Good Eatin' in Dallas!

The past ten days were a whirlwind! Brett and I left for Houston, Texas last Friday and got back home last night from North Carolina. We started in Houston for the first weekend and got to spend two days with Brett's family. We celebrated birthdays, anniversaries (ours is in 13 days!) and new jobs. We even fit in some strawberry picking at a nearby patch. It was so great to be with family.

Brett and his sister at the strawberry patch.

Sunday evening Brett and I made the short flight to Dallas for the week. We had some recruiting work to do there and also met with a bunch of Brett's friends from when he lived in Dallas for 6 years. Our schedule each day was seriously jam packed. Some days would start breakfast with friends at 7 A.M., coffee with someone else at 9 and then we'd recruit from 10-11. After that we'd rush to meet up with more friends for lunch and then often we'd try to fit in a quick gym session at LA Fitness before meeting up with more people for coffee and dinner. We were so wiped out by Friday!

Even though it was tiring to meet with so many people in between working, we loved it. And of course we got to eat some delicious food. Usually I don't like eating out that much, but this trip wasn't as bad as other trips we've been on. Most of the time we'd eat breakfast at our hotel and there were a few days that I would just get a big ol' salad from Whole Foods. 

But, I have to highlight some restaurants in Dallas. I think the best meal I ate all week was at Asian Mint. They have sushi, thai food and desserts. 

  

I got the green curry and I couldn't stop saying, "Mmmm!" This picture doesn't do it justice. It was so creamy and flavorful. You have to eat here if you ever make it to Dallas!

Another delicious meal we had was from The Juice Bar. Expensive as all get out, but delicious.

Brett and I had just finished up our workouts at the gym and had a little free time before we needed to be at the airport. We got these Acai Cups with vegan protein powder mixed in. They topped it with chopped up banana, blueberries and amazing granola. Delicious!

Eatzi's is another great spot. You can make your own sandwiches or salads, pick up some already made sushi, or choose from a wide variety of entrees and sides already made. I got some sushi while Brett got the pasta of the day, kale and white bean salad and roasted cauliflower. I love this place because everyone can get something different and there are tons of vegan and vegetarian options!

While the green curry was my favorite meal all week, this restaurant was my favorite. The Cosmic Cafe serves vegetarian Indian food and it's incredible. The restaurant itself is so eclectic and colorful. It's hard to miss!

  

I got the Buddhas Delight so that I could try a few different things. Everything was incredible and I left stuffed but content. It was spicy, but not over kill, and everything was bursting with flavor. They even offer non-dairy desserts a lot of the time. 

And of course a lot of Americanos with steamed soy were enjoyed throughout the week! This cup is from a newer place called the Ascencion Coffee House. It was a cool venue and had nice outdoor seating too.

Our trip ended with a bang in North Carolina. Friday afternoon we flew from Dallas to North Carolina for a friends wedding. Most of my family was there so during this trip we got to see both of our families! Amazing! The wedding was a blast. They did breakfast for dinner (why didn't I think of that) and for dessert everyone was able to go to the frozen yogurt shop downstairs. They had glow in the dark sticks for entertainment too. Brett tried to make Mickey Mouse ears and we even ended up making a hula hoop. It didn't work very well, but we tried.

Now were home for a whole month! I'm excited to get some rest and to cook and bake up a storm. I already have a pot of black beans cooking and some fresh whole wheat bread on the counter. Life is good!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

19 Hours in the Car, a Pit Stop at Trader Joe's and a Vegan Brownie Sundae the Size of My Head

As the first part of this post's title suggests, the last couple days have been a whirlwind! All last week I was in Gaitlinburg, TN for my work team's annual retreat. It's always an awesome time of hiking, ultimate Frisbee, hot-tubbing, team discussions, good food and staying up too late. Here's a picture of the crazy people I am blessed to work and travel with:

 Every year we get an old western photo taken. It's always a crazy time.

This year was extra special in that the day our retreat ended (Saturday) we all drove up to Indiana to see two of our friends and co-workers get married! We made it to Indianapolis a couple hours before the wedding started, quickly got dressed, scarfed down some soup and headed downtown for the exciting celebration. It was a beautiful wedding that took place in the state house and the reception was wild and crazy with lots of dancing and food. 

We got to bed around 1 AM and then I, along with the three girls I drove up with, got up four hours later to make the 15 hour trek back down to Orlando. We were on a mission: make it to Trader Joe's in Gainsville, FL before it closed at 9. Yes. We love Trader Joe's that much and since there isn't one in Orlando we used it as motivation to start our drive early and make quick pit stops. 

I am an extreme morning person so I said I'd take the first shift driving while they slept. It worked out great and we were able to knock out a lot of hours before our first stop and then they were all fresh and ready to take the next driving shifts.  And...we made it!! We rolled into the Trader Joe's parking lot at 8:15 with plenty of time to peruse and pick up lots of goodies. We already had a ton of luggage in the car, but it was a high priority to make all of our groceries fit. 

I came away with chocolate soy milk, caramel popcorn, pumpernickel pretzels, pickles and three types of bread including sour dough, sprouted rye and whole wheat pita pockets. Glory.

Another thing that kept me super motivated to make it to Gainsville was ice cream. Vegan ice cream that is. My friend and co-worker went to the University of Florida in Gainsville and knew about a vegan dessert shop called Karma Cream. Of course I was all for stopping there after Trader Joe's and I'm so glad we did because it was amazing. 

I may have gone a little overboard and ordered a brownie sundae with sea salted caramel ice cream, cookie dough bites, hot fudge and whipped cream...all dairy free and delicious! I was in heaven. We've already decided that we're going to make a day trip to Gainsville again soon so we can stock up on groceries, eat more vegan ice cream and check out some of the other sites that Gainsville has to offer.

Yeah, I was pretty excited.

With our car stuffed with groceries and our bellies full of sugar we were able to finish up the final two hours of driving making for a grand total of 19 hours in the car! It was a long day, but so worth it to get home and allow ourselves a comp day before heading back to work.

Half Marathon Recap!!

Check and check. I've officially run a half-marathon! After two failed attempts due to injury, this past Saturday I was feeling healthy and strong and completed the 13.1 mile run at the OUC Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida. It felt so good to accomplish a goal I've been trying to accomplish since my junior year of college.

The morning of the race, Brett and I both woke up at 3:30 AM feeling pretty rested. I had originally set my alarm for 5, but I woke up excited and after lying in bed until 4 decided to just get up. I ate a breakfast of overnight oats with chia seeds, oatmeal, cocoa powder, banana and almond milk. While eating I started stretching out my sleepy legs and didn't stop stretching until I needed to get dressed and pack a few things before heading out the door. 

It was still pitch black outside when we left the house at 6. We played some pump up music and were at Lake Eola before we knew it. We found parking pretty easily and had about 40 minutes of free time before the race started. We headed straight to the port-o-potties because the lines were extremely long.  Brett brought my road bike so he could get around the coarse easier and cheer me on as much as he could during the race. I wanted to wait as long as possible to use the bathroom before the race, so I watch the bike while Brett got in line. After about 20 minutes I started getting worried that Brett would take too long and that I wouldn't be able to go before the start of the race. I decided to get in line with the bike and I'm so glad I did. Brett took the bike from me soon after and I continued to stretch while waiting in line. About ten minutes later I still hadn't made it to the front of the line and the national anthem began to play. I was getting really antsy by this time.

I finally became my turn and I went as fast as I could and rushed to join the crowd of racers. There were so many people that I only weaved my way up to the 10-minute mile pace marker before the starting canon went off. Even though I wasn't able to start at the 9-minute mile pace marker like I had planned, I'm happy in a way that I didn't have any time to wait around and get nervous. The craziness of waiting in the bathroom line and rushing to the start crowd of runners kept me from getting nervous about the race. In the end I even think it helped me meet my goal of a 8:30 minute-mile pace because I was motivated to catch up to the 9-minute mile pace runner.



The first mile went so quickly as I had to weave in and out of tons of people and try not to step on anyone's toes. By the second mile there was more space to run as each runner began to spread out and find their own pace. The weather was great and for the first five miles or we ran in shade because the sun was still waking up.

Brett was such an encouragement throughout the whole race. Because he had a bike, he was able to see me and cheer me on at so many different point during the race--almost every mile or two! He even recruited other people near by him to cheer for me. Hearing them yell always gave me an added boost of energy.



Around mile five I had the slighted feeling of nausea, but nothing too intense that it affected my pace. At mile eight, however, it got a little more intense. I have this odd problem with light when I'm running. If sun light is flickering because of trees or buildings and I'm constantly running in and out of sunlight, I get nauseous. Thankfully, I was still able to maintain a good pace. I just wasn't able to pick up my pace like I had hoped. It's so hard to know what causes nausea during races. Was it something I ate? Was it the strobe light affect from the sun? Was it just excitement? I so wish I could know so that I could prepare better for whatever race I run next.

I never once looked at my iPod during the race to check my pace. I had done the math before the race to figure out rough estimates of what my time should be at certain mile markers if I wanted to finish with a 8:30 minute mile pace. I was still close to my goal by mile 11 and just tried to maintain my pace despite the nausea. 

Over all my stomach was the only real problem I ran into. My hips started to get a little sore and my index toe on my left foot felt bruise, but they didn't hold me back.

The last mile was probably the hardest. My nausea was getting worse. I just kept telling myself that I was so close and I would be able to stop soon. With about a few tenths of a mile left, the most encouraging girl running behind me starting cheering me on and encouraging me to keep going. She may have been the reason I was able to keep up my pace.

I continued to run, trying to keep up with a girl in front of me. As soon as I rounded the last corner and saw the finish line I finally mustered up the will to increase my speed. I wanted to stop so bad and kept feeling like I might lose it, but soon enough I heard my name announced as I crossed the finish line. When I stopped I had a moment of dizziness, but felt pretty good. I got my medal and grabbed some water and orange slices. I looked for Brett as I walk off the nausea and was soon feeling pretty good.

After I found Brett was met up with another friend who had run the race and talked about our different experiences as we stretched. I kept saying, "I can't believe it's over." It amazes me how much time I spent training for this race and then, just like that, it's over! Of course, as soon as my nausea was gone I was talking about my next goal: a marathon!

The Results:
Place: 555
Age: 24
Div Place: 22
Gender Place: 147 out of 1763
Net Time: 1:51:14
Pace: 8:29.4

I just barely made my pace goal of 8:30! And I also got this souvenir:

I hope a marathon actually happens. As of right now I'm going to continue upping my mileage in hopes to run the Miami Marathon at the end of January. I'll also add in more cross training to decrease my chances of injury. The thought of running a half-marathon and more each weekend to continue training for a marathon is daunting, but I know I would be ecstatic to accomplish another goal so soon. I'll keep you posted!

Of course, Brett and his sweet self planned a restaurant for us to go to for brunch after the race. He found a vegan restaurant called Ethos Vegan Kitchen located in one of my favorite parts of Orlando: Winter Park. After getting our fill of vegan cinnamon french toast, sausage tofu burritos and chocolate soy milk, we walked over to the farmers market and picked up a bunch of fresh produce for the week. It was a great day to check another thing off my bucket list!

Any tips or advice for a first time marathon runner?

Exploring NYC!

I miss New York already. I miss the walking, the food, the many unique burrows and the people. This past week in the city got Brett and I even more excited to move to New York next year. I feel like we'll never run out of things to do and explore while living there. 

Obviously since I've been gone I haven't been able to cook or try out any new recipes, but I did eat some amazing, vegan food this past week. That's one of the beautiful things about such a big city - there are tons of vegan friendly restaurants. Even if a restaurant isn't labeled vegan there are so many ethnic restaurants that have tons of vegetarian and vegan friendly options. 

The first place we ate when we arrive in the city was called Xi'an Famous Foods in Flushing. I got the Mt. Qi Vegetables Biang-Biang Noodles. It was my favorite meal of the whole week. The noodles were fat and chewy and the seitan had a delicious flavor. I ended up going to this restaurant again later in the week in Manhattan's Chinatown and ordered the exact same dish. It was that good.

Another vegan friendly restaurant we found was called Fresh & Co. Brett and I were originally going to eat at an all vegan restaurant, but when we got there it was empty which made us second guess the quality. We had just walked past a Fresh & Co. and decided to go back and eat there. They had salads, soups, "power" bowls and sandwiches. I got a power bowl called Sesame Ginger Seitan. It had quinoa, tons of veggies, kale, seiten and a sesame ginger dressing. Nothing was fried, but the whole bowl was steamed instead. It was delicious and it filled my belly with a bunch of nutrients. Yum!

But...the best restaurant we found - in my opinion at least - was a place called Oat Meals. Brett spotted the sign and we decided to just stop in and see what they sold. I literally squealed when we walked in. It was a little cafe that sold coffee, oatmeal scones AND all different kinds of oatmeal combinations! I couldn't believe it. I've often thought about how there should be a place just like this. It wasn't quite lunch time, and I had already had oatmeal for breakfast, but I told Brett we had to eat there. I got the Indian Spice bowl with oatmeal, crystallized ginger, cardamom, raisins and coconut milk. It was delicious. Brett got the Banana Cream Pie bowl with vanilla wafers, banana, brown sugar and cream. Seriously, I am going to be a regular at this place while we're living in New York.

There was a lot of walking involved the entire week which I loved. It definitely takes longer to get from place to place, but it was rejuvenating to move so much in the dry, crisp air. A lot of the trees still had colorful leaves so we were able to get our fill of fall before heading back to sunny Florida. 

The last place I want to talk about is a restaurant called Franchia Vegan Cafe located on Park Ave. Brett and I met up with a couple for dinner and no one except me was vegan, but everyone loved it. The meat eaters were amazed at how much the faux meat tasted like real meat. I got the Vegetarian 'Duck' with brown rice, veggies, a soy based "meat" and a spicy red sauce. It came in a stone bowl that was pipping hot so it kept all the food nice and hot and even cooked the rice so that it got a nice crunch to it. I didn't get a picture of my meal, but it was incredible. I loved everything about this restaurant - from the atmosphere to the food - and I'll definitely be going back again.

All around it was a fantastic trip. I can't wait to live in the city and continue exploring all the different burrows, parks and restaurants. There is always something to see in NYC!