10 Days of Thanksgiving: Days 9 & 10

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Today I will be working and then joining the masses in the great Thanksgiving migration. I hope everyone has a great day today and tomorrow and that you eat lots of great food and have a great day with your friends and family. Here are my last two of ten things that I am thankful of this year!

9. My Feet 

 
“Running isn't a sport for pretty boys...It's about the sweat in your hair and the blisters on your feet." -- Paul Maurer. My feet have taken me many miles. I have been lucky. I have friends who cannot run due to injuries or pain. Not only that, but they have taken me hiking up high mountains and through cities. I do run a lot but I also love to walk. Lately I have been taking walk breaks in San Francisco for a half an hour here and a half an hour there. I play a game where when I get tot he corner I go whatever way is green. I am having a lot of fun seeing little things that I never noticed before.

10. Family

Each year the definition of family gets broader and broader.  The people you see every day at work, the friends who you can pick back up with after months of separation, the blood relatives and their relatives and their friends. This year I am spending Thanksgiving with my brother and his lady and her family. It will be a different day than normal, but regardless, it will be spent with family.

Where is the best place your feet have taken you? Who are you spending Thanksgiving with?

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 6, 7 & 8

There are only two more days until Thanksgiving! And so many more than two more things to be thankful for! Here are a few more things that I am happy about this year!

 

6. Employment

We tend to take this for granted, but after having several months off, I don't sneer at a steady income. Of course, I am still keeping an eye out for the perfect traveling, photography, writing job with good pay, so if you know of an opportunity for that, let me know.

7. Having a 401k

When I was 18 and I was getting my first corporate job, an older friend of the family told me to put at least as much money into my 401k every month as the company would match. He suggested putting more if I could, but that I should at least put in the company match, since if I didn't I would be essentially throwing away free money. He was right, and now I am giving the same advice to people just starting out in their first big job.

8. Travel

Clearly these all go hand in hand. Whatever money I am gaining from employment and not putting into my 401k is going toward as much travel as I can do! Some years it's more than others and this year has been a bit slower than normal, but I have been lucky to both do some traveling around my home state as well as doing  some visiting with friends and family around the country. I hope I will continue to make time for travel, as it is something I really love! 

Kansas City

Washington DC

Oregon

Yosemite

Do you have a 401k? Did you do any fun traveling this year?

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Many people get stressed out with all the extra work that the holidays bring. Not only do you have to do your regular day to day things, but throw in grocery shopping, having a kitchen or house full of people and having to get up early and plan and cook everything so that it hopefully comes out of the oven all at the same time, and you can easily have a meltdown on your hands.

Personally, I love to cook and like we have talked about in some of the previous What’s For Dinner posts, planning ahead is key. It’s hard when you only have four burners and one tiny oven, but it can be done, and it can be fun.

For several years, I was a vegetarian, so I left the cooking of the turkey up to the carnivores. My favorite thing was the sides. Now, I love cooking and eating turkey, but my favorites remain the same. I could eat side dishes all day. Oh wait, I DO eat side dishes all day. However, this can be traumatic on my waistline! So there are a couple of things that I do in order to not feel the post dinner food coma and accompanying guilt.

First, I sign up for a Turkey Trot! I know, it’s sometimes hard to fit in in, but you can put the turkey in the oven and then go off and run. It takes less than an hour for most and you end up feeling invigorated afterward! The other thing I do is that I try to cut down on my butter and sugar intake by doing a few subs to my favorite recipes.

One of my favorite side dishes is sweet potatoes! However, the general recipe is loaded with butter and sugar. Personally I like the taste of the potato and don’t need to cover it up with sugar, so I just go Au natural. Also, I love the flavors of fall, so why not work with what’s available?

Cinnamon Apple Sweet Potatoes

3 Large Sweet Potatoes (or Yams)

1-2 Large Apples

1 cup pecans

4 Tbsp Brummel and Brown spread

2 Tbsp cinnamon

½ -1 cup Craisins

1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Dice up the apples and sweet potatoes and put them in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss together thoroughly. Put mixture in 9 x 13 baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally (3 – 4 times). Remove and enjoy! The apples give it a bit of sweetness without the added sugar.

__________

Another dish I love to make is dessert. One of my favorite recipes is for these pumpkin spice muffins. If you sub part of the sugar with splenda and use Brummel and Brown rather than butter, you have a muffin you can sink your teeth into without feeling the Turkey Day bloat. 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

1 cup Flour

¼ cup Splenda

¼ cup Sugar (or you can use ½ cup sugar only)

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon

½  tsp Nutmeg

½  tsp Salt

4 Tbsp Brummel and Brown spread, cut into pieces

1 -1 ¼ cup Pumpkin Puree

½  cup Evaporated Milk

1 Egg

2 tsp Vanilla

½  cup craisins (or raisins)

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

¼  tsp Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin tins.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in spread with two knives or your fingers until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Use a ¼ cup measure to fill 12 muffin tins with batter. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin. Bake for 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes before taking out of the tin. If you are like me, you will not listen to this advice and you will take one “ugly” one out for a sample right away. Somebody has to do it. 

Thank you to Good to Know & Unilever Spreads for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Who is the Thanksgiving chef in your family? What is your favorite dish to eat? What is your favorite Thanksgiving recipe?

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 4 & 5

I will be foregoing my weekly Fitness Friday post today for a continuation of the 10 days of Thanksgiving. Today we have number 4 and number 5 of the 10 things I am thankful for this year.

4. Where my Parents Live

I have posted about this a million times before, but the place I grew up is so beautiful. It is pine trees and clean air and swimming in the cold river on a hot summer day. It is the sound of birds in the morning and the smell of pine and the wandering up and down through the mountains. It is a great place to go home to. I can't wait to go home for Christmas and play in the snow and bake cookies and play a few rounds of Rummikub and read my book near the fire. For some reason it's that much sweeter at Mom and Dad's house.

Hiking with Dad

Lovely snowy day

5. Public Transportation

One of the best things about living where I do is the fact that I don't need a car. I could probably write a whole post about this too. I have talked a little bit about the Casual Carpool, which is how I get to work, and it only takes about 20 minutes. Going home, I take the bus, which also only takes about 25 minutes. There is also the option of taking the train or a boat. I also walk a lot, and it is nice to have the option to do so. Other than that, there are options for bike shares, car shares, rent by the hour and more. One thing I recently found out about is Get Around, where you can rent out your own car if you don't need it, or you can rent a car by the hour if you do. I love that my monthly transportation cost is roughly 150 dollars and that's including all transportation and gas!

My favorite - the F train

Do you enjoy going back to the area you grew up in? How much do you spend a month on transportation?

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 1, 2 & 3

Lately, I have so many things going around in my head that I cannot make them settle coherently. This is good timing though, since last year I joined up with Lisa to do the 10 Days of Thanksgiving and it's about that time again! Like last year, I will not necessarily do one a day, but there WILL be 10 things! You can see the ones I did last year here. Also like last year, I am a little late to the party. That's the way it goes in November, I guess. The first three are kind of a theme... Here they are: Things I am thankful for this year, number 1, 2 and 3!

1. Where I Live

The neighborhood

This year I am lucky to be in the Bay Area, where the weather is perfect running weather all year round. No matter what you like to do, it is here. Within walking distance, there are restaurants, grocery stores, running trails, art, wine and easy biking paths. It is all here! There is something for everyone and the everyones are varied. I like having varied everyones around me.

2. Great Food 

Pancakes at La Note

Ethiopian? Vietnamese? Nepalese? Burmese? YES PLEASE! I love all the great ethnic food near me and let me tell you, I MISS that when I am working around the country. I get so tired of fried food and meat with gravy. I want a nice, steaming hot bowl of Pho! So that's great. My other favorite thing to do is Brunch. I have a list of places To Try that I am working on, albeit slowly! Some of my local favorites? Brown Sugar and Sams Log Cabin. This is up for change though! Any suggestions?

3. Places to Run 

Huckleberry Preserve

This deserves a post all on it's own, but it is so nice to not only have a great neighborhood to run in, but also several paths nearby. Best of all, there are several parks with many, MANY different trails to run on. As you know, trail running is my favorite thing to do and I also think running hilly routes is better for you, is less monotonous and makes you stronger overall. So having these so near to me is pure BLISS. I don't ever want to live anywhere where I don't have trail access ever again!

What are you thankful for this year? What is your favorite thing about the area you live in?

Looking Forward

Today I am looking forward to hopefully talking to my Mom on the phone before she leaves to go Back East to see HER mother. She and my Dad are finally taking a couple weeks off to go travel and have fun and see some family. I am so excited for both of them. I am also looking forward to my lunch time walk, which affords me views like this:

This week I am looking forward to dinner and running with the Broski (he still has not given up! Hurray!), a short work week (I guess that is next week though but I am taking it) and lots of pumpkin based dishes! I already made pumpkin curry, pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin seeds and...whoa I am starting to sound like Forrest Gump! Pumpkin!

This month I am looking forward to many family and friend reunions! November and December are all already booked full every weekend. There will be turkey with the Broski, brunch with friends, friends coming to visit from the Midwest, a holiday walk in the city with the family, 2 concerts and more! It will be a packed 30 days (or 45!)

This year I am looking forward to getting more comfortable at work, traveling, settling in more, running a couple of Ultras and of course The Boston Marathon! The family is probably going back east with me for a grand hoopla of a time. It should be a lot of fun!

*inspired by Lisa

What are you looking forward to? What is your favorite pumpkin dish?

Postcard from Paris

I arrived in Paris on a beautiful Saturday morning in the 18th arrondissement.

I found my way haphazardly to my girlfriend Julia's flat using broken French and my smile!

I opened the gate to paradise...

and documented myself in the mirror to make sure this was all real.

I rode the metro from Chateau Rouge to Palais Royal to find my Paris daydream.

I found it!

I took my goodies to the Pompidou...

and sat soaking up the sunshine.

I ate the most delicious ham and swiss quiche!

Then devoured it...

I watched the Alexander Calder spinning above me...

and eventually wandered to my single most favorite art piece in Paris.

I strolled to the Tuileries Garden...

and remembered all the things I ever loved about Paris.

I watched the French being French...

and pictured myself riding a golden horse through the streets of Paris.

I found my stride when landing on Rue Saint-Honore...

and saw inspiration in every shop window!

including this one...

I stumbled upon this view...

and finally found the source of my macaron obsession. 

Here I saw life through pastel colored glasses.

Tea for one please!

I said goodbye to my friends at Laduree...

and discovered spoons falling from the sky.

I found the missing obelisk from my trip to Luxor, Egypt this past April.

Then stopped for drinks with a real Frenchie at Hotel Costes

The next morning the train awaited but I left my heart in Paris!