Christmas by Numbers

Hey kiddos!

Long time no see, am I right?

This is what I’ve been up to:

Number of family get togethers: 2

Me and my bro. I had to drop the "little bro" because that is clearly not the case anymore. I would say we wish you a Merry Christmas, but you can't even see the tree...

Number of get togethers with friends: 5

Number of hours on the road: approximately 20

Number of times I saw it snow: 0 (Weird, but lucky when you consider that usually at least one leg of my trip is spent in a snow or ice storm.)

Number of times I listened to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas”: also 20 (still not tired of it)

Number of meals eaten from holiday dinner leftovers: 3 (and counting)

I probably also attacked those cookies afterwards. My sweet tooth has no discipline.

Number of pieces of pecan pie consumed: 4 (Yes, I ate 2/3 of the pie over a 3-day period. What? I wait all year for this… BAM)

Number of Paula Deen recipes used: 1 (it’s a good one- get excited)

Number of bottles of water consumed on the road: 10ish (don’t worry, I recycle)

Number of stops at Panera/St. Louis Bread Co: 2 (definitely do not call it Panera in St. Louis- people will get heated)

Number of packages from bloggers I received while at my parent’s house: 1

Kace @ Then Change It sent these and I have been using them to snack on as I road trip back to Chicago. There could not have been better timing for their arrival. Thanks girl- the brownie batter cookies are for sure changing my life! And maybe the number in inches of my waistline. But we're not discussing that now...

Number of loads of laundry I did at my parent’s house: 2 (it was conveniently awesome)

Number of lackluster workouts: 3 (The Shred – holla’)

Number of days I still have off before going back to work: 6

Number of days I will hopefully be productive when it comes to cleaning/working out/running errands: 2 (let’s be honest)

Number of salads I will be consuming this week to counteract the crazy amounts of holiday food: 7,000 (give or take)

Set plans for New Years: 0 (I should probably work on that in one of the 2 productive days I should be having, huh?)

Number of calls from the roommate about the carbon monoxide detector going off when she got back: 1 (don’t worry, it was checked and was just a dying battery- I promise I won’t die in my sleep any time soon.)

Alright, time to leave you once again. I’m in St. Louis and am getting ready for that 5th meeting with friends and the last 5 hours of my trip. Next time you see me, I’ll be back  home in good ol’ Chicago!

On with the weekend…

Happy Friday!

This is gonna be a short one- because I know we’re all ready to get into weekend mode.

Or at least I am. It’s been a busy week.

Busy. BUSY. Busy.

Meh.

But anyway, the second appointment at the dentist went about as well as the first. Same thing being done. Different side.

Without a doubt, he was much more generous with the novocaine being shot into my face.

While still at the dentist’s office, I caught a glimpse of myself in mid-conversation. It seems I was doing a Drew Barrymore impression the way the one side of my face refused to move.

Sexy.

I didn’t get to hang out and get ice cream with my friend Mon this time around, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make a pit stop on the way home:It’s not Oberweis, but it’s definitely still amazing in my book!

One scoop non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, one scoop pralines n’ cream (balance, my friends).

Being as how I supposedly learned from my mistakes last week, I was VERY careful as to not bite my cheek in the process of eating this.

Still woke up with it sore and clearly wounded. Is this something that happened while sleeping?  Really? What was I doing in my dreams??? 

I just can’t win.

But whatever- I am looking forward to this weekend. Not to get into things, but it’s been a sad week for my fam and even if I can’t be with them right now, I’m looking forward to a weekend of being surrounded by friends and also getting a few moments of silence.

Peace out, ya’ll.

PS- I’ll also be figuring out a “how-to” or finding an eloquent way to discuss post-lunch time workout cleanliness. Since quite a few of you asked. 

A Typical Easter

Hello all! As you read this, I am most likely on a highway somewhere between Mid-Missouri and Chicago. Again.

I could probably drive the route with my eyes closed. Which may or may not be any different than driving it in thunderstorms and tornado warnings…

Anyhoo, it was a great couple days back in my humble little hometown.

There were workouts with Jillian (The Shred was picked both times over Yoga Meltdown and No More Trouble Zones- mostly because I wanted the cardio factor). There was an afternoon walk with my mom. The sun did decide to peek around the clouds for a couple of hours and we jumped on the chance to get a little vitamin D in our otherwise cloudy weekend. And then there was the workout of lifting the Easter basket.Over and over again.

And yes, my contribution to the Easter festivities was Goose Island. Typical.

At least my dad enjoyed it.

There was also the food.

Oh my goodness the food.

Have I ever mentioned how I don’t like ham? It’s weird- I’m a fan of everything pork (hellooooo bacon!) but ham is not my thing. So my mom decided it also made sense to make a full turkey. With the ham.It’s like Thanksgiving and Easter all rolled into one!

No complaints. Except from my stomach when it was about to burst at the seams after dessert.Remember how we talked about our dessert “go-to”? These are my mom’s. Coconut Cream Crunch and Almond Joy Cake. Obviously I needed multiple servings of both this weekend.

Screw the candy. This is where it’s at…

Actually, I take that back. I’ll take the candy, too. 

Don’t think I just sat back and let my mom feed me the ENTIRE time. For Easter brunch, we all seem to join in on the fun.

My brother didn’t really lend a hand to the cooking like everyone else did, but someone needed to take the blurry pictures. Typical.

Anyhoo, after three solid days of catching up with various hometown friends and family, I’m a happy girl. With a happy tummy. And happy yoga pants. Happy yoga pants that should probably be worn for the next few days.

Can we classify them as business casual?

I’m not just being sent home with candy (weeeee!) and leftovers (yay!), either. As a product of a farming family, I’m also being sent home with a couple of pounds of sausage, ground beef, steak and pork loin.

Typical.

This is why there is a cooler in the trunk of my car 24/7.

And also why I’ll be firing up the Google in the next few weeks to find recipes and, um, how to properly cook a pork loin.

What? I think this is why I end up having so many meatless days- not only am I too cheap to buy meat, I’m also too lazy to learn how to prepare it…

Whoops. What a dapper bunch we are.

I insisted on taking pictures outside this time. My brother and I never stop to make fun of how many pictures we have in front of the family room entertainment center. I could create an album. It would be a hundred pictures of various outfits and slow height growth (or in my brother’s case, rapid height growth).

But then it started to rain. Again.Typical.

Have a great Monday! Wish me luck that this drive back to the Chi isn’t nearly as treacherous as the drive out…

And The Thunder Rolls…

Mark my words- this is the ONLY time you will ever hear me reference a country song.

It just seemed appropriate.

My drive yesterday was… interesting. The office closed at noon yesterday and there might as well have been a gunfire start as I rushed to get out of the city and on the road. Directly into a downpour. For about 2 hours.

It amazes me how many people don’t feel it’s necessary to put on their lights in a storm. Not so much out of concern for their safety- but do they not realize how much of MY time is going to be wasted if cars begin to collide? Geez.

Clearly it’s all about me.

Anyway, after I was out of the crazy, there was still constant rain. So I won’t complain about the flat boring drive of cornfield after cornfield- mostly because I couldn’t see them.

Thank goodness it never fails- I always hear and rock out to Chumbawumba while driving through central Illinois. Talk about a perfect theme for the drive. I get knocked down… but I get up again…

Once hitting St. Louis, the calls about the tornado warnings started coming in. I was driving straight towards them. And baseball-sized hail that was accompanying them.

Fabulous.

Because I already had decided to stray a little from my regular route to swing through my old college town, I missed the tornadoes sweeping through. Completely. 

Had I not decided to go that way, I would have been in the middle of all the storms that hit St. Louis. Lucky was DEFINITELY the word of the day. Especially since I had to pee like crazy in St. Louis but was able to hold it while speeding buckling down and getting through in a reasonable amount of time.

That couldn’t have been good for the kidneys.

Again, I have no idea how this luck happened- because this is the ONE time my friend was able to meet up out of all the times in the last year we tried to sync up my travel plans with hers. Oh Mizzou! How I’ve missed you!

I’m sorry I haven’t come to visit more often. It’s not you- it’s me. I’ve been busy. But promise to try and come back really soon.

With two practically sleepless nights and a day of work and driving, you bet your ass I slept well last night. And then sat all morning and watched my mom bake sticky buns. After multiple trips out, I remembered this time to bring my own coffee. My dad only drinks decaf. And we won’t even get into how pointless I think decaf coffee is.

My parents are retired teachers. There are a lot of things with apples on them in their house. Typical.

Everyone in the house has been slow moving so far this morning. The rain is still coming down. The laziness continues.

I brought my trilogy of Jillian Michaels dvds. One of them will be broken out this afternoon. Because clearly I’m not venturing outside in all the rain. For reals.

Enjoy  your Saturday, kids! And for those of you traveling- be safe and have fun with the fam!

Not Ready Yet

Hey kids!

After I got home last night from my trip to St. Louis, there was a refusal to unpack and an early bed time.

I’m still struggling. Considering that I’ve been sounding like a man and hacking up awesomeness the last couple of days, I may have a sinus infection. Pair that with the stairs to my apartment being my greatest nemesis today?

I’m feeling rough.

However, I have lots to say about the race I did. Yes, the half marathon was completed- no records were broken, but I was pretty proud of my time!And St. Louis was a great time. It’s a fun town. Mostly because of girls like this:Mary and Laura were awesome this weekend. They gave me a place to crash AND got up at the crack of dawn to watch me race.

I’m really blessed with all the good friends I have in my life. Either that, or I’m really good at bribery.

On that note (being blessed, not bribing people), I’m also very lucky to have family come up to celebrate my mom’s birthday and my race all in the same day!They didn’t get to see me run the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon last year, so I was really excited they’d get to see this one. Dad even broke out the video camera. So you know it’s a big deal.

This year’s Easter entertainment in a few weeks will be footage of the race. Also known as “Amy runs by the camera a few times”. I honestly haven’t seen myself run before, so this could be fun.In between all the shenanigans in Soulard with some of the besties, birthday celebrating with the fam, and a little 13.1-mile jog, I found time to chill in the ridiculously amazing temps (which may have been borderline HOT for this girl who did not pack well).

But hey- that means spring is HERE. 

And I’m ready for it. As soon as I can breathe properly once again and do a little more than slowly hobble from point A to B, I’ll be ready to celebrate it accordingly.

Woot!

We’ll catch up on the running stuff tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the day!

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

My mom’s favorite candy by far is Almond Joy.

Who can really blame her? The sugary coconut-y filling goodness. The almonds. The chocolate. What’s not to love?(And who doesn’t love a pot of butter?  Oh geez…)

Actually, I used to not like Almond Joys. At all. And my brother and I would get SO MAD when mom came home with a bag of almond joys for the house. Because mom knew we didn’t like them and they’d be all hers.

See how smart she is?Over the years, this changed. I grew to love coconut. And now I’ll rarely go more than a couple days without. I’ll sneak it into oatmeal or every other dessert I make.Mom taught me well. 

She also attempts to teach me other things. Like how to stuff a turkey (one of these days I’ll pay full attention and not laugh when a finger gets sliced during the demonstration). And that you should always line your cabinets with shelf paper in a new apartment before using them because only god knows who’s been there (I did half of them after the last move- that’s progress, right?).Granted, those things I’m still not quite sold on, but hey- she always has my best interest at heart. And I’m lucky to have her.

My brother and I may look across the dinner table at each other with raised eyebrows on occasion. Or roll our eyes while on the phone with her as she gives us a “friendly mom reminder”. But this only makes me all the more thankful. Because I love that I’ve seemed to inherit her quirky ways. And her genuinely positive outlook on life. And her sincere kindness (although an ex or two may debate this…).But anyway, because one thing I know for sure is that my mom does not make a road trip to Chicago without a bag of almond joys to share in the car, I decided to make something of similar fashion to share with her as the family all travels to meet up in St. Louis.

Almond Joy Brownie Bars!I was a little surprised at how fudgy they turned out- given the choice, I prefer a brownie that is the perfect balance between fudgy and cake- a perfectly chewy brownie. In that regard, I was nervously watching these babies cook up. I prefer cupcakes and cookies because of this, too- soooo much easier to tell when they’re “done”.However, the coconut/sweetened condensed milk combination absolutely MADE the brownie. I licked that particular bowl clean, too. Not kidding. My stomach hurt afterwards.

But anyway, I hope she enjoys them. 

Happy Birthday, Mom.I know I’m a handful, but thank you for everything you do. I love you!

Road Trip Ready

Today I’m making the drive to St. Louis for the weekend. Plans include meeting up with besties, celebrating my mom’s birthday, and running this darned race.

Long weekend, right? Good thing I’ve been carb loading.Not that I made a point of eating pasta. I just didn’t have much else in the house being as how I’ll be out for a few days. I’m even out of marinara now, so the sauce was a simple olive oil and various seasonings- heavy on the garlic salt and pepper. 

Oh… did I not mention part of the reason the family is getting together is for my mom’s birthday?  Well, it is. And it’s a milestone birthday at that. I won’t mention which one, though, because I’d rather not be greeted with disapproving look and “oh Amy!”

Anyway, in usual Amy fashion, I am so freakin’ good at procrastination, and since I’m leaving straight from work, my alarm was set 30 minutes early to make sure I wouldn’t forget a thing while getting ready this morning.

I’m tired.

And know I forgot something… it’s just a matter of when I figure it out?

Because of Holly’s little unfortunate incident of having to run in lacy underwire unmentionables, I triple-checked my running gear. So at least we’re good to go on that front.  I still applaud her for that one. Not that my teeny tinys need the support (insert my mom’s “oh Amy!” here instead), but I would be nervous of chaffing issues.  Eeek!

But anyway…

Luckily, in case my “eyes get tired”, or in case I use that excuse (because I’m a brat), one of my good guy friends is making the trip with me.

Don’t feel bad for him. He drives faster. So we’ll get there faster. Everyone wins this way.

Are you the slower driver or the faster one?

Because of some… ahem… speeding ticket issues from a few years ago, I’ve slowed my roll. The tickets finally dropped off my insurance and the added cost is not allowed back into the budget. Know what I’m sayin’?!?

Happy Friday!

A Friday of Social

Last night, a few of us girls congregated.

We didn’t go out because we were all in the same boat.  Two had to work today and two were just tired. And now, partially due to my dentist appointment and partially due to the fact that I’m just another struggling 20-something, I’m on a super budget (like I wasn’t already on one?).

 But it had still been so long since all of us had been in the same room together, so I proposed a movie night. 

Sure, I have a lot of Friday nights in with a movie, but when you’ve got 3 or more people, it’s like a party.  Sort of.  Right?  I’m calling it socializing- just to save some face.  :p

Because I technically called it a “party”, I needed something to bring to the table (literally). Time to break out the povitica!Povi-huh?

Povitica.  Does anyone have a clue what I’m talking about?  No?  Let me give you some background.

Povitica is a type of Croatian dessert bread.  Often seen around the holidays and special occasions. When made, they roll out the dough super super super thin, top it with all things evil (in this case, English walnuts and lots of butter), and then roll and bake it.

No, I am not Croatian.  But my uncle is.  And he is the one to blame for my rabid obsession with it.  Yes, rabid.  It’s that good.When I was young and before my aunt died, she and my uncle used to bring this bread out every Christmas.  I have no idea how my uncle found this lady in Kansas City, but every year, this old Croatian lady would make a certain number of loaves of povitica for people who wanted to buy it.  Which is quite a task because I heard it’s a very long and intensive project.  Anyways, it started with him bringing one out every year, but then I’d get a hold of it and it became quite clear he should start bringing two.

The Croatian woman died, and now her daughter carries out the tradition, but makes much less.  And my uncle doesn’t come out for the holidays anymore, but he always makes sure that a loaf of this povitica makes it’s way into my hands for Christmas.You can buy it in the stores, but I’ve had it and um… that is not the real deal.

I’ve also considered putting a Saturday aside to make it myself, but when I started looking up recipes and the calorie count (holy geez), I decided that maybe there’s a reason people only eat it on special occasions. 

Because us girls rarely are able to get together, I considered this special.And of course there were wheat thins. Because what else would you serve with homemade wonderfulness?  Sun-dried tomato- in case people wanted more salty instead of sweet.

We broke out the Trader Joe wine and watched our “feature” of the night – The Social Network.

And by the way, I loved that movie. Not only for the overall quality, but because I was getting serious deja vu from early in my college years.  I remembered so much of what they were talking about and it’s so crazy it’s been that long ago already! 

After the movie and a little more socializing, I was spent.

Still woke up at about 5:30- but smashed that idea and went back to bed for a couple more hours until I decided it was an acceptable time to get up.

Because of my pancake fail last weekend, I was determined to do better and made another batch of Jaime’s German pancakes!A little more “done” than usual.  My bad.  But put a little powdered sugar and syrup on it and no one will notice…Alright kiddos, that’s enough talk for today.  I’ve let the breakfast digest a little and am off!

A Few Green Men

I’m so glad you guys liked the samoas I made! 

They are quite fantastic.  And unbelievably easy compared to how difficult I thought they’d be to replicate.  A win in my book.

And if you hadn’t noticed already- I added a new tab at the top of my blog for all the baking adventures.  Enter only if you dare…

Anyhoo, as you can imagine, I’ve been feeling the need for a little sugar detox after such a crazy weekend of baking.

But alas, duty calls.That’s right, I spent last night icing sugar cookies!  The exclamation mark may be a little over the top- I wasn’t super excited about it if we’re being completely honest.  My baking energy levels are shot. So these cookies were baked on Saturday, but sat around naked for a few days.

The gingerbread men were feeling exposed. And I wanted to get all the cookies out to everyone they were made for. So I persevered.

It wasn’t so bad.  I didn’t make an overly big batch (as I sometimes do).Does anyone else put bread slices in the tupperware with the cookies?  It’s a trick I learned to keep them soft.  Does it work?  I like to think so.  If it doesn’t, please don’t tell me all my efforts and bread have been wasted all this time…Aren’t they cute?

I use my Grandma’s recipe.  I don’t think it’s anything too different from most recipes, but hey- gotta keep it in the family sometimes…

Do you have any recipes like that?Notice my red trees?  My brother and I sometimes help my mom ice sugar cookies.  I have no idea why she asks for our assistance.  Because she refuses to ice the trees anything but green.  Since my brother and I are the way we are (ahem… difficult), we often spend the entire time grabbing and icing as many of the trees as we can with any other color than green before she can get to them. Our defense is that we’re trying to get her to think outside of the box.  It’s become a running joke.  So I wanted to make sure she got a nice look at a couple of the RED trees I made.

You’re welcome, mom.  I also introduced a few alien gingerbread men to the Christmas cookie gathering.  I assume they’ll enjoy hanging out with Psycho Pete- in my tummy.  Maybe they’ll even change his attitude around.  Because, well, they come in peace… right?

You can groan at that one.  I did. 

Anyway, so I didn’t get away from the cookies completely, but I did make an effort to at least keep the rest of the day on the lighter side.  And I’ve been keeping up my usual gym routine.  Trying hard not to overdo it (burnout would be a disaster!), but definitely making sure it happens as normal.

This week, because work is a little later (9:00 versus 7:30), my goal is to pull early morning sessions of The Shred by Jillian or resistance bands all this week.  Wish me luck.  I’m currently 2 for 2 (yesterday and this morning), so I’m feeling pretty cocky at the moment.

For a little more cardio, last night I did abs and hit the elliptical for 30 minutes as well. 30 minutes! On the elliptical!  Who am I?!?!

Oh yeah, How I Met Your Mother was on.  That helped…

The Day After

Holidays away from the family can be hard.  My family is very important to me and I wish I could see them more often.I mean, come on.  Who wouldn’t want to spend the holidays with a group of characters like us?  We’re fun.

But sometimes that can’t always happen. I’ve spent the last two Thanksgivings in Chicago for various reasons, and it’s ok.  This year I’m taking an extra day or so off of work so I can go back to Missouri and give it the proper attention it deserves over Christmas. 

I think the first year I did this, my mom was terrified I’d be sitting alone with a turkey tv dinner in my apartment.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m a very lucky girl.

Take this year, for example. I spent my Thanksgiving Eve celebrating with good friends.Oh and yes, my hair is very tasty.  Thanks for asking.

We went to Durty Nellie’s to see Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press again.  Clearly we’re making this a regular thing.  It’s good music.  Entertaining.  And sometimes I just want to dance.  It works.

I’m also lucky enough to have families here in Chicagoland that have taken me in.

Last year, I was lucky enough to spend time with Jaime’s family.  This year, I went with Annie to hers.

I know Annie’s in-laws pretty well.  They’ve been wonderful to me.  And I could not be more thankful for that.I’m also thankful they feed me really good food.Seriously.  Good food.

I took the pecan pie cupcakes as another dessert option.

Believe it or not, I had overdone it a little on them by eating one every chance I got, but everyone else approved. (Shout out to Mark on this one- he made sure to let me know with every bite how good they are.  Thanks, sir!)

I also learned the finer points of the game “Bananagrams”This game was new to me. My family usually sticks to Scrabble and Scattergories.  Any favorite family games?

I’m proud to report I won one game.  Especially since the competition is so intense!  Whew…

By the end of the night, I was in food coma/exhaustion mode.  Bed time came early.  But that was fine- this girl had enough excitement and a race this morning (not talking about it now, but it went well!).

All in all, a good holiday!