It's the good life!

Today is one of those days where I am extra extraordinarily grateful for all the amazing people in my life. I truly feel like I am living la dolce vita.

Looking out toward the Golden Gate Bridge from Chrissy Field

We have so much to celebrate and be thankful for. Especially lately. Can't wait to see three sets of friends get married before the end of the year,  plus spend time with family for holidays and such. This weekend I am in Portland to see my parents while Jesse goes to Vegas for a bachelor party. Looking forward to relaxing, farmer's market with mom, hiking with dad and eating some Salt & Straw with my brothers!

Paleo Project

We've been talking about going Paleo for months now. Our fitness goals make us perfect candidates.  (Six pack, please?) However, I love carbs. Bagels, cupcakes, croissants, ravioli. You name it, I love it. I know I can't go completely paleo because I definitely need to get my pizza on sometimes. (And my cupcake on, chocolate chip cookies on, Tartine dates on, you get the picture.)

Back to the pizza; two of our lovely friends are getting married in October and in prep to look extra amazing for their wedding in Hawaii they are eating mostly paleo, too. So in order to have a great dinner together without breaking diet I decided I'd hold a paleo pizza party at our apartment. Pizza, salad, paleo chocolate cake for dessert.

I've made flourless chocolate cake a million times but never with coconut oil or honey rather than sugar.   This recipe I will share after I get it to taste a tiny bit more sweet. But what I was most nervous about was the pizza crust. Almond meal flour and arrowroot powder? How good can that taste?

To everyone's surprise (mostly mine) it tasted AMAZING! So good in fact that I have to share the crust recipe with you.

Paleo Pizza! Yes, I put cheese on mine because I can't live without cheese. 

Paleo pizza crust adapted from the Unrefined Kitchen:

Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1 cup tapioca flour (this is what I changed on the recipe)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (make sure it's aluminum free!)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tps oregano
grind in some black pepper
throw in a dash of garlic powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup of almond milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, grease a cookie sheet with oil of choice
2. Combine dry ingredients in bowl and stir
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones. Mix well. The "dough" will be runny
4. Spread with spatula onto cookie sheet
5. Bake crust 8-12 min
6. Pull out and top with whatever you'd like
7. Cook for about 8-10 more minutes
8. Enjoy!!

We topped it with lots of veggies, fresh garlic, basil, uncured and nitrate free pepperoni, and some nitrate free prosciutto. Applegate makes some great meats and the only ones I buy these days. If you aren't crazy strict, add a little cheese.

Patience and Healing

I have never been much of an athlete. As a child I played softball for one season, kicked around a soccer ball with my brother's team, and would throw basketballs into our driveway hoop a few times a week. If dance lessons for 7 or so years can be considered a sport, I guess I did that, too.

In high school I played golf all four years and managed to get myself to the state championship three out of the four years I played and even took a 5th place overall in my region senior year. But, most people do not really consider golf to be too athletic. (I beg to differ, obviously)

A year ago, I found myself in a place in my life where everything wasn't making sense and I couldn't find anything to look forward to. After Christmas spent with my boyfriend, (whom at that time I was seeing long distance) we decided we would run a half marathon together. Slowly, I began running. A half mile, nearly a full mile, just over a mile and so on. I signed up for my first 5K (a trail race at 7,000 feet with crazy hills, yeah I don't know what I was thinking either this was all thanks to a supportive co-worker whom I adore) and I became hooked. Not because I am fast or even close to being fast, but I love the energy.

Since then I've run a bunch of 5K's some other random distances, one half marathon and a 14 miles trail race. A few weeks ago I was just two weeks out from my second half marathon, the SF Half which coincides perfectly with my birthday for the ultimate celebration.

After a blissful Saturday 10 miler, I took the next day off to recover and headed out again Monday for an easy three. About a mile into my run which took me through a bit of construction I rolled my ankle after a wooden particle board shifted when I landed on it. I kept running for about another half mile and when I stopped all this pain came shooting into my ankle, like someone hit it with a baseball bat.

Me in my awesome boot. 

"EFFFFFF," I said probably far too loudly. I limped back to my office and headed home, defeated. The next day it hurt a lot to walk on it and as the week went by the pain got worse and the swelling was enormous. Finally, I decided to see a doctor. Two hours, four x-rays and one boot later I knew I couldn't run the race I was so looking forward to.

Things you buy when you can't run because they make you excited to run again and they are cute.

So, for the next few weeks leading up the the race and the weekend of the race I was in a completely miserable mood. Being grouchy and upset and eating my feelings more than I would like to admit. After moping around and feeling terrible I realized I needed to pick my self up off the floor and rethink my eating choices again and come up with a plan since I still have a few more weeks before I can run again. My plan lead me back to a place I love more than anywhere that I spent a little too much time neglecting: the yoga studio!

For me yoga has always been a way to get rid of my frustration and reconnect with my body. I'll be the first one to admit I should spend more time stretching and rolling after my runs and yoga is my favorite way to get some of that in my routine.

I have made it a point to go to yoga every day for the last 7 days. (With help to my awesome Lululemon Studio Crawl Pass that I'll tell you more about later.) This one week back has made me feel so amazing and I can already see some results in my body and definitely my mood.

I still miss running, but I have more patience now and I understand my healing process better. I am so grateful for the body I have been given and love celebrating it on my mat. I am glad that through this injury I have got some of my groove back and found time to slow down and let my body heal itself.


Have you ever suffered from an injury? What did you do to cope?

New Beginnings

My spectacular boyfriend always encourages me to pursue what I love. I love to write. So, for my 25th birthday I got this new writing machine. (A Macbook Air) Here's to a productive 25 and sharing what I love with people who may enjoy the same kind of stuff, too.

Me on my 25th birthday (July 30) just before getting my new writing machine during our dessert course at Ad Hoc in Yountville.