Just a Reminder

This is just a reminder that I've changed my blog address to http://onalobsterplacemat.com/. There are some people I haven't heard from in a while - so I thought it might be a good time to update the old blog. Hope you like the newer look!

An Update for Google Readers

In case you tried subscribing to my new blog and had problems, be sure to type in this address when managing your subscriptions: http://onalobsterplacemat.com/feed.

If the title does not appear in your Google Reader, click on "title unknown" and then "Feed Settings" and then "Rename Subscription" - then type in my blog name, On a Lobster Placemat.

Sorry for those of you who already knew this - but I had a little trouble when configuring tonight and thought I might pass it on!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS! Update your Reader!

Hey all - more on lunch later, but for now I wanted to make a big announcement. I have finally bought my own domain name and have a brand new site: http://onalobsterplacemat.com. Please update your readers and follow me over there! I really hope to see you!

The site is still a work in progress, but I am getting there - slowly but surely. I was going to wait a little longer, but I'm too excited to use all the gadgets on Wordpress. I will no longer be posting on blogger, though this blog will stay alive for backup purposes. At least for a short while.

Thanks for all your support and look forward to seeing you :)

Snowed-in Oatmeal

It's been a busy morning in La Casa de Lobster Placemat. One of my responsibilities for my job is making weather updates on various external websites, so I spent the bulk of the morning receiving calls from 5 - 9 a.m. regarding weather updates. We were delayed until 10 a.m., then delayed until noon and finally the university shut down for the day. I also heard word that there is no class tonight, so I am snowed-in and loving today!

In honor of this occasion, I made a bowl of snowed-in oats.

I was hoping the blueberries would pop a little more and make this bowl a little bluer, but they stuck to their guns today. I added my recent favorite combination - cool whip and pecans as toppings.

The perfect snowed-in oatmeal. I savored every bite. Now I'm busy planning what to do with this wonderful day off. It's a rarity for me.

I'm using today as a catch-up on some projects I've left slide to the wayside:

• freelance brochure (I've been working on for months!)
• blog migration (details on this to come!)
• preparing for the launch of my online portfolio (again, more details on this to come!)
• looking into Turbo Tax
• getting in at least 20 minutes of yoga
• working on my memoir piece for Thursday's class

What's the weather like where you? Are you off for the day? What are you up to?

Gaining Inspiration from Blogland

This morning, after sleeping in and watching bad movies on TV for a while, Bill and I decided to visit a deli we've driven by probably more than 200 times: the Woodside Deli Restaurant.

It never occurred to us to visit this venue because of outside appearance. It's crammed in between a gas station and another building, and it's an easy miss if you're driving quickly. Friends Brian and Amy recently visited the Deli while looking for houses and raved about how good the food was. Since our favorite breakfast spot, Kirsten's Cafe, closed down recently - we thought this might be a nice alternative - and it's right across the street.

I was in an omelette mood, so I ordered one filled with spinach, mushrooms and feta cheese. I also got a side of grits (that I only took a bite of - and gave the rest to Bill). I also had a side of wheat toast (not featured).

Bill got the Eggs Benedict with hash browns. I thought they looked pretty on the plate, so I snapped a picture.

After brunch, we drove to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy some coffee for the Keurig and then (ironically) went and visited a new coffee shop in town. I didn't get any pictures because the place was packed - and I needed to get some serious schoolwork done. But I did order an iced latte with skim milk and a banana nut muffin.

Around 5 p.m., I headed to the gym - which was only a short walk from the coffee shop. I had it in my mind to run 5 miles and really get on with my training. After reading both Caitlin's posts and Meghann's posts about their awesome racing weekends - I felt pretty inspired.

STATS! So happy about these!

• 5 miles
• 60ish minutes (I am ok with being slow!)
• 545 calories burned
• My legs felt SO good... first time in a long time!
• I had a side cramp and stopped to walk a few times... but that was ok because my legs were happy!

When I got home, I felt inspired by another blogger out there - Tina over at Carrots N' Cake. She's doing a 31-Days of Yoga Challenge, and I was excited to participate. I ended up doing 20 minutes of the Core Yoga #1 for 20 minutes.

It.was.SO.hard.

I haven't done yoga in five years. I could barely bend in the positions, and my arms were so tired. But I felt so good by the end! I'm looking forward to more yoga sessions in the future.

After yoga, I cooked up some lunches for the week and made this random dinner.

I made a salad with a four-bean mix (to be featured on a lunch post later this week), some mixed greens, kale and turkey.

Whole wheat bread slathered in Sabra hummus.

Now I'm working on finishing up some homework (though I'm rooting for a snow day and some cancellations!). I have a writing exercise due tomorrow and another memoir story due on Thursday for workshop. Plus I have to read This Boy's Life.

Yikes. Must jet!  

Rob's 2nd Annual Beer Tasting

When our friend Rob mentioned he'd be having another beer tasting in February, I was pretty excited. I'm not huge on beer, but I like tastings (of course), and Rob prepares to the utmost for his.

Everyone had a beer tasting glass and water glass (labeled with our names by Kate). There was Brita water to rinse the glass between tastings and seltzer water to cleanse our palates.

The food was also displayed when we got there. Because we were drinking a lot of stout beers, Rob had a lot of dessert including: brownies, truffles (not pictured), pecan pie, cake and chocolate cheesecake - brought by me.

But the secret about the chocolate cheesecake is that I choked and ended up not making one - but instead buying these 7 individual cakes. I need to be braver sometimes...

Here's my plate all loaded up, which in the end - was way too much. I didn't touch the piece of cake and only had a small bite of the cheesecake. Too much sweets for me... my belly was hurting!

And now the beer samplings. Since they all look similar, I created a gallery of sorts. Here was our menu:

1) Rogue Shakespeare Stout - Rogue Ales, Newport, OR., 6% ABV

2) Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout - Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, England 5% ABV

3) Rogue Chocolate Stout - Rogue Ales, Newport, OR., 6.3% ABV

4) Bell's Special Double Cream Stout - Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI., 6.1% ABV

5) Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast - Mikkeller Brewery, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7.5% ABV

6) Rob and Brian's "Absurdity" Imperial Stout - Existential Brewing, Arlington, VA., 10.2% ABV

7) Victory Storm King Imperial Stout - Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, PA, 9.1%ABV

8) Bell's Expedition Stout - Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI, 10.5% ABV

9) Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, DE 18% ABV

10) Mystery beer Rob brought out - don't remember the name

And here are some photos...

 

I ended up tasting most of the beers, but at one point my stomach started really feeling upset, so I took a break. I ended up sipping a few and giving the rest to Bill. I think I overdid it too quickly - and ended up paying for it. Even though the stomach issues happened, I still had a great time and enjoyed trying the different beers. The first and last ones were my favorite.

Here are some photos from the night:

Rob pouring us each a glass.

Preparation + Socializing

More friends :)

A Whole Lotta Brian in this shot (see left)

Billy and I... we decided to finally get a picture together (we always forget to do this at parties!)

An hour or so after the tasting, everyone was craving some non-dessert food. Kate went out to a Peruvian chicken place and brought back some grub. I thought the food might help my stomach (plus I was really hungry), so I grabbed a sampling of chicken, coleslaw, a few french fries, and different beans.     

There was also (of course) some music being played, and I secretly captured about 30 seconds of Rob and Keith. 

We hit the road around 10:30 p.m. - which is pretty early for us, but I got a call from work that worried me and the weather was getting bad. We got home around 11:15 p.m. or so and pretty much crashed.

All in all, I really enjoyed the beer tasting and hope Rob has more in the future! I can only see them getting bigger and better :)          

Bagel Towne Deli

One thing I love about Bill is that he's always willing to take a driving adventure to find different eateries. Today's lunch included a drive to nearby Rockville to the Bagel Towne Deli.

The place was different than I expected. It was in a developed sort of area that was trying to look like a town (but wasn't), but the inside had a nice, cozy atmosphere with a hometown feel.

I decided to get the Yenta which was a bagel sandwich with hummus, carrots, sprouts, cucumbers and munster cheese (I omitted the tomato). For my side, I chose fruit and a pickle.

Talk about a loaded bagel. It was needed after this morning's workout - that's for sure.

Now I'm off to spend the rest of the afternoon doing some of this:

Totally disinterested in me. I may go read a book. We are heading to Rob and Kate's house for his 2nd Annual Beer Tasting. Should be an exciting post with lots of photos + some video tomorrow!

And thanks to everyone who read my morning post about running. It was nice to share my thoughts with you and see that others have been in the same situation. I wanted to add (in case it was unclear) that I do enjoy running. I just need to set better and more achievable goals for this point in my life :)

On Being an Ex-Runner

I had a very reflective gym experience today. Because my batteries are dead in my camera - I thought now would be the perfect time to do an Exercise Installment on On a Lobster Placemat.

I love working out on Saturdays. This morning I woke up, went to the gym around 9:30 a.m., lifted for 20 minutes, took a step class and ran a mile - and burned 625 calories. I was so excited by the number on my HRM, I ignored how good my legs felt when I ran and how much better I can keep up in step class. I like knowing how many calories I burn (especially on days where I know I'll be eating out), but I realized that I was losing sight of why I do what I do and how it makes me feel. I lift because of the way I feel after. I take step class because it's so much fun. And I run because I like knowing I can travel far distances like that, on my own two legs.

I don't talk about exercise that much on this blog. I've been thinking about that recently. I guess there are a couple reasons and a lot of it goes back to my days of being a runner.

In high school, I did the unthinkable for someone in my (genetically overweight/obese) family. I signed up for the cross country team. I didn't think I'd do well at soccer, and I knew I wanted to play a sport that would challenge me. I ran all four years in high school and set my all-time PR when I was 17. I continued running in college but by my senior year, it had tapered off dramatically. When I moved down to DC, I vowed I would become a runner again.

But I really didn't.

And I still don't think I am a runner. And maybe that's why I skim over it in blog posts. I haven't run more than 6 miles in several years. I haven't raced in four years. My average run is 3 miles, at best, and I'm much slower than I used to be. I feel like an ex-runner most of the time.

I'm not writing all this for it to be a pity party. I'm writing it because look at my attitude. (!) It's no wonder that when my friend Katie asked if I would run a half marathon with her in May 2009, I sheepishly said, "maybe" and told her that I'd "fake-train" (meaning I'd try and run, but I wouldn't sign up until the last minute). I still haven't signed up for the race. And it still feels incredibly far away in terms of goals. And maybe it is. Maybe I'm setting goals that are too high for where I'm at right now. I don't know.

My food mindset changed dramatically when I started this blog. I can finally appreciate food and use it to nourish my body. But it's taken a while for my exercise mindset to catch up. I know if I think positively and train hard, I can succeed. But how do you get over the initial hump and start believing in yourself?

I'm not sure if I've come to any revelations yet about running or exercise. I just wanted to share these thoughts with you.

Talk about Lunch Links

My lunch is so boring in comparison the amount of fun things happening on the blog world.

First there’s the challenges: Tina’s doing a 31-Days Of Yoga Challenge, and Chandra’s doing the March Booty Buster Challenge. Neither compares to this sando with hummus.

Lucky Taste Buds is giving out some Barney Butter (and I couldn’t be more happy), and Mara is doing a little chocolate giveaway on her blog. Again, neither compares to this salad (though it had a spectacular crunch factor).

And we certainly can’t forget about Foods that Fit’s really great idea about creating a bloggie cookbook. Click here to learn more and submit!  

OK. Confession time.

After I ate lunch, I went for another lunch to Chick Fil-A with my coworkers. I ate some waffle fries and drank a HUGE Hi-C. It was so delicious. I haven’t had Hi-C since I worked at Burger King when I was 17 years old.

Delicious and Addictive. Most definitely well worth it, though I had a serious sugar let-down in the afternoon.

I’m off to guzzle some H2o now. It’s Friday!!!!!!

Mango-nana-berry Smoothie

I made another smoothie this morning.

So far, all of my smoothies have essentially looked the same. I think it’s because of my key ingredients (including blueberries!) I need to get some strawberries in this blender so I can have something fun and pink.

I love watching how the Vita-Mix can take something that looks like this:

And turn it into this in about 20 seconds:

And by the way – this was A LOT of smoothie. I made enough for two people, so I’m taking some to work for a morning snack.

I love this Vita-Mix machine!

You may have noticed that I didn’t blog last night. I had book club and didn’t get home until about 9:15 p.m. I was exhausted and just wanted to spend time with Bill and Scone, so I called it a night and enjoyed some 30 Rock. I want to review the book we read for book club – but I’m out of time, so we’ll save that for later :)

So I’m curious: What are your weekend plans?

My friend Rob is having another beer tasting like the one he had last July. I can’t wait to blog about it!