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Sunday Comedy

Hi blog buds!

We went to zPizza yesterday for lunch after my run was finished and my girlfriend who was there with us happened to notice this note on the bulletin board.  We got a serious laugh out of it, and while it is off-topic from my usual blog material, it was too cute not to share.

This brought back memories of my having smeared mashed potatoes on the fancy wallpaper at a restaurant once when my mom was lunching with a good friend of hers.  Oh boy was I in trouble!

I figured this would give you all a little smile on Sunday night as we face the impending work week!

Is that classic or what?  :)

See you in the morning with the Marathon Monday post!  Have a GREAT night!

– Shari B. =)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hi friends!  Just wanted to hop on to the blog this morning to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Even Starbucks is in on the Valentine action!  Look what my soy latte came in:

FitFEATure:  be sure to get some cardio in this weekend to show your HEART some V-day love!

***

I’m spending the day away from the computer with MSP and we’re watching ‘relationship’ movies (The Time Travelers Wife [good] and Couples Retreat [terrible]) since it’s snowing like crazy here in the ‘burbs of Denver.  I’ll be back tomorrow with the next installment of MARATHON MONDAY to talk about the 12-miler we did yesterday!

Make it a GREAT day!

– Shari B. =)

Root Down Had Me Before Hello

Welcome to Friday-EVE friends!  I’m especially excited about this weekend because not only it is Valentine’s Day but it’s also President’s Day weekend which means Monday off!  LOVE that!

I wanted to get back out here again yesterday with restaurant news, but boy yesterday did not go as planned.  I didn’t even workout!  I had my green smoothie and then about 45 minutes later, I was looking a little green!  To the point where I had to keep sneaking into an empty office at work to lie down every few minutes because when I would sit up my stomach was ON FIRE but when I was lying flat it was fine.

What’s funny about that is I opened a new container of spinach in the morning and was in a rush so I didn’t wash it in my salad spinner.  As I did this I was thinking to myself, “well geez apparently that article didn’t jolt me as much as I thought it would if I’m not washing my greens right now!”  Fast forward to me sitting at my desk at work doubled over and I was almost laughing, thinking what are the chances of  me now giving myself E. coli or something!  Wouldn’t that be just like karma to give me a little hello?    Luckily after about 2 hours of office hide-and-seek, I forced myself to eat my Ezekial toast and that seemed to do the trick.

The question is:  will I wash my spinach TODAY? Like a Magic 8 Ball might say, “Signs point to no”.  Terrible, I know!

***

So about this restaurant… It’s called Root Down in the Denver Highlands area.  I drove forever in rush hour traffic to get there, and I’m telling you it was SO worth it.  So much so that I might bug MSP to go with me this weekend for brunch because there are so many more items I want to try.

I first heard of this restaurant from a client who thought I’d like it because of my style of eating.  Then I heard about it again from my friend and running buddy, Scott. When I went to their website to learn more, this sentence caught my attention:

Following a “field to fork” mentality, Root Down prefers to stay as organic, natural and local as possible.  We want our food to be colorful, passionate, improvisational and simplistically sophisticated.

Well of course I’m all for ORGANIC and LOCAL.  And their menu is very vegan-friendly which I also appreciate.

First, I loved that their water was served without ice.  I don’t like ice in my water for digestive reasons and I almost always forget to say “no ice”.

We started with two apps to share:  the Edamame Hummus and the Sweet Potato Falafel.  I was also eyeing the Veggie Burger Sliders, but figured I better save room for dinner.

Both items were DELICIOUS.  We ate those things so fast I didn’t even have time to take a picture!  That, and the fact that Marissa was trying to get my attention with this new rock on her finger.  She kept putting her hand in front of her face and I just WASN’T CATCHING ON.  Sorry friend!  So we were busy chatting and squealing about her engagement, and my camera was forgotten for a few minutes.  Congrats Marissa and Jerry!

For dinner she had the Red Miso Barley soup and I had the Organic 3-Way Beets salad.

I seriously ate EVERY morsel on that plate.  It was perfection.

We did peruse the dessert menu and I told the waitress that I was going to pass because all of their items contained dairy of some variety.  To which she replied, “Oh we also have vegan ice cream!”  OK, they officially are the best ever.  I still passed on the dessert because I was plenty full.  But I am just really thrilled to find a restaurant where I don’t have to make a bunch of ’special requests’ in order to accommodate my nutrition style (and fear getting an evil eye from my waitperson!)

And because I just love QUIRKY things, check out how your check arrives:

If you live anywhere in the Denver area you MUST try this place.  It’s got a really fun and unique atmosphere and the food was amazing.  Let’s give some support to restaurants aiming to make a difference using local and organic items.

Do you have a restaurant local to you that follows the same principles? Have you been to it? Let’s share restaurants we know that are GOOD for us!  Maybe another FitFeat reader lives near you and has no idea that the restaurant you know of is even there.  I don’t think I’d have heard about Root Down if someone hadn’t mentioned it to me.

Have a terrific Thursday!

– Shari B. =)

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Your Good Deed for the Day is a Simple VOTE

Hey friends, happy Saturday!

For a change of pace on the ol’ blog today, I want to share with you a very worthwhile cause.  One that you can easily help to further with a simple VOTE.

I’m a huge animal lover and those of you who follow my blog regularly know that my dogs, Riley and Rascal, are like children to me.  Love them to pieces.

My good friend Jen is also a major animal lover.  Jen never ceases to amaze me with her kind heart and super-woman qualities.  She holds down a very demanding high-level position that includes a lot of travel.  I’d list off all of her accomplishments but I don’t want to embarrass her.  Let’s just suffice to say I don’t know where she finds the time and energy to get through the jam-packed schedule she has every single day … AND THEN she still volunteers on top of it all.  A LOT.

One organization very near and dear to her is Freedom Service Dogs. If you aren’t familiar with them, you should check out their website.  Essentially they rescue unwanted or abandoned dogs, put them through an intensive training program, and then place them with injured veterans as service dogs.  Unlike some similar service dog organizations, they are not breeding dogs for this purpose.  Which means they are helping to not only save dogs from euthanasia but also helping with the overpopulation of pets.

And that’s even beside the point – the real issue here is supporting our troops, especially those who have served our country and then had to come home with debilitating injuries, many of which are permanent.

Here’s where you can help. All you need to do is VOTE!  Jen has entered her adorable dog Dyson into a contest, in hopes of winning the $10,000 grand prize – ALL of which she will then donate to Freedom Service Dogs.

The Bissell contest site does require you to create a login (I keep an old Yahoo email address specifically for times like this.)  Once you enter your email and a password, they’ll email your confirmation and then you can go vote for Dyson  HERE.  You can search for her using Entrant # 0402474 or by name. It’s just a few easy mouse clicks to help Freedom Service Dogs toward the chance of a large donation.  Easy peasy, right?

If you have a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, email, word-of-mouth, etc., Jen, Dyson and I would all be so grateful if you’d spread the word to help Dyson AND Freedom Service Dogs win.  You can use this link to get them here for the info:  http://wp.me/pFQCz-Gm

Thanks FitFeat friends!  I KNOW I have the best readers!

***

More About Dyson:

Dyson is a rescue dog herself, with her own interesting story (this dog had a tough start in life and I think she was destined to land in Jen’s home where she is given the care and attention she needs).  Dyson also hopes to one day be a therapy dog.  Here she is playing in her first snow storm (as Miss Dyson came from Texas!)

***

More About FSD:

Silly Server

Hi friends!  It’s FRIDAY!  So happy about that!

Well if any of you tried to access FitFeat last night, you probably had no luck.  That is the second time this week that the server on which I’m hosted has been on the fritz.  Not sure what’s going on, but I hope they get it figured out on their end soon.  I’m sure all of my buds with blogs out there know the sick feeling you get when you attempt to access your blog and you get… nothing, nada, zip.  The first thought that crosses my mind is, “Aaaaccccckkkkk, have I been hacked?”

So if you didn’t see yesterday’s post about my mom’s totally rockin’ homemade spinach noodles, check it out by clicking HERE.  It does include fun with my spiralizer!

If the server stays up long enough today :) I’ll plan to be back later this afternoon with the post topic I mentioned earlier this week (prescription meds.)  This morning has been spent looking for a route for tomorrow morning’s 7+ mile run and all of a sudden it’s after 5:00 AM and time to get my workout started!  You’d think you’d have plenty of time in the day when waking at 4:10, right?  Not so much!  Day still flies by!

Enjoy your Friday morning and with luck on my side, I’ll see you back here later today!

– Shari B. =)

PS:  I added a Twitter badge off to the right side of the blog here, so if you want FitFeat updates (like “Aack, server down! Server down!“) click on “FeatTweets” to follow me.

Perfect Ending, Perfect Beginning

Hi friends!  Thank you so much for all of the congratulatory messages yesterday for our anniversary.  We had a GREAT day!

We got to eat some Chinese food for lunch:

Miso Soup

Spicy Shrimp & Veggies

We finally got the pups out for a WOG (it’s been a long time!) 

We “visited” Wii Resort for an activity-filled afternoon:  canoeing, skydiving, wakeboarding, archery, swordfighting, frisbee, ping-pong, tandem cycling and jet-skiing.  I think we played EVERY game that comes on this disc.

I was working so hard playing I needed a protein-shake break!  This one turned out SOOOO yummy!  Half a scoop of my new Life’s Basics protein, half a scoop of chocolate Vega, almond milk and carob powder.  Can’t beat a protein shake that mimics a chocolate milkshake.

We had a delicious dinner of salad and pita pizza:

This particular pita pizza turned out to be KNOCK-YER-SOX-OFF good.  I cut half of the pita off like so:

Added a light smear of olive oil, nutritional yeast, sliced romas, olives, a very LIGHT sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  Then I lightly sauteed one whole portabella, 1/3 zucchini, and a big handful of spinach to add on top.  Baked at 425 for about 10 minutes and then devoured. It was tastebud heaven.

Then we enjoyed a little anniversary treat:  MSP and I shared a piece of white cake (to give the ‘illusion’ of wedding cake ;) – but wedding cake always tastes so much better – must be all the LOVE surrounding it at receptions!)

It was the perfect day – hanging out together and having a lot of laughs.

Today is ‘back to business’ day:  get out for a run, some blog work, take down the Christmas tree and decorations, housecleaning, write thank-you notes, etc.  A “to-do list” kind of day!

But before I get busy on ‘chores’, I have to rewind a bit back to new Year’s Eve.  Talk about another fun-filled day!

I woke up at 4:00 AM as you may recall from my post that morning, worried that I would NEVER be able to make it until midnight.  I got in 45 minutes of cardio (treadmill/boogie combo) so that was good.  The work day flew by and then I came home to start getting my stuff organized to take to the dinner we were invited to that evening.

I took a huge salad, the sweet cashew cheese with crackers, hummus and baked pita chips, a big veggie tray and some marinated mushrooms:

Even MSP liked the cashew cheese (be sure to serve it with a slightly sweet cracker – I think it makes a big difference.  We used Carr’s Whole Wheat cracker which almost has a shortbread texture.)

The dinner our friends made was AMAZING.  I enjoyed two HUGE crab legs while MSP had steak (he’s the Turf to my Surf.)  We all played Wii “Band Hero” (which I must admit I am TERRIBLE at) right up until it was time to see the ball drop.  And at about 12:20, it was time for us to scoot so we could get home and to sleep.  I was awake until 1:00 (which meant by that time I’d been up for 21 hours straight).  I was out cold the minute my head hit the pillow.

The last few days have been filled with such good times, great friends, fun healthy food, games that require movement – the perfect ending to the year Thursday night and the perfect start to the new year yesterday.

Here’s to 364 more days just like it!

Have a SWELL Saturday, FitFeat friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Eight GREAT Years!

Happy New Year everyone!  2010 is upon us and I have a feeling it’s going to be a fun ride!

I’m foregoing a ‘regular blog post’ today to celebrate a different (and very special holiday) in my household!

Eight years ago today, I married my best friend, known on the FitFeat blog as MSP (My Sweetie Pie).  I don’t put his handsome face on the blog very often but I made an exception today.  ;)   I’m so lucky to hold the honor of being his wife.

I love him even MORE after 8 fantastic years than I did when we married, if that’s even possible!  He puts up with all my shenanigans, crazy-making, and the inevitable “Shari Adventures” that I somehow always seem to get us into.  One of these years, I hope to learn how to have even a FRACTION of his patience and kindness.

Thank you MSP for always being my LIFESAVER:

And for being my partner on our HIKE through LIFE:

Can’t wait to see what the next 8 will bring!

Mrs. B  =)

Fun with Zucchini

Hi friends!  It’s Wednesday!

Are you excited for New Year’s Eve tomorrow?  I am!  Not that I’ll see midnight (I rarely do anymore!)

This morning’s post has to be a QUICK one.  Thanks to some technical difficulties (you know me and my electric force field that seems to freak out all the stuff I use) I wasn’t able to get online to work on the post this morning as I usually do.  Now I’m crunched for time!  Can’t we add about 3 more hours of TIME to each day?

On the exercise front, our new Wii game arrived last night, “Just Dance” and I had a hilarious time trying to follow the dance to MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” (I have video but it will take a lot of money to get me to post it!)  ;) This game is crazy fun.  I love it.  Next time I’ll have to wear my heart rate monitor to see how it fares as ‘exercise’.  It FELT like I was working hard.  Somehow in the video, my “hip hop dancing” looks more like a Jane Fonda aerobics video!!

Basic eats yesterday to be sure.  Oatmeal in the morning with some raisins, coconut, raw honey and cinnamon:

Mid-morning I had two mandarin oranges.  Lunch was another Black Bean burger with a side of leftover tomato soup from Chipotle… gotta love my dark and blurry iPhone pics at my desk!

That’s a “Veggie Slice” soy cheese on there along with some zucchini hummus, romaine, cucumber and roma tomato.

Dinner was odd, but fun.  I took two Wasa crackers, smeared them with zucchini hummus, added pepitas, sun dried tomatoes, half of a small avocado, then covered the whole thing with spiralized zucchini.  Mmmm.  Funny looking, but GOOD!

Yes, Santa brought me a spiralizer!  And I swore I took a picture of it, but I can’t find it so I’ll have to take another one.  I’ve added this spiralizer to my FitFeat Faves Store, so you can take a gander at it there for now if you’d like.  I used the medium blade on this one so that I ended up with zucchini ‘noodles’ the thickness of spaghetti!  This is the best way to have fun eating your veggies!  Thank you, Santa!!  I’ll be talking a lot more about this fun tool in future posts.

My apologies for the Speedy Gonzales post but I have to head to work or I’ll be late!  :)   I still have to pack my lunch and I need to be on the road in 8 minutes!  Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday friends!  See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

The Sugar Express to Moodyville

Don’t you just hate it when you are just starting to type a draft post and you INTEND to click on “Save Draft” but your mouse flies over to the  ”Publish” button like some out-of-control Ouija board pointer???  Then in a nanosecond you’ve published a ridiculous blog post, but it seemed like it happened in slow motion. You saw the publish button and it half-registered in your brain as “yeah, I know that button” and then, POOF!  You’ve sent said post out into the world for all to see!  

If you got your RSS or Google Reader feed titled “Dulse” with only one sentence in it, that would be why.  :) I was just making a draft note to myself for a future post and clicked on the wrong button.  Aaaaccck!  I did not see it hit either of my feeds so hopefully I deleted it in time!

Note to self:  do not start working on the blog when you are within 45 minutes of bedtime.  Or after a day filled with refined sugar for that matter.  It apparently makes the mouse hand FLINCHY!

Yes, I had a day filled with sugar.  O Fitness Lord, forgive me for I have sinned!  :)

I have been dragging hiney all week.  I am pretty sure I know why, but rather than combat it with super healthy foods as I know I should, I’ve  perpetuated it with the completely WRONG choices – today especially.  I’m putting this out here for a few reasons.  One, because health food bloggers tend to get lambasted for setting standards that supposedly others “can’t meet” or that set incorrect food expectations (I guess meaning they think we only show the good stuff?)  Two, because I want my readers to see that I am not a perfect eater and that I have days where my hormones or emotions get the best of me just like every other woman I know and I put stuff in my face that is going to store itself squarely on my hips.  :)  

It started with a venti half-caff soy no-foam latte.  In and of itself not TOO terrible.  Except that Starbucks uses the sweetened vanilla soy milk (23 g sugar) so when you combine that with how caffeine can also elevate your blood sugar I gave myself a double whammy that set me up for the rest of the day. 

img 1017

I also took the lazy route on my greens and bought a Naked Juice green drink in lieu of my homemade smoothie.  Which adds another 66 grams of sugar (or thereabouts.  That’a a LOT of sugar!) You will find that I don’t often drink juices, because while I agree they are full of nutrients, personally I feel that the lack of fiber causes spike in your blood sugar if you drink it alone.  I know this and I still bought the juice anyway.  Granted it has some great stuff in it, like chlorophyll and barley grass and other green goodness.  It just wasn’t what I needed on top of how I’d already started my day.  I’d just added insult to injury.

1 juice

Then I proceeded to munch on homemade peppermint bark and caramels that a coworker’s wife sent in with him to our office.  They were so darn tasty – but even MORE sugar (couldn’t tell you the grams but I’d bet I ingested three times what that Naked Juice had in it!)

When I finally did eat a very late lunch it was 2/3 can of Amy’s Soup in Curried Lentil flavor – my first fiber of the day. But the damage was done.

1 soup 

I was a blood sugar rollercoaster and my mood was along for the ride. 

I know this about myself.  When I eat too much sugar, my mood takes a nosedive simultaneously with the sugar crash.  And once it gets started, it’s a tough to normalize.  I tried to have some ‘protein’ (raw goat cheddar) and ‘fiber’ (air popped plain popcorn) when I got home. 

But by the time poor MSP got home, let’s just say I was a MEAN MOODY mess with a few tears thrown in and leave it at that.  If I were him I would have locked Miss CrankyPants in a closet with a protein shake until she got a grip.  He puts up with SO much more than he should.  I know Cindy can relate, per her post from last night!

I did end up having some egg salad on an Ezekial pita for dinner.  Easy peasy:  two HB eggs with some light mayo and some spinach.  Quick.  Simple.  DEVOURED!

img 1019

This morning, I FEEL the sugar.  Ladies when you wake up in the morning and your knuckles feel tight, your face is puffy (especially under the eyes) and you can feel the bloat under your skin all over, that’s from overdosing on refined sugar and/or carbs the previous day.  Just in case you didn’t know what was causing those symptoms.  :)

Am I going to mentally beat myself up for the day of food sins?  Nah.  I don’t do it that often.  This week has been a weird one with scheduling, not much exercise, holiday stuff and some PMS thrown in.  I chalk this up to life in the female body and move on.  Because I know it’s not my regular habit. 

Will I restrict my calories today to make up for the ‘bad food choices’?  Nope, because that will just lead to more poor choices.  I’ll get right back to my ‘regular’ eating.  What I WILL do is maybe add in MORE of my nutrient-rich powerhouses to make up for the nutritional stress I put my system through.  One of those nutritional powerhouses is DULSE, which reader Joan asked me to elaborate on.  So stay tuned – my next post will include delightful dulse info!  (Thanks Joan for the question!)

I’ll also be sure that I drink adequate water today and get back to being ‘nice Shari’ so that MSP feels like seeing my face this weekend!  :)   

Today’s discussion topic is all about going off the hormonal deep end with food – does it happen to you?  Do you go for sweet or salty, or both?  Do you notice any affect on your mood or body? 

The good news?  It’s FRIDAY!  Can I get a WOOT WOOT?  And it’s Friday before a SHORT WEEK next week!  YAY! 

Have a FABULOUS Friday friends!  See you next time to talk about DULSE!!

– Shari B. =)

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O Sleepless Night

“…Why aren’t my eyelids closing?”  (to the tune of O Holy Night)

:)

Once in awhile I have an insomniac kind of night.  It happens so few & far between now, maybe once a month at the most.  I’ll take it over the full fledged chronic sleeping issues I had in the not-too-distant past.  Sometimes my brain just gets a little busy and won’t let me flip the switch.  I did sleep some, but woke up at 2:15 and then it’s all ” eyese wide open” from there on out!

Now this one on the other hand… she has NO trouble with sleep … ever.  “Play dead, Riley!”  “OK mom, if you say so!”
 img 994

Ahhh, the life of a spoiled dog!

So this morning hasn’t been my usual speed.  I did get a workout in though since I know I won’t tomorrow.  I am going to be insanely busy between now and 6:00 PM tomorrow.  Then I’ll probably come home and nosedive straight into bed! 

I’ll be back later this afternoon with a regular-sized post, where I’ll talk about Lemon Dill Baked Turnip Greens and some Buffalo Broccoli:)

Have a wonderful morning and I’ll see ya later today!

– Shari B. =)

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