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!

That’s My Cue

We might as well talk about Black Swan first.

Because I’m still kind of feeling weird. And just uncomfortable in general.

Mon and I went to see it last night.

We both agreed that it was pretty good.  Natalie and Mila NAILED their parts. Impressive for sure. 

But it is definitely one of those movies where you leave feeling really “blah” about life afterwards. I got the same feeling when I left the theater after seeing Revolutionary Road.  And on the way home, all you can say is, “wow… that would really suck”.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Because I was feeling good for the rest of the day. Not that I did a whole lot. I took my Christmas tree down.  Does that count as productive?  Even if I should probably have put it away earlier? Considering one year, we kept the decorations on the tree through most of February (Valentine’s Day tree?) and the tree was still in our living room until April (couldn’t make this up if I wanted to), I thought getting the tree down yesterday was quite the accomplishment.

Do you have anything like that?  Where, at some point, you just don’t notice how obnoxious it is?

One thing I do know is that my dinner last night before the movie was obnoxiously good (like how I did that?  Corny?  Oh yeah…).Hey James!  Not diggin’ the mustache so much, but since I heart you, I’m willing to let it slide…

Guacamole, salsa, corn, sharp cheddar and sour cream.

The guacamole was part of a two-pack bought from Trader Joe’s a little while ago.  It suggested to use one and freeze the other.

Um.  It’s not as good after being frozen. Still alright- just not fantastic.

You heard it here.

Off I go.  It’s been one of those mornings of piddling around.  So in attempts to jump start my day, I put the “No More Trouble Zones” workout in.  Now it’s a matter of pushing play.

Oh yeah, before I go (I’m procrastinating again)- I’ve been working on integrating my 8-lb weights into The Shred. 

Whew.

I knew some of the moves would be simple. They could have used heavier weights in the very beginning.  Others?  I may have done one repeat with the 8′s and one with the 5′s.  The rest I didn’t even bother trying to switch it up.  Baby steps. There’s no need for me to pretend I’m stronger than I really am… 

Ok fine… the workout music is repeating over and over.  That’s my cue.  I need to go and face the music. 

Peace out!

Couch Time

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you all had a great night celebrating and that your mornings were filled with coffee and lots of food.

Just like mine. 

After all the debate, I decided to keep it low-key, but not THAT low-key.  I convinced my friend that he should probably pick me up for a house party our friends were having.

There was some beer pong and vodka involved.  Mixed with a bunch of fun people I hadn’t seen in a while!

The sound track of the evening was Michael Jackson’s greatest hits.

One highlight was the burning of their dried up Christmas tree in their backyard.  Which I’m pretty sure is illegal.  But will overlook that fact because it was quite spectacular.

My friends know how to throw a party…

So far, I’ve celebrated this year with a 3-mile run and a lot of couch time.  And since I’m so so busy with the couch time, I figured I’d leave you with this survey that Jess tagged me to do.  Enjoy. 

1. Four TV shows that I watch

 - Modern Family

- Community

- How I Met Your Mother

- Big Bang Theory

Obviously, not a big reality tv fan.  I prefer for real actors who get paid to entertain me.  I have expensive taste like that.

2. Four things that I’m passionate about

-Running (hey duh…)

- Baking (surprise…)

-Guess shoes (I have an obsession.)

- The well-being of my friends and family

3. Four words/phrases I use a lot

- “Right?” (I know… it’s ridiculous)

- “Whatev” (because that last “er” at the end would kill me)

- “No worries” (this makes me sound “mellow”, yes?)

- “Lame” (because sometimes people just are)

4. Four things I’ve learned in the past

-People don’t change.

- Real ranch tastes better than the lite stuff.

- I do not look good with bleach blonde hair.

- It’s ok to be selfish every once in a while.

5. Four places I would like to go

- Greece

- New York

- California

- London

6. Four things I did yesterday

- Made pancakes

- Cleaned

- Drank a jaeger bomb (still don’t like them, by the way)

- Stood in line for 25 minutes for a 12-pack of beer at the grocery store (grrrr!).

7. Four things I am looking forward to

- Vacation with some of my girls!

- My friend Mary’s wedding

-  Having my own family (woah- that one’s way out there)

- Not feeling hung over (give it another 30 minutes?)

8. Four things I love about winter

- My awesome knee-high socks

- Boots

- Not having to shave my legs

- It’s only going to get warmer from this point out… I miss summer. 

9. Tag four people to play along

Instead of doing this, I’m just going to ask one question…

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen all week?

Big Plans

Hello everyone! 

So no one actually likes pants.  Hmmm.  We should start a movement.  Yes?

Anyhoo, I feel like it’s been too long!

Not just because I didn’t post yesterday, but because I’m still trying to catch up with how everyone else’s holidays went…

Anyways, the story left off in St. Louis.  I spent the night at my friend Mary’s house, not only to break up my trip back home, but to spend some time with two of my best friends over the holidays.Another wine night. We had originally talked up a big night out.  Drinks flowing… dancing… cute shoes…

We went out to pick out a bottle and get a red box movie.  After agonizing for 10 minutes over a selection, we ended up deciding on watching Entourage reruns instead.  We’re wild like that.

And reruns of Entourage turned into an episode of South Park that was about the shake weight and people’s ridiculous obsession with the Food Network.  I think I laughed the loudest.

All three of us got up around 9:30 yesterday morning.  Yes- 9:30. After we all said we would probably “naturally” wakeup by 7:30.  The long holiday weekend has clearly taken a toll on everyone.  Anyone else suffering the “holiday hangover”?

Getting up that late only means one thing.

Time for BRUNCH!We hit a local joint just down the road from Mary.  Last time us girls were together, we all ordered the same thing (it’s ok to roll your eyes here- we were just as embarrassed about it as you’d think).  This time wasn’t any different. Omelets for everyone! Like the ”Bacado” pictured above.  Mine was stuffed with avocado and bacon and I couldn’t have been happier.   

We’ll discuss how this triggered my avocado obsession (again) at a different time.

We sat there and chatted over free refills of coffee for way too long.  Not too long because I needed to go (which is probably true), but because we were rivaling all the old people with time spent there and the waitress was getting annoyed.  Oops.

Do you ever overestimate how productive you’ll be during the day?  I do- all the time.  Original thoughts were to leave St. Louis by noon or so, get a good run in (I’ve been dying to- that’s not a joke), grocery shop, unpack, etc etc.

Yeah…

I didn’t leave until close to 1:00.  Hit some traffic.  Lost any energy to workout.  And the ONLY reason grocery shopping happened was because it happened before I got home- I knew I wouldn’t drive back out to do it otherwise. And a girl needs to eat. 

And if you think any of my stuff is unpacked, you’re just crazy.  Who was I kidding?  I usually live out of my bag until it’s all been used or it has to be repacked.  True story.

However, it should be noted how thankful I am for fantastic driving conditions to and from Missouri.  That never happens.

And I would also like to note my favorite road trip tune came from a station somewhere in central Illinois.  Chumbawamba?  YES PLEASE!

Because I got to bed early, getting up to work out this morning wasn’t that big of a deal.  I figured this work week should be started with a BANG. Tuesday won’t take me down that easily.

I did my new Jillian Michaels ”No More Trouble Zones” dvd.  It left me a little sore the first time I did it, so I’m assuming it’ll let me know once again where all my underworked muscles are. 

On that note, I did “feel it” from the P90X ”Ab Ripper” cd.  Just not as badly as expected.  Maybe it was because people were building it up to such a horrible thing. Maybe because it should be combined with other circuits (really have no clue how that system works).  But I had planned to crawl out of bed. And was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have to. Awesome.

Let’s pretend Tuesday doesn’t suck and focus our attention on how it’s yet another holiday (aka “short”) work week!

Off To St. Louis…

Whew.

It’s been a whirlwind of family, friends and food.  After yesterday being a long day of running around and visiting family, I pulled an old school move and invited some of the kids over the ‘rents’ house.Yes- this time even a baby was involved!   

M is a pretty awesome little kid.  And got even more awesome when she decided it was time to celebrate No Pants Saturday.

Who can blame her?  I don’t like pants much, either.

The last two mornings, I got smart and did my workout when everyone was sleeping.  Jillian Michaels and her dvd “No More Trouble Zones” were waiting for me under the tree this year, so I broke that one out first.

It’s a much longer dvd than The Shred.  Yikes.  But I loved it because I now have some new circuit training to add into my life.

She’s a fan of squats.  I am not.  But I feel like this is going to benefit me. 

Actually, I know it will- my butt is crazy sore.

Jillian wasn’t my only awesome gift.  My family really knows me way too well.You can never go wrong with baking or running gear.  Fact.

My aunt even said when I opened the bag with the mixing bowl, “well I saw on your blog that you had to use a pot to mix something in and figured I should help you out”.

Thanks RB. 

And yes, those were 8-pound weights.  No, I haven’t tried them with my dvds yet.  I’ve been talking big game.  But now that they’re actually in my possession, I’m a wee bit scared.

When putting my new Jillian dvd in to get started yesterday, I noticed the copy of P90X my brother had sitting there.

I’ve heard horror stories about how difficult it can be. Even my bro warned me about it.

Naturally, I wanted to dominate.

The abs section.  Or, what it’s so unassumingly called “Ab Ripper”.

15 minutes.  It was a solid workout.  People weren’t kidding.  I’m nervous as to how I’ll feel tomorrow.

Hurts so good… riiiight?  Yikes.

My last meal in Mid-MO was a mixture of new and leftover.Can’t beat soup and salad. 

And I told you that wasn’t the last of my overnight salad fixation.  If I only get it once or twice a year, I totally make it count…

Time to sneak in a cat nap before I head off to my next adventure on my Mid-MO Holiday Road Trip- St. Louis!

Are you done with the holiday travel?  Get anything good?  What are your general thoughts on pants? 

Enjoy your Sunday!

Eatin’ Pants

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m up early today. Probably even up earlier than most kids. For two reasons.  One is because the Christmas lights on our house shine through my window, whereas I’m used to total darkness (black suede curtains make my apartment bedroom a cave even in the middle of the afternoon).  And the other reason would be is I’m trying to secure the downstairs television for a workout before others are up and moving.

I live by myself and I’m not used to sharing.

Oh and I was totally right about my mom making a whole new batch of sugar cookies for the family to ice once we were all there:She had barely set the cookies and was off and running trying to make sure she could ice as many green trees as possible.

The family tradition (on my dad’s side) is to always to go mass and have dinner afterwards.

So here we are looking nice:These pictures are taken after church and you’ve gotta be quick.  Because there are about 5 minutes before people change into more comfortable clothes.

Otherwise known as puttin’ on your eatin’ pants. We keep Christmas dinner pretty casual around here.My obsession with “overnight salad” is very real.  I think people also call it 7-layer salad?  Either way.  I’ve had it twice already since I’ve been home and will most likely have it two more times before I leave tomorrow.

My aunt always goes for a turkey leg:I have no idea how she does it.  When eating, I don’t have the time or patience for such things.  :p

This is also the reason I don’t do boneless wing, buy nuts still in the shell, or seldomly bother with lobster.

My contribution to the table this year:Because someone had to.

Anyways, like I said, I need to actually go claim the tv for myself so I can secure a proper workout before we do the present thing and the brunch thing and the family thing and the more food thing and the friends thing…  whew.

Plus the little piece of pecan pie I may or may not have had with breakfast needs to be burned off.

Not that I’m concerned about it.  But I’d like to try and make room for more if at all possible.

Enjoy your family time!

Made it by Midnight!

Can I just say I find your answers to the elevator question hilarious?

My favorite would have to be Oprah.  Oliepants has her head on straight- because not only would you get out right away, she’d probably give you a car just because.

And we all like cars, right?

Speaking of cars and driving (do you like how I did that?  ha ha), I made it to Mid-Missouri by midnight.  And didn’t hit any snow- so it was in much better time than expected!

A little over 8 hours is still quite the drive.  Before you take a road trip such as this, you should probably ask yourself some questions like I did.

Such as, what’s the proper way to fuel yourself for a drive? Before I left, Mon took the time to stop by work with lunch and she brought Buffalo Wings! Specifically, the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wrap. And I had them give me the Caribbean Jerk sauce instead of just the medium.

I needed the spice. We had been going back and forth the other day on email and I expressed my desire to have the “most opposite of sweet I could find”.  Smart girl, that Mon.As soon as I say that, she pulls out a “common sense” ticket she received from the rent-a-cop in our apartment complex.  Nice work on forgetting to lock your door, Mon. And Happy Holidays, rent-a-cop! 

After that, it was a matter of waiting for the signal from the boss and I was off…

When driving, you should ask yourself, “I wonder what songs I’ll get sick of on this trip?”

Definitely not this one:

I’ve had a recent obsession with “Spaceman” by The Killers for months.  It won’t get out of my head!  For future reference, you can sing it 4 times in a row before moving on.  But you can go back to it every 2-3 hours and still be fine.

On another note, how many Rihanna songs can I listen to before she gets boring?

That would be zero. Zilch. Nada.  Sorry Rihanna. You were everywhere and you drove me nuts.  I can’t talk to you right now.

How many times will I have to stop?

Three.  In all honesty, I could have done it in two, but the second place didn’t have any coffee except for some being made by a questionable looking gentleman who was missing teeth.  That was the stop where I was the only non-trucker.  Oopsies.  Should have slowly backed out of that station as soon as I realized what was up.

A stop elsewhere was necessary.Which was fine.  I mean come on- can you see what’s in the corner of this pic? I even had a machine in the bathroom that guesses my accurate weight and tells my fortune all at the same time.  Can you believe it?!?!

And yes, I’m bringing Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press love to Missouri.  Sort of.  My “And The” came off in the wash.  So now people just think I’m advertising some sort of fancy pants bench press.  Sigh.

And if you’re wondering, gas station coffee isn’t that bad.  Sure, this is coming from the girl who won’t go out of her way for Starbucks.  But still. The mixture of gas station english toffee cappuccino and gas station coffee is quite lovely.  Try it…

Ok ya’ll, I’m outtie.  Be safe out there and have a good holiday!

Stuck in an Elevator

 Sarah Palin?!?  Really guys?  I looked like Sarah Palin in my sweater and fake glasses?

My vision is 20/20, but if this ever changes, we can safely say I’ll be getting contacts.  No need to be associated with the crazies.

And that’s probably the most you’ll ever hear me speak on any political issue.

I’m just giving you guys a hard time.  I will say she is semi-attractive, and there are worse political figures to resemble.

Like Janet Reno.

Kelly tagged me in this little survey the other day, and since I’m spending a good amount of time wrapping up loose ends and traveling (ie not much writing going on), I thought you could get to know me a little better.

1. Vacation: beach or mountains?  This could not be an easier choice for me.  The beach.  I crave the sand and sun. Anyone want to take me on vacation soon?  This winter crap is really wearing me down.

2. Luggage: check it or carry it on? Carry on. Or at least I’m going to attempt that with my overstuffed bag before I pay the fees.  Unless my shoes are also being served a meal, I don’t think they should pay to be on the plane. 

3. Bed: make it or leave it a rumpled comfy mess? Are my parents coming to visit?  If so, I make it.  Otherwise, it’ll most likely be a “straightened mess”.

4. Races: smaller or bigger? A happy medium.  Bigger can get annoying because I hate playing the “dodge all the other runners and try not to get stepped on” game.  Just make sure I have room to run.  Then the size isn’t as big of a thing.  But not small enough where it’s not chip-timed.  I’m way too obsessive compulsive about my race times.  I need exact splits! 

5. Toilet paper roll: over or under? Being as how I spend extensive amounts of time thinking about this as I change the roll, my answer is… oh wait.  I don’t.  Um.  Probably under?  I couldn’t even tell you what it is in my bathroom right now.

6. Pancakes: thick and fluffy or thin and crepe-like? Thick and fluffy.  The closer to the consistency of cake it is, the happier Amy is.  Too thin makes it a crepe.  Then it’s not a pancake.  It’s a crepe.  Get it straight.

7. Alarm: get up or hit snooze? Get up. Snooze is way too dangerous. What would most likely happen is that I would turn it completely “off” instead.  And that’s a world of trouble.  If we’re being honest, I rarely ever get to the alarm part of waking up, anyways. I hate the sound so much, it’s like my body purposely wakes me up a couple minutes beforehand.

I’m not going to tag people, but I do want you to answer a question anyways (because I do what I want).

You’re stuck on a broken elevator.  What celebrity do you want in there with you?  And why (remember, there ARE cameras in elevators)? I’m gonna go with Chelsea Handler on this one.  Assuming we’d pass the time with an extremely entertaining conversation and that she is equipped with adult hydration of some sort.  This is logical to me because if I’m on an elevator, it’s most likely in my office building and I’m in no hurry to get out and go back to work.  I’d rather wait it out…

Well I’m about to jump into work and get this show on the road.

Mon has today off, so she’ll be popping in with lunch at noon.  I couldn’t be happier about this. Firstly, because I get to see my friend before I go home.  Secondly, because I had slimmed down the food to the point where the only things laying around that are fresh are half a red onion in the refrigerator and two pieces of bread on the counter.

Take a guess at which one of those items I had for breakfast.

And yes, I’m THAT good at meal planning before a traveling weekend.

Anyhoo, I’ll catch you tomorrow when I’m in Missouri. Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll even throw in a couple “ya’lls” and such to match the accent I’m sure to pick back up.  I’m horrible about copying the people around me.  Since moving a few years ago, I’ve dropped some of my southern drawl (where I’m from, it’s not heavy, but still present) and do have a bit of a “Chicago accent”. Then I go home and a bit more of that drawl creeps back in. 

The combination of the two just make me sound like a lost soul.  *Sigh.

Stop rambling, Amy.  Time to go.

Where’s my giant travel mug?

And Then…

You guys didn’t really think I’d leave you hanging with no pictures of Ugly Sweater Day, did you?Sassy, yes? It’s all about accessorizing.  Oh and I have no answer as to why we have formal tea cups and saucers in our break room.

A big thank you goes out to my friend Annie for hooking me up this year with this awesomely bad ensemble!

Sadly, I took third.  No matter how hard a girl tries, boys in women’s Christmas sweaters are just unbeatable.  Gah!

At least I had plenty of comfort food to make me feel better.  It seems all the gifts staff (aka Jaime and I) received yesterday came in edible form.

It included boy scout caramel corn:Yessss! Caramel corn  love.  Nothing like starting your day with it, in my opinion. (kidding… sorta)

My brother and I used to LOVE the big tins of popcorn (cheddar was my fav!) for Christmas and never understood why our parents refused to buy them.  Then I grew older and realized how gross it actually was.

But this stuff?  You boy scouts are A-ok in my book.

And then… AND THEN this came:Toffee has quickly been my most recent obsession.  And it showed up in a big box with a bow.  All 2 pounds of it.  Seriously… who really needs 2 pounds of english toffee?

Oh… my stomach will answer that question.  By saying “I do!”

I plan on taking a lot of it home to freeze.  By firing up “the google”, I found out it’s ok to do that.  In case you were wondering, too.

Expect toffee-infused baking in my future.And then our building management dropped off my afternoon snack.  They brought a really nice gift set.  And I ended up with one of these bags of chocolate-covered mixed nuts.

AND THEN (seriously, does anyone remember this movie?  And then… And NO AND THEN!), I came home to a package from Ashlee- one of my lovely best friends from my hometown.  We decided to do a cookie swap.  So she got some of the baked goods from my baking extravaganza a little bit ago and I got this:Sugar cookies!  And the cutest cupcake tin keepsake ornament!  I think a gift like this deserves a shout out – Go Team Baxhoff! For those of you who are curious, that’s our team name for when we get together and combine our forces of awesomeness.

I never said I was normal.

As you can imagine, a day like this also requires some balance.

That came in the form of a long sweat session.  And a huge bowl of broccoli as part of my dinner.

But I’d rather talk about the sweating.  Broccoli sometimes gets old.

I came home and immediately started up The Shred.  Nevermind this was directly after I tasted a sugar cookie from Ashlee. 

It was the perfect warm up for my treadmill session.

Totally mean that.  Once I got to the gym, I jumped on that thing and WENT.  Mile repeats.  Five of them at 8:34 each. 

Do you prefer the long runs or intervals?  Granted, I wasn’t really doing speedwork, but this was a good way to keep me from getting too bored (it hardly ever happens, but half of the run was spent all by my lonesome, so I had no people to “people watch”).

Over the holidays, I hope to finalize what my next big race will be.  A few are being considered, but they require some planning around things that aren’t finalized yet.  And after thinking about it, I realized that another 12-week training plan for a possible spring race would require me to get on it.  Like now.

Paige mentioned this in her post yesterday, and I didn’t realize I had been doing the same thing.  My typical oatmeal mornings have been replaced all week.  With all the Christmas candy/cookies being passed around, it’s left me with serious cravings for “savory”. Who would have ever thought??? (This is a recycled pic because I was lazy this morning and um… we all like to see pics of Jake G.)

And with that, I am signing off.  Have a good morning, everyone!

Something in the Air

There’s excitement in the air these days.

And I’m not just talking about the Holidays.  The Chicago Bears secured the division title last night.  Holla’.

That means quite a few locals got an early Christmas present.  Quite a few locals are also expected to not show up to work today for celebratory reasons.

As awesome as that is (Go Bears!), quite a few others will probably not show up because of the amount of snow we’ve gotten.  It’s semi-ridiculous.  As are the roads.(Source)

We’re officially on winter weather watch for my trip on Thursday.  I’ve driven to/from Missouri in less than ideal conditions around this time of year. It’s expected.  A fond memory of driving through a snow storm with my old roommate a couple of years ago comes to mind.  We spun out and slid through the Arby’s parking lot. 

I believe this, as NOT fun as it was, made the curly fries taste that much better.  They were earned.

Who’s traveling this week?  Any good holiday road trip stories?

That snowstorm trip is as bad as I’ve dealt with.  We had also both worked full days before taking off, stopping every 2 hours in order to keep “fresh” was necessary.  A.k.a. down more coffee.  Longest.Drive.Ever. I could not have been more wired than I was that night when I rolled up to my parent’s house at 3:00 in the morning… weeee!

Anyways…

After my spicy cajun(ish) pasta, the craving just got worse.

Hmmm… what else can I make in order to break out more of the heat from the spice cabinet (I’m not cool enough to have a spice rack).Seriously.  I need some cajun spice in my life.

When grocery shopping, I often forget my list or pick up a few extra things I think I may need.  Because I apparently thought it was necessary to have 4 cans of chickpeas on hand (yet still can’t remember the damn canjun spice), the decision to make roasted chickpeas wasn’t hard.As you know, I rarely cook with specifics.  So after rinsing and draining them, I threw them in a bowl and just went crazy.  I’d say the bbq rub and chili powder were the two used with the heaviest hand.

For the sake of others, I still suggest you use garlic salt, but with caution.

Throw the coated chickpeas in the oven at 400 degrees for at least 30 minutes- most likely longer until there’s crispy.  I think they taste sort of like corn nuts.  Is that weird?

Then try to save a few back for other meals.  Although it is tempting to try and take down an entire jar of them in one sitting…I put some on a salad.  Oh hey- so original.

But this was good!  Look- I added tortilla chips.  And mixed a little bbq sauce in ranch dressing as to get some sort of theme going…

Just go with it.

Anyhoo… let’s get through another Yucky Tuesday, shall we?  I feel like right now would be a good time to observe a moment of silence.  Vince Vaughn is now a father and it seems this makes him even more unavailable.  Sadness.

Thank goodness there’s a little excitement in my life today.  Yes, you heard right.  It’s Ugly Sweater Day at work (even if no one shows due to celebration/weather issues).

At least I’m decked out. And I look HOT.

Seriously.  Shoulder pads are involved.