Martha's So-Called Life

dc adventures

I've been in DC since Wednesday evening.  Amanda and Heather arrived Friday morning, and Annette arrived on Friday afternoon.  We spent Friday and Saturday playing tourist.

Friday we stopped by the White House.

Went to the American History Museum.

Went to the Natural History Museum, tried to go the Archives (line was too long), and visited the house where Lincoln died (across form Ford's Theater).

Then we went and picked up our bibs for the race (it was pouring rain at that point) and headed to dinner in Georgetown near the Expo.  After dinner I headed back to Kerra's house and went to bed.  

Saturday morning I gathered my things and walked to meet the other girls at the hotel.  The plan was for me to spend the night at the hotel with them on Saturday night since it was about three blocks from the start of the race.  We didn't really want to be on our feet walking all day the day before our race, so we planned to take the hop on/hop off trolley around and see what we could see.  We got off at the Capitol and did a quick walk through, ate lunch, got back on and rode to the Lincoln Memorial, and then headed back to where we could switch lines and go towards the National Cathedral.  There was a stop that was relatively close to where we were eating dinner that night so we got off there and got a taxi to dinner.

Our trolley tour also took us down Embassy row.  Which had a lot of very interesting buildings and statues (pardon the blurry photos, they were all taken from a moving vehicle). 

Embassy of Iran

Embassy of Burkina Faso!!!

We also drove though Georgetown. 


After dinner we went to bed so we could get some rest before our race!  I'll recap that part in another post.  Now, it's time to sit on the couch and recover!

the other coast

Tomorrow night I'm headed off to the other coast for a week.  I'll be in DC visiting my college roomate (owner of the amazing Apt Envy blog), running a half marathon (Nike Women's DC!), and hanging out with some lovely ladies from various other parts of the country.  It should be an awesome week!

I'm planning on overpacking on my technology (how many Apple devices does a girl need?) and knitting projects...hopefully there will be room for my running clothes!

Regarding the half marathon, I am not anywhere close to where I thought I would be when it came to this race, so my plan is to just have fun.  The weather is supposed to be nice but not too hot on Sunday, which is always a plus when running more than 3 miles!

Now hopefully I can make it through my day at work without getting my butt kicked too badly...

freshly sewn

I have knitting projects exploding from every corner of the office, and in the interest of finishing some of them I need to just start carrying them with me.  However, my preferred method of carrying knitting projects in plastic bags, is not environmentally friendly.  So, in the interest of being green and controlling the clutter, I whipped up this little drawstring bag...

It's perfect for a sock or mitten project and it was super easy! I have a feeling I will be making more of these for various other things requring bags.  

fat in my coffee

For those of you who think I am suffering because I'm not eating sugar or grains/carbs/starch...know that I am not.  

I'm not suffering because I get to eat/drink things like Bulletproof Coffee...yes, butter in your coffee, it's amazing.  

I have my own version that I make, and I don't make it every day.  But boy it sure is tasty.

I use about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of almond milk, 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (if I'm not using butter), a couple of drops of liquid stevia, a heaping tablespoon of coconut oil, and two shots of espresso.  Throw it in the blender and blend it up until it's frothy.  Yum!

No sugar.  Just fat and caffeine to make my brain happy in the morning.  

nobody said it was easy

Sometimes we have to do hard things, and nobody said it would be easy.  Sometimes life is hard.  

I'm not alluding to anything in particular in my own life.  I just feel like things have been off lately for no obvious reason.  

Carry on, or go back to the start and try again.  

avocados and beets in my salad, oh my!

The other day I needed something for lunch (we have been severely lacking in leftovers due to my lack of cooking), so I opened the fridge and pulled out all the things I could find that might go well in a salad.  What I came up with was an odd, but tasty combination.  

1 small head of romaine, chopped
1 carrot, grated
2 cooked beets, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup leftover rotisserie chicken, chopped/shredded
1 tablespoon artichoke lemon pesto
1 tablespoon mayo

Add all the veggies to the bowl.  Mix the chicken, pesto, and mayo and put on top of the veggies.  I also added a little homemade vinaigrette (olive oil, mustard, and apple cider vinegar) to the veggies before I put the chicken on.  

So tasty!

Since John doesn't like beets and I feel like the work of cooking them (well, mostly the peeling part) is not worth it for just me, I have been buying precooked organic beets from Costco.  I'm sure I'm throwing money away, but the convenience is worth it to me!

fat is my friend

What my run yesterday morning looked like: 

I think I mentioned last week that I was once again, reevaluating my thoughts on food.  This has stemmed from a couple of very rough weeks health-wise.  I'm not going to go into gory details, but basically the scale tipped in the wrong direction too quickly for the amount I am currently eating and exercising.  I've also had a couple of other symptoms that lead me to believe I am developing a thyroid issue, but my labs are normal (perhaps I will go into more detail later...or not).  

Anyway, since my labs are normal and I cannot come up with any reasonable explanation for what is currently happening to me, I turned to my favorite source of information...the internets!  

After some Googling and a bit of pure luck, I came across some resources that I hope will turn things around for me (since modern medicine is currently not helping).  

All of these sources promote what is essentially a low-carb lifestyle.  No sugar (to quote on of the podcast guests "sugar is like a drive-by in your body"), no grains or non-vegetable sources of carbohydrates, and add more good fat into your diet.  This idea is the basis for many trendy diets and ways of eating, but when you look at the science, it makes sense.  

Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It by Gary Taubes (Kindle edition)(Paperback)

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek (Kindle edition)(Paperback)

The Fit Fat Fast Podcast 

The Fat Burning Man Podcast (he has some amazing guests who give an incredible amount of information)

The Eating Academy Blog 

Have you ever heard the phrase you can't exercise away a bad diet?  Well, with this way of thinking/eating/living you can burn fat without exercising.  Now, I'm not promoting the idea of not exercising, because I think it has many benefits both physical and mental, but most of us exercise to get skinny...and then don't.  There is a lot of information in these resources about why the idea of calories in < calories out is basically a crock.  It is mentioned several times across the board that no study ever done on that way of thinking (calories burned exceeding calories eaten leads to weight loss) has led to the conclusion that it works.  

I could go on, but I will not.  If you are interested, I suggest starting with the podcasts, as they are free.  

I plan on becoming an expert at burning fat for fuel...or as one source I found put it, becoming a "better butter burner."  

weekend adventures: merry marmot festival

This weekend was the annual Merry Marmot Festival at Arctic Valley.  I've missed the last couple of years because of work...and apparently missing last year was not a bad thing...I believe it snowed a whole bunch and the road was a giant sheet of ice!

This year after weeks of beautiful sunny weather, it decided to cloud up on Saturday, but it was still pleasantly warm and the clouds were thin, so the weather was still lovely.

I headed up the hill about noon armed with my camera and a goal of taking photos of something other than the downhill dummy launch.  When we were organizing this years event, we realized that we had very few photos of any of the other events.  

Here are a few shots from the day: 

After the events there was a taco bar for dinner and lots of music.  

We astayed the night at the hill in a friends motor home.  It was really nice to not have to make the drive home, and John and the other people responsible for running the place had to be back early Sunday morning, so it made their commute much shorter.  

Sunday morning we made breakfast and had coffee before everyone got to work.  I always love it when the AV crew gets together because there is always a large variety of delicious food and everyone pitches in to help (I actually stopped helping because I was just getting in the way).  

(yes, John made coffee for everyone in his pajamas)

After breakfast I headed home and took a two hour nap.  Kiva did too, she apparently did not sleep well in the car, even though she snubbed the cozy towel nest I made for her in the back for my jacket on the front seat.  

 

the next adventure

Yesterday in my post I alluded to waiting for news about my next adventure.  Well, it came...

I'm going to grad school (online)!  Now excuse me while I dig myself out from under the pile of paperwork I need to fill out and go find some money to pay for all of this...

 

currently

Embracing spring even though we never really got winter.

Soaking up all the springtime sunshine.

Hanging out with my favorite four-legged friend.

Working on figuring out some health-related issues.

Reevaluating my thoughts on food (again).  

Loving that it's light until after 9pm.

Waiting for news about my next adventure.

Planning our next travel adventure.

In denial that it's already April.