Books Read 2011

Books Read 2011 (Items in bold are books I highly recommend)

1. Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood

2. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

3. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

4. Women Who Run by Shanti Sosienski Loved this book! So inspiring to read about these amazing women who fought to bring women's running into the olympics or to fight a personal struggle. I truely enjoyed reading each story. And the interesting one was of the man who had a sex change to a woman. Reading how estrogen slowed him down was fascinating.

5. Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

7. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares Amazing book! I've recommended this book to everyone I know. Such a great story/plot. At first I was disappointed with the lackluster ending but later learned that this book is supposed to be Part 1 of a trilogy. I can't wait till the next book comes out.

8. Ape House by Sara Gruen (A little disappointing, I really liked Water for Elephants and had high hopes for this book.)

9. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier-Again I was hoping for an exciting story, it seemed a little slow. Apparently this book is historical fiction but I sort of wished it was spiced up a little.

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins This was a cute teen novel. My friend recommended it to me so I requested the book from the library. I didn't find it amazing, but a cute story.

Starting Cecelia Ahern's new book: The Book of Tomorrow. (I've really lucked out recently and have been able to pick up a lot of new releases from the library without having to request them. In fact, I just scan the new releases bookshelf and found these books. So the last 5 books (including Ahern) have been from the library. Also on my to be read list is Marian Keyes newest book which I also found on the new shelf: The Brightest Star in the Sky.

Adding to my books read 2011:

Books Listened to in 2011

1. Love and Impossible Pursuits byAyelet Waldman

2. Between Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

3. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende

Currently listening to Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

2011 Running Talley

As of today: # miles ran this year is 72.61.

Miles ran for this pregnancy: 120.54

Announcement, Announcement

I've sort of been a little MIA from the blog but that's because life got a whole lot more hectic. I'm proud to announce I'm expecting Baby #3. I'm 20 weeks along, due August 10th and know I'm having a girl. So needless to say that means there are a lot of changes going on in my life. For example we're adding another bedroom as well as some more square footage to our house. Can't squeeze any more bodies in our 2 bedroom home. My body seems to be more worn out carrying girls (meaning my 1st child and this one), I sleep a ton more when pregnant with girls so my motivation has been lacking recently. Hopefully I'll get some energy back soon, but in the meantime, I'm back to blogging about running pregnant.

New Years Resolution February Recipe

Coq Au Vin (from Shape Magazine)

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 T minced garlic
• 3 T white wine (such as chardonnay or pinot grigio), divided
• 2 t cornstarch
• ¹/₄ t freshly ground black pepper
• ¹/₂ cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 oz egg noodles
• 2 T peanut or vegetable oil, divided
• ¹/₄ cup 1/4 -inch diced
• Canadian bacon (about 1 ounce)
• 1 cup 1/4 -inch-thick sliced carrots
• 1 cup 1/4 -inch-thick sliced mushrooms
• 1 T fresh thyme leaves, plus whole thyme sprigs (optional)
• ¹/₂ t salt
• ¹/₂ cup thinly sliced scallions

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the noodles. Slice chicken into bite-size pieces, being careful to cut across the grain of the meat. (If you cut with the grain, the chicken will be tough.)

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, garlic, 1 tablespoon wine, cornstarch, and pepper. Toss to combine and let sit for a few minutes. In a small bowl, combine broth and remaining wine. Once water comes to a boil, add noodles and cook according to package directions for about 7 to 10 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a 14-inch flat-bottom wok or 12-inch skillet over high. Swirl in 1 tablespoon oil, then add chicken and spread evenly in 1 layer in pan.

Cook undisturbed for 1 minute, letting chicken begin to sear. Stir-fry for 1 minute or until chicken is lightly browned but not cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate. Swirl remaining oil into wok, add bacon, carrots,

This recipe was well received by my 4 year old and hubby and I. It will definitely be part of our recipe collection. I also made this with couscous instead of egg noodles because I only had enough egg noodles for dinner. Couscous was for lunch.

New Years Resolution January Recipe

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Ingredients:

Chicken breast cut into bite-sized portions

Fettuccine Pasta box

1 pint Whipping Cream

1 stick of butter

2 cups parmesan cheese

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

Season chicken breast with Italian Seasoning, garlic and black pepper. Cook chicken in pan with olive oil, set aside.

Boil Fettuccine pasta to al dente according to box.

On medium heat, warm up whipping cream, add butter and stir in until melted. Add the parmesan cheese in and stir until melted.

Place pasta in a bowl, add the chicken and pour sauce over it.

I added lightly steamed broccoli to the pasta mixture too.

I really liked the recipe, very fatty but very yummy. The bummer was the next day when the food was reheated it came out oily not creamy. Good quick recipe, will be added to our recipe list.

Sick again

I've counted it, in the 53 days of this year I've been sick for 24 of them. That's 45% of the year so far. It started with 15 days of coughing, 3 days of thrown out back and now I'm day 5 into another cold. I'm so over being sick. I hate not being able to work out because I'm feeling under the weather.

Books Read 2011

Books Read 2011 (Items in bold are books I highly recommend)

1. Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood

2. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

3. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

4. Women Who Run by Shanti Sosienski Loved this book! So inspiring to read about these amazing women who fought to bring women's running into the olympics or to fight a personal struggle. I truely enjoyed reading each story. And the interesting one was of the man who had a sex change to a woman. Reading how estrogen slowed him down was fascinating.

5. Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Currently Reading:

My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares (I'm 60 pages in and it is an awesome book so far! I'm truely enjoying reading it.)

Updated Running Playlist

For spin class and my sanity while running, I'm constantly getting new songs. Here are some new songs I've added to my classes and running playlist.

F@#k You by Cee-Lo Green
Rock That Body by Black Eyed Peas
Take It Off by Ke$ha
Teenage Dream by Katy Perry
We R Who We R by Ke$ha
We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool
Just A Dream by Nelly
Magic by B.o.B Feat Rivers Cuomo
Memories by David Guetta Feat Kid Cudi
Animal by Neon Trees
Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now) by Bob Sinclair Feat. Dollarman & Big Ali

The last song by Bob Sinclair totally gets me going in spin class. When that song comes on, know that you'll be getting your bum kicked.

Working out while sick

It's asked everywhere, I'm catching a cold, I'm sick...should I still work out? I usually follow the rule if you're sick from the neck up it's fine to keep working out, if it's from the neck down then no.

ie. Head cold, runny nose, congestion etc, fine to work out. Coughing, sore throat, fever, vomiting, achy no working out.

Last Saturday, 10 days ago!!, I caught a cough. Yes, it started out directly as a deep chest cough. It totally ruined my 3 day weekend because I was worn out and just coughing all day and night. After a few days of coughing, my throat got sore on a couple of occasions because I was coughing so hard. Fast forward to this past weekend. 7 days in, I was over being sick. I had lost motivation in doing anything, no running or exercising, no cleaning the house, no grocery shopping, no anything. I was ready to be healthy. But this weekend I wake up feeling worse. Super congested, sick tasting mouth and my cough got so bad that I gagged and threw up on two separate occasions. (Yes, I have an issue when I cough hard I start to gag. My gag reflex initiates during coughing fits, it sucks!)

10 days in and *maybe* I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not coughing as much though walking up and down the stairs at work does get me going. I'm not waking up with sick mouth and I'm starting to feel a little normal. I'm hoping by Thursday (do you hear that body?) I can try to attempt a short run and not cough myself to death afterwards. We'll see how my spin class goes on Wednesday (last Wed I had to suck on cough drops and drink a ton of water and still coughed my way through class).

Oh and best part of this illness?! EVERYONE in my family has it. The hubby and both kids. Which means everyone is coughing, everyone is waking up in the middle of the night. We have gone through several boxes of kleenix, numerous bags of cough drops and a bottle of Nyquil. It's not pretty at our house. I'm soooo OVER being sick. Thursday body, you hear that?! Thursday!!

New Years Resolutions

Last year I wanted 3 things:

1. Read 50 books---check

2. Run 500 miles---check (I actually ran 600 miles! I ended up increasing my goal to 600 in November when I finished off Nov at 548 miles run.)

3. Run a sub-2 hour half marathon. ---incomplete. :(

This year, I decided to be a little easier on myself and come up with a resolution that will benefit me and my whole family. I also included hubby in this resolution. Each month this year both he and I have to come up with one new recipe each to try and cook. Hopefully the recipe will be a success and we can add it to our recipe list.

We did this when we were dating years ago. But back then when we didn't have kids, we did a new recipe each a week. I'm thinking me coming up with one new recipe, 12 in a year is not too bad. This month, I'm going to attempt chicken fetticini alfredo. Anyone have a good recipe?