Sure, work has kept me pretty preoccupied, but fact of the matter is, I’ve just been in a mood.

We could blame the weather. The gray skies justify it. Maybe it’s winter blues?

We could blame the monotony of the last few weeks. The holidays aren’t missed, but I do miss the freedom and travel that comes along with them.

We could blame a lot of things.

I don’t really care to place blame. I’m more concerned about fixing the issue. Assumably, so are the people who interact with me on a daily basis. Sorry dudes.

So when I came home after sitting in traffic for an extra 20 minutes longer than average for the second day in a row with the brilliant idea of happy hour, my roomie quickly agreed to it. Not sure if she’s in the same funk or is also making the attempt to help me get over myself. Let’s not ponder.

Funny because as we drove home from family dinner a week ago, we were amused by all the people out and about asked “geez- how do they do it when they all have to work in the morning?”

Guess I’m about to find out the answer.

After downing a massive bowl of cereal for dinner (not recommended- it doesn’t settle well with the bud light), we ended up strolling down the street from place to place. Earlier in the day, I narrowed it down to three neighborhoods. Then the roomie narrowed down the bar selection. Seemed like a good system, but we couldn’t seem to narrow it down any further than that.

So we just visited them all. Problem solved.Somehow we ended up at an Indiana Hoosiers bar. Even if we were cheering on Wisconsin in silence as the big game was on.

Shhhh- don’t tell anyone…

After staying out past the start of Jersey Shore (no worries- we dvr’d it) and even past bed time (craaaazy), nothing felt better than knowing Friday was my rest day for the week and sleeping in an extra hour and a half.

That and the fact I have about 3 hours worth of quality tv waiting for me when I get home from work?

Priceless.

Mood officially lifted.

Coffee officially necessary.(Source)

Happy weekend, kids!

With the crazy that is work, I barely noticed Tuesday go by.

Good thing- sometimes I’m a bit irrational on Tuesdays. Stupid, stupid day of the week…

Anyway, I wasn’t chattering away as normal yesterday on here, but you can assume it was the same ol’ same ol’ around here. This girl has issues breaking from routine.

But today we’re changing that a little.

Nikki was talking about her interval running yesterday and it happened to catch my eye. The treadmill boredom is a real thing. And it’s awful. Plus, if you want to see change, I can’t just “think” or “talk” about going outside of the box. I’ve got to actually do it.

Seems reasonable enough, right?

Speed work isn’t my favorite, but that doesn’t mean a little interval training is going to kill me. And it’s all for the greater good. So that’s what happened this morning. For 40 minutes, I did a 5-minute circuit:

3 minutes at 8:34, 1 minute at 7:47, 1 minute walking

Because I’m OCD, this happened for 45 minutes (9x) so I could make sure to hit 4 miles of actual running.

Running. It’s a sick addiction.

So yeah. 45 minutes, ya’ll. That will tire the hell out of you.

And apparently also make you say things like “ya’ll”.

Clearly it’s the exhaustion talking.

Another way I was thinking outside of the box?Oh hey there, pretty green thing.

How did you find your way into my shopping cart last week?

Oh yes- the sales at the grocery store.

Blasted! I’m more of an orange/yellow pepper kind of girl. And I ended up having to go and buy something else to go with it in order to use it. So really, was there money saved? No.Ah well. I still like green peppers decently well and they work fabulously in wraps with spicy chicken sausage. So no harm done.Not for the faint-hearted. Spicy spicy spicy! (especially if you throw some salsa in there)

Plus, it assisted in the quest to help my roommate use  up a bag of flour tortillas that is about to kick the bucket (according to the “use by” date).

It’s all about teamwork.

Making it a win-win.Maybe the protein is what kept me from collapse on the ‘mill this morning?

Thanks pretty green thing- you made it all possible.

Just remembered I need to be sure to wash that glass. Tonight will be spent cheering on Mizzou once again. We’re ranked #2 right now and seem to be on a bit of a roll (knock on wood).

It’s my half birthday today, so they better not let me down.

You hear that boys? Do it to it!

How you enjoy them are completely on you.

I tend to spend mine doing the things I do best.

A low key workout… Catching up with my dvr… Reading…

And consuming every single cookie in my sight.

After making another giant cookie for just myself, like I did last week, my friend Annie called to see if I wanted to go out and grab something of a sugar-infested nature.

Who am I to turn that opportunity down?My just “going along to grab some coffee” turned into picking up a small butter cookie and then helping Annie finish off a giant piece of carrot cake.

Never say no to dessert.

No really, I mean it.

That philosophy is also one of the reasons I spend so much time at the gym. But whatev.

Another philosophy of mine is to spend as little time in the kitchen on a Sunday as possible.

Enter more crock pot greatness.Funny how I just said I never eat steak and here it’s making a second appearance in less than a week.Straight from the farm. It’s how I like my beef but not my boys.

The cookbook was broken open once again- we used a steak dumpling recipe as a guideline for our own concoction.Minus the celery, of course. Because no one actually likes it. Fact. We also switched out the “dumpling” part for noodles. Because noodles look fun. We had them on hand. And the point is to be lazy. They won out by a landslide.

While I was out getting coffee and cookies, this bad boy did work. And I came home just in time for this:From what I’ve experienced, 4 hours seems to be the magic time for potatoes and onions to cook to perfection.

And yet again, a successful meal that required little more than throwing together a bunch of things from the refrigerator/pantry. A successful meal to be enjoyed while watching 4 football teams you could care less about.

Yeah. I said it. My focus has already switched to basketball. Go Bulls.

Happy Monday everyone! I’m especially happy because the snow is slowly disappearing and the temperatures don’t make me hate life. That single digit crap was really working my last nerve. As was seeing all the yellow snow in my dog friendly neighborhood.

Is it Spring yet?

This could be a good or bad thing. Depending on how you look at it, I guess.Brunch and basketball. It’s a beautiful thing.

You know me. So you know I baked the donuts myself.

They were a recipe from Prevention RD. I’ve seen her make one fabulous donut after another, so when the ‘rents gave me a donut pan for Christmas, I stalked her blog. I hope she’s ok with me admitting that…

I went with the basic cake donut with chocolate glaze. However, this girl doesn’t have cake flour on hand and used all-purpose flour instead. They came out a little imperfect, but it’s ok- that just means they need to be better covered in chocolate glaze. And possibly that I need to practice by making more… Holla’.

The ones with sprinkles were the first to go. Either the boys don’t like coconut/nuts on their donuts, or they happen to love sprinkles just as much as I do…

By the end of our Saturday shenanigans, they were all gone. As was the champagne.Someone didn’t get the memo about it being an Andre kind of party.

I must say, it really is an enjoyable pattern. We have champagne brunch. We watch Mizzou win. We celebrate. We eat pizza. And we’re still home at a decent hour which makes Sunday morning that much more bearable.

One thing done differently this week from last week is the workout happened on Saturday instead of getting pushed to Sunday. This was definitely a better decision on my part. 6 miles today would have been rough.

It was actually a little rough yesterday anyway. To be completely honest.

Not since the Hot Chocolate 15k have I gone that long. 6 miles is in the plan for next week’s long run, too, so this week was just a matter of getting the distance in and not worrying about pace. Pace comes next week. So I kept it at 8:41 the entire time.

Now my butt is sore. I swear it’s getting bigger and feel like this just confirms it. Totally fine. It makes up for the lack of curve elsewhere. Just as long as I don’t have to buy new pants. It’s not in the budget.

And now that we’ve covered a wide array of topics, it’s time to stop talking about myself so you can actually go and enjoy your Sunday. And it’s time for me to go browse recipes for Slowcooker Sunday.

It’s another part of the pattern that we don’t plan on changing around here.

That has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post. I just wanted to say it.

Anyway…

Last night, my roommate and I made a journey over to Megan’s house for one of our regular “Family Dinners“. We started them late last summer and it’s nice to get together every other month or so to catch up somewhere other than a noisy bar on a Saturday night.

In other words, we’re like old women. I’m surprised we haven’t also set up a quilting circle yet.

It’s just a matter of time.

But that’s neither here nor there.

Why I mention our latest get together is this-

Megan was teaching me how to prepare salmon. As you all probably know (or you may not- try not to beat yourself up about it), I’m straight up terrified of the whole cooking fish thing. Even if it’s one of my favorite things to eat. So as a way to complete my new years resolution, Megan agreed to teach me her ways.Dun dun dunnnnn…..

Or at least she thought she was teaching me how. That or I just tricked her into making me dinner…

Check out that shaking action. It’s all in the wrist.

Actually, she did make it seem easier than I had worked it up to be in my head. Keep the seasoning simple. Broil for 6-8 minutes. Check to see if it flakes. Pair with brown rice and broccoli.Done and done and done.

Does this mean I actually have to make it next time? Crap.

We skipped dessert, but had a 20-minute conversation about favorite candy from our childhood and the holidays. Does that count?

*Mine was 100 Grand and robin eggs (Easter), by the way.

Because I know you were wondering.

Anyway, I’ve got work to do and a snowstorm to avoid, so I shall leave you now with a big HAPPY FRIDAY!

Well…

I won “Most Interesting” blogger!

Sadly there was no red carpet…. no fancy dress… no Jason Segel as my date…

But hey- I’ll take it!

And not pretend an unusual amount of time was spent sweat pants doing absolutely nothing this last weekend. Because interesting people don’t do that. Nope…

You know what? I bet the sweatpants thing may explain why I didn’t win “Sexiest Female Blogger”. Makes sense.

What a kick in the pants. We don’t think you’re hot… but hey… at least you have a nice personality?

Just kidding. I’m still very pleased to be acknowledged in any way, shape, or form for being the constant interwebz dweller. So thank you to 20 Something Bloggers and all who voted! Not sure how this  happened, but I’m excited to slightly amuse each and every one of you. At least on occasion. Hopefully.  Fingers crossed.

Moving on…

In efforts to continue on the path of half marathon excellence (and maybe kickstart my campaign for ‘sexiest blogger’ next year?), I headed to the gym after work for a run as called for by my non-plan plan. The days are a little switched around already, but hey- this is why it’s a non-plan. Life happens.

3.7 miles ran at an 8:20 average pace next to the dude who wouldn’t stop peeking at my stats. Back off, dude. I may or may not be running faster than you. Deal with it in your own time. Thanks.

Whew. Sorry kids. Just a mild annoyance of mine… And yes, I do feel better now that I said that.

Another annoyance? How quickly I’m getting through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.It’s way better than expected. And I’m kicking myself for not jumping on the bandwagon sooner. But most importantly, what am I going to do when I’m done with the other two?!?!

Nevermind the weird and uncomfortable dreams I’ve been having. Surely it’s not from the book about catching a serial murderer/rapist. It’s probably from the chili overload. Heartburn does crazy things to people.

At least I have coffee to fight my sleeplessness. So there’s that…

I know. Hard core Amy up in these parts. Love ‘em and leave ‘em. But what’s a girl like me supposed to do? I love them both and they both know what I like. We got all sweaty at one date. The other was spent refueling with cheap drinks.

Weirdly enough, they know about each other. And are totally cool with it.

Clearly they know there’s enough Amy to go around.

Of course they do. Because they’re two of my friends. And going out on dates with them is way easier than actual dating. Because they don’t really care what I look like and there’s no awkward end of the night involved. Win.

The first was with Annie as a guest at her gym. She called last week after a new class she attended called R.I.P.P.E.D.. I’m not sure what all the abbreviations are, but it involves 50 minutes of stretching, plyometrics, cardio, kickboxing, arms, and whatever else will get your heart rate up.

This is my summary of events:

1. It’s quite obvious I haven’t been in a group exercise class for at least 5 years. Awkward.
2. I can’t kickbox to save my life. Or really do any move that involves more than 4 or 5 steps. The calorie burn during that section was pretty low because I was too busy laughing at myself in the mirror. Again- awkward.
3. My triceps have been super ignored. This was already known, but when the instructor kept making us “pulse” at ever move during the arms section? It’s a wonder my entire arm didn’t just fall off completely. Which, looking back, may have hurt less.

All in all, even with my awkward ways, it was fun to do my cross training with Annie. Definitely a switch-up in the routine- which was welcomed. Yay for date night at the gym!

Afterwards, I drove my tired butt over to Gatsby’s Pub- one of the hole-in-the-walls Mon and I frequented when we were still neighbors. Cheap beer, cheap food, and quiet enough on a Monday night for us to freely conversate about everything we’ve been up to in the last month (Wait- month? We really need to start hanging out more. What have I been doing?!?!).

Maybe it was the cheap beer, or the mindless gossip, or the hour of strength training that just happened, but I was just as surprised as Mon was when it was time to order and I blurted out “steak quesadilla please!”What?

Here’s the thing. I went through a phase in high school where I wouldn’t eat beef. Really ironic, considering my dad is a cattle farmer. Maybe this was my way of rebelling as a teenager? Strange on all accounts.

Anyway, I warmed back up to the idea of hamburgers and such (who wouldn’t?), but steak was something I never developed a craving for again. Probably a texture thing?

And I don’t see myself ever really ordering a big t-bone anytime soon. But sometimes strips of it in a dish like this with cheese and guac? You’d do it, too…

Alright kids, wish me luck on my journey home tonight. Rain/snow/freezing rain is happening all day. Sounds about right. It is Tuesday, afterall…

Making sure I actually ended up running that 5 miles I put off all weekend, huh?

Well no worries- totally did. Not the fastest- an 8:36 pace, which is a few (or 10) seconds slower than normal. But after a night of crappy sleep and a long Saturday of college basketball, football, friends, and a pyramid of beer cans, I’ll take what I can get.

5 miles is still 5 miles. And I still celebrated accordingly.

Maybe a little too much. A cookie craving occurred and it was so convenient that Picky Palate’s giant chocolate chip cookie she made around the holidays popped into my head.Quite easy to make (not a good thing) and probably equal to 2-3 regular-sized cookies, but at least you don’t end up with 2 dozen more just like it…

Oh and she states it’s “one serving for Santa”.

Um. It’s also one serving for Amy.

Let’s not comment on that.

We call it Sunday Funday for a reason. Mine includes cookies.

And lots of beer.Juuuuusssssstttttt kidding.

Well, not about the cookies. But about the beer. I didn’t drink it so much as throw it in the chili being made. Even though the roomie was out of town, the streak of Slowcooker Sunday was kept alive. She’s not a fan of chili, but it’s one of my favorite things, so it made sense to make it in her absence.

Pretty sure it’s been mentioned before, but I don’t often cook with recipes. So my chili comes out somewhat different each time. This round involved adding sweet potatoes.That’s why the beer came into play. It was fun in last week’s beer cheese soup. And I needed more liquid. Why not?

There’s a good chance I’ll never make chili without beer again. Who knew a lil’ 312 would add so much flavor? And since I make my chili ridiculously spicy (see entire packet of taco seasoning and more than a few jalepeno slices in attempts to completely burn a hole in my stomach), the sweet potato brought a nice balance to it all.Plus, the sweet potato just makes it that much more healthy, right?

Right.

Sadly, the slow cooker did its thing, but I was too late to enjoy it while enjoying watching the Packers lose. However, it was ready just in time for the Golden Globes Red Carpet. Nothing makes me crave the hearty comfort food more than watching ridiculously beautiful, toned, and tanned people prance around gracefully in gowns and jewelry that cost more than the house I live in.

Sigh.

More tan in a bottle is now on the shopping list.

At least I’m working on the “toned” part today. My friend Annie knows my issues with strength training (and how bored I get), so she not so much invited me, but insisted I go with her to a new class at her gym. It’s called “RIPPED”.

If you don’t here from me tomorrow, you know what happened.

That is all.

I have a confession to make.

My long run yesterday? It didn’t happen.

There was alot going on.

 We fake “tailgated” with brunch and the Mizzou game at noon. I was in charge of two things:Chopping the veggies for omelets and bringing stuff for mimosas.

Obviously I chop a mean veggie. But I was a little lost in the whole “knowing what kind of orange juice is best” thing. Most pulp? With pulp? No pulp? I’m so confused!

I don’t like fruit. So it’s really not that strange that I wouldn’t like orange juice, is it? And why would I ever have a reason to buy it if I don’t drink it?

Exactly.

I was given a really hard time about it anyway.

But it’s cool. Turns out as long as you have ample amounts of champagne, people really don’t care what kind you bring.

The Mizzou game was basically over before it started. We killed ‘em.

And since I invited Megan over to play as well, it only seemed natural this turned into a sing off/dance party.

Sounds about right.

So here we are again. Facing down a 5-mile run. And this time I don’t have excuses. It’s happening…

…as soon as this rerun of Friends is over…

This means I was complaining about it by…. oh…. 10:05.

Now, before you call me a scrooge, hear me out. It’s not so much the snow on the ground I have the issue with. It’s pretty. It’s the falling snow part I have issues with. Because every year it’s like people forget how to drive. And every year I get stuck in the the most ridiculous traffic ever.

And I think we’ve gone over my lack of patience.

So instead of “how pretty!”, I proclaimed, “the drive home tonight is going to blow”.

And I was right. As usual.

My lack of creativity in the kitchen has really been astonishing. But when you don’t get home until much later than usual, you want a quick meal that’s proven effective.Along with scrambled eggs being one of the 4-5 things (salad, soup, oatmeal, eggs) consumed all week, breakfast is also a comfort food of mine. Since I was pouty, it only makes sense.

But check out the semi-successful omelet stuffed with black olives, spinach, mushrooms and feta! Usually it ends up a scrambled mess, but my roommate was cheering me on. And I used an extra egg white. One of those things surely was what did it.

As much as the snow fell, though, I was determined to make it to the gym for my “Free for all” day (as according to my non-plan plan). This required me to lay out everything and dust off the good ol’ snow boots.Not awful by any means, but a feeling in my stomach says it’s only a teaser of what is yet to come.

One benefit of this lil’ snow fall we got?

The gym was VERY quiet. Sure, us die hards were there (yes, I’m a hard core gym rat these days). But there was no issue getting the machines I wanted, and the perfect magazine from the rack to keep me entertained during time spent on the elliptical and stairmill.

Did you know Kim Kardashian is getting divorced?!?!?

Sadly the magazine wasn’t 3 months old, but yet again outlining the details.

Seriously? I’m bored, guys.

The workout went swimmingly- 20 minutes on each machine, which was a good start to my “free for all” day. And because there is this little rule about strength being somehow incorporated, I’ll be chillin’ with Jillian after work tonight.

Unless 10 minutes of shoveling snow off my stairs/sidewalk counts?

Have a great Friday, kids! I was skeptical at the beginning of the week, but it looks like we made it!