Gone to Market

I firmly believe that one of the best feelings in the world is waking up without an alarm clock. Yesterday was a good day, and I owe most of it to waking up naturally at 9:00am. I know we’re told to wake up at the same time every day to keep our bodies on a schedule, but there’s no way I’m waking up at 3:30am on days I don’t have to work.

The heat and humidity finally broke yesterday, and it was a balmy 70 degrees when I got up. Perfect day for a run. I drove to the park around eleven and was disappointed to find it isn’t nearly as pretty or relaxing anymore. Lately, it’s been filled with construction crews hacking down trees and ripping up the ground for who-knows-what.

What are they doing?! I can’t figure it out. I decided to take a left instead of a right when I got to the park to avoid the destruction. But I may have to find a new route.

It was so nice running when it wasn’t bloody hot out.

And it’s kind of fun not being able to see the trail when there is a curve; it looks like you have to run through a field of grass to get across the bridge.

Muddy River.

Mile 1: 10:07

Mile 2: 10:00

Mile 3: 10:30

Total miles: 3.02           Duration: 30:41        Pace per mile: 10:11

Because I forgot to put out the fruit at my wine & cheese party, I have two containers of strawberries to use up. I put them to good use after my run in a delicious smoothie.

One small banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, six strawberries, green tea, two ice cubes, and a spoonful of Stevia.

I forgot to buy spinach while I was at the grocery store the other day, but I enjoyed my pink smoothie yesterday.

After running to the bank, I walked down the street to the dreaded dentist for a cleaning.

I haven’t had a cleaning in….about 13 years. The dental hygienist was shocked. “But your teeth are in such good shape! What do you do?!”

Brush them twice a day. Floss once a month, when I remember. Try not to rot my teeth with too much soda. Who needs a dentist?

Apparently I do, because I have four cavities (which I knew last year before I got my wisdom teeth removed), so I have to go back today to get them filled. After spending an hour in the chair yesterday, bored and trying not to listen to the sound of metal scraping my teeth (ugh!), I’m not really looking forward to going back.

After I got home from the dentist, my sister Emily and I drove to meet our friend Nicole.

We met at the farmer’s market for the first time this year. I can’t believe it took me this long to get here!

I finally got my beloved spinach and some kale to make chips.

And the peaches looked too gorgeous to pass up, so I bought a few of those, too.

The local strawberries looked wonderful, and I lamented the fact that I had grocery-store strawberries in my fridge, probably shipped from Timbuktu.

The flowers at the market area always incredibly beautiful–I don’t know why anyone would buy flowers anywhere else when they sell flowers like these for $5 a bouquet.

I recognized quite a few vendors from last year, but there were so many new ones this year as well.

Firefly brought their own wood-burning oven, and they were making pizzas to order. Had I wanted to wait a half an hour, I definitely would have had a market fresh pizza for dinner.

We started with beverages, instead: I normally don’t like sweet drinks, but a fresh squeezed lemonade sounded too good to pass up.

There were no doubts that it was freshly squeezed, and it was really good. Lots of lemon and just the right amount of sugar.

There was plenty of entertainment, including this juggling clown and several bands. My brother’s band Solace is going to be playing at the market in August, which should be awesome.

Another new vendor brought a box full of honey bees and the products they make with it.

Watching the bees scuttle around was mesmerizing. I guess the attraction worked, because I bought a bottle of honey almond shampoo from them.

Baby A was not too happy about being carried yesterday, but the market was just too packed for Emily to push her in the stroller. She was really good for the first hour, but she started to get tired and cranky after that. Time to get food, quick!

Vegetable eggroll appetizer.

And a bison burger with pickles, mustard, and ketchup. How cool that they serve bison burgers now at the market! They have really branched out. I think it’s kind of funny that there is so much fresh and healthy food around at the market, but they serve so much greasy food like funnel cakes, elephant ears, cheese curds, cheese curd brats (yes, you read that right), and burgers.

Bison is relatively low in fat, and I love the flavor, so I bought a pound of the frozen ground meat to bring home.

Nicole was the healthiest of the three of us with fresh roasted corn.

And Emily and Aurelia had a dinner of champions: butterfly fries with cheese.

Oh, bad food, why do you have to taste so good?

Oh, how I love market days.