Christmas Holiday, Part 2

Happy February! I suppose I will finally get around to blogging about our Christmas time in Kansas.


After we landed in Kansas City <safely, thank God!>, we rented a car and drove to my parent's house. I love visiting there...it is so peaceful and serene coming from DC life! Granted, I love living on the East Coast but nothing beats a visit home :)

We had a great time....relaxing, cooking, spending time with both sides of my family. Pictures will illustrate better than words:

Love my parents!

Tim and I kept our calendars pretty clear during our time in Kansas. Consequently, Tim was able to visit old co-workers and friends in Topeka and Lawrence. I spent time with my old roommates and friends from college, and we were both happy to spend New Year's Eve with a big group of Topeka friends. We had a blast with everyone!

Cheers to 2013!

Late-night delirium

Some game I can't remember...but involves acting!

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

Brosef.

Best friend!

All the dudes talking about man-stuff.

Hanging out in Topeka with my besties!

My 2 "sisters"

I bought Tim and Broc the same sweater for Christmas...what can I say, I liked it! I didn't tell them to dress alike on the same night :)

I got to see Renee, who is my oldest friend! Going on almost 20 years now!

Christmas entertainment...always a good time!

Mmm..one of the reasons I love my parent's house...

Time for Food stuff!

I recently found out about Washington's Green Grocer, which is an on-demand produce delivery company. It is amazing! I was able to choose organic, mixed, or local produce and change out items in the box (before delivery, on their fabulous website) if I didn't want them. Check out my first box of organic goodness!

I made several dishes with all the veggies, including one of my new favorites, which was One Skillet Tempeh with Swiss Chard (I used the chard pictured above rather than kale). The flavors were out of this world...it was a marriage of ginger, garlic, coconut, red pepper, and maple syrup. Sounds crazy, but it blew my mind. I posted about it on Facebook, and one of my friends decided to cook it for her husband's early Valentine's Day dinner...he said it was the best thing she ever made and that it tasted like it came from a restaurant. :)

Another favorite was a Chickpea Turnip Curry, made using all 3 of my turnips. It was such a quick and easy throw-together meal...the turnips actually tasted like potatoes in the recipe!

I was not a fan of the leeks. The recipe that I chose was a leek and mushroom sort of gravy...not so great. I think I'm done with leeks.

I created a Philly Cheesesteak/Reuben for Tim using peppered Tofurkey, sauteed veggies, and a sauce of veganaise, sriracha, and relish. It was a hit!

Random thought of the day...at the beginning of last year, I wrote about how Tim and I went on a midnight NYE run. It was his brilliant idea to "start the year off right" with a 1 mile run. I can't really remember, but I probably didn't post about how that run actually went. Let me be completely honest....I made it exactly 0.3 of a mile and was leaned over the grass, my stomach in knots, about to vomit! It didn't help that it was cold, we were sprinting (well I was anyway!), and running up a hill. I was miserable and could not comprehend how and why anyone would enjoy such a thing.

From that day forward, I thought I was going to swear off running...but it didn't last long. Somehow (!?!?) I ended up gradually taking a liking to it and my goal for 2012 was to run 2 5k races. In 2012, I completed 3 5k's, 1 8k, 1 10k, and ran approximately 379 miles...and I can now say that I like running! <ohmygoodness, I can't believe I just wrote that :)> All this to say, if you want to do it, you CAN do it. I'm extremely fortunate to have an incredible pacer/trainer/husband, who encourages me day in and day out, and gives me a "pat on the back" for every 3 mile run, as if I've just completed a marathon. He's pretty darn fantastic.

We are doing a 5k on Sunday called, "Love the Run You're With". And I absolutely do.

:)

Next up on the blog...our experience attending the 2013 Presidential Inauguration!