But let’s back up.

This morning started with a really good four mile run. I’ve upped my mid-week run days to three and tomorrow I hope to tackle closer to 6 miles but four was my goal for today and four was completed as intended!

Breakfast was also a victory.

That’s right, friends. Steel cut oats made on a weekday. My mom recommended that I bring the water up to a boil right when I get back from my run and then let them simmer while I shower and dress. Since it takes less than a minute for the water to boil (we seriously have the best stove), I don’t waste time waiting for that process and my total shower/prep time is probably about 30 minutes, which is enough to make the oats edible. Steel cut oats can be very chewy or very soft, depending on how long you cook them. Lucky for me, I like them chewy. I also knock the water down a 1/4 cup to speed up the cooking. Haven’t missed it yet.

I also added a little of the leftover pre-cooked oat bran I had from last week. It’s been sitting in my fridge and since I don’t have a microwave, I’m never going to eat it. There’s no reason to bring a pot out just to make a half serving. So I mixed it into this at the last minute and it was a great way to add volume.

Washed it all down with some agua as I sprinted out the door.

Work was long but lunch was fun. Lunch recovery has not been. But let’s not focus on that.

I wasn’t particularly hungry when I got home (surprise, surprise) but I knew I needed to eat something.

I had some leftovers from last night and decided just to make do with those.

A frozen veggie stir fry with pintos and brown rice. This was actually really good and I’m still kinda bummed that I wasn’t hungry enough to eat the whole thing. From my leftovers, I just picked at the veggies, since they were all that sounded good. A tupperware full of rice and beans is still lurking in the fridge for later.

And since I was on the veggie train, I decided a salad was in order.

Last night I did a really simple salad out of cucs and tomato but spruced it up with a special ingredient.

Peach salsa! I could eat this stuff straight with a spoon (and have…) and it makes the best salad dressing. Sometimes I mix it with hummus but in the name of keeping it light, I just went with straight salsa. Picture the above salad doubled and that was tonight’s dinner. Not surprisingly, I’m still hungry.

Cereal and dessert foods do not sound appetizing in my post-day drinking state but I know just a few more veggies won’t make me any less hungry. Officially stumped about what to eat. This is not a common issue for me.

Tomorrow feels weird since I have the day off but it’s mid-week. I’m not going to complain about time off but it just seems random and I’m not sure what to do. From what others have said, it sounds like I’m not the only one. Oh well. I think we’ll just enjoy a relaxing day. Happy Fourth!

This is actually a long-awaited package. For my birthday, I made my first ever purchase from Etsy – a jewelry holder to organize my ridiculous collection. We knew we really wanted to decrease cluttered surfaces in our new apartment so I used this gift to myself as an opportunity to move all my jewelry boxes (I have five…) off our dresser and into one beautiful display. But the order was delayed because the shop had so much else going on and so finally, almost a month later, my beautiful jewelry holder arrived.

I have to admit, I thought it was a litte more heavy-duty looking in its Etsy photo. The wood looked a little more aged and this felt almost flimsy to me. But I waited until it was up on the wall before making a real judgement.

I loved that it came with hanging instructions.

A pushpin in the middle and then you put the nails where the Xs are to ensure you get the spacing right. I don’t know about you but I always feel so self-sufficient when I do anything with items from the tool box. That’s stupid gender stereotypes from my childhood I guess. There’s no reason a guy would be any more able with a hammer and nails than I am.

Case in point – my beautiful jewelry rack, hung on the first try with no injured fingers or ruined walls.

And it actually looks really good when all the jewelry is in place.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time deciding where each piece was supposed to go.

I wasn’t able to get everything on here. Some was (finally) thrown away, and the ones I only wear once in a blue moon where tucked away in a drawer. I love having all my options on display like this. It makes getting dressed more fun.

Other than hanging jewelry racks, I did my weekend long run on Saturday.

It started out with my (slightly altered) standard fuel.

I say slightly altered because I’ve been using steel cut oats. There okay. I like the texture but it’s not worth the extra forty minutes it takes to cook them.

I decided to do eight miles this week. The two weeks prior, I had logged 13 each. The first resulted in some VERY sore hips and last week was better but I still knew I needed to knock it back for this Saturday. Plus, I added another mid-week run and didn’t need to be increasing my overall weekly milage by that much. So eight sounded like a good solid number.

It was a strong eight, too. In fact, this would have been a pretty boring run if it weren’t for this.

I took a pretty nasty tumble about half way through and banged up my knee. I fell on my achy hip, which wasn’t fun, and also sustained quite a bit of the impact with the side of my leg. At the time, I only really noticed the gnarly scrape but the next morning, my whole leg was bruised and sore. Ouch!

And the scrape has since turned black. How sexy.

No skirts for me this week. That is most definitely not a professional accessory.

But even with the fall, I still ran all eight miles without any trouble, finishing for the day with a smile on my face.

That looks just like the picture from this run except a much better mood.

After my run, Will and I spent Saturday watching a marathon of HGTV. I guess it inspired us to spruce up our place because that evening we headed to Lowes and Pier 1 to pick up some additional things for the apartment.

First, a wine rack!

The area is finally complete and we don’t look like we’re hoarding wine anymore. This rack is really simple but perfect to complete the built in bar.

And…

…curtains. The windows in the middle room have been begging for some drapes so we picked out a loose flowy type to match the ones in the living room and got them in blue instead of white to accent our blue couch. The room itself still needs and arm chair or some large decorative piece but I’m so pleased with how much better it looks after this weekend.

Sally of Real Mom Nutrition absolutely out did herself and sent me an absolutely amazing assortment of goodies.

I asked that she do her best to send me things that do not fall into the sweets/snack food category because I just love those things too much and they are eaten mindlessly minutes after I open them. Not only is this bad for the rest of my eating that day, I don’t fully get to enjoy the goodies that were sent. I think snack/sweet food is the most fun to shop for so I felt a little guilty taking that away from Sally this month. But I’m so happy with what I got – thanks Sally.

Let’s take a loot at the goods, shall we.

Veggie Chips Sooo good! OMG! I inhaled these! They were slightly sweet, which I loved, but not artificially so. The salt, pepper and oil they were made in just enhanced the natural sweetness of the vegetables and it was such a treat to eat. I’ve had to restrain myself from going to stores with bulk aisles because I’m sure an embarrassing amount of these would end up in my cart.

Peanut Butter For the win! I’m absolutely a peanut butter fan and can’t wait to try this. I’m finishing up my current peanut butter and decided not to break into this until the old stuff was gone. I’m excited to see what this has to offer.

Maple Almond Butter I’ve heard about this for a long time and even seen it quite a bit at the grocery store. For some reason, I never thought to buy it for myself. I actually used to eat almond butter all the time but once I started with peanut butter again in January, I haven’t gone back. While this was good and I really liked the sweetness from the maple syrup, I think peanut butter still has my heart. For now.

Hemp Hearts Another thing I’ve seen and heard of but never bought. That changes now! I loved these! So creamy and crunchy and I love the nutrition profile. I’ve had them on salads, cereal, oatmeal – you name it.

Oat Bran I was a little skeptical but, as I talked about yesterday, I’m quickly making use of this. Nicely done, Sally!

Quinoa My neighbor next door is watching Sound of Music and “My Favorite Things” is playing right now. This is such perfect timing as quinoa is definitely one of my favorite things. I first discovered it about a year ago and have been in love ever since. Sally sent a few recipes, one for quinoa cookies actually, and while I fully intend to try them in the near future, I was just so happy to have quinoa for dinner that I’ve been using this gift for my regular meals.

Since I was taking some time to myself while the Foodie Pen Pal shopping and shipping was taking place, I found myself at the last day without having put together something for my pen pal, Becky of Skinny Minnie’s Recipes. Of course, I couldn’t not send something. I don’t go back on my word. So I decided to give online shopping a try to combine the shopping and shipping into one activity.

I went with Netgrocer, which was pretty good. The selection wasn’t wonderful but the prices were decent and the convenience was prime. While I don’t plan to use this route for future pen pals, it’s a good option if anyone’s in a bind. Head over to Becky’s blog to see what I sent!

Want to join next month?

Last night? Pasta.

This morning? Hot cereal.

Followed by the last part of a slice of Starbucks pumpkin bread.

And lunch? More of the above pasta. With a slice of blueberry banana bread.

I can’t even blame this on stress or hormones. Sometimes a gals just gotta have her breads.

But about this food – it’s pretty good stuff I must say.

I took a nap yesterday after work an when I woke up, the usual dinner items just didn’t sounds good to me.

Pasta isn’t something I have a lot and that’s likely the reason I picked it last night. Variety – it’s the spice of life you know.

I didn’t have any sauce for it but I did have the beautiful tomatoes that my neighbor gave me earlier this week and I figured I could probably combine them with the tomatoes I already had and make a decent sauce on my own!

I put the noodles in a pot of water and started chopping the veggies – carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes.

The first three went into the pan first followed by the tomatoes after everything had softened a little.

And that’s it! After the sauce simmered and became a bit more sauce like, I spooned it over my two portions (dinner and lunch) and my carbs were ready.

In other new foods news, I’m still getting by without my beloved rolled outs. On my new busy mornings, there is no way to make steel cut oatmeal (which can take up to 45 minutes) and I thought my mornings of oats were going to be limited to weekends.

Until…

Not too shabby.

Now this doesn’t hold a candle to my oats (rolled or steel cut) in terms of flavor or satiety but it does have a major advantage – convenience! It’s ready so fast, it’s almost too quick! And yes, that’s totally possible. I don’t even have time to put away the ingredients while it cooks!

I bring 1/3 cup of this and one cup of water to a boil (which takes about a minute on my amazing stove!) and then I turn off the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes.

The only thing I add to the pot is coconut oil.

The Trader Joe’s brand is much more distinctly coconut than the Fresh and Easy brand I was using before and as a result, I don’t like using it on vegetables as much any more. But I do love the rich coconut flavor that I get in this bowl of porridge and the small amount of fat (I use maybe a 1/2 teaspoon) helps keep me full a little longer.

I’ve done my traditional PB + jelly topping but I don’t love it as much in the porridge consistency. So I dug into my Foodie Pen Pals stash from way back in April and found this honey.

Which is perfect on the porridge.

Along with some raisins, cranberries and a few hemp seeds (my newest obsession, BTW), and that’s my 5-minute hot breakfast for my new uber busy morning routine.

Yes, it actually looks like that.

No, it does not taste the way it looks. It’s creamy and slightly grainy and very satisfying!

Speaking of creamy and satisfying, look what I was sent home from work with.

It’s kind of an inside joke but now I have an entire pint of something I crave but try hard to limit. Hopefully Will takes a liking to this flavor or I may be in a dairy overdose coma come tomorrow.

Or maybe I have a disillusioned idea about the quality of where we live.

Anyways, I thought I’d give a brief rundown of the new place.

When you first come to the door, you’ll see Anni in her new favorite place.

She loves sitting here and watching the world and I’m happy to let her except she barks at any little thing that moves. The mail man was not pleased and a “Dog Owner Beware” type of flyer arrived from the post office a few days later. Despite the harsh words, I still let her go about her business at the door. It makes her feel like she has a purpose.

The living room is probably my favorite room just because of how it all came together furniturewise.

If you recall, I was a little bummed to be losing the big sectional but I’ve since absolutely fallen in love with the blue couch that was totally neglected in our old place. It’s firm but still very comfortable and is just enough space for our family of three to watch TV. The only down side is that we don’t really have anywhere for guests to sit.

View from the couch. Will hopes to get the surround sound hooked up soon but other than that, the living room is done!

The next room, the middle room, is the most incomplete because I’m not really sure what to do with it.

To the left is a nook with Will’s desk, which has to go here because there is no other space for it in our one bedroom apartment. And it fits fine and I actually like that we can both be in the same room when he does computer projects now. He used to have to hide away in the office and that was isolating.

The other side is home to Will’s home bar, which is really very impressive when fully stocked. We’re back down to about 80% right now and really need to pick up some staples before it’s at a presentable level again. There is talk of putting an actual shelf above it for Top Shelf liquors but that’s a ways down the road (aka when money is a little less tight).

Directly ahead is the build in bar, which is wonderful for housing all our bar glasses since storage is not available for those in the kitchen. One of the things I really loved about this place is the built in character and we plan to finish this nook with a really nice wooden wine rack to go in the center. Nothing has quite stood out to me yet, though, so that’s another piece we’re still waiting on. All in good time though.

The kitchen peaks out at us from the left but I’m going to leave that room for another post.

So after the kitchen, you take a right and are greeted with a long hall. No picture needed. You’ve all seen a hall before.

At the end is the bathroom.

Which is just a bathroom. Pretty basic except it is awkwardly big. We have my old night stand behind the door repurposed as shelving since there is no in-bath storage besides the medicine cabinet. Obviously that wasn’t going to be enough for all my things, which had actually spilled out into the drawers and cabinets you see here on the right.

To the left of this is the bedroom.

We used to spend a lot of time in our room simply because the common space was shared with other people and it never felt like we could truly relax. Now that it’s all ours, we really only come in here to sleep. Because we really wanted to promote that, we kept the bedroom very bare.

And there you have it – the basic version. Going through this made realize that we’re still not quite there but these things take time. What matters is that we’re happy and I can say that so far, we most definitely are!

I don’t even have a good excuse for you guys. I haven’t really been up to anything crazy and I haven’t had any terrible situations that required all of my time. I think I just needed a cyber break. No Twitter. No Facebook. No blog. Even email was minimal.

I write this blog mostly for me. It’s a diary essentially although I do hope it is helpful to those who come across it. So since this is just for me, I didn’t feel too guilty taking a break. And then today I was readying some older posts and I realized how much I enjoy what I’ve put out there and it inspired me to get back to it.

I came home to this home-grown tomatoes picked and waiting for my by the front door. We’ve had a little parking spat with our neighbor and he left these along with a note saying we could have the spot tonight. What a pretty peace offering!

I haven’t had one yet but I’m sure they’re juicy and flavorful!

What I did eat for dinner was actually the usual suspects.

Pan seared vegetables over quinoa.

I wasn’t feeling incredibly creative by the time I got back from my run and just wanted something I knew would be good that would be on my plate quickly.

Carrots, zucchinis and mushrooms into a pan…

And quinoa into the rice cooker.

I have been working with the rice cooker for a few weeks now and sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. For example, I wanted to cook quinoa tonight and, had I been a little more on top of my game, I could have put it into the rice cooker before I left for my run so all I would have to do is finish the vegetables when I got back, having dinner ready in half the time.

The rice cooker makes perfect quinoa.

All fluffy and soft and I don’t even have to think about it.

Now oatmeal, on the other hand…

…is another story.

While I was a little bummed this rice cooker didn’t have a timer or warmer, meaning I could make my steel cut oats the night before for an insta-breakfast, I was willing to work around that. I put the steel cut oats into the cooker before I headed out for a four mile run one morning, knowing the oats would be about done by the time I made it back.

I came home to that overflowing mess and lots of uncooked oats. Sigh…

So oats continue to get cooked on the stove. And since I’m making my way through this bag of steel cut oats before buying rolled again, I have to be willing to invest a chunk of time if I want to eat my favorite breakfast.

Other than learning the limitations of my rice cooker, the other issue in my life has been this beast.

That’s our beautiful, expensive dryer that absolutely cannot work in this apartment. We even had an electrician come to install the plug. After turning down someone who wanted to trade their gas dryer for our electric, I was utterly furious when I came home Friday to hear that our place is not wired in a way that can sustain the amount of electricty needed to power this dryer and that we were, once again, back to the drawing board on how to get our clothing dry.

I’ve had the dryer on Craigslist but after the madness to find a place to live and my need to discount form the digital world a bit over the last month, I haven’t been too proactive about getting something arranged. Which means I spend a portion of my Sunday (and my money…) at the Laundromat for the time being. Oh well, things could be worse.

I promise I’ll be sticking around for awhile. After all, the olympics are coming up and I think I might actually be signing up for a marathon in the fall so there is plenty to be talked about.

Between unpacking and getting used to my commute, I have also been trying to get settled into my new life. Establishing new creature habits, if you will

While we’ve still been struggling to get into a regular groove with food, I have been doing well when it comes to getting new running routes established.

We live five blocks from the beach and I am taking full advantage.

The California dream only minutes from my door. That was my view on Thursday morning and this was today for my long run.

Not all of Long Beach is beach scenery and I find it fascinating that little houses are right there along side giant apartment buildings and even mega mansions all on the same block.

One of the things I was sad to leave in Orange was the beautiful streets where I did my runs. Well, I’m happy to say I’ve found those beautiful streets here as well.

We live in the historic district so everything is old and charming. Some things are a little strange though.

Check out this grass.

Maybe you can’t tell from the picture but that’s not normal grass! That’s the thing here, people are a little funky in LBC. I’m excited because this means lots of funky restaurants to try!

But for the meantime, food has been mainly cereal and some salads. Nothing too fun this past week.

But we finally picked up some groceries today and I’m excited to put my kitchen to use.

Thanks for hanging in. Once I get all this newness out of my system, things will get back to normal. Can’t wait!

And I mean the word ‘living’ very loosely here. All of our things have been moved to the new place but we’re in transition still. No hot water until tomorrow afternoon so I’d rather sleep on a couch in our old house than take a cold shower at the new one.

So we did just that last night. Since we are selling our big sectional, it is still in the old place. We pushed the two pieces together and laid our bedding over the top.

I think Will tossed and turned all night but I thought it was really fun to sleep that way!

It amazes me that Will and his buddy got 90% of our things out of there yesterday because we have so much stuff.

And that’s just the little stuff. Our electronics and furniture and clothing are a whole other issue.

But it’s all moved now and despite a few snags (electric dryer but gas hook up) we’re getting pretty close.

Empty rooms

Random odds and ends

The chain on the ceiling light sticks (shhh) so I had to improvise a light for cleaning last night.

An old lamp propped up on the vacuum. Did the trick.

It’s funny how you think you have everything that you need to take and then you look again and see yet another thing you need.

I thought we had the living room down to the giveaways

Then I sat down on the couch and realized we still had Anni’s bells on the door.

And as I was taking those down, I realized we still had a major item in the backyard.

Will built that beer ping table last summer but it never really got used. But it’s been there for so long it just seems like part of the yard.

Hopefully we can get some frat boys to come pick it up. I don’t think our bulk trash pick up will take another thing.

While this house did afford me a warm shower, pickins have been slim on the food front. All cookware and pantry food is packed so I have what’s in my refrigerator, most of which requires prep. So I’ve just been enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast.

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me how much I’ve ended up enjoying these. It has three of my favorite things all put together. Still not a contender with my oatmeal though. PB&J oats are the best!

I’m really bummed to have to be at work today. I want to unpack, which is my favorite part of moving. Lucky Will gets to do that today. That is, if he can ever find a place that will take our uhaul. He’s been to three lots and they’re all full! I’m trying not to focus on that because I want to be excited and not stressed about this move. I can’t wait for all the firsts in this place! Tomorrow I’ll start year 23 in my new home – so excited!

It makes sense, though. I had a muffin with lunch, and it was definitely made with a pound of lard, and my dinner – while absolutely amazing at a favorite cuban restaurant – was drenched it a rich sauce.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night with stomach pains and this morning that was still the case. I had hoped to get in quick run so the rest of the day would be cleared for packing but I don’t think I’d make it too far in this condition.

I always try to eat breakfast, despite how not hungry I often am in the morning and that was the plan today as well even though food sounded like a terrible idea. In the long run, it’s always the best bet to get your day started with a healthy meal.

I’m not drinking caffeine right now because moving already has me so wired so I was so happy that I had found a bag of decaf in the pantry when packing it up last night.

We bought this for Will’s graduation weekend and never got around to using it so I happily helped myself to some. Of course, I had to dig the coffee filters out from the bottom of the box but it was worth it. I usually grind my own beans but it was kind of nice to be lazy and just scoop the pre-ground stuff right out of the bag.

I had my decaf with the soy creamer I picked up at Trader Joe’s last weekend.

Not as good as the So Delicious french vanilla I had been using but it did the trick.

Looks like my usual long run breakfast.

I’m a little bummed I didn’t get to do a longer run this weekend especially since it’s likely my last in Orange. Oh well. Other great things came from the weekend instead.

Breakfast was a little hard to eat but I’m starting to feel better. Like I said, better to go with breakfast than without.

Packing started yesterday but it’s still at the stage where it doesn’t look like much has been done beyond turn the house into a disaster zone.

That’s our ‘Done Pile.’ Needs to be much bigger by the end of today.

The weird thing about this move is that I know we are moving within the next couple of days, and it’s not really a huge move like cross-country or anything. But because we have access to both places at the same time, I feel like things will be in limbo for a little longer. We’ll try to get everything to the new place at the same time but I can see some things being left for a separate trip and that makes it hard for me to get truly motivated to have everything boxed up NOW. I also want to know exactly what day the big move happens (aka our bed and other major furniture) so I can plan how many clothing items to save, how much food to prepare for lunches/breakfasts. We’re not buying food until we move (obviously) so I have to get creative with what’s left.

While we’re not buying food for us, I had to buy Anni food yesterday.

Another large item to haul down to the beach!

Despite feeling like I got nothing done yesterday, I do see some signs of progress.

Empty selves! That really need to be cleaned! Wow our house is dirty! I think that comes from having two different roommates that lived with us over the course of our time here and that no one treated this house as a home for that first year. It was a college house and it shows.

I found so many odd things in my pantry that I guess I knew I had but had forgotten were tucked away in there.

Like not one but two boxes of Trader Joe’s corn bread mix. This ended up with us last year when a friend moved out of his place and donated all his food leftovers to us. I think I thought I would make these (still kind of do) but obviously I haven’t been moved to use it in the last year. To the food donation box it goes.

Along with the sugary cereal Will bought in a variety pack and then never ate.

Although with my oats running low and no grocery shopping date in sight, I may eat these at some point this week. Eek.

A long day of packing awaits. I better get to it!

I woke up very anxious. Also a little miffed that my routine was being thrown off. Normally Saturday mornings are all about my long runs but this morning I had a meeting with a landlord for a property that Will and I both really wanted.

Wait, meeting with landlord? Weren’t you taking some time off from looking?

Yes, I haven’t been on Craigslist all week but this was a place I had contacted prior to Tuesday’s decision. It’s a cute little duplex unit in the historical part of Long Beach and it just oozes charm and is perfect for us!

So instead of getting to do my run, I got to wonder and worry about whether or not the landlord would like me and approve our application and I hoped and prayed that this was all going to be worth it.

Since we had already decided that Long Beach was where we were going to look from now on, I thought I would take advantage of being down there and get a taste for the running routes. So I packed up my stuff and got ready to face the morning.

I never run away from my house. My runs always start and end at my front door so I wasn’t really sure what all to bring. So I went with water, diluted orange juice for refueling after and the bag contained my hat, sunscreen, towel and some dried cranberries to munch on before and maybe bring with.

Well I didn’t end up getting my run in.

But I did sign a lease!

I could not be more happy right now. We got the apartment and the keys so we can move in immediately! I cannot believe how well everything worked out and how wonderful this next phase is going to be for us!

After getting to know my new landlord and his son better over lunch, I came home to get the packing nightmare started.

We are downsizing significantly with this move. I mean significantly. Currently we have so much extra space due to being in a house right now but we are going to be living in a one bed, one bath with very little in the way of storage. Honestly, this is a good thing. We do not need everything we have right now. We really do not even want most of it.

Some things will be hard to part with, though. Like my amazing sectional couch. Up on craigslist as we speak.

This was the first “real” piece of furniture I bought for myself and it has seen me through three homes and so many memories. It’s super comfy and I’m really a sad that it won’t fit in our new living room.

But for the most part, smaller is going to be better. For example, we won’t have a garage which means we will no longer be the lucky owners of this disaster zone.

I made some headway on this today but still so much to go. I’m thinking of getting one of those giant trash bins since that’s really the the problem – I need the space to throw all this away!

Since we’ve been planning a move for months, I’ve been preparing.

A stock pile of boxes. This is just what I had the energy to carry inside. There is still an entire half of the garage dedicated to boxes. What we’ll do with them on the other side remins the real issue. Err..

I have dinner with a friend tonight, which will be good for my sanity so I don’t accidentally pack myself away in the excitement. I’m thinking I’ll do a short run before just so I don’t feel like a complete lazy lump this weekend. Wish I had decided that before polishing off the granola.