I know it has been a long time since I’ve posted, so here’s an update.
Farrell’s is over. The last week just so happened to be the same week of a record-breaking flood in my city. We had water in our basement and spent several days cleaning up from that. The day we were supposed to have our final testing, pretty much the whole town was shut down or chaotic. The University where I work was even closed and that never happens, ever. Even once the floodwaters receded and our basement dried out, the town was under emergency water conservation orders and a boil order since our drinking water was potentially contaminated. In the end we were fine and a lot luckier than some people who lost everything in the flood. I’m actually writing this post from a sketchy laundromat because we lost our washing machine in our basement flood. I’m trying to remember that I’m lucky that’s all I lost, even as I was fishing a dead cricket out of a washing machine basin before I threw my clothes in. We had a lot of stuff in our basement that had to be hauled out and much of it was spread all over the main floor of my house until things dried out down there and we were able to go through everything.
So as far as Farrell’s, it definitely fizzled out that last week. They told us we could make up our final testing the following Saturday but I was out of town, so I never got to do mine. I took my own measurements and did a few of the tests and I will post the “results” in another post. I have to say I’m pretty disappointed, but what can you do. Right now I’m trying to get back to running. I’d like to get my base built back up to 3 or 4 miles and then start training for a longer race.
On top of all of that, a few days after the flood I was scheduled to host a bridal shower for my sister! I was thrilled to get out of town but I had a hard time relaxing after that crazy week. The shower ended up going well, and I have my mom and my aunt to thank for all their help! I had to scrap some of my original plans, but I did end up making several vegan things – Black Bean Pasta Salad, a fresh fruit salad, Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes, Cream Cheese Mints, and Cream Cheese Cucumber Dill Sandwiches. Everything went over really well – we hardly had any food left! And people didn’t even know things were vegan until I told them.
The spread:
Then, the day after the shower was my birthday! I usually like to go to the Iowa State Fair for my birthday, since it always falls close. I wasn’t sure if we would be able to make it this year since I was out of town the first weekend, but we had a chance to go yesterday and I’m glad we did! It was very hot and humid – we tried to stay hydrated and pace ourselves. My favorite parts were the goats and the sky lift.
Luke cooled off with some ice cream. It was the perfect day for it, I found myself wishing aloud that the fair had non-dairy ice cream!
There were some amazing flowers, fruits, and veggies, like these:
And this “biggest cabbage” award winner, which I just thought was so beautiful:
So that’s what I’ve been up to. Things have been crazy with school starting tomorrow (not for me, but at work), and I’m still trying to get back to some normalcy in my routine and around my house. I have been cooking very little, but I plan to get back into it this week, so be on the lookout for some good vegan eats! Thanks for sticking with me and I promise to post more regularly. I missed blogging!
