A Little Sunshine

Sometimes it just makes us feel better.

Even if it’s raining as I write this.

And even though it’s been a crazy week and a half (does this explain my random absences?), looking on the bright side can sometimes be helpful. Or necessary. Depending on the day. Like today. As it continues to rain.

And rain…

Anyway… let’s try this, shall we?-I heart my house, although we’re still getting used to it. Creaking wood floors, the vintage-style (i.e. “tiny”) bathroom with the worst placement of the toilet paper holder ever, the sky light in my bedroom (ok, not getting used to it and trying to find a classy way to remedy the situation other than duct tape some cardboard up there). But all in all, it’s becoming “home”. Slowly but surely.

A few have requested it, and you’ll see a pic or two in due time. But there’s still much to be done. Patience…

-As much as I want to bronze it up on Lake Michigan in sunshine and 85-degree weather, the cool down into the low 70′s has been extremely beneficial for at least one thing. My lunch running dates with my buddy. We’re still not quite sure how far we’ve been running (seriously only about 20-25 minutes), but I’m loving the little break up of the work day and am possibly becoming a little more fond of trail running (never thought I’d say that- road runner for life, ya’ll!).

We have plans to run today, but it’s looking pretty dreary out there. Better luck tomorrow?- Working out a little during lunch also leaves time after work for things such as cruisin’ the new ‘hood with my new roomie. On Monday, we found a few interesting restaurants/late night haunts. Picked up some takeout menus. Mexican food until 4:00 in the morning? Where have you been all my life??? 

Then a bird pooped on her shoulder and that was the end of our walk. Win some/lose some.-Sometimes the internet stops working at your house (ahem, another reason I’ve been absent). When you get home at 10:00 at night and want to use it, this is a problem. Hopefully it’s just a minor issue that will be resolved soon. Otherwise, I guess it means I’ll just be that much more productive at unpacking the rest of the house tonight?

Bright side… breathe… there is a bright side with that one…

-Yesterday was my dear friend Annie’s birthday and I was invited over to her in-law’s place for dinner. They’re also the same family that took me in last Thanksgiving. I sort of love them. And love that her mother-in-law can make some ridiculously good fajitas.

I brought the cake.Obviously.

Annie requested a cookie cake this year. With my love of cookies and sugar, this was not a problem.  I just hope she doesn’t mind the simplicity- finding my way around the new kitchen was a little harder than I thought it would be (babysteps…).Happy Birthday, Annie!

The trip out to the ‘burbs to have birthday dinner with Annie and her in-laws worked out extremely well. Because I technically still have a lease at my old place, the opening was taken to swing by and throw down 25 minutes on the elliptical and walk a little on the tread while visiting with Mon (she’s holding it down at the complex still!) before showering off and heading to dinner.

Friends and fitness are important to me. I fit them in whenever I can.

Now, if only I could stop playing phone tag with a few other people…

*Oh and by the way, when it comes to comments:

- It’s true. I’ve mentioned it before, and yes, there are people out there that just don’t like fruit. I would be one of them. Or maybe I’m the only one. There hasn’t been an official headcount. There are exceptions to my “no fruit, please” rule. As in, think of the most nontraditional fruits you can. There’s a good possibility I’ll like them. Like avocados. Or coconut (nut or fruit? Jury is still out…). Or lemons/limes. And artificially flavored things like cherry twizzlers. But I’m thinking that probably doesn’t count. 

You have no idea how frustrating it is to go to a party or summer BBQ and the only dessert option is a fruit salad.

I mean, come on… you’ve GOT to be kidding me.

But anyway…

And I can’t believe so many of you have never been ghetto enough to do the wine bottle rolling pin! Pretty sure that’s all we used one year in college- none of us wanted to throw down the $5 to buy one. It made more sense to buy a bottle of wine for that much, use it for such, and ALSO get a drink while we’re at it.

Don’t ever question the logic of a college student.

You’ll only confuse yourself.

Have a good one!

*The cookie cake was made with Andrea @ Can You Stay For Dinner’s fabulous chewy cookie recipe (used 1 1/2 the recipe). She probably knows I stalk her recipes page often because her food is amazing. The icing is buttercream with a little milk added to make it easier to work with.

Pre-Vegas Brownies

Happy Monday, everyone!  Did you all have a good weekend?

Mine was pretty fabulous. And by fabulous, I mean one of the most low-key weekends I’ll have until… um… August?

Yeah, I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it. Excited. But overwhelmed.

So a night in and a nice tasting and dinner at a winery was perfect for my mood.

What did I do Friday night during my night in, you ask?

Well… I broke out the big guns.After staring at Jessica’s Better-Than-Crack brownies for several months now, I finally had an excuse to make them. And thanks to hitting up the Easter clearance like a baller, I also had all the necessary ingredients.

Please do not judge me for using a box mix. I am not a huge brownie person (weird, being as how I’m a self-proclaimed chocoholic). And because I am not a huge brownie fan, the “perfect” plain brownie recipe is yet to come through my kitchen (I do have a soft spot for Almond Joy Brownies- they’re crazy good). The box mix will do for now. Does anyone else find it troubling how it takes literally less than two minutes to mix brownies and throw them in the oven? Dang.

Oh and I’m probably one of very few crazies to be baking over-the-top brownies the weekend before I travel to Vegas for a bachelorette party that consists of running around in swimsuits and cocktail dresses. Smart.

At least now we’ve got an excuse for the dimple on my left butt cheek. Even if the sexy boys at the pool don’t care where it came from, I’ll still feel obliged to let them know.

While the brownies started the baking process, I got the mix-ins ready to throw on top after 20 minutes of baking.This was also about the time I started watching No Strings Attached (a red box snag). The movie was ok. I didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it. There were some good lines- none of which I can remember at the moment. *Sigh.

And speaking of Ashton Kutcher, is anyone else curious how they plan to incorporate Ashton Kutcher into Charlie Sheen’s old role on tv? Is he the crazy younger brother that no one talks about? A son Charlie never knew about? Another kooky neighbor? I’m so confused!You top the brownies with the peanuts and reese’s and bake it for another 6-8 minutes. They come out looking pretty stellar.

My only frustration with baking these was putting the second layer of milk chocolate/peanut butter/rice krispies on top and sticking it in the refrigerator. What do you mean I have to wait 2 hours before serving???

Thank god I had the movie to distract me for at least part time. If you’re smart, have only one brownie at the 2-hour mark. Pair it with a nice white wine (or a bottle of $4.99 wine from Trader Joe’s- whatev). Then wait overnight to cut up for serving or hoovering the rest. The top was still a little soft on my first go-round.

What did I think?

Delish. Like I said, I’m not the biggest brownie person. But these were pretty good. I think if I found a fudgier brownie mix/recipe or had thrown in semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter, I would have enjoyed the brownie base more. And I’d totally put more peanuts and reese’s in the middle layer. Or maybe more rice krispies on top?

It’s the texture- I do wish there would be more “chew” in it. But that’s just a personal preference.

However, that’s not to say they weren’t good. Because they were And there’s not much to complain about the peanut butter and chocolate combo. It’s a winner. 

When I took them with as an after-winery dessert on Saturday night, they got everyone else’s seal of approval. So that’s really the only opinion you need. They’re good. Make them. But feel free to customize them to your own tastes. Everyone’s different, right?

The brownies are pretty much gone except for one I promised to save for someone. They’ve got another 24 hours to claim it.

23:59….

23:58…

If you think I won’t eat it for breakfast, you’re wrong.

Like I said- there’s a reason for the dimple.

Excuse me while I take a minute to step away from the computer and do a few lunges.

Later!

My “Go To”

Everyone has that one thing they use as their “go-to” for parties/gatherings/holidays. Something easy to make, travels well, and is easy to serve to the masses.

This is mine.Scotcheroos. You’ve probably seen one version or another floating around on the interwebz at some point. The reason is because they’re delicious. And amazingly addicting. My friend calls them “butterscotch-covered crack” and of all the things I’ve ever made, this is the one that is most requested.

I even made them as part of the dessert when I made my friend Jaime’s wedding cake.  And yes, I do believe rice krispie hybrids can be considered fine dining.

But a lot of people don’t know my secret.

It’s one of the easiest things I know how to make.This may damage my credibility as a baker, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take.

The thing I like most about this recipe is that it’s about 20 minutes start to finish. And the majority of it happens in one big pot.

Also… there are measurements. But if you decide not to follow them precisely, you won’t be penalized. In my case, I up the peanut butter and decrease the sugar. Just a little. Or a lot. Depending on the day and mood…My mom makes this a lot to “have around the house”. Which is sort of silly because it doesn’t stick around the house very long. My brother takes out a row of them at a time. Or at least he used to when I was still around before moving. Pretty sure there’s a black hole at some spot in his 6’7 frame. Silly boys and their metabolism.But now that I’m thinking about it… I may have taken a row of them down at a time, too.Did I mention my sugar tolerance used to be amazing?  It still is… but now I’m buzzing if I have two. You’ve been warned.Scotcheroos

Again, I will stress that approximations are totally allowed. They’ll still turn out better that you’ll imagine. Promise.

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups rice krispies

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Mix corn syrup and sugar in small saucepan and heat until it comes to a boil and sugar dissolves. Stir in peanut butter. Then stir in rice krispies a cup at a time (as to prevent cereal flying everywhere). Dump it all into a coated pan and press to make solid.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch together. Spread over top of rice krispie mixture.

*I also melted a little more butterscotch in the saucepan I was already using. And drizzled it over the top of the chocolate. Because I’m fancy like that.And thanks for all the good thoughts about the leg! Right now we’re not “freaking out”. I’m not worried about the leg because I know I’ll be good to run by race day- it’s just going to be ugly.

And this is all requiring me to be patient. Which is hard. Because that’s something I generally AM NOT when it comes to such things.

Hopefully your Tuesday goes well. However, if it doesn’t, don’t be upset. Tuesdays hardly ever do. That’s just the way it goes… :pLater everyone!

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! 

Dinner Ruined

How did St. Patty’s treat you?? Hopefully you had a great time. And aren’t feelin’ too bad about starting work right now…Like I mentioned yesterday, I had no real plans for the holiday and decided to instead make a big production in the kitchen for dinner. It’s safe to say I accidentally ruined my appetite for dinner.

After ice cream cake for the boss’s birthday, I found a gift from a coworker on my desk:Sugar cookie is larger than it appears.

Seriously. Look at your hand. Study it a little if you have to.

This sugar cookie was bigger than your hand. And quite delicious. I slowly ate the entire thing throughout the day. Except for his feet.

I don’t like feet…

So yes, I did celebrate the holiday. Just with sugar. Not green beer.

It was a fair trade.

And I think everyone felt the same about the Red Riding Hood movie- very excited to Netflix/Red Box it. I think that’s a good strategy.

My win for today? Getting to wear jeans to work.

It’s no surprise that the little things in life really make me excited.

It’s because our office is sort of celebrating the beginning of March Madness. Although I’ll be observing it as a day of mourning because Mizzou already got themselves booted from the tournament.

Are we surprised? Not really. Not our year… sigh…

Enjoy your Friday, everyone. I’ll probably be doing some sugar detox and taking it easy tonight. Ice cream cake, massive sugar cookies, and some leftover M&M’s left me staring wide-eyed at my ceiling last night until the wee hours. Plus there’s a 10-mile run in the plans for tomorrow and I still need to wrap my head around that one. Double digits haven’t been hit since my first half marathon in August! Yikes…

Satisfied Cravings

I’m a strange chick.

There’s no getting around that.

I like to think my quirkiness is endearing. And adorable.Don’t try and tell me otherwise.

There are other things that make me relatively normal. Or at least things that allow me to pretend I am. 

Like my strong love of all things chocolate. Come on- I AM a girl afterall!Except for during a few days of the month (holla’ at your girl if you know what I’m talking about). I do something sort of strange.

I don’t crave chocolate. Like at all.

It’s alarming. And always catches me off guard. Those *couple of days* happened to span over my Vegas trip (major suck) and I even looked at Mon at one point as we were having lunch and said, “what is going on? why have I not craved chocolate more considering a bakery/gelato is around EVERY corner?”

Some consider this lucky. I considered it unfortunate that gelato was only purchased once. Lame.

Of course, once I’m back to “normalcy” and those couple of days are over, the chocolate cravings come ROARING back.

You’d think I’d be satisfied with the brownie cupcakes from Friday night. Rich. Decadent.

Not so much. I needed more.Plus, peeps at work were getting restless without the usual inflow of cookies. And I was tired of getting badgered. 

Geez guys… I guess if you REALLY want me to bake for the office…

Another chocolate-heavy dessert was necessary. Since brownies were already explored, on Sunday I decided to revisit my favorite type of sweet- cookies.

White chocolate and M&M’s, chocolate cookies to be specific…

They were a spin on The Picky Palate’s White Chocolate, Chocolate Cookies. (I still had more of those peanut butter M&M’s to use obviously.)

Since people are sometimes finicky about peanut butter (yeah, I don’t get it either), I did half with the candy and half without.Don’t ever say I’m not accommodating…

The cookies were super soft right out of the oven. I was almost afraid of them all crumbling- when the recipe says to let them sit on the pan for a few minutes, for heaven’s sake, let them sit.

There was only one casualty to the crumble after transporting them to work (whew!). I loved the white chocolate chips, but the peanut butter M&M’s really did knock ‘em out of the park.After these, my cravings were finally met. And my coworkers have quieted down with the nagging.

At least for now.

Just in case you were concerned, the rest of my Tuesday was acceptable.

- I did not scratch my eye out after being VERY concerned with yesterday morning’s self-mutilation attempts. A nail file solved that problem. Real quick.

- Solid cross training happened (even if I was STILL a little sore from Sunday’s Shred session).

-An old man stopped me in the parking garage to compliment me on my “hot boots” that I wear so well.  “Oh… um, thanks…” I say.  “No really, you look very good in them.”  Ummmm… Good thing I can pick up the pace pretty easily in my hot boots.

- My vacuum cleaner may be broken. Too lazy to investigate last night, but there was a hot smell coming from it after I was done. I’m going to assume it needs to be cleaned again. I shed a lot and it’s normal for me to have to cut hair that’s wrapped around the wheel thingie (is there an official name? do you know what I’m talking about???).

We’re halfway through the week, kids. We can do it!

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!

Getting Nutty

Happy weekend!

I actually slept until 8:30 today.  For those of you who read regularly, this is unheard of!  But appreciated nonetheless.

I’m so glad we just had our last full week of work for the year. In my office, most people will be out for a good part of next week.  Not only will it be a short week, but a laid back one. Merry Christmas to me! 

Yesterday I skipped my morning workout, but still got cardio in after work.  2 miles on the tread and 25 minutes on the elliptical.  I rushed through it because I had an appointment at Mon’s.  We were cleaning makeup brushes (weird, yes, but she just got this new cleaner that’s *amazing* and I’m notorious for, um, hardly ever washing them). 

Another wild Friday night in my part of the world, yes?

If it makes up for being lame, we watched Donnie Darko. If I start freaking out around Easter, or whenever a rabbit crosses my path, you’ll know why.

Cleaning makeup brushes and Donnie Darko.  Two things that have never been combined in the same sentence.

Let’s talk about something else.  Like nuts.Look what I got with the gift certificate I won from Retta? I received a gift certificate from Oh Nuts! to order whatever I wanted. So I got a pound of almonds, a pound of walnuts, and some malted milk balls that were opened at work almost as quickly as the box was and didn’t survive by the time pictures were taken.  Oops.

Soooo excited!  Thanks, Retta! 

Speaking of nuts, I’ve got one more post from last week’s baking extravaganza.

I know.  Still going… can you believe how much stuff we made???We’re all aware of Bakerella and her cake balls.

I didn’t follow any real recipe on that one, but gotta give her props for the idea.  Start with cake.  Then destroy it.Add icing into the bowl/pot and combine.  Keep adding icing until it is easily workable to roll into balls.  Then chill.  I don’t have pics of this because I forgot.  But you can make the balls as big or as small as you’d like. 

As Mon and I were rolling balls, we enjoyed making Schwetty Balls references.Come on.  Someone had to do it.

After your balls have chilled (he he he), it’s time for dipping them.Now you may understand why I’m grinning like an idiot with a tear or two in my eyes.  Balls jokes are fun.

We had a few things to cover our balls with after dipping it in chocolate or vanilla almond bark.Leftover toasted coconut (told you I had a plan!), sprinkles, and toffee.  I liked the taste of the toffee the most- but just a heads up, you make a mess when you try to get it to stick to your balls…

Let them chill again and then enjoy…Too big to put in your mouth all at once.

Ahem. 

This is also the general idea I went with to get rid of all the extra peppermint Oreos from the peppermint bark I made.Most people use chocolate ganache or cream cheese when they make Oreo Truffles.  I just went with leftover icing from the cake balls I made.

This may have been because I wasn’t sure how the cream cheese and peppermint would taste together.  Or because I was too cheap to buy cream cheese solely for the truffles.  You decide.

Same concept.  Roll the balls.  Chill.  Dip.  Enjoy.If you have leftover melted almond bark (which I did), you can also dip things other than your balls.We’re all about being resourceful up in here.

And THAT, my friends, is the end of my baking adventure.

My apron isn’t retired, but it’s not moving for a while.

Time to get up and moving.  I’ve got a few things to take care of before heading to the city to hang out with Miss Megan tonight.  Later!

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…

Productive Member of Society…

…today that would not be me.

Or at least I don’t plan to be.  I did run a sweet 3 miles.  Which is great when I just say that.  When I add the part where I was planning to do 6… well, then it seems somewhat lackluster.

Eh. But Halloween is not about running.It’s about sugar.  Which may or may not have been the cause of my odd rush of energy that was quickly followed by a crash and burn.  It’s cool.  At least I am fully aware and am embracing my love for anything chocolate that comes individually wrapped in a fun size wrapper.  Only fun size- because really, those mini candy bars are just stupid.  Just enough to satisfy you?  Please… just enough to make me annoyed that I don’t have more. 

So I’m keeping this a quick one so that I can get back to my busy day.  I’ve got a RedBox coupon burning a hole in my pocket (yes- RedBox is only a $1- but the coupon is still a maja’ win in my book).  And as to balance out my tribute to sugar today, I was sent some Fresh Express salad coupons from Tiffany over at Simply Shaka:After a massive fail at Mizzou attempting to show up for a game against Nebraska, I got home to such a sweet note from this chica.  Thanks Tiffany- I needed that!    Both the note and the coupons- especially since I was hanging out with guy friends while watching the game yesterday.  My quota for bread, meat, and cheese may have already been met for the week.

Well.  Not the cheese part.  That’s a whole different story… 

Happy Halloween everyone!

How are you celebrating today?