hummus and huckleberries

Happy Music

Isn't it weird that sometimes just thinking about things that make you happy is enough to actually make you feel happy? That's how I felt coming up with this list. The music that is most likely to give me the quickest "hit" of happiness is usually cheesy, easy to sing to, and condusive to car dancing. If you've ever seen me jamming out at a stop light, you'll know what it is that I am listening to :)

The Oldies: Ac-Cent-Tu-Ate the Postive by Johnny Mercer, Friendship by Johnny Mercer and Judy Garland, Singing in the Rain by Gene Kelly, God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

The Random: Mr. Blue Sky by ELO, Cracklin Rosie by Neil Diamond, Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson, Shiny Happy People by R.E.M, Uhn Tiss by Bloodhound Gang, I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones, The Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric, Whip It by Devo, You Make My Deams Come True by Hall & Oates, Escape by Rupert Holmes,

The Less Embarassing: Song for the Sunshine by Belle and Sebastian, I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones, Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric

Also anything by Journey and Lady Gaga. I'll cop to that.

What are your favorite "happy songs"?

Thinking...

I am not 100% sure that I want to do Team in Training, but I feel weird since I already announced that I am doing it on Facebook and sent an email out to my friends and family. Mostly my issue with it is raising the $3500 participation minimum. It's a lot of money. That's a wee bit more than I take home in a month and given the state of the economy and the fact that a lot of people don't have as much discretionary income, I am really not sure about raising that amount of money. Even if I got a part time job, I am not sure I would be able to raise the amount of money needed for the minimum.

So my dilemma is this: do I stop now or continue asking my friends and family to donate, when it's unsure if I'll be able to make the minimum? It's a great cause and a good organization so it's not like they'd exactly be throwing their money away. But the fact is that they most likely wouldn't choose this organization to donate to if I were not involved with them. Added to that the fact that the race is January 9th, which is both my dad's birthday and a really really really bad time to take vacation time at my office. Hmmmmmmmm.

I am considering registering for the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon in case I don't make the minimum for the January marathon.

Anyways, I started today with that delicious food blog phenomenon.....vegan overnight oats!

 

I made mine with oats, So Delicious Coconut Milk, vanilla extract, and shredded unsweetened dry coconut. In the morning, I mixed in some peanut butter (from the grinder at Whole Foods! No sugar or oil added!).

   

This is what I used to make my VOO. It's a little odd because I don't really taste the coconut at all. I have never had this kind of coconut milk beverage before and it's growing on me a little.

Lunch was...  

Rice and Beans, watermelon, two 'green' plums, and some dove dark chocolate. Let me tell you, those freakin' plums were the best thing I ate all week. I got them from Hmart a week or so ago and was a little worried because the lychee's that I bought were not so great. The flesh is a perfect golden color and juicy. I hate it when people say that fruit tastes like candy, but in this case they truly did!

After work I went for a 2 mile training run. I finished the run in about 19:30 which is pretty good for me! Usually I am closer to a 10 or 11 minutes.

I had a cliff bar after my run.

And stirfry for dinner.

It was ok. I dumped too much Island Teriyaki sauce on once it was in the bowl.

I made up for the dinner fail with .....

Yum! Strawberry fruit bar!

Now I really want a glass of wine....

About Me

Some Random Facts About Me:

Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Favorites:

Food: hummus, cereal, Popsicles, saag, currants, rice and beans, peaches, apples, peanut butter, bbq chips, pizza (no cheese, lots of veggies), avocados, sweet potatoes

Drinks: Water, tea (I hate green tea!), lemonade, a Baltimore concoction called Half n' Half (1/2 lemonade, 1/2 iced tea)

Movies: The Princess Bride, Amelie, Zoolander

Exercise: Running, swimming, yoga

Fun: Wii, Mindless TV (hello Bravo!), magazines, books, knitting and crochet, volunteering, trivia, bowling, hiking

Hates: Eggs, cilantro, dairy products

Work: I am an administrator for a public school system. I work in special education and was a teacher for a few years. I loved teaching but wanted to see how the district works on a district level and get some admin experience. So far, I love it.

My First!

Hi! My name is Christie and welcome to my new blog, Hummus and Huckleberries! I am so glad that you've stopped by :)

I started this blog to document my journey as I live healthfully and follow my dreams. I consider myself a pretty happy person all around as I not miserable, but I do feel like I could be happier. So this will be like my own little happiness project too. Generally I feel like I am searching for something and this blog will hopefully help me figure out what that something is. I decided on the name "Hummus and Huckleberries" because I eat hummus practically everyday and huckleberries because

a. it's a funny word

b. huckleberries are delicious and generally found in the wild (like me!) and

c. it's alliterative with hummus.

Here's a picture of a huckleberry:

 

It looks like a blueberry, right?

Here's a picture of another kind of huckleberry:

This is my cat, Huckleberry, after I got him shaved a few months ago. He's a fluffy Himalayan and he won't let me brush him without a fight. So once a year I get him clipped. The groomer says he likes it and since it saves me from bandaging and iodining my arms for a few months, it works for me. Plus look at how cute he is with his leg warmers!

Just yesterday, I signed up for the Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I'll be training to complete the Disney Marathon in January. I finished my first training run of two miles and felt pretty good today. It's rainy today so I ran on the treadmill. Dinner consisted of:

golden grahams and rice milk. Not the healthiest, but it was easy and yummy.