First things first: my surgery went very well. The doc told me so as I was coming out of my slumber, but he also spoke at length with my parents. There were no complications, no real surprises, and if the healing goes as it should, the doc said he doesn't see why I shouldn't be able to get back to running—very welcome news! My doctor, by the way, is  Matthew Werd , at Foot and Ankle Associates in Lakeland. I fretted a lot over which surgeon to choose; I'd had three consultations, and it came down to two. One was an orthopedist I'd seen for injuries, and she happened to have performed bunionectomies on two of my coworkers, who were happy with their results. But her recovery program seemed far too good to be true. Walking around within a few days, no boot, and the second foot done within 10 days of the first. Maybe it would have been perfectly fine, but in the end I decided I wanted the more cautious approach, albeit with a much longer recovery period. Nonetheless, I...

In the past week, I ran my last run, I swam my last swim, and I rode my last ride—at least for a while. I did four distinct loads of laundry (which I did not know was possible for me); I stocked up on necessities—toilet paper, hygiene things, dry goods, some frozen foods, medications/supplements; I pre-made a couple of foods I knew I'd want afterward; I typed up all the necessary (and some unnecessary) details of my surgery to send in emails to my family and my employer; I drank a large glass of water mixed with a disgusting packet of detoxing/alkalizing powder the past three nights, because the guy at Whole Foods told me I should and I was too afraid of what might haven if I didn't; I made readily available my yoga mat, ab roller, and dumbellls and pulled out my book of yoga anatomy that shows seated and supine poses—for when the motivation stikes me to exercise; I made sure everything I'd want was accessible—not too high or too low, as I won't be able to lift heavy th...

Monday night, I had the delightful opportunity to be among the  Tampa Bay Bloggers  on a tasting event* at  Ulele  (pronounced yoo-LAY-lee), a newish restaurant along Tampa's River Walk, which is in a revitalization phase. The restaurant, which opened this past fall, has already received several significant commendations:  One of the Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S. (by Open Table),  One of the Best New Restaurants in Florida (by  Florida Trend ); Best Overall Restaurant (by Yelp Tampa Bay); and, its most recent achievement,  the  #7 spot for Top 50 Restaurants in Tampa Bay , as scored by Laura Reiley of the  Tampa Bay Times .  So I felt honored to eat there, and I'd been wanting to go since it opened, but reservations were always difficult to get. When I saw the call for bloggers to attend this event, I jumped at the opportunity! Fortunately, I was chosen--among may others: That's a lot of hungry bloggers! A...

I've been wanting to make almond milk from scratch for some time, but it always seemed like too much work. But when I came across this recipe on Oh She Glows , I thought, this is doable. As always, I made a couple of exceptions: I didn't have a nut-milk bag, and I didn't use vanilla, because buying dried vanilla beans is expensive! I thought the flavors from the dates and cinnamon would be plenty. I soaked my raw almonds--and dates, which is suggested if they are not very soft to start with--for about five hours. The recipe doesn't say how much water to soak them in, but I just made sure they were well covered with water. (You can also soak them over night.) Then I drained and rinsed the soaked almonds and dates. I then blended the almonds and dates with 3.5 cups of water on high for about a minute.  Next, I thought I would use my fine-mesh strainer plus a cheesecloth to strain the liquid from the pulp, but the cheesecloth turned out to be more troub...

A few weeks ago, a friend in the fitness community asked if I'd be interested in doing a cleanse through the company he and his wife started in exchange for a write-up of my experience. I received product for writing this review, which is my honest recounting of my journey into juiceland. I was genuinely excited and curious to begin this new way of consuming calories and cleansing out built-up toxins in my body. But I was also apprehensive; I love food, and I use it to comfort me in stressful times. I knew this relationship with food was a bad one, though, and one of the things I sought to change through the cleanse was the way I view and use food. Logically I knew I would be getting enough calories each day with just the juices, and I tried to rely on that knowledge to convince myself that I could do this. The one thing I did not anticipate is that I would still be in the process of moving from one home to another, a highly stressful event (I had hoped to be done the day prior ...

This past Sunday, I visited the Florida State Fair . I have to admit that I wasn't too enthused about going, but Tim had free tickets, as he works for the New York Yankees, and they are a sponsor of the fair. What I didn't realize is that Cracker Country was a part of the fair (it's a museum that's actually there year-round, but it's on the fairgrounds, so you can visit it with fair admission). When local friends first told me about Cracker Country, I thought it sounded offensive and certainly not celebratory, let alone educational. But then when I learned about the the origin of the term Cracker  and the history of Florida Crackers , I was pretty fascinated, as I love learning about historical living, especially regarding day-to-day activities. Upon arriving at the fair on one of the most beautiful days in recent memory--sunshine and cool, breezy temps, but warm enough for flip-flips (in true Florida fashion)--and got in with ease because we came in the morning ...