Just Another Manic Monday....

In yesterday's post I mentioned a party I attended on Saturday.  This party was a surprise 15th birthday party for my cousin, Drew.  My regular readers will note that I celebrated a birthday of my own just a week ago.  Drew's birthday comes 6 days after my own and  we have celebrated our birthdays together his entire life.  Sharing your day might not be some people's cup of tea, but to those who don't think it sounds like fun, I say:  Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

I had 10 birthdays on my own before Drew came along and I've had 14 birthdays with him (I'm accounting for year 0 here because I guess I suddenly care about math).  I always celebrate my birthday with with my friends and my parents, but somehow it doesn't feel real until Drew and I have taken cheesy pictures together and fought each other to see who could blow out the most candles.  Drew was the first baby in our family after I was born, he was the first chance I had to be a big cousin, he was the first kid I babysat for and the first kid I put in time out (he bit his little sister).   He used to sit on my lap while we took those cheesy birthday pictures - if he did that now you wouldn't see me in the picture!  Needless to say; I feel his increasing age more acutely than I do my own.

So I'm 25 now - its official. I feel like I should have an aura of wisdom about me or at least feel smarter than I did.  I don't.  Perhaps that will come in time.  I was surfing around some blogs today and I found this post at Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit.  Take a trip over there and get some good life advice!  A lot is health related, but a lot is just good sound advice from people who have lived a lot longer than I.    So what have I learned in these 25 years?

1) The past is just that.  What you were matters much less than what you are now.

2) If you think you can't do something, you're right.  Remove the word from your vocabulary.

3) Your grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle or parent possesses a skill you think is old fashioned.  Ask them to teach it to you.  The lesson you will learn has nothing to do with that skill.

I'll give it back you, gentle readers:  What have you learned in your time on this earth?

Better Late Than Never?

This is ... Friday's post?  I believe I was going to discuss my weekend plans.

Saturday morning was a regular group run with BGRC, we had a new member, Kim join us, which was exciting.  There was a lot of traffic on the path that morning since Chicago is only two weeks away.  It was my first run since before I got sick and my cough kind of got in the way, but I still made it just fine.  It really felt good to get my legs going after all that time!

Saturday afternoon I helped Court set up for her wine tasting, which was one of her final fundraisers for the fall season.  Her raffle is ending today as well, you still have a couple hours to enter, the link is on this page.

Saturday evening I went to a surprise birthday party for one of my cousins.  We had a lot of fun and I think my mother, aunt and myself convinced my cousin to join us in Disney World for the Princess Half in February.  I'm so excited for that trip and even more excited for the race!

Signs of Life

Good news darlings!  I am finally getting better!  Granted, I have infected my entire family now, but seeing as how this illness seems to not be life threatening (though I was wondering Monday night if the end was neigh...) I don't feel that bad about it.

And, since I am well, it means back to work for one young blogger.  Depending on how I feel and when I leave work tomorrow I'm seriously considering spin class in the evening.  Regardless, I will be reclaiming my title of Bad Girl on Saturday morning for our regularly scheduled group run.  Go HERE for more info on that.

Also:  There is the tricky matter of P90X.  Those DVDs are staring at me, mocking me, challenging me.  Dare I make the commitment?

Two other business matters to address:

1) My best friend has been working her butt off all summer.  Do you know why?  Because she is trying to save some lives.  Courtney is a mentor for VTNT's Nike team.  Not only is she fundraising and training for a half next month, she's also guiding her TEAM as they do the same.  Right now Courtney has a super awesome raffle for LLS and donating just one dollar qualifies you for an entry!  Help her out if you can in anyway, her fundraising deadline is almost here!

2)  I used the word "regardless." Properly in this post.  I did that just for one certain person...she knows who she is.

Tomorrow. . . a post about the weekend to come.

Vegetarian Chili

As promised, here is a lovely recipe that can be made totally meatless.  I make mine with ground turkey, but you can sub it out for meat substitutes or just skip the meat all together and add more beans to beef it up (no pun intended!)

Olive Oil
1 Large Spanish Onion, diced
1 Green pepper, diced
4 - 6 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and minced
2 cans chopped green chiles, drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 Bay Leaves
2 Cans Chili Tomatoes
2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
2 Cans Black beans, drained and rinsed
2 Cans Chili-ready (spicy) kidney beans
1 large can tomato juice
Salt, Chili Powder, Red Pepper flakes and/or Cayenne pepper to taste

In a large soup or stock pot saute onion, green pepper and garlic until onions are soft (watch your heat, don't burn your garlic or you'll be chopping all that onion again).  If you intend to add meat/meat substitute, do so now. Add Chiles and Cumin, cook through. (If using meat, make sure its cooked through before moving on)  At this point you will have a kind of yucky yellowish/green goo if you're not using meat.  It will look gross.  I promise yummy things shall come out of it.  Add both cans of Tomatoes.  I do not drain my tomatoes, but you can if you feel committed to it, I like the juices off the chili tomatoes though.  Add beans and stir thoroughly. Pour in tomato juice and stir.  Add bay leaves, and any spices you want at this time.  Simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Serve hot or allow to cool and freeze in one batch or smaller containers.

Variations:  You can substitute fresh peppers for the green chiles.  This will be a matter of personal preference and what is available in your area/that season as well.  I would probably use 1-2 Serranos or several Anahiem peppers if I were able to come by them at that time.  1-3 Jalepenos would also be a pretty safe bet.  However, feel free to experiment, just keep a glass of milk nearby!

Beans are the bulk of this meal, and you can use any kind you like.  I've done this recipe with Garbanzo beans, corn, navy beans, kidney beans and black beans in any and all combinations.

Also, watch your tomato juice!  That stuff is LOADED with sodium, so this recipe shouldn't need much salt.  Low sodium V8 works well and packs a little extra in the vitamin department.

There you have it, lovelies...now tell me:  how spicy do you like your chili?

What I Need is a Good Defense....

I have a confession:  I've been a bad Mommy to my little blog.  What have I got to say for myself?  Well, I've been sick for a week - REALLY sick the last three days.  However, the week before that I was just being plain old lazy.    I owe you lovely readers recipes and stories and many, many things (I haven't forgotten that vegetarian recipe I promised either!).

Tonight, we shall address two things:

1)  Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes, you're far too kind :)  I'm now a quarter century old and said birthday was celebrated with all the pomp and circumstance that is appropriate for a woman of my slightly advanced years.  Seriously, birthday weekend was rocking and I'm sure I partied harder than was good for me, which is no doubt why I'm suffering now.  That said - TOTALLY worth it!  Check out Court's blog for details and pictures!  Which brings us to....

2)  I have been extremely remiss in not plugging Courtney's latest fundraising effort.  She is holding a crazy, massive, awesome raffle to benefit Team in Training.  I'm a TNT alum and I know some of my readers are too.  Its an excellent cause and her prizes are absolutely amazing.  She's got running jewelry, t-shirts, bags, sunglasses, GU packs....the list goes on.  Take yourself on over to Run, Courtney, Run to check out her full list of prizes and find details on how you win them!

That's all I've got for you tonight, my lovelies.  I promise more tomorrow.  Leave me a little love.  Oh, and if some one can tell me who I blatantly stole the title of this entry from you shall be held in high esteem by this crazy blogger forever!

Challenge: Week Three

Week three started yesterday.  I'm definitely starting to struggle now.  Between the holiday weekend and life getting busy in general I'm finding its hard to find time to work out, hard to find time to plan meals and hard to remember to to give a little love to my blog.

I have P90X now and I should have started it last week, which didn't happen.  Now I'm getting nervous because I know I have two busy weekends coming - My cousin is getting married this weekend and next weekend is my birthday - and I'm afraid I'm going to completely lose sight of my goals.

Long term goals are easy to set, but short term ones are easier to achieve.  From now on, I"m going to set weekly goals to help me achieve the goals I've set for the 100 Day Challenge.

So here are my goals for this week:

1) Start P90X.
2) Be a good girl (or Bad Girl) and run tomorrow.
3) Eat healthy foods for the remainder of the week.
4) Run 10 miles by the end of the week (I'm aiming low, but tomorrow is Wednesday).
5) Not let everything I need to do for this weekend steam roll these goals!

What are little goals you set for yourself that help yourself stay on track long term?

Bad Girls

Courtney and I are bad girls!  This evening was the first meeting of the Bad Girls Running Club.  We were joined by Amanda from Get to Goal. We're super excited to get this group off the ground.  If you know any Bad Girls in the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago send them our way, we'd love for them to join us!