A Saturday Change of Plans

We started out Saturday with the intent of riding our bikes to Georgetown from Waterfront Metro to watch the Dragonboat Race Festival, but the closer we got the more violent, fast and filled with junk the river became.  Before we even got there we were pretty sure they were going to be unable to hold them and sure enough, that was the case.  The water was just filled with big logs and pieces of wood and chunks of earth. We'd had a hard, hard rain the day before and they were still dealing with flooding issues further up the road.

 So we still headed to Georgetown and just about killed me riding the hills there!  Rode around the University campus and through downtown but there were WAY too many cars and it felt dangerous so we headed into town past the Lincoln Memorial.  There's always plenty to see and lots of great people watching.  We listened to a speaker who was leading a breast cancer awareness rally...

.... The Washington Monument just re-opened and there were singing rangers near there entertaining the kids.

 We stopped on the National Mall to eat the lunch we'd packed and there was a group just gearing up for a Benghazi protest march.  Happy to live in a place where you can do this peacefully but the guys in the masks were creeping me out!

I'm pretty sure this kid was sorry he let this guy start talking to him....because he went on and on and on...

 We headed back to our old neighborhood and saw this lady sitting on the overpass.  I've seen her several times before but Tom wanted to go back and get a photo.  Her name is Katya and she comes over daily to feed the birds.  There were corn kernels thrown about but she also brings them peanuts as a special treat.  She said she spends a fortune in food but she loves the birds.  In fact after we had been there a few minutes she said the birds wouldn't come to her if we were there and we were spoiling her time with them.  Um, okay.  At least she was honest!  So we hopped back on our bikes and pedaled off.

We took a new route to Anacostia Metro over the bridge by Nats stadium.  Tom forgot to turn his GPS back on after lunch but we probably rode about 15-20 miles.  Spent the rest of the afternoon & evening recupera.....er, relaxing and watching movies.  Another great Saturday!

The Downside of Veganism

"Beef" pot pie with chopped spinach, celery & radish salad

So we've 17 full days under our belt (and above) of vegan eating.  This week I decided to throw in some vegan-esque food to try it out.  That means fake food.  Well, not fake, but soy based then seasoned to taste like say...meat.  Or different proteins made to appear and taste like cheese.  I do have to say the tofu sour cream was pretty awesome.  But the others.....meh.  For instance I made these beef pot pies...that I ended up picking the "beef" out of.  Tom liked it better than I did. The substitutes are okay in a bind but I'm finding I really just prefer the real thing when it comes to clean eating. 

Yesterday we wanted a snack after a long bike ride.  Went with nachos with "cheese" (kind of tasted like Cheez Whiz and had kind of a weird texture) which Tom didn't mind but I preferred the tofu "sour cream" and homemade salsa.

The other downside is the cost.  Holy cow!  To buy the specialty stuff you have to go hunting and Whole Foods is a good source.  But these TWO bags of groceries ran me $80!!!  I know.  Crazy.  I also bought a couple of vegan muffins for us to try and again....$2 each.  Good, but expensive.  We also were out running errands one night much later than we anticipated so we stopped at Wegman's Market to take advantage of their buffet bars so we could handpick what we would eat.  I ended up with mostly asian and Tom with indian food.  I was awake all night with it sitting in my stomach!  

 So I'm going back to mostly concentrating on the good old fashioned fresh veggies and fruit. They taste better and make me feel better!  Overall we feel awesome, have tons of energy and the weight is coming down very gradually.....

Japanese Sweet Potato and Spring Mix Salad

Ratatouille Pie, Green Beans & Salad

Whole Wheat pasta & veggies with strawberry spinach salad and whole wheat roll

Vegan May

Tom and I committed to eating a vegan diet through at least May.  Plant based only....no meat, no dairy, eggs, cheese, etc.  So far.....so good!

 It was very helpful that my young friend Kristin's parents gave Tom and I a "fruit of the month" gift for 3 months from Harry & David's!  These giant strawberries arrived over the weekend.

 Breakfasts are smoothies or an occasional slice of Ezekial bread toasted with almond butter & fresh fruit spread.  Tom takes either leftovers for lunch or Amy's brand vegan frozen lunches.  I usually do leftovers.  Dinners look like this:

Black bean tacos & salad

Salad with avacado, raw veggies and black bean dip

Baked potato covered in veggies and salad

Salad, veggies and black bean dip (love that spicy dip!)

Roasted potatoes, cauliflower and strawberry spinach salad

Spaghetti squash, green beans & tomato with balsamic vinegar /olive oil

Whole wheat pasta with mushroom & asparagus w/salad

Greens, peppers and bean salad

Whole wheat wrap with bean dip & veggies

...with an added fruit salad

Filling for baked Ratatouille

 The biggest issue is when we're out.  In fact we picked May because we had few social events (we thought)! We had one lunch at an Indian food truck which only offered a creamed spinach and chickpeas in some sort of sauce. Ick.  Nasty, except for the Naan bread!  Another night we went to the Nationals Ballpark to see the opera and we ate from the vegan stand Field of Greens.  A grilled veggie wrap and a portabello mushroom sandwich were both quite tasty. Our wonderful small group leaders prepared lots of veggies when they had our group over for dinner last week.  Beth even bought us a vegan dessert...an individual apple & cherry pie!  We did cheat a bit as someone had brought gorgeous rolls that they had picked up from the Amish market.  Heavenly!  Friday at Mount Vernon I had a side salad along their famous peanut & chestnut soup.

We both feel great.  Lots of energy.  Not losing weight as quickly as I would have liked but definitely feel healthier... and that was the whole point!

A Tide of Social Events

Crazy busy week but a lot of fun too!  I met up with Kristin and her mom who was visiting from Kansas.  We just had a quick coffee at Eb's before they went off to meet people from her law clinic for lunch. I took a photo but who knows where it's disappeared to!

Thursday after my AM small group I met Lauren and baby Alexis at Jones Point in Alexandria.  A beautiful park for cycling, running or just walking and a cute toddler park for the little ones.  We let the baby play a while then walked around the water and over by the light house.  I hadn't seen Lauren since Alex was tiny.  She's one of my friends I met in Alabama.

Thursday night we had our final small group meeting but we went to Beth and Eric's condo at National Harbor.  Tom and I rode the express bus from our Branch Metro station and it was really nice.  About a 25 minute ride with the stops but it dropped us right on the main street.  We were a few minutes early so did a little peeking around in the shops.  

Beth and Kim in the kitchen

Tom, Mike, Kathy, Alexa, Eric, Beth, Kim, Lauren, Kristin, me and Mitch

 Friday I had a date with another friend's mom.  She has been living with our friends here for almost a year but isn't really keen on going out much so I volunteered to get her out of the house.  We spent several hours enjoying a gorgeous day at Mount Vernon and had lunch at the lovely little restaurant there.  I had a great time and found Shirley to be wonderful company!  She had a good time too and was happy to find someone her own age to hang out with for a few hours.  I wish I had met her earlier as they are all moving to Idaho next month.

 It was quiet and not crowded.  Baby lambs were out and the gardens were in bloom.

 Saturday we got up and took a long bike ride over to and around Andrews Air Force Base.  It was a beautiful day until I started getting sick to my stomach.  Don't know if it was AM vitamins or just that it was my first long bike ride (20 miles) of the season.  I sat on the side of the road for a minute to recover while Tom pedaled up the street a bit.

Sunday we went to the Lincoln Theatre for church as they were commissioning Tom's mission team.  (Tom is going on a short term mission which I'll address down the road)  Commissioning is just a prayer and a blessing by the pastor but from the whole congregation for the group.  They had another smaller one later and then they all grabbed lunch and walked to a local park to have their final meeting.  I headed home and had a lovely relaxing afternoon.

 It was also Mother's Day and each of the mothers were given a copy of Pastor Mark's new book and a beautiful bracelet.  The bracelet is made from melted down bullet casings that have been recreated into beads.  It had a card with it that said this:  We believe moms bring love and joy to families.  This bracelet is designed for the moms of National Community Church and is handmade with love by women in Ethiopia.  This gift helps provide sustainable economic opportunity for these artisans and their families.  We pray you feel celebrated as you wear this special piece, and that it brings you joy knowing you've helped another mom invest in her family.  Happy Mother's Day....NCC

 I loved that.  And I loved speaking with each of my kids as well as my mom on such a special day!