Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is my last day of work until next Monday, so I wanted to wish you all a VERY Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for this year including all the wonderful people in my life (which means you, too), my health, a roof over my head and clothes on my back just to name a few. God bless you all!

We are headed to my grandparents' tomorrow and this is what I'm bringing. This website is A-MAZING! I've used several of their recipes and they're always a big hit and taste SO yummy!

Winter Fruit Pasta Salad - Special Occasions - Eat Better America: "Pastabilities? Try apples, pears, cranberries and a tangy orange dressing. From eatbetteramerica.
Prep Time:20 min
Start to Finish:50 min
makes:8 servings

1cup uncooked small pasta shells (4 oz)
1medium apple, chopped
1medium pear, chopped
4medium green onions, chopped (1/4 cup)
1/4cup chopped pecans
1/4cup dried cranberries
1/3cup fat-free mayonnaise or salad dressing
3tablespoons orange marmalade
1/2teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/4teaspoon salt
1.Cook and drain pasta as directed on package. Rinse with cold water; drain.
2.In large glass or plastic bowl, mix pasta, apple, pear, onions, pecans and cranberries. In small bowl, mix all remaining ingredients; stir into pasta mixture.
3.Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information

1 Serving: Calories 150 (Calories from Fat 30); Total Fat 3g (Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 210mg; Total Carbohydrate 27g (Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 11g); Protein 2g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 2%; Calcium 0%; Iron 4% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 2 MyPyramid Servings: 1 tsp Fats & Oils, 1 oz-equivalents Grains
*% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet."

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Friday, November 20, 2009

Quotable Friday...

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." - Rita Rudner

I love this quote! I have such a great time with Marty. Although, I feel like our crazy schedule has kept us from spending much quality time together. I will be looking forward to the holidays for that very reason.

We took this picture while in Fort Worth before heading to Cafe de Brazil with our group. He felt HORRIBLE and had coughed his head off the whole drive down, but he was such a trooper and we had a great time at dinner and then afterwards at Pete's Piano Bar downtown.



Have a beautiful, blessed weekend!

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Question...

First of all, thank you all for your sweet comments on my last post. Seriously, y'all are a boost to my ego and I love you all!

Second, I can't remember if I've polled y'all about this before, but what do you do with all your digital pictures? I post the ones I want people to see on here and on Facebook, but I'd still like to have them in albums at home (I think). However, I'm a year's worth of pictures behind in printing them off. They're all still waiting on Shutterfly. So, if you don't scrapbook (or if you do) what do you do with your digital pictures? I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but I like to look back through photo albums and go "this was last year".

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Monday, November 16, 2009

My First Half Marathon...






Wow! Let me just say...anyone who has ever competed in a half marathon, full marathon, triathalon or any similar event, I now have a whole new respect for you. The race was both amazing and awful at the same time.
We woke up at 5 a.m. on Sunday and were out the door by 6 a.m. We walked to the convention center in downtown San Antonio to catch a bus to the starting line. We waited in line for an hour by the time the bus dropped us and we made our way towards the starting line they blew the gun for the first corral to go. Luckily, Tamara was in corral 9, I was in corral 12 and Kristi was in corral 21. We had to take a quick potty brake between some poor individual's home and a fence because the port-a-potty lines were at least 20 people deep. By the time we stepped to the starting line they were on corral 7. So we had just enough time to stretch and calm our nerves. We all decided to start together in Tamara's corral. I know this may be a no no to some of you, but there were people with all sorts of bib numbers so we didn't feel too bad. The first several miles I was just overwhelmed with emotion. It was such a cool experience to be running with so many people. I think I heard that 31,000 people had signed up for the race, 26,000 actually showed up that morning and cross the starting line and only 20,000 people made it to the finish line. CrAzY! I kept fighting the tears back the first few miles. Seeing people run with signs like, "I'm A Survivor" or "In Memory Of...". I just feel so blessed to be able to have had the experience and I thank God every day that I am healthy enough to get out there and run. I started off ahead of my two friends and then Tamara and I fell in together after I stopped at the first water station. I heard someone say there was like 94% humidity when we started the race at 7:30 a.m. The temperature felt great, but as the sun begin to come out the hotter and more humid it got. Tamara and I ran together for probably the first 5 miles and were keeping a great pace, but I stopped at EVERY water station so we got separated at some point after mile 5. I hit a wall around mile 11, but picked up my pace from mile 12 to mile 13. However, the finish line was a huge hill and I slowed it way down for the last stretch. I had NOTHING left at the finish, but I didn't walk once and I FINISHED MY FIRST HALF which is a great feeling! It took me a while to recover afterwards. My second toenails on both feet were REALLY bothering me and when we finally got back to the hotel and I got my shoes off I saw why...they were purple and I'm 90% sure I'm going to lose them. Small price to pay I guess!
I'm pretty sore today, mainly in my back. The hot tub is calling my name!
Here are a few pictures...please ignore the sweaty glow and lack of make-up.

This was on Saturday before we left to get our registration packets. We stayed at Hotel Indigo downtown. I HIGHLY recommend this place. This lovely, chic boutique hotel was conveniently located and the service was superb!

Here we are Sunday morning pre-race.

Tamara and me, post-race.

And me with my #1 fan. She has missed very few of my races, so we figured we better not start now.

Lastly, the three of us, post-race.

My Results:
Chip Time: 2:18:40
Overall Place: 6901/20021, Gender Place: 3190/12585, Division Place: 403/1109

I didn't make my goal time, which, for my first race, I'm totally ok with. I don't think I'll be ready for another half anytime soon. The spring may be the earliest I feel up to another event of that magnitude. But, I can look back on this race with pride. It's like a sign I saw someone holding during the race said, "Your legs will forgive you...eventually."

*Ok, those descriptions are in order for the pictures at the top of my post. Anyone have any idea why when I upload pictures they're now in code form (aldkja;fa'da) instead of showing the actual picture? So, I'm unable to move them around, but they show up normal after I publish the post??? Strange...*

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Rock 'n' Roll...San Antonio Style

So, I have continued to be a bad blogger...I don't know what my deal is...we are leaving first thing in the morning for San Antonio. The race starts at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. I checked the weather and it's supposed to be 74% humidity with a chance of rain. This girl is used to the DRY Texas Panhandle...hopefully, I'll survive.

I promise to report back next week with pictures and with my first half marathon under my belt! Y'all have a fabulous weekend!

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Friday, November 6, 2009

Tyke's Birthday




The Monday after our lovely Stillwater weekend was Tyke's Birthday. I had originally wanted to through him a Halloween themed puppy party, but we were too busy so he had to settle for a birthday cake. It's not really pretty, but I think he liked it. And, I know, I'm a terrible mother for serving it on a PINK plate, next year I'll have a blue one, promise!

I used this recipe I found online...

Peanut Butter Delight Dog Birthday Cake

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a cake mold pre-sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake according to size of pan.

Low-fat cottage cheese and shredded carrots can be used for icing. Store in refrigerator.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Couple of Week's Worth of Pictures...






OSU Homecoming was great! There were several late nights, cold weather, amazing friends and lots of fun! Enjoy the pictures as I attempt to get caught up in the blogging world. I am caught up at work and on the home front so I feel like I can blog away with reckless abandon!

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