What's been going on

1. Foam rollers
Ever since I got new running shoes, I have felt intense pain in my left quad basically 24/7. I have been running since high school and have never really experienced above average muscle pain. It is so weird that in this situation, it is ONLY my left quad/ IT band....has this happened to any of you? I am hoping that I will not have to buy new shoes, after shelling out $115 a mere two weeks ago for new ones. ANYWAYS, I am taking a few days off of running, and last night I went to "Yoga Bootcamp". After telling us that the class is nothing like yoga and more just stretching for athletes, the instructor has us get foam rollers. I'm feeling pissed at this point. I went expecting an intense yoga class based on cardio and strength (like a power vinyasa flow) and instead it was just going to be stretching? I stretch everyday! So, I begrudgingly use the foam roller on my quad...and OMG, tears come to my eyes it is so painful. I literally feel the lactic acid bubbles popping in my muscle. I am SO going to buy one of those foam rollers...although my quad still hurts, it feels a million times better. *fingers crossed that no running + foam roller will heal my quad*

2. Door
My father-in-law gave us his old door a few months ago, and it had been sitting in our garage ever since. Our old front door, which resembled a rectangle of cardboard, was quite an eye sore. A few weeks ago, my parents paid about $800 to refurbish their front door, which made me want to refurbish the door we had sitting in our attic. My husband didn't care to do it, but loves me so decided to work on our new-old door anyways! This door was a MESS- old hornet nests still connected to the wood, totally scratched up and discolored...but I could see the potential. Well, between sanding, staining, restaining, and sanding some more, and sealing, this little "project" took us over 2 weeks to accomplish! The prep work wasn't difficult, just time consuming b/c we could only do one side at a time and had to always wait 24 hours for the layers of stain and sealant to dry. So, Sunday was the big day...the door was finally done and we could hang it up! 5 trip to Lowes and 6 hours later, this darn door was finally up. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. The door was too long and we had to saw off the bottom 2 inches. The door was too wide so we literally had to whittle the side with a knife to make it fit. Couldn't get the dead bolt to work. Our alarm kept going off. I have to say that the hard work was worth it...wish I had a before pic, but oh well!
3. Two really yummy, vegetarian, and FAST meals...

"hummus" burgers- courtesy of Women's Health. This reminds me of falafel...Daniel gave it an 8.5 out of 10 and REALLY loved it....very filling, too!

• Grind 1/2 cup of almonds and a teaspoon of coriander until it is the consistency of flour.
  
• Mash up a can of organic garbanzo beans and 3 minced cloves of garlic until there are no whole beans left. Stir in almond meal, 2 teaspoons of cummin, a pinch of salt, an egg, and 1/4 cup of fresh parsley. Form patties and cook on a skillet (medium heat) with olive oil, about 5 min per side.
• Meanwhile, mix 2 TB of mayonnaise (or nonflavored greek yogurt or sour cream) with a chile (canned, in adobo sauce).
• Put hummus burger in a pita half, along with some spinach and tomato. Add the chile mayo. MMMMM!

Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink black beans- I made this tonight because I had a ton of fresh black beans left from another meal.

• Stir-fry 1/2 a red onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic for about 2 minutes. Add 2 chiles (in adobo sauce) if you like spicy, along with about a cup of frozen corn.
  
• Add beans after corn is no longer frozen (probably about 1 lb)
• Once beans are warm, stir in some chopped tomato, the juice from a lime, about 1 TB of cumin and a pinch of salt
• Serve with fresh cilantro, Mexican cheese, and a lot of avocado!

I pretty much just threw in what I had, but if you have some other veggies that you need to get rid of, I think it would work. This was really filling...Daniel had a bite and liked it, but had a huge burger for lunch so is fasting from dinner.