Guest Post: Pumpkins, Pilates and Peas?!

Hey everyone! I’m sitting here at the airport right now, getting ready to board for Cali, but had to post this very special guest post for ya’ll 😀

Here is a woman who really needs no introduction, but I will say that I admire her greatly and will definitely look to her for mom inspiration when I have little Fitnessistas and Pilots running around 😀

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Hi guys!

Shh…don’t say it.  You know, the ovIN-Lay My ummy-Tay.  Don’t even say my name.   I’ll explain why in a bit, but for now, let me first thank Gina for letting me guest post for her.  Her blog has always been a favorite of mine, so I was honored and flattered when she asked me.  I’m like Ellen on American Idol:  not quite sure that I’m qualified to be here, but jumping at the chance!  Now if only I had a smoking hot wife like Portia DeRossi.

So let me tell you about the AMAZING day I had today and then at the end of this post I have a big announcement.

I got up this morning and did a quick two mile run on the treadmill.  I say “quick” in the context of the duration of my run, and most certainly not the speed.  While I was running 8 minute miles in my hayday (i.e. prior to my back surgery), I’m now averaging about an 11 minute mile, but considering I could barely walk six months ago, I’ll take it.

After my run and my shower, I made breakfast for the little ones and I.

I’ve been having this little concoction quite a bit:

• 1/4 c. Kashi Go Lean
• 1 Honeycrisp apple
• cinnamon
• 2 T. Pumpkin Spice Granola

While I ate, Lulu (my nickname for my littlest one) tried to hide the fact that she was having a bad hair day.

After breakfast, I made myself a cup of coffee to go.  After professing my love for Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice soy lattes last week, Heather had the nerve to tell me that they aren’t vegan.  How disappointing.

You might as well tell me that Matthew McConaughey is having a shirt surgically attached to his body for all of time.

So I saved myself $3 and decided to make my own pumpkin coffee drink at home.  I heated about 1/2 c. of almond milk with 2 T. of pumpkin, cinnamon and stevia.  I then whipped it up in my Magic Bullet until it got nice and frothy, like this:

I added the “pumpkin syrup” to my coffee, and it was delicious!

To the Pumpkin Patch!  It was Gigi’s (my nickname for my oldest) first field trip with her preschool class and we were so excited!  Of course, LuLu and I came along.

We first took a hay ride, which LuLu was a little nervous for.

Gigi comforted her (note the hand on the leg).

We rode out to the pumpkin patch, where we each picked out a pumpkin, a gourd and a piece of Indian corn (I’m fairly certain that is a politically incorrect term).

See that scowl?  She’s pissed because I caught her picking up a piece of muddy “Native American” corn off the ground and trying to eat the dirty corn off the cob like a typewriter.  I snatched it from her and then took her picture.

Once we got our goods and had the joy of taking a 4 yr. old to a wet nasty porta-potty in the middle of a field, we boarded the tractor and headed back to the barn.

There we got a lesson in juice.  PUH-LEEZ…I could teach my own class on that.

I did learn a few things though, like that it takes SIXTEEN POUNDS of apples to make ONE GALLON of juice!  No wonder I was spending so much money when I was juicing all day.  I also learned that there are over 2,500 varieties of apples in the world.  2,500!!!  I scoffed when my husband and I were discussing our bucket lists and he said, among other off the wall, completely unachievable things he wanted to ride a camel in Egypt and go to Easter Island.  I’m adding “Try all 2, 500 varieties of apples in the world” to mine.  Take that!

We then got to sample some fresh pressed cider and apple cider donuts.  I’m pretending that the little bite I had of LuLu’s was vegan.

It was so fun to see Gigi walk around and hold hands with her new little friends.

We next visited the farm animals.

I whispered to the animals that we were vegetarian/vegan.

I was a little surprised at Gigi’s bravery as she went through a hay maze and down a gigantic slide.

I’m so glad I talked her out of the dress she wanted to wear today.

Then there were the obligatory class pictures.

SERIOUS.

YELLING “PUMPKINS!”

AND ACTING SILLY.

By the time we packed up and got home, I was famished.

I made a salad for myself.

• spinach
• carrots
• broccoli
• pickles
• Sesame Dijon Tahini Dressing from Vive Le Vegan
• 1/2 of a Morningstar Chick’n Grillers Patty (LOVE!)

After lunch the girls and I went to Target for a little more Halloween prep.  Gigi finally decided what she wanted to be!

She’s a nice witch, with the emphasis on NICE.  She did not want to take the costume off all night.  I had to threaten her with a ride in a oversized Mylar balloon if she didn’t take the costume off and put her pajamas at bedtime.

But first we played a little “Piggyback Chase.”

I like this game because I can’t play due to my back issues.  I’m not ruling out hopping on Daddy’s back and chasing the girls.  I’m certainly not ruling out hopping on Daddy in general.

For dinner, we heated up some leftover vegan lasagna.

I made this based on the recipe found here.  I used spelt noodles, organic sauce, spinach and mushrooms and omitted the vegan mozarella.  The tofu ricotta was AMAZING.

We also had some salad with more tahini dressing.

After dinner, I did some Pilates using these MTV Pilates DVDs that I bought after Gigi was born.  They have been helping me so much with my back pain, building my core strength and attempting to get the killer sixpack of Miss GC.  I don’t know what association MTV has to the DVDs, though.  It’s not like Sway or better yet,  Heidi Montag is leading me through “the one hundreds.”

Once I’d done my thing, we got the girls in bed and are now just catching up with our DVR.  I’m not done with the pumpkins for the day though.  Here’s my dessert:

Pumpkin ice cream!  I stuck about 2/3 c. of pumpkin in the freezer while I did my Pilates, then I added about 1/2 c. of almond milk, stevia, cinnamon and a couple ice cubes, and blended it all up.  So. Good.

Now for the announcement: I’m starting a new blog.  It’s really important that we don’t use names or any of the terms from the old blog, since I’m wanting to keep this one from prying eyes.  So please don’t use our names or anything having to do with L-O-V-I-N or anything that would be search engine findable.

That being said, if you all would have me, I’d love to make my way back into your lives, or maybe into your life for the very first time.

Peas and Thank You.

And thanks again to Gina for having me!