The joy of counting calories

I love counting my calories. Not in a super obsessive way, more of a 'wow, look how I can change my diet' way. I've been counting calories for 3 days now. Not one day have I been over, or even close to being over. I was under my limit by almost 300 calories last night (and that's the closest I've come to hitting the limit). I even had Ben & Jerry's last night. So today I 'beefed' up my lunch a little and added pistachios and a cup of grapes. :)

This weekend Levi spotted these little applesauce packets in walmart and got me some to put in my lunch box (he knows how much I love my applesauce). Anyway, they're called gogo squeeze or something weird and awkward like that... and they are 110% delicious. I got the apple cinnamon ones, yum. Who would have know how delicious applesauce could be out of a squeezable packet? It makes me excited to make my own this summer! There is almost nothing better than hot homemade applesauce over ice cream.

On a side note. Gas prices?? Woah... Ridiculous! So we've decided to cut down on our trips to town and other odd places during the week a bit. So friday instead of going somewhere I'll be cooking chicken keivs (real ones, not the frozen type) and possibly a german apple cake.

9:24 a.m.

It's one of those mornings. Ugh. You have the best intentions and everything goes wrong. Oh well!

I have come to enjoy running. As long as I don't spend the day dreading my run it usually goes pretty well!  I also started using an online calorie counter to take a closer look at what I eat which is both interesting and disturbing. Just knowing that I have to record what I'm eating makes me make different eating decisions. For example, I really wanted a taco yesterday. But I didn't want to have to record that I ate a gross, high calorie taco for dinner. So I ate a veggie sandwich. We'll see how long that lasts but I'm liking it so far.

I've been getting excited about gardening and biking. Two enjoyable parts of spring and summer. Another great part of summer is all the fun clothes! I am loving title nine's recent catalog and patagonia's new patterns! Both places are ridiculously expensive but usually you can wait till it goes on sale or find it at the REI scratch and dent sale. I love that companies focus on cute clothes for active women, it makes shopping so much more enjoyable (I really don't enjoy clothes shopping so that's really saying something!).

Have a lovely week!

Summer wish list!

All this snow (19 inches in Morris just in the last 24 hours??) has got me dreaming of summer. Remember, that time of year when it's warm and green? It's easy to forget what summer is in Minnesota. So a few things that I am looking forward to!

*Running a 10k (it's official, I'm going to do it. I know it's not far but it's a start)
*Planting fun plants in the garden!
*Biking, biking, and more biking
*Cooking with lots of veggies from the garden
*Traveling
*I'm thinking of taking a class possibly for fun
*Reading time
*Learning how to make soap
*Hopefully packing and moving!

Ah, I can't wait! Levi is planning on running his first half marathon in May up on the North Shore, which I'm really looking forward too. I think we're making a weekend out of it to do some hiking! Less than 80 days until graduation and I'll be free! How exciting!

Running?

We bought Levi running shoes this weekend. Not just running shoes, sweet running shoes. Bright orange, light weight, running shoes. They're HOTT. So now I want new running shoes (but I don't need them). I've been running more in the last two weeks than I have in the previous 6 months (due to back pain and lack of motivation). Which is good. I feel better, like I have a lighter bounce in my step and more energy. Running is hard for me, I get bored easily, I have asthma, and it's not something that comes naturally to me. So I feel pretty successful.

I've been looking around on-line at different running things that I like. Maybe I'll get a few things, maybe not. I think I'm going to give running a shot. I plan to run a few 5ks this summer and maybe even a 10k at some point. I have to at least try to keep up (in spirit?) with Levi who already has two 1/2 marathons on his list of to-dos before June... Crazy guy! Running will never be my 'thing' but I could learn to like it a little. A few things I've looked at:

These are actually the woman's version of the shoes Levi got :) pretty snazzy,

A decent pair of running shorts, they're much more comfortable than my long mesh shorts,

And a 1/4 zip long sleeve shirt for spring days outside or sun protection.

Also, not to be weird but a better sports bra is on the list (no picture of that). I would like to like running sometime, and maybe I will. I think I could really like trail running! We'll see. For now I'm going to stick with my shoes that work perfectly fine and my shorts that keep my bum covered. Although, window (screen?) shopping is fun :)

Resume?

I realized today I should be looking for summer jobs. That was an odd feeling. Jobs? Huh. I would like to be an organic farmer for the summer, I think. Kinda take the summer off, relax, own my life (haha). I've sent out one resume and didn't hear back from the people. Maybe the postman lost it or ate it. He probably got confused early in the morning and left it somewhere, or dropped it as he was being chased by robbers. Maybe it spontaneously combusted or got shredded by the HR lady (or man).

Who knows. I guess I'll look for a few jobs this weekend to see what's available in the area. Something should look interesting! If not... then I'm not sure what I'll do. We'll see. I need to graduate first anyway. Less than 90 days baby!!!!

Favorite persons

Somedays when you feel really crappy about life and you just need someone to reaffirm you and smile at you and bake you something and not tell you stuff like "it's going to be okay" "it's just part of life" "tomorrow is a new day" "well you did screw up" "you're over-reacting" you turn to one of your favorite persons. For me that person (who won't tell me all thing things I don't need to hear at that moment) is my brother. He has a way of making the worst day okay.

Here we are goofing off over fall break on year. We spent the day bumming around together. :)

This is a picture from our most memorable family trip. Andy was pretending to shoot the elk on the ridge and I was pretending to be horrified. We like pictures like this :)

Here is a picture from that same vacation. We're pretending to be Lewis and Clark at the Lewis and Clark visitors center. As you can see we are reenacting the sighting of this big rock. 

I tried to upload a few other photos but my computer was running slow and I need to get back to class. Andy and I have a lot in common and I (usually) really enjoy his company. As much as we argue over things we make up for it with many fun times together. He will always be my first choice as a vacation buddy (except for Levi). I couldn't have asked for a better brother, he makes me so proud to say I'm his sister. He's in Iowa for college now but he usually texts me a few times a week and tries to make me feel included in his life. 

I really love him. And he's a pretty good cook. :)

2 o'clock wednesdays

We all know what that means. Ceramics starts in 15 minutes. Thank goodness!