Day 3 of Tina’s 30 Days of Self Love is going to be short and sweet, almost a month ago I wrote about the decision to stop hormonal birth control to help control migraines. 6 months later it is the best decision I could have made. I feel like a woman, I experience a range of emotions, I am listening to my body and most importantly I am having a natural cycle for the first time in 15 months. That is a pretty darn good reason to trust our bodies. My body is doing what it is supposed to do and I am learning to read the signals it sends. That makes me pretty darn happy!

A Picture of Me at a Truly Happy and Balanced Time in my Life

Anything you have learned about trusting your body? I love hearing uplifting stories

Day 2 of the 30 Days of Self Love and today’s topic is gifts of the body. As soon as Tina sent this email I knew exactly what I was going to write about. I am very thankful that for the most part I am strong and healthy, no major illnesses or health issues to write about except for tearing my ACL in the winter of 1999 because of a cheerleading accident.

We were doing some stunts and I was going to do a shoulder stand and I felt a snap and intense pain, immediately knowing something was wrong. The trainer came over and checked everything out, gave me some ice and told me I would need to head to the doctor in the morning. Head to the doctor in the morning was a big cause for concern! I got dropped off that night and the next morning headed to the Orthopedic doctor in a town about 30 minutes from my hometown. He did the MRI and came in to give me the news that I would need to have surgery as soon as possible. Lots of tears were shed in that room and we got the surgery scheduled for the day after my 18th Birthday. Not such a great way to celebrate.

Surgery was uneventful but the aftermath is where the problems began. I woke up in extreme pain that didn’t go away until 6 months after. I thought it was normal and didn’t think to ask questions about why. Grueling physical therapy started the next week and it was constant torture. By mid-April I still only had 30 degrees of mobility in my knee and that was a big cause for concern. After a tearful conversation with my mom it was decided that I needed to get my knee looked at by another doctor. We called the best doctor in the area, the one who operates on the Green Bay Packers and waited the two long months before I could be seen.

When that appointment in June finally arrived I was so anxious I could barely describe to the doctor all the pain and issues I was having. Thankfully he was pretty good with teenagers and just let me cry. He spent an hour with me and did a through exam and decided that he would try sending me in for a scope in hopes that the procedure would clear away enough scar tissue that I would gain full movement in my knee. My scope was scheduled for the next week and in they went, again I woke up in  a lot of pain but figured that was a good sign. The next week I went back to therapy and tried to gain back strength and mobility. After a few more week of physical therapy it was clear that the scope did not do enough to clear out the scar tissue. Back to the doctor I went and my third surgery in six month was scheduled, this time to repair my new ACL and fix some issues with the screws.

I had my third surgery at the end of July and within weeks I had almost full movement and no pain. Amazing! The challenge with the timing of the last surgery was I was leaving for college 5+ hours away in less than a month and I needed to make as much progress as possible. Many hours at physical therapy and lots of home exercises and by the end of August I was crutches free and ready to head to campus. My biggest challenge was having to be on campus with a sore knee and trying to squeeze physical therapy in my crammed freshman year schedule. But I was strong and I made it!

Today I am so thankful that I got a second opinion and pushed through all the pain so I have full mobility and strength in my knee today. Dear Knee, I thank you for being strong and gaining back full motion. Even after 11 years I have very few problems! I lift weights, I do hardcore cardio, and I can walk without a limp. The biggest challenge with the surgery was spending the last few months of my senior year of high school in a brace and walking with a limp. Classmates at times were mean and I was teased but I learned the limits of my body and that I can get through anything. The 22 staple marks and 6 inch scar are constant reminders of how thankful I should be.

You don’t typically take pictures during bad times and I wish I would have taken a few pictures of myself right after my surgery and in my huge brace but I was too self conscious. Today I have NO issues with wearing shorts or a skirt, I am often asked about my “battle wound” and I just say high school injury. 11 years later my legs are strong, muscular and I may have a big nasty scar but its my scar

My ACL Scar 11 Years Later 

In the spring of 2008 we took at 9 day trip to Barcelona and Paris and it was one of the best trips we ever took. We flew from Minneapolis to Newark and then Newark to Barcelona.

We landed in Barcelona and headed to drop off bags and explore the city before we could check into the hotel. We spent a few hours wandering around La Rambla and checked out the market.

We stayed at the Le Meridian near the Ramblas and really enjoyed being able to walk to all the sights and tapas restaurant. Lonely Planet and Rick Steves are our guide books of choice and take a look to see what each recommends as the “must see” places. Review the must sees and pare down the list to what is really important to you, if you love art maybe see two or three museums but if paintings aren’t your thing do the most popular so you can see and appreciate and the move on to other things. Our must see things in Barcelona were the market, La Rambla, the Barri Gotic and the works of Gaudi including La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, La Pedrera and Park Guell. A few of my favorite pictures from the Gaudi works.

Another must do in Spain is to walk around in the evening and walk from tapas bar to tapas bar trying all the delicious bite sized foods. Besides tapas Spain is known for Paella and it is a most try, even in 2008 I was taking pictures of my food. More than a year before the blog!

Stay tuned next Thursday for Paris! Missed Peru, Mexico City and Nicaragua?

Favorite Part: Walking around the neighborhoods and trying all the tapas

Not So Favorite Part: Having to wait 6+ hours after we landed to check into the hotel and shower. There is nothing I like less than not showering daily.

Up until know I have been hesitant to use at tripod, they seemed so expensive and hard to use. While they are expensive, they do not have to be hard to use. Mike happened to stop at National Camera and Video a few weeks ago when they were having their annual tent sale and he was lucky enough to find me an early Christmas present on sale. Super early! A Manifrotto tripod that extends between 42.5 cm to 134.5 cm/52.95” and weighs only 0.95 kg or 2.09 lbs. I am so excited to use this on our upcoming trip to Spain and Portugal.

I set up the tripod and started shooting in a few different modes to see how the tripod impacted the photo quality:

Here is Mike in Manual

Here is Mike in Complete Auto

Here is Mike in Portrait Mode

The last one is my favorite On all three of these I left the settings on the auto settings that happen when you changes modes. Very interesting to see the difference in photo quality.

My next test was with the corn on the cob that we had for dinner.

Corn in Manual

Corn in Complete Auto

Corn in P Mode

I love learning more about camera settings! Why should you invest in a tripod?

Top 5 Reasons To Use A Tripod!

5) Be able to shot in Manual

4) Take advantage of ISO Speeds in Low Light situations, the tripod helps eliminate camera shake

3) To shoot landscapes

2) Experimenting with camera settings

1) Use the self timer and take pictures that include you!

I am participating in Tina’s 30 Days of Self Love series and was really excited about the first topic: Confidence. While I am by no means perfect I am very proud of the fact that most of the time I feel good about myself and my choices in life. Instead of writing a soliloquy I thought a Top Ten List would be much more effective.

Top Ten Things I Am Confident About

10) Moving Away for College- Deciding to move 5+ hours away from my home town and only knowing one other person was a big risk for me. Looking back eleven years this week it makes me appreciate being brave and going after something that I truly wanted.

9) Working Hard- I paid for school myself and worked a lot of hours at a few different jobs to make sure I had money for rent and food. Having had a job since I was 15 makes me appreciate how hard it is to make a living. Now that I am less than 6 months for turning 30 I know that all that hard work has paved a path to the type of success that I want.

8 ) Fitness- I enjoy working out and sharing that passion with others. I may not have been a great athlete but fitness is something I am good at. I can come up with programs and see results. Looking for a new fitness trend is something that is a lot of fun, trying a new class or starting a yoga practice make me even more committed to living a life full of fitness.

7) Travel- Having the strong desire to see the world and experience new cultures. I want to see it all! It makes me happy that people email me and ask me about trips and places that I want to see. Sharing that experience is what makes travel so fun.

6) Food- Over the past few years I have strived to become a good home cook, constantly trying new recipes and learning new techniques. It is fun to be known as the person who brings unique and healthy foods to events.

5) Wine- Learning about wine and how it pairs with food or can be enjoyed on its own has been a big self confidence booster for me. Being the lifetime learner that I am; reading books about wine, taking classes and even blending our own wine has made me realize that enjoying something and sharing that knowledge with others helps me become more confident in my knowledge and abilities.

4) Religion- I don’t talk about religion on the blog but my decision to live a life with no religion was not an easy choice. I grew up Lutheran and spent many years going to church and Sunday school and even at the age of 7 I knew I did not believe. I choose to live a life that does not include religion, a belief in God or in any sort of afterlife. While I may choose to life a life without religion I very strongly support those who do. I read blogs that have a strong faith focus and have many family members and friends who practice religion. Many have strong feelings about religion and this is not meant to be a debate, merely an acknowledgement that I am 100% confident in my beliefs.

3) Not Being Average- Everyone has the own unique qualities and I live my life celebrating my idiosyncrasies. I may have a strong need to keep things clean, control as much as I can and dream about having my own show on the Travel Channel but those are the things that make me the person that I am. I hope that everyone celebrates what makes them unique.

2) My Partner- I am confident that I choose the right partner for life, someone who loves me for who I am. Mike is incredibly supportive and does everything he can to help me live the life that I am striving towards.

1) Knowing Who I Am- I am very confident in the fact that I know who I am and what I want from life. Those are my choices and do not let anyone else change those or negate those. I have made a life for myself that lets me be who I am. The decision to end bad friendships and relationships was what ultimately brought me to the place of acceptance that I live in today. I am not perfect and I have flaws but I know what those are and work towards living a better life.

After a very stressful work day I decided we needed a night out. I printed one of my $25 Restaurant.com gift certificates and we headed out for some Indian Food stress relief. We have been going to Sambol for a few years and even though it has changed owners a few times it is authentic Indian and Sri Lankan food.

We started with a King Fisher, a traditional Indian Beer. Our appetizers were vegetable samosas and garlic naan. I could easily eat a whole basket of naan by myself. Tonight’s was extra garlicky.

For our main entrees I ordered Lamb Shahai Korma which is a spicy sauce with lamb, tomatoes, onions and a bit of cheese.

Mike had Chicken Makhani, which is also known as butter chicken. It is cooked in a tomato sauce with butter and cream. While not exactly healthy it is so delicious!

It was a relaxing dinner with no work stress and we were able to decompress and just enjoy our food. Even on a Monday night it was packed at Sambol and I love seeing families trying ethnic food.

After a day of travel, errand running and a full house cleaning all I wanted was to have a home cooked meal and an evening of relaxing. We picked up our fruit, veggies, and yogurt for the week but we didn’t have a ton of dinner items in the fridge. I started rummaging in the freezer and pantry and came up with Tomato and Edamame Curried Pasta.

Ingredients

1lb Tri-Color Rotini

1 28oz can Whole Tomatoes

1 package frozen, de-shelled edamame

1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce

2 large handfuls of Baby Arugula

Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

Salt/Pepper

Parmesan

Directions

Cook pasta according to directions.

Preheat large skillet and add drained tomatoes and mash with a fork, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add edamame, red pepper flakes, and curry sauce and cook until thoroughly heated, another 2-3 minutes. Add drained pasta to vegetables and sauce.

Place arugula in bowl and top with pasta, vegetables and sauce. Grate just a tiny bit of parmesan on top.

We served this was a side of roasted mini potatoes, a good Monday evening after a weekend of travel kind of dinner.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind, but it is only a 4 day week. It is hard to believe it is the end of summer a week from today. Sigh. This summer went insanely fast!

Tonight is our last evening in Chicago and we are staying with Chris and Ivy. We had brunch at the Publican earlier and had decided on cooking dinner at their house tonight. On the way back from brunch we stopped to pick up Chris and Ivy’s CSA box and it was stock full of kale, fresh heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, parsley, and an eggplant. Ivy had the idea of cooking us dishes from her native Korea and we were definitely on board! Between the CSA veggies and Ivy’s recipes we had a plan for dinner.

We started with a French, American and Spanish inspired cheese plate with a blue cheese, morbier and a Spanish style mozzarella, Chris had some fresh Mission Figs from California, we had a few back to nature crackers, a pineapple pepper chutney and kale chips topped with sea salt and pasta seasoning.

While enjoying the cheese and figs we tasted an Apple Wine from Michigan and a sparkling rose that may have my favorite name ever: You Are So Bubbly

While enjoying our cheese, crackers and figs Ivy was quickly marinating the sirloin for her version of Bul Go Gi, a Korean beef dish that has a hint of sweetness. She also made a lovely miso soup from scratch with kelp, tofu, miso paste and a broth made with anchovies. It was the best miso I have ever had and you could tell it was homemade with great  flavor.

Bul Go Gi

Ingredients

1 lb Sirlion

2 Cloves Garlic

Onion, finely chopped

2 inch piece of Ginger

A few squirts of honey

Apple, Asian Pear or Kiwi, chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2-3 tbsp Japanese or Korean Sake

2 Scallions finely chopped

Salt/Pepper

Directions

Make a puree of garlic, 1/2 the onion, ginger, honey, apple, soy sauce, sesame, sake and salt/pepper. Add to sirlion and let marinate at least 2-3 hours. The sugars from the fruit will help sweeten and tenderize the meat.

Heat a skillet with a bit of canola or vegetable oil and add the onion and cook until softened 2-3 minutes, add the marinated beef and cook through. Top with scallions. Serve with rice and kimchi.

The sweetness of the fruit comes through and the meat becomes so tender and juicy. I have never had Korean food before and tonight’s dinner was a big treat! I love trying founds from new cultures, especially when someone is taking the time to make them from scratch and share them with you. Our full menu for dinner was starters of cheese, crackers and fruit, my mushroom ceviche, Ivy’s miso soup, Bul Go Bi and rice with kimchi. A fun afternoon spent catching up, cooking and conversing over wine.

I love having good friends that enjoy wine and cooking as much as we do. It is such a great time to spend the day in the kitchen where we are all enjoying the experience.

I am looking forward to a quiet morning before heading to the airport, a day without work! Tomorrow is a much needed day off after the past stressful few weeks.

Every time we are in Chicago we find a new spot of have Sunday Brunch. There is just something about all the neighborhoods in Chicago that make brunch so enjoyable. Today’s choice for brunch was Publican, a restaurant devoted to the pig.

We met our friends Chris and Ivy at noon and it was a good thing we had reservations because every table in the restaurant was full. Mike started with a mimosa made with orange juice and beer. A unique combination, not my favorite drink but he enjoyed it. I ordered the official beverage of brunch; a bloody mary with a beer chaser. Delicious!

After perusing the menu we all decided on our dishes and were eagerly awaiting our food. Chris and Ivy ordered the frites with a fried egg over the top and we got a side of their housemade bacon. Both were amazing and probably my favorite part of the meal. Being the pig and bacon lover that I am I really liked the custom napkins. I think I need some for our house.

Ivy ordered the shrimp and chorizo with polenta

Sarc and I both got the pastrami short ribs with heirloom tomato salad, an overeasy egg and toast. The fresh tomatoes were definitely the star of this dish.

Mike had the pork cheek sandwich that also had egg, heirloom tomato with a basil aioli.

This was one of the better brunches we have had in quite some time!

Mike and I spend the day enjoying Chicago, we did some shopping on Michigan Ave and hit Nordstrom Rack where I found a pair of Fendi sunglasses originally $240 for $50 and then we were on to Loehman’s where I found another great deal of beautiful gold Via Spiga shoes for $50 instead of their normal $220. It was the day of the deals!

Our friend Mark from New York (who we went to Italy with) met us for a Tapas lunch at Cafe Iberico which is in edge of the River North neighborhood and has been open since 1992. A pretty good run for a Chicago restaurant. We started with a some white sangria and then the small plate ordering begun. A plate of mixed meat and manchego, ,mushrooms, grilled octopus with potatoes, shrimp in garlic and olive oil and some potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce.

This is my favorite way to eat, little nibbles of unique foods. You never get too full but you never leave hungry! Another must at a tapas restaurant is dessert, there are always unique flavors. We got a crepe filled with ice cream and a fresh strawberry syrup. Very tasty!!