My First 5k

About 6 months ago, I decided to try to live a more active lifestyle. I try to eat healthy, but eating well isn't always enough. I still felt tired and lazy and unmotivated. To be active and to choose to move was my new goal. 

I wanted to be more energetic, have more endurance, to challenge myself and reward myself with my new found strength. This meant less time being sedentary and more time moving. I wanted to hike and bike and swim and paddle: all things that would be difficult to in this part of the country during that time of year. But there was one thing I could do, run. 

I told myself that "running more" and "exercising frequently" was too ambiguous of a goal. No, to really make sure that I didn't stray, I needed something more tangible. I needed a number. So my New Years resolution was to run a 5k. I got a gym membership, enlisted my us and as my training partner and set my eyes on the Illinois marathon 5k event. 

I've lived here for almost 7 years and always viewed the annual race event as an inconvenience. A reason for everyone to run aimlessly while I try to dodge runners on my way to and from work. But now that I was one of those people, I had to prove myself worthy. I wasn't going to phone it in, I was going to run the whole thing. Rather than just participate and say that I completed the 5k, I was going to run it and run it to the best of my ability.

I trained regularly every week since January for this moment. When I first started, I could barely run a mile, let alone 5k straight. I pushed myself and did not lose faith and yesterday I completed my first 5k in 33 minutes, my personal best.

There were many motivators during the race, like the cheer of the bystanders, the perfect weather conditions, the flat land versus the inclines I trained on, etc. But I have to admit my main focus, and surprise motivator was a group of about a dozen marching band students, carrying sousaphones and running the 5k in my section. I refused to think that I trained for 5 months only to be bested by people that had 35 pounds of metal hanging over their backs. It's to them I give my unexpected thanks to help me shave an extra 5 minutes off of my normal total running time. You the real MVPs.

Anyway, my first race is completed and I can hang up my medal. It felt great and I would be lying if I said this would be my last. Thanks to hubby's dissertation writing schedule, painting, board games and running have become my new  favorite hobbies and passions.

-Akemi-chan

Fall=Apple Picking

When I was younger, I used to imagine a Winter covered in snow, just like some modern day muggles imagine Hogwarts. It was foreign and mysterious. Basically a fantasy and imaginary world that soon turned into a harsh reality after a few years under my belt as a Mainlander. But Fall... Fall has very little downside in my book. 

Given that there is no Fall in Hawaii, you can probably imagine why this season still holds its novelty. The leaves, the cool air, the sweaters and boots, the hot apple cider and s'mores; Autumn just speaks to me like no other time of year.

When I look back on our time here in Champaign Urbana, there are few locations that excite me like Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch. The sights, the smells, the small town feeling of isolation and no place feels more like Fall to me. So we packed up and met our friends for some family fun.

The trees are turning

Leaves everywhere

Look up

Apple cider donut

Apple picker 

Picking apples right off the tree

Corn maze

It was actually a pretty cold evening, so we went indoors to warm up with the hot apple cider. Apple butter and pumpkin pies fill the air of the indoor shop of the orchard. But my eyes are on the apple chipotle barbecue sauce. No visit to the orchard is complete without BBQ sauce. Pork chops will be in our future. But for now, my Fall appetite is satisfied with our annual visit to Curtis.

Happy Fall everyone!

-Akemi-chan

V Picasso

Champaign-Urbana is going through a little bit of a culinary makeover, and I for one am not complaining. Many local restaurants used to boast affordable prices, greasy diner food and homemade cooking. Now, we have gastro-pubs, Asian fusion, tapas and craft beer. A little hipster nation. I joke, but if loving hipster food is wrong, I don't wanna be right. 

One of our new favorite restaurants is V Picasso. Tapas, wine and cocktails. We went three times in one month. Yes, the girl who normally loves off of homemade dinners and fast food, went outdo a fancy restaurant three times in a row. Kaboom! Now you may drool over our meals. 

Drool worthy cocktails here

Charcuterie 

Rabbit and morel pasta with asparagus

Chocolate mousse, shortbread crumbs, raspberries and wasabi whipped cream

Cocktail time

Saffron ice cream

Brunch: Eggs Benedict, Carrot cake pancakes, bacon and Bloody Marys.

Me and my porcelain doll

My favorite part is that the menu changes with the seasons. That means I can come back and the menu will have brand new, seasonal, fresh, innovative options. 

-Akemi-chan

Kickapoo Tubing

After our little road trip down south, Bryan and I joined our Champaign-Urbana friends for a relaxing afternoon at a local state park. I had not been to Kickapoo since I first moved to Illinois, but I have very fond memories or canoeing down the river. This time, we went tubing. A little more relaxed, a little more controlled and a whole new adventure.

Nothing says "it's Summer but there's no beach" like tubing down a river. Next time we'll be like everyone else and bring beer.

-Akemi-chan

Pollanitarium

I am by no means an academic, but I've always been fascinated by anomals and history. Learning where things come from and how things work has always been interesting to me. Perhaps it stems from when I lived at home and my Dad and I would spend afternoons watching Animal Planet or the History channel. After all, the disposable razor was invented for soldiers to wear gas masks and to me that's amazing. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. 

Since I live among scientists, it is only natural that they have such a fascination as well. Their interests may be out of my range of comprehension and their terminogoloy is unpronounceable to me, but it shares a common bond. I have to enjoy the moments when they come down to my level of simple admiration. 

One afternoon we went to the Unuversity's Pollanitarium, a kind of educational center for children with a focus on bees. I had no idea what I was getting into, but color me interested. 

Queen bee, in green

Make that honey

"That one!"

Butterfly nets, but no butterflies

One day, we'll no longer be in this town and I'll forget the feeling of living in the middle of a giant corn and bean fields. I'll remember what mountains look like and what it feels like to know what the day's weather will hold. But today is not that day. All we can do is count our blessings, take it one day at a time and learn a little more and smile a little more.


-Akemi-chan