Running in the Snow

Yesterday morning I woke up and we had a dusting of snow on the ground.  I was a little disappointed that we didn't get the expected 1-3 inches so that it could look a little more like the picture above.  While I usually am not a fan of the cold, I can appreciate new snow, especially because in Denver it usually melts in a day or so.  Even though my running buddy bailed on me, I headed out to Wash Park at 5:00am.  The outer loop, which is a dirt/crusher fine loop, was covered in snow and I loved the fact that there was only one set of footprints on the trail when I started.  And as I completed my 7 mile run around the park, more and more people and doggy prints appeared.  It was extra peaceful.  A nice run even if it felt like my feet were lead.

I feel out of control with my eating.  When I lost my weight, I stayed away from eating out.  This week alone, between dates, bookclub and work, I will be eating out seven times.  I know how to eat out healthy but for me, eating out has always been a "special occasion" when I suspend my healthy eating rules.  I need to figure this out.  The out of control feeling just fuels more emotional eating. 

My eats yesterday were my usual breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries and coffee with milk and sugar.  I skipped my morning snacks and had lunch at McCormick's.  I had the blackened catfish with mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies.  I also ate some bread.  I skipped my afternoon snacks and had dinner at one of my favorite happy hour places, the Great Northern Tavern.  I had a Guinness beer, a little bit of salad (but couldn't finish because it was drenched in dressing), and chicken pesto linguine with sundried tomatoes.  I also had three small bites of espresso cheesecake. 

So my totals are my best estimates...

Thursday Totals
Eats: 2039 calories (21% protein, 49% carbs (241g carbs), 30% fat)
Run: 7.01 miles
Men: Due to a last minute dinner with a client, I had to reschedule my date from last night.  Thankfully he was very understanding.

The calories, if close to accurate, aren't bad if I am maintaining my weight.  However, I want to lose weight and should be closer to 1800.  And that could have been accomplished by skipping the roll and beer.  Today's a new day and I need to learn and move on. 

I'm happy it is Friday and the weekend is almost here!  I have three dates this weekend, starting this evening.  I am most excited about tomorrow's date. 

Laura

I'm In Love

With avocados. 

I just can't get enough of them.  On a sandwich, in a salad, or as guacomole.  Its all good if it includes avocado.  At first I thought it was a simple crush and the newness would wear off.  But my love knows no bounds!  Did you know they are a fruit?

So I kicked off my snack like dinner with a mashed avocado (= to 3.75 oz of avocado) with onion & garlic powder, white pepper and sea salt.  I added some grape tomatoes and got my munch on with two corn cakes from Real Foods.

The other half of my dinner included two more corn cakes with red pepper hummus sprinkled with cayenne pepper.  And dessert was two small york peppermint patties.

I started my day with Jamba Juice's Banana Oatmeal - as Wednesday is $1 oatmeal day.  It was yummy good.  Along with a coffee with whole milk from Starbucks.  I love that more and more places are offering oatmeal as a breakfast option.  This oatmeal came in around 280 calories.

My other eats included reduced fat white cheddar cheez-its, a turkey sandwich, and a small serving of Dark Chocolate Peppermint ice cream from the Cold Stone Creamery.  Not a stellar eating day.

5K Time Trial
When I was in Lake Placid, my brother and SIL expressed concern over my training by heart rate.  They had a compelling argument to train by pace so in order to have my SIL establish my different training zones, I needed to do a 5K time trial.  So Tuesday morning, I headed to Wash Park and ran a 5K (plus 5.9 more miles to get in all my scheduled miles for the day).  I really pushed myself.  Maybe even harder than I would have in a race.  There certainly were less distractions than most races have.  It felt good to just run hard, heart rate be damned.  And now I'm equipped with training paces.  While I only have 6 weeks before Little Rock, I think this change will give me some more confidence.

The other exciting side of the time trial - it predicts a marathon time that would shave 37 minutes off of my marathon PR.  I'm "seasoned" enough to know that a lot of variables impact performance on race day, but knowing that it is possible and that I'm in better condition now then I was in the fall has boosted my confidence.

Daily Totals
Eats: My software for food totals is down right now.  Promise to provide tomorrow's!
Runs: Off day
Men: email exchanges with three bachelors and I have two dates for the remainder of the week.

Have an awesome evening!

Laura

Catching Up...

Here's some happening from the last two weeks...

Friday Birthday
I went to a birthday party two Fridays ago with every intention of leaving early...but happily left about an hour after I was thought I would...our hostess is a fabulous cook!  And the conversation was so much fun.  We even got one of our friends to join us via conference call.  It was so nice to see everyone.  I forgot my camera...which is a food shame...We started out with a cheese platter and sampled a triple cream brie, triple cream camemberet and a truffle cheese.  By far the camemberet was my favorite.  First course was the most awesome butternut squash soup, with a perfectly fried sage leaf in the middle with a drizzle of sage butter...with a few bits of bacon.  Second course was a pasta course.  It was great as well, broccoli, which even though I don't like I didn't mind, penne pasta and chick peas...and I'm pretty sure some bacon.  Main course was chicken and sausage, mashed potatoes and the most beautiful zucchini pancakes.  I think I ate another zucchini pancake after dessert.  And dessert was my cupcakes.  I think it was a great recipe, so I'll post later this weekend.

22 Miler
With my new found enthusiasm for running, I tackled the 22 miler with gusto two Saturday's ago.    I was fortunate to start the run with these three great folks from the running group. 

My pace group leader and I are training for the same marathon, and she nicely agreed to get her 22 miler done on this day as well.  Even though the run was actually on our schedule for this past Saturday, but I was in Lake Placid with my family for a belated family holiday gathering.  We lost half our small group after mile 5.5 but we supported each other and got it done.  It was a fairly flat course, which was a nice change of pace to last week's long run. 

I learned a lot on this run.  I'm really not that good about fueling.  And I definitely felt it from mile 12 to 14 and again from mile 17 to 19.  I was ravenous at mile 18, but I couldn't convince myself to eat anything I was carrying (one fig newtons and some gels).  And so my running buddy and I decided at Mile 19.5 to make a short pit stop at the most unlikely of places...

Yes.  That's right.  McDonalds.  And yes, I had the most awesome cheeseburger ever, with a small coke.  And the last 2.5 miles were the best miles ever - they went by so fast!  In addition to the cheeseburger, I had one gel, about 16 ounces of gatorade, one fig newton, 120 calories worth of pringles, a few starburst gummies and water.  And we were out there for the same amount of time as I was for my first marathon.  Clearly not enough fuel pre-cheeseburger.  For my next race, I can't get to a point where I'm ravenous.  I tested out the pringles, and they were great for breaking up the sweet taste, which makes me nauseous after mile 15.  But I can't carry around a tube of pringles during my next marathon!  So I need find some salt based foods that are portable. 

Dates
I had a few dates since the last I wrote.  I have to admit that I'm quite smitten with a bachelor I've gone out with two times now.  And also smitten with a different bachelor and we've been out five or six times.  I did say goodbye to one bachelor.  Our third and last date just didn't feel right.  I really struggle with how to say goodbye.  I decided to do this via email and he was gracious in his response.  It doesn't feel good no matter which side you are on...I have another date Thursday with a new bachelor and on Friday with a bachelor I've been out with a number of times.  Its fun, although I need to be better about drinking less and protecting my sleep time.

Cooking
Before I left to Lake Placid...I made White Bean Burgers.  They were really yummy!  I'll post the recipe with the cupcake recipe.  The ingredients were really basic...

The burgers required a lot of chopping, shredding and puree-ing...so the star of this cooking moment was my little Cuisinart food processor.

After the prep work, they came together easily and viola - bean burgers were made!  They are filling and yummy. 

I'll check in later with today's eats and a little information about my 5k time trial that I took yesterday.

Laura

Snow Angels and Sled Dogs

Such an unreliable blogger am I.  My apologies.  I've just returned from Lake Placid with a few pictures and a strong resolve to consistently blog!  I'll provide a catch-up blog tomorrow, we'll keep it all about the Lake Placid adventures.

I left the relative warmth of Denver and flew to Rochester, New York to my brother's house.  He's the oldest of my two brothers and an absolute fitness inspiration to me.  He and his fiance picked me up after a three hour delay and lots of miscommunication courtesy of Northwest.  For two-and-a-half years, I worked for the Aveda Corporation and was a platinum flyer of Northwest.  They always got high marks from me.  But not anymore...my flight from Detroit to Rochester was delayed by three hours due to mechanical challenges.  I understand that equipment fails.  The frustrating part was the lack of communication from Northwest.  We were told to stay in the boarding area and were told this repeatedly every 10 minutes for 2.5 hours.  And then we were moved to another gate, where that attendant told us, "you people don't belong here."  Gee, thanks.  We were then sent to another gate and then boarded a plane to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes.  Sigh.  Thankfully I was packed for snacks, but situations like this always make healthy food choices more difficult.  The return flight was also challenging and resulted in a 13 hour travel day.  I'm happy that my work doesn't involve travel!

The next day, my brother, SIL and myself picked up my mother and headed to Lake Placid.  The younger of my two brothers could not make it and we missed him on this trip.  As the only other coffee drinker in my family, he was missed when I went out to search for my morning coffee fix.  Our condo was right on main street Lake Placid, on Mirror Lake where we could see Whiteface Mountain and the other Lake Placid resorts.

On the first day there, we had lunch in Saranac Lake and settled into the condo.  I whined enough about the cold weather that we went in search of proper cold weather running tights.  No luck in the shops on this day.  We then went to dinner at the Brown Dog Cafe and Wine Bar.  I had Maine scallops that were amazing.  I do miss east coast seafood! 

The next day included a search for morning coffee which brought me to the Bluesberry Bakery and included a lovely chocolate croissant.  Lunch was substandard chinese food.  My mom then agreed to go on a short dogsled ride.  The puppies were so happy to get going!

What I didn't anticipate was how smelly these puppies were! 

They were adorable and it was a fun ride!  That evening we went to the Hungry Trout.  I was the only one to order the rainbow trout.  It was really yummy! 

The next day, we returned to Rochester early enough so that we could watch the two football games.  Looks like it will be an excited Superbowl.  I'll be cheering on the Saints!

I'll catch up on food, running and other fun stuff tomorrow!  Right now, I have to finish getting ready for my date!

Have a great Tuesday evening!

Laura

Hello Friday!

I woke up this morning feel so refreshed!  So I started the morning with a load of laundry and frosting cupcakes - all before 7:00am.  I think taking a three day break from running was a brilliant idea.  I'll post the recipe to the carrot cupcakes some time this weekend...if they are good and I'll know that this evening at my friend's birthday party.

Eats

 

I can attest that the frosting tasted so yummy.  It was a cream cheese and butter frosting that called for 1 t. of orange zest.  So naturally, I decided to eat the orange instead of my usual 1/2 c. blueberries - it was so sweet and juicy!  A great way to continue the fabulous start to my morning!

 

In addition to the orange and my usual coffee, I had plain oatmeal instead of my usual, which I had yesterday morning...

 

 

My snacks for today will be the same as yesterday and include:

 

 

This is the last of the smartfood popcorn clusters (thankfully); 1.1 oz of rice cracker mix, a chocolate chip Z bar and two clemintines.  Yesterday I munched on these, had Lean Cuisine's mac & cheese for lunch, and during my date, had 2 glasses of Malbec, 3 pork potstickers, a little bit of salad and 1/4 of a veggie quesadilla.  I would have been good for the day if I stopped there.  But when I got home, I had 1/2 c. of Haagen Daz Mint Chocolate Chip icecream!  How on earth did that get into my house?  But this is what having a few drinks does...kills your motivation to keep the calories in check.

Dates

My date last night was probably the best recent first date I've had.  I'm really excited to see him again.  Very engaging, funny and a bit of a tease. 

Weekend Plans

• Saturday will be my return to running - in a big way.  I have a 22 miler!  And the group doesn't run this week - so I'll be meeting up with a running group friend and we'll do this one together - thankfully!  And I think we may be joined by some other folks for portions of the run. 
• Saturday evening, hopefully after I have napped after the 22 miler, I'm going out with the bachelor I saw on Tuesday evening - dinner and a movie. 
• Sunday will be my day to cook - I found what looks like a tasty recipe for White Bean Burgers. 

Totals from Thursday:
Eats: 1929 calories (10% protein, 54% carb (244 g), and 36% fat)
Runs: None
Men: One great first date!

Have an awesome Friday!

Laura

 

A Naturally Recurring State of Relatively Suspended Sensory and Motor Activity

Ah rest.  I have been tired all week long.  I think it is a mix of going out so much after work, stress at work, not drinking enough water and well, not getting enough sleep.  I was rather relieved when my date for last night let me know that he had to reschedule as he needed to go to Houston last minute for work.  Last night included some couch time and making carrot cupcakes for a friend's birthday party on Friday evening.  I'll post the recipe if it is good one.  I'll frost them on Friday morning...they made my apartment smell so good.  I find baking very relaxing and I'm pretty good at it!

Men
I'm not sure if you find these match.com introductory emails entertaining or interesting at all.  And well, I just seem to have hit a little streak of memorable ones, so I'll share.  Yesterday's was...

I’m Ty in Colorado, very open minded, uninhibited, educated, clean cut, professional, and tons of fun. I am fit and attractive, and have many pictures to share. I have been waiting for my match one to be approved. I am seeking a women that maybe a bit more open minded…. Someone whom likes to take control… likes a guy to do as she commands / wishes…. Loves to be placed on a pedestal and well served. I am real and genuine in my request. I would love to exchange emails / chat online, and see if we have a fit and if you would like to test me I am game .


We all need love, right?  SIGH.
Running
I took this morning off from running again.  A little tinge of guilt but I'm hoping this little rest will give me back my motivation for Little Rock.

Eats
Here are my eats for yesterday.  A little higher calorie wise than I would like since I am not working out, but not too out of control.  I promise I'll start taking pictures of my meals tomorrow!

My morning snack included the "purse pack" of chocolate cookie caramel pecan popcorn clusters from Smartfood and 1.1 oz of rice cracker mix.  Lunch was a sandwich, using up the last of my roasted chicken (3 oz), two slices of Honey Whole Wheat bread from Great Harvest and Miracle Whip Light along with two clementines.  My afternoon snack was a banana and 1/3 of the raspberry pastry my boss brought in.  It was yummy, but I shouldn't have eaten it.  Although the buttery layers of pastry were so good.  Dinner was 1c. brown rice, with one of the Mozzarella Artichoke Garlic chicken sausage that I picked up at Costco.  My evening snack was 1/2 oz of cheddar cheese and 2 small york peppermint patties. 

You might be thinking that smartfood popcorn was yummy.  Not so much.  If you are looking for something artificial tasting and sweet, then yes.  I think they should replace the "chocolate cookie" with plain chocolate and then they would be on to something!  I'm finishing them up so I don't waste them and they come in at 120 calories, so not so bad.

Totals:
Eats: 1724 calories, 17% protein, 62% carbs (273 grams), and 21% fat
Workout: None
Men: one cancelled date

Have a great Thursday!

Laura

Kissey Lips

I may need to retract my previous post.  Yesterday, I learned that "Hello Darlin'" is pretty mild in comparision on the creepiness scale.  A dear friend shared with me her top two creepy match.com introductory emails.  By far the one who takes top creepiness prize, in my opinion, is the man who wrote to her, subject line: Hi Sexy, and said "That picture of those kissey lips attracted me to you like a magnet."  Nothing more. I'm speechless. 

The second was from a man who lives in a neighboring state of Colorado who assured her that she didn't look a day over 45.  Which is good seeing she is 38 years old.  His subject line was "Woof."  He went on to say "I am free to live anywhere I want" and  "big love could make me pack my bags faster than you could ask "check-in or carry-on."  I got nothing to say.

Last night's date was very relaxed and enjoyable, so this assures me that these men are but a small percentage of guys out there.  I have faith. 

On the running front, I've decided to heed some advice from my sister-in-law.  Yes, the same person who discusses putting away the unicorns and flowers and get serious about training.  Well, I'm taking three days off from all activity and resting my body and my mind.  And then on Saturday, I'm going to try my scheduled 22 mile run and see how I feel about Little Rock.  I have to say, one morning of rest and I'm already feeling like a new person. 

I know I haven't posted much on my food.  I feel out of control when my meals include eating out.  And this week has been all about eating out.  I promise to do better though - accounting for what I'm eating is a powerful way to keep things healthy.  This morning I had my usual, Nature's Path Mape Nut Oatmeal with 1/2 c. blueberries and my coffee with 1/2 c. skim milk and 1 t. sugar.  I brought a lot of healthy snacks to work with me (bananas, clementines, rice cracker mix) and hoping to keep myself away from the pasteries that my boss brought in this morning. 

I have a date this evening with a new guy.  We are going to a wine bar I really enjoy and I'm looking forward to meeting him.  He's a little older than I usually look for but age is more about how you act than a number. 

Have an awesome Wednesday! 

Laura

Hello Darlin'

I'm an understanding girl.  I appreciate that dating can be hard.  Sometimes people strive to be "different" in order to stand out.  I usually think this happens because of fear and uncertainy that who you are will fall short of the expectations held by the person you are trying to impress.  I really try to understand that people put themselves out there and I try not to judge.  But I have to say that match.com is starting to creep me out.  I really don't know how I intend to write about dating.  I respect others' privacy too much to reveal too many details.  But I've decided for the good of humankind, I must provide men with information that some of them seem to lack. 

Today's lesson is "What not to include in your first email to me."  Do not call me SWEETIE.  And do not say "HELLO DARLIN'" I'm not even making this up.  These two guys then go on to say nothing that reveals that they read my profile.  They do say your sure look "GRRRReat."  So purring like Tony the Tiger and using Conway Twitty's pick up line will not get you very far.  In fact men, you should know that it is just plain creepy and makes us women want to run away! 

Last night's date was very nice.  I'm glad I went out with him for a second date.  The conversation was interesting and intelligent.  Another date this evening.  No promises on details.

On the running front, I'm not sure about Little Rock.  But on Monday, I got 5.68 miles in and this morning 7.12 miles.  I don't feel strong at all, but I'm still taking it one day at a time.

Have an awesome Tuesday!

Laura

What does not kill you, makes you stronger

Saturday morning we (me and the running group) were greeted by balmy temperatures for our last run of the session.  Location: Green Mountain Trail.  Distance: 12 miles.  Temps: upper 20s, low 30s.  And glorious sunshine! 

It was a noticeably smaller group then most runs.  The route included an "easy" option (out and back on the southwest side of Green Mountain Trail) or a "hard" option of taking the entire loop.  In my innocence of not having run the route before, I opted for the "hard" option. 

The south western side had awesome views.

Little did I know that the hard route's profile looked like this...

Only the big hill, also known as Green Mountain, occurred at around mile 8.5.  I spent more time than I should looking down and wondering if I should turn around and do the easy route.

Did I mention that I spent a lot of time looking down and wondering really if I had taken on too much?

But the views on the top - at around 6800 feet were awesome.  You can see some 14ers in the distance.

And the City of Denver.

The downhill section was challenging.  A mix of ice, rocks, snow, slush and MUD!  I can't recall the last time I felt so relieved to see my car in the parking lot!  I don't regret taking on the hard route.  But it makes me wonder if I'm ready for Little Rock.  More and more I'm thinking I should target a later spring marathon.  That will be my task for the week - figure this out.  Is it the best decision or is it a decision I'm making out of fear?

Have a great evening.  I'm going to try hit the sack early.  This is a big date week - four dates, Monday - Thursday.  I'm tired already.

Laura

Le Poulet

Yesterday evening, I took one step towards my resolution of cooking more!  I roasted my very first chicken. 

Here's a link to the recipe from the fabulous and adorable Jamie Oliver for Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Potatoes. 

Isn't he just cute as a button?

BEFORE
Here are the ingredients before the roasting.

And all assembled

AFTER
And viola!  Here is the finished product!  It was tres magnifique! 

The meat was so moist.  The skin so crisp.  And it was refreshing to eat chicken from a roasted whole chicken that was not laden with salt. 

I made a few modifications to the recipe.  First, I added carrots to the potatoes and roasted them both.  The carrots turned out so sweet and just perfect.  Second, I put some fresh thyme between the meat and skin.  The hard parts included parboiling the potatoes.  Putting potatoes into boiling water wasn't as easy as it sounds without causing boiling water to splash a little.  Second, the recipe calls for putting a lemon into the cavity of the bird (and no, I didn't name it although I was tempted).  While I pricked it as directed, I was nervous it would burst while roasting, but it did not!  Third, how do you know its cooked?  I used my meat thermometer and roasted it until the thigh meat was 180.  I know this sounds crazy high, but it meant the bird was only in the oven for 75 minutes, which I didn't think was long enough.  I'm happy to report that it was not dry at all! 

And this morning...I used the carcass (I know, harsh word) and made homemade chicken stock!  Yay!  I think my Julia Child moment is complete. 

Laura

Put Away the Flowers and Unicorns

I enjoy Friday mornings.  I usually take Fridays off from all workouts.  So this morning I was able to do a little cleaning, which seems like the perfect way to say, "hello weekend."  It also gives me time to think about training and what I want and need from it.  In two short months, I'll be running my second marathon.  And so, its really time to get serious and stop taking each run easy.  This makes tomorrow's 14 miler more exciting.  I'll be training in Zone 2 and 3 tomorrow and I'm looking forward to pushing it a little, so long as the footing is good.  Yesterday's high was around 13 degrees.  This morning when I woke up it was -1 degrees.  This makes it likely that tomorrow's run will be a little icy.  In any event, I'm putting my sister-in-law's comment to heart - "Put away the flowers and unicorns, it time to buckle down and get serious" about training. 

Plans for the weekend also include roasting my very first chicken and going to breakfast at my favorite breakfast spot, Snooze. 

Do you think my roasted chicken will look like this?  I hope so!

I'll be back this evening with my eats.  I have a lunch meeting at Maggiano's so it will be interesting...

Have a great Friday!

Laura

Happy Eve of Friday

I'm watching Pizza! The Movie on the documentary channel.  Its making me hungry!

It feels like it has been such a long week.  I'm glad Friday is almost upon us.  I'll get back to the picture taking this weekend.  Here's an overview of my eats today.

Breakfast: Nature's Path maple nut oatmeal plus 1/2 c. blueberries and coffee with 1/2 c. 1% milk and 1 t. of sugar.
Snack: 1.1 oz of rice cracker mix (minus the wasabi peas)
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Mac & Cheese and 2 clementines
Snack: 1 banana and 2 fig newtons
Dinner: 2 eggs, scrambled with 2 slices of toast (made from the Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat) with 1 T of whipped butter and 2 T of reduced fat strawberry cream cheese.
Snack: two chocolate chip cookies

Today's overview of eats tell me that I'm not eating veggies, so I need to work on this!

Daily Totals:
Eats: 1747 calories - 13% protein,  59% carbs (270g), and 28% fat
Run: 5 miles on the treadmill in my apartment building...because it was -1 degrees out this morning - I'm looking forward to the return of warmer weather - I much prefer being outside!
Men: spoke with one of my match bachelors and emailed two others

Good night!

Laura

Happy New Year!

I can't believe its been this long since I last posted.  So long, I had to look up my log-in information.  Sorry about that.  Between the holidays, work and getting sick, blogging has been impossible to fit in. 

Happy New Year!  I love beginnings.  And the New Year is the biggest beginning I can think of.  Do you make resolutions?  I know a lot of people do it as the year unfolds.  I think this works for me but I also like to start the New Year with some overall goals.  And here are some of mine:

1.  Run 1400 miles.  I ended 2009 with 1,188.61 miles.  My goal was 1,100 so I was happy, even though I was oh so close to 1,200 but got sick and couldn't make that happen.  I think 1400 miles is an achievable goal, especially since I'll be training for my first ultra in the Fall.  I pondered setting 1500 miles as my goal, but I can't forget that races require taper and recovery.  So 1400 miles it is!

2. Lose 15 pounds.  This would put me at 130.  I'm not sure I can get this low.  I made it to 136 for a day a year ago, so this might be a stretch.  I'd like to do lose the weight over the year - 4 pounds by the Little Rock Marathon (March), another 4 pounds before the Greenland 25K (May); another 4 pounds by the Georgetown Half Marathon (August) and the last 3 pounds before my 50K (October). 

3.  Pay off two credit cards.  With my law school loans, this too may be a lofty goal, but this would leave me with only two other credit cards to pay off.  So cutting my credit card debt in half this year, would be great progress. 

4.  Cook more.  The goal is that once a week I cook something out of my normal routine.  I think I'll use Cooking Light and Cook with Jamie cookbook by the very cute and fabulous Jamie Oliver.  Up this weekend: Roast a chicken.  I've never done this and I think it is well past time that I do this.  Yes, I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia.

5.  Be the happiest driver in Colorado.  I have a problem with road rage.  I don't tailgate nor am I an agressive driver but I do tend to use my horn and get quite angry when drivers don't drive as I think they should.  Its seven days in and I'm horn free, so I think I'm off to a great start!

6.  Date regularly.  I really want to meet a few different guys to better understand what's important to me.  I'm happy to report that I've been out on dates with two different guys this past week and I have dates with two other guys in the next week.  So I'm well into this mission.

7.  Read more.  Before law school, I was always reading, usually three books at a time.  Since law school, it is hard for me to get through a book and usually its only because I belong to bookclub.

8.  Blog regularly.  And to that end, I'll check in this evening with my eats and daily totals.

Have a great Friday eve!

Laura