Never Give Up GIVEAWAY!!!

Life is good. 

We drove to New Hampshire this morning for our weekend with the girls. First we stopped to see Dr Bri. I was lucky enough to get an appointment at the last minute so he could assess my heel issue. Basically I have achiles tendinitis. After some Gratson and ART, he applied an anti-inflammatory patch with directions to let it rest. 

I hadn't seen Dr. Bri since finishing my menisectomy rehab and moving to China a year ago, so we talked about my knee issues and not running. He knows my history and basically said that I will eventually have a knee replacement. He also said that I don't need to give up on fitness, and that yoga, hiking, and biking are all very good options for me.

This made me think about the book that I just finished, In Her Eyes. The main character lives 100% behind the mantra never give up. In his story he risks a lot to go after his dreams. 

The author of the book, Wesley Banks, has generously offered to let me give away a free digital copy of his book so you can read for yourself what happens to a Ben as he chases his dream. 

To enter, leave a comment telling me one of your dreams/goals that you hope to never give up.

I will pick a random winner and announce on the blog on Monday, April 25, 2016. To receive the digital copy, I will need your email address.

We headed to Portsmouth after having some lunch and hung out with the girls on the decks. It is such an amazing thing to see them in their adult lives. We are so proud of them.

Tomorrow we are all going on a road trip up to Maine.

I can't wait to spend the whole day with them!

Big Hills and a Pea Protein Smoothie

My sister-in-law lives at the bottom of a pretty big hill. Today she took us with her on the route she takes to decompress after a long day at work. At the top of the hill we could see all the way down the Pioneer Valley into downtown Springfield. It was a gorgeous day for walking and taking in the views.

She made us some gluten free blueberry muffins for breakfast. It's hard to eat just one of these!

For lunch I made a salad and went wish listing through the Athleta catalog. They have great stuff. 

I also made a smoothie and used one of the sample proteins sent to me by Naked Nutrition. I've never tried pea protein before. I'm not dairy free, so I mostly use whey proteins. After doing some research, I learned that whey protein is considered "complete" and pea is "incomplete." This means that whey proteins have all 9 essential amino acids and pea proteins are missing some. 

I could not detect a taste to the pea protein in my smoothie at all, although it has been described to me by others as being earthy and grainy. Naked Nutrition pea protein was smooth. Today's smoothie: frozen strawberries and blueberries, almond milk, plain yogurt, and spinach. 

Naked Nutrition proteins are made without additives, essentially stripped of chemicals. Hence the name. I like the sound of that.

Tomorrow we are off to New Hampshire to visit the girls and some friends.

What is your preferred type of protein?

Fitness Friday

This post was ready to go last Friday, but I went to a pizza party at my aunt's and forgot about it. And now we're in Massachusetts after a week in Ohio! 

If shopping counts as exercise, I've been killing it since arriving in the US!

I did however, do some actual exercising today (aka last Friday). Admittedly, it felt really good.

It was a gorgeous morning, so I took my yoga outside to enjoy the cool, clean air. My heel is still firing up when I flex my foot during downward dog, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. 

I took my mom's dog with me to get my brows waxed so that we could walk at the park after. She's little, but she can cover a mile pretty quickly.

My favorite thing to do (besides shopping) when we come home is to enjoy food. I know I can eat salads in China, but it's much easier to get boxed salad here and just gobble it up. 

I started and finished a new romance book about a runner. It's been a while since I read a book that fast. It was really good!

My mom made gluten free chocolate chip cookies. A couple of those with Ohio sunshine and life is good.

We arrived in Massachusetts on Marathon Monday. Booney's adoptive dad was running and we tracked his progress online, but we were super excited to get this via a text.

We got a workout yesterday digging around our stuff that's in a storage unit here. It's nice to have our things so close.

My sister-in-law always has something new-to-me and tasty in her kitchen. I'll be bringing some of this back to China with me.

We finally got our underwater camera pictures developed from our trip to the Maldives in February. 

Hope you're having a great day!!

Pushing through Jetlag

We made it Columbus, Ohio last night, a mere 24 hours after leaving China. No matter how much I plan to beat the jet lag, it always seems to haunt us the first couple of days. Today we were both awake by 3AM.

When you're jet lagged and hungry, waiting for the breakfast bar to open seems like forever. We were rewarded with some awesome fruit and made-to-order eggs though.

While waiting for my BFF to come get me for our day together, I thought a little Yoga Camp session would help keep me energized. I tried to get mrC to join me, but he preferred to preview only.

By the way, do you workout with your significant other? Love this guy for trying. 

After some shopping and lunch, my BFF took me to her stylist at Salon Lofts for a long overdue color and cut. I loved this because each stylist has her own space. No loud conversations or styling tools to try to talk over. While Mitzie did my hair, we hung out, drank wine, and talked and talked and talked. Jet lag was far from my mind. 

Oh and my hair...love it!

While at the salon, mrC met up with my dad who flew in from Florida and mrBFF picked up the kid from school. Then we all met up for a Mexican dinner at Abuelos. I really miss nights like this! 

To make it even better, we brought out the Girl Scout cookies BFF has been hiding in her freezer for a little dessert. 

Jet lag? What jet lag?!

A Hiking Goal and My Chinese IKEA Kitchen

This morning I had a date with mrC to climb the mountain, but first there was coffee. Being an ultimate multi-tacker, while waiting for my coffee to brew, I stepped out to enjoy the morning view of the harbor and do some squats.

We've decided to try to hike the mountain a couple times a week because it's a really good workout. 

Check out these stats: 

4.34 miles covered

54 flights climbed

405 calories burned

97 minutes 

Plus we just feel super awesome when we make it to the top.

The post-hike breakfast was courtesy of mrC and he whipped up my favorite cheesy scrambled eggs and ham.

After breakfast, mrC went to work and I began the waiting game for our grocery order to be delivered. We take advantage of the free service offered by one of the international stores when we need to buy our bulky products: paper towels, toilet paper, laundry soap, napkins. While I waited I foam rolled my calves and used a tennis ball to try to hit the trigger point. My heel was still feeling pesky today when I stretched.

When I was making an afternoon smoothie, I started thinking about how much we have adapted to this "smaller" life we're living here. The people in China are much smaller in stature which makes it challenging to find clothes and shoes that fit us. We used to live on a 2 acre lot in a 3 bedroom two bath house and now we're in an apartment that measures 96 sq. meters. 

This randomness started because I was thinking about the size of my smoothie maker. The small cup makes it hard to get everything I want into my smoothies, but it works.

Kind of like the way my tiny Chinese kitchen works. There's actually a good amount of space to prep as long as you don't store things on the counters, which is true in any sized kitchen, right?

Dishwashers are not common, but sanitizers are. We didn't even use the one in our old apartment, but the layout here makes it easier to wash and load. We usually run it when we go to bed (just like the dishwasher at home). It sanitizes and dries. 

It's also common to have your washing machine in the kitchen (or on the balcony like our last place). This was weird at first, but it's not so bad.

It's also typical for the kitchens in rentals to be stocked with IKEA cabinets.

Does your home have any quirks?