What I did for 4th of July vacation...

Hi there. I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but it's been a while. I think about blogging throughout the day (seriously, I compose posts in my head as I walk through the hallways at work or walk down the streets of whatever town I'm in), but by the time the day ends, I'm too tired to write. The past few weeks of work have been kind of crazy. We had a big deadline that we were all racing to meet. I even worked weekends, meaning I worked for two weeks without a day off. Don't worry, it's not a habit I intend to continue.

Last week started getting awesome again though. Last Monday, my gal pal KAOS and I had a catch up dinner at an Indian restaurant we both love. It was definitely not Paleo, but we at least stayed gluten-free. KAOS is like me: gluten doesn't agree with our stomachs or heads. My chicken tikka masala definitely contained dairy, but it's one of the few times the food was worth it. As I drove home, I debated what I should do with the rest of my evening. I really needed to pack for an upcoming trip and I needed to pack up my life for an upcoming move, but I also wanted to relax. What won? Relaxation in the form of a bubble bath and a bottle of cider. Glorious! Sometimes you just need to say "Screw it" and let yourself do the irresponsible/unproductive thing. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions, right? So if I want to be lazy and have a Paleo "cheat" meal, then I will. I've found lately that my "cheat" meals still manage to be gluten-free, so at least I'm not completely messing myself up.

On Tuesday I went to a gourmet hot dog place on the east side of town to meet up with two of my guy friends who have been living and working in South Korea. One has been there 1.5 years and the other 2.5 years. This trip was their first visit back to the States since they left. I miss them. So seeing both of them made me extremely happy. I even completely disregarded my usual 9 p.m. "It's time to sleep" alarm and stayed out with them until 10:30. Scandalous! I yawned my way through Wednesday, but it was so worth it. Even though I was at a hot dog place, I got a very messy, mustard-covered, fried egg-topped, bun-free burger:

(Note to self: I must remember to take photos of people. It would have been nice to have a group shot of me and the guys.)

I spent my Independence Day traveling. My alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. so I could finish packing, eat breakfast, and get to the airport before 6:30 a.m. I then spent the next five or so hours flying through Charlotte, NC (and dashing from one end of the airport to the other) to Richmond, VA, where my friend Yve and I rented a car and drove and hour and a half to Lancaster, VA. Why did we drive to small town Virginia? Good question. And here's your unexpected answer: rowing camp. Yes, I attended a camp at the age of 25. As I've mentioned before, I rejoined a crew team. Some of the ladies on my team had attended this camp before and were talking about how helpful it was, so about a month ago, Yve and I decided we were going. We arrived at the old plantation house/inn/rowing camp headquarters around 2:30 that afternoon and changed into our rowing gear. Over the next hour, the remaining rowing camp attendees arrived. After a round of introductions and detailing our rowing experience, we headed to the lake for our first practice. The couple who run the camp own a lake. Yes, just the lake... not the surrounding land.

Here's the overall schedule:

6:30               Wake up

7:00               Meet up to head to the lake

7:15-7:45      Technique instruction

7:45-9:15      Row (videotaped)

9:30-10:00    Breakfast

10:15-11:30 Watch DVDs of Olympic rowers. Review video from morning row.

11:45-12:15 Technique instruction

12:15-2:00    Row

2:15-2:45      Lunch

3:00-4:30      Nap

5:00-6:15      Row

6:30-7:00      Shower

7:15-              Dinner in Kilmarnock

10:00             Sleep

In summary: row, eat (talk about rowing), watch rowing videos, row, eat (talk about rowing), sleep (dream about rowing), row, eat (talk about rowing), sleep (dream about rowing). You may think I'm kidding with the dreaming about rowing, but no. I spent my nights dreaming about that perfect stroke, and dreading those not-so-perfect strokes. Obsessive? Maybe, but when you enjoy something, you might as well let yourself enjoy it, right?

I didn't stay Paleo, but I was gluten-free. I had told the coaches in advance that I didn't eat dairy, legumes, or gluten, but I didn't want to make meal prep exceptionally hard on them by saying that I didn't eat any grains. Because I appreciated the fact that they went out of their way to get me gluten-free things like gluten-free bread, oatmeal, corn instead of peas, etc., I went ahead and ate them. The meals were yummy and it's nice to have someone cooking for you. On Saturday night, we went to a place called Town Bistro where I had roasted duck in a ligonberry sauce (my Swedish side appreciated the sauce).

What did I take away from the camp? The technique I had learned in college was wrong. I sit up too straight, my arms are too straight, my hips act too much as a hinge, I dig my oars, I'm too aggressive at the catch, 15-degree layback is too little, I feather with the wrist too much, I grip the oar handles too much, arms away is bad... the list goes on. On the bright side, I'm "very coachable," so by the time the camp was over, they were getting super picky about my form because overall they were happy with what I was doing. I also learned how to maneuver my way back into a boat if you accidentally flip the boat. That was one of the things that made me the most worried about rowing in a single: that I would flip and not be able to get back in. But it was relatively easy. And I did not flip my boat. My dip in the water consisted of unstrapping my feet from the foot stretchers and dangling them over the edge before hopping into the water. How do you get back in? Simple. Get your oars lined up so that they're perpendicular to the boat and fully pushed against the oar locks. Grab the oars in one hand and rest the corresponding elbow on the oar and rigger. Then push yourself up and into the boat as if you were climbing out of a pool without using a ladder. Once you're on the boat, you're ready to get back to rowing.

Because I love rowing so much, camp was generous enough to give me something else to take away. No, I'm not talking about the embroidered t-shirt or the video of us rowing. I'm talking about wounds from an alligator. Yeah, an alligator attacked my boat while I was rowing and knocked me out of the boat. As I hurriedly climbed back into the boat, it nipped at my calves, but I managed to jump in and row away, knocking it in the head with an oar - kind of like punching a shark in the face, but using the oar instead. Haha! Just kidding, though that would be much cooler. Instead, I'm actually talking about the staph infection that I got from the tracks of my boat.

Track bite looks like this normally:

In case you want to know what a staph infection looks like, mine looked like this one over to the right:

Yeah, you're welcome for that loveliness. I had noticed Friday morning that my track bite on my left leg didn't seem normal, but I just figured it was some weird reaction due to heat and humidity. So I covered the red area with a band-aid and kept rowing. By Friday evening, I had to use 3 band-aids to cover most of the infected area on my left leg, and my right calf was showing the same signs. It got worse by Saturday, and some of the other rowers were commenting on how strange it looked. I kept it covered, but I bet jumping into the lake Saturday evening wasn't the best idea for already infected legs. Anyways, by Saturday evening, it was pretty painful if anything touched it. Just resting my calf on the bed while laying down hurt. And I had to take a few minutes of light rowing at the beginning of each session before I was able to ignore the pain.

As Yve and I were climbing into our rental on Sunday afternoon to trek back to Richmond, I nonchalantly said "We're gonna stop at Walmart to pick up some gauze. I think I have a staph infection." She was shocked that I hadn't been complaining about it all weekend and she had to convince me that I should get it checked out that day. I was going to wait until I returned to Texas. After a brief call to my dad for his CDC medical advice, I hit up my health insurance nurse advice line. The nurse I talked to was adamant that I go to a doctor that day. "The sooner the better." Because there weren't any 24-hour clinics nearby, I drove the hour and a half back to Richmond to a 24-hour clinic the nurse had looked up for me. He also told me "If they give you antibiotics you must take them exactly as directed. If they say twice a day that means every 12 hours, not just breakfast and dinner; three times a day is every eight hours, not breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's very important you do as they say. Don't do any strenuous exercise (Whoops, too bad I had been rowing three times a day.) and keep your legs elevated." Yikes. Way to make me struggle a bit more to stay calm. Thanks, buddy.

Though Yve and I joked how I narrowly escaped death or the loss of my legs, it could have happened. There was an instance a few years ago of an Ohio high school rower who got necrotizing fasciitis and had both of his legs amputated: Click here for the article. He didn't necessarily get the flesh-eating bacteria from the tracks of the boat, but the track bites allowed the bacteria to get into the tissue of the back of his calves. And staph infections associated with track bites is not unheard of. So be careful people. There is now a product you can buy specifically for your calf in order to prevent track bites. See rowdock.com for this. Or you can make your own track bite guards out of tube socks - just chop of the toe end of the sock.

21DSD - Days 13-14 - I'm On a Boat...

I made it through the entire weekend without slipping with 21DSD. I'm incredibly proud of myself. I managed to have fun the entire weekend while being the sole sober individual in a large group of people. Impressive, huh? A few people even commented that they couldn't tell that I wasn't drinking... as in I was having fun, chatting, laughing, and dancing like everyone else. I didn't sit in the corner and brood while everyone lowered their inhibitions and went wild. So yay! It wasn't as bad as the last happy hour that I went to where I just felt excluded for not drinking.

Overall, it was a good weekend. My friends and I rented two pontoon boats and hung out on a lake for 6 hours on Saturday. It was a blast. However, major downside is that I managed to get incredibly sunburned. As in, I think this is the second-worst burn I've ever had. The first-worst burn consisted of my skin turning purple and scaly-like. Gross. This one, on the other hand, covered more skin - my shoulders, back of the neck, chest, stomach, arms, and thighs got burnt. Bright red, almost purple. Whenever I walk, I can feel a burn almost down to my muscles. I guess it's that my skin got tight and every time I moved it stretched the skin... painfully. Luckily, I brought aloe, and reapplied frequently Saturday night and Sunday morning, and I was in the bed closest to the A/C unit, so there were a few times during the night that I'd stand in front of the A/C and let the cold air cool down my body. Yep, you got that right, I was HOT. Damn skippy. Seriously, just walking in the sun was enough to make me cringe and exclaim "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow... ow," until I made it back into the shade. Sunburn plus sun = crazy heat = bad = sad sober Gitta. (My nickname for the weekend from my buddy DK was Sober Sister of Sunburned Sober Sister, because I wasn't drinking, and I was her "sister" from sharing a room together in Jamaica. Good times.)

Anyways, what did I eat for lunch when stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake for 6 hours? Pre-made supermarket salad sans dressing? Yep. So while everyone else made sandwiches with deli meat, cheese, mustard, mayo, and wheat bread, I hunkered down over what comparatively looked like a monstrous salad, and ate around the olives (gross) and blue cheese (double non-Paleo gross!). Basically, I ate lettuce, chicken, hard-boiled egg, and some bacon chunks. I admit, the bacon probably wasn't 100% 21DSD-friendly. I bet the bacon was made with sugar. The horror! But I'm not counting that because it wasn't enough to send me into some wild sugar-craving spin. Once I was done eating, it barely looked as though I had touched my salad. I'd say 80% of the salad was still there: lettuce, onions, olives, blue cheese, and some bacon. I brought a Ziploc bag of carrots and celery, as well as a bag of mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and pistachios), and beef jerky. I only ate the carrots while on the boat though. And when I pulled out the carrots, most of the people on the boat wanted some. Apparently, sandwiches, chips, and Cheetos puffs don't completely satisfy people. Yeah, never would have guessed that... eye rolling ensues.

The hotel we stayed at provided breakfast, but its offerings consisted of cereal, yogurt, toast, bagels, muffins, waffles, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs. I ate two eggs for breakfast on Saturday and on Sunday, and I supplemented that with some beef jerky after we got back to the room.

Dinner on Saturday was delicious. A group of us made the drive over to Trudy's for some yummy Tex-Mex. Trudy's is famous for their Mexican Martini, which is basically a strong margarita that comes in a large martini shaker. You're only allowed to order two, and then the waitress cuts you off. Sounds intense? It is. I order the beef fajitas, hold the tortilla. And let me tell you, that was probably the best fajita that I ever had. Seriously. It was fantastic. If you're ever in Austin, go to Trudy's. You won't regret it.

Oh, and I never shared what my pre-road trip dinner was. Chicken and eggs. I heated some olive oil in a pan over medium heat, tossed in some chicken strips with a couple dashes of coconut aminos, cooked, added whisked eggs, and made up some Stir-fry-esque chicken and eggs. Not bad when you've only got 10 minutes to cook and eat before running out the door.

Business Trip: Part 4

So, fair warning, this post has little to no reference to Paleo, besides the fact that I tried to stay Paleo while I was in Scotland. But I imagine that you might enjoy some photos...

Wednesday night after I got back from my work meetings, I signed up to go on the Rabbies: Oban, Glencoe, West Highland Lochs & Castles Day Tour on Thursday. I was debating between that one, the Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond National Park & Whisky Tour on Thursday or Friday, and Lochs, Glens, Wallace Monument & Whisky Day Tour on Friday. I ended up picking the Oban one because I figured that it would be better for me to spend the day in Glasgow on Friday since I was flying back early on Saturday, and because I've been to Stirling Castle three times already. I would have liked to go to a whisky distillery, even though I don't actually drink whisky (it's much too strong for me). I went to Oban with my choir when I was 12, as well as Loch Lomond. I've also previously driven through Glencoe when I went to Scotland with SD a couple summers ago and did the Haggis Adventures: Island Explorer tour. As a side note... apparently the restaurant at which my choir ate dinner during my first Scotland trip was burned down in a fire a couple years ago (Oban Times: McTavish's Kitchens).

The tour started at 9:00 from George Square. We stopped by Loch Lomond, the Rest and Be Thankful Stop, and Loch Fyne on the way to Inverary, where we saw the Duke of Argyll's castle.

We were supposed to go to Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe after that, but it was closed off by the police because a person had gone missing in the area and the police divers were in the Loch. Instead, the tour guide took us to St. Conan's Kirk. The Kirk was interesting because it was designed and built by Walter Douglas Campbell because his mother wanted to attend a church that was closer to her because the drive to the closest church was too far for her liking. Because Campbell designed the architecture himself, it's a bit eclectic  There's different styles combined together and there's even grape decorations on the roof of the cloister (despite the fact that grapes don't grow in the area). All I have to say for the matter is that I'm glad I don't go to church there. It was very cold inside and we could see our breath while we explored inside.

We ate a late lunch of fish and chips in Oban (so not paleo) and then stopped for a bit to take photos of Castle Stalker, which is a castle on it's own little island. We didn't stay for long because the rain was starting at that point. 

Castle Stalker

From there, we drove on/through Glencoe. Parts of Harry Potter and the recent James Bond movie were filmed in this area. I took lots of pictures of mountains during our short breaks (the rain got a bit heavier before it eventually turned into snow).

After a couple more hours of driving we got back to Glasgow around 19:00. I promptly headed back to my hotel, dropped off some things, and then went across the street from my hotel to a Wetherspoon (chain-pub/restaurant). It was jam-packed, and I realized that while I'm okay with sitting in a not so busy pub by myself, sitting alone in a very crowded pub is not my thing. So I walked over to The Piper on the Square, located at the southeast corner of Glasgow, right across the street from City Council. From what my friend told me and from what I gathered when I went there, it's a bit of a locals pub. The bartenders know the names and usual drink orders of most of the people that come in. They were hosting their first ever open mic night, which mainly consisted on one of the waitresses and one guy singing, so it was basically like karaoke. I had a couple Magners ciders there and talked to a couple people that had come in. Apparently they heard my Southern accent (yes mom and dad, according to everyone but us, I have a Southern accent) while I ordered a drink and wanted to talk to me more because I am American. Fun times.

Business Trip: Part 3

On my second full day in Glasgow, my friend asked me what I wanted to eat for lunch. I replied with “salad,” and he was at a loss for where to go to get a good salad. He even googled “Glasgow salad” to see what would pop up. The first search result was Urban Dictionary, which defined a Glasgow salad as chips (French fries for you Americans). So, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant, where I had a bowl of soup and chicken, and got worried looks by the waiters for not clearing my plate. We then took the subway from Buchanan Street to the Kelvinbridge stop, meaning we ended up in West End, the “posh” neighborhood. We went on one of the free tours of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

and walked past the University of Glasgow on the left (oh, how I wish the architecture of Georgia Tech were as cool). We ended up on Ashton Lane, where our first bar stop was Vodka Wodka, where I read truth while watching a rugby match.

We then had a few pints of cider at Ubiquitous Chip

and made a friend who was probably as in love with America as I am with Scotland. We finished up the trip to West End and Ashton Lane at The Wee Curry Shop where I ate more non-Paleo foods, and found a Glasgow specialty: Haggis Pakora.

After a stop back at the hotel, we headed to the opposite side of town to Calum’s friend’s house so that we could watch the superbowl. Yeah, apparently the Scots like some American football, too. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the couple whose house we invaded had lived in the US for a while, and Calum grew up in Texas… Anyways, we finally made it back to the city center around 4 a.m. Obviously, I had a late start the next day. We stopped at Elia Greek Restaurant for lunch, during which Calum and I continued to discuss how my diet is not well suited for Glasgow foods. Alas, it is so true. But, I’d say most of the world has not learned how to be Paleo-friendly either. So maybe we’ll call it a draw.

That afternoon, I checked into a new hotel, Radisson Blu, and then walked back toward Glasgow Cathedral to visit the Necropolis. I walked around taking photos there for a couple hours before heading back to my hotel.

On my way back to the hotel, it started sleeting on me. Since I walked around constantly with my winter ski jacket, I survived just fine, but it was a bit of a shock to my Texas system. After changing shoes at the hotel, I walked back to George Square through the snow and had a pint at The Piper on the Square (go there!), before walking down the street and eating dinner at Jamie’s Italian.

The snow!

After dinner, I walked outside to more snow. And I finished up the evening going over notes for my meeting the following morning.

Business Trip - Part 2

Before I start in on Glasgow again, I just want to point out that in the first 48 hours of not watching Netflix, I read two books (the first book I read was ~300 pages and the second is ~350 pages), reorganized my closet by color and sleeve length, and played with my hair, eventually giving myself blue hair. Well, blue streaks in my hair. I also went to crew practice, met up with a friend for a few hours to discuss upcoming travel plans, took a nap, went to a horse race, and went for drinks with friends twice. This past weekend I also went to a Flogging Molly concert. It was incredible. Go if you have the chance!

Speaking of Celtic things... back to Glasgow!

My flight to Heathrow arrived at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, Feb 2, which gave me an hour and a half to make my way through customs and through security, and get to the next gate before that took off at 8:55. Again, a bright side of flying business class is that your ticket gets a "FastTrack" note which means you get to skip the giant lines. For those of you who have missed connecting flights because of a late arrival of the first leg of your journey, you know what a blessing this is. Anyways, I got through with enough time to wander around the massive Terminal 5. Weird thing about the UK: When you buy anything (water, newspaper, candy) from one of the stores, you have to give them your ticket/flight number. Strange.

The flight from London to Glasgow is pretty short, so we landed in Glasgow around 10:20 a.m. British Airways did provide us with breakfast of sliced bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and a roll.  Overall, a pretty greasy breakfast, but hey, it's better than a pack of peanuts or pretzels. Even though I was tired, I was planning on dropping off my stuff at Millennium Hotel...

... and then heading out for some sightseeing before my friend Calum arrived in town to show me around the city where he went to university. Unfortunately, by the time I checked into my hotel around 11, I was exhausted. So, I ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours. It took a while to get moving again, so it was 2:30 p.m. by the time I left the hotel and walked the half-mile to Glasgow Cathedral.

After spending an hour or so looking around, I walked back to my hotel just in time for my friend to meet up with me there. We had an early dinner at The Living Room, where I had the special: Teriyaki Salmon, which did come with some greens. After dinner, I went skipping down the street (because I was excited about being in Glasgow), while Calum rolled his eyes at me. We took a taxi from Central Station to McPhabbs, where Calum's uni friend, Colin, works. There, I got to indulge in my favorite cider (Kopparberg), and share a plate of haggis, neeps, and tatties. Haggis is yummy, but I recommend not looking into the ingredients if you really want to enjoy it. Also... not Paleo thanks to the oatmeal that it contains. After a little while, we walked over to The Park Bar, where we chatted with Calum's cousin Calum... about his uncle Calum, while drinking cider. Anyone else recognize a common theme here?

If you go to Glasgow, I strongly recommend going to The Park Bar. There's live music (including bagpipes and accordian) and friendly patrons.

We ended the evening with a munchy box, which is apparently a popular late-night post-drinking snack in Glasgow. And yes, it was actually called a "Munchy Box." Not Paleo-friendly, except for maybe the meat, but even that is a stretch. I ate part of it anyways. Because nothing's worse than waking up on vacation hungover, and getting some food into your system is a good idea.

Let me summarize:

Breakfast - somewhat Paleo

Lunch - what lunch? oh, you mean sleep... yeah, that was Paleo

Dinner - partially Paleo

post-Dinner haggis - maybe Paleo

post-drinking snack - definitely not Paleo

Paleo fail. Of my food choices, I went for the most reasonable Paleo option without being super demanding of hold this and that... And really, all you can ask for when you're traveling Paleo is to do your best. Now, if you're celiac or have a food allergy, obviously you can find stuff because you'll be much more careful, but for me, I figured, while in Rome Glasgow... So, with the happiness from being in Scotland, I tolerated my gluten headaches and upset stomach from dairy.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

The last morning that I was in Atlanta, my parents made a frittata for me. Aww, aren't they just the sweetest? I don't know exactly how they prepped everything, so I'll just tell you what I would do.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

1 cup kale, ripped to pieces

1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup orange bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup roasted cauliflower (precooked)

5 strips bacon, chopped

8 eggs, whisked

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place your uncooked and chopped bacon into a large pan over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the pieces are crispy. Remove bacon pieces.

Add the onions and cook until starting to turn translucent. Toss in your kale, stirring to coat with the glorious bacon grease. (If you're not using grass-fed bacon, you could remove the bacon from the pan and pour out the bacon fat. Instead use coconut or olive oil for cooking the veggies.) Cook for a couple minutes before throwing in the rest of your veggies. Remove from heat and stir the bacon bits back in.

Transfer the veggies and bacon to a greased 13"x9" baking pan. Pour the eggs over the veggies and bacon, making sure that the ingredients are evenly distributed. Bake for 25 minutes.

Christmas Food

Let’s review some of what I ate while I was in Atlanta with my parents. Obviously, I didn't photograph everything. How obsessive do you think I am while on vacation?

For Christmas Eve, my mom made a pork loin pot roast with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, and potatoes (which I avoided), and a side salad made with red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms, carrots, etc.

(Doesn't my mom set a pretty table?)

Christmas day was somewhat unusual. Instead of waking up super early and opening presents like I've done every other year of my life, I slept late and my parents and I ate breakfast together before even considering opening presents. We didn't open presents till the afternoon. I guess my inner child wasn't too concerned with opening presents early.

And for Christmas dinner, we had potato sausage, lefse (Scandinavian potato bread), and salad. I don't know if you picked up on the trend, but there's a serious love of potatoes. Because this meal is a tradition in my family for Christmas, I made a Paleo-xception, and heartily enjoyed it. I don't have photos for the entire meal put together, but below is a photo of the potato sausage being cooked in the pan. After cooking in the pan, we transfer it to oven-safe bakeware and bake it for another 20-30 minutes in the oven. The result is delicious!

Post-Vacation

Well folks, I’m back. I know it's been quite some time since I've consistently posted. And I blame vacation and being lazy. Prior to vacation I was working like a madwoman to meet deadlines. And once I was visiting my parents in Atlanta I was too lazy to take the time to post. It was pure laziness. Instead of typing up paragraphs of wit to share with you, I watched movies and did puzzles with my parents, walked the dogs, and hung out with friends. After a week of being lazy with my parents, godparents, and friends, I returned to Houston for a day so that I could pack for a trip to Jamaica. Yep, I got to spend a week of glorious sun and warmth with my friends. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that I'M BACK, BABY!!!

Because I'm still not in the swing of blogging again, this is going to be a short post containing just photos. But they're exciting. Why? See below...

I don't think I mentioned this, but I went to an Apocalypse Party on December 20th that was hosted by my friend KAOS. Everyone was told to come as they want to go... So I wore a prom dress. My high school junior prom dress to be exact. Yeah buddy. I fit into my junior prom dress. SWEET! So I have to say that Whole 30 (and cutting out alcohol) worked quite well. I'm thinking of doing it again soon!

I didn't dress up this nicely for New Year's Eve though. Alas, a prom dress wouldn't fit in my luggage to Jamaica. Strange, right? Those photos will be coming... just let me get through the Christmas holiday first. Stay tuned for the next episode!

Whole 30 - Thanksgiving

So my family really likes Crock-pots. We're from the Midwest... it's a thing. We love us some Crock-pots.

And here's my Thanksgiving plate: Turkey, ham, mashed cauliflower, and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. And I drank chamomile tea almost constantly for the last few days.

Shortly after eating, my cold took over and I fell asleep on the couch, with my head on my father's shoulder while watching a football game. He fell asleep, too. And his snoring woke me up. Thanksgiving Day was not a good one for my cold. But tea made my throat feel better.

On Friday, my family celebrates Christmas (a.k.a. Thankmas). My uncle's family (kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) all gather for Thanksgiving, and it makes more sense for them to celebrate Christmas at the same time so that they don't have to travel to the same place twice within a month. Starting Thursday night, Thanksgiving decorations start getting switched out for Christmas ones. And on Friday, we go for Scandinavian foods, like pickled herring and Swedish meatballs. Though I didn't eat the meatballs, because they come in a cream-based sauce. It was killing me, trust me. I love Swedish meatballs. They're delicious!

The Return of the Gitta

I've managed to escape the clutches of my parents and the city of Portland. In other words, I was on vacation last week to the city of Portland. My dad was in Portland for a National Academy of Kinesiology conference, so my mom and I tagged along to see a new city and do some sightseeing. (Kinesiology is the basically study of human movement, in case you were wondering.)

So I'm sure you've been wondering what happened to me... I'm usually so good about posting each weekday, and I failed that pretty badly this past week. I guess could have posted using my handy-dandy smart phone app, but texting a post using my thumbs didn't appeal to me. I type much faster. So here's a brief start to my Portland trip...

On my way to the airport, I got stuck behind a truck with the bumper sticker: Please drive naked. I found it amusing. Maybe you don't. Either way, I don't suggest trying that anytime soon.

My airplane snack food/lunch consisted of beef jerky, which is always a handy stand-by when you're Paleo-on-the-go. I fell asleep for take-off. This ended up being a good thing, because I slept through the ear pain that I usually get from airplane take-offs and landings. watched Battleship on the plane and studied for the FE exam. Studying = un-fun. On the happy side, we made it to Portland in one piece!

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which wins points for leaving a teddy bear in the room (see below). They also get points because they host a daily happy hour with free wine and beer tasting, which my parents and I hit up before we even went into our hotel room. They set up a Wii for people to play Mario Kart, as well as an easel and paint for attendees to explore they're more creative side. We were there for four nights and I was the only person who made use of the painting or the Wii. So what, I played video games like a kid while drinking wine. I'm cool with it. And do you want to know what's even better than all that? They host a Thursday morning run at 6am! Not many hotels do that. So I woke up at 5:45am on Thursday, stumbled into my workout clothes and running shoes, and made my way to the front desk where I was greeted by my running guide/chief engineer of the hotel. It was about 50F outside for our run, and it was a bit of a shock from the Texas heat that I'm used to, but vastly preferred. We ran down to the river front, along the river, and then across one of the numerous bridges to check out the other side, before looping back to make up a 3.7-mile loop. It felt good (I haven't been doing more than 2.5 miles without taking a break - I blame the 90-degree heat)! My hamstrings didn't quite agree that it felt good, but  it was a great way to start the day off before walking lots and lots while sight-seeing.

Picture taken while standing in our sitting room!

Nick at the front desk recommended that we try out Jake's Grill (park of McCormick and Schmick's) for a good steak, so that's where we went our first night so I could get: The Queen Bee (made with lemon and honey) and steak. Yum.

The Queen Bee