long time no see

Hello Everyone!

It is a new era for me - I've been a working girl for over a year now.

I finally feel like I am getting into a groove.  To get up to speed, since I last posted (forever and a day ago), I have:

• graduated college
• gotten a job
• ran a MARATHON
• worked
• started training for a TRIATHLON
• worked some more (ha!)

I have so much going on right now, I don't know where to start.  I have a lot of things I am so excited to share.  Before I dive off the cliff back into blogging, I have to thank my brother, Zach.  He is the reason I am back!  Thanks for the inspiration - to get me back blogging and just every day in life!  You are the best!

My first order of business:  SOLICITING.

Sorry in advance...but I just can't help it.

Let's give you some background:

I trained for and ran my first Marathon in October - that is 26.2 MILES, for those of you that don't know.  I was incredibly proud of myself and after I crossed the finish line, I knew I wanted to do it again - after a bit of a hiatus from running.

For my second marathon, I chose the Saint Jude Marathon in Memphis.  The proceeds all go to the Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Breaking News: I am not a fundraiser.  I don't do it.  In Girl Scouts, to meet my quota, I made my mother buy $50 worth of Thin Mints every year so I didn't have to knock on doors in my neighborhood.

But after reading about Saint Jude and everything they do and stand for, I was inspired to give back a little bit with my next marathon and make it LESS about me (crazy, I know).

Long story short, I need your help!  Below is a link to my donor profile - I have a cute little story and there is a very convenient link to help donate.  Every tiny bit counts - even just a dollar would make my day.

My Saint Jude Page

With my first ever fundraising attempt, my only hope is success for Saint Jude!

Thanks everyone, I have missed this!

luck of the irish

Top of the Morning to everyone!

I know this is quite the shocker - two posts within the week - but I am sticking to my guns with the new found resolution gusto.  Might as well roll with the momentum, right?

So today is Saint Patrick's Day.  And for those of you not pretending to be Irish or wearing green, I say: "What the hell is wrong with you?!"  Today is all about the celebration of a culture, and what kind of people would we be if we didn't enjoy it and celebrate with the best of them?

You better believe that I am wearing green, watching St. Patty's Day themed cooking shows, and only eating the green Jolly Rancher's today.  I do love to stick to a theme.

Now, for a little background:

Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland.  As a young boy he was captured and taken prisoner (really for no good reason) and while in prison he converted to Christianity.  After some years in captivity, Patrick was released and travelled a bit until he had a dream where God was calling him back to Ireland.  He returned and preached the Gospel and converted the Irish to Christians for the next 40 years.  He died of natural causes on March 17, AD 461.  Legend has it that during a 40 day fast, snakes began attacking Patrick.  He drove all of the snakes out of Ireland, which is why Ireland has no snakes inhabiting it.  Legend also states that Saint Patrick used the ever-popular Irish symbol of the Shamrock to teach the people about the Trinity.

And there you have it!  A little trivia about this festive holiday.  I always like to know a little bit about what I am celebrating - it makes it more fun!

And I do love Saint Patrick's day - something about it makes me smile.

I don't what it is: the time of year - Spring finally coming around the corner; the fact that everyone pretends to be is Irish for one day; getting to pinch someone who isn't wearing green (I get such joy from this.  I am the meanest)...

Whatever it is, it's just so fun.

Even though I totally would, I don't really have to pretend to be Irish today - I do, after all, have a great-grandmother whose maiden name was "O'Lasseter."  If that doesn't yell Irish Blood, I don't know what does!

So today, on the feast of Saint Patrick's Day, let's all celebrate Ireland!  AND be on the lookout for those pesky Leprechauns.  And if you catch one, and get a pot of gold, please remember those less fortunate who aren't fast and lack some serious coordination (aka ME).  It makes it nearly impossible to catch those little trouble makers.

And since I have at least 1/8 of Irish in me, I guess I can leave you with a little bit of luck today, because that is what this holiday is all about: Sharing some luck, some love, and some fun.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

And a little Irish toast:

May the Best day of your Past

Be the Worst day of your Future

oh hey, fancy meeting you here.

..........

See that up there?  That is me, crawling back to my blog in shame.

I will try not to make excuses, but I will say that the holiday season (the last time I posted) was a whirlwind for me, which in turn ended up with my not finishing the Great Cooking Adventure that I had been bragging about in my other posts.

So here I am.  Honestly a little embarrassed and disappointed in myself for not keeping up with the blog or owning up to the incomplete Adventure a little sooner.

But I am extending a virtual olive branch, so that you will hopefully forgive me:

Someone that can still be mad after looking at Ryan Gosling with his dog is probably in need of a hug.  And a drink.  

Anyway!  Let's move on, shall we?  

I will start by bringing to light my 2012 New Year's Resolutions.  Because, really, why stop now with all this "coming clean" nonsense that I got going on.  I will say that I am pleasantly surprised with my follow-through on one of the three resolutions that I made.  With the other two I am failing miserably, which is why I am forcing myself to get them out into the public so I can start becoming more accountable for them.  They are as follows:

1.  Run at least one mile every day for the year 2012.  (Still going strong!)

2.  Write more. (Obviously crashing and burning hardcore with this.)

3.  Finish what you start. (.....yeaaaaaah.)

Ironically, I have not written one thing since I made Resolution #2, yet I have completely been on the road to "finish what I start" with the Running Streak.  Isn't that how New Year's resolutions work?  You make 'em, you break 'em, you forget about 'em.  Well, normally I would say yes.  But this year I am trying to really follow through - something I obviously have a little lot of trouble with (as made obvious with this blog thing I am gracelessly attempting to keep up with).

I have even gone so far as to replace my uber-cool computer background with a new one.  Picture this:  All black.  White letters.  Finish What You Start.  Pretty simple, but sums it up and reminds me on a daily basis of Resolution #3.  So I got that base covered.

Last but not least, we have #2.  Writing more.  So much easier said than done for me.  Which is why I need some help.  No, not therapy (although I would probably benefit from that).  I am talking about a swift kick in the behind if I am not posting on a more regular basis.  And, good news!  YOU (yes, you!) get to give me some virtual kick-in-the-butts if I start to slack.  Or you can just call me and yell at me.  Either way.  As a thank you in advance I present you all with this:

If you aren't charmed by this, I give up.  

So there you have it.  I ain't perfect.  And you can now pick your jaw up off of the floor.  Because in one sentence I have both admitted to imperfection and used a word that is not grammatically correct.  It is a new year indeed.

long overdue

Okay.  Time to get real.  Honesty is the best policy, so I will say it:  I have been avoiding my blog.

The problem is not that I don't have a lot to talk about - I DO!  That is actually the source of my avoidance.  So much has been happening since my last post that I kind of had a mini-meltdown because I didn't know how to organize all my thoughts.  So I have been thinking.  (And trying to organize, simultaneously, obviously.)

 I came to this conclusion:  what do I love to do when I have a lot of ideas?  Answer: make a list.  Really, I love lists (and Post-It Notes).  Sometimes I put stuff on a list that I have already done in order to mark it off...yeah.  It's kind of an illness.  But let's look at the bright side.  I am super-organized.  So here we go:

Warning: This post is going to get very list-y.  And that includes bulleted points.  

1.  Thanksgiving

• Yes, Thanksgiving was a while ago.  Yes, everyone is in super-Christmas mode.  But I have some good things I need to say about it!  So think turkey and pilgrim thoughts and suck it up.

• For the last few years, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving has been the day for my Grandma Terri and I to roll up our sleeves, put on some Frank Sinatra, and start cooking a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together for the next day's feast.  

• It never ceases to amaze me what an incredible cook she is.  Nothing is EVER measured - and from my previous post, you know how OCD I am in the kitchen - but when it comes to Grandma Terri, I don't question her ways.  The perk of actually letting someone else be in charge?  Secret recipes.  Let's just say, over the course of about 4 hours of cooking, the phrase "Don't tell anyone about this!" was thrown out about 3 different times.  I could tell you...but then I would have to kill you.  

• To wrap up my thoughts on Thanksgiving, I will end with an anecdote.  As I was leaving school to start my mini-vacation, I asked a friend what her and her husband were doing for the holiday.  Her response: "You know, we probably won't even cook a turkey.  I feel like we should probably be giving thanks every day of the year - not just one day."  Now, I can't say I agree about the turkey (I LOVE Thanksgiving food.)  But, what she said really made me stop and think about how many opportunities I am missing to be thankful for all of the blessings in my life.  It was a good refresher on what the Holidays are really about - giving thanks!  So, thank-you, Thanksgiving.  What a perfect holiday to precede the craziness of Christmas and New Year's - one to remind us of what we already have and to be thankful for the people that we complain about being forced to spend time with...you know, the people that love us no matter what we do.  I think that's pretty great.

Next on the list:  It's time for an update!  The Great Cooking Adventure is underway and going extremely well!  So far, I have embarked on two cooking journeys.  One will be discussed following this rambling paragraph and the other will be saved for a separate post, because it needs a place of distinction.  

2.  My Great Holiday Cooking Adventure, Part I

• I was really on the fence about where to start with my Holiday Homage to some of my favorite women.  I knew that one of the recipes was always made on Thanksgiving, so I at least had one constant, but other than that, I was lost.  Fortunately, these situations have a way of working themselves out.  

• I mulled it over, I vowed to not think about it, I didn't think about it, I thought about it...I could go on.  I won't.  In the end, I started with the present before heading into the past: I started with a woman that supports me, inspires me, and loves me every single day - my Grandma Terri!  I thought that cooking a meal, in its entirety, was the perfect way to start my adventure before breaking off into single dishes.  It made it extra special that the woman I was honoring with cooking was actually cooking right beside me!

Our food prep consisted of: Turkey, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes...the following photos consist of me snapping shots of random things between being bossed around...(Love you, Grandma!)

The Bird.

Yes, I cut all the bread.

What an artsy photo of potatoes!

Yes, I peeled all of these...As you can see, I was doing the grunt work.

YUM!

• I think it was a nice way to start.  Also, it saved me some heartache that I am sure I will suffer later on in this adventure: I had the woman who knew the recipe by heart directing me.  No miffed measurements or forgotten ingredients here!  The next installments of The Great Cooking Adventure will come with some coveted recipes...but for Part I, I was sworn to some secrecy.  And let's face it, I am sure my other favorite women would be giving me a little mischievous smile as they told me "Don't tell anyone!" and making me promise to keep my trap shut as they showed me some of their signature dishes, but since they are no longer here to defend themselves, I think it is safe to spread the love.  That is how they would want it to be anyway - I'm sure of it.

Whew!

Well, I don't know about you, but after all that bulleting I feel like a new woman.  I have to admit, cowering in the corner was no way to handle my abundance of info that I wanted to share...Lesson learned.

The next installment of my Great Cooking Adventure will be coming much sooner than later, I promise!  And, just to give you a little taste (pun intended) of what to look forward to, I will let you in on the delicious next dish...drumroll, please... My Great Grandma Polly's Noodles!  A staple at every Thanksgiving and the perfect lunch on a cloudy, cold day.  Warm, comforting, and full of love.

time for an adventure

Look alive, people.  It's official.  The Holiday Season is upon us.

Early this week, I was surfing through the radio stations in my car.  Imagine my horror when my favorite oldies station was blasting Christmas tunes.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Imagine my horror.

Surprise, surprise: I'm a traditionalist.  

• On October 5th, we get out the Halloween decorations. (October 4th is my birthday, and it will NOT be upstaged by anything, including themed decorations).  

• On November 1st, the Thanksgiving decorations go up.  

• And finally, on November 30th, the glory that is the Christmas tree is brought out and given a place of honor in the living room.

I just think that each holiday should be given its due - they have been bringing us joy for quite a long time now - and celebrated for the correct amount of time.  I guess an appropriate amount of overlap is okay, after all, not everyone can be such a stickler like I am.  But can we stop starting the Christmas tunes before we can even enjoy Thanksgiving?

Aside from the complaining (I'm pretty much a professional), I eat the holiday cheese-whiz up with a spoon.  (Pun intended.)  I am all about the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Meet Me In Saint Louis on TV, the campy and wonderful Christmas songs, twinkle lights, cookies...you get the point.  Anything that symbolizes the togetherness and fun and overindulgence of the holidays: give it my number.  I'll answer.

About two weeks ago, I was reminiscing with my mom and dad about our great-grandmas and great-aunts that have passed away and all the joy they had brought to every holiday gathering.  The joy they brought included some of the following:  the best caramel corn you have ever tasted, coconut creme pie, old-fashion egg noodles, mac and cheese, etc.

With my mouth watering, the lightbulb went off in my head:  how fun would it be to roll up my sleeves and tackle a "cooking homage" for all of the women who have inspired me to be the best woman I can be?

So, this holiday season, it is all about the retro, love-filled recipes of my elders.  It's going to fun.  It's going to be tough.  It's going to be emotional.  But most of all, like the holidays, it's going to be magical.

Stay tuned for stories and recipes from my Great Holiday Cooking Adventure!

worst parade ever

I had to repeat this little saying a couple of times in my mind at about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning when my alarm went off.  No one should ever be awake at that God-forsaken time of day.  I slipped on my running gear, put on a few layers of waterproof mascara and lumbered down to our kitchen to sounds of the toaster and coffee maker and excited voices.  We were about to do what we had thought was impossible all but 6 months ago: run a Half Marathon.  

Over the summer, I had convinced two of my girl friends that they could run jog a Half Marathon with my family, my running club, and I.  At first, they were resistant to the idea.  "That will never happen," and "Are you crazy?" were just a couple of the phrases thrown around when I brought up the idea.  After I brought out the big guns though (AKA: My mom and Youtube montages of Half Marathon Races) they bought in.  Thus began our uphill battle of training to endure 13.1 miles.    

When you have a pretty serious deadline, somehow the time seems to completely fly by, all while laughing in your face and taunting you: "Are you sure you are ready?  The Half is only three months away..."  I have to admit, even though I had done this before, (it was two years ago and I was in much better shape) I still had that internal battle of "Can I really get this done?"

Lucky for me, I had an amazing support team.  My family was training, my running group was training, and my two girls were training - it was hard to give up with all that hard work going on around me!  After logging many miles, race day arrived much sooner than anyone anticipated.

So, at 7:30 a.m., with my favorite running gear on and my two friends, I lined up with 21,000 other runners and anxiously awaited the starting gun.  

It was a beautiful run - rock bands every mile or so, pretty little neighborhoods with spectators cheering us on, and some hilarious signs to keep us going.  My personal favorite: "This is the WORST parade EVER."  So. True.

To summarize the 13.1 miles covered:  It was every bit as tough as we thought it would be.  But we got it done.  It was impossible...until we went and ran it.  Crossing the finish line was such a sweet ending to an incredible day - hand in hand, smiles on our faces, and victory in our hearts.

After a lot of hard work - sweat, tears, lost toenails - I think we all got a little bit of running fever.  Example: I am already researching future Half Marathons that I can sign up for...?  Who am I?  It just goes to show - we all thought runners were crazy, and then we started ourselves.  It resulted in quite the case of running fever, which, by the way, is totally contagious.  

Yeah...My dad and two crazy runners from the running group ran the full marathon...not quite sure I can really fathom that quite yet...

magical

It has been one of those weeks.  Lots to do, not a lot of (free) time.  And as a result, my creative juices were not flowing in the least.  As made obvious by this recipe I am about to share.

What it lacks in creativity though, it completely makes up for in pure magic.  Like, mind-blowing magic.

When I was young and naive, I loved watching the cheesy Magic Show Specials that came on.  You know what I'm talking about - the David Copperfield specials.  With him getting hand-cuffed and straight-jacketed and locked in a car and the car getting put through the big car-grinder thing.  Just when the car would nose into the grinder, it would cut to a commercial.  Riveting.  Then it would come back on and he would magically escape at the last minute.  I ate this stuff up with a spoon.  Another one of my personal favs:  the love-story-slash-magic-trick where he would quasi-dance with his assistant to bad 80's music and then strap her onto a table and cut her in half with a huge rotating blade.  Awesome.

I was/am easily amused.  Sometimes all it takes it a little bit of 80's music and magic.  Other times, I am good with Almond Butter.  Which is what I made this week.  And it only takes one ingredient and about 16 minutes.  Really.  This isn't a joke.

For this next fact, you should probably sit down: Almond Butter at the store can cost anywhere from $10.00 to $50.00 (for real, I looked it up).  For 12 ounces.  This recipe costs less than 5 bucks.  You are welcome.

Here is the disclaimer - because, let's face it, something this easy and cost efficient has to have some kind of con, right?  Patience.  You're gonna need it.  16 minutes sounds tame enough, but after about 10 minutes I started to get kind of paranoid.  What if my almonds were bad?  What if I was doing this wrong?  Should I add some oil?  The answer: The almonds were fine, I was doing it right, and no extra oil is needed.  I promise!  Out of nowhere the ball of weird almond dough/paste completely transformed into a creamy butter - almost instantly.  It took it about 12 minutes to get there, and then I added about four more minutes for a nicer consistency.  You just have to ride it out...it is worth it.  Plus it is such a cool trick - "Watch me make smooth creamy spread out of nothing but dry almonds!"

I enjoyed this for breakfast on toast with a drizzle of honey - yum.  It would be awesome on some apple slices too.

This was just what my less-than-great week needed.  Something magical.  And lucky for you, I am a magician not afraid to give away my secrets.

Almond Butter

1 cup almonds

1.  Put almonds in food processor and pulse until almonds are finely chopped.  They will look like this:

                         

2.  Continue to pulse...this will take a lot more patience than you think...after a couple of minutes it will look like this:

3.  Keep going!  It will start to look like this:

4.  The almonds will form into a ball that looks suspiciously like Play-Doh...don't let this fool you.  Keep going, you are almost there.

5.  Finally it starts to look like an actual spread...keep going a few more minutes.

6.  TA-DAAA!  Pretty good magic trick, huh?