Lime Mousse Cake

It was a busy weekend in Taylo's world. Okay really only Saturday night through Sunday night, but whatever. I went out in DC Saturday night and got to see a bunch of friends. Late night, but fun times. Next I think you should know that I designed and ordered the coolest shoes on NikeID! I know you're jelly. I would be too. Now I am even more excited for the opener against Appalachian State. I'll definitely be the coolest person at the tailgates and games. Orange and maroon head to toe! Okay, I'll shut up now.

I ran a bajillion miles yesterday trying to increase my mileage for the Richmond Marathon. I am reeeeeeeal pissed though. I could have run even more, but my right heel was/is killing me. I decided to stray from my beloved Asics and get Mizunos. I will never betray Asics again. These Mizunos are killing my heel, but only the right one?! I thought it was blistering, but no. It's like someone has taken a hammer to my heel. Grggghhhhh. It only hurts when I'm in sneakers though. Anyhow, I was out at my parents so I got to run through the neighborhood hitting every street and seeing the mountain views. It was nice and the weather was awesome. One thing though. Doesn't everyone over the age of 10 know to run AGAINST traffic so you can see the cars coming at you? Apparently Mr. No shirt running with my jogging stroller missed that lesson in life. He was running WITH the traffic which made it real awkward when we happened to be running the same direction at the same point and a car came through.

Then my Mom made an awesome dinner and it was nice to sit outside without it being 876 degrees! She made whole wheat pasta with crab, shrimp, and asparagus! On the side we had garlic bread and salad. I piled so much pasta on my plate and my mom told me I wouldn't eat it all. Wrong. Then for dessert we had Lime Mousse Cake and it was all homemade. Even the crust!


So, I know what you're thinking. "So that's where Taylo gets her cooking skillssss." Hahaha! Right Mom? Mom said the cake is only for the pros. Whatever, I could make that cake in my sleep. Only three days left until my weekend begins!

Metro Faux Pas

Well, if you follow me on Twitter you had to know another metro blog would be coming soon. In only four short days I have encountered not one, but THREE metro no-no's! First up, no eating and drinking on the metro people! I know what you're thinking. We all know Taylo breaks rules. For instance, I do not come to a complete stop at stop signs. In fact, when I'm home visiting my parents I barely stop at those stop signs at all because I am more likely to encounter a deer than another driver! But I do not break the eating and drinking on metro because I think it helps keep the metro clean and semi-free of rats! Ever ride the NYC subway? I feel sorry for the soles of my shoes.

Next up, the pole. The pole is for everyone to hold onto and I try to avoid it because again, nasty germs. However, during rush hour we ALL need access to the pole. If you're hugging it and I can only reach above you that's not going to fly. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm VERTICALLY CHALLENGED so it is rather hard for me to reach the top of a six foot pole. And please do not LEAN on the pole because I can't grip my hand around the pole with your sweaty back, butt, and shoulders leaning on it. Please see two offenders below. Please do not be these people.

NOT OKAY! This is rude.

Now that we got that out of the way. I can make you jelly of what I had for dinner tonight. First I had to go to Target Greatland, which is a real first world problem. I was pleasantly surprised to find my beloved Kombucha Tea there though, and cheaper than Whole Paycheck (of course). So I grabbed two of those, the rest of my grocery list plus a few other things I didn't need. Then we get to the checkout. I always pick the wrong line! This kid in front of me is about to head off to college by himself or something because he had pillows, comforter, dvds, and other junk. Anyhow, the lady is almost done ringing him up on my approach. His total comes to $140. Dang boy! Then he runs his credit card and it is declined. Awwww hell no. Here we go. He tries again. Nope. So then she has him apply for a Target card. Okay, now things are getting sketchy. It is taking forever; put in your address, is this your address, confirm this, do this, KILL ME NOW. Then it says he cannot charge anything for seven to ten days. WOW, brilliant. Meanwhile, you just KNOW I was huffing and puffing in the line by now because it had been ten minutes. So then Target lady is at a loss so I say, "umm, is there any way we can do this later?!" And the kid says, "oh yeah, let her go." Yes, please let me go while you figure out how you're going to pay for $140 worth of crap!

Back to dinner. I came home and started chopping up all my veggies and pulled out my spices. The worst is chopping up a sweet potato to make fries! I almost lose a few fingers every time. I cannot wait until I go to my parents Thursday and get my sister's old knives. To accompany the sweet potato fries I made a bell pepper stuffed with a quinoa mixture. As I cooked the quinoa I sauteed garlic, onion, mushrooms, carrots, and seasoned that with paprika and cumin. I stuffed that into the pepper and also added some mozzarella, parmesean, and goat cheese to the top. As I said before, you should be jealous because it was awesome and I probably ate my daily vegetable serving in one meal!

See the carrots behind the plate? No, you can't have them.

Manic Monday

It wasn't really a manic Monday, but I like that song. Once again, it was a rough morning getting out of bed, so I did what anyone else would do--I delayed my alarm from 7:15 to 7:30! My commute went surprisingly well and made my triumphant return to the office since I was out at training Wednesday through Friday of last week.

I begin my morning routine of checking my e-mails, rolling my eyes at many of them, and signing into all my accounts. This morning was a little different because I had to tell six of my coworkers a little story, including doing some impressions. So everyone gathered in my cube and I proceeded to tell this epic story, which I can't post here. SORRY! It was like story time in kindergarten minus the rice tub or nap time later. Man, you kindergarteners do not know how good you have it. Although, I have seen some people at work taking naps. That's neither here nor there though because it's on the schedule in kindergarten! Get to work people!

Commute home was special. For some reason it was unusually packed before we even rode the rails into the Commonwealth! This prompted me to be too close for comfort to about 80% of the Northern Virginia population. Not okay. Then, of course, we couldn't get the doors shut at Rosslyn! Maybe it's because we're packed on here like sardines. Train operator is copping a 'tude and said, "Move in people, we need to get these doors shut." To this I said, (out loud) or you could send trains more frequently! Then she said (not to just me, everyone), "alright, get close to your neighbors like you love them and squeeze in because we're going to have to offload this train if we can't get the doors shut!" Again, out loud, I said, "Whatever, we know you're going to offload us anyway." But! By the grace of god, that train finally went forward!! It's the little things in life. I only had one stop to go, so if we were offloading I was just going to walk!

I arrived home and started prepping dinner and then hit the streets for a 5.2 miler. My hip has been bothering me so I haven't been running a lot lately, but it wasn't that hot out so figured I should give it a try. I am happy to report I had a great run! I'll probably be using a walker tomorrow, but whatevs! Then I came home and finished preparing dinner and showered. For dinner, I present to you half cous cous and quinoa topped with BBQ tofu and of course, kale chips on the side!
Everyone talks crap on tofu (kale too for that matter), but if you season or marinate it and bake it right, it's so good. So I don't want to hear it from all you tofu haters!