Lulu Review

Thank you mother nature. 

 Enough of the snow has melted to leave a safe enough space on the side of the road for runners walkers dogs and bicyclist alike.  It is torture to have all of this amazing new cold weather running gear, and leave it at home while you throw on a scrappy t shirt and head to the gym. 

This morning I decided to try some of my new gear and attempt a morning run.  My body does not function well at 6am (does anyone's?) but with a long day of work followed by horse back riding and making dinner, it can be nearly impossible to squeeze in a run sometimes.  My alarm clock went off at 6am and I jumped out of bed before my brain could register what I was about to do.  I fed the dog so she could eat while I got dressed.   

My Outfit

 Bold In The Cold Lululemon running pants found here

What I love about these pants:  

*They are not running tights- they are a looser fit with an extremely warm lining.  

*They also have elastics around the ankles and waist that makes them really adjustable.  

*Another great feature is the abundance of pockets all over these pants. 

*Lastly, I love the high waist- I know this sounds really attractive but I like to tuck my shirts into my pants so my shirt does not ride up the entire run... this high waist makes the tuckage easier.  

What I don't love:

* I wish there were more color options... These pants came in all black or black with blue (above).  I love neon and I love to be seen on the road and avoid looking like a ninja. 

* I almost wish they had some kind of built in underwear or short-  they are a little baggy in the crotch region and it gets a little awkward running commando in these pants ( we all do that right? )  I need to wear some shorts or running undies under these.

* they are so long!  I got size 8 and I am 5'6 and I have to fold up the bottoms a lot-  thankfully they have elastic so they stay up 

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Lululemon reflective running coat

(they don't have the striped one up anymore which was cheaper but here is one similar) 

 My dog thinks I am crazy.. and why do girls feel the need to throw the hand on the hip in pictures...  Guilty...

What I love about this jacket:

Everything!

*  I love the pattern - the stripes are reflective for my early and late runs.  

*There are so many vents all over the coat so I stay nice and cool the entire run.  

*It is so light weight and thin yet I stayed toasty warm during todays 20 degree windy run. 

* It is water and wind resistant- perfect for New England running. 

* It has the zipper offset so it isn't rubbing on your face when you zip it up.  

*The hood has a pony tail hole so you can wear the hood and a pony tail comfortably.

What I don't love:
That I only have one and in one color.   

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Matching headband/ear warmer

(also no longer on the site- I must have wiped lulu clean....)

What I love about this headband:

It is super light weight, breathable, keeps my ear buds in, reversible, and in an awesome pattern that matches my jacket.

What I don't love:

It slips a little but bobby pins should fix that.  And it was on sale or $25... seems a little steep for a piece of cloth. 

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I threw one of my long sleeve running shirts (neon of course) under my new coat, threw on my newtons, got my running belt on, Olives harness on, ate a banana, Garmin started, and headed out the door!

Read more about my doggie running gear here

We set out for a nice and slow 3 mile at a 9:30 pace with a few hills, taking it easy to prep for Saturday's hilly half marathon.  My legs weren't fully awake but the gorgeous sunrise was very distracting.  

It felt amazing to be running in the cool crisp air, distracted by the scenery and my silly dog.  I ran down to the end of Main Street in Essex and had to stop and take a picture of one of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen.  

This is what I am going to miss the most about Essex when I leave. 

Getting up at 6am was the pits, but a view like this makes up for it and reminds me I am lucky to live in such a beautiful little town right on the water.  It was a nice and easy run, with very little traffic, and I made it back home just after 7am. I had plenty of time for a quick shower, to prep lunch, and eat a yummy breakfast (coffee, ham 1egg and provolone on an english muffin) with Thatcher before I had to head into work with my tired puppy.  

Feels great to start the day off on a good note.... but now its a long day of work and waiting for even more new running gear to come in the mail.  I know, I have a problem, but new gear keeps me comfortable, motivated, and I can't say no to a good sale!

Sneak Peak at the fun stuff on its way to Essex!

Happy Running, 

Katie

Birthday Fun and a Run

Monday, February 18th, was my birthday, so I decided it was fair to claim this past weekend as my "birthday weekend".  I know you are only supposed to get a day hence the word birthday, but mine landed on a Monday- the worst day of the week- so cut me some slack.

I love cake and attention so naturally I love birthdays.  I planned out a fun weekend to ring in 25 and start the slow crawl to 30.  

Saturday

 First on the agenda was a ski trip to Killington with Thatcher.  It was only a half hour past Okemo, less than four hour drive, and we had never been to Killington, so we packed up the car and headed North for the day.

Views of the mountain while driving in. 

89 dollar lift ticket...I got the "golden ticket"
 why is skiing so expensive. 

Let me remind you that this weekend marked a holiday weekend, and the start of many school breaks.  What this meant was everyone and their reckless child headed out to go skiing for the weekend.  We left at about 5 am and we were on the mountain by 9:30 along with everyone else in New England. 

Lift lines were long but moved along considering the mass of people that invaded Killington.  A few runs in and the conditions were okay, the mountain was okay, and the trails were okay. The weather was pretty perfect, no wind and fairly warm for February.  The views were gorgeous and it was nice to be playing outside without running. 

 I had to stop and be a tourist and take pictures in front of the ice.  Thatcher was starting to get a little angry about my constant photo taking.   Calm down Thatcher... the readers wanna know.

 The mountain was big and we never skied the same trail twice, but the layout of the mountain was really confusing, and the lodges were really hard to get to.  We decided to stick to the black diamonds to avoid the crowds and dipped into the woods for some tree skiing and fresh snow.  

Tree skiing was a lot of fun because the area was barely skied and there was no one else in there.  Not to mention all the fresh fluffy snow!

As the day progressed, the conditions decreased as the slopes were skied off by the masses and the ugly yellow ice/snow took over.  The lift lines got longer, lunch seemed impossible through the masses, and my anxiety was shooting through the roof.  We stopped early in the day to share a waffle, and later in the day for a beer and slice of pretty awful pizza after 4 attempts to sit down for lunch.  After another lunch fail and an icy run, we called it quits and headed home

Will I ever go back?  Eh.... Okemo is closer and laid out much better in my opinion.  But.... I will give Killington credit for the abundance of Waffle Cabins and Empanada huts.  Love me some fried heaven on the mountain.    

Sunday 

Sunday I decided I needed to squeeze in my long distance run before I had any birthday fun.  The weather outside was about 20 degrees and extremely windy so I threw on a tank top and shorts and headed to the gym.  I had 12 miles on the agenda so I decided to break it up into 4 three mile runs, with a minute break in between to grab some water and recollect my sanity.   I made up a little interval workout for the 3 mile run to break up the monotony, changing my speed between 6 and 7.5.  

Four weddings is probably the only thing that got me through that run.  The yummy food, awful dresses, over the top weddings, and bitchy brides kept me entertained while I ran the road to no where.  Two hours and 12 miles later I looked around for an applause (never happened) and decided that running on a treadmill for two hours should be illegal.  

I ran drove home, showered, and headed to meet some friends at the local vineyard for a wine tasting.  The vineyard was very picturesque with a tasting room that was very cozy and a new bistro with a menu that made me drool..... but....... their wine kind of sucked.   I had a good chardonnay there last year but they must have been holding out on that one this year...

After tasting five different wines, I could not decided which one I hated more.  Chamard Vineyards..... I am no wine snob..... but your wine just did not taste that great.   I will come back and try the bistro when you put a decent wine on your tasting menu... I hope you have one!  Take a look at their bistro menu here and try not to drool on your computer.


We decided on the cheap bottle of wine back at a friends house that was half the cost of anything on that tasting menu, twice as good, and relaxed with some home made french onion soup.   It was a great Sunday afternoon spent with some sore legs, white wine, french onion soup, and good company.  

Monday

Monday was my actual birthday and after a long day of work (another thing that should be illegal- working on your birthday), I headed out with some friends for some sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant located in Groton, Connecticut,  Koto check them out here.  Vegetable Tempura and a Kani Salad started off the night with a cocktail of course.    Kani salad is just cucumbers, fake crab and a few fish eggs topped with spicy mayo... so simple, sounds gross, but is so heavenly.  

Then came the time for my faaaaaaaavorite roll/  The angel hair roll is shrimp tempura, avocado and cream cheese, topped with kani salad.  I love cream cheese in sushi rolls and while the combination sounds very odd, you need to try it.   Because it was my birthday and I was being a fatty, I got another roll as well made up of eel, salmon skin, and avocado.  

After dinner, I headed into Mystic, Connecticut, per birthday tradition to meet a few friends at the Harp and Hound for a few drinks to end the birthday celebrations.  It was lovely to be around friends, getting spoiled with cupcakes, gifts, and booze.  

My lobster sweater from JCrew from Chelsea... feeding into my lobster obsession. 

Adorable striped Kate Spade bangle with cute bow earings, and awesome hair ties from Kristen. 

An amazing little chocolate cake and red wine from Christine. 

A bottle of wine and cupcakes (vanilla with a nutella chocolate frosting) from my sister and her fiance.  

And my favorite gift... a new Lululemon running jacket.  (Will give a review of the jacket pants and head band when this snow melts!)

Skiing, vineyards, sushi, presents, family, and friends.... what more could a birthday girl want?

24 wasn't my best year and I am really looking forward to what 25 has to offer.  So far I have two amazing trips planned, 2 half marathons to run, and if all goes well my first marathon....26 before 26!

25 Show me what you got!

Farm to Table Dining at the River Tavern

Hello friends!

Last week was dragging on and my least favorite holiday was looming over head, so I decided on a lovely dinner at the River Tavern on Wednesday - a great way to break up the week and ruin my diet.  The River Tavern is a small "Farm To Table" restaurant located in Chester, Connecticut.  It is adorable and cozy, with great service, and a menu that changes daily featuring local and in season ingredients.  

They also offer an amazing dinner series in the summer called "Dinner at the Farm".  This dinner is offered every weekend, for a few months in the summer rain or shine under a big beautiful tent.   Every month the location switches to a different local farm in Connecticut.  The menu highlights that farms seasonal harvest with an amazing five course dinner.  Aside from throwing this amazing 5 hour event with as much wine as your heart desires, a farm tour, and an amazing meal, they also donate money to various organizations.  I was really moved by the farmer's speeches and the different charities this event supports, my favorite being the one that provides farm fresh meals to local schools.  Dinner was simply amazing as always and you can check out their website Here.  

We arrived at the River Tavern at 7:30 (reservations are a must) and indulged in some half price cocktails.  The drinks were delicious and the night just kept getting better!  Sorry for the dark cell phone pictures but the restaurant has dim lighting and I didn't want to interrupt any ones meal with my flash!

An amazing cucumber cilantro martini!  Fresh and delicious. 

Started off with a duck con-fit over an apple, balsamic, pomegranate, and cilantro slaw.  The duck was good (I am not that big into duck- doesn't do it for me) and the salad was very crisp light and refreshing and suited well with the heavy duck. 

I decided on the NY strip steak with a porcini mushroom sauce, roasted potatoes, and brussel sprouts.  The portion was huge and I ended up bringing half of the steak home with me (yay for let overs!)  The steak was fantastic, cooked nice and rare just how I like it.  The potatoes and the sauce were to die for.  I would have been the  happiest fat kid around with a bowl of that sauce and a pan full of those potatoes.  A h m a z i n g

And now for the best thing that I have EVER eaten. 

 I avoided this amazing dessert for a while.

  Date pudding.... does that sound appealing?

  Dates?? Pudding? 

Sounds like something you serve at a nursing home.

Finally my friend Jill said I HAD to try the date pudding.  It is made to order and must be ordered when you place your dinner order because its so freshly made and heavenly.  It is an amazing moist little spiced date cake (not a pudding! phew)  with the most amazing home made caramel sauce and whipped cream.  

All three components on one spoon full and BAM you are hooked.  River tavern now has you wrapped around their finger and you will forever come back for this piece of heaven that is very unique to the River Tavern.  

Where ever you are you need to get in your plane train or automobile and support this amazing farm to table restaurant and indulge in this amazing dessert.  

And then come back in the summer for the Dinner at the Farm series.  

Thank me later. 

P.S. Today is my birthday!!! Can't wait to fill everyone in on my birthday weekend!  

Happy running!

Katie

Breakfast Cookies

 I just put Breakfast and Cookie in the same sentence.. two of my favorite words!

My good friend/running motivator Jill and I were discussing some of our favorite blogs 

(on gchat while working obviously)  

and she sent me the link to a blog she likes to read.... The Fitnessista.  

I am not entirely sure how to pronounce that, but she is posting about breakfast cookies so I decided not to get too hung up on the pronunciation.

Let me start by saying I cannot bake if my life depended on it.  But.. these looked simple and I had all the ingredients I needed at home.  It seemed easy, empty out your cabinet... dump into a mixing bowl... mush into cookie shape and bake for ten minutes.

Even I can do that (for the most part).

Here is the link to her original post and recipe- I followed her dry ingredients and baking instructions, and switched up the rest.  That is the glory of her breakfast cookies, as long as you follow her "guidelines" you can basically throw what ever you want in these suckers!

Dry Ingredients (The Basics) 

 2 cups of oats

 Teaspoonish of cinnamon (I am too lazy to accurately measure, and I love cinnamon)

Teaspoonish of vanilla extract (if im feeling ambitious I will use the cap to sort of measure)

1 Teaspoon of baking powder 

Dash of salt

2 Packets of Truvia

Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then add in the extras

(Now this is where I got a little crazy)

The Add Ins

Handful of chocolate chips 

Handfulof shredded coconut

Handful of chopped dates

Handful of pomegranate crasins

Handful of Chia seeds
Some flax seed for good measure 

The "Wet" Ingredients

2 Mashed bananas

1 egg

(You are supposed to add a 1/2 cup of any nut butter  i.e. peanut butter or something, but I am awful at following directions and forgot about this- they still turned out awesome!)

In a small bowl I mashed two riped bananas (she used apple sauce but I didn't have any and I love bananas).  Add the mushy banana, that serves as your "butter" to your concoction along with 1 egg and mix well.

I used my hands to form little cookie patties, and placed them on a foil lined greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

They came out of the oven and a left them alone for 20 minutes to cool (torture). 

 One bite and I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were and how much they resembled an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie without the usual flour, butter, or sugar.  

I ended up storing them in a sealed tupperware over night which ended up making them a little soggy the next day.  I figured this was better than a dry cookie, so I shoved my soggy breakfast under the broiler for a few minutes and out came a warm and melty cookie.

I had one before work and one at 10 am at my desk, and was pleasantly surprised at how filling and satisfying they were.

Fitnessista made 8 cookies and included some kind of a nut butter so her cookies were just over 200 calories a piece.  I made mine smaller, about 10 cookies, and left out the peanut butter (oops) so I am going to guess mine were a little lighter on the calories.

Can't wait to make up different combinations and throw in the peanut butter. 

Try them out and let me know what kind of combinations you used!

Thanks Fitnessista - can't wait to try out your other recipes!  

P.S.  My Lululemon headband and running pants came in the mail today, can't wait to try them out in my run later.  I haven't taken the pants off since I tried them on yesterday so that's a good sign....

Iv'e got the blues

I meant to post this last week--- (it was in my drafts and just too funny not to share!)


It seems all week I have been in a funk.  I guess it started Saturday when my run didn't go as great as I had hoped, I fell down, and I had to wait far too long for my cheeseburger (im so impatient).   It ran into Sunday when I blew off my ski trip because of my sore knee after wiping out during my run and spent the day cleaning and playing with the pup instead of skiing.

I am usually pretty optimistic but this week has been a "glass half empty" kind of week.  I decided Tuesday night that I would cheer up with a shopping trip to the grocery store for ingredients for a home made pizza.  By the time I went shopping and got home I was very very hangry.

I was grumpy and rushing, and didn't fully heat up the pizza stones before I put the dough on them.  Huge mistake.  Usually, my pizzas take about 10-12 minutes on 500 to become crispy bubbly and delicious.

After 25 minutes, the pizzas on my stone were gooey and the dough was still raw and soft.  Impatient Katie decided to take the pizzas off the stones and "slip" them on the rack to finish cooking and crisp up on the direct heat.  Instead of gracefully sliding on and finishing, cornmeal went EVERYWHERE, including the bottom of the oven, causing a smokey nasty mess in my poor kitchen.  

To make matters worse, instead of crisping up, my pizzas just fell through the oven grates.  

This isn't my exact pizza.. but its pretty darn close.. I was far to hangry to snap a picture.  

Sloppy doughy saucey cheesy mess to clean up and a dinnerless hangrier Katie.  I acted like a child, pouted, nearly cried, and even proceeded to beat my pizza with a spatula.

Yes you read that right... I started beating my disformed pizza in the oven.  Its not a high point for me but it happened and it actually made me feel better.

  Sadly, I took said  beating stick spatula and moved the contents of my dinner from the bottom of the oven onto a pan where I let my slop cook for a little bit.  I had spent the money, rolled out the dough, and made a gigantic mess... I was going to eat this damn pizza even if it required a spoon (and it did). 

Once I finished my dinner, I decided to cut my losses, pour a drink, and take a hot shower and go to bed early.  I had run 5 miles on the treadmill and rode a few horses so I was starting to smell worse than the gym locker room.  I turned on the shower and stepped into the arctic water pouring down on me....

What the hell is going on?  I pay good money for oil to heat up that damn water tank to provide me with this hot shower I deserve.  I put on my robe while my chattering teeth reminded me how miserable this day was.  I got to the basement and saw that the water heater decided it was taking the day off.  

60 degrees?  This is bull shit water heater... your one job... ONE JOB is to give me hot water... and all you can give me is 65 degrees?  At this point there were actually tears flowing.  I felt like the whole world was against me (well.. maybe just the oven and the water heater).  I think my room mate felt bad for me because she went to the dungeon/basement and started pressing buttons and flipping switches.  Miraculously, the water heater came back to life, and nothing blew up in the mean time.

Just one of those days.....