5 Things Tuesday 6/25/2013

Hello all, hope your week is going well. The weather here is hot and humid all day with a chance of thunderstorms pretty much every afternoon. Awful running weather, but here's a little update of random Tuesday thoughts and things that happened over the weekend!

1.  Marathon Training Week 1 is over!
I joined a marathon training group through the local running store Charm City Run and ran a couple times during the week on my own. Saturday was the first long run of the training plan, and I was super nervous because I haven't had a "long run" in a couple months probably.  I ended up doing 9.75 miles and feeling great! Our coach reminded us that long runs should be relaxed and slow-just get the distance done! I'm excited to make more progress in the upcoming weeks. 

2. Cleaning out my closet makes me feel great. 
I clean out my closet a lot because I have a shopping addiction for clothes and shoes.  I make sure to get rid of things when I keep adding clothes to my closet.  I had a big bag of clothes and old housewares to take to Goodwill that had been sitting in my living room for ehhhh, 4 months?  I finally made the trip to drop them off this weekend and clear out some space! I also dropped off 2 bags of clothes which were in good condition to this store Uptown Cheapskate which is like a Plato's Closet where they buy and sell gently used clothing. 


I ended up getting $25 store credit which is awesome and picked up some cute clothes including a Banana Republic blue and white striped button down for $14! The best purchase of the day however was a pair of gray Lululemon yoga pants for hold up- $18!!! They are an older style, and I'm not sure which exact type, but they are SO comfy and fit great.  I love finding great deals like that, especially since I really can't affording shopping at Lululemon more than once a blue moon. 

3. I need to buy some leeks. 

Last night was a cooking class at Waterfront Kitchen in Baltimore about baking pies and tarts which I had bought as an anniversary gift for my boyfriend.  It was carb city and included lots of wine, but we had delicious fruit tarts, apple pie, chicken pot pies with sweet potato crust, and that baby pictured above-a leek tart.  I never buy leeks, but that tart was my favorite and included my other love-goat cheese. The flavor was incredible so I'll definitely have to make that soon and even maybe make my own pie crust from scratch since now I've learned the proper technique!

4. NuNaturals Stevia is my favorite brand.

A while back NuNaturals sent me some of their products to test out and review. They sent me so much stuff to try that I'm just getting around to trying it all! It has definitely become my go to brand of stevia! I received 5 glass bottles of pure liquid stevia  including peppermint, vanilla, chocolate, lemon with my standby being the alcohol free plain flavor.  The liquid mixes in to oatmeal, smoothies, batters, and pretty much anything a lot easier than the powdered form.  

The liquid vanilla was the first to be used up because it was just SO delicious in my oatmeal and smoothies.  I used it instead of adding vanilla extract or any sweeteners.  

They were also kind enough to send some white stevia packets, stevia powder, and quick dissolve stevia tablets.  The quick dissolve tablets work really well in hot coffee and tea.  They also sent a bag of their PreSweet™ Tagatose for baking.  It is a different natural sweetener than stevia but is still calorie free and really great in muffins and cookies. It is safe for diabetics because it doesn't raise blood sugar levels either!

I definitely recommend trying out their brand of products and their all natural stevia.  You can buy them on their NuNaturals website, at Whole Foods stores, and at iHerb.com ( use my code CGN986 for $10 off your first order of $40 or more or   $5 off orders less than $40 if you've bought from them before!)

Disclaimer: I was sent NuNaturals products for free and received no compensation for my review. All opinions are my own.

5. Baltimore Women's Classic was a pretty awesome race. 
I ran the  BWC 5K in Baltimore this past Sunday which actually proved to be awesome (recap to come later this week!)  and pretty speedy for me!

Do you have any great recipes that use leeks? How was your weekend?