Have you ever seen the rain... coming down on a sunny day?

I have... today actually. When I was walking home from the library. This weather is going to give me a seizure! The good news is that I was not deterred from running walking my errands today! It felt good to be outside even though it was a bit brisk and drizzly. Did you know it is National Library Week?! I didn't either until I went in today and saw the sign. It was another successful trip. What I like about the library is that there is never any tough decisions. You can just check out all the books you want and not worry about cost! Plus, I'm totally counting walking with 4 heavy books as my weight baring exercise of the day.

Sometimes I wake up really thirsty and nothing sounds better than some citrus!

 I think the other day I mentioned adding other things into your oatmeal besides bananas. 

Today I made pumpkin oats!

So savory and delicious.

The Mix:

1/3 C Rolled Oats

1/3 C Pumpkin from a can

1/3 C H20

1/3 C NF milk

Chia

Dash of cinnamon and pumpkin pie mix

Topped with vanilla meringue and pecans!

I used to have the biggest problem with keeping track of my spices.
I buy almost all of them in Bulk so I end up with all of these tiny baggies.
Now I keep them in clear page protectors in a binder.
Everything is nice and alphabetized so I can find them easily and know when I'm out of something! 

Then the binder goes with my other oversized cooking books!

Pre-Walk Snack!

Post-walk snack,
SOOOO yummy.
I had pizza on the brain, but somehow it melded into this...
Toasted pita with tomato, pinto beans, peppers, pepper jack cheese, arugula and sprouts.
I put all the toppings in the toaster over for about 5 minutes then topped with the lettuce.
Amazing and pretty filling!

I was also excited to run today! I warmed up with some stretches and 20 minutes on the stationary bike then hit the treadmill. I'm still hesitant to do too much and hurt myself, so I did 2.75 miles today. The first mile was a 12 minute mile and I could barely feel any pain. So I amped up the second mile to 11 minutes. The last half mile was a 10 minute mile. Pre-injury I was running all my miles at at least 10 minute miles. As I increased my speed I did notice more pain. I'm not sure if that was attributed to the speed or the length of the run. I was also VERY conscious of my feet placement, how hard I was striking and my rotation. After my run I went in to talk to my Mom and she said that usually when I run it is very loud in the family room, but this time she couldn't even tell I was on the treadmill! Why didn't anyone ever tell me I was such a heavy runner? I have very little pain today but tomorrow will be the true test.

After my run I rushed back home to shower and change and head to my Auntie Trese and Uncle Frank's for dinner! Family birthday extravaganza!

Appetizers! The cheese on the far right was soooo amazing!
I could have finished off the entire block myself.
I forgot to ask what it was exactly....
But I did hear it is a type of cheese from the region in England my cousin Rebecca's husband is from.

I would never leave my kitchen with this view!
My aunt and uncle recently renovated their house and it is AMAZING!
I love their kitchen.

My Auntie Trese is an amazing hostess and cook!
Clam linguini!
It is a family favorite that I have been craving!

I need to get this recipe! 

Beautiful food... Beautiful view...

Silly children...

Moist delicious cake...

Beautiful family...

Such a good night!

Happy Birthday to all the March/Aprilers!

I have something to admit. I'm terrible. My Uncle Frank got a new espresso machine and without thinking I tried a sip of my cousin's Mocha. 9 days until the end of Lent and I blew it! The only thing that makes me ok is that I didn't do it on purpose..... Carly said that I didn't even have to tell anybody, but I guess I do Lent every year for myself and I feel so guilty! bah....

We also discussed chia seeds tonight and my mind literally went blank when I was trying to think of things to put them in besides oats. How about Cereal, yogurt, baked goods, salads, pasta sauces.... None of those came to mind, but all would be good! Here is a link with all sorts of ideas: Chia

"End of Book One"

I am not a hippie. That being said, I have many hippie tendencies. I'm a vegetarian, I attended a liberal university, I recycle all those Diet Dr. Pepper cans, drive a gas efficient car, and eat organic whenever I can afford it. Now that you know this about me, you should also know my two biggest anti-hippie traits. Long showers and habitual book buying.

After receiving a ridiculous Puget Sound Energy bill for this month I decided it was time to end the long showers. I don't know how it happened or when, but even on my busiest mornings, shower time had stretched close to twenty minutes. So this morning I took a drastic step. I set a timer with a ten minute limit. An amazing thing happened, I only needed eight. It wasn't relaxing, but neither is opening up that energy bill every month. One more thing to add to my life resolutions: shorter shower times.

Now a word about my habitual book buying.

Barnes and Noble, Liberty Bay Books, Eagle Harbor Book Company. They all call to me. I seem to feel the most at ease in a book store. After a long day at work nothing calms me like walking through a bookstore and making a new purchase. For some reason unknown to me, I love the feeling of opening up a book and being the first to read it. Like it was created just for me. This is the first reason why I don't like library books. And no, the second reason isn't because they give you a due date, although it would have been a valid reason. The second reason is because of wait lists. If I want to read a book, I don't want to wait for seventeen other people to have it, read it and return it before I have to go there, pick it up, read it, and return it. The third reason is this: if I fall in love with a book, I want to put THAT book, the book I read, on my bookshelf forever. Sort of like a trophy.

With all that being said, buying 100 books is kind of ridiculous. So of course when the opportunity presents itself I will be thrifty. One of the 'perks' of working in a coffeeshop is the bookshelf where people leave novels they want to pass on to fellow coffee/book lovers. Mostly this bookshelf seems to be full of Sci-fi novels that I have no interest it. But yesterday I noticed two new deposits to said bookshelf that I had seen on the New York Time's Bestseller list. They have now found a spot on my 'to be read shelf.' Although I don't particularly like the idea of wait lists and pre-read books, desperate times call for desperate measures, and who knows, maybe after this experience I will be a libraryaholic. B & N hopes not.

Now an update! Book 6 "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner (Not a Coffeeshop find)

The worst words you can read when you finish a book: 'End of Book One.' Unless you are expecting a series and have the second one ready to read, it is a pretty big let down to know you have to wait ten more months to get the second installation and then another year for the third.

It is easy to compare "The Maze Runner" to "The Hunger Games," another incomplete young adult series I read last year. They both take place in an almost post-apocalyptic world, where teenagers are put in a confined area and watched by outsiders. Where "Hunger Games" is a fight to the death situation for a group of boys and girls, "Maze Runner" is a couple dozen boys and one girl fighting for their lives to solve a giant maze. The end of "Maze Runner" was a cluster of confusion that I can only hope book two cleans up. "Hunger games" has better characters and a more developed and interesting story. Because both are only the beginning of their respective series, I will give you a post dated recommendation for "Maze Runner" and "Hunger Games'," read them in three years when there are more books completed. But read "Hunger Games" first (oh and love Peeta).

If you feel the need to read a series now, I will recommend the well established "Sookie Stackhouse," "Mortal Instruments" and "Outlander" Series.