Beach Day and Crazy Tomatoes

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Life is about to be busy–a good busy–for a season. Next weekend I leave for a mission trip with the youth group, will be home for a week, then leave for another mission trip (more on this later this week!), so this past weekend was somewhat of a “calm before the storm.” Saturday we drove to Virginia Beach and met my college roomie Leah for a day of fun in the ~~partly cloudy~~ sun. Other than a couple of brief rain showers, it was a wonderful beach day!

Andrew and I are not exactly “beach compatible.” My ideal day on the beach includes lying on my back, taking a long walk, lying on my stomach, dipping my toes in the water, and repeating. Andrew, on the other hand, turns into a giant 9-year-old as soon as his toes hit the sand.

“What do you want to do first?? Build a sand castle?? Dig a hole?? Body surf?? Throw the frisbee?? Dig a bigger hole??”

I say that with all the love in the world. 🙂 Because marriage involves many compromises, we did a little of both beach methods. We sat, Andrew built a carefully measured, structurally-sound castle (you can’t turn off “engineer”), we threw the football and Waboba in the water, and we relaxed.

Before Leah arrived, Andrew was in the zone building his castle. I thought it would be funny to turn on the self-timer on the camera, sneak up behind Andrew, and take a funny picture without him noticing. Well, as I was walking over, raising our sand-diggers (yes, we bring toys to the beach), I noticed the woman on the blanket next to us looking at me like I was nuts. I lost my nerve, and camera took the photo mid-sneak. It’s not what I had in mind, but I look so awkward that it makes me laugh:

😀

We had a great time catching up with Leah just enjoying the beach! On the way home, we met our friend Allison for dinner. We miss her so much in Richmond, and was so, so good to share a meal and chat for a bit. 🙂

Things were productive on the garden-front this weekend as well. Between the heat and the afternoon rain we’ve been having for the last few weeks, our tomato plants have grown out of control. Part of the problem is that we planted too many too close together; it’s hard to tell which branches belong to which plant now! They’ve long surpassed their 4-ft cages and started flopping over on top of each other. This weekend we had to stake them:

Most of them are taller than their 6-ft stakes, and a few are even taller than Andrew now. Despite the craziness, they are producing lots of beautiful fruit:

We are approaching an exciting point in which we are harvesting a lot of veggies. I know it’s all relative, but we were thrilled to bring these beauties inside yesterday:

They were (we ate them all) the best cherry tomatoes I’ve tasted! Thankfully, there are dozens more ripening at this very moment. 🙂

What did you do this weekend?
What activities do you like to do at the beach?

Staying Active Without a Gym + Weekend Stuff

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Last week I did not go to the gym. Not once. And yet it’s Monday morning, and my legs are still a bit sore from the week’s activities. When we joined a gym a few months ago, part of me thought, “Why are we doing this? We don’t need a gym…” While the gym is very helpful in staying healthy, it is far from necessary, especially now that the weather is warmer. Here’s how we stayed in shape last week, outside the gym:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Spikeball with friends Michael and Lisa (PM)

Wednesday: Running- 30 minutes, intervals

Thursday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Ultimate Frisbee (PM)

Friday: Running-60 minutes

Saturday: Shopping with Andrew (his legs are twice as long as mine… I practically have to run to keep up with him ;-))

Sunday: Frisbee Golf

It was a week full of Andrew’s ideal workouts–those in which you play. I have grown to really enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee; it’s like a sneaky speed workout with lots of sprints over the course of ninety minutes. Plus, the game itself is a lot of fun, running aside. When I woke up Friday morning, my legs felt good, despite lots of prolonged sprinting the night before, so I decided to proceed as planned with my long run. I am trying to be disciplined about building up my mileage, and I did not want to change my plans for potential soreness. The run was a success, but as the day went on, my legs became sorer and sorer (<–is that a word? More sore?) Saturday, it was just embarrassing 😉

Friday night we went to dinner and played putt-putt with our friends Amanda and Diron. Andrew won, I lost by a long shot (or I guess, a series of short shots ;-),) and Amanda and Diron landed somewhere in between. We had a great time!

Sorry for the blurry iphone photo…

On Saturday we went on a quest; we’d been feeling the need for deck furniture ever since this happened back in April:

Kitchen chairs and TV trays… classy 😉

We checked a few stores before finally finding what we wanted at Target. (Is there anyone out there who does not love Target? I have yet to walk in the store and walk back out without spending at least $50. It’s a beautiful place.)

Aren’t those chairs fun?? Andrew was so excited to find a tall set. That evening, he went to a baseball game with a friend, so I had the night to myself and was eager to use the new patio furniture. Every now and then it’s good to have some “me-time.” For dinner I made bruschetta with french bread, fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil from our garden, all heated in the toaster oven.

I have since decided I might live on this food combination for the remainder of the summer. 🙂

Dinner + new magazine + Mike’s Hard Cherry Lemonade in a wine glass to look more sophisticated (hah!)… excellent 🙂

Sunday afternoon we played Frisbee/disc golf at the University of Richmond. I’d played once before, but determined yesterday that this game is an excellent compromise for Andrew and me: it’s essentially taking a walk with a competitive objective. I don’t know the history of the game (and for the sake of what I’m about to say, I’m not going to take five seconds to research it ;-)), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it started when a wife dragged her husband on a long walk through a park; suspecting he might be bored, he brought a frisbee, throwing it as they walked. From there, the only step is adding a few targets.

We had a great time until a thunderstorm rolled in and ended our game early.

And, as usual, Monday arrived too soon. Have a great day!

How do you stay in shape without a gym? Do you ever incorporate “playing” into our workout routine?

College House Reunion

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

First, I apologize for being MIA for the last week; it was pure laziness rather than busyness. I am back!

Last Sunday-Monday I got together with my college housemates. There were five of us that randomly lived in the same dorm suite our freshman year, and we quickly became best friends and rented a house together for the rest of our time at JMU–the Dollhouse.

Amazingly, all five of us still live in Virginia, so it’s not impossible to reunite a few times a year. This week we traveled to Norfolk and stayed with Leah. Before I left Andrew asked what we had planned for our time together, then said, “Wait, let me guess: eat breakfast and talk…go to a coffee shop and talk…eat lunch and talk… find another coffee shop and talk…” 😀 It’s true; we’ve noticed that when we get together, we just talk as we move from one eating establishment to the next.

We all arrived around noon Sunday–two of us from Richmond, two from D.C.–and immediately drove to a coffee/sandwich shop near Leah’s apartment. Then we walked around by the water for a bit.

…And Sarah decided to test-sit a stranger’s boat…after climbing over a locked gate to reach it… 😉

After a while we found a place to sit by the water and enjoy the day. And talk. And laugh. And talk.

Leah, with Kate’s help, reenacted a scene in which she fell while on a run and was groped (she suspects intentionally) by a homeless man who helped her back up. Hah! (Leah, don’t kill me for posting this photo… you are hilarious :-D)

From the water we headed to the grocery store, then back to the apartment to make dinner: quesadillas and bell peppers…

…+ homemade salsa and sangria

I’d also like to mention that our quesadillas were vegetarian because, while none of us are vegetarians, we all decided that the packages of raw chicken were just too gross to touch, and we’d rather go without. Andrew’s mind was blown by this, but it’s one of the millions of reasons that I love these girls. 🙂

It was a beautiful evening so we ate dinner on the back porch, then talked for hours about life and love and pranks we pulled in college (and a few we’ve pulled since…) Then ate ice cream & half-baked cookies. Then talked until we fell asleep. Glorious. 🙂

Monday morning, Leah made us waffles with a strawberry syrup, all from scratch, with strawberries she’d picked herself. It. Was. Delicious. After breakfast, Hannah and Sarah went for a walk while Kate, Leah, and I went running. If there are two things the five of us share, it’s a love for food and a love for fitness. 😀

After running/walking, we cleaned up and drove to the beach! We took lunch to go from a cute sandwich shop and ate on the beach.

It was awesome. Beautiful day… At the beach with my best friends…on a Monday. All I could think was, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Complete in-the-moment contentment.

That is, until Leah turned around and said, “Uh, check out those clouds…”

To the East: perfect beach day. To the West: rain clouds of doom. We sat in the sun and denial for a little longer until I finally said, “You guys, this really is coming towards us. It’s probably already raining on the car.” We packed up, and after trying to wait it out in the car, gave up and headed back to Norfolk.

In our final hours together we parked ourselves back on Leah’s porch, ate pizza (yes, I ate more dairy this weekend than I have in two months,) and squeezed in a few more laughs.

I miss these girls like crazy when we are apart, but thanks to regular life-update email chains, we are always able to pick up where we left off when we do reunite.

(Our one, super-grainy, self-timer iphone photo group shot ;-))

Dollhouse ❤

Running: When Dogs Chase

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Yesterday… was glorious. I took my first day off in three weeks, and I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do. I slept in (until 7:30,) blogged, ran, used a gift card for a massage, watched Netflix, and had dinner with Andrew when he came home from work. The most stressful part of my day was my easy, 30-minute run.

I picked a familiar, relatively flat, out-and-back course through the neighborhoods near my house. About a mile into the run, 100 meters ahead, I saw a woman running toward me with her dog. Then, another dog–a Collie–ran out of a yard, barking at this woman and her dog. I heard the woman yelling, “Go on! Get out of here!” but the dog continued to bark and run alongside them. Suddenly, the Collie turned towards me and began sprinting in my direction, still barking. Oh geez. I stopped immediately, bracing myself for whatever impact I was about the receive–paws, teeth, whatever. The dog slowed as it came nearer, and at this point the woman and her dog were just across the street from me. The Collie’s attention shifted back to them, and I continued running, glancing behind me a few times to make certain I wasn’t being chased.

On the way back, at roughly the same place the event had occurred, I noticed movement in my periphery. I turned to the right and saw the Collie sprinting toward me once again. Again, I stopped. This time, he stopped too, and stared at me. I lunged a bit toward him and said, “Go on!” He barked and ran backwards a few paces. I continued running, hoping the dog would stay put or lose interest, but after a few seconds I heard, ptptptptptpt (<–the sound of four paws hitting the pavement at running speed.) I turned around, took a few running steps toward the dog, and again he stopped and barked. This continued for about half a mile, until he must have lost interest.

While I don’t think this Collie was particularly aggressive, being chased by a dog while running is very scary! Unless it’s a dog that you know, you have no idea if it’s going to jump on you, bite you, or just keep you company. Once, a few years ago, I was running on the sidewalk of a major road by my apartment. It was raining, and I came up behind a woman walking her two (very large) dogs. I was about to say, “Excuse me,” as they were occupying the entire sidewalk, when one of the dogs turned and saw me. Because it was raining, none of them had heard me coming, and I must have surprised the dog, because he and his brother both started snarling and jumping at me. The woman and I both stopped; I took a few steps back, my heart racing at the near attack. I think the woman was equally terrified (startled, anyway,) and yelled, “Next time, speak up!! We didn’t know you were there!!” Dogs.

Aside from that, my day yesterday was wonderful and relaxing. Plus, we had a super-food dinner: Salmon, kale, and quinoa with tomatoes and herbs from our garden.

Basil, parsley, and oregano

Yum.

I hope you had a great Monday as well!

Have you ever been chased by a dog while running? What do you do when that happens?

Stress Relievers + The Day Nothing Went Quite Right

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

You know how everyone loves Friday because it’s the beginning of the weekend, you can forget about work, kick back, and relax? Well, this week when I saw posts on Facebook saying, “I’m so glad it’s Friday!” all I could think was, “Why?! How is it already Friday?! I have so much to do before the weekend!”

Yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days in which nothing went quite according to plan. I have two fairly large work events on Sunday, one of which is a year-end banquet to celebrate the past year in the youth ministry and honor our graduating seniors. The celebration includes a slide show, and while this is always a highlight of the night, it is a tremendous undertaking for the person putting it together (me.) Roughly 200 slides plus music, timed as well as possible. By the time I’ve completed it and run through it a few times with the music, I never want to see it again.

Yesterday afternoon, after finishing and rehearsing the slide show (<–not as seamless as it sounds; more on that in a moment,) I received a text message from my good friend and coworker, Forrest. A little background: Forrest was the youth director before me and is now our Director of Serve Ministries. When we made the switch last summer, I created a new gmail account for the youth group, but Forrest occasionally receives emails to the old account (which is rarely checked anymore because everyone has the new address.) So yesterday, Forrest sent me a text that said, “Uh you better check the other email address. [Someone] sent 15 pictures of [her child] last week for the slide show. Just happened to check it for someone’s email address.”

I felt the blood rushing to my head. Sweat beads were starting to form on my face. The knot in my stomach became tighter.

I opened the old email account and saw one unopened email at the very top:

Wrong. So wrong. Forrest, you got me good! 😀

Prior to this, the projector in our fellowship hall refused to work properly during the test run of the slide show. When I restarted my laptop (this fixes many technology issues at work,) all my documents disappeared. Of course, at this point I had not backed up the slide show. Delightful. 😉

Everything was resolved by the end of the day–my documents folder reappeared, my friend and coworker, Evan, helped me figure out the projector issue, and I didn’t have to alter the slide show. However, the events of the week have inspired a post (okay, a few posts) about stress:

Negative Effects of Stress

Upset stomach

Headache

Elevated blood pressure

Trouble sleeping

Skin breakouts

More susceptible to colds

There are plenty more–and more serious conditions if stress is chronic. No, thanks! So how can we deal with stress so it does the least damage to our health? Here are just a few options:

Stress Relievers

Exercise

Laugh

Yoga

Hugs

Take deep breaths

Listen to music

Talk to a friend

Pray

Take a bath

Drink lavender/chamomile tea

So, take a deep breath, go for a walk, and don’t let the stress get to you. As Forrest told me yesterday, “The sun comes up Monday!!!”

Sleepy, Stressed, and Snotty

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

(No, Snow White did not discover two new dwarfs ;-))

If we spoke yesterday, you likely said something to me along the lines of, “You sound exhausted!” or “You sound a bit snotty!” or “You’re too young to sound this worn out!” After a crazy-busy weekend I was met with a hectic week at work (which, admittedly, was at least 65% my fault,) which meant I did not take my usual post-retreat rest day to let myself recover physically. This is the cycle I’ve been in the last few days: complete as much as possible at work while feeling especially tired (having not caught up from the weekend,) blow my nose about once every 15 minutes due to allergies, have trouble falling asleep that night because I need to blow my nose and am thinking about everything I need to do at work, wake up at 2:31 a.m., blow my nose, toss and turn until 3:17 a.m. because I am thinking about everything I need to do at work, wake up to my alarm feeling more tired and more snotty, skip working out due to tiredness, and repeat.

Generally when I feel less than 100%, medicine is not my first choice of remedies. When I feel sickness coming on, before I do anything else, I rest. I sleep in, skip a workout, and allow my body to heal itself. More often than not, this is effective. My second step is to see if Traditional Medicinals has a tea for my ailment. Usually, they do. (As a side note, their “Throat Coat” tea is pure magic. ) When rest and herbal teas fail, I’ll take medicine.

Rest has been an issue for me this week–I have too much to do to take a day off, and I am not sleeping well at night, which is making me more tired. TM’s relaxation teas are great, but don’t get the work done, and their “Gypsy Cold Care” eases symptoms, but does not remove the pollen from my surroundings. Last night, therefore, I called for backup.

8:45 p.m.–I took Benadryl. I know some people take the stuff regularly to sleep, but I do not! The last time I took it was about six years ago when some allergen made its way into my eye, which started swelling like crazy.

8:55 pm.–Dreamland. I vaguely remember Andrew getting in bed, and the next time I woke it was 7:01, and my alarm was sounding.

Over 10 hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep. My sinuses are a bit clearer. Amazing. I feel a little more equipped to take on the day!

I would like to give a quick shout-out to Andrew, who made an awesome dinner by himself last night so I could do nothing, AND brought me some just-because flowers.

Swordfish and Swiss chard + brown rice (what, you don’t eat swordfish on a Tuesday night? ;-))

When you start feeling sick, do you take medicine, rest, or both? Do you workout when you aren’t feeling well?

Incredibly Easy Pork Tenderloin + Me Time

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Recently Andrew and I had the following conversation:

A: When are you getting together with your college roommates?

C: February 4-5. It’s a Monday-Tuesday.

A: Hmm.

C: Why do you ask? (Fishing for an “I’m going to miss you!”)

A: I was hoping it was on a weekend. I need a weekend to get some things done

around the house without having to worry about “quality time.”

Husbands, right? 😀

I tell you this story so that I don’t look like the bad guy when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed some me-time last night while Andrew was out (he had a work related dinner followed by a basketball game.) No matter how much two people love each other, I think personal time is crucial. While Andrew was off shooting hoops and talking about rocks (mine engineer,) here’s how I filled my evening: Dinner & Relaxation

Dinner

Herb-Seasoned Pork Tenderloin, Oven Roasted Potatoes, and Steamed Broccoli

I would make this meal every week if I were cooking only for myself. Pork is, without question, my favorite type of meat. Here’s how I prepared it last night:

1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp paprika

Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and paprika.

3. Place pork tenderloin on the baking sheet and spoon spice/oil mixture over top. Use hands to make sure entire tenderloin is coated. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

4. Place in oven for 30-45 minutes (Mine took about 35.)

5. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 5-10 minutes (this allows the meat to reabsorb its juices.)

Foil = clean pan and tender, juicy meat

6. Dig in, and enjoy!

Oh man. This came out perfectly. I’d like to take credit, but I think it’s just tough to mess up a pork tenderloin.

I slice in at least 5 places to make sure it’s done. Paranoid? Perhaps. 😉

With the roasted potatoes and slightly over-steamed (in other words, delicious) broccoli, it was a very satisfying meal.

Mmm.

Relaxation

Tea–Easy Now by Traditional Medicinals, in my “C” mug that my sister-in-law Jenny gave me for Christmas! TM has a tea for almost any ailment you could imagine, and I generally turn to them before medicine, for better or worse 😉 Their Throat Coat tea is nothing short of miraculous. Easy Now contains lavender and chamomile, among other herbs, and definitely helps me relax.

Bubble Bath–Who doesn’t love a hot bath? Don’t answer that; I’m sure there are people who aren’t into that. I’m not one of those people.

Bubble bath, tea, magazine… perfect.

It’s good to be alone sometimes. Especially while blogging, when your husband is a super rational, get-things-done kind of guy–

“Why did you take a picture of your tea? <Sigh.> We are raising up a generation of complete egotists.”

Who, me? 😉

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

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