Soap Box

Or more appropriate...garden box.

I know that some of you think that I have been out in left field with my eating but that is ok, I am comfortable with my choices and that is all that matters to me.

But, childhood obesity is a serious problem. If you don't believe it then do a search and you will find plenty on the subject. I think that it is awesome that Michelle Obama is going to take on childhood obesity and I hope that she does it in a great way and is very successful! I don't care what your political affiliation is, you have to agree it is a problem and while I do believe that parents should be responsible for their children, in our society the facts are that the children spend less time awake at home than they do in school or after school programs.

So, I started watching Food Revolution last Friday...disgusting but a must watch. It comes on ABC on Fridays at 8. If you have a more active social life than I do, please DVR it.

What can you do to help? Not really sure, but here is a start. Sign the petition! He did this over in the UK and actually GOT CHANGES (which you can read about under "school dinners" on the left side) so it really might make a difference.

Ok, off soapbox. I just really think that children are our future....why not make it so they are not the first generation not expected to outlive their parents!

Home Sweet Home

This was the first Monday in the month of March that I didn't have to get on an airplane. It was wonderful to "sleep in" (8:00 is way better than 3:30 or 6:30) this morning, to go to my spin class this afternoon and to cook dinner tonight. Of course the magic will end next week when I have to get on another plane but at least I can enjoy this week :-)

Update on the garden - it was pretty enough to work in it on Saturday but I went to my spin classes and then we went to the Crew game at 4 so I wasn't really able to get anything in the garden done (we had to leave at 2 and didn't get back until 8). On Sunday it was really damp and sort of rainy (poured on Thursday) so it wasn't the best time either. Oh well, I did order 5 heirloom (not genetically modified seeds) blueberry plants! They are already 3 years old and will be ready to give us blueberries this year!!! I am so excited. Supposedly they are really pretty for bushes and turn beautiful colors in the fall (double plus). We should get them in a few weeks and I can't wait.

Other than that the week involved A LOT of soccer. Ali also plays and I usually meet them for a drink before their games on Thursdays...this week I went straight there from the Cincinnati airport (in my sweats, Dayton is like that) and had a drink, then I got dragged to the game with them (maybe a little tipsy) and during Craig's game it started to snow REALLY hard...it was icy snow and since my car was still at the bar, we had to drive Craig's car.... not good! The one funny thing (sort of, but not really because it cost me $250) was when we were driving he asked me to reach back and punch the little plastic piece they call a window on the convertible top so I did. Yeah, it broke...hole in it....oops!! That could really only happen to me! Friday I went to watch some games because Ali and Craig were playing and then Saturday I went to watch for a little while before Ali and I went to a bar to see a cover band.

The rest of the week is supposed to be really nice here so get excited about more garden updates...HA! I won't really bore you guys until I get some actual crops.

1 Year Anniversary and Melisss's Travel Whirlwind.

Saturday was the one year anniversary of me moving to Ohio. What did I do for the big day? Well, you saw my garden post so apparently I celebrated being a hippie :-) I also went to a spin class and then met Ali at Craig's soccer place (where she was playing two games later....everyone I know in Ohio plays soccer since I met them all through Craig) and had a pitcher of beer with her while watching Craig play. Good times.

I have been really tired lately. I don't know what the deal is but I just feel like there will be these times when I just have to go to bed right that minute. Friday nights seem to be when this mostly happens....as it did this last Friday. I was supposed to go to a fish fry with Ali and Melanie but I just couldn't stay awake so I ended up in bed at 11 (normal for me is more like making myself go at 12-12:30, especially with the time change). Then I started thinking about it and I think that part of it might have to do with that whole traveling thing that I do...here was the schedule for the last few weeks:
5 days in sc
2 in Nashville
5 in sc (with a trip from hell home)
3 days home
3 days in Atlanta
3 days home
now 4 days in SF
then 9 days at home (YAY!!!)
That is a lot of planes...unfortunately April is looking the same way. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and traveling but it does start to wear on me. Speaking of which..I should go to bed...it is only 8:50pm here in SF but it is almost midnight at home...I figure I will be up at 5am SF time so I should sleep now while I am tired.

Garden, Year 2

YAY for FINALLY some nice weather while I was home! I spent a lot of the day getting garden stuff and then working in the garden. When we ended the fall last year I wanted to do a compost pile but we didn't really have a place to do it so I just stuck everything in my garden...that made for some nasty clean up today. Yuck. I am going to do the day in bullet points because it is much easier than trying to tell a story..and honestly, I am lazy and tired from my day.

--drug Craig to Lowe's to help with getting the garden soil and such. I was disappointed that they didn't have any garlic I could plant but we did get some blueberry plants (yay).

--Since I can't find the seeds that I SWEAR I bought earlier in the year..I know I did because Craig made fun of me since it was February, I bought some more seeds but since they didn't have garlic we ended up at this other place that my friend Ali told me about and I am in love. It was about 120 degrees in the place so Craig's patience was short (and it was the SECOND store in a row I made him go to so I am lucky I got to go at all) but they had bulk seeds. You did it just like you do nuts or candy at the store..how cool is that? The best part? They were ridiculously cheap...seriously. You know I love cheap. The little packets at the store are around $1-3 depending on what you get, well, I got more of each kind for a grand total of $3 for about 10 different kind of seeds. Some of my packets (carrots, lettuce, etc) whose seeds weighed nothing were in the cents....much better than $2! Craig was wondering if the yield from them might be lower because they probably are engineered like the ones in the store. I am not sure about that but we will see this season and I just might take those packets back to Lowe's. It was like being in a candy store. Craig made me leave because he said if he didn't I would end up getting to excited and getting multiple packets of the same thing (he didn't REALLY make me but he was strongly suggesting).

--we built TWO compost bins type thingies today. YAY. I moved all the stuff from my garden to the bins. That was disgusting!!! I couldn't really do it with the shovel because the one thing it didn't have was good drainage so the leaves were wet and HEAVY so I ended up doing it with my hands (with gloves). It also had all our food scraps and smelled like the bottom of a lake...yuck. The good news is that we have a place for it and hopefully when it warms up we will see some compost turn into dirt.

--along the same compost theme....I was stepping on the ground near the compost bins that were now built and it was all spongy feeling. I asked Craig what was there (for fear I was stepping on some animal home...we have a TON of woods in the back of our house) and he said that was just where he has always put his leaves in the fall...REALLY?? Yeah, so I uncovered the top layer of this years leaves and low and behold...compost dirt!!! It was awesome...so "clean", you know, not muddy but really flaky and black and well, spongy. I dug some of it up and after tilling the garden, I put some in there. I think that I will try to dig up some more another day. It should really help the garden.

--this year's plants/crops will be: artichoke, zucchini, lettuce, carrots, peas, green beans, pumpkin, watermelon, garlic (if I don't find the starters I will just use an organic one from the store), onions, and possibly potatoes!! Plus strawberries and maybe bluberries and rhubarb.

--Finally, random fact....did you know that if you got an organic clove of garlic you can pull it apart and plant it and it will grow more garlic? I had no idea....it has to be organic because the other stuff often has "growth retardent" on it so it doesn't sprout between the time picked and the time you get it from the grocery. I have even had garlic sprout before but never thought about planting it. Another random fact...same for potatoes!! I saw potato "seeds" yesterday at the store and all it was were potatoes with the little eyes still on them....the instructions on the bag said to cut the potato up to where there was one eye per section and then leave it to "crust over" and then plant it. I think that same thing for organic applies but am not sure. I had some potatoes here that grew eyes while I have been on the road a lot lately and so I cut them up last night and I am going to try to plant them. I can't remember but I don't think they were organic..I usually do get organic but for some reason I don't think these are. The "eyes" have sprouted pretty big so I am hoping it works out...HA!


Well, that is it for this edition of Melissa's Garden :-)

30:20

That was my time at my 5K today. I was pretty proud of that time since I am pretty sure that the last time I ran outside was in 2008 at the Peachtree and I even walked most of that. I guess the spin classes have been paying off after all. I ran the whole time minus up one hill and it actually didn't feel that hard. I think that I just get bored on the treadmill...I need to work on a better mix to listen to when I run.

My friend Ali did it in 26:15 so I have a bit of training to do until I can run as fast as she can but I think that I can do it. She plays soccer so I am not sure how much actually running she will do but she can still run fast.

Overall I was pretty proud!

Feeling Good....

I have been trying to continue to eat healthy while on the road. I have also kept up the vegetarian on the road deal (which is no small feat since I am on day 9 of being gone and I like meat). I actually don't miss it as much as I thought I would and other than the weird looks I get when I order salads or pastas without chicken, I really do like that it makes me eat healthier in general.

This is going to sound sort of weird, I am not sure it will come off right but you guys are all close friends so I will say it anyway. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I am starting to actually feel comfortable in my skin. I think that for as long as I can remember I have always wanted to change this or that about how I looked. Maybe it is just part of being a girl/woman, maybe I was unhappy or maybe I just felt like I was judged by how I looked all the time, whatever it was, there was always something I wanted to be different. Now, I can actually look in the mirror and there are certain things about myself that I LIKE. I seem to be able to focus on those things rather than the things that I don't like (my stomach). I think that this is sort of a big step in some way. I still want to lose some weight and I still feel like I should but now I feel more like I am enjoying being healthy and less like I am on a diet. I think that I want to continue to eat healthier than I even am now and I associate the good feeling with all of that. Maybe the running/spinning is helping too because I am starting to see small changes in my body. This is also the first time in a long time that I have regularly worked out and really stuck with it (the last time I can remember was in 2001 when I trained for my first marathon). I like the small changes and it makes me want to continue them or even step it up a notch and see what other changes I could see.

So, what do you guys like about yourselves?

Running

I just started running again...literally the other day. Saturday to be exact. Remember that I mentioned the half marathon here, well since none of you seemed to jump at it, I asked my friend Ali here if she wanted to do it and she said she would. She said she was scared (no idea why since she plays soccer at least 3 times a week and goes to the gym about every day, hung over or not) so I sent her Jeff Galloway's run/walk program and told her we didn't need to start until mid-May. Then she asked me to do a 5k with her on March 13th. How could I say no after she just agreed to do 13 miles with me in a few months? So, Saturday I headed to the gym (too damn cold out to run outside, my lungs would burst) and ran three miles on the treadmill....and it took me almost 35 mins. Embarrassing to say the least! I asked Ali how fast she ran 3 miles and she said her best 10K was around 25 mins and her worse (hungover and puking afterward) was 29. Uh oh, what have I gotten myself into? So Sunday I was back on the treadmill and shaved off 20 seconds, yesterday I ran again and got it down to 32:35....so getting closer. I don't know how I will do in 10 days but at least it will be a starting point for me.

I forgot how good I felt after running. Grant it the first few days were a bit rough because you apparently use totally different muscles for running than I have been using for my 4-5 spin classes a week but there is still something about being all sweaty when you are done and being proud that I didn't fall off the treadmill. I am proud of myself for doing my 3 miles on the gym treadmill yesterday and the fact that I actually planned to make sure I could do it. Hopefully that will continue for the next 10 days and I will not pass out at the finish line on the 13th!