Shin splints

I used to get shin splits during the start of every season of high school track. Shin splints are not fun, and there's not much you can do for them except lots of icing and perhaps buying new shoes.

It may be time for me to get new shoes. Yesterday I decided to run home from work. It was absolutely gorgeous out and I wanted to take advantage of the new light DST has given us. It was about 3.5 miles from work to my apartment but I struggled through it. There were a lot of traffic lights so I didn't do too much walking, but I was jogging pretty slowly. Oh well. I think this work-home route could be a really good thing. My goal can be to first run the whole thing without stopping, then to try to cut down time so I'm back to my normal speed.

Anyway, my shins have been kililng me lately. They've been pretty bad during zumba classes but the run yesterday just did them in. So now I'm sitting at work and icing them! Seriously.


This is what happens when I'm alone in my office.

Last night I finally made Pulled BBQ Crockpot Chicken! I've been dying to make this because it's just soo easy. I don't eat bbq flavored things too often but for some reason this just sounded good.

Pulled BBQ Crockpot Chicken:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1.5/2 cups of your favorite bbq sauce (I used bone suckin' sauce)
- 1 large white onion

Throw everything into the crockpot and cook on medium for 5 hours. Once the chicken is cooked it should pull apart super easily!



Today I had the chicken on a bagel thin. Like I said, I don't ever eat bbq things so I didn't know if I should eat this warm or cold or whatever. I went with room temperature which was a good choice. It was weird eating a sandwich with nothing but chicken on it. What do people normally mix bbq chicken with? It was so sweet I couldn't imagine putting veggies or cheese on there. I'll need to do some research because I have a TON leftover.

I have zumba tonight and class was suprisingly good last week so I'm hoping for the same tonight!

Iceland Day 2

So on our second day in Iceland we woke up around 9 or so to get ready for a long day. We were getting picked up from our hotel to go on a 12 hour tour that would include some fun stuff. We got ready and headed down to breakfast , totally forgetting that breakfast ends at 10 each morning. Woops! Forgetting about the breakfast time restrictions seemed to be a recurring theme for us.

We decided to just eat as much as we could before they took the food away and I ended up with a pretty decent breakfast. No pictures, but I had some fruit, cold cuts, and a few different pastries (I love hotel croissants).

Around 11 we were picked up by Icelandic Mountain Guides in a little van. There were about 8 others in our group. I don’t know why I was so tired but I fell asleep anytime we were in the van (this happened during the whole trip – anytime we were in a moving vehicle I was asleep). We drove for a little while and then stopped at a gorgeous lookout point.

It was cold here!

We hopped back in the van and drove until it was time to stop for lunch. We ended up at a little rest stop and both TKO and I opted for some cheeseburgers, fries and coke light…which sucks. After lunch we got fitted for our crampons and I found some decent hiking boots since I came to Iceland unprepared. Then it was back into the van for just a bit more driving until the glacier.

After some really bumpy driving we finally arrived at the glacier! The van parked and we got all ready. I was scared of being too cold/wet so we wore lots of layers. When we started it was sunny and I was actually a little bit warm. We grabbed our ice picks, posed for a few pictures, then walked for about 20 minutes until we got to the foot of the glacier.

I felt like I was on a different planet! Seriously, they should film movies here. The whole thing was just really breathtaking..pictures don’t do it justice at all, but here are some anyway.

The hike itself lasted about 1.5-2 hours and wasn’t strenuous. Our guide made sure we stayed in a single file line so we didn’t fall in any surprise crevasses! We stopped a couple of times to pose in a little cave and to drink from a little pool that had formed in a valley. I didn’t actually drink because I was too cold to take my glove off. Someone’s a pansy.

While we were on the glacier it went from being sunny, to raining, to snowing and when we finished it was hailing. Iceland is so weird. So we were basically soaking wet when we finally returned to the van. Luckily there was extra room so we were able to drape our coats over every available space.

Next on the list for the tour was a lobster soup dinner! On the way to the restaurant we made a couple of stops at waterfalls – the first being Skogafoss.

One thing I really liked about Iceland is that I felt like they weren’t totally exploiting the natural phenomenons. Of course there were occasional guest shops, but this waterfall (and the other we stopped at) were both just in the middle of nowhere. This has a public restroom near it but that was it. There was no cost to see the waterfall, but I’m curious at how they pay to maintain the restrooms/walkways. It was a nice surprise

The next waterfall was so cool because we could actually walk up behind it—it was magical. Here we are in front of it and a shot from behind it.

And finally, it was time for dinner and Iceland’s famous lobster stew. We stopped at an adorable little restaurant outside the city. After being cold and wet for about 8 hours it was sooo nice to get inside someplace so cozy and warm. We sat at long wooden tables and they brought out baskets of bread and pots of stew. TKO and I pretty much dominated an entire pot and I easily took almost half of the bread on our side. We were hungry!

After dinner we went on a search for the Northern Lights. Although this is supposed to be a terrific year for solar activity, we just weren’t in luck. This was definitely one thing I was looking forward to the most, but you can predict a natural phenomenon so I wasn’t too upset. We were really hopeful because the night turned out to be semi-clear and there had been some solar activity. We ended up on a beach to look for them. It was SO dark you couldn’t see anything around you! I was afraid TKO was going to lead me into the ocean or some Icelandic sea creature was going to eat me. Even though we didn’t see the lights we saw some seriously gorgeous stars. So at least we got that. And now we have an excuse to go back!

We hopped back in the bus and drove back to the hotel for about an hour and a half. I’m sure I was asleep the whole time. Once inside we set an alarm for the morning and fell asleep to the sounds of the classic “Scary Movie 2”, which was the only thing on TV in English!

Stay tuned for day 3.

Iceland Day 1

And so begin the Iceland updates!

I left work on Wednesday night a little bit early to head home and finish packing. On my way home I stopped in a little market to get a soda (I was excited and wanted a treat). I ended up leaving my kindle on the counter for about 10 minutes. When I went back someone had stolen it. Great way to start a vacation right?

TKO’s brother drove us to Logan airport and we got some dinner. I LOVE eating dinner in airports. I have no idea why. It’s not that the food is especially good, I think I just like the whole atmosphere and I love the feeling of already being past security and not feeling stressed out. What can I say I’m a weirdo. I got a pub burger and a glass of wine to try to make myself sleepy. The flight was only 5 hours but had a 5 hour time difference. So we’d be leaving at 8:30 and getting there at 6:30 AM (1:30 AM our time). Of course I didn’t sleep at all on the plane and ended up watching Harry Potter instead.

Around 6:30 or so we arrived in Iceland!!

We went into the duty free shop to buy some alcohol and candy, then hopped on a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Nordica, which was a really nice hotel! I haven’t stayed in many European hotels but it was surprisingly roomy. I forgot to take pictures of our room but here’s the gorgeous view out of our window:

We crashed for a couple of hours as soon as we got to the hotel (which would have been about 4 AM our time) and woke up at noon to get ready and go into town. Downtown Reykjavik was only a 15-20 minute walk so braved the rain and headed out.

We were pretty hungry so we found a little cafe to eat in. I ordered this delicious salami sandwich and TKO ordered an egg and salmon sandwich.

A little Icelandic chocolate for dessert!

After lunch we spent the day exploring. We stumbled upon a pretty incredible graffiti park,

and went into a little bar called Olstofa for our first Icelandic beers.

This bar was so cute and had been recommended by my sister when she went to Iceland a few years ago. Unfortunately we got there at 4 pm and it was totally empty. I would have liked to go back but there just wasn't enough time.

Next we walked down to the pier to check out the gorgeous mountains and the Viking boat sculpture that TKO had heard about.

The view was beautiful but it was pretty cold here! The weather overall was pretty tolerable. We experienced EVERYTHING: sunshine, rain, snow, hail and sleet. Normally that type of weather would piss me off but I think since we were prepared it just wasn't that big of a deal.

We spotted the famous Hallgrimskirkja church from a distance and headed up the hills to get a closer look, stopping quickly at an outdoor WC. Normally I wouldn't mention a bathroom break but this thing was so cool! It would sterilize itself after each use for like 3 minutes. TKO and I have been discussing how to get these things in Boston and trying to figure out a way to avoid it from becoming a homeless person’s bedroom. Iceland had no homeless people. At least not that I could see!

The church was beautiful. It was supposedly designed to mimic the lava flows of Iceland’s landscape. I would have liked to go inside but the church was closed. Still, it was really striking from the outside.

And finally it was the best part of the night – dinner! We had gotten many recommendations to hit up Islenski Barrin and decided to make it our first real meal.

We were both surprised when we walked in and the place was super casual. I don’t know why I was expecting otherwise. Iceland is famous for it’s unique dishes (especially different proteins) so we both decided to put our fate in the chef’s hands and order from the “Icelandic surprise” menu. TKO went with the 3 course meal – it would be an appetizer, entree and dessert chosen by the chef. I went with the tasting menu – 3 small appetizer portions and 3 small entree portions.

We started with some fish stew which was pretty interesting, but delicious! It really just tasted like a bunch of different fish mushed together, and definitely wasn’t soupy. Strange, but good!

TKO ended up with the meat soup for his app and the foal (pony) for his entree.

The meat soup was soooo good. I wasn’t crazy about the foal.

I loved my meal! I’m a fan of having little separated tastes of everything so this was right up my alley.

Clockwise starting from the top left: salmon tar tar, pickled herring, cured minke whale, seared minke whale over wasabi potatoes, salted cod over barley, and leg of lamb over mashed potatoes.

The leg of lamb easily stole the show for me. I had no idea I liked lamb so much!! TKO was crazy about the salted cod and neither of us were huge fans of the herring or cured minke whale. The whale steak was pretty good though – kind of reminded me of a surf an turf meal because it felt like eating beef and fish together.

For dessert TKO was kind enough to share his apple cake with cinnamon ice cream and skyr (Icelandic yogurt).

This dessert was awesome. This is not what I’d usually look to order but it was sooooo good!

After a fantastic dinner we headed back to the hotel. We were totally wiped out and I crashed as soon as I hit the pillow. We had a big next day ahead of us!

March

Aaaand it's March.

Aghh! I'm terrible. I've been so busy since getting back from Iceland that the thought of updating makes me squirm! Did I even say I was going to Iceland on this thing? Well if not, I left on Wednesday the 22^nd and came back that Sunday. Work’s been insane and last Saturday was TKO’s birthday so I was barely on my computer. I’m SO looking forward to this weekend. I need a Saturday of staying in bed and watching movies!

So what have I been up to the last few weeks? Hmmm, I’m doing fairly well with my Diet Coke challenge, but not as well as I’d like. As for reading 26 books in 2012 I am still pretty much on target despite a few obstacles, the biggest being my kindle got stolen. I was pretty inconsolable about this for a while but some helpful people made me realize that everything is replaceable and sometimes shit happens. So that’s that.

Last Thursday Kathleen and I went to a free comedy show that was being taped for Comedy Central. It was pretty good, but the comedians were super racist and clearly upset people, making for some awkward moments. Probably not something I would have paid for but I had a couple of laughs, so it’s a win!

TKO’s b-day this weekend was lots of fun and full of food. On Friday we went to Bukowski’s and had some good beer and food. I got a gourmet grilled cheese which was pretty tasty. On Saturday we went to breakfast and I ate pancakes for the first time in like 10 years. I want to like pancakes because there are so many fun homemade varieties but typically I’m not into sweet desserts. Maybe my palette is a changin’. Saturday night we met up with his family at Salts, a really cute/slightly fancy restaurant in Kendall. This was an amaaazing dinner. I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t want his family to think he was dating a freak. We started with burning hot bread, an amuse-bouche soup, and then I got another leek/almond/lobster soup. For my entree I ordered the sweet potato ravioli with mushrooms, walnuts and lots of other stuff. Here's the birthday boy with his dessert:

On Sunday we had brunch once again at Eastern Standard, which is becoming one of my favorite spots in Boston. I ordered a couple of drinks and a burger which hit the spot. Obviously it was a very gluttonous weekend, but TKO is a foodie like me so I think he was very happy!

What else? I am afraid of these upcoming races. The 5k is in a month and I can just comfortably run 2 miles (at a much slower pace than I’m used to). I don’t know why this has been so hard for me. I haven’t worked out on the weekends at all. I attempted to make a 7-week workout schedule last week and have already missed 5 days of it. I guess this is why people start working out in the morning. It’s really tough to say no to doing things/seeing people after work. Maybe I’ll need to give it another try…

I’ve been really sucking at time management lately. I feel like I’m not able to balance all of the things I want to do (and have to do) and so have been failing on all fronts. This is a pretty depressing thought and I really need to get my act together.

This post was kind of a downer huh? Stolen kindles, racist comedians, missed workouts. Gah. Anyway I plan on doing lots of Iceland recaps and am even going to write them in advance while it’s still fresh in my mind. Hopefully I’ll be back with some better updates. Byeee.

Zumba Frustrations

Are you ready for another post where I complain about zumba? If not, feel free to X out and come back another day :)

I've been going to zumba at my gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays the past few weeks and I just am not feeling the same love and excitement I used to feel when it was a zumba night. I blame this on the instructors and the class itself. First of all, overall the class is not very difficult. I probably have to push myself through 1 song (2 songs top) and the others just come pretty easily. There isn't any difficult choreography and most of the routines are really repetitive.

In last night's class, we started 5 minutes late. This annoys me SO much. The class was going surprisingly well, but then suddenly with more than 20 minutes left the instructor said "just one more upbeat song". We spent the next 15 minutes "cooling down" and then finished a couple of minutes early. I was really annoyed!!! I don't know if part of the reason we did this was because there was a lot of older women and newbs there who looked like they were struggling, but when I come to the gym for an hour-long cardio workout that's what I'm expecting to get.

Both of my instructors also don't make playlists ahead of time and just seem to wing it the night of. That means we stop in between every single song so she can mess around with the ipod. Then she asks for "suggestions", which is nice, but not necessary. You're leading the class, just make a playlist!!

After zumba last night I was so upset with the workout that I hopped on a treadmill and ran 1.5 miles pretty easily. Just another sign that zumba isn't working me out the way I want it. I am so out of running shape and shouldn't be able to easily run after a cardio workout. After the run I walked for about 20 minutes then did a couple rounds of the Tone It Up Abs workout.

Because of these zumba woes I'm thinking of going back to spinning again, at least once a week. I loved my Wednesday night spinning instructor and know I was getting a fantastic workout in. I'll be in Iceland next week but maybe I'll try this out when I return.

I didn't get home until after 9 pm but was hungry for dinner. I scrambled 2 eggs and had a plain bagel thin, an apple and some cucumbers on the side.

I have been downing eggs lately like nobody's business. I crave them all the time. In fact I just took a trip over to the mall solely to buy 2 hard boiled eggs from ABP. So weird.

I'm looking forward to the long weekend. I have zero plans but a few errands I need to make sure to do.
- Go to CVS (bc, drammamine, toner, travel sized things)
- Pick up glasses
- Decide what I need for Iceland and get it!!

Catch ya later!

Eggs N' Grits

Hello! I meant to update yesterday but just didn't feel like it, so here's a quick valentine's day recap.

Around 7 TKO came over to pick me up for dinner but didn't have his car with him. I asked if we were taking the T, he said no and led me over to a nice town car! Ya know, one of the ones with the tinted windows and the drivers. He used a new app called Uber to book it -- it was very sweet :)

He brought me to Hungry Mother in Kendall Square for dinner, which I had looked into a few months ago and bookmarked on yelp. He told me he had some "criteria" that the perfect v-day restaurant needed to meet: higher than 4 stars on yelp w/ lots of reviews, romantic or intimate atmosphere, not way out of price range, and not loud. Hungry Mother definitely met all of those things! The place was cute and looked like a house both inside and out. Everything was imply homey -- the furniture was wooden, the water was served in mason jars (I LOVE) and the lighting and setup just made you feel cozy.


We were sat at a little table and served some bread from someone walking around with a basket. This is weird of me to say but the butter was soooo good. The best I've ever had!! I'm not a huge fan of butter but it tasted like they just finished churning it and scooped it into a bowl.

We ordered a bottle of Chardonnay (my fave) and a lottt of food. I didn't take any pictures because my phone stayed snug in my purse, but here's what we got from their menu (cue salivation):

DEVILED CHIP-IN EGGS hm bacon, smoked paprika (shared)
FRENCH GNOCCHI shemeji mushrooms, heart of gold squash, vidalias, sarvecchio (shared)
CATFISH PECAN MEUNI RE carolina rice pilau, sea island red peas, lemon brown butter (he ordered)
CAST IRON CHICKEN bacon, sweet potato & sunchoke barigoule, vidalia onion soubise (I ordered)
SKILLET CORNBREAD, SORGHUM BUTTER (shared)
ANSON MILLS GRITS, HM TASSO HAM, CHEDDAR (shared)

Every.single.thing tasted delicious and fresh. This was my first time eating grits and I couldn't get enough of them! No wonder everything tasted so fresh -- from their menu: Hungry Mother uses local and sustainable ingredients whenever possible, from farms in and around New England. Southern specialties are from the Virginia Appalachia and the surrounding states. Unless otherwise noted artisinal items are made in house.

I urged TKO to skip dessert because I was "too full" -- remember I had a few batches of cookies to give him! The cookies came out great and I stuffed them with reeses peanut butter cups, heath bar (his favorite) and oreos. They were gigantic! Here are some on the cooling rack:

And here they are in their respective wrappings.

I put some in a tupperware container that i decorated with some ribbon and tissue paper and some in the Chinese food container. The other square package is a bag of pistachios, his favorite snack.

We headed back to his apartment for about an hour after dinner and watched some Modern Family til I started snoozing. It was a great Valentine's day :)

Today's been a breezy day so far. I got to bed pretty early and actually woke up well before my alarm so I read some of book #5 of 2012: The Girl Who Played with Fire. I ate a granola bar and a delicious gala apple for breakfast, and lunch is some Annie Chun's Miso Soup. I seriously love this soup! It's so convenient and is made with 100% all natural ingredients and has no preservatives. Pretty good for a quick lunchtime meal eh?

After 5 days off from the gym I am ready to get back into it tonight with some cardio and zumba tonight. See ya later!

PS: TKO asked me to be his girlfriend at the restaurant and I said yes! So crazy to look back at how this blog started and where I am now more than a year later.

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm not really sure how I feel about this day. I know that when I was in 10th grade I cried because my boyfriend didn't "do enough"...so ridiculous!!

"This Means War" last night was okay. I love Reese and the movie definitely had some funny points, but I hate anything that makes guys think it's okay to be a-holes! Spoiler alert-- she should have picked the other guy! I made a rookie mistake and bought a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich to the movies. I really wanted to order tuna salad but didn't because of the obvious: the entire theater would smell like tuna. Smart Julie decided instead to get smoked salmon -- what was I thinking?? It was delish but I was definitely doing my best to hide that the smell was coming from my direction. Oops.

Every Valentine's day I immediately think of John Mayer's song "St. Patrick's day." I really should think about it on St. Patty's day huh? I literally wake up singing the line "February, won't you be my valentine, and we'll both be safe til' St. Patrick's day." It's actually fairly depressing...

Aaanywayy, TKO and I are going out to dinner later at a surprise location. I'm excited cause he always picks good places :) Plus I hear Valentines usually calls for price fixe menus. Most people don't like these but it means I get to eat 3 courses! Hah.

I plan on making him a variety of stuffed chocolate chip cookies and packing them up in a few cute ways. Here's the supplies:


How adorable is that chinese food box!? Hopefully I'll have time to snap some pics of the cookies tonight.

Hugs and kisses to all! xo