Day 31: 1 month down!

Wow, I can't believe it's already January 31! What a month it has been. I'm so happy that I've been able to follow through this far in my New Year's Resolution of blogging daily.

This morning I still felt a little bloated. What the heck?! But I did feel a lot better after my super-clean eating day yesterday. It was just what I needed for body+soul.

I woke up around 7am, and let the dogs out, then we snuggled in bed for another half an hour. It was 20 degrees cooler this morning than last, so I wasn't in a huge hurry to get out the door. It was around 40 degrees, so I was chilly at first, but it ended up being a fantastic run. It felt so mechanical. My breathing was steady, my pace was steady, and my legs felt strong and great...which is fantastic since I ran 7 miles yesterday morning!

Here are my race stats. I think this is a pace PR for my 4.3 mile course.

When I got home, I went for the same breakfast as yesterday, but swapped out the blueberry yogurt for strawberry. I love greek yogurt, it really makes me feel full, it's so creamy and heavy, but since it's a small portion, it doesn't weigh me down.

                    

After breakfast, I was about to jump in the shower to get ready for church when I remembered that the 11am service was cancelled today. Our church has an 8:30 service and 11, but the 11am was cancelled because the annual budget meeting was today and they expected it to go long. Since we're not members yet, we don't get to vote. We will be formally joining on Valentine's Day during the 11am service.

So since we had all morning, JJ and I went to Starbucks (Venti Iced Coffee w/ Soy Milk) and then we went to Lowe's for my gardening supplies. I have 3 planters giving me 24 sq. feet of garden. Since the soil here is so sandy, I will be doing square foot gardening in planters. I learned all about square foot gardening from my friend, Kim, who had an amazing garden last year!

I decided to try to start everything from seed. I know this probably won't happen and I'll have to buy some plants, but for now, I'm at least going to see how everything comes up.

I got about 75 seeds started, and will be slaving over them for the next 1-2 months.

My favorite of all the seeds were Beets! How cool do the little seeds look?

Also, I am going to have a 100% (or as close as possible) organic garden, which I'll get into more during the spring... but for starters, organic seeds!

After sowing my seeds all morning, it was time to go to the Farmer's Market! I was a little bummed that they didn't have a few of the things I was looking for (brussels sprouts, butternut squash, onions)... but I did get some amazing produce for only $18! Including: 6 red bell peppers, 4 green bell peppers, 3 zucchini, 4 cucumbers, an eggplant, 4 sweet potatoes, and grape tomatoes. Luckily the market is in the Whole Foods parking lot, so I ran in there to get the remainders on the list.

When we got home, it was time for lunch! I decided to have a random pantry/fridge stir-fry. Lou gave me this wasabi/soy/ginger/sesame sauce that he loves, so I gave it a try. It was sweet, but also really spicy from the wasabi. I loved it! I had it with kale, carrots, baby corn and more of the Indian Masala tofu. I had a side of grapes and a La Croix.

I spent the afternoon working on my cooking blog and doing some cleaning. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner. I love potatoes topped with chili, but it can be pretty unhealthy. JJ and I love sweet potatoes, so I've been trying to substitute them more and more for regular potatoes since they're much healthier (lower in carbs, lower glycemic index, higher in nutrients and a superfood). I made a vegetarian chili with peppers and beans to top the potatoes. I love to use a tiny microplane to shred cheese because you eat a lot less, but it seems like much more when it's a tiny shred. JJ was craving guacamole today, so I topped the chili-potatoes with some avocado wedges.

Overall it's been another really good, active, clean eating day. I still can't figure out why I'm a little bloated and full. I never got really hungry today again, so I'm not sure what's going on!

Tomorrow is a Bite Club event, so I'm really excited about that. It means no exercise, but hopefully I'll be able to keep my eating under control. Since I'm the host of the Bite Club, I end up running around, chatting and photographing more than eating, which is good. I just get little bites and tastes.

Now for some reason, my last post resulted in quite a few questions from commenters... so here it goes.

Kate asked for the Lentil recipe - I post all of my recipes on my cooking blog. I'm usually a few days behind, so it should be up within the next few days. (http://www.ashleescooking.blogspot.com/)

Lisa asked what our grocery budget is - This varies a bit, but I try to stay under $100/week. JJ and I eat breakfast at home every day, I pack our lunches every day, and we eat dinner at home 6 nights per week, so for all of those meals plus some house supplies, I think sticking to $100 a week is pretty good! I am big on coupons and shopping the sales. I try to plan menus around that and what I can get at the farmer's market. Shopping organically can be difficult with keeping under buget, so I don't get everything organic, but always dairy and meat.

Cyd asked about my stance on vegetarianism - I had gone back to strict vegetarianism for a few months when we moved here, but found that it was hard to do with JJ. So we've been eating meat about once or twice a week. I only buy organic meat, so for ethical, budget, and taste preferences, once or twice a week seems to work for us.

I have not read Born to Run, but I am going to go check it out and see what it's all about. Has any one else read it? Any opinions or insight?

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Can't believe it's already Sunday night...