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. 

Girl’s Night In: A Step-by-Step Guide

Sounds like we’re all down for a 5k in Hawaii! Now if only I could get the extra paid time off and possibly a free round trip?  Hmmm…

After a few days of cursing the stairs and wearing flip flops to work, I’m feeling much better. Enough so to play around on the elliptical a few days this week. Nothing crazy- baby steps…

Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of fitting some hill running into training.  Geeeez…

Or at least taking a friend up on their offer to give you an ice massage. That could have helped, too. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Because I’ve been out of town and busy over the last couple of weeks, it had been quite some time since I’ve been able to catch up with some of my favorite suburban girls. Enter last night:As much as I’m going to horribly miss my mirrored wall when I move, it sure will be nice to not deal with the lighting issues. Or the weirdness of watching yourself eat everyday…

Anyway, it had been forever since Danielle had been able to grace Mon, Annie, and I with her presence, so we had made plans earlier this month for a solid girl’s night. The dress code was sweats. No exceptions.

We ordered Thai food from AltThai- a cute spot in the Arlington Heights downtown area. Sure- I’m more of a person to eat AT the restaurant and also enjoy the atmosphere. But after spending an extra 50 minutes in traffic in the pouring rain? You couldn’t have pried the wine glass out of my hand and dragged me out of the apartment if you had tried. Word.Pad Woon Sen. It’s my newest obsession.

Well- Thai in general is my newest obsession. The glass noodles in this stuff? I could see myself easily going on a weekend bender with them. That good.

Mon would also like to let all the locals know, your first order online is 10% off. Yes- my recessionista ways have rubbed off on her. I couldn’t be prouder. *tear

Oh and I’m giving a shout out to Kelly right now- we chatted yesterday and she decided to virtually join in on the girl’s night in with us by having a nice adult beverage and Thai food up in DC!

After dinner, what girl’s night in isn’t complete without fun and games?

Some of you have probably seen the show Extreme Couponing, but have you ever seen it in practice?Danielle has her stuff together and we were all curious as to how she makes it work. She was happy to share.

We also did crafts- Amy style.You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to make Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. No idea. This was the perfect night because I also recruited some help when it came to “stuffing” the cookies:I would highly recommend these ladies. They work for wine.Sometimes we’re not as mature as we should be.

I’m looking at you, Mon.

If you’re like me, most of the time the “projected yield” of the amount of cookies is way lower than what you actually end up with. I like big cookies. A cookie the size of a quarter just annoys me. So imagine how excited I was when these turn out so big that you can’t even get a reasonable amount of them on the pan:Seriously. I made a recipe and a half. Totally unneccessary. I realized this when I could barely stir all the dough together.

Which reminds me- I added an extra egg (after making an extra 1/2 of the recipe) to make it more manageable. The dough was way too floury, and I wanted to make sure the cookies turned out soft.

And I also took a hint from the lovely Andrea- ever since she recommended refrigerating dough for an hour for the best results, I’ve been a faithful follower of the rule. It hasn’t disappointed me yet!Heaven. The original recipe calls for double-stuffed oreos, but I found the regular oreos worked just fine. I mean… we’re already being a little excessive, don’t ya think? I’m not one to pretend that 1/2 a cookie satisfies me. Or even usually just one.

But one of these will leave you spinning. Truth.

And that, my friends, is how you do girl’s night.

The end.

Charging Up

Almost immediately after posting yesterday, I realized the entire week was filled with desserts and sugar. And every post goes up in the morning.

I apologize, guys. Giving people sugar rushes at such early hours is not considerate. Well. Not every day anyways.

Plus, it gives you a really unrealistic idea of how I’ve been eating.

Well, sort of. The glucose has definitely spiked in my system this week. But I promise you, there has been other food, too…

Like salad. As mentioned last week, it’s a lunchtime staple.

Or (most) of my dinners. My movie night eats were fun, but I usually go a little more balanced:Thanks to the asparagus season finally coming around, it’s now allowed back into my grocery budget!

I paired it with a tuna and spinach wrap. It’s really unfortunate the latest bag of wraps are just awful. The wrap breaks and falls apart pretty much as soon as it is taken out of the bag. What a suck. I end up feeling like a 4-year-old eating.

Also, just for kicks, I threw in a little dijon mustard. Turns out I really don’t like it as much as I want to. Sad- there’s a whole jar of it left from a marinade I made not that long ago… meh.

Anyway, last night was a quiet night in after an hour of crosstraining at the gym.

Well- it was a wine and gossip night. Close enough.

But either way, I stayed away from the crazy because there is a 10-mile run staring me in the face. As soon as my ipod is done charging, it’s probably time to head out and see how that goes…

I wouldn’t mind if my ipod takes it’s sweet time charging for a bit longer…

Have a good Saturday! 

I’d Rather Buy The Box

I’m not sure if it’s the weather, stress, my love of baking, or a combo of the three, but I’m on a bit of a roll.

Not sweets, but the carbs have been calling my name!After a little phase of being obnoxiously obsessed with sun dried tomato wheat thins, I figured there was surely some way to recreate them?

There is! There is!

Although I won’t say it was super easy.  I followed the recipe (from The Fresh Loaf) as closely as I could. But ended up adding more water in the mixing process because the dough wasn’t coming together very well.

And then the rolling. Oh the rolling…According to the recipe, you roll it out as thin as you possibly can. I decided halfway through rolling of the first round of dough that my crackers would end up thicker than regular wheat thins.

The recipe says you’ll yield approximately 13 dozen “wheat thins”.

Um… yeah…

I’d say my crackers were at least twice as thick (if not 3x!). And I cut them a little bigger. Soooo…After all was said and done, I had about 3 dozen crackers. Not 13, but 3. But I’m cool with that- I like that they’re a little thicker with just a light crisp (by the way, I baked them closer to 10-11 minutes because they were much thicker).

I also added a little chili powder to see if I could create a spicy cracker.  Surprisingly, it didn’t make much of a difference. Still good nonetheless. But even when I enjoy baking, I think in this case, I’d rather just grab a box of wheat thins. That sun dried tomato flavor drives me wild and it’s worth the $2-3 to just throw the box in the cart instead of the 45 minutes in the kitchen.

Plus, let’s be honest- I’d rather be baking cookies.

When’s the last time you decided store-bought was better?

Hopefully my seeking comfort in ridiculous amounts of baked goods will slow down as we Chicagoans creep out of this single-degree weather?  As the temps reach the 30′s this weekend (woo hoo?), we shall see…

This morning I braved said temps to hit the workout room. 26 minutes on the elliptical and 16 on the stairs (apparently “6″ is the number of the day- creepy). It felt good after having a rest day- fresh legs.  Tomorrow I’m gearing up for a long run and am kind of looking forward to it. Long runs happen on Saturdays for a reason. I have ample amounts of time, can zone without worrying, and did I mention my love for the weekend?

Oh and the crazy early workout girl wasn’t there today. And I may just agree with some of you that commented yesterday- maybe she can’t sleep?  Now that I think about it, not that long ago I was the one who gave up on sleep and went to the gym at 4:00 in the morning.  Remember that one?  Yeah- it still pains me a little.  Gross!

Even though I’ll admit I have oatmeal *almost* everyday, sometimes it’s necessary to switch it up.A semi-success of an omelet.

I wasn’t feeling the oatmeal or peanut butter toast because I had the need for a little more protein in my life.  Plus the mushrooms, onion, spinach, and feta were a welcome change of pace to the AM. And sometimes change is good. No matter how small. 

Time for the Friday dance…

Lifestyles of the Fabulous

Probably not what this is.

But I like to think the nice wine glass classes it up a bit. Although, to be truthful, I threw out that glass of wine after the first sip.  I love Trader Joe’s for their good wine (that is SUPER cheap), but sometimes you run across a dud. This glass was replaced with a glass of Zafrica Pinotage. We’re much more satisfied with this.

My tupperware is full of pasta I made yesterday. It was way prettier then…

It’s a little weird for me to be blogging on a Friday night, but I really had nothing to say this morning. Not sure if it was writer’s block or if I was really that boring yesterday? I tried to write a post. But it was soooo “blah”.  No matter how hard I tried- it wasn’t getting better. And yes, I’m aware I write nonsense on a daily basis. But hey- to publish boring nonsense?  No thanks, not my thing.

Either way, I still felt like you needed a little update.

I’ve been laying low since after work. 

A quick trip to the gym including a 3-miler at 8:25 pace.  Holla’.

A trip to the grocery store to pick up some baking stuff for right after I publish this. I’m making a trip tomorrow and said I’d bring a little treat. If you know me at all, you know this wasn’t too hard of a decision. 

Although I had already bought the stuff I needed over lunch. Just left if in the breakroom at the office.  Fail…

And yes- I’m keeping the trip under wraps… but it just may include two peeps you already know…

Enjoy your Friday night, kids!  The weekend is finally here!

An Amy Day

The electricity in my apartment went off yesterday.  Again. Thankfully, it came on right as I was getting home from work.

Did I mention I’m magic?

Had the electricity not gone on, I would have been in quite the situation. Because I was having a rest day and had nothing else to do. Other than clean. And that would have been just as impossible. Shucks.

But let’s not dwell- it did go on and I got my relaxed night on the couch. Catching up with “my programs”. That included a glass of Merlot and this:I had to run by the grocery store after work and all day had been craving a turkey wrap in the worst way.

This is a chicken wrap. I was at the deli counter, had him pull out the honey roasted turkey, put it in the slicer and- WAIT! Spotted the honey bbq chicken. I want it instead, if that’s ok.  I’m sorry… did you start slicing?  No… ok- I’ll have the chicken.  No- not along with the turkey, instead of the turkey.  Yes, you can put the turkey back.  I want the chicken.  No, not that one, the one above it… yeah, that’s the one!  Same amount… just the chicken, though.  Thanks…

I’m so awkward at the deli counter.

I’m so awkward at ordering food in general.  Please tell me I’m not the only one???

In the wrap, I included spinach (green is important!), avocado (green is still important!), onion and a little General Tsao sauce. And a nice pair of balls. Of the sweet potato variety, people. It may be Friday, but let’s try not to be too crude this early in the morning…

Because I was still in Thursday night mode, I was in bed early.  So lame considering today is my day off!

That’s right. I took today off. No major reason. I just really needed one.  A refresher. An Amy day, if you will. Because let’s face it- the winter doldrums will get to ya if you don’t fight it.

This is my way of fighting it.

Anyway, it’s no surprise I woke up early. This didn’t bug me- I have time for a nap later (and WILL take it).

Up with the sun I was. And off to the gym (I really know how to party).

Because I know what my plans are for tonight, there was an executive decision made to switch my long run to this morning instead of wait until tomorrow.  It’s not like I have a super strict schedule going on…

It was 7:30 when I stepped on the treadmill (told you it was weirdly early) and 8:30 when I stepped off. That left room for a quick warm-up, run and cool-down. My actual run was 6 miles (as according to plan) at an 8:38 pace.

I would like to thank Cage the Elephant, The Killers, and Kanye West for this particular run.  You boys kept me going.  So… thanks!

Even though it’s a day off, there are a few things to take care of. So ummm… time to go be productive for a while.

Guess I have to do something to earn the nap, right?Rock on, ya’ll.  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!

100 Words Saturday- Anti-Social Edition

Happy Weekend! I hope your Saturday morning is going well!

I’m about to go climb some stairwells with Megan to prepare for Hustle Up the Hancock (oh yeah- remember that stair climb I’m gonna do? I almost forgot, too.).

Last night it snowed.

It was Mon and my justification for being anti-social. And watching a crappy movie.Knight and Day. We knew it wouldn’t be the greatest going into it. 

We were so right.

After a couple of vodka clubs, we didn’t even pay attention.

And gossiped instead. Sounds about right.

What’s the last bad movie you’ve seen?

Things Worth Celebrating

Since yesterday was a rest day, I had quite a bit of free time on my hands.  This rarely happens, but I took it as a sign as maybe I should cook again.  Because even little things such as rest days should be celebrated, right?

If you remember, I did a review of  Uncle Sam’s cereal a few weeks ago.  I had considered doing some sort of honey glaze, but went a different route with the breaded parmesan.  This was amazing, but then Tracey left me drooling over what she came up with. 

Last night I remembered this and said ”YES, that’s what I’ll make”.

Then I immediately said, “CRAP, I don’t have soy sauce”. 

What respectable cook doesn’t have soy sauce on hand?  (don’t answer- that’s an issue we can address at a later time)

So I tried something a little different. Enter balsamic vinegar and honey.Trader Joe’s really wanted to make sure I had enough balsamic, huh?

So I mixed it with a little honey and to dip the chicken into:Then I did a little shaky shaky with the cereal in a ziploc bag…Throw some sliced almonds on each piece, and then bake for 20 minutes (or um… until it’s done in the middle- duh) at 350 degrees.  Then, pair it with some sauteed veggies.Voila!  Perfect meal.  Granted, I wish I had the soy sauce like Tracey did…  would have given it more of a kick.  But hey- it was still a win in my book.

In other news, this Saturday is Boss’s Day.  How they let Boss’s Day fall on a Saturday, I do not know.  But either way- do you do anything for your boss on this day?  Or if you’re the boss, do people usually plan stuff for you?

Jaime and I celebrate for our two bosses.  Just… in a different way…Clearly I’ve edited the photo for privacy reasons, but you get the point.  Last year, we filled our supervisor’s cubicle with balloons.Our main boss seemed a little disappointed to not be in on the fun, so this year we took the “post-it everything in his office” approach.  It worked out really well that he’s out for a couple days.

I really have no idea how boring our office would be if we weren’t around to keep it interesting… And it’s always in good fun- that’s important to remember. 

Do you ever pull office pranks?  I’m sure Jaime and I wouldn’t mind some new ideas! 

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Better Now

Sorry guys.  I’ve been ranting a lot as of late.

But it seems I’m not the only one with traffic issues.  Seems that we all deal with some frustrations when it comes to such things.  Even when I still lived back in Mid-MO I was quick to get frustrated.  In high school, when driving from my hometown to my summer job, you have no idea how frustrating it was to get behind a dude on a tractor. 

Yeah, that really happens.  And I’m pretty sure my friends from home who read this can definitely back me on this one.

Anyways.  I’m chilled out.  I got home (we shall not discuss the traffic again after this point) and ran quickly to the gym.  I wanted to get my lounge on, and that was not happening until I worked up a little sweat first.  So I did.  Not with ease, though.  There was a birthday in the office- happy birthday, Jaime!!!  I had a really really big piece of this:(The pics are here two little lovely dogs that I absolutely adore and even doggysat for back in the Spring!)

I giggled a little as we sang because Jaime  doesn’t embarrass easily.  BUT, she does turn extremely red in the face when a break room full of guys start to sing to her.  Don’t worry Jaime- it happened to me, too. 

The cake was chocolate and buttercream and delicious.  It also gave me a bit of a sugar rush that didn’t help me out one bit mid-workout.  You can’t sustain energy with butter and sugar?  Really?  Huh.  Whew knew? 

Either way, I did 2 miles at an 8:35 pace and finished off with 20 minutes on the elliptical.  I had wanted to do The Shred, but took the intensity down a notch and did the resistance bands instead.  They’re still a really good workout for my arms.  Plus, the circuit I like to do ends with sets of planks.  And I love me some workouts that trim the tummy!

After congratulating myself for getting through a decent cross training session, I showered and started my wild and crazy night in.  Yes. Wild. 

My cravings recently have really headed the direction of comfort foods- but not one certain one in particular.  Last night, it was BBQ.  Aaaahhh!  Naked chicken!  Well- almost.  It’s covered with a bbq seasoning and frozen peppers from Trader Joe’s.  I’ve used the peppers before, and everyone else who tried them agreed- they’re handy to have for mixing in to something.  Because they don’t have that crisp that make them good on their own.

I also add mucho red chili pepper flakes.  Because it’s delicious that way.  No other reason.Ah much better.  Sassy lookin’ chicken.  Just because summer’s over, it doesn’t mean I’m retiring the sauce… A little cheddar and ranch go a long way. 

That’s life advice, folks.  You should write that down.

And who doesn’t have a Friday night dinner without a glass of wine?Beer may have been a better choice, but I wasn’t really feeling it.  Wine got it done.

I spent the rest of the night catching up on shows I had missed during the week thanks to OnDemand. 

Does anyone watch Community?  Drew Carey was a guest star.  But I spent the first minute or two trying to figure out if it was really him- he’s lost 70 pounds!  Seriously- he’s barely recognizable…

Clearly I haven’t been watching enough of The Price Is Right to notice.

Ok I’m off.  I’m pushing it with my free time this morning.  Gotta get a long run in before heading to a food and wine fest with Mon.  Not sure how long the “long run” is actually going to be. Somewhere between 6 and 8.  That’s the plan.  Wish me luck! 

Enjoy your Saturday!