May 23, 2013
I’m Going to Get Drenched (5K)
Yup… you read the title right. I am going to get DRENCHED this summer!
The Drenched 5K is an event for runners of all ages and all levels: expert and beginners, joggers, and walkers alike.
The race does not concentrate on time, but instead focuses on bringing in some summer (and wet!) fun in the sun!
Getting drenched is all about bringing everything you loved about those lazy summers back. Participants will run or walk from dry to drenched “hot zones” and “drenched zones” which may include mist tunnels, sprinkler minefields, spectator “sniper” zones, bubbles, fire hoses, and a 75 foot slip ‘n slide (optional) though the finish line.
Runners and walkers are encouraged to form teams, don crazy costumes, and bring out their biggest water guns for a little camaraderie and competition against other teams.
Even if you don’t want to run, you can still get the whole family to join in on the party! Drenched has a free spectator zone where onlookers can drench the participants any way possible: water balloons, hoses, water guns, and buckets.
The 5k is followed by a huge summer party: the world’s biggest water balloon fight, music, drinks and dancing!
Drenched 5k will be in 9 cities in the summer of 2013.
Which one is closest to you?
• Dallas, TX: May 25th, 2013
• Columbus, OH: July 6th, 2013 (That’s where we will be!)
• Washington DC: July 13th, 2013
• Kansas City, MO: July 20th, 2013
• Los Angeles, CA: July 27th, 2013
• Jacksonville, FL: July 27th, 2013
• Denver, CO: August 3rd, 2013
• Atlanta, GA: August 17th, 2013
• Philadelphia, PA: TBA – check back for updates!
Have a blast, and also feel good about giving back. The Drenched 5K benefits local Children’s Hospitals and fundraisers for local fire fighters.
Ready to get DRENCHED?
Since both Scott and I will be running, they have offered a special discount just for Housewife Glamour readers! To receive $10 OFF your entry, simply enter the promo code: DRENCHEDGLAMOUR upon checkout HERE.
WIN A FREE ENTRY!
I will be raffling off ONE FREE Drenched 5K entry to the city of your choice!
To enter, leave a comment below telling me what your favorite way get drenched would be (water balloon fight, slip ‘n slide, etc.), along with your Drenched 5K city of choice. You have until Friday, June 1st to enter!
You an stay updated with all of the Drenched 5k events by checking them out on Twitter and Facebook. Grab your biggest water weapon, and get ready to have some fun this summer!
*Disclaimer: I was provided with free race entries from Drenched 5K. I was not compensated for this post, however, I will receive a small portion of any entry registered using my promo code. **#Spon**
May 22, 2013
WIAW #11: Back to My Groceries
Happpppy Hump Day!
Around here, Wednesday = WIAW, and since I only have a few minutes to post this before heading out the door, I am going to get right to it!
For the newbies:
I started taking part in What I Ate Wednesdays, hosted by Jenn. If you frequent healthy living blogs, then you know eating a healthy well balanced diet is a huge subject we all post about. Each week I share a day of my eating habits, and explain the strategies of what I ate and why I ate it with with you!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am back home to my own groceries! Well… temporarily. Scott and I leave again this weekend for a few days in Boston. (Woo hoo!)
After a long trip home to Florida for two and a half weeks, I am back at home in Michigan and had one main focus yesterday: use as much spinach as possible.
Before I left, I stocked the refrigerator with groceries for Scott to enjoy for a week before he too left for out of town. Apparently, both of us stock piled on romaine lettuce and spinach and I came home to a few bags that are about up. Have no fear, spinach lady is here!
I made it my goal to eat an entire bag’s worth of spinach within two days and came pretty darn close.
Breakfast
Breakfast started with an egg white omelet with a generous handful of spinach and feta cheese. I sided it with a whole wheat English muffin smeared in organic blackberry preserves.
I am not exactly sure on how many egg whites I ate, but it seemed like a lot and I was considerably full for the next few hours.
While refilling my water tumbler, I tip-toed into the pantry and had a little over a serving of Simple Truth Natural Vegetable Chips.
Simple Truth is the natural, organic line of groceries found at Kroger stores. Like most organic foods, products are priced a smidge higher than normal, but I am loving the line and would say it is still in an affordable price range.
Lunch
I wasn’t too hungry for lunch, so I decided to keep it simple with a green smoothie. As you can imagine, being away from home had my ingredient list on the slim side, so I kept it light and worked with what I had.
Ingredients
frozen strawberries
two big handfuls of fresh spinach
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 scoop French Vanilla Designer Whey protein powder
1 cup Vanilla Light & Fit Yogurt
I took my big ‘ol green smoothie with me on a walk with Roadie and really enjoyed the extra vanilla flavor!
While on the computer later, I had a craving for two things that don’t go together. From time to time I crave the combination of cottage cheese and pickles, and yesterday was one of those days.
I don’t fight it, and instead embrace it. Per usual, I topped the cottage cheese with pepper and sided them both with a handful of red grapes.
Dinner
Around 7 p.m. I realized I wasn’t even the slightest bit hungry. I guess this was a good thing since I was planning on going for a run around the neighborhood, and by the time I came home from four miles I worked up an appetite.
After a quick shower, I went downstairs to cook something super easy.
Ready and waiting in my pantry was Amy’s Organic Lentil Vegetable Soup. I have been saving this for a night where I am on my own for dinner, and last night was the perfect time to break it out.
Still needing to use up some spinach, I went ahead and added a generous handful to my pot and brought everything to a boil.
There isn’t any Amy’s product that I haven’t like thus far, and the Lentil Vegetable soup was as delicious as I hoped it would be!
On the side, I enjoyed a good amount of Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Tortilla Chips and left the table feeling completely satisfied.
About an hour later, my inevitable sweet tooth hit, and I have to thank my husband for this lovely addition I found in our freezer.
Breyer’s Girl Scout Cookies Samoas Ice Cream, so nice to meet you!
Do I even need to tell you how delicious and worth every bite it was?
Didn’t think so.
Off to the gym, then to pick Scott up from the airport!
Hope you all have a great day!
• If you liked this WIAW post, head on over to Peas & Crayons to check out plenty others, or even link your own!
• Also, you can always find my latest What I Ate Wednesday posts by exploring the “WIAW” tag on the right hand sidebar.
May 21, 2013
Stopping to Smell the Roses
It’s crazy what we can all take for granted.
Every day, we go through daily routines and find ourselves complaining about the silliest things: traffic, red lights, having “nothing” to wear, deadlines, spilled coffee, long work days, being tired, etc.
We are all guilty of it.
It’s funny how one big storm or event can bring us back down to Earth and put all of life’s silly challenges into perspective.
As I sat down to start uploading and editing pictures from my trip down to Florida, I had every intention of sharing some fun things with you today. When it came time to write, I just couldn’t do it.
Effects of the horrific tornado that hit Oklahoma consumed my thoughts, and looking through my recent happy times made me feel guilty. Here I am celebrating my life, when all of these poor communities of people are mourning the loss of their friends, family, pets, homes, businesses, and lives they built for themselves.
Since I was flying home during the storm yesterday, I missed all of the live news coverage. I heard about there being a tornado last night, but had no idea how incredibly devastating it turned out to be.
I spent the majority of the morning looking at news articles and watching videos and became speechless. What can you say?
I took Roadie for an extra long walk around the neighborhood. As I opened the front door, I got a new feeling of appreciation for everything in front of me. Before I left for Florida, there were only branches on this tree in our driveway, and now there are flowers and leaves.
I have always loved dogwood trees, and to me this looks like a giant white one. I could be completely wrong on this, but to be honest it doesn’t really matter. Whatever it is, it’s gorgeous and I am delighted it has a home in our front yard.
It also makes a pretty decent size mess across the drive way, in the garage, across our yard, and onto our front porch. Before today, that might have been something I would complain about.
Instead of complaining, I feel blessed to have flower pedals as my “mess”.
As we walked down to the lake, our neighborhood became prettier and prettier to me. The one I am used to seeing has been covered with slush, mud, and the remains of snow since we moved in last November!
When we approached the lake, I let Roadie go crazy. He stayed on his leash, but I let him explore and sniff anything he wanted to.
He even got to go after the geese I always pull him away from.
Have you ever taken the time away from your busy day to just stop and smell the roses? It doesn’t have to be literal, but instead a suggestion to take a second to appreciate where you are, what you are doing, and everything you have going for you.
Today my stop and smell the roses moment turned into sit and look at nature. Right in front of me are all of these beautiful trees, flowers, and animals surrounding me every day. Instead of noting nature’s beauty, I have spent the last few months complaining about cold in the air and snow on the ground.
I took so much for granted.
Something like this beautiful white butterfly bush (again, I could be completely wrong on this!) would have gone unnoticed.
Although it was still a bit chilly when I left Michigan, there were signs that spring was coming, and all I kept thinking about was how long and miserable the winter is up here. I often told friends how anxious I was to get down to Florida and finally enjoy some sunshine.
Where was my appreciation for what I have right in my own neighborhood?
When natural disasters happen, the first thing we do is mourn. We become horrified at the news and images we see, and feel awful for the people, cities, and communities affected.
The second thing we do is find appreciation for what we have. We start thinking about how lucky we are to have dodged the bullet that so many others took. At least for a while, we take a look around us and give thanks for the people and things that make our lives.
What happens next varies. We go about our lives with as much normalcy as we can, and eventually everything seems to fall back into place undisturbed. We push the images out of our minds and start complaining about traffic again.
What You Can Do
Instead of just talking about how bad the storm was with your friends, there are so many things we can do to help!
The first step is to stop and smell the roses. Take time away from your day and just give thanks for what you have. Notice something that irritates you and think about if it is really worth being worried over. Most of the time, the answer will be No.
Tell people you love them. Hug your pets. Did any of you see this tearjerker interview of the tornado survivor who lost her home and found her dog under rubble during it? I was a mess after watching that.
This point of this post is not to make you sad! Of course, we are all dealing with different levels of emotions surround this disaster, and some people are more directly affected than others. At the end of the day, any one of us can help!
• Donate: Whether it’s time, your money, or your blood there is something you can do to help those victims who lost everything.
- Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, donate online, or donate by phone at 1-800-RED CROSS.
- Donate online or text STORM to 80888 to contribute $10 to the Salvation Army’s relief efforts or make a donation by phone at 1-800-SAL-ARMY.
- Read other ways to contribute to relief organizations, via USA Today.
• Pray!
- Pray hard and spread the word on social media, using the hashtag #PrayforOklahoma.
I am spending the rest of my day trying to catch up on some work, but it just didn’t feel right to do before sharing my morning with you.
Part of me felt bad even posting pictures of the beauty I found in my neighborhood, after seeing what the remains of other neighborhoods look like in Oklahoma.
I am sharing this with you in hopes that you too will stop and smell the roses. When you get a break from work, when you are going for a run, when you are eating dinner with your family, when you are getting ready for bed, when you are ready to complain about doing laundry… take a second to look around and appreciate what is around you.
#PrayforOklahoma
May 20, 2013
Purple Cabbage Overnight Coleslaw
Happy Monday!
I hope you had a good weekend and that the beginning of the new week is treating you well. Today is my last day in Orlando, and after seventeen days of bouncing around Central, North, AND South Florida, I am pretty pooped.
Before I gather my things and say my final farewells to my family, I wanted to pop in and share a recipe with you.
I have not always been the biggest coleslaw fan, and in fact, I consider myself pretty picky about kinds I like. I am not a big fan of mayonnaise, and instead enjoy the lighter versions made with vinegar.
I grew up with my grandmother always creating something good (and fresh!) from her garden. Using the purple cabbage and red peppers right out of my parents’ backyard, this recipe is as organic as I can get out. Now 95-years-old, my grandmother still gets in the kitchen and comes up with delicious and unique salads, soups, and recipes that I am trying to do a better job of documenting.
Before this slaw, I had never tried purple cabbage, so don’t let the dark color veer you away. As a bit of a slaw snob myself, I can attest that this one is one of the tastiest I have tried!
Ingredients
• 1 large head purple (or red) cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup green olives (pimiento-stuffed), sliced
• 1/2 cup red peppers, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. celery seed
• 1 tsp. mustard seed
prep time: 15 minutes
servings: 12-16
Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, peppers and olives.
2. In a large saucepan, combine all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Cook and stir for 1 minute, then pour over vegetables. Stir gently.
4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. Mix well before serving.
So easy, and great to eat at home or take to a party!
Although I did not personally make this recipe, I thoroughly enjoyed it on its own and even added it to a green salad the next day.
Of course, you can substitute red or green cabbage, but we just so happened to have purple growing in the backyard. I plan to try this recipe out later this week to see if I can even come close to Grandma’s. Even if it is only half as good as hers, I will still be a happy camper.
See ya in Detroit!
Questions of the Day
• What is your favorite type of cabbage? (Green, Red, Purple)
• Are you Team Mayo or Team Vinegar for slaw?
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