Thanks to everyone who followed me here on Chase Daylight! I can’t wait to hear from you more on G4G

This morning went swimmingly well! hehe. Let’s start at the beginning…

My alarm went off at 5:00 AM and I got out of bed after hitting snooze a couple of times. It wasn’t the best night of sleep because I was worried about oversleeping and woke up a few times. Nonetheless, I was running around the apartment throwing things together before I had to leave.

At the last minute I realized my gas tank was empty and I’d have to get some if I didn’t want to break down on the way Moss Park. I really thought I was going to be late but when I pulled in right behind Megan, I felt so relieved.

Caitlin joined us shortly after and we chatted a bit before heading down to the lake where I’d be swimming 1.5km. People were swimming around in the lake warming up so I decided to jump in too and see how scary the water was. It wasn’t bad at all actually…I couldn’t see anything (not even my hand in front of my face) but It wasn’t gross or scary.

When I officially started the race I was amazed by how fast the girl swimmers were going out. I kept my spot up at the front until I totally lost track of where everyone was and started passing some of the guys who had gone out a couple of minutes before the girls. I had no idea how fast I was going. I was tired, taking a breath with every stroke, and trying to conserve some energy for the .25 mile run to the transition area. After what seemed like at least 40 minutes, I was back at the shore and taking off toward the transition area.

Caitlin tore off my chip, threw it on Megan’s ankle and Megan took off! It wasn’t until she was gone that I found out that I’d swum the 1.5km in less than 30 minutes (about 25, we think)! Also, I was one of the first women into the finish! Way faster than I expected seeing as it’s been almost 5 years since I’ve raced and I’ve never raced in open water. My old swimming days served me well this morning!!!

Caitlin taped her knees while we waited for Megan to get back. While waiting in the transition area, we took some pictures of this awesome swimsuit dirt pattern that formed inside my suit while I was swimming.

About 1 hour and 15 minutes later, Megan was back from her 40km ride and Caitlin was grabbing the chip and putting it on her ankle. She took off like a speed demon!

Megan and I hung around the finish line waiting for Caitlin to round up our race and finish her 5.6 mile run. We took some pictures with Megan’s friend Debbie who was super sweet to come out with her fiance, Mike to cheer us on! Megan’s boyfriend Jason also showed us some of the pics he’d been taking with his fancy cam which happens to be the same model as mine! I was excited

Caitlin clocked in our relay at about 2:37 and rounded out her 5.6 mile run around 53 minutes!

We got some sweet trophies for being the 1st place finishers in the female relay category. Okay, we were the only team, but I think we still deserved our awards!

Funny fact: we were originally in the coed relay category, which I only discovered after remembering what happened at Gasparilla when I was placed in the male standings because of my name. We got them to change it before the times were posted! Phew…remind me to always register under my middle name from now on!

These ladies were so much fun to do this race with and I hope we’ll do another one soon! It was so much fun for me to be swimming again

When I got home, Evan had cooked me some “Triathlon Pancakes“! How good do these look? He makes pancakes every weekend with Arrowhead Mills Oat Bran Pancake mix, oatmeal and ground flax. Yum!! I had some organic raspberries on the side

Okay, now onto my Blog Name Announcement!! (look at the bottom of my shirt)

What do you think?? I love my new blog name! I hope you’ll join me on August 3rd for my first post on www.greensforgood.com!

Until then, I’m off to Washington, DC! See you August 3rd.

the name of my new blog will be announced in a creative way on Sunday, so check back to either of our tri team member’s blogs on Sunday to see what it is!!

Are you excited?! I know I am!!!!!!

I’ve set a date for the launch of my new blog and I wanted you all to be the first to know

Make sure you check out chasedaylight.com on Monday, August 3rd to find out where I’ll be blogging from next!

Why the wait? I’ll be in Washington, DC from July 23rd to August 1st volunteering for my favorite non-profit organization, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (www.hoby.org). I thought it’d be silly to start blogging anytime before that and then take two weeks off since I won’t have regular access to a computer while I am there. So, you’ll see me back in the blog world on August 3rd!!!! Yayy! I can’t wait to show you all what I’ve been up to lately in the creation of my new site.

I’m updating Twitter pretty regularly if you’d like to follow me there in the meantime: http://twitter.com/chasedaylight.

See you in August!

Ryan

We made it to Orlando on Saturday after a long week of packing up Evan’s place in Gainesville. I literally turned around after my 16 hour drive back to Florida from Kentucky and headed to Gainesville. CRAZY!

Thanks to our good, good friends Callyn and Justin, moving was a huge success! We’re a few flights of stairs up, so it was an amazing workout that left my legs pretty sore on Sunday morning.

On Monday I spent the entire day unpacking the kitchen (can you tell where my priorities are?) People were in and out fixing things and setting up cable, so I just went with the flow of things and didn’t leave. Evan had his first day of work and it sounds like it’s going well so far!

Yesterday I had my first day of a new nannying gig I got here. It’s only for a couple of weeks, but has potential to continue in the fall so I am thankful! Last night we had insane storms here and our power was out for awhile.

Today I’m off to work again! I’m hoping to get in some work on the blog, but I’ve got some freelance work that is taking precedence.

Have a great hump day everyone!!!

Ryan

Oh…and…pictures to come of the new place…as soon as I can find my camera. It’s burried somewhere!

It’s all happened really fast (it’s barely been a week since he accepted the offer), but on Tuesday we went apartment hunting. It just so happened that the area that’s the most convenient for both of us driving-wise is around where Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point lives as well! In fact the (PERFECT) place where we signed our lease is very close to Caitlin and I am just so excited to be moving near someone I know! Plus Meghann, and I hear Ashley are or will be in the area, so I’m just beside myself happy

Here is what’s coming up for me…

-Today I’m heading back to Sarasota (I’ve been in Melbourne staying with Evan’s family since it’s close and convenient to Orlando for making our arrangements) for my brother’s 8th grade graduation that is tomorrow morning.

-On Tuesday (June 2nd) I’ll be driving to Lexington, KY with my friend Callyn for a Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership seminar where we are both facilitators of a group of 10-11 high school sophomores. HOBY is the highlight of my summers!!! They tell me my vegan diet will not be a problem and they will make sure I have food to eat so that should be interesting! Maybe I’ll luck out and get served some yummy vegan restaurant take-out instead of the crappy dining hall food! I’ll let you know what happens

-Six days later (June 8th) I’m coming back to Florida and then it’s crunch time because…

-We move into our new apartment on June 13th!!!

Suddenly this month has turned into craziness! Wow…

You’ll be happy to know that during all of this I’ve managed to continue work on the new blog! I have a new blog name, a registered domain, and a general theme I will be sticking with for the blog. I’ve made the switch to WordPress.org and am using BlueHost to host my site and further customize it. Building a new blog takes a lot of work and time so thanks for being patient! I’d love to be up and running in the next month, but we’ll see how quickly my technology skills can catch up to all of the new changes I’ve made

Okay, that’s all for now. Gotta head back across the state soon!

-Ryan

I wanted to let everyone know that I’m working on a new blog with a new domain and new focus as I’ve changed a lot since the initial creation of chasedaylight.com. Once this happens, I’ll definitely let you know where you can continue visiting me and my food adventures! Until then, you probably won’t see much from me as I want to put all of my spare time into my new endeavor.

If you’d like to help me out, I’ve provided a 3-question survey below asking for opinions and suggestions. It’s anonymous so feel free to say what you want!

Click Here to take survey

Thanks

Ryan

Ezekial English Muffin with homemade agave cinnamon flax almond butter and organic raisins (Newman’s Own brand).

Lunch: Leftover Snobby Joes! Still just as delicious as yesterday.

Dinner: Veganomicon allll the way (and a little Mrs. LC!). Mexican Millet, Black beans in Chipotle Adobo sauce, homemade guacamole, homemade refried beans. Served with toasted Ezekial wraps “chips. Here’s my plate:

First I must say how wonderful it is to have 3, extra, live-in food critics for when I cook! Here’s why: I thought all of the recipes turned out amazing. I’m realizing my taste buds are changing a lot though and the foods that were bland to me a few months ago are decadent and savory now! So while I loved everything I made tonight, my family thought the Mexican Millet was a little weird. I’ll give it to them that the texture was very different (think crunchy spanish rice) but I don’t mind stuff like that anymore. They really loved everything else though (especially the guacamole and the refried beans)! I don’t think they’ll ever buy canned refried beans again–way to go Lindsey!

Dessert: From Vegan with a Vengeance and keeping up with the Cinco de Mayo theme, I made the Mexican Chocolate Rice Pudding with the Macadamia Cream Sauce.

The rice pudding was okay by itself, but the cream sauce made it much much better. I used a mix of almonds and hazelnuts for the sauce because I didn’t have macadamias on hand. It worked really well! My brother ate all of his serving but said he didn’t like it and ate it for me (that’s sweet of him?). My dad said it was very satisfying but could have used a little more sweetness. My mom really liked it but thought that last night’s raw vegan dessert was better (keep reading to find out what it was!) What did I think? I liked it and thought it was satisfying and not overbearingly rich and sweet. Would I make it again? Probably not…I don’t care for the rice texture in pudding.

So while we’re on the topic of desserts, I’ll share with you last night’s creation. This idea came from Angela over at Oh She Glows. As soon as I saw how easy it was to make her new raw vegan chocolate chip cookies, I jumped right on board! And holy moly were they YUMMY! My family is in love too…especially with the chocolate chips. Now, will I be making these again? HECK YES!! Thank you Angela! I made them as cookie dough bites rolled in unsweetened coconut.

VEGAN CHALLENGE WINNER

Wow, I have to say that I can’t believe it’s time to pick a winner already! Though, I’m not surprised with who my random number generator picked because this girl participated in almost all 30 days of the challenge AND linked back to the challenge through her own blog and other guest blogs 15 times, so she had A LOT of entries!

#14: Congratulations Sarah from Sarah is Healthy! Way to go and thank you so much for all of your support! Send me your address and I’ll get your prize package out to you soon!

Thank you to everyone who participated! I had a lot of fun and obviously learned a lot too!

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That’s all from me for tonight! I have a private swim lesson tomorrow afternoon but I’ll be doing laundry and unpacking in the mean time. Then I’ll be packing up to visit Evan in Melbourne this weekend for his graduation party! Yay!!!

PS. I’m participating in Gena and Jenna’s Raw Challenge so I will be eating one raw meal and one raw snack tomorrow in the spirit of their challenge! So excited!!!

PPS. Check on Gena’s Spiralizer Giveaway!!! Or don’t so I have a better shot at winning it

On Friday night my parents arrived in Gainesville and we immediately headed to Leonardo’s Pizza for some grub. I gobbled down a vegan slice, an organic salad and a couple of their to die for rolls which are essentially just their pizza dough in roll form. Delicious!

Saturday morning we headed to Cracker Barrel around 8:30 AM for some breakfast. I was a little nervous about the vegan-friendly choices they would have and my nervousness was quickly validated when I got a good look at the menu. No fresh fruit anywhere. So I went with oatmeal and requested raisins, pecans and brown sugar for my toppings. I also got a side of whole wheat toast and an orange juice. It was actually quite satisfying and I’d get it again there.

After breakfast we headed to the bookstore so I could sell back all of my textbooks I never opened the entire semester and then went shopping for a fancy diploma frame! I’m pleased to say that the frame I loved and wanted was marked nearly 50% off because of a little blemish that you can’t really see. Yay! I can’t wait to display my diploma when it comes in July.

The morning disappeared in the blink of an eye and it was suddenly time to get ready for my commencement ceremony at 1 PM. I went home and my parents went back to their hotel to get ready. An hour later we met back up and headed to the Phillips Center for Performing Arts and took some pictures before heading inside.

My teaching partner, Bethany, and I posed for a picture to send off to our 4th graders

My beautiful mom and I!

My 14-year old brother is suddenly taller than me and getting more handsome by the minute!

I love this picture of my dad and I.

My favorite picture of them all…

Graduation began and I was extremely, extremely excited to turn that tassel from right to left and then proceed to walk across the stage and shake hands with the dean.

Here I am right after graduating!!!

After the ceremony, we headed to Chipotle where I got the most amazing burrito of my life there. It contained black beans, rice, guacamole, corn salsa and mild tomato salsa and some sauteed veggies. I didn’t miss my normal serving of cheese and sour cream I used to get one bit. It was perfect.

We finished eating just in time to head over to the O’Connell Center to meet up with Evan after his graduation. Unfortunately our ceremonies started 1.5 hours apart and we weren’t able to catch one another’s graduation. Pictures were a must, though and we took plenty. Take a look!

I will be a “Bull” next year at the University of South Florida so this picture was very necessary for me to get since I just completed 4 years as a “Gator”!

One last one of the two of us! I’m in my orange and blue UF colored cords and my green and gold USF colored dress!

Lastly, there were some great family photos taken that I definitely want to show off as well Looking at these I wish we’d gotten a shot of all 11 of us! Oh well…next graduation

We all (11 of us) headed to one of our favorite restaurants Liquid Ginger for a lovely celebration dinner later that night. There was so much conversation and wonderful food and I couldn’t have felt more lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful family. Evan and I are very lucky I had a spinach and tofu soup, ginger dressing salad, pad thai with tofu, and red bean ice cream. Red bean ice cream? Yes…I went there and I couldn’t have made a better decision than to eat my all-time favorite flavored ice cream than on my graduation day. I do have a picture to share of that moment actually…haha!

I knew Sunday was going to be very hectic and since we didn’t leave the restaurant ’til about midnight, I crashed in my bed immediately after arriving for my last night in Gainesville and at my condo.

I pretty much had 75% of my stuff left to pack by the time Sunday (moving day) rolled around. Thank goodness for my parents, my brother, and my roommate Kathryn for all of their help. It would have taken me days on end to do what all of us accomplished in 7 hours. It was very stressful though. There were talks of my stuff not fitting in the small pull-behind U-Haul my dad had rented and me having to make the 2.5 hour trip back to Gainesville today to get the rest of it. I was not having any of that and I used every square inch of available space in the trailer, my car, and my parents car to get it all in one trip. I felt like this master conductor of a huge jigsaw puzzle, but thankfully I got it all to fit and did not have to go back today.

I spent my entire Monday cleaning out my room at my parents’ house and unloading my stuff. I had so much stuff from high school that needed to be purged, especially before loading my recently moved back items into my room. While my parents were at work and my brother was at school I jammed to Pandora (LOVE IT!!) and successfully unloaded the entire U-Haul by myself in an hour! My body is going to hate me tomorrow, but it felt good to get it done.

Somehow I managed to cook some dinner and dessert for my family tonight too! I realized I had everything except for a bell pepper on hand to make Snobby Joes from Veganomicon, so I was all over that! While my lentils simmered (under my mom’s supervision of course!) I ran out to get the pepper. This normally would have been really inconvenient BUT a new Publix location opened about 2 minutes from my house on Thursday!!! It’s SO nice!

This was my family’s first experience with vegan cooking. They were definitely skeptical at first but they quickly realized that what I made wasn’t weird or freaky or really anything to be scared of whatsoever. My mom even handed me some cash after dinner to go get something to make for tomorrow night! I’d call that a success! There was even a raw, vegan dessert but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how that turned out

Until then…goodnight!!

P.S. My daily eats and the Vegan Challenge winner announcement will resume tomorrow! Catch ya then

I’m going to get right to it…I know you all are wondering if I am going to keep this up after today and the partial answer is yes. I’m going to try to follow a vegan diet from here on out. Quite honestly, this isn’t daunting at all because I’ve been doing it so naturally over the last month. It seems like the easiest and most convenient thing to do at this point! I never thought eating vegan would be easy, but I’ve found it to be easy, simple, and less complicated than the Standard American Diet and what I was eating prior to the Vegan Challenge. Just think, I can avoid nearly half of the grocery store when I go shopping!! Additionally, Whole Foods and natural food stores are like my candy store now with so many new things to try and new foods to experience. I love it! I’ve never felt better with the foods I’ve been eating than I have over the last month and I don’t think there’s any better reason that that for me to keep this up.

I said “partial” answer above because I’m not ready to proclaim myself as a vegan and I don’t know if I ever will. As I’ve discovered in the last 30 days, it’s a very loaded term and label and I don’t think I’m ready to be continuously judged by saying I’m a vegan. Most people don’t even know what that means and the ones who do think you’re an animal loving, tree-hugging, pot smoking hippie as soon as you say, “I’m a vegan”. I don’t identify myself with any of those things, and I’m certainly not choosing to eat this way for animal rights. I love animals and I hate the truths about factory farming, but I’m in this for my health. Call me selfish From now on, you might hear me say I’m “following a primarily vegan diet” and that’s the truth.

If you see honey or a product that “may contain trace amounts of milk” don’t be alarmed! I’ve had countless dreams over the last month where I’ve temporarily forgotten that I’m vegan and eaten something like cheese or chicken, only to realize afterward that I wasn’t supposed to eat it. And I feel awful in the dream about it and wake up completely relieved that it didn’t actually happen. Kind of like a nightmare! Those dreams were alarming to me and I realized I needed to let go of strict rules and boundaries and just do what was right for me. I don’t see myself choosing to eat meat and dairy products because, honestly, the thought of them going into my mouth at this point kind of grosses me out. But I draw the line at the ingredients list. If they don’t contain animal products, I’m in!

As I’ve progressed through this challenge, I’ve learned a lot. To me, the most interesting aspect of eating vegan is the concept of the raw, vegan diet. The benefits of this are amazing to me and I’d really like to start incorporating more raw foods into my diet. I’m currently looking into juicers and when I have the cash flow, I’ll be ordering one. I love my green smoothies, and juicing is the best next step up! I’ve been following Kris Carr’s blog over the last month and I’ve found her to be extremely informative and inspiring. Gena from Choosing Raw also joined the food blogging world during my Vegan Challenge and I am absolutely in love with her blog and all of the information she provides to everyone on a daily basis. These are just a couple of the inspirations I’ve had over the last month and I can’t wait to keep growing with all of the new information that is out there to discover.

So with all of this, I’ve kind of hit a little wall in my blogging (you may have noticed). So much has changed since I started this blog back in November. If you don’t believe me, head on back in the ol’ archives and see for yourself! It’s crazy to think about the health transitions I’ve made because of blogging. I feel like I’m heading in a completely different direction now and I think I need to change my blog to reflect that. I’m not quite sure what this means yet, but I’m open for suggestions! Leave a comment here, or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, anything! I’m hoping that graduating, having the summer off, moving back home and then to graduate school will be enough change to get my wheels seriously turning!

I hope you all have enjoyed following me on this journey and will stick around for more foodie adventures to come! I feel like there’s been a whole new world opened up to me from this and I’m really eager to keep exploring!

Have a fabulous Thursday evening and Friday!! I’ll see you guys after GRADUATION for a complete recap of my weekend with wonderful friends and family!

Love you all