So for the most part, I have been thoroughly enjoying my 6 AM runs with my new running group. It feels great to get my run in so early and have exercise checked off my list first thing. I enjoy the company and conversation as well as the easy pace of the group.

I do have to be honest about one thing though, and that is that these runs in the dark are starting to wear on me a little. I miss the sun! I miraculously managed to get a run in by myself during the daylight hours on Wednesday. Even though it was an overcast day, it was still nice to be out when the sun was on our side of the earth for a little while. Stingy southern hemisphere.

This morning I realized that if I can’t have the sun, I can at the very least have the essence of the sun in its plant based form. Hi Chlorophyll, you’ll do for now – I’ll take what I can get.

New house, I’d like you meet my good friend Breville. I’m sorry I haven’t properly introduced you to each other sooner!

If you look carefully, you’ll notice something missing out of one of those apples. Oops. It just looked too good to not sink my teeth into while I gathered up all the produce from my farmer’s market of a fridge. Somethings are just irresistible I tell ya! I’ll try and control myself next time. No promises though.

Today’s juicy concoction would be a giant head of green leaf lettuce, a partial head of red leaf, a couple of carrots, a few inches of ginger, two apples (minus one innocent bite) and two lemons. I’ve recently stopped peeling the lemons and putting them straight in the juicer as is. I’ve noticed that it gives the juice a lot more zing, and I’m assuming that’s from the rind? Maybe instead of saying it gives the juice more zing I should say more zest!

Two glasses of green vegetable juice this morning, one for me and one for him.

Thanks to the red leaf lettuce and carrots, this morning’s green goodness in a glass looks like we’re about to drink the water the girls rinsed their water color paint brushes in. Cucumbers make a much more photo friendly glass of vegetable juice, but carrots or cucumbers – they both taste amazing!

Speaking of introductions, our indoor-outdoor cats (who, until just recently, were temporarily demoted to indoor-only status until we were sure that they knew this is where their food dish is) are starting to get thrown outside again to get back to their indoor-outdoor status. Cats need daylight too after all!

Their new kitty outdoor adventures have allowed them to meet some of the other cats in the neighborhood. Maybe they’ll go running together or something.

Today our male cat Andy (on the right) got to meet this other black and white cat that keeps showing up on our doorstep.

Don’t they look happy to see each other? I know I always lay my ears flat like that when I’m in a good mood and happy to see someone. As a matter of fact, I’m totally laying my ears flat looking at all the clouds in the sky as I type.

• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
• Orange You Glad It’s Sunday?
• Birthday Beet Juice

The holidays are over. We have moved into our new house and are mostly settled. A formal complaint was filed yesterday over the lack of home cooked meals and several informal complaints have also been filed over the lack of regular posts in recent weeks as well. It would appear that I am officially out of excuses for not cooking or blogging per usual. Your break is over lady, time to get back to work.

As life inches it’s way back toward “normal”, I got up early to enjoy some quiet time while the gang slept. I skipped running with the group today because these group runs are pretty expensive in the way of time. We are always gone for an hour and while I enjoy hour long runs on cold, icy dark streets as much as you do – I needed time today to dig out all the winter gear and extra layers for our homeschooly adventure in the woods this morning. Fortunately, a journey into the woods completely qualifies as exercise in my mind and I therefore felt justified giving my running sneakers the morning off while I instead made breakfast and packed snacks for today’s outing.

This sample of Bob’s Red Mill Museli was part of the swag from the race on New Years Day. Today seemed like as good a day as any to try it out.

I made it with yogurt today “like the Swiss do” (that’s what it said on the package) but I used 2% Fage instead of regular yogurt. Like the Greek do, I suppose?

The ingredients list oats, wheat, rye, barley, almonds, dates, flaxseed and walnuts. I didn’t see any flax seeds to speak of so I added a few shakes of my own. (Ground flax also of Bob’s Red Mill fame.)

Mixed with Greek yogurt and almond milk to soak for a few hours this morning. Topped with sliced banana and recently restocked almond butter. I think I ran out of almond butter two weeks ago? Almond butter, I have missed you. It’s been too long. TOO. LONG.

Post breakfast, enough snacks to feed a small army were assembled.

Well, really it’s all about keeping the troops from getting too cranky in the cold, the littlest general is the one I’m mainly concerned about.

Snacks packed, winter gear dug out – it’s time to roll peeps! Duty calls.

• Terribly Tired Tooth Fairy
• Run for Breakfast
• No Run, No Guilt

One of the nicest perks of our new house would be the regular running group that came built right in to our neighborhood. They run Monday, Thursday and Saturday mornings and as luck would have it, today is Monday!

I found out about the group from a friend who lives in this neighborhood. He’s been running with them for a while and invited me to join them on a Saturday morning run back in October. I accepted the invite and by the end of the run I was already contemplating what it might take to get our closing date bumped up to that very afternoon.

I emailed my neighborly friend last night to confirm the days and times were still the same and that they were still meeting over the holiday week. When I got the thumbs up that running this morning would be a go, I got my running stuff all set out and ready. The group meets at 6 AM and while I am no stranger to getting up in the 5 o’clock hour – getting OUT before the clock strikes 6 is a whole new ball game.

Yesterday’s journey through my neighborhood streets, to the campus of a large university, through the cemetery and back over the river to make my way home again was great. It was sunny, not too cold and almost all the snow was gone. But when I peeled myself out of bed at 5:40 this morning, I found 6 inches of the white stuff on the ground. The street in front of my house was not plowed and there was one set of tire tracks through the road that showed me just how deep the snow was.

Ankle deep. And it’s still snowing.

So now what? Are they still going to run this morning in this crazy mess? If I was at at the old house, today would definitely be a treadmill day. Do I change out of my toasty purple socks and sexy sweat pants and get in to cold running tights and an adorable pink hat that I knit myself only to find that I’m the only fool that came out this morning? If that were the case, the next step would be to turn around and go home because I’m not running alone in the dark through city streets. Even though the roads are well lit, I don’t know the area well enough to head off by myself when the sky is still black. Well, orange-ish yellowy is more accurate than black really. We’re in the city now after all.

But I digress.

OK, fine. It’s worth the risk. I suited up and off I went, into the orange-ish yellowy snow filled sky, down a tire carved path on the otherwise empty and silent street to make the trek to the meeting location two blocks over. Sure enough, I was greeted by three smiling faces and we were joined by three more folks shortly there after.

Wait. A group of happy, smiling people wearing sneakers and face masks at 6 AM on a cold and snowy Monday morning? Really? Is this a drug run?

I don’t know what it is about running with a group of people, especially considering I barely know anyone besides my friend – but this morning’s cold, wet, orange, snowy and blowy run that was filled with conversation and laughs made today’s run just as good as any sunny and dry Monday morning solo run through my suburban streets or a random treadmill run at an old decrepit gym.

I kept coming back to the fact that if I hadn’t had plans to meet with this group today, I never would have run this morning. I’ve no longer got a gym membership to speak of, so without these plans I surely would have been home this morning wondering what I could do to avoid unpacking or putting away more stuff. There’s no doubt that making plans with a work out buddy can be a powerful tool to keep you on track and motivated and will get your butt out the door when you would otherwise eschew your pink hat in lieu of sweat pants with a large hole in the crotch. (I told you they were sexy.)

Our run took about 45 minutes and when all was said and done I was gone about an hour. Given our somewhat leisurely pace through the ankle deep snow I’m guessing we went about 4 and a half or 5 miles this morning.

My post run breakfast would be an old favorite, fruit cereal.

1 diced banana and 1 diced gala apple tossed and coated in ground flax seed and unsweetened cocoa powder, topped with sliced almonds and chocolate unsweetened almond milk. Who needs grains when there’s fruit to eat?

I enjoyed my fruit cereal while Maxine and her toys enjoyed our generously sized forced air ducts and the big blast of hot air from it this morning.

Looks like I’m not the only one who has found some fun perks that came with our new house.

• Scary Spoon
• A Day of Calorie Counting
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight

This post is a figment of your imagination. Or is it?

I didn’t expect to have a chance to run or post this morning. But here I am, having unexpectedly run and now unexpectedly posting. How unexpected.

When an opportunity to run this morning presented itself, I jumped at it. Zak worked from home, the kids slept late, so off I went for a healthy dose of endorphins and some fresh air and sunshine. The real reason I went was to wax nostalgic because unless I get to sneak out tomorrow morning (Merry Christmas to me?) this will be my last run through these neighborhood streets as well as my last chance to avoid running into Mr. Miyagi.

And now here I am, 33 minutes later, covered in sweat, smelling like the outside and managed to miss any and all encounters with overly friendly Asian men. I’m even feeling slightly less stressed and dare I say it, normal.

And that, my friends, is how we got to this blog post today that I didn’t expect to write.

My last post at this house! I got in one last run here, I’m going to get one last post in here too. Thank goodness running makes me happy because being happy makes me do ridiculous things and doing ridiculous things makes me write ridiculous posts.

Like I said, normal.

Today’s ridiculousness would be trying to give my kids spinach for breakfast.

Thank you Mama Pea for the idea to make them chocolate green smoothies and serve them in opaque cups!

I hope you are taking this opportunity to wax nostalgic over my red counter tops – I know you love them. This is the last time! Unless of course you dig through the archives, in which case never mind.

So where was I? Oh yes. Chocolate unsweetened almond milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, a banana and a couple big handfuls of spinach – pureed and poured into fun cups with fun straws and fun lids.

Quick, hide the spinach! Cue sing-songy Disney princess voice!

ACTION!

Oh Guuurlllss! Who wants chocolate for breakfast?

Try it! You’ll like it!

Fail.

Maxine: Mom! It’s GREEN!

Crap. How did she know?? Am I even going to be able to pull off this Santa stunt tonight?

Ava: It’s not that bad.

Nice.

Ava drank hers, I drank Maxine’s. Good thing mom likes drinking chocolate green smoothies out of a yellow butterfly cup with a straw. In fact, I liked it so much I made one for myself. (Don’t look at me like that – yes I drank Maxine’s but that butterfly cup might as well have been a shot glass!)

I’m even brave enough to use a clear glass, I don’t care that it looks like pond scum. Did you say chocolate? Hand it over. That’s what eyelids are for.

OK blog friends – I’m out of here! Catch ya on the flip side! Have a great holiday and I’ll be coming at you live from the new house sometime over the weekend.

Peace!

• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Life Goes On
• Chocolate Smoothies Built for Two

When my knees start to hurt on my runs, that’s my sign I need new running sneakers.

When the waist band of my jeans starts to feel a little snug, that’s my sign that I’ve been a bit too heavy handed with the nut butters.

And when my house is a mess, that’s my sign that we’ve been really busy.

[Notice there is no picture of my disaster of a house here? Yeah, the lack of photography was no accident.]

When I find myself shuffling my way through a gigantic pile of shoes in the dark at 5:30 AM in order to reach the light switch as to not come crashing down and a size 1 boot straight to the kisser, that’s the sign that I need to take a day off from exercise and focus on being NEAT instead.

I put on my favorite pair of inside sneakers and spent my usual running time this morning catching up around here instead. I got to thinking that if I didn’t work out in the mornings, I could have a perfectly spotless house. A little more thought and I came realize that if I didn’t care about packing our lunches or making meals at home I could have a perfectly tidy kitchen. Further, if I didn’t have friends or family or cats or kids or a stack of overdue library books, then my house would be as clean as I imagine everyone else’s house is.

I took that as my sign to stop feeling sorry for my mountain of laundry and it was time to take breakfast break. Today’s bowl of oatmeal goodness also happen to be a sign of what’s on tap for today.

Gingerbread Overnight Oats

1/3 c rolled oats
1/3 c hemp seeds
1/4 c ground flax
1 very small drizzle of blackstrap molasses
1/2 smashed banana
1 Tbsp almond butter
cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger to taste

Man I’m on an overnight oats roll lately. I’m sticking with what works YO. And can I say that I have never been a fan of blackstrap molasses – but either my taste buds have changed or I just needed the right combination of spices to get it to work. The molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger totally made these oats taste like gingerbread! How festive.

I’m now drinking my second cup of half-calf coffee which I’m fairly sure equals one fully caffeinated cup. I’ve always been good at math like that.

I think drinking coffee at a desk filled with paper and cords and clutter is my sign to stop thinking “If this, THEN xyz“, xyz being some variation of how things could be better. Once X happens, then life will be good. Once I _____ , then I will be happy.

Forget it. Be here now. Be happy now. I’ve just got to do the best that I can and let it be enough.

I think this post a sign that I think too much when I clean.

• Our Sunday Best
• Blue Skies, Smiling at Me
• The Infamous Breakfast Cookie

We were almost forced to write a strongly worded email to the Tooth Fairy this morning. Apparently the Tooth Fairy slept like a rock last night and did not wake up in the middle of the night like she expected to. Fortunately, the toothless child in question decided to use the bathroom before she remembered about the visit from the Winged Dental Nymph and our crisis was averted.

We’ve got an outdoor homeschool adventure on tap first this morning which will suffice for a workout today. I spent my usual workout time prepping food and packing lunches.

Pineapple is SO cheap right now I need to start buying them every time we hit the produce section. For $2.99 a pop it’s totally worth the time and mess involved in cutting them up.

Can you spot the bean pot in the background? That would be dried black beans soaking to be used for dinner tonight. While emptying cupboards in preparation for the move I’ve discovered an abundance of dried beans. Hello, my name is Alison and I am a bean hoarder. It’s time to stop worrying about famine and start feasting on these beans. The fewer bags of beans we have to move the less complaining there will be from the men folk hauling boxes. I’m thinking black bean soup is on the dinner menu for tonight unless something more spectacular sounding comes to mind before then.

I need to keep our packed meal light today given I’ll be carrying our lunch (and our toddler) on my back through the woods. For the kiddos I made tortilla and cheese roll ups, pickles, raisins and raw cashews. For myself, sliced red pepper and some baby carrots, an orange plus a small dish of walnuts, raisins, pumpkin seeds and dried apples.

Yesterday’s breakfast cookie made with hemp seeds held me over for SO long I had to pinch my stomach to make sure it was still working 4 hours later! Now I understand the appeal to adding protein powder to oats. I’m not really a fan of protein powder but protein packed hemp seeds? That I will do.

Knowing we’ll be out all morning and on our feet until lunch time, on top of the fact that I’ve got to keep lunch on the lighter side today, I wanted another protein packed breakfast that will hopefully perform like it did yesterday.

Instead of breakfast cookie form this morning, I went overnight oats style.

1/3 c rolled oats, 1/2 smashed banana, 1 Tbsp almond butter, 1/4 c hemp seeds, 1/4 ground flax seed, 1/4 c chocolate almond milk and 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder. Soaked overnight in the fridge and topped with banana slices this morning.

See those cute little hemp seeds in there?

Between the oats, hemp seeds, flax and almond butter I’ve got to believe this breakfast will do it’s thing! Here’s hoping this breakfast won’t disappoint like the Tooth Fairy almost did!

• A Day of Calorie Counting
• Stay at Home
• Shakey Fists

Today felt like an overnight oats kind of morning. Except I didn’t make overnight oats last night. Good thing “Overnight Oats” is just a trick of a name and it could more accurately be called “Just a Few Hours Oats”.

Into a bowl at 6 AM: 1/2 a mashed banana, 1/2 c of rolled oats, 1 Tbsp of almond butter, 1 Tbsp ground flax, a tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/2 c of chocolate almond milk.

And a single chocolate chip because I’m rowdy like that.

I knocked the chocolate chips out of the cupboard when I was reaching for the cocoa powder and got the bright idea that it would be fun to discover a chocolate chip in the middle of breakfast.

Don’t ask me, it was 6 o’clock in the morning. I can’t tell you what Alison of Breakfast Past was thinking.

But oh no, the fun didn’t stop with my breakfast. I let a single chocolate chip frolic among the raisins of Zak’s Just a Few Hours oats.

The Man got a heaping 1/2 c of rolled oats, a tbsp or so of agave nectar, ground flax seed, cinnamon, raisins and 1 chocolate chip.

“Where’s Waldo”, chocolate chip style.

OK! Breakfast underway, it’s now time to move on to the exercise portion of the day. (And apparently the rhyming portion of the day too.) We got a few inches of snow last night and the roads are totally filled with snow and ice. Running outside in the dark and snow? No dice.

But do I really want to change into running gear and leave the warmth of my home to just to schlep myself out into this cold and dark morning to be a rat on the wheel for a half hour?

Wouldn’t it be nice to stay home in a quiet, dark living room cozily lit by the lights on the tree and do yoga in my pajamas instead?

Mmmm, holiday lights pajama yoga. That sounds so nice.

I eventually decided to brave the cold and make my way to the gym. Considering I didn’t get good and sweaty yesterday I reasoned I should tie my sneakers on today. I knew I wouldn’t come home wishing I hadn’t gone.

So off I schlepped, into the darkness and snow and cold to pound out 5 miles in 40 minutes on the treadmill with my buddies Jason DeRulo and Chris Brown. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t be calling Chris Brown my buddy. But if that’s the worst thing I say today then I guess I’m going to let it slide.

My Just a Few Hours Oats were ready and waiting for Alison of Breakfast Present with open (stick) arms!

Topped with the other half of the banana.

Just as I predicted, my oats had softened up perfectly by about 9 AM. You can’t fool me, overnight oats! I found my chocolate chip toward the end of my bowl. Unfortunately I have to admit that this was not nearly as exciting nor fun as I had predicted it would be at 6 AM. Maybe Alison of Breakfast Future will come up with something a little more exciting for next time.

• Chocolate Smoothies Built for Two
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Scary Spoon

It’s Sunday! How about starting today with a nice long run with Jillian Michaels on my shoulder? Jillian’s radio show may be over, but that doesn’t mean she can’t live on in my heart and my iPod too.

At 28 degrees, it was cold enough this morning to break out the pink fuzzy gloves. I think I got these gloves when I was in 6th grade. They matched the hot pink trim on my bright purple winter coat that year. Nearly 20 years later I’ve still got these gloves and I can only pray that jacket has been destroyed.

These are like wearing a mini blast furnace on each hand. Not only are they perfectly warm, they also happen to perfectly match my favorite self-knit pink hat. A hat I knit myself. Me. I knit that hat.

Have I ever mentioned that I knit that hat with my own hands? I did, it’s true.

Me, Jillian, the Pink Gloves and the Pink Hat set off for a Sunday long run adventure. Last year at this time, 5 or 6 miles was the furthest I went on any run. As soon as the cold weather set in my long runs packed it up and went south for the winter.

This year though, especially with a half marathon in mind for the spring, I want to keep my mileage up. It helps that long runs are much easier now than they use to be. I have to say thanks, at least in part, to my boyfriend Brendan Brazier for that.

I didn’t care about speed today. I just wanted to get out and spend some quality time on my feet. I hit the first mile at 9:00 exactly, and barely looked at my watch again until I got home.

Total time out this morning was 1:22:58 and mapmyrun reports that my total distance was 9.63.

Back for a breakfast of homemade cereal and bananas.

I’ve always been petrified of long runs in the winter. Today’s was not that bad. Of course it was sunny, there was no wind, the roads were dry and I only went 9 miles. Let’s chat about this again in mid-January and see what I have to say about then, hmm?

• Turn It Up
• Thrive Review
• The Infamous Breakfast Cookie

What’s one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning? Put in my contact lenses.

And what’s the first thing I saw today? Toys on the bathroom counter. But do you see what I see?

If I look in the mirror I see a lady with a dirty mind.

At least now I know why he smiles like that.

Soft porn toy pics make me hungry! I was in the mood for cereal and planned to do yoga at home, so I figured I’d pop some homemade cereal in the oven before I got my downward dog on.

Pre-heat the oven to 250

1 diced gala apple
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c ground flax seed
1/2 c pumpkin seeds
1/2 c sesame seeds
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c agave nectar
1/4 c coconut oil (I’ve used canola in the past and it works fine)

Combine all ingredients and spread them on a cookie sheet to be baked for 1 hour.

With breakfast underway, it’s time to change into some yoga clothes and hope I don’t see anything too racy as I walk past the toy box.

Uh oh. Look at that thermometer.

52 degrees outside?? It was 38 when I ran yesterday morning! I’m totally running today, yoga can wait til the next cold, windy, rain day – which will probably be tomorrow.

Except ugh, look at the time. 7:39? Zak wants to leave for work around 8. OK, I’ll be fast! I’ll run the exact same route I ran yesterday, but this time with no iPod and keeping speed in mind. All my talk about running fast yesterday, it’s time to walk to the walk. Or more accurately, run the run.

Knowing yesterday’s run took 34:04, I told Zak I’d be less than a half hour today. Ummm, you’re pretty cocky lady. Nice try but not quite.

I was totally tired.

Breathing hard.

And faking a smile.

Until that last pic I was thinking Prince Charming and I had a lot in common this morning. Especially with that cocky lady part. That smile did look sort of fake though, but he’s a man after all, so I doubt it.

Baked cereal was ready shortly after I got back. Lifted from the cookie sheet and into a large measuring cup for calorie tabulations to come.

Well over the 4 cup line, let’s call this 5 cups.

A sliced banana topped with just a 1/2 cup of cereal because I foresee that this will be pretty calorie dense.

Topped with a half cup of almond milk.

Time for totals!

Today’s run was the exact same as yesterday’s, but today I did it in 31:33 instead of 34:04.

7:31! I’ll take it.

Now time for calorie calculations.

1 diced gala apple – 75 cals
1 c rolled oats – 300
1/2 c ground flax seed – 240
1/2 c pumpkin seeds – 400
1/2 c sesame seeds – 190
1/4 c sunflower seeds – 415
1/4 c agave nectar – 240
1/4 c coconut oil – 480

Grand total – 2340

5 cups = 10, 1/2 cup servings.

234 calories per half cup. With a banana (100 calories) and a half cup of unsweetened almond milk (30 calories), breakfast tallies up to 364 calories. Yesterday’s breakfast was 380. The scale today? Let’s just say 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

• Run for Breakfast
• Over Run Oats
• June One

We take December 1st very seriously ’round these parts.

When I closed my eyes and laid my head on my pillow last night the grass was green! It was also November, so it must have been the flip of the December switch that did the trick.

I had a date with the pool this morning, and for a moment I entertained thoughts of how fun it would be to run in the snow today instead.

But then I cuffed myself upside the head and reminded my overly ambitious snow running self I’ve got all. winter. to run in the snow. Let’s not rush things.

So instead of standing up the pool for our hot date, I was off to swim laps for 40 minutes. Today was my usual 6 sets of 100 yards freestyle, 100 yards backstroke, 50 yards kick board topped off with 25 yards freestyle, 25 yards back for 6 sets for a cool down.

A cold snowy morning deserves a nice warm breakfast, I do declare!

Banana bread oatmeal it is.

1/2 C water
1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
1/2 sliced banana
2 Tbsp raisins
Dash of cinnamon

Into the pot and brought to a boil.

Add 1/2 C rolled oats, cook for about 8 minutes on low. Remove from heat, covered for 5 minutes.

Topped with the other half of the banana and a couple tablespoons of hand crushed walnuts.

Cold Oat Mountain!

Immediately upon waking this morning, as Ava rubbed the sleep from her eyes said:

“Ummm Mommy? Did you notice there’s snow on the ground? Is today winter?”

Before I even had a chance to explain she was off down the stairs to throw on her coat (over her pajamas), jumped into her rain boots (no socks), put on the first pair of gloves she could find (mine) and out she went.

She has already made a snowman.

And had snow for breakfast.

She assured me though, “Don’t worry, I checked – it’s not yellow. Or colorful at all.”

Shew. You can’t say I haven’t taught her anything.

–

In other homeschooling news, check out this great article from yesterday’s New York Times outdoor Kindergarten and Waldorf schools that Elisa’s left in a comment this morning! This is exactly what we want for our little gals here.

• Terribly Tired Tooth Fairy
• Run for Breakfast
• No Run, No Guilt