Be The Match- Becoming a Bone Marrow Donor Part 2

Posted on June 15, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

Happy early Father’s Day! Today I’m running around doing my usual Saturday errands and then heading home to celebrate with my parents tomorrow. Last fathers day, I wrote about becoming a bone marrow donor because it is near and dear to my heart. This father’s day, I wanted to talk about it again because it is still one of the main reasons my dad is still here. He had a bone marrow stem cell transplant a year and a half ago thanks to an anonymous donor found through Be The Match, the National Bone Marrow Donor Program.

While he has had a lot of complications and bad luck since then, I am so incredibly thankful for donor program because it gave him another chance. In addition, with his more recent health problems he’s had to receive weekly blood transfusions and his post-transplant blood type is very rare. Still, every week, the blood center still manages to find his blood type and he receives blood thanks to donors.

So I am here to say THANK YOU to all of you who donate blood and are organ donors. Until my dad became dependent on these generous donations, I didn’t realize just how important it is! Thank you for taking the time and sacrificing because it is so crucial for patients who need them. I also wanted to share this story with you about Cameron Lyle, a track and field standout who ended his career when he came up as a match to donate bone marrow for someone. So incredible.

And lastly, if you are interested in becoming a blood or bone marrow donor, it is so easy! To become a bone marrow or bone marrow stem cell donor, you can register online here. They’ll send you a kit with everything you need. You swab your cheek cells and send in your samples along with answering a questionnaire. When they receive all of your information and samples, you can either choose to donate money along with your registration or just be added to the donor registry. It is essentially free. When I registered, it took less than a couple weeks to get it all taken care of and was hassle free! To become a blood donor, you can check here for locations and blood drives near you! Again, I cannot say a big enough thank you to all of you who already have taken the plunge. If you are interested, I encourage you to check out the websites or talk to your doctor for more information.

Alright, enough testimony for today on the blog, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! If you have questions about Be The Match and donating, feel free to email me or leave a comment!

Easy Bruschetta!

Posted on June 13, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

One of my favorite things about summer is that the grad school world tends to loosen it’s belt a little bit. Sure, we still work everyday, but the absence of class and post-semester tension release brings time for fun summer sports, trips to the terrace, and my favorite- barbeques!

But being completely honest, while I love the lazy summer afternoon barbeques, I often procrastinate in the hours before barbeques and am stuck with the age old question: what can I bring to the grill out that I can make last minute? I loathe just going out to the store and buying something, because it is so much more fun when it is homemade! But when time is of the essence, I am torn. Anyone else run into this?

Well this summer, I gotcha covered and there will be no need to run to the store for that last minute chips and salsa! Bruschetta is a super quick, tasty appetizer that is perfectly light for summer get togethers. It takes less than 15 minutes to throw together and you can make as much as you want for a group or keep it simple for yourself. Most of the ingredients (tomatoes, onions, and basil) can be found at your local farmer’s market for pretty cheap too! Here’s how it goes:

Bruschetta Ingredients (for one):

1 roma tomato chopped

1 slice white onion (~2 tbsp) chopped

2 leaves fresh basil, chopped

1 small clove of garlic, minced

dash of oregano

1-2 large slice Italian bread cut in half

Bruschetta Ingredients (for a party):

7 roma tomatoes, chopped.

1 medium white onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped basil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. oregano

9-10 slices Italian bread, cut in half.

Directions (for all):

Slice Italian bread and place on a baking sheet. Using the broiler setting on your oven, broil until top side is golden brown and flip to broil the other side. This should take about 4-5 minutes for the first side (once oven has heated) and about 3 minutes for the second side. WATCH CLOSELY AND OFTEN as different ovens heat differently!

Chop all other ingredients and mix well with spices in a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate if serving later. When ready to serve, scoop the mixture onto bread, and enjoy!

Makes 18-20 pieces/servings of bruschetta.

I want to hear from you! What are some of your favorite go-to dishes for summer barbeques?

A Spanx-Free Wedding Season

Posted on June 10, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

I don’t know about all of you, but it’s finally starting to feel a little like summer here up north! Although warmer temperatures are key, I think the start of wedding season is the ultimate kick-off to summer. The last two weekends I’ve been back in Iowa celebrating the weddings of college friends/ my former roommate Hannah (pictured below). As my wedding season has started this year, I’ve been reflecting on more than just the friendship and good times had. Just hear me out.

There’s a tipping point for everyone that wants to lose weight and it’s completely individual. One of the first signs towards my tipping point to when I knew I had gained a lot of weight was two years ago during my first big wedding season. I was involved in several weddings that summer and my dresses just didn’t look right. My tummy stuck out, I had horrible underwear lines, and even going up a dress size didn’t work because it would be too big elsewhere. I felt awful because although I was so excited to be involved and celebrating with my friends, I was so scared of what I was going to look like. It was then my mom suggested I get spanx or some type of compression shorts to “suck it all in”

My first reaction was: Who me? Spanx? What? Isn’t that like control top tights for old ladies?

Yep, those spanx. I was so embarrassed, but I bought them anyway (see below, from my roommate Sarah’s wedding in June 2011).

As embarrassed as I was, they were a LIFESAVER. They also were a wakeup call. Although I had a fabulous time in my pretty dresses at weddings that summer, as I would peel them off of me at the end of the night, I felt anything but pretty and fabulous. This was the beginning of my realization that something needed to change. When I started losing weight a year ago, I set a goal to get to a point where I didn’t have to wear spanx with my dresses “suck it all in” and to only need them on blustery days when my skirt could fly up (#girlprobz).

Well, fast forward a little over a year later and I’m happy to report that this summer and wedding season has been spanx free! The past two weekends I have have felt great in my body and in my dressy attire!

I can’t say enough how much of a joy it is this summer to really focus on celebrating with friends and not be constantly worried about my confidence and image.

Wedding #2 this past weekend- my friend from college and roommate in Europe, Lauren!

While I still believe in wearing some type of spandex underneath dresses on blustery days to avoid lady part exposure, I’m happy to say that my spanx wearin’ days are over. I also think this is a lesson in how important it is to have healthy goals other than to reach a number on the scale/goal weight.

For me, my alternative goals of smaller clothing sizes, spanx free weddings, and half marathon running have pushed me just as hard as my goal to be a certain weight. It has been so rewarding to accomplish these and keep working towards new goals. I encourage each of you to think about setting multiple healthy goals that could boost your confidence or push you into a healthy lifestyle. It has done wonders for me.

With that being said, I want to hear from you!!! What healthy goals have you set for yourself??

The best ice cream in the Cedar Valley: 4 Queens

Posted on June 5, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

Mmmmmkay, we’re in for some Iowa lovin’ today. This post is long overdue, but I don’t care! I’ve been spending a lot of time going back home to Iowa lately, which has been draining on my checkbook but delightful on my tastebuds. I just LOVE going to my favorite restaurants and eateries back “home” and never turn down an opportunity to take a walk down memory lane with the “comfort food” I have there. On these road trips to and from home, I’ve been taking advantage of stopping along highway 20 at one particular spot and indulging in one of my favorite foods, ice cream!

My FAVORITE place to get soft serve ice cream in the entire world is 4 Queens Dairy Cream, located in good ol’ Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Evansdale, IA. In college, my roommate worked there and introduced me to it…since then, my life has not been the same! The ice cream there is to die for, it is creamy yet not quite custardy soft serve (I know that sounds weird, but believe me it is awesome) and they have tons of options! Their versions of “blizzards” are called snowstorms and they have over 30 flavors, I swear! It is pretty decently priced too and no more expensive than DQ.

I always get the nutter butter snowstorm with chocolate ice cream (pictured). Chocolate + PB + ice cream….you can’t go wrong.

4 Queen is also Abhay approved, so you know its good. If you are ever traveling through the Cedar Valley, check out 4 Queens…chances are you will probably see me there stuffing my face.

Disclaimer: We paid for our ice cream ourselves and I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Posted on May 31, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

If you couldn’t see a theme in my reading list lately, I have become obsessed with smart female comedians. They are some of my favorite role models. Mindy Kaling? No exception. My first thought when I read the title of her book was, “Wow, I’ve definitely had this thought before. I like her even more now!” I’ve wanted to read this book for like, a good year and luckily, my last amazon order needed $10 to reach free supersaver shipping, so in the cart it went!

I always adored Mindy’s character of Kelly Kapoor on The Office and have loved what I’ve seen in her new show, The Mindy Project. One thing I didn’t know though is that Mindy was actually one of the main writers for The Office! Now that takes even more brains, in my opinion and is extremely badass (in a diva type of way). Basically, I want to be best friends with Mindy because a) she’s hilarious (a given) and b) she seems so normal. I’ll make this short and sweet and just say that this is a very light hearted book and a fabulous read. I highly recommend it

Happy Friday to everyone! I’m kicking off wedding season by another roadtrip (Yeah, I’ve put over 1500 miles on my car in the past month) to Southern Iowa for a former roomie’s wedding. Hope you all have a great (and dry!) weekend!

My first half marathon (vlog)!

Posted on May 27, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

Well, I live to tell the tale of my first half marathon! My time wasn’t near as fast as I would have liked it to be, but I definitely gave it everything I had. Lucky for you all, I made a vlog about the journey instead of writing it all out! Enjoy my awkwardness

If you are too lazy to watch that (no judgement here, i promise) here’s a play by play of what went on in my mind during the half marathon. I basically loved the first half and hated the second half (when the pain started). All in all though, it’s amazing what you think about when you are running for long periods of time!

Emily’s thought process for 13.1 miles

Mile 1- I hate you observatory hill, but i can’t believe one mile is done!

**I also had a hilarious moment at mile 1. While trying to throw my water cup in a trash bag held by a nice volunteer-man, I accidently threw it too hard and hit him square in the crotch to which the water spilled all over. Luckily he laughed at it. I, however, was mortified. To that nice man- if you ever read this little blog of mine, know that I am truly sorry!! haha

Mile 2 & 3- Yeahhh Buddy!

Mile 4- Do not let the old ladies pass you!

Mile 5- Feelin’ as good as I did on Crazylegs (a 5 mile race I did in April)….

Mile 6- Ughhhh, pain starting

Mile 7 & 8- More pain in my trouble areas (piriformis muscle (deep within your butt)/my ass muscles in general). Why muscles, whyyyy?!?!

Mile 8ish- Quick porta-potty stop to icy hot my butt and hamstring. Yes, this really happened. No, it wasn’t as successful as I thought it’d be (sigh).

Mile 9- This was the worst idea ever.

Mile 10 –Double digits! Morale Boost! Time for some Rihanna. Oh and another killer steep hill (I’ll save you the swearing that went through my mind).

Mile 11- Another quick stop to try more icy hot. Still didn’t work. I then spent this mile devising a plan to start a company that makes a gel that penetrates through your fat to get to deep muscles so it actually works. This made me laugh and made the time go by so fast.

Mile 12- ONE MOREEEEEEEEEEEEE. I can do this!

**My Beyonce playlist was clutch here (End Of Time- seriously the best song ever, will definitely lift your mood)!

Mile 12.5ish- My lovely roommate who finished earlier was waiting for me and ran with me til the start of finish gate! As we were running up State St. I remember asking her “where the HELL is the finish?!?!” –It was around the corner, don’t worry

Finish- Thank Gawwwwwd this is over, but YAY!!!! Where’s the beer?

Also, the bondi band I bought yesterday for my hair? AWESOME. It was wide enough that it covered my ears in the cold this morning and never slipped (just like they advertise)! It was a good $8 investment!

Before After

And that was it! Whew. Hopefully between all that jazz you got a good idea of my first dose of half marathoning. Basically, you all should try one sometime if you are looking for a challenge…remember, if I can do it, you can too!

Half Marathon Prep for a First Timer (tomorrow…eek!)

Posted on May 25, 2013 by morethanjustdessert

Well well well…here we are! First of all, I hope all of you have fabulous Memorial Day plans lined up. I am actually staying in Madison this weekend (the first time in a month) to run the Madison Half Marathon Sunday (tomorrow) morning!

While I initially sound excited about it, I’m slightly terrified. I haven’t put in as many miles as I should have, especially the last few weeks due to aching muscles and fatigue (read my whiny post about it here). After getting my attitude in check, I am basically going into this race as, I just want to finish and run the whole thing (as slow as that run may be). I did get all my long runs in thoughout training, so at least I have that to fall back on!

All week I’ve been thinking about what I need to do to prepare for the race on Sunday morning and making a to do list! Here are a couple things I’ve done to prepare:

1. Music!

I’ve been gathering new runnin’ tunes from my friends to gear up for the race. I don’t know about you all, but I run longer and faster when I have new music, so I’ve packed a TON of new stuff in my ipod. I’ve got Beyonce, Robyn, and Rihanna (Or Ri Ri, as my friend Sammie affectionately refers to her as) on standby to hopefully get me through the tough parts of the race!

2. Packet pickup and Expo.

We did this last night and I’m so glad we did because there weren’t many lines! The expo was pretty good- your standard running shoes, clothes, and other gear. I bought a “no-slip” headband since I am constantly losing my other cheap ones…we’ll see if it holds up after this weekend!

The vendor also had headbands with hilarious sayings on them, but I wasn’t brave enough to buy one…I like my plain ol’ colors!

3. Drinking lots of water.

I was told by all my runner friends to drink as much water as possible in the last couple days leading up to the race. I’ve been chugging H2O out of my trusty mason jar and my pee is prettttty clear, so I’m hoping that means I am going to be well hydrated! Lord knows I need all the help I can get.

4. Choosing my race outfit.

To be determined. You know me, I’m terrible at making these kinds of decisions!

That’s all I have for now. Anything I’m forgetting??? Im going into this race kinda blind without any expectations, so I would love to hear any suggestions from you all!

Anyway, I’m off to the farmer’s market (SO HAPPY!) for the first time this spring! See you after the finish!

More Than Just Dessert…