Thank you for the kind words I've received about my Dad.  It's been a long couple of weeks and the road ahead is sure to be a little uncertain but I'm feeling very hopeful and thinking positive thoughts.  We are still awaiting opinions and things continue to change day to day but I feel good about where he is and how things are going.

Having said all that, obviously things have been a bit off around here lately.  I've spent my days on the phone and on the internet (sometimes too much research can be a very bad thing!) and as a result, my kids are going a bit bat shit crazy.  Yesterday I finally stepped away from the desk and got them out of the house.  We drove out to White Flint Mall in Rockville, MD to check out Dave & Busters.  Have you heard of this place?  Holy mother of all video games.  I've been a stress ball and I'm exhausted and I'm upset about San Francisco, in other words, I'm not in the best mental state and let me tell you, Dave & Busters was not the place to be.  It was so loud and crazy.  But the boys loved it and had a really great time and that is all that matters right now.  I've felt so guilty that I haven't done anything with them in two weeks so it was good to see them so happy.  We didn't leave White Flint until 4:00 which, for those of you who live anywhere near the DC metro area know was a huge mistake.  The traffic on 270 and 495 was totally unbearable.  Makes me glad I don't live over there anymore and am way out in the 'burbs. 

I haven't run (or done any kind of workout) since my 10 miler on Sunday and I'm feeling it.  I mentioned before that I have learned that stress makes me eat.  And eat.  And eat.  I've been grabbing anything I can get my hands on and feel so bloated and just plain nasty.  I did take a major leap in the green smoothie arena though that I wanted to tell you about.  I tried kale!  Yes!  Kale!!  I know!  Crazy woman I am.  I have heard that kale is very bitter (no, I've never tasted it before) and so I was a bit aprehensive to try it. 

Here is the mixture I used:

3/4 cup Light and Fit vanilla yogurt
2 cups baby spinach
2 kale leaves (kale leaves are big suckers! I pulled the leaf from the tough stalk in the middle)
2 celery stalks
1 pear
1 small banana
1 scoop protein powder

This was really good.  I could taste a bit of the kale but didn't find it a bad taste.  I can see though that if you were new to green smoothies, you might not like it.  Next time I'll add carrots and some cucumber just to up the veggie factor.  As for the protein powder, I've been researching several different brands and finally decided on Solgar Whey to Go (I used the natural vanilla bean flavor).  It hasn't changed the taste or texture of any of the smoothies I've used it in so far and so I'm happy with it.  I got it at Wegmans but it's on Amazon as well.