Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

Something Green and Something for YOU! October 6, 2011

Filed under: 30 Day Challenge,Food,Giveaway,Photography — Kelocity @ 6:07 am
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First up, the Photography Challenge! I’m having a problem finding time to take pictures during daylight hours. I might have to start taking my photos on the weekend when I have more natural light to work with. That’s photography 101, right?

DAY 4 – Something Green
I was looking all over for a green subject to take pictures of. And then I realized what the perfect item would be. My sprouting chives!! I definitely don’t have a green thumb, but I’m told chives are easy to maintain, so I’m giving it a shot. New chutes are coming up and I’m so excited!
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My herbs may be a sign of spring, but it actually poured in Los Angeles today. I was so sad I couldn’t ditch work in favor of some puddle jumping. The first rain of fall is always an exciting moment here in California. I was giddy when I heard it on my window when I woke up.

And now that fall has officially decided to join us here, I’m hoping it will stick around for a while. I love fall. The rain, Halloween, sweaters and cozy weekends. It’s also football season. Sometimes I put the games on just to hear the commentators. Football reminds me of home when Sunday Football was the thing to do on the weekends. I’m from Boston. Sports are a religion.

We need a team in LA, don’t you think?

Being the official sport of America… Football = FOOD. (Tell me I’m not the only one who gets excited for Superbowl purely for the buffalo dip and nachos that go with it!) But football doesn’t have to equal calories. There are smart ways of indulging without resorting to carrot sticks and water.

 

Here are a few snack ideas for your next big game:

  • Craisins Original Dried Cranberries: Surprise your taste buds with the sweet, delicious taste of Craisins® Dried Cranberries. Made with real fruit and good as a snack or in a recipe, they’re naturally fat-free and cholesterol-free. Plus, they’re a good source of fiber and 1/3 cup is equal to a serving of fruit.
  • Smart for Life protein bars: Eliminates post-exercise hunger, so you gain muscle not fat. Supports healthy cardiovascular function, helps promote weight loss, boosts metabolism and controls hunger.
  • Medifast Cheese Puffs: These sweet and savory products will tempt taste buds and keeps you feeling full plus they offer a daily requirement of 24 vitamins and minerals!
  • HINT Water: Staying hydrated, refreshed and in shape is a must, which is why HINT Water is offering great flavors like Strawberry-Kiwi, Mango-Grapefruit and Pomegranate-Tangerine without adding those extra calories.

 

What’s your favorite Sunday Night Football dish? Tell me in the comment section of this post and I’ll randomly choose a winner to receive a Prize Pack of each of these products on October 31st.

 

Chocolate or Vanilla August 11, 2011

Filed under: Food,Giveaway,Review — Kelocity @ 10:00 pm
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I didn’t get outside once today! It was such a nice day too. Hope to change that tomorrow and go for a nice walk.

Next week I will be switching my blog to a self-hosted server. I’m so excited that my little blog is growing up! I’ve been trying to tweak a few things to get it ready for the big move. Let me know if you notice anything strange in the next few days.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank my lucky stars for friends like Erica who brought me an AMAZING chocolate treat from her recent trip to Canada. (She was there at the same time Will and Kate were there!)
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We adore Ice Wine. It’s a little pricey, but once a year or so, it’s definitely worth the splurge. Ice Wine comes from grapes that are harvested while they’re frozen so they can only make it in certain parts of the world (like Canada!)
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Whoever thought to combine this with chocolate should win some kind of prize. It was delicious! Thanks, Erica!
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Irving and I went to the grocery store tonight (armed with BOATLOADS of coupons from BlogHer!) He wandered around the store looking for boring things like BBQ sauce and milk while I beelined to my favorite aisle.
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Boy, do I love cereal. I could spend all day looking at cereal boxes, comparing prices, sizes and taste. Growing up my mom used to have a $2 rule. We had to choose the cereal that was $1.99 or less. Nowadays it’s hard to find a box for less than $3, but I still try to go for the sales and use my coupons. I totally broke all the rules tonight when I walked away with this.
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I got a few samples of this at BlogHer this weekend and I LOOOOOVED it. It was $4.49 (my mom is probably gasping out loud right now!) but I had a coupon that brought it down to $3.50. Still pricey, but worth it for a product I now love so much. (Hear that Quaker? you gave me a free sample and I shelled out a few bucks for more just a few days later! Marketing for the win!)
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Classic Foods sent me (two) boxes of some of their new Baked Classics Chips recently. I wasn’t expecting to get quite so many, so I have been sharing the love with my friends lately.
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They made an appearance at the Hollywood Bowl last week and I passed them out to our friends. Chips make great picnic food. They travel well and it’s fun to have your own bag.
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They sent over a new product that I’ve never seen before: Vanilla Frosting Multigrain Chips. I am a total vanilla girl. I almost always choose vanilla over chocolate if given the choice! (But I’ll never turn down good chocolate either, don’t get me wrong!) Wait… a vanilla frosting flavored chip? How intriguing!

“They are popped to a light, crunchy crisp and then seasoned in the mouth-watering flavor of Vanilla Frosting.”

They have no cholesterol, trans fat, saturated fat, preservatives, msg, high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors or coloring.
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I’m a huge vanilla fan and I really, really liked these. They feel indulgent, totally satisfy my sweet tooth and surprised my taste buds a bit. I’ve been bringing them with my lunches lately, but I always save the chips for my 3pm sugar craving hour. Always does the trick.
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I asked my friends to try them too and let me know what they think. Overall, most people liked them and appreciated what a new and different product it was. But some thought the taste was a bit artificial. It’s also a little strange because they do taste like a rich sugar cookie, but the texture is that of a chip. So maybe it could be compared to a crunchy cookie? It’s hard to explain, but I kind of liked it.

Want to try them for yourself? I have a couple of bags to give out! Comment below and I’ll pick a winner on Monday.
Tell me what your vice is: salty or sweet!

Classic Foods provided me with these chips for the purpose of reviewing it on kelocity.com. All opinions are my own.

 

It’s Chocolate Day! July 7, 2011

Filed under: Food,Giveaway — Kelocity @ 1:52 pm
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I love holiday weeks because even though it feels like Wednesday, it’s already Thursday! It’s been a relatively uneventful week in house. Other than a trip to Costco, I don’t think we’ve really left the house other than to go to work.
Irving got a a new FIFA World Cup xbox game, and I’m deep into the third Twilight book, Eclipse, so we’re happy sitting put and enjoying some down time. I really should get out and go for a walk at least. Perhaps tonight.

According to Random Integer, the winner of the popchips is…..

Lizzy at RunBakeRace.com !

It’s true. My popchips did go on an adventure! Congrats Lizzy, email me your address and I’ll send your coupon for a free bag of popchips!

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TODAY IS CHOCOLATE DAY!!!
In honor of all things chocolate, check out my next Contiki Post: The Round-the-World Chocolate Tour! Deeeeeelicious!

What’s your favorite international chocolate?

And yes, in honor of this historic day, I indulged in a cookie after lunch. Sugar, I can’t quit you!

 

popchips: a review and a giveaway! July 5, 2011

Filed under: Food,Giveaway,Review — Kelocity @ 1:00 pm
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The awesome people over at popchips sent me some samples to review. I’ve had the original and BBQ flavors before, but I was excited to see what new varieties they had as well.
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popchips are all-natural and have some pretty great stats:
-They’re popped (not baked or fried)
-Less than half the fat of fried chips
-No transfat, saturated fat or cholesterol
-No preservatives, colors or fake flavors
-No greasy residue

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They also sent me a sweet bag clip (how cute is that? A bag clip from a potato chip company! Brilliant!)
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Irving and I dug into the first bag right away. We chose the Sour Cream and Onion first because it’s a flavor we don’t get very often, but I used to LOVE those kinds of chips!
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The flavor was perfect. Not too salty or overbearing. The right amount of tastiness for the chip. popchips are denser than regular chips. Almost like Munchos, remember those? MMmm! (but these are much healthier!)

I couldn’t show you a bag of chips without subjecting you to another photo of my face! haha.
PS….. I spy Irving in the mirror!
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The next flavors we tried were shared with our friends (and new parents!) Erika and Timmy! They grabbed the BBQ and sea salt & vinegar flavors. It was the perfect pre dinner party snack! Light, satisfying and delicious. I think they liked them!
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On our roadtrip up to San Francisco, I had the salt & pepper flavor to keep me company. I always get hungry on long car trips, probably out of boredom. But popchips were the perfect snack for the road. I really liked these. I’d say they were a bit on the salty side, but the pepper flavor was PERFECT. They kept my mouth happy.
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I still have the Cheddar and Original flavors left, and I’ll probably save those for a Hollywood Bowl night or for a time when I am craving something munchy.

Thanks again to popchips for letting me try the new flavors!

For more information on popchips, check out their website or their blog!

Want to win some free chips??? Leave a comment below and tell me what flavor you want to try.
I’ll randomly pick a winner on Thursday morning to receive a coupon for a free bag!
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T-Minus 2 Days til Ragnar! April 13, 2011

Filed under: Ragnar,Running — Kelocity @ 6:42 pm
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So Cal Ragnar starts early Friday morning (but our team is meeting tomorrow night, so really, it starts in 24 hours!) I am so excited. I’m not really sure what to expect, but I think it’s better that way. My husband is a little nervous for me because I’m the type of person who REALLY needs 9 hours of sleep per night. Don’t worry, team, I won’t be cranky!

I am packing everything up tonight and saying goodbye to my husband (and my bed) til late Saturday!

Man, I hope I have everything! Everything I bring has to fit inside one little gym bag. Each van has six runners, a driver, a navigator and a camera crew! It’ll be close quarters!
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My team sounds pretty awesome. I wish I could tell you more about what our theme is! Here’s a hint….
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Oh, that doesn’t really help… here’s another hint… I printed something up at Kinkos…
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Ok, that doesn’t help either… do you really want a hint? Here it is (since I hate secrets!)
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Heck yes. Chuck Norris will be on our van. Ragnar, here we come!

Follow me live during the whole two day event as we run 200 miles from LA to San Diego. I’ll be tweeting the whole time here: @Kelocity !

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Remember I told you a while back that I’ll be participating in the Nike+ Event, She Runs LA ? Well, boy do I have good news for you!
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50 lucky readers will get the chance to join me for FREE!

The first 50 people to comment on this post will have their registration fee waived and will get to be a part of Nike’s first ever digital race, She Runs LA, and see Mike Posner in concert!

Running a 10k and then celebrating Nike Style (complete with a red carpet) sounds pretty awesome. If you want to join in on the action (for free!) head over to that post and let me know!

 

 
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