ate a banana spread with peanut butter. I got to the race site a little before 8, picked up my bib and chip, and milled around stretching. I met up with a guy from work, Robert, who runs a 5k just about every weekend this time of year. I jogged a little bit to warm up and then it was time to start! Robert and I started together, but he took off ahead of me around the half mile mark. The course ran down a main street into a neighborhood, so there wasn't much scenery to enjoy. Around mile 1.5 I caught up with Robert and then passed him. I knew I was pretty close to the front and passed a woman about my age who I'd been neck and neck with for about a mile. Around mile 2.5 I started to feel a little nauseous. This has happened to me before at 5ks. I don't know if it's from pushing myself harder than I'm used to, or nerves leading up to the race, but I knew I wasn't far from the finish so I backed off a little bit on speed and just concentrated on keeping my feet moving. The girl I passed earlier came out of nowhere and was ahead of me. With the way I was feeling I knew I couldn't catch back up with her and she ended up finishing just a few seconds faster than I did.
At the finish I looked down at my GPS and it said 24:13. A PR! I was surprised when the results were posted and it showed my gun time at 24:48. I would still be perfectly happy with 24:48, but it seemed like a big difference. Several people were complaining that their gun time was off their GPS time and everyone was saying it was by about 30 seconds. The race organizer blew it off at the time, but I got a call later from someone with the timing company who said that the person who shot the starting gun was using a watch without a second hand, so they just assumed it was at 8:30:00, but many people had come to them saying their time was off. They were calling people to ask if they had used a GPS and then used that the determine when the starting gun was actually fired. The results online put my time at 24:13, so that's what I'm sticking with!
I ended up as the third place women's finisher and won a $15 gift card to a local running store. I drank some water, talked to Robert for a bit, and then got in my car. The festival didn't actually start until noon, so anyone wanting to attend is supposed to wear their race shirt when they go back for free admission. Saturday is normally my long run day, so I planned to run again after the race. I drove to Lake Hefner, which is on my way home and has nice trails for bicyclists, runners, and walkers. On the way there I drink some more water and ate a pack of Justin's chocolate peanut butter. My first mile at the lake was pretty rough, but after that I got into a rhythm and the time flew. I intended to get in 5 more miles, but I didn't turn around soon enough so by the time I made it back to my car I had run about 5.6 miles. 3.1+5.6= 8.7 AND I get to go back to the Greek Festival this weekend and eat my hummus. Great Saturday!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
24 Good Deeds, Days 10 and 11
18. Collect school supplies. I love school supply shopping. I think when I was in school it might have even ranked above back to school clothes shopping. I found a local organization that collects donations for a teachers' warehouse. Using their wish list, I headed for Target and picked up Kleenex, crayons, notebooks, and reward stickers. I missed the most recent drive, but I have all the supplies packed up and ready for the one in September.
19. Donate to Goodwill. I took a bag of donations to our local collection center.
20. Give to the homeless. The closest main intersection to my house is a gathering space for a lot our OKC's homeless population. We were even featured on The Lost Ogle recently. There's one guy who stands outside the 7-Eleven and asks for very specific amounts of money. On Tuesday I stopped for a drink on my way out of town and he asked me for $0.85. I went inside and bought my drink and gave him a few dollars when I came out. I hope the fact that it wasn't $0.85 exactly isn't an issue...
21. Deliver supplies to Wild Heart Ranch. My dad and I share a birthday, so the day before I went to the rural town where he lives so we could spend it together. One very cool thing about this town is that it's home to Wild Heart Ranch, a wildlife rescue that takes in orphaned, injured, or otherwise unable to care for themselves wild animals. They nurse them back to health and release the animals. Before I made the trip, I got our their website and looked at their wish list. My dad and I went to the feed store and each bought a bag of crimped oats (two good deeds for the price of one!) and delivered them.
22. Bake for the staff at WHR. The staff of Wild Heart Ranch has been working non-stop all summer caring for the orphans that come with spring and summer. I baked a batch of muffins and delivered them when we delivered the oats.
23. Bake for a bake sale. Remember when I said my main goal was to cook for as many people as possible? I baked muffins for the Light the Night bake sale at work. The sale ended up raising almost $500 for leukemia research.
19. Donate to Goodwill. I took a bag of donations to our local collection center.
20. Give to the homeless. The closest main intersection to my house is a gathering space for a lot our OKC's homeless population. We were even featured on The Lost Ogle recently. There's one guy who stands outside the 7-Eleven and asks for very specific amounts of money. On Tuesday I stopped for a drink on my way out of town and he asked me for $0.85. I went inside and bought my drink and gave him a few dollars when I came out. I hope the fact that it wasn't $0.85 exactly isn't an issue...
21. Deliver supplies to Wild Heart Ranch. My dad and I share a birthday, so the day before I went to the rural town where he lives so we could spend it together. One very cool thing about this town is that it's home to Wild Heart Ranch, a wildlife rescue that takes in orphaned, injured, or otherwise unable to care for themselves wild animals. They nurse them back to health and release the animals. Before I made the trip, I got our their website and looked at their wish list. My dad and I went to the feed store and each bought a bag of crimped oats (two good deeds for the price of one!) and delivered them.
22. Bake for the staff at WHR. The staff of Wild Heart Ranch has been working non-stop all summer caring for the orphans that come with spring and summer. I baked a batch of muffins and delivered them when we delivered the oats.
23. Bake for a bake sale. Remember when I said my main goal was to cook for as many people as possible? I baked muffins for the Light the Night bake sale at work. The sale ended up raising almost $500 for leukemia research.
24. Buy a drink for a stranger. This was the only time in my 24 good deeds that I really had to interact with someone and tell them what I was doing. Some of my good deeds were done anonymously and some, like donating to Wild Heart or Pit Bull Rescue, are things you don't have to explain. Sometimes people want to make donations, let's move on. This time I was at a convenience store getting a drink to last me for my drive back to Oklahoma City. There was a man ahead of me in line buying a bottle of soda and a slush.
"Excuse me?" He didn't hear me the first time. "Excuse me? I'm trying to do good deeds for my birthday and I was wondering if I could buy your drinks?"
He looked seriously confused. Nervous laughter. "What?"
"She wants to buy your drinks," from the cashier. Thanks, dude.
"See, it's my 24th birthday and I'm trying to do 24 good deeds."
"I've never heard of that."
When I got out my money to pay for my drink and his, the cashier informed me that my drink was on him and wished me a happy birthday. That's what I really wanted from my good deeds. Not a free Diet Dr. Pepper, although that was great. I wanted the people impacted by them to do something nice for someone else so in the end it wasn't just 24 good deeds, but maybe 36 or 48.
Monday, August 27, 2012
24 Good Deeds, Days 8 and 9
14. Buy dog food for Pit Bull Rescue Oklahoma. This is the rescue I adopted Kimmy from, and the group we're fostering Katie for. They do amazing work saving dogs and educating the public. They are always full and have a high food bill, so I try to help out with food occasionally. Next time I see the director I'll be delivering 70 pounds of food for the pitties.
15. Make a meal for the Carolyn Williams Center. The Carolyn Williams Center is a group home for young men who have aged out of the foster care system. I used to volunteer there weekly teaching a cooking class. Yesterday I made a big pot of pasta with veggie sauce, garlic knots, and peanut butter brownies and delivered it to the guys for Sunday night dinner.
16. Send books to my cousins. We recently had a book sale at work. All the the adult books skewed towards daily inspiration and the best way to cook beef in your slow cooker, but they had some great kids' books. I bought some for my cousins, Riley (age 12) and Kendall (age 6) and mailed them to Pittsburgh. I think it's fun to get an unexpected gift in the mail, especially for a kid who isn't used to getting mail of their own.
17. Give blood. I've been giving blood since I became eligible at 17. I'm not afraid of needles, I don't have any adverse reactions, and since my skin is practically see-through, I'm an easy target for phlebotomists. It's such an easy thing for me to do that can make a big difference to someone else. The last two times I've donated my pulse has been so slow that I have to get a supervisor to override the system to let me donate. I texted my mom while I waited today.
15. Make a meal for the Carolyn Williams Center. The Carolyn Williams Center is a group home for young men who have aged out of the foster care system. I used to volunteer there weekly teaching a cooking class. Yesterday I made a big pot of pasta with veggie sauce, garlic knots, and peanut butter brownies and delivered it to the guys for Sunday night dinner.
16. Send books to my cousins. We recently had a book sale at work. All the the adult books skewed towards daily inspiration and the best way to cook beef in your slow cooker, but they had some great kids' books. I bought some for my cousins, Riley (age 12) and Kendall (age 6) and mailed them to Pittsburgh. I think it's fun to get an unexpected gift in the mail, especially for a kid who isn't used to getting mail of their own.
17. Give blood. I've been giving blood since I became eligible at 17. I'm not afraid of needles, I don't have any adverse reactions, and since my skin is practically see-through, I'm an easy target for phlebotomists. It's such an easy thing for me to do that can make a big difference to someone else. The last two times I've donated my pulse has been so slow that I have to get a supervisor to override the system to let me donate. I texted my mom while I waited today.
"I'm just waiting on supervisor approval to donate."
"Is your heart still beating?"
"43 times a minute."
"Well, that's enough to keep you alive, it seems."Yes. Yes, it is.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
24 Good Deeds, Day 7
9. Bake for the comic shop crew. I have to admit that when I decided to start this project my main goal was to find 24 ways to cook for people. Sam has a friend who owns a comic shop and the guys there are always willing to receive food. They occasionally do a superhero class for kids on Saturdays and Sam went to help with it today. I sent him with mini coconut cupcakes for the staff and attendees.
10. Race for charity. This morning I ran the Salvation Army Red Hot Kettle 10k (race recap soon). Good for the Salvation Army, good for me.
11. Volunteer for animal rescue. The rescue I foster kittens through had an outreach at a Petsmart in the suburbs today. I volunteered to transport animals so as many of the available animals as possible could be there to try to get adopted.
12. Treat the volunteers. The volunteers who stayed all day at the adoption event had the task of schlepping animals in and outside on an Oklahoma August day. When I went to pick up animals I stopped at Sonic first for slushes for the volunteers,
13. Leave an unexpectedly large tip. While my time waiting tables was unsuccessful and thus very, very short, I am the child of two former servers, so tipping well is a requirement in my family. Today I wanted to surprise someone with an extra big tip. Sam and I went out for my traditional post-race Boca burger and I tipped our waitress about 80%.
10. Race for charity. This morning I ran the Salvation Army Red Hot Kettle 10k (race recap soon). Good for the Salvation Army, good for me.
11. Volunteer for animal rescue. The rescue I foster kittens through had an outreach at a Petsmart in the suburbs today. I volunteered to transport animals so as many of the available animals as possible could be there to try to get adopted.
12. Treat the volunteers. The volunteers who stayed all day at the adoption event had the task of schlepping animals in and outside on an Oklahoma August day. When I went to pick up animals I stopped at Sonic first for slushes for the volunteers,
13. Leave an unexpectedly large tip. While my time waiting tables was unsuccessful and thus very, very short, I am the child of two former servers, so tipping well is a requirement in my family. Today I wanted to surprise someone with an extra big tip. Sam and I went out for my traditional post-race Boca burger and I tipped our waitress about 80%.
Friday, August 24, 2012
24 Good Deeds, Day 6
Today is busy, busy getting ready for a party I'm throwing for theatre friends from my high school days. Despite all the party prep, I wanted to get a good deed in, so I chose one of the quicker items on my list.
8. Leave popcorn at Redbox. I bought a box of microwave popcorn and taped individual bags to the Redboxes around my house. Hopefully it makes someone's movie a little more enjoyable!
8. Leave popcorn at Redbox. I bought a box of microwave popcorn and taped individual bags to the Redboxes around my house. Hopefully it makes someone's movie a little more enjoyable!
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