Not Missing My Ponytail

A short lunchtime errand turned into a life-changing moment yesterday. I came into to Bubbles at Pentagon City for a trim and came out without 11 inches of my hair. My stylist John (who is AMAZING by the way) talked me into hair donation.

Snip-snip, cut-cut and voila! Hair is gone!

Before and After

I looked into donating my hair either to Pantene Beautiful Lengths or Locks of Love.  The length and quality of my hair donation qualifies for both but I have chosen Pantene. Like many others, cancer has touched my family. I lost my mother –in-law to cancer and it would be an honor if my hair can go to someone who is battling the disease. I will be especially happy if it goes to a mother like me.

I grieved the loss of my long hair for a little bit. It has been a part of me for a long time and it felt like a loss of identity. My 6 year old daughter told me last night that I didn’t look like mommy anymore. It gave me small taste of what other people who lost their hair must have felt like.

And besides, I am getting tired of the swish-swish of my ponytail when I run. 

Cost of Running in a Race

The registration for the 2014 Nike Women's DC Half Marathon opens today! Or rather, the random drawing opens today and closes on November 22nd.  The cost is a shock-inducing $175.  The race was nice but the course isn't all that unique (very similar to Cherry Blossom 10 miler.)  However, the registration sticker shock is hard to get over. I have until the 22nd to decide if I want to plop serious $$ for this race.

What is the most you've ever had to pay for run?

Happy Halloween!

Treats for this day:

• Oiselle added new stuff to their "sale" section including their awesome shorts: distance, roga, game day. Additional 25% off with code FLYFALL. I ordered distance shorts and arm warmers. Shipping is additional.
• Lululemon adds new sale items in their "We Made Too Much" section every Thursday. I love their Run: Swiftly Tech shirts and there are a couple of color options on sale now for $39. Shipping is free. I didn't order anything today because I just bought Bliss Break Sweatpant last week (LOVED IT!)
• Gap has 31% off today all sale styles with code GAPBOO. Online only.
• Athleta does not seem to be offering special discount sale for today.

Restaurant Review - GBD Chicken & Donuts

Fried Chicken and Donuts - Together!

Fried chicken and donuts together is a thing. Like Sonny & Cher. Edward and Bella. Bill and Ted. Jack and Rose. I know of two places in DC that specialize in these two - together. And why not? It's genius!

GBD which stands for Golden Brown Delicious is located along Connecticut Avenue in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, DC. Family and I ate brunch there one fine Saturday morning in October. There was a short wait when arrived (10 minutes max) while we perused their very short menu and ogled their donut case.

I ordered the chicken and waffles (chicken thigh, slaw) while hubs and kids each got their chicken box (thigh, drumstick, biscuit, slaw, 1 side and choice of sauce).

Waffles were good - crispy where it should be crispy and lightly dusted with powdered sugar.
Fried chicken - good, crispy, tasty. Portion size was good as well.
Slaw - meh!
Sauce - I tried the Frankenbutter. Good, spicy. Hubs liked the Mumbo sauce.
Biscuit - oh lawd, one of best biscuits we've had. Everyone on the table agreed!
Mac n Cheese - with pimento. Bland. Waste of calories.

Donuts - in a span of two days, tried the following varieties:
PB&J - glazed with peanut butter and filled with jelly on the inside. So good!
Maple and Bacon - son asked, "is this breakfast?"
Nutella Crunch - if you're a fan, this is super! Glazed with Nutella & topped with chopped hazelnut.
Chocolate pudding filled - with chocolate glaze and cocoa krispies topping
Dough-Reo - filled with vanilla cream and topped with Oreo. Didn't try but hubs loved it.

VERDICT:  Chicken and donuts are obviously their specialty and GBD does a really (really!) job with both.

Donuts of the Day

Restaurant with take-out counter in front

HUGE donut sampling

Food Truck Review - Korean BBQ

Food Truck Review - Korean BBQ Box Truck

I love Food Trucks! And I am really glad that workers in Arlington, VA have many options for lunch other than the brick and mortar stores.  I follow many of the food trucks on Twitter so I know that there are many lunchtime options at the Rosslyn area today. I've enjoyed many meals from many food trucks but this is the first time I'd ever thought of writing a review (duh!)

Today, I tried a new truck (new to me), the Korean BBQ Box truck. I’ve seen it many times before so they’ve been around for a couple of months at least.  Each Korean bbq box meal come with salad (with  ginger dressing), Korean side dishes (1 spicy chicken wing, 2 pcs fried cheese roll) and an Asian yogurt drink (I call it Yakult. Every Asian person I know grew up drinking this stuff. This was our Go-Gurt in the ‘80s!)

I wish I'd taken a picture of their menu but they have beef bulgogi with rice, chicken teriyaki with rice, spicy pork with rice, plus taco versions of those and spicy wings box. Prices are from $7.99 to $9.99. I picked bulgogi taco which is one 8" flour tortilla filled with bulgogi (sauteed with sliced onions), shredded lettuce and sauce. Base price was $7.99 plus tax.

Salad - nothing special. Iceberg Lettuce, some carrot strings but dressing was good.

Spicy wing - crunchy, sauce was tasty but not too spicy

Yogurt drink - I've always loved it

Fried cheese roll - don't know what to make of it. It's okay. It's breaded on the outside for crunch with a mayo based sauce on top.  It didn't taste overly cheesy which was nice.

Taco - omg so messy. And I don't like messy food especially when eating on my office desk. But the bulgogi was good and tasty.

Verdict: Not my favorite Asian taco but I enjoyed the extras they include in the meal. Maybe the rice box option would have been better. If I really want Asian fusion taco, I'd choose TaKorean or Lemongrass.

Follow Korean BBQ Box on Twitter at @koreanbbq_2011 and/or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dckbbqbox 

l

#8 Bulgogi Taco Meal

Bright yellow truck (pic from their Twitter account)

2013 Running Year in Review

2013 Running Year in Review

2013 is the race-iest year for me yet. Here are the races I participated in which netted me a couple of nice new blings. The best is, of course, the Tiffany necklace from Nike!

March 2013   Rock n Roll USA 1/2 Marathon
April 2013     CU Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run
April 2013     Nike Women's Half Marathon Washington DC
October 2013 Army Ten Miler
October 2013 MCM 10K

Rock n Roll USA 1/2 Marathon medal

NWM Finisher shirt and Tiffany necklace medal

No medals at the ATM, only coins

Finish line at the Army Ten Miler

Pose-hard at CU Cherry Blossom post race

As you can see, summer is a snooze-fest but not run free. I traveled a lot over the summer but had lovely training runs in new places (Las Vegas, Carlsbad and Maui).

Looking ahead for 2014, here are the races that I'm hoping to participate in:

April 2014     CU Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run (lottery)
or
April 2014     GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler
April 2014     Nike Women's Half Marathon Washington DC (lottery)
October 2014 Army Ten Miler (last one before I become a legacy runner
October 2014 Marine Corp Marathon (lottery. My very first!)

If I don't get into the MCM, I'm going to try for the Philadelphia Marathon. Cross-fingers!

Barre Obsession Continues!

My newest fitness obsession is barre workout and my latest foray is the Physique 57 DVD set. The set comes with 3 DVDs and an inflatable exercise ball:

• Physique 57 Classic Full Body Workout
• Physique 57 30 Minute Express Full Body Workout
• Arm & Ab Booster 30 Minute Workout 

I've only had the chance to do the  57 minute full body workout and boy, does it kick butt. I've done it twice so far (2 days in a row) and I'm feeling the soreness. The first day, the back of my thighs were sore. Today, it's shoulders and upper back (must be from the all push-ups!)

 

For the Classic, 57 minute DVD, I used two kinds of hand weights (5 lbs and 3 lbs), yoga mat, our loft rail (or you can use a chair), a rolled up towel and the exercise ball.  The DVD is divided into 4 parts - warm-up, upper body (using the weights), legs and seat (using the rail or chair and excise ball) and abs (mat, exercise ball, rolled towel). 

I had to give my legs a break a couple of times and the ab work is the hardest I've encountered (DVD workouts and gym class combined!) 

They recommend doing the workout 3-4 times a week for maximum results and you can see visible results in only 8 workouts. Will it give me a dancer's body? We'll see.

Purchased my set from Amazon. They also sell the DVDs on the Physique 57 website. Both offer free 30 day trial.