1.2 Per Week

1.2 lbs per week.  That's all it will take to get me from where I am right now, to 20 PERCENT LOST by New Year's Eve.

I think I can do this thing.

Side note - anyone out there walked or run a 5K?  I hate running.  But I think it would be good for me.

My New Favorite Kitchen Gadget

I can't make hard boiled eggs.  I have tried like, 10 times.  I always have to look up the instructions on how long to boil, to sit in hot water, to sit in cold water, etc.  And they never turn out!

They come out overcooked.  They come out runny.  They come out gross.

NO MORE!

Enter my new microwave egg cooker.

It's a NordicWare Egg Cooker that I bought off Amazon (off a recommendation from my mother in law).

IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Fill the bottom part of the plastic with water "up to the line", put the tray in the middle, place 4 eggs in it, slap the top on, and pop it in the microwave for 10 minutes.

Take the eggs out (careful, they're hot) and put them in an ice bath until you're ready to peel them (like when Modern Family is over).

Voila.  Perfect hard boiled eggs.

PEOPLE!  If you are egg-cooking-deficient like me, but also love eggs like me, you have got to try it!!!

Best Intentions

After a WEEK LONG CONFERENCE in Long Beach...

full of food, wine, drinks, cheese, olives, chef competitions, etc...

and on my feet for 12 hours a day...

and traveling from coast to coast...

it was foolish to think I would be able to do what I intended this weekend.

My intent was to go to Tyrone Founder's Day, participate in the Zumba demonstration, walk around the booths and people-watch, and finish up with a firepit get-together on Saturday.

Then on Sunday we were scheduled for another practice hike.

Guess what.  ONE of those things happened.  (We went to a firepit on Saturday.)

What really transpired?  I spent a lot of Saturday sleeping in, napping, going out to lunch, napping...see a trend?

On Sunday - boy oh boy - had a BAD allergic reaction to 'something' (any guesses) and spent the afternoon and evening drugged up on Benadryl...which creeped into Monday...did you want to see the funniest thing ever?  Just video me while taking Benadryl, apparently I'm hilarious.



Anywho, still feeling REALLY rough today but trying to get back in the saddle!  The saddle may leave the building without me though.

Additional Training is Necessary

Our big hike of 11 miles in 2 days is coming up in 5 weeks.  We need to get our training on!!!

We haven't hiked since the weather got hot in June.  I've been working out regularly (usually 3-4x per week) but not outside and not on inclines and not for more than 30-45 minutes at a time.  Jeff's been super active at his job, but that is not the same as training for a hike.

So...we decided we ought to get back to it this weekend and get some miles under our belt to prepare.

We decided to go to FDR State Park, one of our favorites, and try a new loop off the Pine Mountain Trail.

Our planned hike was of the Dowdell Knob Loop Trail - a combination of the Pine Mountain Trail and various connectors to make a nice 4.3 mile loop.

Yikes.  Here are the things that made the hike a really tough pill to swallow:

1.  A tornado came through about a year and a half ago - so most of the downed trees are cleared from the trail but it was SUNNY and HOT and EXTREMELY WEED-COVERED in two major spots (aka, the beginning, and the end).  (Usually my Georgia hiking is in full shade with minimal undergrowth - good for fair-skinned redheads who are extremely allergic.)

Turns out, there was a warning on the website, which I totally did not see till today:

NOTE: The April 2011 tornado impacted the area west of Mile 14 (for 4,485 feet) and east of Mile 15 (3,800 feet). The trail is back open but just to make you aware you will be hiking through areas that the tornado hit hard, but the trail is cleared for hiking.

2.  Hiking at a constant right-turn around a mountain made my hip and right oblique very sore.

3.  A nice 45 minute workout class or 30 minutes on the elliptical is NOT the same as up-and-down hiking 4.3 miles.  UGH.  My puppies were really barking by the end.

There was one nice part - before we got to the 2nd weedy portion - where I was like, YES...this is fun!  It was about the 2.2 mile mark - I felt good, it wasn't too hot yet, and the birds were singing.  I'm choosing to remember that moment, in order to get psyched to keep training instead of running the other way.

Happy Fall Saturday!

After a bit of a chaotic week, Jeff and I are having a GREAT Saturday.

Well, for sure - I am.  I sometimes love these Saturdays (as long as I can force myself to wake up).

I went to my favorite Zumba class at 9AM - 40 minutes of dancing, followed by 20 minutes of weight training / ab work.  I used to hate this class because I could literally do almost NOTHING during the last 20 minutes...now I can do most of it (but not always as fast as everyone else -- hello, leg raises).

I dropped off some too-big clothes (YEA) at Goodwill, followed by a gas fill-up and a 'clean out the car so it doesn't look like a hobo lives in it' time at the station.

I came home, made a cup of coffee and let it sit, let the kitty outside to the backyard - and then watered all my new pots of mums and purple salvia, cleaned up and re-filled the bird feeders, cleaned out and filled up the birdbath, repaired squirrel damage to my windowbox of lettuce, watered my herbs, and finally got around to drinking my cup of coffee and reading the local weekly newspaper.

The weather here is BEAU-TIFUL - high 70's, sunny, only about 50% humidity...about the best you can get in early September.

Meanwhile, Jeff had been working on installing our transition pieces from our new floor into the kitchen.  As always, DIY projects take longer and are more difficult than you think (I'm beginning to boycott HGTV by the way)...but he got it done!

I heard him say, "Gosh, I just don't have enough things for weights."  Ha!  I had an idea...time to re-purpose my Zumba weights!

Have a great Saturday!

Blogger is working again!

I am horrible at IT.  Not horrible at the action / fixing / utilization of it...but horrible in the patience space.

I have no patience.

Therefore, my IT problems linger on...and on...and on...until they magically get fixed (thanks Jeff).

But today's magic was not fixed on purpose, I don't think - my laptop / connection wasn't working for the past couple weeks for blogger.

I could read feeds, but couldn't write or edit any posts (it would just spin, and spin, and spin).  Who knows.  Maybe an IT update push fixed it.

In any case - I'M BACK!

And would like to say a BELATED BLOG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the 2 most awesome people I know (hi Mom and Dad).  So glad you enjoyed yourselves and had a great Labor Day as well!