So I ran 7 miles...

and it was awesome.

Actually, I ran 7.15 miles, which is awesomer.

The first few miles were a bit of a mental battle because I was just scared of trying to get over the six mile mountain (since a 10k is the farthest I've ever run). Once I turned around, I started feeling more mentally stable and when I had about a mile and half left to go, I knew I was going to do it and I DID! I ran it in about an hour and sixteen minutes, which is a great pace for me for such a long run.

I ran four and half today at a 10.03 pace. I can't believe how fast I was! Tomorrow, I am making the hubs leave me at church so I have to run home. It's only three and a half miles, so I can do that easily. :-)

I've settled into my new job pretty well now that I have new tires on my car. ;-) I've been planning away for when I get my kids on the 24th.

I promise I have a recipe coming. It's called Moroccan Braised Beef and it is tasty! I should also have a new chicken chili recipe sometime soon, too. I am making that in the Crock Pot tomorrow for dinner. :-)

Have a good long weekend everybody!

First day of work!

If there was a day that I would not condemn myself for using some colorful language, yesterday would have been it.

About 30 miles into my journey to school (about half way), I hear THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK coming from the front left area of my car. I think to myself "This can't be good." I pull over, and with one deft motion, I pull open the door handle, press the door lock button, and get out of the car. Without my keys. Which are in the ignition.

Of course, I do not realise this until I try to get my coat out of the door as traffic whizzed by at 75 miles an hour two feet from me. I walk around the car frantically, trying to show some kind stranger that I need assistance, considering everything I have is in the car (read: cell phone). After about two minutes of this, I see in front of me that an SUV is in reverse on the shoulder coming toward me. I begin to cry and pray that this person is not an ax murderer.

My rescuer came with a cell phone and a kind spirit. I called the hubs, explained the situation, and then while he turned around to go back home, I called school to let them know that their new English teacher will be late on her first day. Mr. Discovery and I tried the over the phone keyless entry trick to no avail, so he had to drive 30 miles to come save me, calling a few times on his way to make sure I had a jack and tire iron for changing the tire.

My rescuer stayed with me until a State Trooper arrived. At this point, the whole ordeal began to seem quite humourous. The State Trooper told me to wait in my car to get warm, until I kindly reminded him that part of the dilemma was that I could NOT, in fact, get in the car because my keys WERE, in fact, in the ignition. So begins my first ever adventure in a cop car. I got to see how the radar works, and I got to see my incident on his computer. Awesome.

Mr. Discovery arrived after about 5 to 10 minutes in the cop car. We got into the car. We took all of my extremely heavy boxes of books for school and placed them on the side of the road. We lifted the flap that covered my spare tire, jack, and tire iron. Oh wait, my tire iron, the one I'd told my husband I had, was NOT there. Awesome.

Mr. State Trooper then said that he lived five miles away and could get his toolbox to get my wheel off. The situation was no longer humourous. Nor was it humourous when he had to step on the wrench just to get the lugnuts off. They were extremely tight. It also wasn't humourous when my spare was basically flat. Or when we had to drive 5 miles to the next exit to put air in it. Or when I had to drive 50 miles an hour on the interstate.

Luckily, my dad was able to pick me up from the garage and take me to school, at which point I was only two hours late. The situation was funny again, until...

I get a call from the garage. "Ma'am we are having trouble finding the front left wheel. Can you call back and let us know where to find it?"

"Why yes, kind sir, I can tell you that it is in Richmond because my husband, brilliant man that he is, took the wheel back to Richmond with him." Awesome.

Well, the husband drove it back into Charlottesville, gave it to the garage, and I got two new lovely tires on my car. Also, we had dinner at Asian Fusion, because it was getting late, I didn't want to cook, and that place is right next to the garage and its awesome.

The ironic part (oh wait... "There's more?" you ask?) I was going into the garage on the 17th to get new tires. They just couldn't wait that long.

It's funny again. :-)

It's over... and it's beginning

Well, the Christmas decorations are down and the house is overrun with gifts from our loving parents who don't know how to stop buying things for us. We've not been home in almost three weeks and there's a lot of catching up to do around here. Taking all the decor down and rearranging the furniture is giving me a good opportunity to clean deeper than usual... if only I didn't want to clean at night instead of during the day when I am home during my last week of freedom. That's right; I start my job on Monday! I'll be teaching 9th grade English and I'm pretty nervous, but I think it will be a very good opportunity for me.

With the holidays, I've had some trouble keeping up with my half training as well as I'd hoped, but I've gotten in some good runs despite the holidays and various ailments I've had throughout the past month. I hope everyone is having a great 2011 so far and I'll be updating with some new recipes very soon. I think you'll see more CrockPot recipes from me when I start work! :-)

Had to make a quick post to say...

I got a JOB! I will be teaching 9th grade English at a school in Charlottesville! I am so excited!! :-)

Our working vacay to the Greenbrier turned into a celebration for me!

Us at the Greenbrier this morning!

Have a great night!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Well, the Christmas tree is up, the presents are bought and wrapped (all but a few), and I think I'm going to go crazy! But first...

I made my first Thanksgiving meal this year, and that was really fun.



The Bird



The Feast

 I made: Mashed Potatoes (olive oil, skim milk, herbs, salt and pepper), Turkey, Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole (recipe), Baked Apples (the one utterly sinful thing I made), and Green Bean Casserole (Mr. Discovery's favourite). My mom made sweet potatoes (she's the only one who eats them), stuffing (her mother's recipe), and the pumpkin pie. :-) It was a great little afternoon of gluttony all around.

So back to the crazy.

Friday morning, Mr. Discovery and I leave for The Greenbrier because he's second shooting on a wedding there, in addition to an engagement session and the rehearsal/dinner. I get to hang around the resort/casino for some amazing times with a girlfriend of mine. SO excited!

We will depart the resort on Sunday for the Lower School Christmas Party! This is pretty much the most fun you can have in a single night!

Thursday, we are co-hosting the Christmas Party for our Sunday School class. I say co-hosting because I'm making the arrangements, but someone else's house is the location. Our class has doubled in the past year, so I just can't accomodate the group at our tiny little apartment. What would I do without wonderful friends who will loan their house out for the evening and let me plan (I LOVE to plan things)!!!

Friday (17th) we head to Baltimore where I will assist Mr. Discovery in photographing a wedding for one of his co-workers. We will spend the whole weekend up there, including our anniversary, which is Monday, the 20th.

From there, we go to Lynchburg to be with Mr. D's family through Christmas, then we'll depart bright and early on the 26th for Charlottesville where I'll FINALLY get to see my precious, precious niece!!!!! :-) I can't wait to see that little one! She's be 21 months old in three days; the time flies too quickly! We'll finally get back into Richmond for the New Year, and then, it's back to reality.

O I say all that to say: If you don't hear from me, I'm terribly sorry. Not that I've been the best blogger in the world, but still... I do like to have a reason for my bad blogging habits!

Half training is going well, but I've had to rearrange a lot of runs because of all the Holiday festivities. I feel guilty for skipping runs early on, and I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt. :-) I've had to do a lot of runs on the treadmill because it's been in the teens and twenties here with the wind chill this week. I hate the treadmill, but I really prefer running after dinner because I feel completely fueled and ready to go.

If I don't post between now and Christmas, a merry, merry Christmas to you all.

Half Marathons, Recipes, and Life OH MY!

So, I started half training yesterday. 2.5 miles in 26 minutes. I was mentally preparing for that run all day- making myself get out there. The hardest step is the one out the door.

Well, I've made some pretty yummy things lately.

Spicy Shrimp Fettuccine

Ingredients

• 9 ounces uncooked whole wheat fettuccine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1-1/2 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
•  2 cups reduced-sodium tomato juice
•  1/2 cup tomato sauce
•  1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•  1/4 teaspoon salt
•  1/4 teaspoon pepper
•  4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup white wine or Reduced-Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil

Directions

1. Cook fettuccine according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, saute garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the shrimp, tomato juice, tomato sauce, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and wine until smooth; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and sauce is thickened.
3. Drain fettuccine; stir into skillet. Sprinkle with basil just before serving. 

Review: Mr. Discovery was not a fan the first night, but he liked it the second time around. I think the sauce was too thin the first night, but for lunch the next day, it was thicker. I loved it both times.

Favourite Skillet Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed (I used Italian seasoned ground turkey)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 jar (14 ounces) spaghetti sauce (I used about 16 oz because that's what I had left in the jar)
• 2 cups uncooked whole wheat egg noodles (I used about 2.5)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. In a large nonstick skillet, cook sausage and onion over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, egg noodles, water and zucchini. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Combine the ricotta, Parmesan and parsley. Drop by tablespoonfuls over pasta mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese; cover and cook 3-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 5 servings.

Review: I licked the plate. It was that good.

Grilled Tilapia with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons capers, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 4 tilapia fillets (6 ounces each)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. For vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons basil, olive oil, garlic, capers and lemon peel; set aside 2 tablespoons for sauce. Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper. Brush both sides of fillets with remaining vinaigrette.
2. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack. Grill, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 3-4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Brush with reserved vinaigrette and sprinkle with remaining basil.

Review: Very good. Next time, I might make a little more of the vinaigrette, because it just didn't feel like there was quite enough of it to go around.



Well, there you go! I hope you find something in there! All of those recipes were from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking.

I've had a lot of subbing lately, which has been lovely. Big paychecks before Christmas! :-) I have today off, so I am finishing up Christmas decorating today before I have an Art class tomorrow and Band classes on Thurs/Fri. And of course HARRY POTTER comes out on Thursday night!!!!!!!! Totally going to the midnight showing.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Good day to you!

Hello everyone out there in blogland! So sorry for my absence. I'm just not feeling the blog thing lately- I've not been eating well, I've not been running, and I've just come from the doctor to find that I now weigh the most I have in three years. Awesome. In the past two years, I've gained about 10 pounds. That's not cool. I keep telling myself "After my birthday, I'll start eating better," "After the weekend, I'll start eating better," "After I start training for my half..." and so on. You get the picture. Ugh.

I do start training for my half in two and a half weeks. I still can't believe I am going to try to run 13.1 miles. YIKES. We'll see what happens.

Lately, we've been working with the children at church for the upcoming Christmas musical. Can you believe Christmas is not even two months away? I can't. Haha. It's a crazy time, but they are so cute and we have a lot of fun with the little ones. I've also started helping a great lady with the organization of Operation Christmas Child at my church. Instead of having people fill boxes and then bring them in, we are having people bring in a lot of stuff and then the women of our church are having a salad dinner and box packing party in November to get the presents ready for the kids overseas!

No recipes today... Like I said, I've not been on my game lately... It's been pretty bad around the Discovery household. Sorry blogland!