What I learned being a vegetarian.

Many of you who know me well, know that I've been a vegetarian for about the past year and a half.  I made the choice mainly based on how I was feeling during this time in my life where I was making significant changes to my diet.  I noticed that whenever I ate meat, I felt a "heavy" feeling in my stomach and sometimes stomach pain/discomfort.  So I just decided not to eat meat.  I felt much better (well, I still do) when I didn't consume meat.  I also started reading a really cool book (The Kind Diet) and found a lot of information I wasn't aware of (basically, where some of our food comes from...eeek!), so that also helped me make my decision to become a vegetarian.

So, fast forward to this summer.  Around the end of June, I was in class one morning and noticed my neck and upper back were super sore (more so than normal).  Towards the end of the day, I was in a lot of pain and then my arms, hands and fingers started going numb and felt really tingly.  Yikes, that was not a good feeling.  I called the clinic on my campus and made an appointment with an intern.  A few days and a few x-rays later, we determined that anatomically, everything was looking okay.  That was a big relief.  I mean honestly, I was really worried since my arms were going all tingly and weird on me.  After reviewing a few other things in my file, my intern (Jenny) decided it would be beneficial to do some lab work.  We talked about my diet and supplements that I take, and decided it would be important to check my vitamin B12 level.  Jenny thought this was important to do because I had a few symptoms that were indicative of a B12 deficiency.  I had my level checked about 2 years prior, which happened to be a little on the low side then, so I started taking a B12 supplement and I continued to do so, especially since I was a vegetarian (you basically can only get B12 from animal products).  I told my intern I would be surprised if it was low, especially since I was taking a daily supplement.  Well, we got the results back and they were REALLY low.  My levels had dropped about 200 points since I had become a vegetarian.  I did a 7-day diet diary and we determined that my diet, along with supplementation, should have been giving me the adequate amount of B12 (with my diet, I was still consuming cheese and yogurt, which does contain B12).  So we did some additional lab work to try and determine why my body was not absorbing the B12.  One major concern we wanted to rule out was pernicious anemia.  Pernicious anemia is an autoimmune disease where your body produces antibodies that attack these cells in your stomach that help absorb the B12.  My antibody levels for this came back elevated...high enough to cause concern, but not abnormally high. 

To make a long story short, I'm taking a different form of the B12 supplement (the one I was on before had to be converted in my body before it could be absorbed, so for some reason my body was not converting it, or just simply not absorbing it) so hopefully this new form, which is immediately absorbed (no converting!) will help raise my B12 level.  I also started to eat meat again, which has actually been okay.  I don't eat it everyday and I when I do it's usually fish, sometimes chicken or pork.  I'm starting to feel better, i.e. no more tingly arms!  I'll have more lab work done in a few months to see if the new supplement and changes to my diet are helping increase my B12 level.  I'm happy and relieved that I found someone in the clinic to help me figure out what in the world was going on, and I'm glad that my intern didn't just stop at my back/neck pain.  A B12 deficiency left untreated can cause many problems and unfortunately if treated too late, the damage is irreversible. 

If anyone has more questions about a B12 deficiency, just let me know.  I have information for days and I didn't want to make this blog post any longer than it already is.  I included links in the body above, so hopefully that can help with any questions as well.

Date night.

Tim and I finally had our first date night in Forest Park.  Last night, we grabbed one of our finest bottles of wine and walked about a half mile to Madison St. and had a yummy Italian dinner at Jimmy's Place.

On our way to the restaurant.

The food was great and the atmosphere was fun.  This date night was much needed because Tim's been working a lot and I've been studying my buns off getting ready for finals.  The wine we had was amazing!  It was definitely ready to drink...which is what we did and we didn't leave any behind!  Everything in moderation, right?  Even moderation!  (I have to admit I stole that from one of my professors...)  Anyways, a mighty fine wine it was, courtesy of my awesome father-in-law.  2003 Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape if you're interested in the delicious details.

I wish we had another bottle.  It was SO good.

Just four more days of tests and I'm ready for a super exciting, fun-packed, 2 week break.  I have a lot to blog about, including pictures of our new place!  Stay tuned!

Sweet Cheesus.

I promise I won't turn this into a blog about how much I love food.  But I will continue to post pictures and talk about how wonderful something is if I've put it in my mouth this week.  My friend Alison and her husband Rob have had us over to their house a few times for wonderful dinners.  They usually have this cheese out and I must say it has become one of my favorites.  I am a total sucker for cheese.  I tried to cut most dairy out of my diet, but cheese is the one dairy product I cannot say no to.  Okay, maybe ice cream too.  Especially this blueberry pie ice cream Tim got a few weeks ago at Oberweis...

So, back to this amazing cheese.  It's so creamy and buttery I just can't help myself.  Spread some out on a cracker, top with a little sour cherry or fig spread, and indulge away!  I cannot eat this unattended, or bad things would happen.  Like I'd eat the whole block.

Yes, I had to put a ginormous picture of this magnificent cheese on my blog.  What's even more concerning is that spell checker didn't underline the word "ginormous" in red.  Anyways, here is a little snapshot before we enjoyed some the other night.

Yummmmmmmmm....It is a miracle that I'm still fitting into my pants at this point.  Tim and I are getting closer to moving into our new place and finals are just around the corner.  I'm excited about my two week break for many reasons, but mainly because we have family coming to visit us in the new place.  Plus Diego gets to join our family again!  Here's a little happy face to leave you with...

Max!  He misses his big brother Diego...

I love food. And Forest Park.

I just got done eating a super-delicious, summer meal.  I saw this recipe on a cool blog site that my wonderful girlfriend Molly turned me on to (WARNING - YOU WILL BE HUNGRY ALL OF THE TIME WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS WEBSITE).  Caprese Quinoa.  Yum yum.  You can find the recipe here and make sure you surf around this site because it is wonderful!  Little mozzarella pearls, cute cherry tomatoes from the vine, delightful basil - chiffonade style - drizzled with olive oil, balsamic glaze and sprinkled with salt and pepper, all mixed in with super yummy and healthy quinoa...I'M IN HEAVEN!!!  The recipe says you can eat it hot or cold, but I chose to let it sit in the fridge overnight.  Please please please try this.  Your taste buds will thank me.  I don't know about you, but anything with fresh basil just screams summer to me.  And maybe since I'm falling in love with Chicago summers (upper 70s to 80s weather...) I just love love love summer!

Other exciting news...Tim and I signed a lease on our new place Saturday morning!  YAY!  This has taken a huge load of stress off our shoulders as we found the perfect, little condo in Forest Park.  The building was built in the 1920s, just like our old house in Wichita.  Same old, dark, beautiful woodwork, hardwood floors...happy face!  And most importantly...DOG FRIENDLY!  Two blocks away from a dog park!  Forest Park seems like the perfect compromise for what Tim and I both want/need for the next few years.  It's about half-way between my school and the city.  Our condo is super close to the blue and green lines (takes us right into the city or takes me right out to my school!) and just a few blocks away from Madison St., a super cool road with lots of fun pubs, shops and restaurants.  I like the word super!  Check out this site to see more! 

Once we get the keys (August 1st) and get all settled in, stay tuned for a blog post with pics of the new place.  WE CAN'T WAIT!!!

Where does the time go???

Hello, hello!  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least...

I flew into KC (after a FOUR hour delay I might add) on Friday, June 24th and my wonderful sis picked me up and we drove into Wichita that evening.  Tim, Gretchen, Molly and I enjoyed a yummy dinner at Newport Grille and then Tim and I were off to spend the last few nights in our first home together.  Saturday we packed up the rest of the house and on Sunday we packed everything up in the HUGE moving truck.  A big shout out to Jody, Chris, Jack and Charlie for helping us with that super fun endeavor!  Sunday evening, my wonderful parents hosted a little get-together at their home so we could have one last big hoorah with our favorite Wichita folks!  Monday morning we closed on the house, handed over the keys and hit the road.  It was a bittersweet day...Happy that we sold our home so Tim could join me in Chicago, sad to leave something so special to us both.  We left Wichita around 10:45 in the morning and we made it to Chicago around 11:45 that evening.  I honestly can't believe we made it.  I thought we were going to have to stop somewhere along the way and get a hotel, but I think we were both running on adrenaline or maybe just thinking about how much easier it would be to already be in town in the morning.  The next day we unloaded most of our things into a temporary storage unit and here we are today. 

We're still living in my apartment out in the suburbs, which my husband loves dearly (note sarcasm here), until the end of August.  We've been looking at a few new places to live and we're keeping our fingers crossed we can find something as wonderful as our old Wichita home.  The little dogs made the trip with us and unfortunately Deigo had to stay behind with family until we find our new home.  Well, I should say unfortunately for us, because from what we hear Mr. Deigo is being spoiled rotten by Tim's grandparents...so I'm sure he doesn't miss us one bit!

We are all adjusting wonderfully and I think it's safe to say we are extremely happy to be back together again!  We miss all of our Wichita friends and family and we're excited for anyone and everyone to come visit us.  And of course we'll make our Wichita visits too!

Sold!

I'm happy to report that Tim and I sold our beloved home in Wichita last week.  I'm pretty sure it has to be some kind of real estate record, since we officially put our house on the market on May 6th and the buyers told us they wanted it on May 31st...  25 whole days on the market...  We are counting our lucky stars and we're both oh-so-happy to FINALLY be living in the same city again...under the same roof again...after almost 10 months of living in different states.  I'm sure someday this will be the butt of some joke after a silly fight or disagreement... We couldn't be more happy to move on with our lives, TOGETHER!!!

However, with the excitement comes the crazy stress.  Apparently in today's market, we're at the mercy of the buyer (note sarcasm) and we must close on the house on June 27th.  Two weeks from this coming Monday.  Yikes.  We've been frantically searching for a new home up in Chicago, without much luck.  I keep reminding myself we're lucky that I still have my apartment for at least the next three months so that can buy us some time while we look for the right place.  Note to potential or already existing pet owners...it's a bit difficult to find a landlord that wants to rent to a couple with 3 dogs.  We're keeping our fingers crossed and trying to stay positive, at least that's what I try to convince myself every passing day!

Oh, and of course I still have a full course load this summer.  And conveniently midterms started this week.  My stress level has reached its max capacity.  Thank goodness I have a husband who has been patient with my random tears.  And mom, dad and sister for that matter.  When the stress level spills over, I just try and remind myself that things could always be worse.  For example, living apart from my best friend for the next three years.  Yep, I'm starting to feel that warm sunshine again.

Our first home.

I'll miss this patio and all the wonderful times Tim and I sat out here sharing dinner,a bottle of wine and a wonderful conversation.  On to our next patio!

Also, what a wonderful anniversary present.  It will be one year on June 17th, and even though we won't be together on that day, just ten short days after that we won't be worrying about that next plane ticket to see each other!

Break...

Hi everyone!  I just returned to Chicago after 2 WONDERFUL weeks off from school.  Of course it went by too fast.  Time sure is flying by and I'm enjoying every minute...well I have to be honest, I did not enjoy the last two weeks of finals which happened to include TWELVE tests.  Not cool, not cool at all.  But the best part is I survived and spent two wonderful weeks with friends and family. 

Tim and I met out in Palm Desert, CA and spent a few days with my parents and Gretchen.  They bought a new place after we had been there over Christmas and we didn't want to wait until next Christmas to see it!  We had a fun few days packed with pool time, fab dinners with friends, hiking and catching up on sleep (especially for me!) and celeb spotting...well only one celeb but it sure was exciting, especially for my husband.  I flew in on a Friday morning and my sister and Tim flew in the night before.  When they came to the airport to pick me up, Gretch and Tim came in to the baggage claim area to greet me.  As we were standing there chatting and waiting for my bag, I looked across the conveyor and saw Anthony Bourdain (chef extraordinaire, has the show "No Reservations").  Anyways, Tim is a HUGE fan so I excitedly said, "TIM, look who is across the way!!!"  Well Tim turned about 10 shades of red and was so excited!  Gretch and Tim went over and said a quick hello, not to draw too much attention.  I prefer to keep my distance from celebs, because I like to have this idea of who they are in my head.  For example, if I went up to my favorite celebrity and said hello and they were totally rude or mean, I'm sure it would bother me for a bit.  Weird I know.  Anyways, he was super nice to them and even gave Tim a low-five.  Apparently he was on my flight from Chicago, I just hadn't noticed him when I got on the plane.  And let me tell you, he is a damn good looking man in person.  I know he can look a little rough on his shows, but in person whoa baby!  I gave Tim a pretty hard time because it seemed to me that he was more excited to see Anthony Bourdain than he was his own wife who he hadn't seen in 5 weeks...  =)  I wish I would have had a camera on me to catch that greeting!

I got to spend about a week in a half in Wichita, which was not nearly enough but I'll always take what I can get!  Tim and I worked super hard on the house while I was home and on Friday, May 6th we put our "For Sale by Owner" sign in the yard.  Sell baby, sell!  We've already had two showings and saw a few cars stop to take an info flyer.  I know it's not really the best time to be selling a house, but we've got to get Tim and the dogs up to Chicago ASAP.  But my visit wasn't all hard work, we spent many an evening with friends and family, sharing dinners, stories and drinks.  I did capture a few pictures along the way (which means Tim actually captured a few pictures along the way)...

My fab girlfriend, Molly.

My lovely Momma.

Melissa & Pat.

Molly & Isaac.

Pops & the killer margaritas.

Favorite cousin, Jamie.

Love this one of my Momma.

Hubs!

 

 After multiple pitchers of margaritas, we decided it was only appropriate that we have a dance party.

What a fun 2 weeks.  Can't wait until the next two week break, but at least I get to go home a few times this summer!  Trimester 3, here I come!