Happy Tuesday and Garden Update

Hello!
Just a brief update here. I've decided that for next year, I'm officially done starting my own seeds. I've seen two other gardens in my area with a raised bed sort of set up and they are much fuller and further along than my own. Not to mention, I had a hard time finding space to start my seeds and had no idea how many, if any, would survive. I think I'll leave it to the experts next year! Here are a couple of update photos of the beds:


Note rain barrel in use in the background:


And the Nasturciums are blooming!


And the Morning Glory plant is climbing:


I also planted the blueberry bushes I got a few weekends ago at Blandy. It's a local grower in Caroline County, but I can't for the life of me remember their name.


Last weekend Scott and I went to visit Matt and Juanita and their baby Page over in Keysville. Lulu got to hang with the cows and we got to spend some time catching up. I cannot get over how big that baby is already! I'm going to get parental permission for baby pic posting, if not, I'll send pics to a select few of you...



And their garden's really taking off!
Getting into a busy week right now - the Annual NXL Golf Tournament is this Friday and the Autism 5K this Saturday. Stay tuned!

Back on Track!

Hello everyone,

I have had a super fun few days and even managed to finally lose a couple more pounds. I have been tracking my nutrition on paper and recently transferred to my old favorite, Sparkpeople (or Sparkpeeps, as Jessy says!)in order to see where my trouble areas are. Dang, there were some glaring errors. I don't eat fried foods and have sworn off french fries while dining out. I almost never eat real ice cream (fat free frozen yogurt, sorbets and dairy-free for very special treats once in a while). I don't buy fried chips and have given up pretzels because I eat too many at a time - but what else has been the weight-loss hold up? Peanuts and very large portions of what should be healthy foods! The peanuts must go. These are not one of the healthier nuts - they are high in saturated fat and can lead to candida, causing bloating, gas, skin irritations and often leaves you craving sweets. Yikes.

But aside from peanuts, my other major issue has been portion control. Eating until stuffed is silly and bad for me, I know this, but just can't stop myself when the food is too good! So I have taken it upon myself to actually measure out my portions, in order to get a clearer picture of how many calories I'm consuming. I have a food scale and a measuring cup and I'm following the portions on the packaging of my food. It's such an easy thing to do and so logical - my laziness is all that's been stopping me from eating normal portions. Laziness and my not wanting to know exactly how much I've been overeating all this time.That being said, yesterday would have normally been around a 2300 calorie day, but by using the suggested servings on the packaging, it was about an 1800 calorie day. Amazing! I feel really dumb for not doing this all along. And all this portion watching coupled with ample gym time has resulted in a few more pounds scratched off the scale! Yay! Slow and steady...

But food aside, I had a fantastic weekend. Scott and I had a lot of quality time. First at the Richmond Dragway where he raced his '69 Camaro (Bethany) for the first time. It was eventful, to say the least!

Bethany, pre-race:


Scott's first run (he's the one in the lead):


Scott's second run (doh):


And the pit crew burning off the stuff they used to put out the MAJOR FIRE in his transmission line.


I'm not totally clear on the details, because I have no working knowledge of transmissions (or cars, for that matter), but something was too close to something hot and something caught on fire in a big way. I have never seen someone get out of a car so fast! So the drag race ended early, but it was fun no less. We saw some fun cars. I saw a Pinto race and several Novas, a surf-style woody Jeep raced a Yaris. Awesome! And there were lots of sport bike races. Those things are super fast.

Let's see, in other news, we went to the Farmer's Market (South of the James) and among other things, I got the biggest head of lettuce I've ever seen! I'll be eating salads all week for sure. Thank you Victory Farms.


We also spent some time introducing Scott's new dog/puppy, Lulu, to my two fatty cats. Mr. Miles wants nothing to do with Lulu at the moment, but he's getting braver and less angry every time he sees her. He even hopped in the bed with us for about 30 seconds on Sunday night when Lulu stayed over for the first time. Bella, on the other hand, is fast friends with anyone who comes with new snacks.


Sunday night we took Lulu for her first playdate with my friend Carver's doggie Baxter. He's such a good boy - he loves other dogs and he is good at sharing his bones and toys. They ran around like crazy dogs for probably two hours and Lulu slept it off all of Monday.


Here's the girl by herself (shes's so pretty!):


And I think that about wraps it up! Happy Hump Day!

Hello and Garden Update

Hello everyone!
Last night, Scott and I attended a 30th birthday get together for my good friend Alice where we (I) indulged in some of the above vino at Bin 22 in Richmond's Carytown area of the city.
Here's the birthday girl with her main squeeze, Dave, whom she will marry this summer!


But aside from the festivities, I spent all of last Sunday after the Blandy plant sale planting my new babies. Below are my new lavender and sage plants - one on each side of the front steps in front of my yellow roses.


Below is one of two baby peonies (not purchased last weekend, but just recently up for the spring).


Dead center is a sunflower seedling! I planted these not knowing if they'd grow or not, the seeds were old-ish. Evidently some of them have produced plants!


Yellow roses on either side of my front steps. Here, on the left side of the steps you can see a variegated lemon balm plant behind the rose on the right and then a basil plant directly behind that. This part of the yard tends to stay pretty dry (unlike my swampy backyard) and the herbs really seem to like it so far!


On the right side of the steps in front of the house, I've planted the rest of my herbs in front of the iris row. We have creeping rosemary, regular rosemary, two types of thyme, and the bottom left corner is some ground cover/creeping mint and thyme plants. Love them. I want them to take over the yard so I never have to mow... just kidding... sort of. I have a couple of other creeping succulents in there - one of which I forgot the name and the other is an ice plant. I planted those last year and haven't killed them yet. Hurrah!

Moving on to the backyard, below are some bulbs my lovely Shelby's mom gave me last summer that I wasn't sure I planted correctly (I laid them on the grown in a row and covered them with mulch). But evidently they made it! What an experiment.. Anyway, they are gladiolas but I can't remember what color, so that will be a nice surprise in a few weeks.


Nasturtium of two different varieties. I hope they climb the wire you can see there attached to the deck post. That's the goal. Last year I let some vines take over the deck railing and really enjoyed the effect.


Speaking of decks... here are my potted deck plants (with fire pit in background and party lights in foreground). Marigold (mint?) out of the picture to the right. I was confused by the label, so this is either going to smell like mint or produce flowers. I gave it a big pot just in case.

Anyway, those plants you can see - up front is a hot pepper (chili I think) and then the next pot back is cilantro and then behind that is a huge pot of mint. Tons of mint. And some oregano and chives. All of which came back from last year! Yay!


Here we have (from top of photo to bottom) Nasturtium (with wire for climbing); blue flowers whose name I've forgotten; gardenia; rue; Morning Glory; the stick looking thing in the bottom right is a gardenia also (not dead, though it looks it); to the left is a Moon Vine. The Morning Glory and Moon Vine will creep up a wire together.

Over to the raised beds, we have the baby lettuce! Already turning red and everything.


From top to bottom I have the lettuce from the other picture, a pepper and tomato plant, the box below has that carrot-top-looking plant that is a fancy kid of cilantro, tomato to the left and zucchini to the bottom right. Just a snapshot of all the goodness planted in there! And in the far background is my new hostas from Mom's yard that Scott was kind enough to dig up for us. I planted those on my lunchbreak yesterday. They are enormous.


So as long as I can keep up with the weeding, the yard is looking pretty good. Far cry from last year when I moved in. It was a jungle. And I've gotten quite a bit of use out of my rain barrel this year since it was such a soppy wet spring. I love it, and I love that some lovely local vendors made it!
That's all for now! I will be attending a drag race tonight to see Scott and his '69 Camaro tear up the asphalt (What do you say to talk up a drag race? I have no idea what the lingo is.. I am such a nerd.) at the Richmond Dragway! I'm pretty excited to see what the whole thing is about. Cars get Scott so excited, I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about.


My two boyfriends in Bethany a couple weekends ago. Happy weekend!

Meats and Vegetables

So it's been a super busy past couple of weeks, with traveling, working late, seeing friends and spending time at the house cleaning and gardening. Last week I got up to Northern Virginia to see some clients and had lunch with Mom at a super awesome spot in Upperville called The Hunter's Head, serving lots of local vegetables, meats and eggs. All the meats are organically and humanely raised heirloom breeds of animals from a farm less than 5 miles from the tavern. I have to admit, I've been dabbling back in the humane meats, since it's easier to eat with Scott than against him. I haven't gone full force back to meat at every meal and I don't plan to. I'm trying to make the most careful decisions possible when it comes to meat consumption.


The view on the driveway on the way to my Mom's office in Upperville.


My Momma!

Cobb Salad on my end and quiche on hers.

There is too much we don't know about how the hormone and antibiotic levels and overfeed of GMO corn in our meat affect the human body. I'm not interested in being a guinea pig for the government or for the meat production corporations. I quit eating meat early in college when I stopped having the option of cattle straight from a neighbors farm to consume. I couldn't afford what used to be Ukrop's outrageously high prices for organic meat and found that I didn't really miss it in my meals anyway.

Lately, with my newfound interest in cutting back on carbohydrates as a step in losing weight and firming up, it's become clear that I've overcompensated my lack of meat with an overabundance of carbohydrates. Unfortunately, a lot of faux meat products have a much higher count of carbohydrates than real meat products (ie. deli slices, chick'n cuts, faux ground beef and cheeze, frozen veggie burgers, etc.) and although I tend toward beans and tofu over the packaged products, it does add up over time.

So I'm switching some of my meat alternatives back to humanely raised, organic meat products here and there. We're lucky enough to have a butcher nearby for special treats once in awhile, as they are pretty pricy over at Belmont Butchery. We are also in the throws of farmer's market season which means local meat vendors raising fewer animals in pastures rather than the bowling-alley looking barns. More space for animals to graze and grow means less disease, no antibiotics and growers who clearly care about their animals. Same goes for dairy cattle. Growth hormones are used to stimulate and prolong milk production in cattle and there's still no evidence that the added hormones in the human system don't cause cancer. These are not risks I'm willing to take. Many hormones have been used in animals raised for food and the FDA has recalled them after a few years of use citing health issues in humans. We are all guinea pigs...

But if you want to see some harder facts than I am giving you right now, I recommend the Kind Diet (yes, it's Alicia Silverstone of Clueless fame, but the girl did her homework) and Food Revolution by John Robbins (son of and former heir to the Baskin Robbins chain). Both of these authors are advocating a vegan diet (devoid of any meat, dairy, egg or other animal product), which I believe really is beneficial in staving off cancers, allergies, asthma and many other medical abnormalities. But for my purposes of losing weight, I haven't ever been as good about getting proteins on a vegetarian diet as many of my vegan friends. I have a carb overload issue when I try the vegan lifestyle and I think it might not be right for me right now. And that's okay. We all need to find which diet works best with our own metabolisms and lifestyles for optimum health.

On a side note, Scott and I went up to Northern Virginia for Mother's Day with my mom Friday night and Saturday. We went to Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum to their annual plant sale. I picked up many vegetable plants to replace some that didn't make it from seedlings in my raised beds. I got them from my friend Amanda of Echo Ridge Farm. She has wonderful heirloom produce and beautiful flowers and shrubs and does an annual CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the Northern Virginia area.

The plant sale at Blandy.

The awesome porch on the second floor of the main building on Blandy's property.

Saturday evening we had dinner with my Dad and his wife at a place in Purcellville called Magnolia's. The food there is delightful. I had grilled salmon on a spinach salad tossed in a really light vinaigrette and it was perfect. I had a glass of local red wine (local to NoVA) from Corcoran Vineyards that was just as delightful as the meal. We ate on the third floor of this remodeled, historic mill building. Wish I had taken a picture, but I'm sure we'll go back when I'm in town again.

Okay! I'm out!

Oakland and SF part 2!

Hello and welcome to San Francisco/Oakland trip 2010 part 2!
When last we left our excited travelers, Emily and Andi, they were taking about half of the 49 mile tour in a very small time frame due to the driver having rehearsal...Some highlights of the remaining day of our trip:

Muir Woods National Monument. Giant redwoods, hiking and nice cool, sunny temperatures. What more can a girl ask for? (A little tip about finding National Parks on the internet: I used to work for the NPS and their filing system is the same across the board. Every park is filed as the first two letters of the first words of its name. For example: Muir Woods=MUWO, so www.nps.gov/muwo will get you there. Or Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Battlefield is FRSP. You get the idea...)

We hiked around Muir Woods for awhile and then headed back down to Mill Valley for some ice cream at Justin's favorite childhood Baskin Robbins and then over to Piazza D'Angelo for wine, where they surprised us with some happy hour appetizers of calamari and thin crust cheese pizza. Mm..

Afterward, Andi and I headed to the Castro for dinner with her cousins and their amazing view of the bay. It was our last stop before jumping on the redeye back East.Some points of interest, now that I have a few minutes to put them in:Christina and Justin have a cute backyard with an awesome pair of raised beds and a lemon tree!

Currently, they are working their way out of winter vegetables and into spring.


I'm kind of dying to live somewhere where I can pick vegetables from my yard year round. This made me very jealous. Another thing I was super jealous of is the fact that the City of Oakland has a composting program for residents. Even meat, egg and dairy scraps go in! Just like the recycling or the garbage. So if you don't have room to compost at home, the City takes it for you. I long for Richmond to be so thorough.

Some other places we dined/drank/saw:Woodhouse Fish Co. for dungeness crab salad with the house dressing. Delightful! I wish I had been hungry enough to try their delicious looking bread pudding that we saw go by. A highlight at this restaurant: Christina got lemonade made soda shop-style with carbonated water, lemon juice and simple syrup.

Pier 23 Cafe which I think is a stretch of a name - it's a bar. And it has very tasty and very strong margaritas. Christina, Andi and I stopped in for a quick one on our walk around the piers and waterfront. I also go my boyfriend a silly t-shirt there.

Ciao Bella Gelato, one of my favorite icy treats that I generally purchase by the pint at Ellwood Thompson's had a shop at the Ferry Building so we stopped for a quick treat - half a mango sorbet scoop and half a hazelnut gelato. A surprisingly tasty combination.

Heath Ceramics of Sausalito also has a shop at the Ferry Building and I stopped and grabbed a couple of their cutie glass food containers. I've also since ordered a couple sets of these for gifts. I love them so much! And, after seeing their handmade tiles, I am going to price some out for my future kitchen re-do.

On our walking tour, Saturday of our trip, Justin dropped us off at Coit Tower where we walked around and saw the murals before heading down the hill. Evidently the murals on the inside of the tower's first floor are all by different artists and were commissioned as part of the New Deal to put artists back to work.We walked down from Coit Tower through the maze of stair cases that the City owns, subdividing properties all the way down the massive hill. The houses are all tucked into beautiful gardens and we marveled at house after house before deciding that if we lived there, we'd never eat because who wants to carry groceries up all of those stairs?


That picture really doesn't do the experience justice.


A view into someone's yard and someone's wonderful bay overlook. Jealous!

I have to back up to really gush for a moment about how wonderful the wine and the people at Nicholson Ranch are. They have a beautiful property with a Mediterranean or Southwestern-inspired architecture, rolling hills and a tiny Greek chapel on the hillside. The staff was beyond friendly and even made Andi a birthday sash to go with her tiara while we were there.


And I'll leave this post with my favorite picture from the trip. This one took several tries to get the self-timer right on my camera since it resets itself after every click. We easily took 6 pictures before we figured that out since the review-photos option on my camera is broken. This was at Kenwood Vineyards. I thought most of the wines were just okay. Nothing terrible, but the Reserve Cabernet was not "life changing" as promised. But the sparklers were very good and we loved the flowers on the property.


Good to be home, but must get back soon!

Hello from Oakland CA!

While my hosts are sleeping for a bit longer, I thought I'd upload a few pics from my 5 day trip to Northern California. My friend Andi and I have been staying with my oldest friend, Christina, and her husband Justin in their house in Oakland. The basics: we shopped, ate, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Lombard, Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach (freezing cold Pacific!), Livermore, Sonoma Valley, wine, wine, wine, sparkling wine, more wine. It's been so fun and I hate to leave tonight! I have to find some real estate magazines for the manfriend before I leave...

Here are some pics, really quick. I'll fill in the details later!



The lovely hosts in their natural habitat.


Nicholson Ranch Vineyard, Sonoma. By far the best one we visited.


The Square in Sonoma for a picnic and Bocce.


Twin Peaks view of the city.


Self-explanatory.


The famous Lombard.