Weight Gain doesn't have to be a Souvenir

So, I have one post left from Disney, and I'm sorry I forgot to throw it in with the others. I wanted to talk about the food a bit. I try to keep this blog from being all food and exercise, but eating is one of my passions so I can't help but mention it. Humor me, please. 

I know I read that Mama Pea went to Disney Land and had no problem whatsoever finding good vegan food to eat, but I'm sorry to say Robert and I didn't have as simple an experience (and we are only pescatarian). Now, the food was amazing and we didn't go hungry, but seeking out healthy meat-free options wasn't exactly a cinch unless we wanted to eat cheese pizza for every meal. I was also nervous about gaining weight while down there. Usually vacations spur a breakdown in my normal eating routine which leads to gastrointestinal issues, tight pants, and regret. I wasn't going to let that happen this time, and I actually managed to come home about a half a pound lighter than when I left. Essentially maintaining, but considering I was eating dessert on a regular basis and not running, I think that's pretty good. So here is a brief look into our experience with the Disney Dining Plan. 

We each got two meals and one snack per day. A meal included two drinks and an entree at breakfast; or one drink, one entree, and one dessert at dinner or lunch. A snack was anything you wanted in the park- drink, ice cream, popcorn, fruit, chocolate croissant... you get me. 

There are two different types of meals at Disney- table service and counter service. This is an example of the table service meal we got at Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. This was for all intents and purposes our first real meal at Disney, and we started off on the right foot by sharing/not cleaning our plates. I ate all the fish and most of the veggies for example, but I left a third of the orzo and half of the dessert. 

This was a typical breakfast and counter service meal. Lots of water and going easy on the sodas was helpful, although I had to use a snack credit for that fruit cup. Wasn't happy about that. A Mickey-shaped waffle and bacon is not a good breakfast, dear Disney. I should at least be able to sub the meat out for something! (An issue we ran into frequently. Can a girl get an apple around here without paying extra?)

The table service meals were a bit more accommodating. This was the pasta dish we got at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. There were absolutely no vegetarian options on the menu, but the chef was more than happy to make us some pasta with veggies. It was delish! (A good example of Disney redeeming themselves.)

Here was one of our snacks. Typically we got a bottle of water with one credit and a snack to split with the other. This was a Dole Whip Pineapple float- pineapple ice cream in pineapple juice. Very yummy, and Momma was obsessed with these. 

S'mores cheesecake... *Drool* Oh dear. The dessert alone could derail you at this place! But then again, it's not something you want to miss out on either. This was phenomenal! Robert and I made sure to share (with each other only, everybody else was sick), and just decided to enjoy ourselves! I walked a lot, and as long as I didn't leave the table stuffed I didn't think I had done too much damage. 

For our counter service meals, Robert and I tried to split the entire meal depending on how hungry we were. The portions were huge! So this is what my plate ended up looking like most of the time. Such a waste, so splitting was a good idea unless we were starving, as you shall see below. 

Quick reminder- we walked a lot. A Mickey waffle only goes so far, so sometimes a meal like this...

Ended up like this. Gotta listen to your body right? :)

And a final lesson- don't leave your coffee mug near a 10 month old. It's a bad idea. 

So to sum it up- 1. Split your meals when practical. 2. Leave a little on your plate. 3. Walk a lot. 4. Enjoy yourself and don't stress. 5. Keep liquids away from infants. That is all!

How I motivate myself to go running...

I have received several comments on facebook about my foray into racing, all positive, encouraging, and often telling me that I'm a little inspiring to those who want to get into the race circuit. Now I hesitate to write this, because I don't think I'm a perfect example of anything and "inspiring" is a scary word. However, I did want to do a post on how I went from a couch potato to a 5k racer and beyond. (Well I'm working on the beyond.)

The people that have been complimenting me on my progress have been saying such things because they know me. I have a pretty lazy streak. Growing up, I detested anything that involved physical labor, and although I played tennis, marched in the band, and danced; I never was much of an exerciser. Watching TV was way more fun. But here's the catch. Even though I wasn't a "runner" per say and when I went "running" I spent more time gasping and trotting up Beaver Ridge than anything, I always wanted to BE a runner. I just never thought I had it in me. The fastest I ran a mile was junior year while playing tennis. I ran a 9:45 for gym and ended up being the second fastest girl in the class. I was really proud of that, but to be honest- that mile seemed torturously long. Distance running was not my thing. 

This all changed after reading an article in a magazine one day. It talked about how women always look at athletes and think, "Why can't I be like that?" Then instead of being inspired to try, they end up getting down on themselves and giving up. The article challenged me to think "Why NOT me?" instead of "Why can't I?" the next time I found myself in that situation, and they were absolutely right. Why not me? Why should she be able to run a marathon and I can't? I'm in good health. I have two strong legs just itching for some training. I WANT to run, so what am I waiting for? That was the beginning of something magical, but it took me a while to get there. Key point though- I never quit on myself. I might be 80 when I run my half marathon, but I won't quit. 

In college, I tried to get more into exercise, but I avoided the gym and dabbled with running as a way to soothe my anxiety/panic disorder. My runs were sporadic but nice even if there was no goal attached. When Robert moved to Williamsburg for a summer internship, we exercised a lot together; and I think marrying him has been a big step in getting me into the race circuit. (Although, I was the one that approached him about our first 5k.) Now I'm not saying you have to get married or have a significant other to run, but having a friend to go with you or run the race with you is a great way to get through those first few months of training. You can keep each other accountable, and it makes the miles go by much quicker. We also got a dog, so that's another option if a human companion isn't available. Truth be told though, we outrun her these days. :P

Finally, when I hit a wall with training and was feeling unmotivated, I got creative. I knew rewards were a great way to encourage myself to just get out there on days when my mind was iffy about going. So I typed up a training schedule, hung it on the back of our front door, and highlighted each run that we went on. It's not perfect. Sometimes we miss runs. Sometimes we miss entire weeks, but we keep trying. And this week, I keep trying for Maroon 5. You see, my reward is that each run completed equals one iTunes song download. Maroon 5's new album is out, and I want it really badly. However it has 18 songs, so I have to complete 18 runs before I can download it. I'm on my way with 11 runs banked, so I hope to have it within the next two weeks. Every afternoon when I'm tired and just want to be lazy, I see my chart and I think about being one day closer to "Misery." (The song, not the emotion- how ironic!) And then I get my butt out there. 

Does it work? Right before Disney, I ran a 9:30 mile. Fifteen seconds faster than I did when I was 17 and playing tennis for the school. I also think running 3 miles now is a piece of cake, and I'm working my way up to 6 miles. Is it working? You decide. :)

Disney World Part 3: Animal Kingdom

Welp. Marie Claire- You're a bunch of idiots. How can you bring down the healthy living community in an extremely biased and untrue articles,  but have articles featured in your magazine linked at the bottom for a "10 day detox" and other get skinny quick crap? Now THAT'S healthy. Thanks. We appreciate your biased opinions because hopefully, it will drive more traffic towards the real, healthy, inspirational women behind these food blogs and away from your skeletal, air-brushed models. Epic Fail. 

So what do you guys think? Is it possible to have a healthy role model these days? Are we ever going to get away from disordered eating and into healthy, happy, body accepting lifestyles? I can tell you that my health and self esteem have improved ten fold since discovering the food blogs. They got me into racing and introduced me to community supported agriculture (more on this in a later post) and new vegetables. They help me feel environmentally responsible by bringing to my attention just how little we know about what goes onto our plates and into our bodies. I commend these women for everything they do and congratulate them on accomplishing their dream jobs. No one thinks twice about paying millions of dollars for people to act or model or play a sport; why do we question when someone makes a modest living from a blog or a bakery business that they built from the ground up?

Anyway, now that I got my controversy of the day out- I'll conclude our Disney Trip. The last day was spent in the best park ever- Animal Kingdom! 

Here's Daddy in front of the entrance. I was so excited!

The Tree of Life!

Of course the first thing we did was grab fast passes for Escape from Everest and then head over to the Harambe Safari Ride! It was amazing! I thought it was going to just be driving around looking at animals, but they worked in a story line with poachers and a baby elephant. We were being "shot at" at one point! 

Here are some of the animals we saw- Rhinos and Cranes

And a Man Cub! Just kidding. :) But it was interesting having to ride with the little munchkins in our laps in the 90* weather. I had Kenleigh, and she would not sit still! 

We still loved it though! I'm sure Africa would have been even hotter, so it just added to the realism I suppose. 

Giraffe!

And a newborn elephant! (A real one too! Not the fake one featured in the poacher story line.)

After the safari, we walked around to the animal exhibits on the walking trails. 

There was a baby gorilla! She was only seven months old and had just that week begun to walk around on her own for the first time! So adorable. 

Robert and I played with pictures a bit more. I think that was the most fun part of the trip- taking pictures. Another reason why I love being a blogger so much! 

We were headed to the Nemo show when we passed Timon! He didn't have a line, so we took our picture with him. He's the only character we got to do that with, so it was a really lucky break since we didn't want to stand in line. 

The Nemo show line was really cute. We went early to get good seats, but we took some pics with the character signs on the way in. Fish are friends... but I still eat them occasionally. Sorry friends. :(

Right on little dude! I wish people realized how much we are affected by what happens out in the big blue. 

Once inside we played around with posing pics with the decorations. Here's Robert "blowing bubbles" with the stage decorations. 

The costumes and puppets were incredible! Here's the aquarium gang. 

And Marlin + Crush! Crush was so cool, but taking pictures was hard because there wasn't any flash allowed. They were always moving, so these are two out of probably ten pictures that actually weren't blurry. 

After the show Robert and I went over to Rafiki's Wildlife Reserve. It was all about rainforest conservation and endangered species. I could have spent a lot more time there, but we had reservations at Boma- the African food buffet at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. 

We spent a little time at the petting zoo, and then headed back to catch the parade. Right after I took a picture of Robert giving Baloo a high-five our camera died. *So sad.* We have no pictures of the lodge or dinner, but I assure you- it was amazing. Robert and I still have four un-used non-expiring park tickets left! Can't wait to go back!

Disney World Part 2: The Magic Kingdom

After finally having a restful night of sleep, we got up Friday morning to head to the Magic Kingdom. Classic Disney, here we come!

 We took the monorail from the parking lot to the entrance of the park. 

 Brant entertained us on the ride over. :)

 When we got there, we found the whole place decorated for Halloween! Earlier that week, the rest of the gang had gone to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which sounded like a lot of fun! Too bad we weren't there yet and couldn't join them. I was looking for an excuse to dress up like a Disney Princess all week, and I had missed my chance! 

 Once inside, I made a bee-line for my favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. It was just as cool as I remembered! Although, the ghost in your cart at the end was a lot more convincing when I was six. Still a lot of fun! Robert enjoyed it too, and we didn't even have to wait in line long at all. 

 After the Mansion, we headed to Treasure Island to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We saw Goofy on the way in, so we creeped a shot of him with a bunch of kids we don't know. We actually did that with a lot of the characters. ;) The ride was neat because they had added the characters from the movie to the animatronics. Johnny Depp appeared many times in the story line as well as among the mannequins. Even Captain Barbosa and Davey Jones were represented! It's a fun little boat ride through several pirate scenes, although I found the "Bride auction" scene a little sexist? I'm mildly surprised Disney left it in there.

 I showed off my pirate pride in the gift shop... 

 and then we ran into the real Johnny Depp outside!!! 

(Ok, so he's not the REAL one, but oh. my. gosh. is he not the most convincing impersonator ever?)

 After our pirate adventures, we headed over to Tomorrow Land to find the new Monster's Inc. ride. 

 The laugh floor is a really neat 4-D show where the characters on screen actually interact with the audience! They'll pick people out of the crowd (i.e. Hey! You in the blue polo!) and then use them in the show. It was so cool, and I know if I was a kid I totally would have thought it was real. 

 Inside the waiting area to get into the show, they had all sorts of Monsters, Inc. props to make it seem like you were actually in the company. This was the former "Scarer of the Month" wall that was converted into the "Monsters of Comedy" feature. As you can see, Mike was a good choice for our show's MC (Monster of Ceremonies, that is!)

 We left the show and headed towards the teacups. We found them, but didn't ride because the line was too long and we were hungry. We had some "tea" with the landscaping instead...

 challenged King Arthur's throne, and then grabbed pizza at Pinocchio's restaurant. 

 After lunch we rode on Snow White's Scary Adventure, which wasn't scary at all. It was just Snow White's story as seen from a car on a track. We said "Hi!" to Dopey on our way out. 

 We made our way back to Mainstreet, and stopped in Cinderella's Castle. The mosaics on the inner walls are beautiful! And I think it would be really fun to eat at the restaurant someday when we go back, just to say we did. 

 After viewing The Hall of President's with Paula, Johnny, and Paisley, we emerged to discover that it was pouring down rain! We decided to wait out the storm at a shooting range and spent a couple bucks to do some target practice. 

 Once it cleared up, we headed towards Mainstreet USA. We had really early dinner reservations, so we wanted to be near the exit so we could watch the parade, then leave and quickly meet up with everyone. I hung out with Minnie and Walt on the way over. 

 We grabbed a snack, and then parked ourselves on the street to watch the parade! It started out great, but it began to rain again soon after the Muppets had passed by. All the characters walking the street had to run for cover, but they let the floats roll on. 

 Here's Mickey! "You said it!" (I bet you never noticed how much he uses that catch phrase. Listen for it next time you see a Mickey cartoon, lol! It's kind of funny, because I don't think normal people could say that in real life. :P)

 We left the parade and headed to the dock to catch a ferry to the Wilderness Lodge for our dinner reservations. There was a fake geyser near the pool at the resort, and no one was really sure if it actually erupted or if it just steamed ominously. One man said he'd been there all week and hadn't seen it go off, and my dad joked that somebody upstairs had to flush a toilet to get it to work. We didn't have time to find out if that was true or not. 

 Dinner was... interesting. I expected it to be a really nice restaurant, but the server's were very loud and mildly obnoxious. They were great service wise, but randomly they would make you stand up and do the hokey pokey or yell yee-haw or who knows what else. Also, don't ask for ketchup whatever you do! To get it they make you yell across the restaurant to the table that has all 10 bottles of ketchup, then they  have to get up and bring it over to you. Ridiculous! Robert and I were hoping to eat in peace after spending all day around the kids in the park, but we appreciated the novelty. It was definitely fun for the little ones. They thought the ketchup thing was hilarious, and at one point the servers brought out stick horses and the children had a little race. 

 After dinner some of us were going home and some of us were going back to the Magic Kingdom, but we took a little time to explore the resort while we waited for the ferry. 

 And discovered that the geyser does actually work! Still don't know about that flushing theory though...

 Bert and I headed back to the MK and were happy to see that they took down the giant crane that had been behind the castle all morning. We took advantage of this and shot a pic of the two of us in front of the iconic building. 

 Then we ran into Tiana! My college room mate and I used to talk about how Disney needed a black princess all the time, and here she finally is! I have such a soft spot for her because every time I see her, I think of Ashley and sophomore year. I was very impressed with the actors at Disney too! They look so much like the characters and they even sound just like them! They practice their autographs so their names match the character's personalities. I think it's incredible and can't imagine how much time goes into rehearsing for something like that. 

We wanted to stay for the fireworks, but we were warned about the crowds by my family. They said it took them 2 hours to get home the night they stayed, so we just watched the electrical parade and then headed to the shuttle. It still took us a while to get home, so I'm very glad we didn't stay for the 9pm fireworks! We needed to rest up for our final day in Animal Kingdom.