Just got back from a nice long visit to my family and friends in NJ and NY, and what did I miss the most from Florida? Breakfast!

Now, I often talk about how much I miss the diverse restaurants in NYC, so I was couldn't wait to go back to my favorite yakitori joint, pizza parlor, korean tofu restaurant, and dim sum place... but after a week and a half of gorging myself with good eats, I craved the simple breakfast that I often make for myself when I'm at home.

What is this, you ask? It's a mixture of greek yogurt, dried fruits, flax seed, and cereal. I love it not only because it's a really yummy treat that's also super healthy and really filling, so I don't need a lot of it to be satisfied. Here's my little recipe:

Lily's Yogurt Jumble
3/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt (I use Fage 0%*)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1.5 tbsp goji berries, raisins, and/or dried blueberries (I mix all 3 in)
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tsp organic honey (optional, I usually don't use it)
2-3 tbsp Kashi GoLean Crunch or granola (I like Kashi bc it's high in fiber and has a little sweetness so I can skip the honey)

All you need to do is mix all the ingredients into a pretty bowl (I use a smallish one so that I have the illusion of a lot of food) and then dig in!

Also, for those of you on the run in the morning, you can also make this the night before and just store it in the fridge. I have class on Wednesdays from 9am - noon, so I'll jumble this all up in a little container and just grab it to go when I head out. It's almost better the next day because the flavors have melded together.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! =)

*If you love Fage too, then check out my friend Jessica's great tip on saving money at WholeFoods!

I found out last night that my mom's doggie, Cappuccino (a.k.a. Chino), died over the weekend. He was the friendliest, happy-go-lucky dog in the world! Whenever he saw us, his tail would wag so much, my mom would always joke that it was going to fly off!

I still remember the day my mom found him. He was just a little puppy at the time, and since I name all my pets after food, we decided he was a beautiful cappuccino color and that would be an appropriate name since my mom is also a caffeine-addict! (As he got older, his coat got lighter, but by then we had shortened his name to Chino because it was easier for my mom to say!)

Chino was only 7 years old and was perfectly healthy (though a bit pudgy). Then all of a sudden, about a month ago, he stopped eating, which is very unlike him! My mom took him to the vet and they gave him different medicines over the course of several weeks and finally determined (too late) that he was poisoned by toxic fertilizer! The vet said the fact that Chino stayed alive for so long was a miracle. We all believe that it's because my mom's other doggie, Nina, kept him company and strengthened his will to live, but it was a losing battle.

My mom gave Chino a proper burial and also went to pray for him at the temple near my old apartment. The monk told her that Chino was a good dog with a big heart, so he would reincarnate as a human in the next life. This helped my mom to feel better, and she told me last night that she was finally at peace. I wanted to be strong for her, but after we hung up, I cried.

My tears were both from sadness and anger. Our happy dog was stolen from our family by some idiot that used toxic fertilizer! This is one of the reasons why I started my business. Too many people unknowingly use toxic chemical cleaners and fertilizers for their homes, but there are safe and economical alternatives out there! 

Corporate giants encourage you to use these chemical cleaners to mop your floors, spray baby’s high chair, and wipe your counters before kids put food on them. What they don’t realize is that these chemicals are toxic and can cause serious damage to developing children’s brain functions, headaches, respiratory problems, and more. How come people are not aware of this? Because companies are not required to list the chemicals that cause chronic toxicity, but only those that will blow up or are poisonous when swallowed.

Isn’t that scary? Kids and pets are most affected by these dangerous cleaners and chemicals because they tend to practically live on the floor and tend to put things in their mouths. If we all switched to safe, natural products and educated those around us, we could stomp out this problem. 

I’ve done a lot of research on this topic, so if you need help, please let me know! I don't want anyone to have to go through what my family experienced with Chino!

I had been so good about keeping up my activity level this week... until today. I found a new running buddy, and we met up on Tuesday and yesterday for jogs around the park and lake. We did 3.5 miles on Tuesday and about 2 miles yesterday because we got a late start. But after the yesterday's run, my right ankle started to really hurt! I had class in the morning, and as I drove there, my ankle kept cracking and it hurt to even push on the gas and brake pedals!

This is deja vu! The last time I started a running program, I got plantar fasciitis, lost several toe nails, and hurt my knees! This time, I have a new problem! Unfortunately, I don't know any doctors around here... not that I even know who to go look for!

I'm taking it easy today to let my ankle rest a bit, but I'm not going to let this stop me! Instead, I think this is a great reason to start swimming instead... or at least learning to swim!

So when life gives you lemons... make lemonade! =)

 

I watched a segment on iVillage yesterday about how our partners may make us fat. In my case, it's soooo true! E is blessed with a super high metabolism. He can eat absolute junk all day and never gain an ounce. I, on the other hand, can look at a picture of an ice cream sunday and gain 2 pounds!

As a result, I've been trying to get E to eat a healthier diet, instead of what has been happening in the past -- me eating junk with him! (Especially since, although he's thin, I can't believe that the junk food is helping his health at all!) So for dinner last night, I made a semi-healthy meal of pasta with bacon and kale to start weaning him off of fried fatty stuff. 

Kale is such a super green veggie (it's got so many healthy benefits!), but since E's idea of veggies are corn and potatoes, I had to throw in some bacon to make him happy. I trimmed off all the fat I could from the bacon before cooking it, drained the oil and tossed it with the pasta (just wait another week or so, and I'm secretly switching to whole wheat pasta too! It's already hiding in the pantry :-P) . Then I wilted the kale a bit and tossed that in with the pasta as well. I sprinkled his bowl with some parmesan cheese and he actually really enjoyed it! (He liked it enough that he's eating the leftovers for dinner tonight since I've got knitting club!)

I believe that by making small changes, over time, we'll both become healthier. I've already started my exercise routine, but he still "hasn't found time" to do the same, so that's my next challenge!

Workout time: 7pm
Total time: 65 minutes
Total distance: 3.5 miles
Mood: Good, but really exhausted - it's too hot out now to work out even in the evenings! I'm switching back to mornings!

In case you're heading to Omaha, here are some of my thoughts from the trip that might help you plan yours! It's a great place and I wish we had more than one and half days to spend here!

Village Pointe Farmers Market:
1. My first stop was Jisa's Farmstead Cheese. I got to sample all sorts of handcrafted cheeses and even though I don't have a fridge in the hotel, I couldn't help myself and bought a package of dill cheddar chunks. Yum!
2. Next, I chatted with Kelly who has an urban farm called the Black Sheep Farm. I debated whether I could buy a pot of her beautiful flowers and get it home in one piece, but we both agreed that it wasn't going to happen.
3. Then, I saw a vendor (sorry, I didn't catch the name) that sold herbs and honey, and asked if she also had bee pollen. My friend Jess of  Foodmayhem.com told me about the benefits of eating bee pollen, and I wanted to see if the taste differed from farm to farm, but alas, she didn't have any. However, I did learn all about growing my own herbs and am going to start with oregano when I get home!
4. Lastly, I chatted with a lovely lady from the Old Market Sourdough company. I bought a huge loaf of multi-grain sourdough bread from her. I can't wait to make sandwiches with them! Her neighbor was a dietician named Karisa that gave me lots of great advice on restaurants to check out and where to shop. She also gave me healthy recipes to try out. I'll definitely post them once I've attempted to make them!

Shopping in the Old Market:
What a cute little area with tons of boutiques and eateries! Even though E was tired, we visited just about every shop! If you like incense, organic cotton and hemp clothing, greeting cards, candles, soaps, funky jewelry, and other fun tchotchkes, then you won't want to miss this!

Cabella's Sports and Outdoor Gear:
I'm not sure if meeting Warren or visiting this store was the highlight of E's trip! He was in pure heaven here because he loves shopping for this stuff! Luckily, they stuff for me to check out too! I started with their clothing section and picked out a sporty purple polo (for future golf outings), a very technical pair of shorts for my trip to Asia, and a cool hiking tee for my brother.
Then I discovered the cute general store inside the store! They had delicious fudge samples and great chips and salsa with a kick! I wanted to bring some salsa home, but it definitely wouldn't have passed through security in my little ziplock baggie.
After a while, I found E and we checked out binoculars, camping furniture, bbq grills, and smokers. We can't wait until we get a grill and smoker! Mmm! While dreaming about the food we'd smoke, we realized that it was almost time for dinner, so we paid and headed out.

The Drovers (Steakhouse):
As we waited for our table, we noticed that everyone was leaving with doggie bags (unfortunately, in styrofoam boxes <sigh>)... but there was none of that for E and I (you know, because we want to save the environment!).
We were starving, so we dove into the fresh, warm bread with creamy butter as soon as we sat down. I also started with their salad bar while E had their sinfully cheesy double-baked potato chowder (I "helped" him finish it.)
The Drovers is known for their "Whiskey style" steaks in which they put marinate the meat in a Whiskey concoction for about 15 minutes -- just long enough to have a hint of flavor without it overpowering the taste of the steak. I had a fantastic filet mignon and E enjoyed the rib-eye. Both were cooked to perfection -- a nice salty crust on the outside with a juicy pink inside. 
The sides were just average. My broccoli was steamed to death and E's fries were good, but nothing to write home about. Our dishes also came with an odd ring of apple that was cooked in some juice. It was very dark in the restaurant, so I couldn't really tell. Oh well, it was a small built-in dessert, which was good because we certainly didn't have any room left for a real one!

Famous Dave's BBQ:
By 4pm on Saturday, I was geting hungry... and definitely couldn't wait until our 8pm dinner reservation at The Drovers, so we stopped in on a whim for a pulled pork sandwich with mashed red-skinned potatoes. The sandwich was very light on sauce and pork, but what we had was delicious... so we stopped back again the next day before heading to the airport for more take-out.
This time, we ordered a lot more food since it was going to be our lunch and dinner (yes, we spent nearly a whole day in transit!) We ordered the XXL Slab of ribs, beef brisket, and more pulled pork. On the side we had their garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes (very good, though a bit heavy on the garlic), potato salad, and scrumptious corn muffins.
As we ate in the airport, I could tell that we were the envy of everyone! E and I agreed that our fav was still the pulled pork. The ribs were flavorful, but not as fall-off-the-bone tender as we would have liked, and I thought there was a little too much fat on the meat. Either way, this was a bijillion times better than the $5 bag of chips that Frontier tried to sell us on the plane!

Unlike the past few weekends, where I've been going "home" to NYC, this weekend, E and I found ourselves in Omaha, NE. E was lucky enough to get a ticket to Warren Buffet's shareholder meeting from school, and I got to attend the May Launch in Omaha too! (I wish I could have attended the Orlando event so that I could meet people that have businesses near my home, but this was a great experience too!)

After dropping E off at the Qwest Center at the crack of dawn (with 30,000 people coming in for the meeting, you gotta get in line early!), I decided to visit one of Omaha's farmers markets in Village Pointe. It was a blustery morning with strong winds, and since it was the first gathering of the year, there was a small turnout. This was great for me because the friendly vendors had lots of time to chat with me!

I didn't have much time to spend at the farmers market because I wanted to get to the May Launch early. It was an informative and inspiring meeting wher we learned all about new products, compensation plans and promotions! The highlight of the meeting for me was meeting Tracy, who is already a director. We had lunch together and she shared a lot of her experiences with me -- including mistakes she made in the past and how I could learn from it.

I've known this for a while, but today's meeting confirmed it for me, one of the best things about this business is that it really rewards people that take the time and energy to help develop and build other people's skills and businesses. We've all heard John Donne's quote before that "no man is an island" and it's especially true in this business. I love the fact that this isn't a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog type of company, and yet there's no doubt that everyone that's successful has strong ambition, drive, and passion.

I walked away from the meeting and couldn't wait to share my newfound knowledge with others! I want to help people make their homes safer by eliminating dangerous chemicals in their cleaning products, I want everyone to be healthier by supplementing their diets with wholesome vitamins, I want to help reduce the amount of waste we create by switching over to concentrated formulas, and I want to help people reach their financial goals -- whether it's to pay off debt, buy a new house, or travel the world! 

When I woke up this morning, the sun was shining into the bedroom through the blinds and I thought to myself, "Hey, it's been a long time since I've had a good run. Today is the day that I'm going to start again and I'm determined to make it all the way around the lake!"

Since this is my first blog entry, I should give you some background info! I just moved from NYC to Orlando with my husband, E, and we're living right by a wonderful lake. In the few weeks I've been here, I've jogged to the lake several times, but have only run in one direction for a bit and then turned back -- never making it more than a quarter of the way around.

Now, I used to run a lot and just completed my first half-marathon in San Fran last fall (raising over $4000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!), but have had knee problems ever since and was instructed by my physical therapist to stop running altogether. I've been working to build strength through various exercises and eating healthier, so I'm finally back on track!

So this morning, I ate an Access bar and headed out. It was 7:30am and there was nice cool breeze. I jogged through the park and reached the lake, which looked huge and a little intimidating, but I started my run. What I love about my new 'hood is that there are always other joggers, people walking their dogs, and parents pushing cute babies in strollers around and they actually say HI to you!  I never got that in NYC! :-P

About a third of the way around, I started to huff and puff. Luckily, I remembered what my mentor from Team In Training taught me, and I slowed down a little to regulate my breath. Soon enough, I was past the halfway mark, and then I could see the starting point again! I was so happy that I made it around, no stopping! It took me about 40 minutes to do the 2.5+ mile run, so that's my benchmark... when I do it again (and I will definitely do it again soon!), I'm going to try to beat that time!

Here's to the beginning of a new life in a new place, as well as a reNEWed relationship with running!

Total time: 60 min
Total distance: 3.5 miles
Mood: Freakin' awesome!!