My Weekend: One Sentence Per Photo

March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

Happy Pi Day! We had another good weekend in Cleveland. It included TWO comedy shows, a 5 mile race, some good meals out and ended with a pizza party to celebrate B’s mom’s birthday. Here are some of the highlights – everything I accomplished this weekend, one sentence per photo.

Friday night comedy show – one of my faves, Pete Correale (from my favorite podcast).

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Saturday morning – St. Malachi Church Run! starting line

Post 5-mile race and rocking the bump 😉

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Post-run brunch with BC Cleveland Alumni. brunch

Groceries at the West Side Market – soon-to-be open on Sundays! 20160312_135905

Dinner with B’s parents at The Black Pig and look at that pork shank!

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Sunday morning meal prep.

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Coffee with a view at Rising Star (indoor greenery). 20160313_123733

Spending the rainy day walking and registering.

Pre-Pi Day pizza party for B’s mom’s birthday for dinner!

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Some questions for you:

What’s your favorite pizza topping(s) – are you a plain or one topping pizza or multi topping pizza person? Love all the veggies and then some on my pizza! So deluxe pizza with lots of toppings.
Do you have a favorite podcast? I love Serial or the Pete & Sebastian show.

I’m linking up today with Erin, Katie and the weekly wraps.

Thinking Out Loud: 6 Months Pregnant Musings

March 10, 2016March 3, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 13 Comments

This is the first time I’ve participated in the Thinking Out Loud linkup, and I’m pretty sure there’s no better way to join in than to talk pregnancy. Yes, sorry – my blog is becoming a baking, running, cooking, pregnancy blog. And this is a pregnancy post – so if you don’t care, please don’t read on.

As this is my first pregnancy, I’ve been very in tune to the way other people act, as well as the way I feel. And since Thinking Out Loud is the place for random thoughts (yay!), here are mine. And yes, I realize how cliche this post is going to be – but I DARE you to say so (warning: pregnancy hormones!):

Some people are extra nice to you when they find out you’re pregnant. This has happened to me several times. Case in point- I was at a hotel checking in and the lady behind the counter was pretty rude and not answering any of my questions. When she came around the counter to do something and saw my giant belly, she immediately changed her mood and started talking to me about her kids, motherhood, etc. It was as if a light has switched!

Ok maybe not THAT nice …

Some people love commenting about your belly. Like telling you when it looks bigger some days, that you’ve “really popped” and of course that they knew you were pregnant “because of the bump.” And suddenly feel free to ask about my weight. Yes, I know I look bigger some days. Yes, I feel like I’ve popped. But I also felt that way when I wasn’t pregnant (don’t we all have those bigger days?) and you likely do too – but I am NOT going to comment on your belly!

Everyday activities are just a little bit harder. I’m out of breath walking up hills. I get out of breath trying to talk too fast (which I do quite often anyway). Bending down to put on my shoes has started getting harder (and I know it’s going to get worse!). Oh, and I have pregnancy hormones which make me frustrated easily.

I’m extremely hungry and then extremely full at nearly the same time. I swear, some moments I’m ravenous and I can eat everything and anything. And I do. And then I regret it because I’m fuller than I’ve ever been and have trouble breathing because I’m so stuffed. PLEASE tell me I’m not the only one who has felt this way?

Everyone wants to know if you’re having a boy or a girl. And they’re either EXTREMELY happy you’re waiting to find out, or EXTREMELY surprised/peeved/in disbelief, etc. There really is no middle ground. People are either Team Surprise or Team OmgIcan’tBelieveYoureNotFindingOut

When you meet another pregnant person, it’s like you have your own little club and immediately bond. While pregnancy is different for everyone, there’s something amazing about meeting someone else in the same boat and knowing you immediately have something in common. It’s fun to hear how she’s feeling, how far along she is, cravings, etc. And you immediately talk as if you’re the only two in the world that have this crazy thing going on – when of course, there are millions of other people out there going through the same thing.

It’s very easy to forget I’m pregnant. Despite the bump, the tiredness, breathlessness and people’s comments, there are times I forget that I’m literally growing a human inside of me. I’ll think about grabbing a drink with friends, or the next half marathon I’m going to sign up for – and then boom – I remember. There’s a baby inside of me! And I can’t help but smile 🙂

Thanks for Running with Spoons for hosting this great linkup and helping me get some of this out there! Some questions for you:

Pregnant (current or former) people – what else would you add?
Non-pregnant people (if you’re still reading) – have you noticed you’re nicer to pregnant people sometimes? I never noticed this before I was pregnant.

And leaving you with this … because .. why not. A girl can dream!

WIAW: Sweet Tooth

March 9, 2016March 8, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

Do you have a sweet tooth or a meat tooth? Since pregnancy, I’ve definitely been craving sweets. Even when it comes to veggies or fruits, usually I’m team veggie but I can’t get enough fruits it seems!

For those of you that are new to What I Ate Wednesday, it’s a time for sharing and checking out a random day of eats. I love seeing everyone’s eats and sharing my own! These were my eats from earlier in the week – you can see that I had dessert a few times during the day 🙂

Breakfast was a leftover decaf coffee with milk from Sunday (I had bought some coffee when Starbucks had double the star awards going on .. and of course I didn’t finish it. I’m awful with drinking coffee!), egg whites, veggies, and a clementine. Yum.

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And a mid-morning snack – an apple. I like to cut it up into pieces and eat it while working. 20160307_131947

Lunch was a veggie burger, along with some roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. I don’t know why – but it REALLY hit the spot! 20160307_124816

I made brownies over the weekend and couldn’t help but have one for dessert after lunch. I never really liked chocolate or brownies pre=pregnancy, but fudge brownies are good to me these days. Not cakey brownies or chocolate cake – they have to be fudge. 20160306_130525

Later in the afternoon I also had some fruit salad and yogurt. Have I told you how much I love Siggi’s? The pomegranate and passion fruit is SO GOOD. 20160307_154550

I also had some hard candy throughout the day. Some Werther’s, ginger coconut and some candy I had from Cambodia 20160307_145025

B made me dinner! We had some red snapper, roasted cauliflower and sautéed bok choy and onions. It was SO GOOD.

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And for dessert? Girl Scout Cookies! I had a tagalong and a Do-Si-Do. Peanut butter cookies FTW! 20160307_202350

And in case you didn’t see it – we have a lot of Girl Scout Cookies in our house right now 🙂 20160306_175416

And that was it! A delicious day 🙂

Some questions for you:

What’s your favorite Girl Scout Cookie? Mine are likely Samoas or any of the peanut butter ones.
Were you a Girl Scout? Yes! And my mom was cookie manager one year.
Sweet or savory? Fruit or vegetables?

Training Tuesday: Fewer Miles, Bigger Bump

March 8, 2016March 10, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

I FINALLY signed up for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon! No, not the full marathon, but the challenge series. Since I’ll be about 35 weeks pregnant during the race, I have opted not to do the full or half, but instead I signed up for the 5k 10k program.

I’m so excited about the Challenge Series this year! They just shared the pretty sweet medal too – take a look. And don’t forget to sign up this week!

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Last week’s training:

Week of 2/28: 20.7 miles

Sunday: 3.6 miles: OUTSIDE!

I convinced B to get in a few short miles outside. I’d been out of town, traveling for work and was tired BUT the weather was going to be in the 50s and I really wanted to get in a run before my niece’s first communion.

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This was a super speedy run for me these days. I haven’t seen sub-10 minute miles on the treadmill lately, so being outside it was nice to get in some faster miles.

Monday: 4.6 miles.

I ran 2.25, walked some, then ran some again. Was tired!

Tuesday: 4 miles.

Another indoor run/walk on the treadmill before the elliptical.

Wednesday: 2 miles walk/run on the treadmill

Thursday: 6.5 miles

Finally felt pretty good on the treadmill. Ran slow for me (5.8 mph pace) but was able to keep it up and not walk except for about .5 miles of the entire workout. Woohoo!

Friday AND Saturday: 0 miles

I know, it’s not like me to take two days off, but my legs were SO tired. So I took two days off from running (meaning I did the elliptical or only went for a walk – don’t worry, I still got in 12,000+ steps and a workout) and hoped that Sunday I’d be able to run a little more (spoiler- I did!).

All in all, not a bad week. Fewer miles than usual, but still happy to be out there. Bump and all – as you can see, it’s out!

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Anyway, if you haven’t signed up, don’t forget to do so soon AND enter to win my co-ambassador’s giveaway. This week Jamie is giving away a free entry via her blog!

Questions for you:

Any locals running the Malachi 5 miler this weekend? I am – hopefully!
Have you ever done a race with a Challenge Series – two days and two races?

Perfectly Ordinary Weekend

March 7, 2016March 6, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 12 Comments

I had the perfect weekend. It may have been just perfectly ordinary, but it was perfect. It was a great mix of relaxing (definitely needed – I still feel like I’m playing catch up from last week!), catching up on work (again, still playing catch up), seeing friends, being productive and enjoying the outdoors. The only thing missing? Maybe some family time and a long run, but it will be a while until I’ll get in either of those!

Friday night started out with dinner/drinks with friends. One of B’s coworkers who moved to Seattle was in town and we were meeting up with her and some other people at 8 for dinner and drinks. Let me admit something – I haven’t met at 8 for dinner in a few months. Since being pregnant, my 8 p.m. often looks like PJ and TV time. But it was GREAT to feel like an almost normal person and meet up! We went to Bar Cento for some meatless Friday eats (pomme frites with their dipping sauce and pizza) and a few drinks (obvy none for me). Note – I didn’t take the pics below, I was actually not on my phone most of the night!

Not our pizza. This is from their website. And ours didn’t have meat. (Friday Lent)

Image via cleveland.com

Saturday morning B and I decided to be productive and start our baby registry. I’m not going to lie – setting up a baby registry is not as fun (at least for me) as a wedding registry. Mostly because the entire time these are the thoughts running through my mind:

Do we even need that? I don’t think those existed when I was a baby.
HOW many options exist for that?
Wait, that costs how much?
Half of the reviews say this is a life changer and the other half say DO NOT BUY or your baby will end up mangled, blind in one eye, allergic to every single nut, seriously traumatized, etc.

And there went our Saturday morning. Seriously, I think we spent four hours at Starbucks and registered for four things. Before we knew it, it was time to go view some houses. No – we’re not moving; but we’ve been looking at houses for several years now. We decided to go for a walk after looking at houses and came across the A Christmas Story House! (confession – I’ve lived in Cleveland for almost 10 years and I still haven’t seen the whole movie AND this was my first time seeing the house)

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We then hit up the West Side Market for the first time in a while and I was SO happy. We have been either out of town or busy on Saturdays and it was great to pick up some things again. I ❤ the Market!

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And it was already around 3:30 pm and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so we made a quick stop to Souper Market. Their curry cauliflower and chickpea soup hit the spot! Large chuck of bread not included.

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After Saturday afternoon Mass, B had plans to go to a high school basketball game. I decided to stay in and do some baking. Double fudge brownies. Yes, please!

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Sunday morning started off a little early – I couldn’t sleep Saturday night (is this going to become a normal pregnancy thing?) because I couldn’t get comfortable, so I spent the morning cleaning a little and catching up on some work. I dilly dallyed until B got up and then finally got off my butt and went for a run.

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It was the first run in a while that I’d run outside by myself. I don’t know why, but since I started to seriously show, I’d been a little anxious about running alone outside. But today, B didn’t feel like running and I knew I could do it on my own. So I did. Yup, it’s the little things – I’m proud.

The afternoon included some meal prep and grocery shopping.

My grocery store is prettier than yours, isn’t it?

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Oh and my favorite yogurt was on sale. Little things make pregnant me super happy 🙂 20160306_140933

Speaking of being pregnant, I’ve really really popped. I’m a little more than 6 months now and can’t imagine 4 more months of this!

24 weeks 5 days

Our Sunday ended with a walk and Sunday dinner at B’s parents’ house.

chilly but nice day for a walk

Spaghetti, meatballs and gelato!

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Some questions for you:

Do you have any Sunday night dinner traditions?
What’s your favorite yogurt? Do you like yogurt?

I’m linking up today with Erin for my weekend snapshot post, Katie for MIMM and the weekly wraps.

Foods Not In My Routine

March 2, 2016February 27, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

For today’s What I Ate Wednesday post, I’m bringing you something NEW. That’s right – not a normal, typical routine day (egg whites for breakfast, lunch in the office and then dinner likely at home); instead, this is a non-routine eating day. It included both lunch and dinner out, due to dr’s appointments and travel. Aren’t you so excited? (yes that may be sarcasm…unless you really are excited? Then good for you!)

In the morning I started my day with a pretty good run. I haven’t had many of those lately but I was able to get in 5.75 miles pretty much nonstop on the treadmill.

After the run, for breakfast I was craving some fruit. And nut butter (as I mentioned last week, I have a rotation of around 4-5 nut butters in my pantry right now). I’ve eaten more fruit and nut butter during my pregnancy than I typically eat and this day was no different. As I was making breakfast and some tea, I enjoyed a hard boiled egg white. I made myself a fruit salad and had some nut butter on it and on the side. A spoonful of natural peanut butter and natural sunflower seed butter was perfect.

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In the afternoon, I had a doctor’s appointment, (I’ve come to realize that I now have a lot of these!) so I grabbed some food while I was out. Aladdin’s V9 soup (their amazing vegetable soup) with feta on top, plus some pita and hummus. SO good. I love Aladdin’s hummus!

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I had some snacks in the afternoon back at the office – an apple, a sweet/salty bar and some unsalted cashews throughout the afternoon. I knew we’d be eating a late dinner – likely at the airport, as I had a flight to Philly for a conference that evening.

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Welp, plans changed. My flight to Philly was cancelled and then as I was at the airport, the next flight out got put on a delay and would ultimately mean I’d miss my connecting flight and be stuck in Charlotte overnight. Since my conference was the next day, I didn’t want to chance getting stuck in Charlotte and not making it, so I made the ultimate decision to drive. It was already pretty late by the time I got on the road (7:30ish), so dinner wasn’t until around 8:30 and at a rest stop on the high way. The rest stop had McDonald’s and a pizza place. I was craving something warm, sweet and comforting – and ultimately I ended up with a fruit/yogurt parfait and an oatmeal from McDonald’s. Surprisingly, both hit the spot.

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That was it! Not a typically eating day for me, that’s for sure, but it did the job. And I made it to Philly safe and sound, around 3:30 a.m. I may have had a few bites of an apple and a chocolate covered peanutty bar sometime after midnight, but let’s say those count for the next day … right?

Some questions for you:

Are you a lucky traveler? Or do you typically have travel woes/issues?
Do you have a typical rest stop/on-the-road meal?

Training Tuesday: Still Running (6 months pregnant!)

March 1, 2016March 3, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

It has been two weeks since I last updated you on my training and I have two thoughts to share:

Running is getting much harder. At 6 months pregnant, I’m feeling the pain that I heard other runners share with me, especially, er, bladder issues (it always feels like have to pee!) and breathing issues (it’s so much harder for me to catch my breath).

I’m still doing it! I had another good few weeks in terms of miles. Were they easy runs? No. Were they a lot slower than my usual runs? Yes. Did I walk some? Yes. But I’m still happy I’m keeping up with it.

Onto my weeks.

Week of 2/14: 24.55 miles running/walking

Sunday: 3.6 miles.

My parents were in town and I had about 30ish minutes to kill before seeing them, so B convinced me to hop on the treadmill for a quick run. This was my best feeling and fastest treadmill run in weeks!

Monday: 4 miles.

These treadmill miles were not as good and slow. But happy to get them in.

Tuesday: 6.2 miles run plus 1 mile walk

Another pretty good run day! I ran a little faster than I have been and after the first 2 rough miles, I felt relatively good and kept it up. I had no plan on how far to run and that helped – I kept telling myself to go a little further, a little further, etc. and then before I knew it I told myself I could do a 10k. And I did!

Wednesday: 2.25 miles walk/run

Wasn’t feeling it. Ended up doing the elliptical after giving up around 2.25 miles.

Thursday: 3.25 miles

Not feeling it again.

Friday: 0 miles.

I just couldn’t run. I got on the treadmill and my feet hurt. My legs hurt. My whole body was not able to run more than a few tenths of a mile – so I got on the elliptical instead.

Saturday: 4.25 miles OUTSIDE!

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Week of 2/21: 28.6 miles

Sunday: 3.25 miles OUTSIDE! Plus a 2-3ish mile walk outside with B.

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Monday: 2.1 miles

Run then elliptical.

Tuesday: 6.2 miles

10k on the treadmill! First 2 were the worst and then I kept it up and finished. No breaks except at 5.75 to tie my shoe quickly. Which is progress for today- 23 weeks.

Wednesday: 4 miles

Thursday: 0 miles

Had about 4 hours of sleep after driving to Philadelphia for work conference and not getting in until after 3 a.m. I had plans to run, but spent the whole day in a haze. Being pregnant makes me tired. Being pregnant and not getting any sleep makes me even more tired.

Friday: 5.5 miles run/walk

Testing out the hotel gym before my conference. Managed to get in 5.5 miles somehow.

Saturday: 4.5 miles run/walk

Another tired run and little sleep the night before. Up late at the conference, but managed to get the tired legs to move.

All in all, not a bad two weeks. If I can keep this up another 4 months, I’ll be happy!

Questions for you:

How did your workouts go this week?
Do you have any races coming up? I signed up for the St. Malachi Church Run. It’s a 5 miler, and I’m hoping I can do it!
AND as an ambassador for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, I’d be remiss not to remind you to sign up for the race! Haven’t signed up yet? My co-ambassador Debi is giving away an entry this week- enter here!