Giving Thanks

Kelly and I started out the day with a 5mile Turkey Trot in Lincoln Park - fun times and great shirts! I love the logo of the turkey in running gear!

Then up to the lake where mom was making an incredible meal...We finally have someone who likes the drumsticks...Dan!

YUM!

Dad christened the fireplace...we were all impressed at how great the fire burned and how amazing it smelled! They don't build fireplaces like they did back in 1937!

Tres and Pat came by for desert...and Dan had a gift from Mexico for Tres!

Tres reciprocated with some Corona Familiar...which we thought could only be found in Mexico!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Green Zebra

The Green Zebra is a trendy vegetarian place that Elese, Stephanie, and I decided to try for their Tuesday Tasting Menu. The theme was Autumn Cocktails and they paired four courses with these delicious drinks!

Course 1: Chilled Ginger-Broccoli Salad

Cocktail 1: Masabo Flex: Sake, Japanese Plum, Shiso
Course 2: Butternut Squash Dumplings

Cocktail 2: Charon's Tonic: Whiskey, cranberry syrup, tonic, lemon
Course 3: Hand-Cut Tagliatelle w/ Kale & Cippolini

Cocktail 3: Tempus: Mezcal, Vodka, Grapefruit, Thyme
Course 4: Warm Pecan Waffle (with to die for maple cardamom ice cream)

Cocktail 4: Bourbon, walnut, sweet vermouth, cherry
The food and cocktails were amazing...can't wait to go back!

We said 'Yes to the Dress!'

We threw a bridesmaid brunch this weekend before heading off to look for dresses. In typical Parker fashion, we put out quite the spread....

Kel got these cookies made...purple dresses with our names on them for the bridesmaids and the same in blue for the moms.

Erin brought these delicious dresses from sweet mandy b's.

Seems that orange is in...not that Allie and I have that much of a clue, but if LT is rocking orange it must be in!

Cheers!

Off to Bella Bridesmaid where we had already narrowed it down to 3 choices before bringing the whole crew.
Bridget modeling one of the contenders...but not the final choice.

The winner was this gorgeous Monique dress....in eggplant...

Flattering detail...
There is a removable strap and we came up with 4 styles with it.

The ladies of the wedding party! 8-25-12!!

Why Cleanse?

Cleansing is becoming more “mainstream” these days, so much so that only my brother-in-law-to-be has given me weird looks. So…why cleanse? Quite simply - to allow our bodies time relax and recover. We are exposed to so many toxins each day…from the air we breathe in, to the packaged and stabilized food we put in our bodies.

By removing certain foods that cause inflammation in our bodies – gluten, dairy, caffeine, sugar, red meat, alcohol – we give our digestive system a break and our cells time to heal other ailments. We’re doing three days of liquid – broths, juices, and smoothies – to fully detox and restart digestion.

After 3 days of liquid, we’ll go back to clean eating and gradually try small quantities of the foods we had removed, which will allow us to actually feel any reactions from sensitivities we may have to these foods that we normally ignore since we are just used to feeling that way.

I’m done with Day 1 of the liquid phase and feel good. Never felt full yesterday, but didn’t feel hungry much either. Overall, I’ve felt good throughout the cleanse except for one day a few days into clean eating where I was very sleepy all day.

Will I sustain the clean eating moving forward…probably not. But I have learned a lot of new techniques and experimented with lots of new foods that I am loving and those I will take with me for sure!

Liquid Prep!

After a week of clean eating, it is time for the liquid phase of the Wellness Cleanse, so I spent tonight prepping. I made my own vegetable broth by boiling a bunch of veggies and herbs and blending them together.

"Golden Milk" with turmeric and honey.
The Master Cleanse drink of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper.
We had a nutritionist speak to us last night...she is a a board certified nutritionist and runs a practice that, as she says, takes patients who are "train wrecks" as well as people interested in improving their health. The talk was so interesting! Some of the more interesting points:

- Milk sugar aggravates our digestive system, after cleansing from dairy if you choose to reintroduce it back you should use organic, pro-biotic rich, and hormone free milk

- Instead of milk in coffee, use a little whipping cream or half and half, both are low in sugar, low in protein

- We should all be taking pro-biotics, a multi-mineral, vitamin D, and an active B-complex. However, the FDA does not regulate vitamins/supplements so many times we are taking things that have lots of additives that are not healthy, some recommended sources are Numedica and Orthomolecular.

- Soy has an estrogen-like hormone that is not exactly like the hormones in our bodies, thus we should try and limit/avoid soy because it often causes hormone imbalance

- Gluten is the worst...it is very inflammatory. We're all intolerant to gluten, but to different levels.

Cleansing!

Since I am a Core Power program junkie, I decided to do the Wellness Cleanse...after being convinced by Elese of course! The Wellness Cleanse focuses on clean eating, ayurveda, and includes a 3 day liquid phase.

Clean Eating: No caffeine, alcohol, gluten, dairy, meat, soy, sugar, chocolate.

Ayurveda: Yoga's sister science focuses on food as an alternate form of medicine. You eat for the season - for example in winter we should be eating more warm foods. You eat for your dosha...figure out your dosha with this link.

The bounty for my shopping this weekend!

What I made!

Kale Chips

Apple Pomegranate Brussels Sprout Salad

Substituted pine nuts for almonds. SO GOOD!

Green Soup w/ Ginger

Chunky Celery Soup

Roasted Potato & Parsnip Soup

Elese supplied this recipe...I didn't have cauliflower, so I substituted sweet potato and yellow potato. Delicious!

Asparagus & Shiitake Mushrooms

I didn't really follow the recipe, just threw the 3 ingredients in and sauteed.

Chocolate!!!

I had so much fun last year that I decided to do the Hot Chocolate 15K again this year....because, really, who wouldn't run for chocolate?! Elese and I very much enjoyed our post-race fondue...especially since we begin the Wellness Cleanse tomorrow - yipes!

It was a new course...though the city, down past the UC and up again to finish in Millennium Park.

Good times...amazing chocolate!!