Homemade bread

Good morning! T-3 days til I head to Pittsburgh! I’m feeling ready, just working on my hydrating and slowly packing. Sunday is going to be good, I can feel it!!
Our weekend was pretty relaxed. I went out with some coworkers Friday night. And was reminded on Saturday that I can’t drink like I used to. I was tired and felt lousy. Oops.
We went and picked up our bed frame and our living room furniture got delivered too, so our house is looking much more homey now.
Sunday I experimentes with our new bread machine!

The first loaf came out perfect!! So much so, that we made a second! I can’t wait to experiment more with wheat and sweet and savory breads! It is just so easy.
On Sunday Geisha and I also hung out on our deck. She loves being outside.

Well that’s all for now, off to hydrate hydrate hydrate!

Kitty purring

Happy Wednesday!

My day is off to a slower start than usual. I’ve got a dentist appointment in about an hour so I did the whole work from home thing this morning.

The best part about working from home?

The purring kitty on my lap. Gotta love it.

I took my last Zumba class of the session yesterday, before meeting the family for a late dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate my parents anniversary. By the time we got home I was exhausted and ready to take a shower! The next Zumba session doesn’t start for a few weeks but I’ve already signed up. I’m going to change it up a little and take a class mid-day (from noon to 1 on Thursdays). I checked my work calendar and I don’t foresee any conflicts, and if for some reason I can’t make it to a class I can always make it up by attending a class in the evening with the same instructor. I’m really trying to switch around my exercise schedule because I end up feeling SO stressed if I do it after work. I’m not sure why this is, but I just feel like it conflicts with so many things. Switching Zumba to during my lunch break is the first step. Next I need to figure out what to do with Yoga and running…

I received the pair of compression shorts I ordered in the mail on Monday. I put them on just for 5 or so minutes to make sure they fit okay and WOW. I felt the relief just in that time. My hips and IT bands tend to get really sort the long distance I run and these hit that area so well! I’m excited to try them out after the Pittsburgh Half. Between the shorts and my compression sleeves, I’m going to look really stylish on the drive home, hah. I’ll be sure to do a full review of them after I try them out post-race.

We also got our new bread maker in the mail. Neither the hubby or I have ever used/owned a bread maker so this will be an interesting experiment. But I’m really excited to have control over the ingredients and not have to pay crazy prices for healthy bread at the grocery store. I’m hoping to try it out this weekend. Fingers crossed it goes well.

Time to pack up my work computer and head over to the dentist. You know you’re jealous.

we need a sugar intervention

Okay. seriously.

Things are getting out of hand.

Last weekend was the hubby and my moms birthdays. That means my grandma made cookies, pie and cake. We ended up with some of the leftovers.

Tuesday was Valentines day. My mom bought the hubby and I some valentines treats.

I like to bake, and in hinesight I STUPIDLY made some “smores bars” last weekend – they’re like rice krispie treats but with golden grahams, mini marshmellows and chocolate chips.

And my mom just texted me to tell me that our girl scout cookies came in.

This is just insane.

The current stockpile of sugar in our apartment consists of:
– 1 box chocolate covered macadamia nuts (from my brother in Hawaii)
– 1 peanut butter meltaway candy bar
– half a dozen chocolate chip cookies
– a few brownies
– a couple mint chocolate cookies
– maybe a dozen or so smores bars
– 2 slices of blueberry pie
– 3 pieces of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting
– a heart-shaped box of Russel Stover’s chocolates – luckily this is a small box, only 2 pieces are left.
– heart-shaped marshmallow peeps
– a bag of reeses hearts

and frankly, I’m sure there’s more than that.

and we’re going to get 3 boxes of girl scout cookies in the next few days.

Seriously, I think we need to stage an intervention or something.

I hate wasting food so I don’t want to throw it out, and it’s such a random conglomeration of sweets I’m not sure taking it into work would be appropriate.

but seriously, the hubby and I can’t eat all of that, and frankly we shouldn’t.

Will run for pie

Happy Monday folks!

How was your weekend? I had every intention on blogging a couple of times over the weekend and it just never happened.

Friday after work I went right to Hot Power Yoga. It kicked my butt, again. It hurt so good. After yoga I went to the grocery store and happened upon this:

Now, I love Red Velvet cake, and Ice Cream is my favorite food EVER so Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream is pretty much a dream come true. It’s described as “Red Velvet Cake Batter Ice Cream with Red Velvet Cake Pieces & a Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl.” My mouth is watering just thinking about it. As soon as I got home I had a few spoonfuls right from the container, and it did not disappoint. It is amazing. Throughout the weekend I had a few spoonfuls here and there and I’m happy to report that I made it through the weekend only eating about a 3rd of the pint. This is a big deal to me – I could finish one of these containers off in an evening if I wanted to, haha. I’m trying to make this one last so I can enjoy it for longer.

Saturday I had plans to go for a run but I woke up to this:

We got a few inches of snow, and the roads (and sidewalks, and trails) were a mess. Running was a no go.

So instead the hubby and I cleaned the apartment like CRAZY – I’m talking scrubbing floors, toilets and the bathtub crazy. In between the cleaning, to keep my sanity I also baked up a few recipes I found on Pinterest.

First up was Cake Batter Pudding Cookies from Chef in Training.

So good! They’re so fluffy and soft in the middle thanks to the cake mix that’s incorporated into them. I’ll definitely be making them again.

Next up was Forgotten Kiss Cookies from Tasty Kitchen.

These were good, though the hubby said he preferred the Cake Batter Pudding cookies. I think it may be because I couldn’t find mini-hershey kisses per the recipe, and skipped the chocolate drizzle?

After baking and cleaning, we met my parents for dinner before falling a sleep embarrassingly early for a Saturday night.

Yesterday I got in a 4.5 mile run in the morning. It was supposed to be 6 miles, but I ran a different route than normal and got back to my car in 4.5. And it was so freaking cold (like the teens, ugh) that my face and legs were frozen and I couldn’t force myself to go out for another 1.5.

I received this in my google reader this morning. LOVE IT.

I think that’s pretty accurate, though you could really swap any food product in for the pie as far as I’m concerned. 🙂

Planned workouts for the week
Monday – Hot Power Yoga
Tuesday – Zumba
Wednesday – 30 minute run
Thursday – run 7×400
Friday – EA Active Abs n Arms
Saturday – ZUMBATHON!!!
Sunday – Run 5k for speed

Hm, I just realized there’s no rest days in there. I may have to take a rest day friday rather than doing some arm work.

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Lots and lots of cookies

I hope your weekend was a great one!

My weekend started on Friday with my mental health day. Friday evening, a BIG box was delivered to us. It was… our new CAT TREE! I joked with the hubby that we have become THOSE people who buy furniture for their cats. I’ve always wanted to get one of these things though, so we finally gave in – tis the season! It took about half an hour to put together, it was pretty simple actually. And the kitties LOVE it.

Not *too* tacky, right? For now, it’s in our living room, but I figure once we move into a house I’ll put it in a spare bedroom by a window. 🙂

Saturday morning I woke up early to drive about 2 hours to meet a friend from my previous job to do some outlet shopping!We got there at 9:30 am, it was EMPTY. By the time we left (around 3ish) people were fighting for parking spaces. It was nuts. But we both found some pretty great deals.

I was shopping primarily for myself, and I gave myself a $75  budget. I came away with:

• A blue “waffle” long sleeved thermal shirt, purple tank top, flannel pajama bottoms and two pairs of fluffy winter-y socks for $25 from the Gap outlet,
• Two awesome champion sports bras for $40 from the Hanes outlet.

Total = ~$65, Mission accomplished! I have been looking for some replacement sports bras for a while now and I think the ones I got are going to work great! I’ll definitely post a review if I like them.

I got home from a day of shopping around dinner time and then went to meet up with another friend at Olive Garden to chat and get drinks.  All in all a really good day.

Yesterday I started the day with some straightening up with the hubby and then I did a quick 30 minute run in the cold weather – I think it was in the teens. yuck.

After showering and a quick lunch we packed up my Kitchen Aid mixer and went to my parents house for a full day of cookie baking. My mom has a Kitchen Aid stand mixer too, and I’ll tell ya, it was awesome to have two going at a time. It definitely made mixing up the doughs go super fast!

We spent SEVEN HOURS baking cookies. It was fun, but I was super tired and my feet were aching onces we got to the last batch. Here’s what we made:

Crescent Cookies

Molasses Cookies

Sugar cookie dough balls! Half with icing, half without.

Pressed Cookies

And the least Christmasy of all, that the hubby insisted on making and thus had to pretty much roll out and cut himself…

Star Wars Sugar Cookies

We have a ton of cookies in our kitchen right now. I can’t wait to get back tonight and snack on some. 🙂

Workouts planned this week:
Monday – 30 minute run
Tuesday – Heated yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday – EA Active arms and abs
Thursday – 30 minute run
Friday – Zumba
Saturday – Longer run
Sunday – Rest

Enjoy your Monday!