In my thoughts and prayers.....

I appreciate every moment, but every now and then you get a reminder.

Our holiday weekend started off on a good note.  Mike came home a a little early, and we went to pick up our "new to us" car:

It had very low mileage, and it was in great condition.  I decided to make a trip to B.J.'s (on a Friday night) in order to take it for a test drive.

Saturday was sunny, and relatively warm.  Frank and I went for a run, and I felt a taste of spring in the air.  I was feeling happy and optimistic about the direction our lives seemed to be going in.  With Easter coming I truly felt a sense of new beginnings and hope.

We colored Easter Eggs, Mike and the kids made their entries for the family "ugly egg contest", and made plans to go out to a local pub to watch the S.U. game with my brothers and sisters in law.  We headed to the outside bar, along with four flat screens, we got there early enough to stake out a spot in the sunshine.  It was sooooo nice to be outside, in March, in Syracuse!  The game was great, and S.U. is in the Final Four Baby!

Easter morning the kiddo's got up extra early, which as every parent knows, should be expected on a holiday/weekend and not on a school day.

They were happy with what the Easter Bunny left: chocolate, a Skylander for Luke, and lip gloss for Miss E.

Monday the kiddo's had play dates they hung out with their friends, Luke then went on a sleepover, Miss E had her BFF over to our house to sleep.  Tuesday I did a double take when I woke up, to see six inches of new snow, although it is technically spring.

We felt a movie day was in order so we headed to the mall to see The Croods (two thumbs up), hit the arcade, then headed home.

Mike came home from work, and realized he forgot to get gas on his way home.  Instead of rushing around in the morning, he decided to go back out with Luke to fill up the tank.

Then, I got a phone call from an unknown cell number, which was a flashback to the call I got when my sister Ali was in a car accident.   Looking back, it was the same exact day, exactly two years ago.

It was from Mike, he and Lukie were involved in an accident, but God was watching over them.

They walked away from the car.

They are both banged up, but nothing too serious.


We always hear, or read the sayings that people post on facebook, how to appreciate each moment and seize the day when it takes hold of you.

I thought that I did, and I realized I still do.

You never know what can happen in an instant.

So appreciate and love every second you have of this thing that we call life.*

I do.


*didn't mean to quote Prince, but I kind of did.

Wordless Wednesday: I was going to bake bread, but someone beat me to the flour

Meatless Monday: Coterie Cuisine's Rustic Vegetable Soup

When I find a recipe that I like, I don't do much to change it, I just add it to my rotation of meals, but I keep my eyes open for new ideas.  I particularly like soups and one dish meals, especially ones that allow me to add lots of vegetables.

A few posts ago, I did a profile on Nicole Rand Weiss, a vegetarian chef and owner of Coterie Cuisine, based in Manhattan.  I told her that I'm always on the lookout for a new soup or stew, and she shared one of her favorites, Rustic Vegetable soup.

I made the soup for dinner yesterday, it is so delicious, I had it again today for my lunch.  When I make soup, I usually add either white potatoes or brown rice, but Nicole uses sweet potatoes, which really adds to the flavor. For this recipe you can use green or red cabbage, I'm a fan of red, but for some reason I never thought to add it to soup.

Look at all those bright colors, you can practically see the vitamins. 

The finished product: 

I'm seriously going to eat this all week.  

rustic vegetable soup

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 leek, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced 
• 1/2 small red cabbage, core removed and chopped (1 inch) or you can use a 10oz package of shredded cabbage - red or green
• 3 small sized sweet potato, peeled and chopped 
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes (liquid included)
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 5 ounces baby spinach leaves
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added kidney beans, drained or 2 cups pre-cooked lentils
• 1 cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• evoo for sauteing vegetables
• crushed red pepper to taste

1. In a large stock pot, add evoo and cook onion, leek, celery, cabbage , parsnip and potato over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
2. Add garlic, fresh ground black pepper and tomatoes. Cook for another 3 minutes.
3. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 10-15 minutes until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
4. Add spinach and cannellini beans (or lentils) and cook until beans are warmed though, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add parsley. Stir. Season to taste with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Ladle into warm bowls and serve.

ENJOY!!!

Six Legged Run For Gab!

Insomnia woke me up today at 3:30 a.m. My newest way to deal with it, is to get up, go out into the hallway and read until I'm sleepy.  Right now I'm reading Prairie Tale.

 

I'm on Little House on The Prairie kick. I loved the books when I was younger, and watched the show every Monday night. My Mom said I cried at the end of every episode, I don't remember that, but I'm such a sensitive sap, I wouldn't be surprised.  At any rate, I recently read The Wilder Life, moved on to Confessions of A Prairie Bitch (Alison Arngrim/Nellie's book, seriously, a real page turner) and now I'm onto Half-Pint/Melissa Gilberts take.  The sections featuring Rob Lowe are especially interesting.

It was snowing outside while I read (as opposed to inside) and I went back to bed around 5:15.  Our alarm goes off at 6:30 so I'm tired today.  But not too tired for Team Gab's Virtual Race!

By lunchtime the snow had melted enough that the roads were clear, the sun was shining, and the sky was blue.

See?

Frank saw me lace up my shoes and asked if he could come along for my race.

I can never say no to Frankie.

He's being very patient here, but he was ready to go.

We had a nice run, which means we go along at a decent clip, then come to a complete stop so that he can sniff/pee/bite snow, speed up again, then stop so he can sniff/pee/and plow through snow with doggie joy.  All that stopping adds up though, I can go faster by myself, but it's less fun.

 

 

 

We had about a mile left when we saw my friend Kelly out for a run of her own, so we joined her!  It was nice to catch up, I turned G-Unit off after I reached the 10k I signed up for, we did maybe an extra mile with Kelly. 

So we finished the distance with not six legs, but eight!


Happy Weekend and Happy Running!

Tipp Hill Shamrock Run: Year Four

Saturday I ran our local Shamrock Run, a four miler which is always a festive, good time.

It was a pretty chilly morning, snowing a bit, but luckily the roads were clear. Jeannine and I met up with some other runner friends and family, I even saw my college roommate which was a nice surprise.

We lined up with the 9 minute mile group, and noticed this guy standing to the left of us:

Photo courtesy of Lake Effect Run Club.

I was cold just looking at him, we figured he must have lost a bet or something.

My friend Alissa and I settled into an easy pace, we chatted the whole time, and sailed right up every hill we came across.  I did get that nervous tickle in your stomach feeling at the start of the last hilly mile, which looked like this last January:

I was happy with my run, it wasn't my best time, but that wasn't my goal.  This was the first race I ran in my chiropractor prescribed orthotics, I had zero foot pain during the race, and it felt just fine after the race.

We met up with the rest of our group at the finish, and instead of walking to Coleman's for post race beers and the S.U. game, we ran.  It was that cold.

We were much happier inside.

When I got home I had an idea for another one of  my RACER Wall Frame's. 

I tried to fit all four of my Shamrock Run bibs in the frame, but three still look cool  

Don't forget, you can use the code "ARTOFRACING" good for 25% off purchases through 3/15, and get a chance to win a free race entry of your choice! You can find their website here. 

I'm ready for a race to blow off this steam

A few weeks ago I got a $115 parking ticket in Brooklyn, apparently I blocked a fire hydrant.

The problem is one, I live in Syracuse, and two, the license plates associated with the ticket were turned into the DMV last fall.

NYC's 311 is useless.  After calling a few times and getting nowhere, I spoke to a woman at the DMV, who said this happens often, where the person who wrote the ticket had put down the wrong plate number.  She gave me a form that said the plates were destroyed, I mailed it in, and that was that.

Well, I got another letter from Brooklyn, saying my case was decided, and I'm guilty.  311 said I can dispute it, to send in another letter from the DMV. I was told that it could take 75 days to resolve the matter, and until then, I'll continue to accumulate fines.

Great.

When you go to pick up your bib for a race, do you ever get nervous that it won't be there?  I'm running the Tipp Hill Shamrock Run tomorrow, it's always a good time, and even though it's only four miles, the course has some tough spots, including a one mile hill leading to the finish.  Yesterday I went to pick up my bib with my friend A, and lo and behold, they couldn't find my stuff.  The first guy who told me he didn't have it looked nervous, so he called over a woman with a binder, and she couldn't find me either.  Then they called the Race Director over, and he couldn't find me.  I actually went old school this time, and mailed in my registration with a check (hey when you're out of work and you can avoid the extra online fee by using a check, that's what I'm going to do).  Long story short, I called the bank, they confirmed that my check was endorsed/deposited by the race, so I was in.

It's going to snow all tonight and tomorrow, which might get messy, so I'm not going to stress too much over time, I'm in it for fun.

Which I really need because after I got home from getting my bib, I found this in the mailbox:

Happy Weekend and Happy Running!