Post Cleanse

Okay, so I lied!  One more cleanse post - I must have gotten in the habit. 

So today was the first official day off the cleanse and I think it was the hardest day yet.  Now that I don't have a plan to follow, can I continue to eat healthy without the structure? 

The morning started off fine with an all fruit smoothie from Jamba Juice.  Strawberries, grapes, & apples for mid morning snack.  Still not doing too bad.  And then lunch time rolled around.  Crunch!  Someone snacking on a chip.  Mm, chips.  I'm usually not a chip person, but right then they sounded so good!  Crunch!  Time to go to the grocery store to pick up more grapes, avocado, and yogurt!  Yes, we can eat dairy now!  Oh but all the sights and smells of the grocery store.  But we stuck with quinoa for lunch.  And then came afternoon snack time and the smell of popcorn wafting through the office.  Carrots, I like carrots.  And grapes.  Not popcorn, grapes.  So yeah, it was a tough day, but I made it through.  I don't know about all this healthy living stuff! :)  I know I'll slip up all over the place, but for now I'm trying to respect the fact I have "cleansed" my body and keep it somewhat clean for awhile longer.

So jumping topics, there are a lot of things I don't like about the new building we moved into, but number 1 on my list (at the moment) is the parking!  There is not enough parking and the spots are super tiny.  Normally I am someone who parks, if not in the same spot, in the same general vicinity every morning and now I can't do that.  Grr!!  And forget leaving during the day - most likely you will come back to no spots and have to park at another building (this is from personal experience).  Ah, change.  They say it is good for you...

Summer Color Week: Green

It's not easy being green over at Poppytalk's Summer Color Week.

Summer Color Week: Yellow

Orange you glad it's Yellow over at Poppytalk's Summer Color Week?  Tommorrow it is green!

Summer Color Week: Pink

I'm late to the party once again, but over at Poppytalk they are doing a Color Week. I've actually been thinking about doing one as well so I'm joining in! The schedule is:

Monday: Pink
Tuesday: Yellow
Wednesday: Green
Thursday: Red + White (Canada Day)
Friday: Blue

Cleanse, Day 7

I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could!  The cleanse is officially over, and I made it.  Today was very similar to yesterday - except with a little more quinoa!  And pineapples.  I love pineapples.  I did a lot of searching for quinoa recipes to try after, so now that it is basically after, I am going to get to cooking.

Fruits & veggie days are a lot harder than liquid days.  I was running around all morning and didn't get to lunch until later.  As I was walking towards the lunchroom, someone walked out with a slice of pizza.  PIZZA!!!  You know what sounds good?  Margherita pizza in a cafe in Roma, sipping on Chianti, with a stop afterwards for gelato!  I am drooling as I write this, imagining the taste and the smell. 

Do I feel better?  Eh, debatable.  Have I stopped craving things?  Not hardly (as evidenced by my daydream above).  And it has been a week since I have had coffee - we'll see how long I go, but I don't think that is a habit I have kicked.  Will I think about food differently?  Hopefully!  Would I do this again?  They recommend you do it 4 times a year, and while I don't think I'll do it that often, it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be, so yes, I may do this again.

Cleanse, Day 6

Okay, there is light at the end of the tunnel!  After tomorrow daily updates on the cleanse will cease as I will have successfully made it through!  Today it was back to fruits & veggies and it was a lot harder than the liquid days.  I think in part because it takes thought about what to eat and work to wash and cut up the fruits and veggies!

• Breakfast - back to my smoothie (no milk this time), just a banana, frozen strawberries, blueberries, and water and blended together
• Lunch - carrots, nectarine, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and an apple (are we sure cool whip isn't a fruit or vegetable?  I love blueberries, strawberries & cool whip - it is my favorite 4th of July dish!!  Good thing cool whip will be allowed by the 4th.)
• Dinner - quinoa (a day early, so slightly cheating, but still not bad), avocado, and pico de gallo

We didn't have much of the quinoa, to test out how our tummies would handle food after 3 days of liquid.  So far, so good.  Nilufer decided to join the cleanse late, so she is on Day 1 of fruits & veggies.  I think she hates us right about now. 

Oh, and I'm playing around with a few new colors, backgrounds, etc.  So bear with me as I experiment!

Cleanse, Day 5

Day 5 is almost at a close.  I was running around a bit today, which I was a little nervous about - not having the lemon juice always at hand.  I survived the liquid portion and now its on to fruits tomorrow!  Yippee!!  (and maybe quinoa - but this time it was Jessica who suggested we cheat)

This morning started off with England v Germany (wow - gotta give it up to the Germans!).  Should I even bother to say my last two teams, since my top two are now out?  Germany & the Netherlands.  I'm sure another team will capture my attention - it usually happens (last time it was France).

Next up was the 5K.  I left in plenty of time to arrive early, but what do they say about the best laid plans?  The directions on the race website were horrible and my GPS had me going too far.  I should have looked it up prior to going, but I had an idea of where it was so I relied on the GPS & the directions.  All of this resulted in me arriving at the race just as it started.  Fortunately, it was a super low-key race.  I met my co-worker Teresa and her dog Hooper and we started out.  The trail was really nice - along the water.  Our pseudo goal was to keep our time around 15 minute miles, but that didn't quite work out.  It might have been close if you subtract out the bathroom stops (once for us, once for Hooper).  But it was still nice to get out.

And then it was off to church, with a pause to drink some lemon concoction and water.  From there it was time to get a massage!!  Ahh, so relaxing!

In between all the activity were sips of lemon mixture and water.  Do I feel better?  Eh, I'm not noticing a huge difference.  A cheeseburger still sounds so good.  I'm finishing up my lemon for today and then it might be time for bed.  Because when I'm asleep, I'm not thinking about food! :) 

Night, night!

Cleanse, Day 4

Wow, am I really 4 days into this thing?  Each day continues to get a little easier.  Day 2 of liquids is almost done, with only one more day to go!!  I continue to have a headache, but it has diminished.  Thank goodness! 

I slept in the morning, which doesn't normally happen on Saturdays as I usually go to an 8 a.m. kickboxing class.  But with the lack of food I decided to skip this weekend.  In fact I haven't done much of any exercising in the past few days.  I am signed up for a 5K tomorrow, which I am planning on doing, even if I need to walk the whole thing.

It's a good thing I slept in today (besides the fact it was a couple extra hours I didn't have to think about food) so I can get up and watch England v Germany tomorrow morning before the 5K.  This will be another game where I am conflicted in who to pull for.  In the end, I'm for England, but I won't cry if Germany wins.  And either way, I'll have a team in the quarterfinals!  Go Three Lions!! 

Yes, my World Cup fever has not diminished even though the US is out.  It was great fun while it lasted!  I forget how much I enjoy watching soccer (or football) until the World Cup rolls around. 

Anyone else really craving a cheeseburger?  I have done a better job at pacing my lemon mixture today.  I did make a colossal mistake today - I changed the brand of maple syrup, and my palate is not loving this one as much.  I should have stuck with what I knew worked.  But yes, even though today is easier, I would still really love a good cheeseburger right about now.  After this is over I will be very interested to see if my cravings really do subside. 

Cleanse, Day 3

I had been planning to write that today actually hadn't been that bad.  And then I finished the last of my allotted lemon juice concoction and my tummy started grumbling.  But really, I was surprised that today went as well as it did considering today was the first day without solid food.  Nope no real food - water and a lemon juice/maple syrup mixture only.  On the happier side, the headache was much diminished today. 

Why lemon juice & pure maple syrup?  According to my book, the lemon juice is a good cleansing agent and the pure maple syrup contains many minerals and vitamins and is a balanced natural sweetener. 

I wasn't sure how this first day of liquids was going to go, but I continued drinking water and tried to spread my lemon juice mixture throughout the day.  And one thing that probably did help is the fact my new cube is not anywhere near the kitchen so I wasn't bombarded with smells.  Oh, and that no one brought in donuts to celebrate Friday.  Also I think I knew I was on liquid today, while the previous days I knew I could eat food, I was just limited.  Whatever the reason I am thankful to be through the first all liquid day.  Only 2 more days and then I can eat fruit again!  Woohoo!!

Five Senses Friday

If you were thinking there might be a theme to my five senses this week, you would be correct!  It is the start of Day 3 of the cleanse and the day that the lemon mixture starts.  I do have to say, I might have pushed through something, as I am not starving this morning.  But the day is still young.  Check back later to hear how Day 3 went.

Seeing
* cupcakes that I can't eat - the box is sitting in my cube mocking me
* wildflowers blooming along the side of the road

Hearing
* The low roar of cars speeding past - my new cube overlooks the freeway and it'll be awhile before I learn to tune out the cars
* The US pull out an amazing victory!!!  This is in the hearing section as I listened on the radio to the second half game, rather than watching it.

Feeling
* Hungry
* Sore from unpacking boxes

Tasting
* Fruit, lots and lots of fruit

Smelling
* The aforementioned cupcakes (but I haven't given in yet, well given in again yet)

Training
* Swim - 1 pool swim
* Bike - An extremely wet and windy ride – I am not a cyclist but any means, I usually bike in my running shoes and by the end of this ride they were soaked!!
* Run - nothing.  I need to pick up my run.  Maybe next week.

Cleanse, Day 2

Dear Cleanse,
I think I hate your guts!
Love, Emily

Okay, you might infer from my note above that the cleanse is not going so well and you would be right.  While the hunger is somewhat manageable, the headache is not.  And per the literature this is normal, and we are advised to not use any over the counter pills to aid the headache, but instead let the body detoxify.  We'll see.  I may have to break down and cheat with some ibuprofen (not shocking - I've already cheated a few times today). 

Today was better food-wise.  We had a meeting at work today and I had a little bit of the salad (with a tinge of dressing) because sometimes it is easier to eat with the group, rather than answer the questions of why aren't you eating.  And then came the end of the meeting and cupcakes.  Cupcakes are pretty much my personal kryptonite.  Actually there are several things - m&ms, gelato, cupcakes.  Sensing a sugar theme?  Why yes, I do heart sugar!!  Oh and bread.  I heart bread too.  Walking by a bakery is heaven.  Especially walking by a bakery somewhere in Europe.  I wish I was in Paris, walking by a bakery.  Doesn't that sound nice?  I'm thinking another side effect of the cleanse is daydreaming - especially about food.  You know what else sounds good?  Mickey ice cream!!  Ooh, I wish I was in Paris, walking by a bakery, on my way to take the train to Paris Disney to see Mickey & eat ice cream!

So where were we?  Oh yes, end of the meeting and cupcakes.  And I'm sure not a huge surprise - I cheated and had a baby cupcake.  Jessica was strong and did not cheat.  We also had quinoa later to throw some whole grains into the mix.  Quinoa, avocado & pico de gallo (which is also probably cheating a bit).  Oh and yummy fruit salad that Jessica made. 

No wonder today was better food-wise!  I cheated all over the place. 

Yum, tomorrow on to the lemon juice mixture.  Oh joy of joys.

Cleanse, Day 1

Jessica somehow convinced me to join her in a cleanse (not sure what moment of weakness led to this...I believe it has something to do with the scale creeping north, rather than south).  It seemed so far into the future that I was able to put it out of my mind - yes I'm doing a cleanse, but not for awhile.  And Jessica had the box of herbal supplements so it wasn't staring me in the face reminding me.  And yet the days kept moving until today - Day 1.  Dun, dun, dun.

The benefits of a cleanse?  I'm not seeing any right now as my stomach is grumbly and all I can eat today are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  But according to the literature, the benefits will be an increase in energy (yay!  more energy is a great thing!), digestive tract can rid itself of accumulated waste (sounds messy, but probably another good thing), dependency on things such as refined sugar are greatly reduced (wow!  that would be amazing considering my sweet tooth, but again a good thing), and bad eating habits are broken (and yet another good thing).  So here I am.  

A brief outline of my eating habits for the next few days:

Day 1 - Fruits, veggies & whole grains

Day 2 - Fruits, veggies & whole grains

Day 3 - Detox mixture (water, maple syrup, & lemon juice) 

Day 4 - Detox mixture (water, maple syrup, & lemon juice)

Day 5 - Detox mixture (water, maple syrup, & lemon juice)

Day 6 - Fruits & veggies

Day 7 - Fruits, veggies & whole grains

So far today I have eaten my normal fruit smoothie for breakfast (although it includes milk - shh, don't tell Jessica), 2 bananas, 4 oranges, 4 strawberries, a plateful of carrots, and a bowlful of raspberries & blueberries.  Let me tell you I would have killed for some Cool Whip to go on my raspberries & blueberries.  But Day 1 is mercifully coming to an end.
 
Stay turned for Day 2. 
 

Oh and did you see the USA today???   Holy Cow I didn't think we were going to pull it out!!!!!  I was having a dilemma of who to watch in the morning - USA or England - I watched England score & then flipped to the USA and watched/listened until we scored.  Best outcome for me!!!  And I'm proud to say I now know an equal number of USA & England players (when the World Cup started I could name way more England players than USA - sad, I know).

 

And in celebration of the World Cup - a picture of a few members of the German World Cup team from 2006.  I was in Germany at the time and ran across the players doing a photo shoot outside of Cologne Cathedral!

 

Pad Thai

As you might remember, a while back I attended a cooking class with my sister.  And this weekend I decided to try out the recipes from the class.  First up, Pad Thai.  I love Pad Thai!!  Well, I love Pad Thai from a restaurant, I wasn't sure about Pad Thai from my kitchen.  My quite frequently bare part of the kitchen has been slowly accumulating different ingredients so I didn't have to buy the entire recipe for once!  My first stop was the grocery store.  I decided quite early on to buy the sauce instead of try and make it on my own.  Next time I think I will actually try to make the sauce.  I also didn't quite follow the recipe exactly, even though it was actually a fairly easy recipe, but it turned out okay.  Not nearly as good as Nit Noi (my fave Thai restaurant in Houston!), but not bad at all.

And for the actual recipe:

Two handfuls soft Chantaboon Rice Noodles

3 tablespoons oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup prawns or chicken (optional)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 to 1/2 cup Pad Thai sauce

1/3 cup diced fried tofu

2 tablespoons sweet radish, optional

3 tablespoons chopped chives or green onion

1/4 cup ground roasted peanuts

1 cup bean sprouts

Sauce:

2/3 cup tamarind concentrate

2/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup light soy sauce

1/3 cup fish sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup palm sugar (or brown sugar)

3 tablespoons garlic powder

1/4 cup Sriracha chili sauce

• To prepare the sauce - place everything in saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat for 15 minutes or until the sauce becomes thick.
• Soak the rice noodles in a large bowl of warm water for 30 minutes, or until soft.  Drain and set aside, covered up with a dishtowel.
• Pour 1/2 tablespoon of oil into a large skillet, and add eggs. Scramble into medium-sized pieces, and transfer to plate. Set aside.
• Add in garlic and cook for about 10 seconds. Add chicken; cook, stirring constantly until chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.
• When the chicken is almost cooked through, stir in noodles, followed by the pad thai sauce.  Let the sauce boil and cook the noodles at the same time; mix well until the sauce is absorbed.
• Stir in the tofu and radish.  Check the noodles, if they are not done add some more sauce.  When they are done, stir in chives, sprouts and peanuts before removing the pan from the stove.
• Serve with fresh sprouts, limes wedges on the side, and extra peanuts on the top.

Sarah's Key

Okay, so it has been a long time since I have done a "book report" so bear with me, and really it isn't that much of a book report at all.  The WWII era has been a fascination of mine for awhile, I think a lot of what draws me are the stories of resistance, ordinary people who helped their fellow man in spite of the consequences.  The cover of the book attracted me (hello Paris!) and then when I realized it was set in WWII, I was sold.  The story drew me in immediately - Sarah, a 10 year old Parisian Jew locked her brother in a closet as they were being rounded up, thinking she would be able to come back and save him.  Sarah's story was intertwined with the present day story of Julia, an American married to a Frenchman, living in Paris.  The pages kept turning and turning as I raced to find out what happened to Sarah's brother.  I was reading this book on a plane and at one point had tears streaming down my face.  Fortunately the person sitting next to me wasn't paying too much attention.  This was a very moving story, I really liked how it moved between the two time lines.

Five Senses Friday

Seeing
Mayonnaise on the ceiling. You may be wondering exactly how that happened... So Jessica & I were making lunch in the kitchen and I went to put away the condiments. The lid on the mayo jar wasn’t fully on and SPLAT! It fell on the ground, and mayo went everywhere, including on the ceiling. How did we find out it was on the ceiling? Because it dropped off onto the floor. We were cracking up!!  Fortunately not too many people were in the kitchen and did not witness our mayo debacle.

Hearing
Lots of noise due to the fact we are packing up the office to move to another building

Tasting
Cinnamon goldfish

Feeling
Raindrops

Smelling
Not much – not sure if it is the dust being resettled from packing or a summer cold, but my nose is not a happy camper

Training
Swim: 2 pool swims
Bike: A fairly flat ride along with Sammamish River Trail, with no iPod - it was actually nice to listening to all the other sounds

NY to LA

My trip to NY sort of came out of nowhere. One minute I was looking forward to a relaxing Memorial Day weekend with no plans and the next I was heading to NY! I was going for work, but took advantage of the holiday weekend to head a few days early, along with my boss (L) and her son (E). Because it was somewhat last minute I didn't have much time to plan, but I had a list of suggestions from Mandi and a book I bought at the airport and my list of things to do. As with a lot of trips, I didn't get to everything but that just means I have reasons to come back.

The flight was uneventful. We got our luggage and headed to the hotel. When we arrived we were greeted with the sight of a street fair right in front of the hotel. We checked in and freshened up before setting out to explore. The street fair was fun, with similar vendors each block. Our meandering brought us into view of the Chrysler Building before we turned to check out Grand Central Station. From there we made our way to Times Square, and I do have to say I have a much better feeling about Times Square after this trip, even if it isn't truly a "square". We people-watched, hit the M&Ms store and then decided to call it a night.

Bright and early the next morning we made our way down to catch a ferry for the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. The tickets to see the statue up close were sold out, but we were still able to walk around and admire Lady Liberty from afar. Ellis Island was amazing - just thinking of how many people made their way through those halls, full of hope for a new life was really neat. And the views on the ferry ride to and from were fantastic! Walking back from the ferry, we saw the line to get on board was ridiculously long. Good thing we got there early - we were able to walk on!

From there we headed to the downtown area and Ground Zero. Even though I had seen the pictures, actually seeing the site of what was the World Trade Center really brought home the amount of devastation happened on 9/11. We walked by the memorial on the wall. I left L & E on a bench while I went and visited St. Paul's Chapel (oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan) & Trinity Church (where Alexander Hamilton is buried). We then walked around, seeing the New York Stock Exchange and the infamous bull of Wall Street, which was completely surrounded by people. We had lunch on Stone Street, a cobblestone street full of restaurants.

We then headed back to Times Square to see what they had to offer at the half price ticket booth - we ended up with tickets to see The Fantasticks. We had time to kill before the show so hung out in Times Square. Have I mentioned yet it was Fleet Week? And so there were sailors all over? Nice! I saw several people stop sailors and ask to have their picture with them. I wasn't brave enough until I was walking by a group of sailors stopped for a photo and they ask if anyone else wants a photo. And I said I did and jumped in for a photo! Who am I?

On to the show - the bandit was hot! He looked like he could have been McSteamy's brother. The show was cute, nothing fantastic (ha - see what I did there?).

It was another early morning, this time to avoid lines at the Empire State Building. The view from the top was incredible! Next up was the American Museum of Natural History, which was huge! We started with the dinosaurs and ended with a giant head from Easter Island. We had lunch at the museum.


We walked across the street to Central Park and walked along the various paths. It was fairly hot and humid so we took a break on a bench. E fell asleep so I left L & E on a bench and continued my explorations of the park. I saw the carousel, the Alice in Wonderland statue, then took the subway up several blocks to check out the Conservatory Garden.


I hopped back onto the subway and made my way to the Brooklyn Bridge and began the trek over the bridge. As I neared the other side, the clouds started looking like rain. I headed down to the waterfront. I wanted to grab pizza at Grimaldi's but the line was down the street and as it was even more threatening rain I decided to get ice cream instead and head back across the bridge. I had just started across when it started pouring. Oh rain. Oh well. It didn't last long, well that burst of rain didn't last long. I was almost across when it started pouring again. Eh, it's just rain! I boarded the subway and headed back to the hotel to meet up with L & E for dinner at a pizzeria prior to going over to the Top of the Rock. The best part of the view from the Top of the Rock? The Empire State Building!


Last day before the meeting. It wasn't a full day either, as the meeting was in NJ and we had dinner with a colleague. So what to do with my half day? I could always do museums, but in the end I decided to go to Coney Island. I can always go to museums, but I can only go to Coney Island when I'm in NY. Besides, it was a beautiful day. I got there as the boardwalk was starting to wake up. I walked along the boardwalk, the beach, the pier before boarding the Wonder Wheel for a spin, and memorializing my trip with a stop in the photobooth. Lunch was at Nathan's. And then it was time to head back to the city to meet up with L & E.


I had a little bit of time before I needed to meet L & E, so I went to the NY Library to see the real Winnie the Pooh!


The meeting went well (I think) and then I was on a plane back to Seattle. I got home and started packing for Disneyland. When Jana & I decided to go to Disneyland, NY was not on the horizon.


A few hours at the office the next morning, and then I was on a plane again. But this time to see Mickey!! I met Jana at the airport and we got on the shuttle. We stayed at a Best Western right across the street from the entrance! Talk about location. We walked over to the park to get our tickets. The price for tickets was fairly comparable to upgrading our annual pass (yes, I did renew my WDW annual pass) to a Premier Pass, which is an annual pass for both WDW & DL! We started off at the ticket booth, and they directed us to the annual pass center, which had a few problems and for a minute or two we were wondering if we were going to be able to upgrade! But they persevered and figured out how to upgrade our pass. And for the rest of the trip, every time we whipped out the pass we were treated like super stars! It is a new pass and not many people have it yet.


Disney, Disneyland! It was Jana's first time to Disneyland. We rode several old favorites (Haunted Mansion, Pirates) and several new favorites (Casey Jr, Alice in Wonderland) and I introduced Jana to some of my DL faves (Indiana Jones, Mr. Toad, Roger Rabbit). For lunch we both had a cheeseburger and sometime later both of us started feeling not quite the thing. It was probably a combination of the cheeseburger and the fact we didn't have enough water. We ended up leaving the park a little early and having dinner at a real restaurant before doing some shopping. The real food at the restaurant and the water helped.


California Adventures! We started off with an old favorite (Soarin') and then headed over to Paradise Pier to fast pass California Screamin', but it was broken (yikes!) so we got in line for Toy Story, but 10 minutes into the line and it was closed for technical difficulties. This did not bode well. A few rides later (Mulholland Dr, Jumpin' Jellyfish) and our ride difficulties seemed to be in past. The best part of the day ended up being when we went to see Aladdin - wow! I think that is my favorite Disney show ever!! The entertainment started early with the family next to us.

Kid: "What is this about?"
Dad: "A guy who flys around on carpets and sells cars"

They were cracking us up! And during the show (during A Whole New World) the kid continued with the funny: "It's Good Night Moon!"

The show was awesome - the Genie incorporated a ton of pop culture references which were hilarious, my favorite being Twitter. After the show we headed to the Animation Studios where we learned to draw Minnie, visited the Beast's library and sang after Ursula stole our voices. It was so much fun!

We headed back to Disneyland for a few more rides before dinner and Fantasmic!! I do admit the Fantasmic set up at WDW is more friendly (with the stadium and plenty of seats) but I think I like the DL Fantasmic better. Even if I couldn't quite see everything from where I was standing.  After the show we rode a few more rides and closed the park down.

Our last day, and a partial day at that. We rode a few rides and had Mickey Ice Cream before Jana had to leave. We said goodbye and I had a few more hours left which I spent visiting Tinkerbell and riding Big Thunder & Pirates before I said goodbye to Mickey as well.


But with my new pass, it won't be goodbye for long! See ya real soon!  I will leave you with a few pictures, as I am still sorting through them all...

Five Senses Friday

NY one weekend, LA the next, I will be happy to relax this weekend!!  And unpack my suitcase.

Seeing
Jana at Disneyland

Hearing
You won! (well it was really reading, but I can pretend it was hearing!) Yes, I won a contest!  I’m very excited to pick through my race numbers and t-shirts for my bag.

Tasting
Steak, with yummy mashed potatoes

Feeling
Sunburned!! Ouch!

Excited for World Cup! And conflicted – US vs England, who do I root for? When it comes down to it, I will root for the US, but I will not cry if England wins.

Smelling
Aloe Vera (to help with the sunburn)

Training
2 pool swims, and they were not my best. But at least I made it to the pool!

For more Five Senses, check out Mandi's or Abby Try Again.