Category Archives: On A Personal Note

Go Home, You’re Drunk.

Posted by under On A Personal Note

‘It could be worse’ is was I told myself; however, in retrospect, ‘it’ was pretty bad.

I began getting sick about 3 years ago. At first, I disregarded the warning signs – figured I was just insanely overworked (double major/double minor, working/volunteering/school clubs/activities/interning 70+ hrs/week) and needed to pull back the reins. Mid 2009 was when I began realizing that ‘pulling back the reins’ wasn’t cutting it, and perhaps there was more than met the eye. Despite this realization, I continued to brush everything off for another year or so. Looking back, it was a bad decision, I know. But when you’re in college, insanely busy, and invincible (ha), thoughts like this don’t necessarily cross your mind.

Until about six months ago, I’d feel better one day and horribly worse the next. One month I’d feel great, followed by 3-4 days of feeling like garbage. Such as in that one time last year when I got horribly sick at a hotel in the middle of nowhere Michigan. It took an insane amount of effort to walk down the hall for ice chips and open my laptop to Google the nearest urgent care. You know, just in case.

What does ‘feeling sick’ entail? I have a hard time describing the feeling, but here’s my best shot: It felt like: A. I had been punched in the stomach 947 times & B. My body couldn’t regulate temperature, fluctuating between intense chills and feeling hot/clammy. Sometimes this happened after eating/drinking, other times out of the blue.

When I finally went to the doctor, she pressed/poked my abdomen without finding anything glaring, so she ran a blood test to rule out ‘anything else’. When the blood tests came back clear, she recommended I see a gastroenterologist.

The gastro. recommended an ultrasound as well as a HIDA scan – an imaging procedure that tracks the production & flow of bile from the liver > intestine. You lay on a table as a tracer (a radioactive chemical) is injected. Over the next hour, a gamma camera takes pictures of the abdomen as the tracer passes through the body. From a medicinal/science perspective – it’s a very cool test. From a human perspective – well, it wasn’t painful in the moment, but it did leave me feeling sick for the rest of the day and into the next.

Neither the ultrasound nor the HIDA scan produced abnormal findings, so the gastro. took a stab in the dark, suggesting gallbladder removal, ‘to see if it would help’. I was actually pretty shocked by this, as we had not come anywhere near determining the cause(s) of the issue(s), yet she was suggesting I have an internal organ removed…? I felt like she was treating me like a number/science experiment, which I obviously was not cool with. I questioned the recommendation and her response was: ‘Well then, try eating really well, take care of yourself for a month and see how you feel. Either way, let’s just go ahead and set up an appointment with a surgeon.’

‘Oh, haaiiiil no.’ is what I thought. There was little to no logic behind her recommendation and I already did eat really well *thanks for asking*.

This is more or less what I wanted to tell her:

Instead of the surgeon, I opted to get a 3rd, 4th, 19th, and 437th opinion a la other doctors, specialists, and nutritionists. They all had a variety of interesting theories/diagnosis: Sounds like a peptic ulcer. You were just in Argentina? Maybe you picked up H. Pylori. Celiac. Gallstones. Liver Failure? Leaky gut syndrome. *hot* Ovarian Cyst. Gastric Lymphoma. Gastritis! Hyperthyroidism! Kidney stones! Cholecystitis!

As interesting as the theories were, various tests proved them all wrong.

At this point, let me just say this. Years of phantom sickness is, ummm, not fun. I’ll admit, it was hard going to a new doctor every 2 weeks. It was hard having doctor after doctor completely stumped. It was hard not knowing what was going on or how long it would last. It was hard to feel helpless. It was hard to think about a potential life of chronic pain, of not understanding it, and not being able to manage it. It was hard to be “healthy” on paper, but be dealing with this mystery ailment.

Here’s one thing that helped keep me in check – a quote. Thank you, Haruki Murakami:

‘Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.’

I kept as much as I could on the DL to the general public, mainly because nothing made sense and there were no answers. There were, however, instances when I did need to offer a bit more detail and well, these moments were the woooorsttt. Why? Because there was almost always a suggestion/recommendation/sad frowny face/diagnosis/anecdote to follow:

You probably have a gluten allergy. One time I had a friend in college who was allergic to sulfates – maybe you are too. Maybe you’re allergic to wheat. It sounds like you have an ulcer. Awwww *sad frowny face* I hope you feel better soon! You should try meditating. Have you gone to the doctor? What about acupuncture?  Maybe you should pray about it. This drink is easy on the stomach – just try a sip! I know of a great body cleanse – want the recipe? I’ve heard acai berries do wonders. How about a multivitamin? Tums! 

At first, I always responded with:  That’s a good idea, but I’ve already tried – doesn’t work. Nope, not that either. Yeah, I’ve been to a nutritionist and she was stumped. No, I don’t have a stomach ulcer. You’re right, it IS so weird! No, gluten is not the problem; I eat pasta like it’s my job. Yes, I’ve already had a blood test. Etc. Etc. Blah. Blah. Blah…  

After a few months, I changed my default response to these magic 4.5 words: 

Thanks, I’ll try that.

And you know what? It worked. At the end of the day, all people want to do is help. Of course it’s appreciated; however, the conversations got exhausting. The topic was exhausting, the situation was exhausting, and attempting to explain something that made no sense was exhausting. Those 4.5 words allowed the person to ‘help’, allowed me to show gratitude, and allowed us both to move on.

Solving the mystery. 

The doctors weren’t finding anything and I wasn’t interested in medicating symptoms (not causes) long-term, so, I began scouring every last nook and cranny of the internet, searching for anything that could lead me to a clue. My research led me to believe that food allergies could be the culprit; however, because my insurance would not cover food allergy testing (although they would cover an unnecessary gallbladder removal surgery, figure that one out), I opted for the old fashioned elimination method. One by one, I eliminated the common food allergy sources: Lactose, wheat, eggs, soy, dairy, sugar, gluten, etc.

Unfortunately, none of these were the cause.

Plan B: Food journal. Let me say this: tracking every last ingredient of every last food/drink is one of the most time-consuming tasks. EVER. But I did it. During this time, I read anything and everything I could about the gut, digestive system, autoimmune disorders, and honestly all things gastro-related. I scoured article after article after article after article about all things nutrition – the slow food movement, GM food effect on the gut, etc.

What I learned through this research was CRAY.

To spare the details, I’ll simply say this: Once one learns how food is made and the affects of processed food on the body, it’s nearly impossible to stomach (so punny) 99% of the garbage that’s out there. Processed food is full of insane/horribly destructive chemicals that, over time, damage/ruin the gut lining/your entire body. Needless to say, I immediately eliminated anything and everything that was genetically modified. I made Whole Foods my second home and stuck to meals primarily consisting of veggies, fruits, beans & meat. Oh yeah, and the occasional hamburger, ice cream, and/or pasta.  Sorry, just couldn’t give that up. (: (…all organic/all natural though, so it’s ok, right?)

Anyway, after a month or so, I analyzed the journal. The difficulty was that my adverse reactions were not consistent; however, I did find 3 trends: alcohol (ALL types, unless the enthanol was cooked out), Mexican food, and synthetic vitamins. So, I eliminated all alcohol, almost completely elimited Mexican food (minus bland stuff – i.e. rice, beans & veggies – just no sauces/spices), and replaced the synthetic vitamins with the vegan/vegetarian versions.

6 months has passed since these changes and you know what?  I feel better now than I’ve ever felt.

Thank god.

While yes, I did revamp my diet to fix the problems, I must say that after learning all that I have about food/nutrition, my entire relationship with food has changed.  After understanding the affects of genetically modified grossness, it was almost impossible not to. The majority of what I eat now is all-natural, organic, crunchy granola goodness. I’m hyper aware of everything I put into my body, won’t purchase anything if I can’t read an ingredient listed on the label, and cook as much as I can from scratch.

In case you were curious, my opinion of/relationship with conventional Western medicine has also been completely altered by this experience. I’ll let you take a stab at what this entails. Here’s a hint.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

The long and short of it is this: food allergies can take a long time to surface and cause a lot of damage along the way. Basically, food allergies can & do f-up the entire body for a long time.

While yes, discovering & eliminating the main causes of my sickness was a huge contributor to me getting better, it was only part of the whole. A few additional changes I’ve made: regular exercise, sleeping at least 7 hours a night, and not biting off more than I can chew. Might not seem like much, but for me, the collective changes have made a huge difference.

While it took 3 years to sort everything out, I’m finally back on track *knock on wood*. This type of thing doesn’t happen overnight…it’s an arduous process, to say the least. It took many years, many doctors, and (sadly for my wallet) many dollars, to figure out what was up; however, figuring out/fixing the root cause has been nothing short of a Christmas miracle and worth every last penny.

I’m thankful for everything these past 3 years have taught me, and hope be onward and upward from this point forward!

 

Books & Introverts

Posted by under On A Personal Note

There was a month when I had limited access to the internet about 5 years back. At first this seemed unimaginable (#millennial), but soon after, I felt so refreshed. Without the distractions of the internet, I began filling my time with other activities. Such as reading books. I  read so many books during this month. At the end of the four weeks, I felt inspired/rejuvenated  and made a pact with myself to keep the reading up, internet or not. Not digital books, not my Google Reader, but real tangible books.

I’d admit, I haven’t been completely consistent with this pact over the past 5 years; however, the past 6 months have been fairly successful. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Paulo Coelho. Be still, my heart.

It’s not too difficult to get caught up in the intricacies of Coelho’s plots and storylines. Thought-provoking is the best way I can describe his style. As a bonus, I checked out the Spanish version, entonces, podria practicar mi español.

While the stories he tells are not all that unique, it’s the way Sedaris tells these stories that make him such a wildly popular/successful author.

Greek school! I’m determined to learn. It’s actually amazing how much knowing Spanish has helped me with Greek. The number of times I’ve embarrassed myself in class by answering a question in Spanish thinking I was answering in Greek, is slightly less amazing.

 

If you’re a fan of Seducing the Boys Club, you’ll probably like this read. The truth is, the content seems pretty old-timey; however, if you can look beyond the “ring by spring” vibe, there are all sorts of interesting insights into the communication styles of men and women. Whether the relationship is romantic, platonic, professional, whatever, understanding how others work/think/feel/react/communicate is huge.

After Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs, I was hooked. Klosterman’s wonderfully dry/witty/analytical writing style hits the spot:

Here’s a new development: I’m an introvert! Actually, I’d better classify myself as an ambivert with far more introverted qualities than I previous had thought. Reading Cain’s book made me realize that I (along with many others) had (have) a skewed concept of introversion. After completing Cain’s book and conducting a subsequent self-psychoanalysis, I saw the following introvert qualities in myself:

  • Listening more than talking. Thinking before speaking.
  • Caring less about status & focusing on what really matters.
  • Enjoying a quiet glass of wine with a close friend than a loud, raucous party full of strangers.
  • Careful, contemplative thinking; persistence; sees value in reflection.
The introvert qualities I don’t identify with:
  • Energized by time alone.
  • Not socially inclined.
  • Enjoys solitude.
Cain wrote: ”We’re especially empathic”. We think in an “unusually complex fashion”. We prefer discussing “values and morality” to small talk about the weather. We “desire peace”. We’re “modest”.

True Colors

Posted by under On A Personal Note

Particularly during the final weeks leading up to the big day, I spent time reflecting on what it would have been like to vote before the age of social media? I’ve never experienced it. 

Although SM was present during the last election; it’s of course nowhere near what it is today. Perhaps partly due to hesitancy of “sharing too much”, perhaps because the functionality of SM was fairly basic, perhaps because social integrated wasn’t developed into every website, perhaps because at that point, most people did not have a smart phone, and/or perhaps because the presidential candidates did not have Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Have I mentioned that I have an old soul?

Monitoring my Facebook feed during these weeks was a pretty epic ethnographic experience. So many slanderous posts. Petty arguments unfolded via comment threads. I’m not sure if I was more blown away by the insensitivity of the posts, the accusations driven purely by fallacies, or the blatantly incorrect (or at very best, severely twisted) “facts”. It was actually pretty incredible. It was incredible to watch the power people felt when they are able to hide behind a computer screen.

Thanks to this app, I’ve been able to avoid most of the insanity, and instead saw images such as these:

As for IRL political conversations – I avoided these as much as possible. Because I don’t care or because I’m apathetic? No, of course not.

In the political conversations I have found myself in, there was a trend: I asked a ton of questions in order to understand the other person’s perspective. Why do you feel that way? What specifically do you dislike about the other candidate. Can you site your source for that “fact”? How do you think _____ will affect ______. You know, that sort of thing. Most of the times, these questions couldn’t be answered. Another problem I found: 9 times out of 10, the questions about my beliefs and ideas weren’t reciprocated.

What kind of conversation is that?

Here’s how I classify a quality and productive conversation:

  • Questions are asked by both people.
  • Must be educated on the topics. If you’re throwing out numbers/”facts”, site your source. (No, your Twitter feed and watching the news doesn’t cut it.)
  • Must be thoughtful and open-minded about why someone else might think differently. (No, this does not mean you need to agree)
  • Must have the maturity to understand the other’s position in the context of their life, their experiences, their beliefs, and their priorities.

As for the debates – no, I did not watch these. I take that back – I did watch the SNL election skits and got a kick out of those. Why didn’t I watch the debates? Well, I make decisions based on research. And on history. And on facts. I don’t make decisions based on who has the best speech writer or who is a more charismatic orator. It really is as simple as that.

At the end of the day, I feel grateful to live in a country where we are able to vote. Where women are able to vote. Where we don’t have to worry about blatant voter fraud.

What do I wish for the future? Educated voters. I think back to my grandparents who immigrated to the U.S. Who had to study and study and study in order to take and pass a U.S. knowledge test to gain citizenship. What if we had the same requirement for voting? What if we required voters to be educated with facts and history before earning the privilege to vote?

I also have dreams of a strong 3rd party.

As for the grand finale, I’ll share two of the most “liked” political updates on my FB feed. I drew some opinions based on these…

 

A Day Of Mac & Cheese

Posted by under On A Personal Note

Last Saturday was spent with Google & a group of mac & cheese loving Austinites, sampling the 3 top rated mac & cheese dishes found in Austin. Here we go:

Hoover’s Cooking:

Cover 3:

Jack Allen’s:

I had leftovers for about 4 days after our tour. All 3 restaurants provided incredibly different while incredibly delicious mac & cheese dishes. I’m getting hungry just thinking about the day. Here’s a very brief summary:

Hoover’s: Hearty. Rich. Creamy. Would make an excellent side.

Cover 3: Good for a meal. Breadcrumbs added a nice texture. Pancetta added a nice flavor. Also added alot of salt. This mac & cheese will make you thirsty! Overall, delicious.

Jack Allen’s: We all loved this mac & cheese…which says alot, as Jack Allen’s was our last stop and we were already full of mac & cheese. Great flavor. Great texture. Chicken was seasoned perfectly.

Thank you to Google (Google+Local) for this delicious outing. Looking forward to another. (:

East Side Foodies

Posted by under On A Personal Note

There’s a ton of foodie hype that sweeps through Austin – a food trailer featured in this magazine, a restaurant featured on that TV show. Once this happens, the place becomes a foodie mecca, turning to complete and total madness. Lines stretch for miles and miles, wait times span into years… As waiting in line for food is something I can’t bring myself to do – absolutely not worth it – I do my best to avoid these places during the insanity.

With this said, there’s a super popular hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in East Austin called “Juan In A Million“. It’s been featured on Man vs. Food, so as you can imagine, this place is generally a mad house. I had been wanting to try it at some point, but figured I’d wait for the madness to die down.

Welllll…a few weeks back, one thing led to another and I found myself there. Wait time was less than 5 minutes. A Christmas miracle!

Insanely large portions of  delicious, cheap, greasy, authentic Mexican food is what you’ll find at Juan In A Million. I’m fairly confident my arteries began to cry when my plate was set before me, but let’s be real, I didn’t go there for a healthy meal!

Here’s my plate:

I think I was able to consume about 1/16th of what you see in the picture. I also think I might have offended the waiter when I asked for a box after my plate looked like it had barely been touched. “I do like it.” I told him. “I just can’t eat my weight in nachos this morning. The leftovers will make for a great lunch, snack, dinner, 2nd breakfast, 2nd snack, 2nd lunch and 2nd dinner!”

Here’s the famous Don Juan taco:

The horchata is not pictured, but is some of the best I’ve had.

The wait staff also reminded me why I’m not in the food service industry. If I had that many people packed into a small space that I had to serve every day…well, I’m fairly confident it’d be an epic fail for all involved. (: On the contratry, the JIAM staff were great – friendly, attentive, happy, chipper…you know…all the great characteristics of awesome waiters/waitresses.

 

No Presents On Christmas

Posted by under On A Personal Note, Society + Culture

About 438 years ago when we were kids, my mom would say: “Don’t get me any Christmas presents – I have everything I need!” I remember thinking: “Wow…I really wish I could say the same thing & actually mean it.” I thought it was so amazing that my mom was so content with what she had. I really really really wished I could be content with what I had. It’s not that I wasn’t content…it was more that the excitement of opening a bunch of presents on Christmas morning got the best of me…as hard as I tried, I couldn’t help wanting presents.

Fast forward to 2007. Study abroad. I was allowed 1 suitcase and that was it. How was I to fit 4 months of living into 1 suitcase? FML is what I was thinking.

But I somehow did it. And at the end of my 4 month study abroad, I realized I was completely content with 1 suitcase worth of stuff. And in fact, I was even more content than before because I didn’t have to spend time maintaining all of my stuff. I got to use this time to enjoy life. I lived in a room that wasn’t mine and had my suitcase with my stuff on the floor. It was perfect.

When I came back to the states, I made a decision: I never want to have more belongings than what I can fit in my car.

In 2009 I moved to Austin. I cheated and brought 2 suitcases worth of stuff, as this move was indefinite. Everything else was left behind and none of it was missed.

So now it’s 2011, Christmastime, and retailers are going crazy. Black Friday makes me sad as I am reminded of how gluttonous Christmas has become. I googled “What is Christmas?” and this is what I found:

“The annual Christian festival celebrating Christ’s birth, held on December 25″

So, Christmas is celebrating a birth. Of jesus christ. So, how does celebrating jesus translate to buying mass quantities of gifts for people who are not jesus? I’m not a Jehovah’s Witness, but I do wonder how excess and gluttony have become such a large part of this holiday season. I wouldn’t say I subscribe to a particular religion, but I will say I subscribe to common sense, educating myself, and  holding myself to the morals and values I’ve established. And with this said, to me, our society’s current Christmas traditions/behaviors/expectations don’t correlate with the original reason for a Christmas celebration.

I’m not suggesting we stop giving gifts at Christmas. In fact, I’m suggesting we give gifts year-round. I give a gift when I see something that I know someone will like, whatever time of the year it might be. This is the point of a gift. The reason behind buying a gift should not be because December 25th is rolling around.

David & I did not give each other gifts this year. And I am so happy about that. I couldn’t have said this and meant it when I was a kid, but today, I really can say this and mean it. Of course I still enjoy receiving gifts – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t – but I enjoy receiving gifts when they arrive unexpected and with meaning. For now, I have what I need and that’s enough. And although I might not have a ton of stuff, I am completely content. Why? Because to me, stuff just doesn’t bring value and long-term happiness.  The stuff that’s worth it to me? Memories, experiences, time with friends and family. 20 years later and I finally get it.

The Last Few Weeks

Posted by under On A Personal Note, Society + Culture

Driving through town the other day I came across this complete random and out of place ugly sweater sidewalk sale. Aside from the general weirdness I thought was so great, I most appreciated the unnaturally massive stuffed barney advertising the sale.

I really love reading. However, with so many life distractions, I’ve unfortunately put reading on the back burner more often than I’d like to admit. However, I’ve made it a goal to spend more time reading. Actually I’ve made it a goal to spend more time doing stuff sans technology. I will be the first to say how much I do love my technology…but I do love my IRL hobbies as well. I’m in the midst of reading 4 Hour Workweek. Perhaps this book will give me tips so I can be more efficient both on and offline.

Only in Texas. Need I say more?

When I worked at Old Navy 4 years ago, I could fit into a size small. I am more or less the same size now; however, now I can’t fit into any women’s sizes as sizing has increased so drastically. The small, medium and large tags stayed the same…the clothes are just bigger now. I’d say an Old Navy small today is probably the size of an Old Navy large cerca 2008.

Aside from the feeling of annoyance for having to shop in the kids section if I want to shop at Old Navy…I really just feel sad. If you gain weight, you get bigger clothes, if you lose weight, you get smaller clothes. Clothing companies shouldn’t make clothes bigger without changing the label. I presume this is done so people will have false hope that the bathroom scale is wrong and they actually didn’t gain those extra 20 pounds…impossible if they haven’t gone up a size at Old Navy!

Lame.

I tried this dress on at Old Navy. It’s a size small but it looked like I had tried on a garbage bag with head and arm cutouts. I put the hanger in the pic for size reference. Fail.

So speaking of gaining weight, I made some sweet treats that WON’T make you gain wait, if consumed in moderation. 85% dark chocolate topped with either banana, peanut butter, or died cranberries.

The end.

A Google Places Christmas Story

Posted by under On A Personal Note

Pre-movie Alamo crowd warming activities/entertainment. I will never look at Ovaltine and/or mashed potatoes the same way again.

They showed “A Christmas Story.” It was the first time I had seen the movie AND I managed to stay awake during the entire thing…nothing short of a Christmas miracle! It was a cute movie!

Unfortunately this picture was taken after the movie, or else the milkshake would have looked a bit more pleasant. I’m not a huge milkshake fan, but this was perhaps one of the best milkshakes I’ve consumed.

The flavor was strawberry balsamic…or some similar sweet & savory combo. When I ordered, I figured it would be one of those really gross tasting foodie combos that foodies eat not because it tastes good but because it is original and unique and different…just like them.

AKA, something I probably would find le gross. But no, it was le delicious.

Gracias a Google & Drafthouse! (:

A Note Of Thanks

Posted by under On A Personal Note, Society + Culture

I woke up this morning to find this message waiting for me. I’ll be honest – it made my morning. And now I am off to write my own letter.

So I found your senior pic you gave to me! while i was cleaning my car and I just wanted to drop in and say


1) you are a fantastic person!


2) I am so grateful for your friendship (even though we have not really talked in forever)


3) I feel like I owe you so much because you were one of the best friends ever at writing me on my mission and you will never really know how much I appreciated that and loved getting every single one


4) You are seriously so great! so dedicated! and just one of those people that is not afraid to go for it!


5) I look up to your determination and hard work at doing things, it always seems like you just got the whole world figured out, and what you want from life, and how your going to get it.


6) because of these great qualities you are one of those people that when I think about how to make my life and self better i think about you. and try and be just a little bit more like you!


7) today someone from Brazil wrote me a letter thanking me for my work and stuff down there and it made me feel so great that I wanted to pay it forward, and I hope this made you feel great too! because you are! the end!

Two Weeks In Kansas

Posted by under My Travels, On A Personal Note

Never thought I’d visit Kansas, much less visit Kansas two times in two weeks. …but I did. And this is what I experienced:

A lot of flat land. However, I must say that overall, I saw quite a bit more greenery than expected.

The schools I visited in Kansas have beautiful architecture. Who knows why, but when I was younger, I always pitied kids who went to school on a campus with ugly industrial looking buildings, rather than buildings like these, with the beautiful ornate design.

Here is the hotel where I stayed during the 2nd Kansas trip. It A. seemed too nice of a hotel to be right off of a college campus for the price and B. also doubled as a tanning salon, had terrance bars, observation decks, and last but not least, a subterranean night club, AKA “The Cave”.

A view from one of the observation decks:

Traveling is wonderful, unless you’re talking about maintaining a workout routine. I’m not one of those hardcore people that MUST workout every day…but after sitting on a plane all day or not really moving much during my work day there…I feel antsy and know I won’t sleep well if I don’t get some sort of physical activity in. So, on my trip to Lawrence, I decided to walk to dinner rather than drive.

The walk between the hotel and the downtown area was quite pleasant. I walked through a neighborhood full of old houses with so much character. I presume this was now housing for college students. It reminded me very much of the neighborhoods around UO.

The downtown is quaint. Lots of old little stores and restaurants, lots to look at and observe.

I ended up eating at an Asian noodle shop, Zen Zero. It was DELISIH! My only complaint is the serving size. It was so ridiculously huge – probably could have been about 5 meals. It really makes me sad to waste food…I suppose this is why I usually try ordering off the kids menu…the perfect amount of food, overeating and/or wasting food doesn’t occur…win win.

Regardless of my portion qualms, the food was delicious. I ordered chicken pad thai. Yes, this might sound boring, but alas there is a strategy behind my food ordering. My theory is this: If I get something different each time I go to a new restaurant, it’s impossible to fairly compare restaurant cuisine. It’s necessary to compare apples to apples. SO, when I get thai food at a thai restaurant, I always get the chicken pad thai. Burger place? A plain burger without onions. Pizza? A plain cheese pizza.

And on that note, here is my chicken pad thai:

After dinner, I continued my walk back to the hotel. Like I said before, there were lots of neat little stores to check out along the way. Such as this t-shirt shop:

After the t-shirt shop, I stumbled across this Greek restaurant, The Mad Greek. Like any other normal Greek person, my eyes of course light up as thoughts of gyros, dolmathes, tiropita and baklava infiltrated my brain.

At first I was sad that I did not see this restaurant first. (first world problems?) Then I stopped being sad because I knew I would be in Lawrence for another night and could come back. OPA!

Continuing along with my food critic theory above, I ordered a traditional gyro. It was delish. Wish they had kid size gyros…but I think when you’re Greek, kid size portions of anything (even for kids) do not exist. In fact, I think asking for anything smaller than an unnecessarily excessive portion of any type of Greek food might be considered blasphemy.

The next morning I was happy to find  The Juice Stop. After all the great food I had consumed in the previous two days, I was ready to detox and get back to my regular diet of primarily fruits & veggies. It’s not always the easiest to find these things during travel, so opportunities like The Juice Stop I snag immediately. (:

So there we go. Kansas experience, done & done.

And Then There Were 21,000

Posted by under My Travels, On A Personal Note

I really really really really really hate running. I’ve never liked running. I don’t get any pleasure out of running. It’s bad for knees. It’s bad for joints. It makes me get out of breath. I feel like I’m wasting time…I could be salsa dancing instead! Being sweaty grosses me out. It’s not something I can do past age 40, if I haven’t already blown out my knees before that point.

So, then why in god’s green earth did I run a 5 mile race a few weeks back?

Well, the idea popped into my head about a month before the race and went something like this: “Hmmm. I should do something that’s A. out of my comfort zone and B. something I don’t think I can do, just to prove myself wrong.”

As I was not able to go home for Thanksgiving ($600 plane ticket home? Sadly, not in the budget!), why not run 5 miles instead? And no, not a 5K. 5 miles. At this point, I don’t think I had run more than 5 miles combined in my 24 years of life. I knew this would be an interesting race.

So I trained almost every day for the next month. I did not enjoy the running but I did enjoy knowing I would be tackling a challenge. Meeting a goal.

Most runners set distance or time goals. My first goal was to finish. My second goal was to complete the race without getting a side stitch, “an intense, stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage.” Side stitches are most likely caused by stretched ligaments between the diaphragm and liver. Makes sense, as the impact and jolting of internal organs from running is far more intense than from walking. One way to overcome side stitches is to establish a certain breathing pattern – there’s quite a strategy to it! (Strategy? One of my favorite things! Maybe running isn’t so bad…). To spare you the details, let’s just say I spent most of the race coordinating breathing with my strides. (This actually takes far more coordination that expected). The happy news is…I finished the 5 miles sans side stitch.

Playlists. Intended for runners to get pumped up, motivation, keep the adrenalin going, etc. I presume the type of music in runner playlists usually looks something like: Black Eyed Peas, OutKast, Queen, Rihanna.

My playlist? Not so traditional, but def. got me pumped up and adrenalin was flowing. I’d say my playlist theme was something along the lines of “Classical & 90′s pop”. A sampling:

Lalo, Symphony Espanole

Bach, Allegro Assai III

Ari Hest, Caught Up In Your Love

Warlock, Pavane Capriol Suite

Gavin DeGraw, Chariot

Bloch, Concert Grosso No. 1

Portugal The Man, The Dead Dog

Evita, High Flying Adored

Houston County, I Can’t Make It Rain

Skee-Low, I Wish

Shai 360, One Love

Salt N Pepa, Shoop

LFO, Summer Girls

Stuck In The Middle, Can’t Help Falling In Love With You

So there you go. And now some visuals from the event.

Pre-starting line. Took us more than 10 minutes to make it past the starting line once the race began!

Lots of people dress up for the TT:

I love this sea of people!

5 miles of barefoot running? Holy cow.

Wouldn’t be a true Austin event without a live band. Not sure if these kids were an official Turkey Trot act though…

Perhaps more recycling bins would be good next year!

Finishing! The clock says 1:22:55 but I finished more near the 1:10 mark. As there were 21,000 runners, I wasn’t able to pass the start line until a little more than 10 minutes into the race!

Once Upon An Adventure To Boerne, Texas

Posted by under My Travels, On A Personal Note

After just being in Reno for a week, anything involving fresh air and natural light sounded good in my book. Plus it was David’s birthday…what better way to celebrate but submerge ourselves into the earth?

There are a number of cavern tours around central Texas – I decided on Cascade Caverns. The other ones seemed a bit more commercialized, whereas this one seemed most down to earth (I am so punny).

On the way there, guess what we passed?

If you guessed “a Greek monastery!” welp, you are correct!  I have absolutely no idea how there is a Greek monastery in the middle of nowhere Texas, but there is. And here’s proof:

η αγάπη ζει Ελλάδα!

After our quick Greek monastery detour, we arrived:

Watch out, he’ll getcha:

The tour was great and we really lucked out – the tour before us had about 10 people and the tour after had about 246 boyscouts. Our tour had David and me. FTW!

See that cement looking hole in the middle of the picture below? That is a hole leading down to another cave. They offer a tour in which you must SWIM out to that hole, then lower yourself down the hole to cave. Did I mention the water is freezing? (Obviously I am not the target audience for this escapade).

Y ya! One our later and we surfaced from the cave (the tour was awesome!). This was the first thing we saw when exiting the cave. I wonder how old this sign is? If I owned that sign, I might consider taking it on Antiques Roadshow.

Part 2 of the day involved eating a burger. Something you might or might not know about me is that I love hamburgers. Luckily, David also loves hamburgers. After much Texas hamburger research, I found the perfect place to go. It’s a little cafe, literally in the middle of nowhere, called Alamo Springs Cafe:

Here’s what I ordered:

Ha. Totes kidding. As much as I love burgers and as much as I love challenges, I just can’t be ok with eating my weight in / vomiting my weight in hamburgers. Gross? Perhaps. True? Absolutely.

So we settled with this bad boy:

I would not consider myself a foodie/food snob, but I’ve got to say, this burger was pretty out of this world. Out of all the burgers I’ve consumed, this one makes the top 5 list. In fact, I am getting hungry, right now at 4:14 am, for one of these burgers. They are that good.

Back to Austin we went – time for the grand finale – birthday cake! And by birthday cake, I mean peanut butter mint paradise bakery cookie ice cream cake.

Interlude: David’s favorite cookies in the entire world are from Paradise Bakery. Unfortunately, there are no PB locations in Texas. Fortunately, I was in Phoenix the day before. There is a PB in the Phoenix airport. I had exactly one hour between flights to make it through the terminal, find PB, get the cookies, go back through security, back through the terminal and to my gate. Let’s just say I amazing raced my way through Sky Harbor. Success ensued. 

Back to the cake. Here is it! Sadly, I forgot to grab a picture before digging in. Thankfully, it was because the cake turned out so well, we couldn’t wait to dig in!