Not a lot of exercise but lots of fresh foods!

You guys, I have been cooking and eating such real foods lately, it's making me happy!  I also had a really fun weekend, which is something I've needed a bit.  I still haven't been feeling well and getting weird headaches, anxiety, and some uneasiness but I'm making progress and I hope that some of the fun upcoming activities I have (Waukewan!!!) will help relieve some stress as well.

So, although it's Monday night already, did you guys have a good weekend?  Mine had just the right mix of friends, good food and drink, being outside, and laziness.  It's such a good feeling when all those things come together to equal a fun few days.

On Friday, I headed from work to a friend's going away party that was at another co-worker's house.  It was a nice night out and great to catch up with people I haven't seen a while.  The hosts of the party had some adorable kids, which is always fun for me since I'm a kid myself.  It was also fun to get a compliment from one of their daughters... after playing and chatting with her for a while, I guess she went up to her mom and asked what my job was at work and said she wanted to do what I did when she grew up.  That really made my night!  Well, that and this pretty sunset we had:

From the cookout I went to dinner and drinks with some friends in Saratoga.  For those of you unfamiliar with upstate New York, Saratoga is about 45 minutes from where I live.  It's a really beautiful place and I have quite a few friends who live there.  We are about to head into the 6 weeks of the year that Saratoga residents dream about -- track season.  There is a big horse racing track in Saratoga and once the track is in session there is ALWAYS lots of fun stuff going on in Saratoga and people come from all over to visit the track, restaurants, and night life in 'toga.  You'll likely be hearing about more trips to Saratoga in the coming weeks!

Saturday I tried out a new class at the gym -- my only workout in quite some time -- and then did a few errands, including picking up my bike from the tune up shop.  Considering I am competing in a sprint triathlon in a few weeks, I figured I should probably get out and get some bike rides in.  Or else race day could end up being quite problematic.

I am not sure why I haven't been able to get back in the groove of training for something.  I need to really shake myself out of the funk that I am in or else my upcoming tris and half marathon are going to be terrible.  This weekend, I had to back out of something that I was really disappointed to have to do -- the Boilermaker 15K.

I had registered back in January and on Thursday I made the decision to not run.  I was having a horrible headache and spent about 30 minutes at work curled up in a ball in the bathroom because I was also nauseaus and just thought to myself... this isn't smart to try and run the race.  I deferred my enrollment to next year, but it still makes me really disappointed to not compete in something that I had set out to do.  Aside from these weird headaches and dizziness I've been getting for a week or so now, I  also just hadn't been training.  The longest run I've done in a while was the Saratoga 4-mile race.  Once I made the decision to not run, although disappointed, I did feel a bit more relaxed though.

One of the highlights of my day on Saturday was going out to the farm to see where the food that I get from my CSA is grown!  It was a really cool experience and I definitely will be heading back in future weekends.

I was able to pick some snap peas, basil, cilantro, parsley, and flowers to take home with me, which made my car smell SO good.

On the way back from the farm I stopped at a little farmer's market and got some blueberries, raspberries and tomatoes.  I was really excited to dig into this food!

I made myself a snack plate almost as soon as I got home.  It included a fresh cut up tomato with some salt and some balsamic glaze I made recently.  A cut up cucumber, pita chips, and hummus and some berries.  All delicious!  The cucumber was from my CSA basket so slowly but surely I'm ticking away through that food.

I also tackled the beets that I had gotten from the CSA and made BEET HUMMUS!  I am so excited about this you guys.  It's so pretty and pink and tastes delicious.  It is great for people who don't think they are beet fans, such as myself.

It made a lot, so I threw a container into the freezer so that I can save it for when I m having people over some time in the future!  Or just when I want some beet hummus :)

I continued my healthy eating throughout the day with another salad of CSA lettuce, grilled chicken, goat cheese and chili lime roasted almonds.  Then met up with some friends for a nice evening out with lots of laughs and good conversation.

And then Sunday, even more laughs and good conversation in Lake George, where I went with a friend and one of her best friends who was visiting for the weekend.  It was a beautiful day and we spent it hanging out the beach at Lake George.

I brought some yummy snacks along including beet hummus and some cut up watermelon.  It was such a great summer day!!

All good things must come to an end though, so the weekend did conclude eventually (booo!)  I didn't write last night though because I kept my weekend going as long as possible and had a friend over and spent the evening hanging out on my porch drinking Coronas with lime.  Gosh, I love that porch!  Although the bugs are pretty terrible out there.  I had bought some citranella candles but they didn't seem to do any good last night.  Anybody have any suggestions to keep the bugs away?

Today I skimped on a workout yet again because I was feeling dizzy but I did do some fabulous grilling and cooking with more CSA food... grilled summer squash, zucchini, scallions, and some sweet potato I had in the kitchen.  Along with some chicken sausage and a cilantro/lime sauce I put on top.  All delicious and plenty leftover for tomorrow!

I am heading to bed because I am supposed to get up really early to run tomorrow.  It will be my first run since the 4th of July so I am nervous but I really, really want to be able to do it!!  Wish me luck.