Google be damned.  The Saturday Snippets have been a bit MIA the last few weeks, and I blame it all on Google.  The last time I blogged on a Saturday, I was all upbeat about how I was going to come back from this broken leg mishap stronger than ever.  That was the plan (and still is the plan), but when I googled “recovery from broken fibula,” “returning to running after broken fibula,” “exercises while recovering from a broken fibula,” and such, I didn’t find anything positive… at all. I searched out positive articles, but they were all negative.  Counter these articles with the daily struggles of adapting to life on one leg, and you get one huge pity party.  Seriously… it was my birthday month and all I could come up with was Eat. Drink. and Be Angry.  Sad, but true.  As a result, I was bad company and became the queen of good energy sabotage.  I felt that if I blogged anything, that it wouldn’t be a reflection of my true feelings so I decided to stay mum.

I finally turned a corner last week when I got to return to Body Pump.  Mind you, I am teaching with my knee on a chair and using very light weights, but I have a mic on, I have my members with their smiles and hard core attitudes, and I feel… just a little… my heart rate on the rise.  Last week, I also got a walking boot.  It isn’t made for walking just yet, but by the time I write my snippets next week, I should be able to walk a bit.  It was quite the site, but I even went to a couple of barre practices.  Getting to exercise makes me feel like the return to my former (but better) self is near.

Thanks @peglegmeg for the picture

When this broken leg ordeal is finally over, I plan to write a lengthy post on the real recovery from this type of injury.  It will include the good, the bad, and the ugly, but the good will be the main focus.  Have you ever had a major set back?  How did Google help or hinder you?

While I’ve been digging out of this funk, some really good things have happened.  To begin, I turned the Big 4-0.  While it wasn’t exactly how I had planned to spend my birthday, it turned out pretty gosh darn good.  My husband (who has the  Husband of the Year award won hands down) planned a sweet surprise party with some of my girlfriends.  He, and my friend Meg, should look into careers as secret agents.  They had me fooled completely.  I am really grateful for all of the friends that made my BIRTHDAY MONTH one to remember.

Most of September, my diet consisted of cake, wine and more cake.  There were also a couple (um… lot) of trips to the all you can eat sushi place too.  Besides all this sugar and sushi, I did explore a couple of new recipes.  Two that turned out to be super delicious came from Iowa Girl Eats.  If you haven’t checked out her blog, I urge you to take a peek.    Maybe it is because we don’t have typical seasons in California like back home, or maybe it’s just that her recipes and insights are just my style, but I feel like I can experience the comforts and seasons of home in my little sunshiny beach town.  IGE has changed to gluten free recipes, but don’t let that stop you… everything is delicious and my anti-GF husband asks me to repeat the meals time and time again.  Okay… so here are the two recipes that you have to put on your fall menu:

The first is the Smoked Sausage, Kale and Cider Quinoa Skillet.  As a recovering vegetarian, I only eat chicken so instead of the smoked sausage, I used Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausage (the casing is pork, so you can just take that off).  The rest of the recipe I stayed true too and it was delicious.  Adam thought is could be a little more flavorful, but he also ate before I had dinner made.

The second recipe (which was awarded more “Oh Wows!” than the first) would be the Kale and Wild Rice Bowls with Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette.  I followed the ingredients exactly as they were written (with the exception of leaving the almonds off of Adam’s dish) and oh holy goodness!!!  I’m making it again this weekend.  The only thing that I changed, and believe made the whole process easier, was that I made the rice in my rice cooker.  This was perfect because I was able to mix everything into rice cooker during the final steps, which freed up a dish.  This dish was a whole pile of cheesy, flavorful awesomeness.  We’ve had really warm weather in Santa Cruz lately, but this transported me right back to a cool Midwest day.

While the warm weather has made transitioning to Fall a tad more difficult, it has really helped in the fashion department.  I’m limited to what I can wear because of my not-so-fashionable cast.  However, I am counting down the days until I can put on a pair of jeans and rock them with some killer boots or stilettos.  One denim trend that I’m thankful for being around this fall would be the updated boyfriend jean.  Let’s face it… with this lack of exercise I’m not feeling my best in skinny jeans.  One look in particular that I’m loving is this one from Madewell.  Hey teachers (and students)… did you know that Madewell offers a student/teacher discount?  They do!  Anyway… I am picturing these jeans with a white t-shirt, blazer & scarf.  Shoes are TBD…

Photo courtesy of WhoWhatWear

For more denim trends for Fall, check out the site WhoWhatWear.  I’m slowly becoming a fan of the patchwork denim, but I’ll have to look for those at Nordstrom Rack or Saks Off 5th.  I have a difficult time buying trendy jeans at full price.

Now that I’m getting back to the gym, it helps to have some cute shoes.  I stopped at the Nike store the other day to grab my husband a new pair of LunarGlides.  Lucky me… these babies jumped out in front of me and I had to buy myself a set of LunarGlides too!  I love all things animal print, so scoring a pair of gym shoes with PINK and ANIMAL PRINT was like hitting the lottery!  What do you think?  Maybe I’ll return to running fast like a cheetah?

As always, hoping your Saturday is full of joy and the chance to do something extraordinary! Enjoy!