This is what spending hours at the Honda dealership does to a girl:

But……in the end I bought my first car and on Monday it’s being shipped straight to Santa Rosa, FULL of my worldly belongings! wooooahhhhhhhhh

Okay, I’m just going to say it: I feel like a real adult now! I can’t believe I just BOUGHT my first car and am moving across the country tomorrow morning. My life! This actually works out really well though because I’m packing the car FULL of books, kitchen stuff, CLOTHES, shoes…heck, even a bedside table and bookshelf. Saves a lot of money to ship stuff and I’m killing two birds with one stone. I’m hoping to get my car by next Friday so keep your fingers crossed! She’s a brand new white honda civic…..Abby! How very “california” of me.

I snacked on this bar while I was at Honda all afternoon:

Drank some coconut water to rehydrate!

And when I finally got home tonight my parents and I FINALLY uncorked my precious bottle of Cambria, which I have been coveting ever since I took the trip down to the Cambria Estate last July! When I was there, I was told I could pick any bottle I wanted to take home with me and I’ve been just staring at this gorgeous pinot noir for months now, waiting for the right time to finally open it…….well, tonight was the night!

Was it ever good. This might have been one of the BEST pinot noirs I’ve ever had. The three of us each had a *large* glass and toasted to my new adventure! I totally got the “go seize life” pep talk from the parents and can’t believe I’m about to embark out on my own for the first real time. I feel like in the past six months I’ve grown up soooo much and can’t even believe that, actually, five months today my brother passed away. I’m here to tell you that life can change in a very instant! Never in a million years could I have predicted this but I’m hanging on for dear life and taking it as it comes….life is meant to be experienced and I have to think my brother would think me moving to California would be pretty darn cool. I’ll admit, I’ve always had a pretty comfortable life with my parents living nearby to catch me if I fall….and I had the privilege of moving back in with them last month and living rent free for awhile. Well, friends, no more. If my food is less exciting, that’s because I might be dirt poor and picking vegetables from the garden. I also might be homesick laying on my floor drinking wine but it’s all good. And hopefully first I can actually FIND a home because as of right now I’m just staying with friends until the apartment thing pulls through, which it hopefully will next week. Sometimes I feel like my life is a country song, no?

Anyways, for dinner I requested my favorite meal—linguine with escarole and brie from Bon Appetit!

I’m still packing and packing up my car to be shipped but here’s how tomorrow will go down:

Flight leaves Tampa at 6:50 am

Get into Houston at 9 am

Get into San Francisco (!!!!) at 11 am

Meet Kath, Tina and the fabulous BethT at the airport and Beth is driving us straight to Healdsburg (new home!) where our destination will be my new place of employment, Michel Schlumberger! We are meeting Jim (new boss!) there and he is giving us a total tour the winery and vineyards….plus lots of tasting. There’s live music at the winery in the early evening and we have a 7:30 dinner reservation at Zin! We are staying the night in Healdsburg tomorrow night and then getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and driving back to San Francisco for BlogHer food!

***

Wheeeeeeeeeewwwwww!!!!! Don’t worry, I’ll be twittering and blogging, of course…..plus there may be a little FlipCam action that has already started so stay tune for a VLOG as well!

Tons of loose ends to tie up…..I’ve gotta kiss Dexter about a million times because I think my parents are just going to bring him out to me when they come for Thanksgiving. ahh! I know he’s in good hands though and he soon will love California, too.

Bye,bye Florida…………Hello, California!

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Post tags: Dinner, dinner by mom, Snack, traveling, wine

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Heck! I am t-i-r-e-d! Running 9 miles makes you a) really really hungry and b) REALLY tired. I swear!

This afternoon I was delighted to see THESE back at the store!

And these are always delicious….

We celebrated with some delicious Cambria Katherine’s vineyard chardonnay this evening—

What were we celebrating? Who knows. Life? Sunday? I rocked my sweatpants from freshman year so it was all good. I’m just going to say: I love dressing up but I reallyyyy love my comfy sweats, too. These are like the sisterhood of the traveling pants, but in sweatpants. They’ve seen me through some crazy times!

My mom made this mustard maple panko crusted chicken out of the latest issue of Bon Appetit and we had it with Annie’s mac & cheese and broccoli—

It was pretty much the perfect meal.

And then I went with my dad to the frozen yogurt shop after dinner and got a peanut butter/brownie batter swirl with oreo. No words.

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goooood evening

Sorry for being MIA but it’s been that kind of day! This morning I snacked on an oikos + kiwi because I was going to have a pretty late lunch

Slammed back some SuperFood for good measure….

Got my hairs done! You can’t really tell a difference and I was racing around too much today for a blog photo shoot, but I promise pics to come. I was trying to scan in some pictures from my dark days (no pun intended) when, once in high school AND college, I dyed my hair DARK BROWN! I actually am a natural blonde but this was right when “A Walk To Remember” was coming out and I coveted Mandy Moore’s hair. So, dark chestnut brown it was…and super, super loooong. And I used to spiral it by wrapping pieces of it around a curling iron every day. I loved it. I miss it…sometimes….hehe

Lunch wasn’t till 2:00 (!!!) and was really fast and eaten in front of my computer because I was preparing for a conference call.

A HUGE spinach salad with a crumbled Sunshine burger, cucumber, carrot, hummus, hot sauce, Parmesan cheese and a Dr.Kracker (love these things). I drank some unpictured Tazo green tea

Not to long after….

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

And then I went on a really HOT run. You know its hot when you have to run in a sports bra and you get sweet tan lines from your ipod arm band. Woot woot! I only ran 2.5 miles because my shin is sore and it literally was a sauna outside…I should have waited until later but I was itching at my desk and left around 4:00. Took some coconut water for the road—

You know, I really love coconut water but actually I PREFER gatorade when I’m running! I never thought I’d say that I prefer the more artificial product but when I’m running and sweating and dying out there, gatorade just tastes the best to me and really helps keep me going. You gotta do what’s right for you! And warm coconut water is just ick.

Dinner was made by mom and inspired from this recipe from our newspaper!

I made homemade sweet potato fries for my sandwich and it was awesome!!!

Sweet potato fries are a snap to make! Just peel and slice up a sweet potato, rub with olive oil, season with sea salt and, if you are a spice lover like myself, cayenne pepper, and then bake at 425 for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

I gulped down glass after glass after glass of water…..still feel a little parched from my run. I was pretty full after I ate but finished it off with 2 pieces of my dark chocolate…and more water. Note to self: next time wake up when the alarm goes off for a cooler run. This is what you get for sleeping in!!

***

Emails! out of control!!! Must forge on!

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Post tags: cardio, chocolate, dessert, Dinner, dinner by mom, Exercise, green monsters, Lunch, Snack

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Hi

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day no matter what you did. I thoroughly enjoyed mine with a new book:

And a new jar of almond butter

WOW!! This stuff was only $3.99 at Whole Foods and I couldn’t get my fingers out of it. Soooooooo delicious. Must be the honey! No seriously, I’m obsessed. I had to make a piece of toast, pronto:

You know what else is cool? That shirt, circa 1999 from Gap. Seriously…my mom bought me this when I was in the 8th grade and, yes, I still wear it! How sweet is that?! It’s one of those shirts that everyone has…you probably have it in your closet right now and you don’t even know it.

Dinner was grilled kabobs with chicken, veggies and a sweet potato!

I made Christie’s mom’s “secret” (not anymore) curry sauce and it was a huge hit. This stuff is retro but SO good. All you do is combine 1 cup mayo (I use light) with 5 tsp curry powder, big splash of hot sauce and 3 tbsp milk (I used water). It’s great with chicken, shrimp, veggies…anything!

Dessert was a coconut milk ice cream sandwich

Question! So, the terrain is quite flat here but I NEED to start training hills……as in tomorrow. Does anyone know a good treadmill hill routine?! Anyone??!

A bubble bath is calling my name……..

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Post tags: dessert, Dinner, dinner by mom, Snack

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Good evening

I hope everyone enjoyed a restful Sunday. Around 5:30 I enjoyed a glass of one of my favorite wines ever…

I LOVE Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir. I still can’t believe I was there…and I even got the pleasure of meeting Julia! This Pinot Noir is incredibly light and easy to drink…almost TOO easy to drink. Lots of fruity flavors….it’s so me. I was very excited to see it was on sale at ABC today!

  

Dessert was an unpictured piece of Swiss chocolate with hazelnuts!

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Post tags: dessert, Dinner, dinner by mom, Snack, wine

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Good evening!

Today has been a bit of a busy day, getting home from being gone for a week and a half and catching up with the parents. I actually made really good time though on my trip (sang at the top of my lungs for 3 hours straight) and was able to get home right at noon for lunch. I knew exactly what I wanted…..

New Chobani pomegranate yogurt (!!) with Kashi U cereal and blueberries. I missed my yogurt!!!!! I really liked this flavor but I think I need to try it again on its own because the cereal sort of overwhelmed it and if you wouldn’t have told me it was pomegranate I probably would have thought it was cherry or strawberry.

While I ate, I read:

I did hit the gym this afternoon….20 sweaty stairmaster minutes + 30 pushups + bicycle crunches. September 1st is my last day at the gym so I thought I should take advantage of it today!

Post-gym I had the other half of my Pro Bar—-

Loved this flavor because there were big chunks of melty chocolate chips in it! Put dark chocolate in anything and I am a happy camper.

Even though I love being with my girlfriends, it was nice to come home to quiet, Dexter and a glass of wine with my parents!

(I think he missed me. Obviously)

And my mom made a fantastic dinner! I’m going to miss living with my parents….my mom is the best chef ever!

Chicken schnitzel from The French Laundry cookbook along with sugar snap peas and some red rice with goat cheese and toasted almonds that I threw together at the end. It was delicious!

But the best was the homemade blueberry cake she made!

This was a recipe from the newspaper and was sooooooooo good. I rationalized having two pieces because technically I’m carbo-loading for my long run tomorrow

Project for the night was THIS:

My closet is totally out of control and I just spent the past two hours completely cleaning it out. I have two huge bags of clothes to give to The Spring (a home for abused woman my mom and I support) and tons of trash…I can’t believe I kept some of the stuff that I had. Stacks upon stacks of old pictures from high school and college, old exams, papers, projects, notebooks…..it was crazy and I feel so much better.

I’m on a roll. Must continue cleaning and organizing my life before I lose steam. LONG run in the morning!!!!!

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Post tags: cardio, dessert, Dinner, dinner by mom, Exercise, Lunch, musings, Snack

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Wine heals all?

Again, thank you all so much for your encouraging comments. Totally turned my day 100% around, no lie. However, running still wasn’t in the cards. I ran a mile and then walked…just wasn’t feelin’ it today and didn’t feel like pushing myself. Instead, I had a snack

And then some wine!

I actually didn’t end up getting home until 8:00 and (the big perk of living with your parents) my mom had a homemade chicken and cheese enchilada with guacamole waiting for me. Per usual, I ate four pounds of watermelon with my meal

I inhaled it

Too stuffed for dessert…again! Who am I?!

My bed is calling my name…I didn’t sleep much last night and am exhausted! See you in the morning!

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Post tags: cardio, dinner by mom, friends, girls nights, wine

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Good evening!

I hope everyone had a fairly productive Monday. I honestly cannot fathom that last week at this time I was here (although why I ever thought it was a good idea to wear a white shirt wine tasting, I still don’t know and I still have the stains to prove it….)

(...)
Read the rest of Daydreams (369 words)

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 55 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, dinner by mom, family, friends, musings, Snack, starbucks, traveling, wine

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Hi guys!

There’s still an hour left in the MojaMix giveaway so I’m going to wait to announce the winner in my breakfast post tomorrow! Sound okay?

I felt a teeny bit productive today. Still have lots to catch up on and do, but I did get a chunk of emails out of the way today and got all my thank-you emails written, which was good. If you haven’t noticed, the official Summit agenda is now online! Yep, that was done today too. Check it out…we think its pretty awesome!

I made a lovely juice this afternoon while working with a kiwi (love ‘em!), green apple, half a cucumber and 2 stalks celery. It was green-a-licious:

I just went upstairs to the condo gym and watched Oprah while I lifted for about 20-ish minutes. I got triceps, biceps, back and shoulders done and feel a lot better after a great strength session. Tomorrow is my long run! Taking a week off really messes up your system, no?

Dinner was, like I said, at my parent’s house. Check out my mom’s amazing spread!!

This was a variety of summer-ish dishes, including chickpea salad, tomatoes, green beans with raw almonds, pesto chicken, salmon, cucumber salad and mushrooms. Everything was delish!

Of course there was vino involved—-

Not sure what this was, but the general consensus was that it…..rather sucked. It was a very, very VERY light Cab from Argentina and basically just tasted like cherry juice. More like a Beaujolais than a Cabernet but I had a glass and then my dad opened some much better Cabernet from Chile, which we all enjoyed a taste of as well. They key is to keep trying new things!

No dessert ’cause I’m stuffed and I’m waking up early run 5 miles! Actually I’m not waking up early and I plan to run 5 miles on the treadmill but oh well. Tomorrow is finally the long awaited Rascal Flatts concert and I’m super stoked! Ryan is going deep sea fishing and it is totally a girls day. Can’t wait!

50 minutes left for your MojaMix! See you in the morning!

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Post tags: Dinner, dinner by mom, Exercise, Snack, wine

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Hey guys!

Today has been a really good day, which started in a very special way! Courtney, of The Hungry Yogini, came over to give me a personal 60 minute yoga practice! Courtney babe, you were BORN to be a yoga teacher! She even brought her own sweet tunes and for a whole hour, we just flowed.

We talked about how I’m just now starting to get comfortable again in my practice and how yoga and the mental self are very much intertwined. When my brother died in April I physically could NOT practice for the first time in my life. Instead, I threw myself into high intensity exercises like spinning, where I could go and just drown out all my grief. If I didn’t have to think about it it wasn’t really real, and in spinning I could just drown everything out. Yoga is a bit different. In yoga we constantly open our hearts, which makes us incredibly vulnerable in more ways than one. After losing someone that I was so close to I was downright SCARED to open my heart to anything again! My body took a “fight or flight” mentality and I closed myself off, physically and mentally. It took me a solid three months to get back on my feet and open again to my mat, which has always been of constant comfort in the past.

This week I have learned that its OKAY to be scared, to be anxious, to be afraid…..you just have to let it all out on your mat. Bad things happen to good people but no matter what, we can’t close off our hearts because then, my friends, we aren’t truly living. And life is not a dress rehearsal. Did you know that the left side of a woman’s body is often much more tight than the right? This is because the left side is where we receive life. If we are closed off, we are tight in that area. I was so tight I could hardly rest in pigeon pose—it was a huge wake-up call. So thank you, Courtney, for sharing your “yoga wisdom” with me today and bringing back to my mat where I belong.

After our power yoga/life session I was starving! I made a killer sammie for lunch—

WOWZA was this good!!!! I had defrosted an organic freerange chicken breast that I had gotten from Whole Foods a few weeks ago and I heated it up with Wisconsin cheddar and sandwiched it on soft whole wheat Arnold bread with pickles, red onion, spinach and organic honey mustard. Freakin’ phenomenal.

Then I started to pack!!! I was admiring Kath’s neat, organizational way that she packs and clearly mine follows the same suit……

Regardless, after many fashion shows for Dexter in the closet (he loves it), I finally figured everything out and have mostly everything neatly packed away. In my carry-on, which I’ll go over in more detail tomorrow, I’m bringing a soft blankie and neck pillow for the plane, a change of clothes + shoes, SNACKS, laptop and books. Tomorrow I’ll give you an inside look!

I can see the question coming already—-I DID stick the entire kiwi into the juicer without peeling it first. I did the same with the apple. Why peel? Let the juicer work its magic! This just was actually really, really good—a great change from my usual pink beet-inspired brew! I loved how sour it was most of all and I’m excited already to recreate it tomorrow! The kiwi works wonders….lends a really juicy and sour taste to the juice…major yum.

And I had a defrosted whole wheat banana blueberry muffin for a snack alongside my juice

Picked up my jeans that were being hemmed and headed to my parent’s house yet again for another Mama Weber creation! Last night when my mom told me she bought some wild sockeye salmon from Whole Foods, I said I was there. I LOVE salmon. She tore this recipe out from a random magazine (she couldn’t remember which one) and made a delicious yogurt-dill sauce to go on top!

Of course there was some goode stuff

Here’s my plate with salmon, orzo and the other half of my baked sweet potato from yesterday

Poor, poor Mikey got neutered AND got de-clawed two days ago and now has an infection in his paws!!!!!! I bought him a catnip filled starfish but Mikan ate it

Poor little guy.

Dessert was the rest of my Lindt Fleur de Sel bar…..another bar bites the dust!

Doesn’t that piece of chocolate look like its coming through your computer monitor?! Don’t you wish it were! Nope, its in my tummy

I’m trying to get as much as sleep as possible tonight and tomorrow night. Tomorrow morning I’m waking up at 6:00 for a 4.5 mile run outside. One of the other girls that will be there this weekend, Annie, just finished a marathon two weeks ago so I suggested we go for a short run together in the wine country maybe on Monday!

G’nite!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 77 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, dessert, Dinner, dinner by mom, friends, musings, wine, yoga

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