CA Adventures - part 1

After meeting lil Brady, I headed west...far west, like...7 hour flight west...to sunny...and by sunny, I mean cold-rainy-freezing, California.

Again, for some reason I booked a flight that had a stop in Denver...in February...but thankfully good weather prevailed and there were no delays.

I landed at LAX and my friend Angie (remember her, she and her husband housed me during all my hurricane evacuations thus far) picked me up and we noshed on some amazing healthy CA fare:

It looked prettier before I started eating it, but it's a kale and red cabbage salad with blackened tempeh. Tempeh is the amazingly delicious result of culturing and control-fermenting soybeans until it makes a solid "cake". This is thin cut into strips and cooked. Pretty much tasted like a soybean cake. Super yummy.

We grabbed a hotel in Anaheim (since Angie and Andrew live pretty far from our intended destination the next day and Angie's mom had a free hotel stay that she kindly gave to us) and woke up early to go to...

Disneyland!!!!

I love love LOVE this place. And it's becoming sort of a tradition with Angie and I (this was our third time going together). I was a bit nervous about how the back would hold up with all the walking and rides, but it did phenomenally well! Thank you God! We alternated motion-y rides (like Indiana Jones) with non-motion-y rides (Pirates of the Caribbean). Angie and Andrew birthday-surprised me by having already purchased my ticket! And it included a park hopper pass to California Adventures! I had never been there before and there were two things I was told I "must see": Soarin' California and the musical of Aladdin (my ALL TIME favorite Disney cartoon). Both were awesome (the musical was really impressive- about 45 minutes long, hilarious, and awesome special effects).

The library from Beauty and the Beast in California Adventures. You can determine which Disney character you are most like. Apparently, Angie is like Mulan and I am like Jane (from Tarzan). Interesting.

Warming our hands at the Disney fireplace :)

It was downright chilly the entire time we were there, interspersed with rain, which always abated...mostly. We didn't have umbrellas...so when the rain decided to downpour at 9pm...we called it quits...but still managed to get in a solid 13 hours of the Happiest Place on Earth :)

Posing like Buzz and Woody (except the camera was zoomed in too much and you really can see what THEY were posing like, but believe, me, we look JUST like them)

(I did avoid Space Mountain and the roller coaster in California Adventures, but the back did great on the Thunder Mountain coaster- love that ride).

Mad as a Hatter :)

Disneyland has a 4 page, front and back printed, gluten free menu. It was awesome! I could eat so much stuff there and everyone was really helpful (although Angie started calling me high-matinenance every time a manager stepped out to speak with me before preparing my food). But seriously, I had a grilled chicken sandwich and a BUN (gf of course!) for lunch and an awesome veggie enchiladas for dinner. And ice cream. But not for breakfast, because apparently Disneyland doesn't believe in selling ice cream at breakfast time. Odd, no? Oh well :)

PA Adventures

Last week I traveled to PA to visit my friends Jana and Scott. Their first kiddo, Brady, arrived in December and this was my first time meeting him.

For some reason, I booked a flight with a layover in Chicago...in February. Not sure what I was thinking, but even though it was snowing in Chicago, I had no issues with my flights, thank you Lord!

It was a lazy two days of hanging out and enjoying their new addition :)

I'm a big fan of his shirt :)


The little cutie-pie talking to his mama after a feeding

Blog bits: steam mops and coffee

Two stories that can't stand on their own as a whole blog post:

Steam mop:

Last weekend I went to the Texas Home and Garden Show. It was a let down. Unless you are about to completely gut your current home and renovate, you won't find the booths much help. There were no painting/decorating booths, nor landscaping idea booths. There were, however, a bagillion and three granite, roofing, flooring, new AC unit, radiant barrier, type booths. Oh well, good thing my friend and I used the groupon deal and got in for $5. :)

Just before we were leaving, we stopped at the booth for steam mops. Most of you have probably heard of the Shark, which is a pretty popular steam mop. The point of a steam mop is that it uses steam to clean- you don't dunk the mop in water and scrub at the floor. The steam loosens and removes the dirt and also disinfects due to the high temp of the steam.

With my back, mopping isn't much fun. I can do small spaces, but the kitchen can be a challenge for me with the rag mop that I currently have. Thus, I was planning on purchasing a steam mop, or rather the Shark.

The guy at the booth caught me eyeing the mop and asked me if I had any questions. I asked him what made his mop better than the Shark.

Apparently, with the Shark, you have to pump it to get the steam going. Exactly what I didn't want...this mop, you just fill it with water, hit the power button, and go. So after watching a pretty impressive demo, I bought the steam mop.

I love it. It is easier to use and my hardwoods and tile look great. Haven't tried it on carpet yet, but I am assuming it will do just as great a job. And my back likes it too. Yay for steam mops!

Coffee:

I bought new coffee last week. Seattle's Best is now selling their stuff in the grocery stores. I've been to several Seattle's Best coffee shops and always liked their coffee.

Their coffee-in-the-bag smells.

Coffee is supposed to smell good when you open the bag. Otherwise, all those Folgers commercials are lying. I opened the Seattle's Best bag and lowered my nose, breathed in...and ::coughwheezehack:: Eww. It smelled coffeeish...but not to where you want to keep inhaling that awesome freshly opened bag of coffee scent. The coffee tastes just fine...if you can get over the smell. (My poor co-worker on-console had to put up with a week of me whining about my stinky coffee every morning when I came in to get handover from him...he said it smelled good, which is why the remaining bag of coffee will be sitting on his desk soon).

So needless to say, I am back to my usual Dunkin Donuts coffee. And it smells heavenly.

On The Occasion Of Turning 30...

The above delicious culinary creation is a cake my friend Erin made for me. Gluten-free almond cake with a lemontastic flavor. It was AMAZING. I had it with my coffee for breakfast this morning. (My roomie also made two beautifully decorated cakes for some friends I had over today, but alas, neither of us took pictures!).

So...the big 3-0.

Eh.

I haven't been looking forward to this birthday. I don't like the fact that I haven't been looking forward to this birthday, because it seems so cliche to think like that, but well, that's the honest truth :).

I think it's because I am not where I thought I would be in life when turning 30.

However, I have also gotten to do things in life that I never thought I would do before turning 30. Like the following:

1. Work at NASA
2. Travel to Russia (multiple times) and India (not your normal go-to places)
3. Buy a house
4. Run a half-marathon
5. Be a triathlete

and the most important "not expected"...stepping back and seeing how many amazing, inspiring, and encouraging friends and family that I have in my life.

I am incredibly blessed by the people God has put into my life to support me, make fun of me (in a good way :) ), correct me, cheer me on, make me laugh, listen to me cry, roll their eyes at me when I am being a drama-queen, pray for me, and encourage me. God has used them to help make me into the woman that I am today. And for that, I am thankful.

So if the next decade is anything like the last has been...

Welcome 30.

Birthday flowers from Erin V., Irma, and Pam :)

Gluten free - week 7

I'm getting so used to this diet, that I don't have a ton to share every week, so I am saving gf nuggets until I have enough for a decent post.

So many people have been asking me if I have noticed a difference, so I figured I owed you all a status :). So, as a refresher (in case you are just tuning in), the reason I went on this diet was to see if I noticed any reduction in the symptoms of the autoimmune disease that I have.

My rheumatologist and I have been tweaking my meds during the time that I have been on the gf-diet (started tweaking about 1 month after being gf), but in general, I have noticed no drastic changes in how I feel. I am slowly feeling better (more energy, less pain, etc), but it's the normal trend from coming out of disease flare. I wouldn't associate it with going gf.

So, right now my plan is to finish out the 3 months of strict gf. Then, I will reintroduce the minor gluten items (those with natural flavoring that has gluten- sauces, dressings, etc). I will continue to avoid the "heavy hitter" gluten items- bread products, crackers, pretzels, etc. Because, studies show that gluten and inflammation are linked and anything I can do to reduce the amount of inflammation in my body I am all for and this will sound weird, but eating gf makes me feel... cleaner...like my insides aren't as heavy...see, I told you, sounds weird. Not sure how else to describe it. Besides, I really have found such good substitutes that I like the taste of that I almost don't miss bread. Almost :). And I am thankful to have the option to do a "modified gf diet"...those with Celiac cannot.

Here's my creation from this week:

These gf tortillas are actually pretty tasty. WHEN HEATED. They are ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING cold. I mixed some organic black beans, corn, and chipotle roasted diced tomatoes (all gf), half a slice of muenster cheese (all I had left in the fridge) and threw it on the gf tortillas (a nice change from corn tortillas, because I am not a huge corn tortilla fan), with some spinach and zapped it until heated. Pretty tasty.

Painting!

I've started painting my bedroom. I'm really loving how it is turning out. Three walls are being painted a dark gray, Behr's Creek Bend. The remaining wall is going to be getting some awesome vertical stripes (Behr's Moonshine and Silver Drop) and wainscoting (to be painted a truly brilliant blue color). What's interesting about the dark gray is that right now...it looks slightly purple, but in daylight, it's definitely gray. Might need to switch out the lightbulbs I am using...

I've got two walls painted the dark gray (I'm waiting on the 3rd because I need to have some drywall work done...no use in painting it twice...) and I tested out the stripe technique in the mini-entry way into my bedroom. I plan to use bigger stripes on the actual bedroom wall (what you see is 6" and 4.25" stripes, with a wider white strip to encompass the light switch). I plan to do 8" stripes on the main wall.


I'm becoming a master taper, that's for sure! Here are some sneak-peek pictures...I'm thinking this might take me another week or two to finish up though...so don't hold your breath :)

Taping for the white stripes

Voila!




I didn't show the gray stripe taping, but you get the point. Here's the final product...yeah gotta touch up the darker gray wall...got paint on my fingers and then fell into the wall :)...also need to touch up the corner...that will come at the very end.
(Disclaimer: yes, the calendar you see is a Year of Mustangs...as in the car, and no, I do not like the year for February. ::shudder::)

Gluten free - 1 month!

Wow, has it really been a whole month of gluten free? Yes, yes it has.

And it is going well.

I went to three restaurants this week:

The Egg and I- super helpful staff who answered my questions and came out to the table to tell me how they were preparing the frittata I ordered.

BJs- love their gf pizza!

Ruggles Green- it is a really good thing I don't live closer to this place because I would eat there every day. Amazing gf fish tacos and they have a pretty decent selection of gf items as well.

This week I focused on cooking more meals:

Quinoa with yellow-curried apples, green beans and tofu. The lead-in picture to this post. Probably sounds weird but it was super yummy!

Quinoa pasta with organic chicken, sauteed in Annie's Tuscan dressing

Baked tilapia with roasted mushrooms and asparagus

Each of these took maybe 40 minutes top to prepare and cook and made about 3 servings apiece, so plenty for lunches and dinners.

Oops...gotta go pull out my baked chicken with roasted sweet potatoes and mushrooms from the oven, that's my lunch for tomorrow :)