New Kicks

After work today I swung by Track Shack, a local running store, to pick up some new running shoes. 

Track Shack

My Mizuno Wave Riders have seen better days and have started to give me blisters, so I wanted to pick up some new kicks before I get too far into my half marathon training plan. 

I chatted with a sales guy for quite a while and he examined my old running shoes and told me that the blisters on my left foot were probably occurring because I don’t tie my shoes tight enough, and my foot was likely moving around too much when I ran. I literally slip my running shoes on and off and keep the laces very loose, so this made total sense to me. 

I wore Mizuno Wave Riders during my first half marathon and loved them. Once they were worn out (see below photo), I bought my current pair. 

My First "Real" Running Shoes

Now that my current shoes are biting the dust, I decided to stick with this (unattractive) shoe for a third time since it’s proven to be a good shoe in my past runs. 

My New Kicks

I felt like quite a goof running around the store testing out different shoes in my dress and sneakers, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! 

I think I made the right choice in sticking with the shoes that have carried me through numerous runs since 2007, but this time around I’ll be sure to tie my laces a little tighter. 😉 Blisters be gone! 

Dog Park 

After my pit-stop at Track Shack, I headed home to meet up with Ryan and Sadie for a trip to the dog park! 

En Route to the Dog Park

Though it was more than 90 degrees outside, it felt surprisingly temperate at the park underneath the trees. There was also a nice breeze that kept us cool.  

Doggie Heaven

 Sadie had a blast playing fetch and sniffing up a storm. 

Sadie Smiles

Go, Go, Go

Happy Girl

Eventually our grumblin’ tummies told us it was time to head home for dinner. 

Dinner 

Tonight was a pasta kind of night! 

For some reason my body was craving doughy, carby pasta poofs and Monterey Pasta Company’s spinach and ricotta ravioli fit the bill perfectly. 

Since one serving of the ravioli is not enough to fill me up, I made sure to beef up the pasta with steamed broccoli for the sake of satiety. I suppose the added nutrition from the cruciferous veggie doesn’t hurt either. 😉 

Ravioli on a Bed of Broccoli

Ravioli + Broccoli

I topped my ravioli and broccoli bowl with marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese and dug in! 

Ready to Eat

Parmesan Cheese Makes Everything Better

Stirred Up

Tasty, tasty. 

Question of the Evening 

Of the following three pasta dishes, which is your favorite: ravioli, lasagna or simple noodles with sauce?  

I was gonna answer this question myself but I just can’t. I love them all.

For the Non-Blog Savvy Folks

This morning as I was packing my lunch, I sampled the Chavrie goat cheese I planned to use in my lunchtime sandwich.

Chavrie Goat Cheese

HOLY COW (or should I say goat?). This stuff is insanely delicious.

I easily could have inhaled the entire block.I loved its silky texture and the mild flavor. Though strong goat cheese is delicious, I actually prefer the more muted flavor of this brand.

I probably ate two servings while packing my lunch, but fortunately enough of the cheese remained to include in my cucumber sandwich this afternoon.

Though this goat cheese is freakishly delicious, I’m not sure how often I’d be willing to shell out $6 for it. For a special occasion (like a Wednesday, apparently), it’s definitely worth the extra dough.

Along with my goat cheese and cucumber sandwich, I enjoyed a freshly sliced green pepper and a cup of grape tomatoes.

Cuc + Goat Cheese Sandwich with Green Peppers

Green Pep

Grape Tomatoes

For a little sweetness, I rounded out the meal with a cup of Oikos honey Greek yogurt.

Honey Bee

All Togetha Naw

Mmm, mmm, good. 🙂

For the Non-Blog Savvy Folks

I am not a very computer-savvy or blog-savvy person. It literally took me a year to discover Google Reader and realize you could subscribe to blogs.

If this sounds foreign to you, then this section of today’s post is just for you!

(Picture Source)

If you are a blog-reading pro, then the following content will likely bore you to bits! 😀 Just warnin’ ya.

In talking with some of my non-blog savvy friends, I realized there are a couple of things I should probably touch on that may seem so obvious to those of you immersed in the blog world, but are completely over the heads of those of you  more like me who tend to pick computer-related things up rather slowly.

Let’s get crackin’:

• Subscriptions: If you read certain blogs every day, you may want to subscribe to these blogs. This means that every time the blogger posts, you’ll receive an update. Most blogs have an icon on their homepage that you can click to subscribe (you may see mine at the top, left of this page or simply click here to subscribe to this blog).

• Google Reader: When you choose to subscribe to a blog you can receive email notifications or have the blog updates populate in certain blog-reading programs like Google Reader. I subscribe to a bunch of blogs and check all of them through Google Reader since it keeps everyone’s blog updates in one spot. This allows me to keep up with blogs I love without having to individually check the sites or type in the website addresses every day.

• Bookmarking: If subscribing to a blog isn’t your cup of tea,  you may be more interested in bookmarking a favorite site. To do this, simply hold down the “Ctrl” and “D” keys on your keyboard and click “Done” and the site will be bookmarked!

• Commenting: I was shocked when one of my very best friends told me she didn’t know she could comment on my blog! She was confused by my “Questions of the Day” and didn’t understand why I’d ask them when no one could answer. 😀 Well, you can! At the bottom of a post, you’ll see red text with a whole bunch of links. If you click the one that says “Leave a Comment” or “15 Comments” etc., then you can simply type in your name (or nickname), your email address (which no one but me will see) and your web site (if applicable) and then comment away!

• Twitter: Many bloggers are really into Twitter. I recently started “tweeting” a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love it. It’s a great way to follow some of your favorite bloggers, venues and companies. I especially love it when companies or actual cities “tweet” about promotions and sales. Twitter is a great tool to use to be “in the know.” You may follow me on Twitter here.

I apologize to those of you who were rolling your eyes and saying “DUH!” as you read the above content, but hopefully it helped at least one of you out there have a bit of an “Ah ha!” moment! 😀

Questions of the Afternoon

• Do you consider yourself blog-savvy?
  
• What’s something that took you a while to pick up regarding blogging or blog-reading?
  

Looks Like the 4th of July

Judging by my breakfast, it looks like the 4th of July came a bit early!

Red, White, Blue

“It makes me want a hot dog reeeeal bad!” 😉

(Love that movie.)

Today’s red, white and blue concoction was quite patriotic and tasted great to boot! Definitely a winner in my book.

Patriotic Parfait

My patriotic parfait was inspired by Angela. I created this breakfast treat by layering strawberry banana “soft serve“, Oikos vanilla Greek yogurt and a handful of blueberries several times until my fancy-dancy wine glass was filled to the brim.

Summer Treat

I created the “soft serve” by blending a frozen banana (broken into chunks) with a handful of frozen strawberries and a bit of cold water to get everything to move around a bit.

I would highly recommend doing this in a food processor if you have one. That was my original plan (see photo below), but when I plugged in my Cuisinart food processor, it decided to be moody and didn’t work. 😦 I’ve probably used this food processor less than 10 times, so I was pretty bummed that it already wasn’t working.

The Original Plan...

Fortunately my blender did the trick (I use an old Krups blender that I love), but I had to add a bit of water and it took a bit longer to get the soft serve smooth and creamy than it would have had I used a food processor.

Even without the food processor, this breakfast turned out quite tasty.

Sadie clearly agreed.

"Why Do I Always Get the Scraps?"

Another Sadie Picture for Good Measure

All this red, white and blue talk has me awfully excited for the 4th of July!

My family, Ryan and I have plans to head to the Florida Keys for a long weekend of scuba diving over the 4th. I can’t wait!!!

Question of the Day

• What are your 4th of July plans?
• What is your favorite red food?

My favorite red food is red velvet soft serve. 😀