Monthly Archives: May 2011

A Day Together

Posted on May 31, 2011 by inmytummy| 21 Comments

Because of Jason’s work schedule, we very rarely get to spend the entire day together. It normally only happens when he takes a weekend day off and that’s usually because we’re going somewhere or we have some sort of plans. We don’t really ever have a day to just bum around together very often. Mondays are his normal day off so we actually had the whole day yesterday to spend with one another.

We decided to go to brunch in the morning at Murphy’s. Neither one of us had been there before but it’s actually where Murphy the dog’s name came from. When we were thinking about getting a dog, we were literally driving around calling out names of places and streets to see if any of them were a good fit for a dog name. Murphy stuck.

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I had the Eggs San Francisco with no hollandaise sauce.

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Even though we heard great things, neither one of us were too impressed by this restaurant. I’m not very into Southern-style food, which is what this was, Jason realized he didn’t like poached eggs which is what he ordered and to top it off, our server kind of sucked.

Dinner, however, was much better! Because Memorial Day is somehow synonymous with barbecueing, we fired up the grill.

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On the menu were Black Bean Burgers from Daily Garnish, veggie kabobs with mushroom, onion, red pepper, cherry tomato and zucchini and grilled corn. Our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs and we were too full to eat the corn.

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(There are three burgers because dividing the recipe in half was easier than dividing it into thirds!)

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All washed down with a cold beer that I’ve had in my fridge for over a month!

I try to be mature about it on the blog and not constantly whine, but it’s really hard to only have rare days that you can spend with your husband. I try to tell myself that it makes us cherish them more.

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Posted in Atlanta Restaurants, Vegetarian Meal

Too Hot

Posted on May 29, 2011 by inmytummy| 15 Comments

Here’s the thing about living in Atlanta: festival season quickly turns into hot as hell season. There are still festivals going on, but they aren’t quite as fun when it’s 90 something degrees outside with the sun bearing down.

Despite the warm temps, Alayna, her husband Jeff and I set out to explore the Decatur Arts Festival. We first met up for lunch at Raging Burrito. We started out with a pitcher of margaritas. I’m not normally a big margarita drinker. Mostly because I don’t like the taste of sour mix and I feel like if I’m going to be drinking a high-calorie beverage, it needs to be one that I enjoy. However, every now and then, I feel like having one and today was one of those days.

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I got the Frisco taco salad on top of lettuce instead of chips. I’m not sure where the spinach and cucumber were, because they weren’t in my salad. It was basically vegetarian chili on top of lettuce. I’m okay with that though.

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After our bellies were full, we set out to look at some art and met up with my friend Erin. There were lots of booths with fun things to look at and it wasn’t extremely crowded, which was nice.

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We lasted for maybe 20 minutes before finding a shaded area to sit down. There were bands playing so we listened to music and people watched for a while.

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We attempted to look around some more but the heat just became somewhat unbearable so we took a look at one more row of booths and called it a day.

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Murphy, on the other hand, was chilling (literally) at home with his new summer hairdo. We didn’t intend for it to be this short and he looks sort of funny and much smaller than he did before. But I’m sure he’s much more comfortable. He was also feeling festive, I guess.

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Posted in Atlanta, Blogger Meet-Up, Friends, Murphy

Forks Over Knives

Posted on May 28, 2011 by inmytummy| 12 Comments

Jason and I went to see Forks Over Knives last night. If you haven’t seen it, the whole premise of the movie is that we can control our health with what we eat. Forks over knives (medical knives, like scalpels). It’s based on the separate research of two doctors – Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esslestyn, both of whom came to separate conclusions that a plant-based (aka vegan) diet can stop and, in some cases, reverse a whole slew of medical problems.

I’m not a nutritionist or a doctor. I just have an interest in food and health. I’ve read a bunch of articles on this and I’ve read Dr. Campbell’s book, The China Study. (Just a side note that I thought the book was totally boring because it was a scientific study. I’m a girl with a degree in art and english, not science!) I’m familiar with their claims and I didn’t really learn anything that surprising in the movie. Although, it was pretty interesting to see actual examples of people who had changed their lives through their diet, it wasn’t shocking to me.

However, I really think Jason got a wake-up call. He eats the Standard American Diet. While he likes and eats vegetables and healthy stuff, his diet consists of a lot of processed food, fast food and meat. At 30 years old, I think he’s starting to realize that he’s not invincible and the choices that he makes will have an impact in regards to his health.

I agreed with lots of the points in the movie but I do wonder whether or not it’s the animal protein in the Standard American Diet (SAD) or the combination of animal protein plus processed and refined foods in the SAD that’s causing so many medical issues. Is it actually the meat itself or the general diet? That said, although I’m not a vegetarian (I eat fish), I’m a total proponent of the vegetarian diet and I think it’s hugely beneficial.

When the credits started rolling, I looked at Jason staring at the screen and said, “You were either totally affected by that movie or you want to eat a burger!” Guess which one it was?

We went to a Thai restaurant next to theater for dinner and shared two vegetarian entrees! While Jason eats my vegetarian meals at home, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him order a vegetarian entree at a restaurant where meat was available.

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While I was running this morning (5 miles, most I’ve done in like a month!), I was thinking about something. Like I said, I’m not a vegetarian; I eat fish and seafood. Why? Really the sole reason (is sole a type of fish? No pun intended!) is that going out to eat is a huge part of my social life. I want to try new restaurants and not feel like I can’t go places because there is nothing on the menu for me. So I eat fish because then I know there will always be something I can eat. Sometimes I feel guilty about it. I’m not vegetarian simply because it’s easier not to be. But, as I came to realize on today’s run, I’m still doing something. Just because I’m not 100% whatever label doesn’t mean that I’m not making a difference in my own health. Something is better than nothing.

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Posted in Vegetarian

Food Guilt

Posted on May 27, 2011 by inmytummy| 23 Comments

I went out to eat last night with my friend Erin.

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I went into the evening thinking that I was going to stick to water and have something semi-healthy to eat. I ended up getting caught up in the moment, drinking three drinks and splitting an order of fried calamari with Erin on top of my semi-healthy meal.

I wish that I could sit here and honestly write that having fun with friends and eating something fried is living my life and more important than always eating healthy. And I do believe that. But I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that side of guilt that came with the calamari.

I know that I can’t be a “perfect eater” all the time. And I know that I shouldn’t want that. Life gives you curveballs and calamari sometimes. I just don’t know how to enjoy it.

And with that, I have to go to work. I swear, this is the longest week in the history of long weeks. Can it ever be the weekend?!

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Posted in Friends

Sweet Potato Tots Do Exist!

Posted on May 26, 2011 by inmytummy| 26 Comments

It’s that time again:

Up until a few weeks ago, I was in a total breakfast rut. An egg sandwich was pretty much a daily thing. I’d switch up the type of bread, sometimes using whole wheat, sometimes a sandwich thin, sometimes a tortilla. I’d switch up the eggs, sometimes I’d use two real eggs, sometimes one real egg, two egg whites, sometimes egg beaters. I’d switch up the cheese too, alternating between pepperjack and cheddar, sometimes American.

Obviously things have changed because I’ve had oatmeal all week. Who am I?

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This is 1/2 cup oats mixed with 1 cup almond milk, half a cup of water, half a banana and some chocolate protein powder. The problem with oatmeal is that I never stay full for very long. I don’t always have a mid-morning snack, but today I did.

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and a little later some Sun Warrior protein powder mixed with almond milk. This was my first time trying Sun Warrior after hearing lots of people rave about it. Honestly, I thought it was very chalky tasting. Maybe it’ll be better in a smoothie.

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Lunch was a salad topped with a little bit of tabbouleh and some Trader Joe’s harvest blend. This looks better than it was. All the goodies were on top and after I ate them, I just had a bowl of plain spinach.

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Afternoon snack was an old standby, an apple with peanut butter.

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I got home around 8 from my photography class. I thought about just throwing together something easy, but really wanted to make veggie burgers. I used Matt’s recipe.

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What’s that next to the black bean burgers? Sweet potato tots! Did you know that Alexia makes them? I didn’t either. In fact, “sweet potato tots” is one of the most often searched terms that leads to my blog. Like a year ago, I asked why sweet potato tots don’t exist. Apparently a lot of people wondered the same thing. And apparently Alexia listened!

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Posted in WIAW

The Day that Got Away

Posted on May 25, 2011 by inmytummy| 16 Comments

This day really got away from me. Here it is, 9:45 pm and I’m just sitting down to dinner. If I had it my way, I’d be eating the early bird special every night, so this is really, really late for me. I had to work about an hour and a half late and then I went straight to a yoga class. I’ve been going to a different studio (Decatur Hot Yoga) and I really like it a lot better. I’m not quite sure why but there is a big difference to me.

This is going to be sort of a cop out post but I wanted to share something fun that I learned in my photography class last week called zoom bursts. If you have a dSLR camera, you can do this and it’s a cool effect.

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It’s really easy to do. All you do is put the camera on shutter priority (TV on Canon, like I have) and set it to a slow shutter speed. I think I used 1/10. You need to have a zoom lens on the camera. I just used the kit lens. Press the shutter down and while the picture is being taken, zoom the lens all the way out (or in, depending on how you focused). Some of my pictures were completely blurry and some didn’t look warped at all, but I got a few, like the ones above, that I thought looked pretty cool.

How is it almost bedtime? Argh. Although, it means that we’re closer to the weekend, right? Any Memorial Day plans?

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Posted in Photography

Unexpected Sunday Funday

Posted on May 23, 2011 by inmytummy| 18 Comments

Today was one of those days where I had absolutely no plans and it turned out to be really fun. Last night, before I went to bed, I was looking at different classes at Decatur Hot Yoga and I guess I dreamed about it because I woke up this morning in the mood for some yoga.

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This studio is a tad more expensive than the other one that I sometimes go to, but I think I like it better. They have a bigger variety of classes and it’s about 10 minutes closer to my house. After yoga, I hung out with Jason for a bit until he had to go to work, took a nap (it wouldn’t be a weekend without a nap) and decided to take Murphy to the dog park at Piedmont Park.

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He ran around and sniffed some butts for a while.

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It was really hot out and Murphy was getting tired, so after about 45 minutes we headed out. I always like to take a little walk around the park while I’m there and while I was doing that, I was playing on my phone and noticed that Laura had checked in at the Park Tavern. Turns out she had run into Mark in Midtown and they were having drinks. Of course, I had to stop by and have a drink with them!

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The Park Tavern is very dog-friendly. They even brought Murphy a bowl with some water. He was extremely well behaved until a random stray cat waltzed by. Murphy went crazy, pulled on the leash, scared a little girl who was petting him and literally pulled my chair over (with me in it) in the process. But aside from that little incident, he was a good dog.

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I mean, can you blame him?

We had a couple of drinks and before I knew it, it was almost 8, the sun was going down and I needed to get home.

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A fun day for sure! I’m not excited that it’s Monday but at least it’s a 3-day weekend. I need a vacation day badly.

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Posted in Atlanta, Blogger Meet-Up

The Savannah Predicament

Posted on May 21, 2011 by inmytummy| 15 Comments

Ideally, the weekend of the Savannah Rock ‘n Roll half-marathon would go like this:

Friday – take day off, drive four hours to Savannah with Jason, pick up race packet, have dinner
Saturday – run race, go back to hotel and take nap, hang out in Savannah at night
Sunday – drive home

But it’s not going to be like that because Jason wasn’t granted the time off work. Although I didn’t really get into it on the blog, there was a lot of pouting on my part about this. I felt sorry for myself for a few days and then realized that I can’t keep moping forever, so I stopped and just resigned to the fact that Jason has crappy work hours and whining about them isn’t going to fix anything.

Although the race isn’t until November, the price goes up again in June, so I probably need to make some sort of decision soon. I’ve thought about my options and come up with the following:

1. Do a different fall half-marathon. There’s a half marathon in Athens, GA in October that looks like it could be fun. Jason would be granted time off in October since it’s not a sweeps month.

2. Go to Savannah by myself. There are lots of other bloggers running this race and I could just hang out with them and I’m sure I would have a good time. I would still want to stay until Sunday morning though because I know from past experience that I’m pretty tired after a half-marathon and don’t think I want to sit behind the wheel of my car for four hours.

3. See if my friend Amy (who I did the Warrior Dash with) wants to run the race and drive down there with her. This is basically the same thing as option number two, I guess. Although we could share a hotel room and save some money.

4. See if anyone in my family is interested in meeting me Savannah for the weekend. My step-grandparents actually live in Savannah so even though my dad and stepmother live in Maryland, they might be interested in going down there. I could possibly convince my sister to run the race too. I don’t really know my step-grandparents enough to stay with them alone though.

Those are my options. I’m leaning towards still doing the race, but I’m not 100% sure.

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Posted in Races

Check out my guest post

Posted on May 20, 2011 by inmytummy| 6 Comments

I’m about to go out to dinner. You know, my last restaurant meal before the end of the world tomorrow. But if you’re at home, please check out my guest post on The Cookie Battle!

My co-workers were laughing at me today because I said that if I knew the world would end in 12 hours, I’d eat a bunch of cake. But seriously, I would! I mean, what else can you do in 12 hours?

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Posted in Uncategorized

I Only Regret When I Don’t Run

Posted on May 20, 2011 by inmytummy| 12 Comments

If I don’t go straight to the gym after work, I find myself making excuses not to workout that night. I stopped at Publix on my way home. My plan was to make Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic soup. The cauliflower and garlic needed to roast for an hour so I figured that it would be perfect timing. I’d pop it in the oven and head out for my run and by the time I got back, it’d be almost ready.

Of course, when I got home, my tune changed a little bit. Suddenly I decided that instead of soup, maybe I should make veggie burgers. And maybe I’d go to the gym later. Or maybe I’d take a rest day because my hamstrings were sore. But then Jason snapped some sense into me. He told me to make the cauliflower soup and go for a run. And I did.

I needed that run. I’ve been in a bad mood for two days and running helped me to clear my head. I ran up to a high school, about a mile away, around the track there for a mile, and back home. That’s the thing about running: you never regret doing it, you only regret it when you don’t. Plus, it was in the 70′s out and it’s supposed to be in the 90′s again tomorrow. I’m not sure when the next time will be when it’s cool enough to run outside.

My cauliflower was almost done by the time I got out of the shower and I was able to make a nice dinner for myself. My mopeyness went away and I felt better.

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Well, mostly. I’m still moping and this is why: Jason’s request to take the weekend of November 5th off for the Savannah half-marathon was denied. I’m really disappointed. Yes, I could still go by myself and maybe I will, but I really wanted to spend the weekend in Savannah with my husband.