Home again

Today was a pretty great day as far as work days go!

The hotel I stayed in last night didn’t have a free breakfast…so I just had to order room service.  SIGH.

Yum!

Now, I know you’ve heard about the Jillian Michaels “pour candle wax on stuff you don’t want to eat at dinner” tactic.  I’m not that drastic, but if I KNOW something’s on my plate and I don’t need/really want it (but I’ll probably ingest it anyway if it’s there), I dump it.  So, I dumped the orange juice.  That was 200 calories-ish right there I didn’t need that wouldn’t fill me up, so down the sink it went.  I had a small bowl of raisin bran, two pieces of sourdough toast, and about half the fruit bowl.  It was delicious!

Then I went to my first and only school for the day and I had a lovely time.  Of course, to complete my tour of Operation Beautiful notes, I left one there, too!

Lunch (again) was eaten in the car.  And it was exactly the same as yesterday.

I swear Subway is not paying me.

Anyway, let me explain my so-called hierarchy of eating.  I basically try to approach eating by prioritizing as follows:

1. First, I try to find a healthy food in a reasonable calorie range (like if I’m looking for a snack out of anything in the world, I’ll pick some fruit, or yogurt).
2. If I can’t find anything healthy in a reasonable calorie range, I will eat something high-calorie but healthy (like, for example, I’ll choose trail mix over a candy bar.)
3. If I can’t find anything healthy, I’ll choose less-healthy food in a reasonable calorie range (this is where I classify Subway).
4. If I really have no other alternative, I’ll choose unhealthy food that’s high calorie.

This hierarchy is why I’ve eaten Subway for lunch the last two days.  My options on the road have basically been your standard fast-food joints.  I don’t consider any of them particularly healthy or nourishing, but I don’t HAVE to necessarily waste a lot of calories on it.  This lunch was probably about 500 calories, as opposed to a value meal from McDonalds, which could be 900+ calories.  So, it’s not a category 1 or 2 food like I prefer, but at least it’s not going to make me gain weight.

Anyway, moving on.  I also snacked on a Luna Bar (Chocolate Raspberry!) on the road:

I made it home safely and was greeted with three fun packages!  I’m going to wait to tell you about two of them, but one of my lovely bridesmaids sent me a Christmas present!

Yay!  I’ve secretly been wanting some Bride related apparel but didn’t have the motivation to buy it for myself.  I predict I will be wearing this while we get ready the morning of the wedding.  I love her!  Thanks, Lindsey!

Tonight’s plans include washing the beagle hair out of our sheets since Milhouse apparently took over my side of the bed while I was gone, catching up with T, and relaxing.  Tomorrow I’m picking up our wedding bands and will post pictures as soon as I have them!  I’m also either going to run or do a workout DVD tomorrow–hold me to that!

Do you have any food priorities or hierarchies?  Tell me about them!

Flashback Friday!

In honor of Flashback Friday (which I’ve never participated in until now, but always thought about doing), and the fact that I’ve been in Iowa all week, I thought I’d flash back through the last year and a half or so of my life for you guys over the next few weeks and touch on some things I’ve been doing and where I’ve been.  Note: these may or may not be fitness and/or wedding related!

(Insert time warp sounds here.)

Warning: this is pretty much in no way wedding or fitness related.  Sorry.

I’ll start with the summer of 2008.  I was just starting to lose weight and trying to get healthy in the summer before my third and final year of law school.  It was June, right before my birthday.  T and I were working together in the law school, and suddenly things start feeling weird–people are speaking kind of in hushed tones, nobody’s actually working, and everyone seems concerned.  The reason?  The Iowa flood was coming down the river and headed our way.  We’d been watching other towns on the river literally become underwater graveyards.  People died, homes were destroyed, major evacuations were going on.  And T lived two blocks from the river.  (Thankfully, he lived up a steep hill.)

We were immediately told to go home (it was a Friday, I think) and not return for a week and a half.  They were closing the university.  We were told to make sure we were safe and then get out and help with the flood preparation efforts if we could.  So, naturally, I panicked and we headed straight for the store, where we stocked up on flashlights, candles, bottled water and non-perishable food. This was the view from the law school the roof the morning we were told to leave.  Please note how treacherously close the water is to the top of the bridge.

Buckley was nonplussed by everything.  At this point, he was an only kitty!  Southpaw would come a month later.

T and I were both animal shelter volunteers, and the animal shelter was right in the 100 year flood plain–it had long since been flooded and underwater.  (Check out this incredibly touching video for the animal center’s flood story.  We love, love, love this shelter, and it’s where we adopted both our kittensquatches.)

All the animals were safely evacuated from the shelter (thank God) and moved into a temporary location.  (At this point, Southpaw was one of those animals.  She’d been at the shelter since January and dealt with the flood as a cat without a family.)  We both showed up ready to help.  Even though the animal shelter was totally displaced and underwater and dealing with a temporary facility that was definitely less than ideal, they also had a second problem.  Thousands of people were being displaced from their homes and had no place to take their animals, so they also had to set up an “animal hotel” where owners living in shelters could drop off their pets until they could return to their homes.  See?

T and I spent that week off at the animal shelter.  He worked a lot helping to keep the dogs cool and walked out in the barns, whereas I stayed inside and worked with the cats–both those that were homeless at the shelter, and those who had families and were just staying for the time being.  We helped animals large and small!

Anyway, this really has nothing to do with things I usually blog about, but I guess these Flashback Fridays will be to tell you about the things I’ve done recently that make me me.  These floods were the nearest I’ve ever come (thank God) to experiencing a natural disaster of this magnitude, and it was scary as all get-out.  We didn’t know if we’d have to evacuate T’s place, or be without utilities for weeks like folks in other parts of the state, or what–and we were so fortunate that we didn’t have to.

I guess the upshot of this is that it showed me how great people can be.   The whole state dropped what they were doing and sandbagged, fed kittens, and gave people a place to stay.  The animal shelter put a list on their website of needs and within hours, this is what they had:

And that was just cat stuff.  It just kept growing, as did a giant pile of dog supplies in another building.  So, as we go into the Christmas season…do something to change someone’s life.  It doesn’t have to require money.  Donate blood.  Post an Operation Beautiful note.  Volunteer.  Give back.

Have you ever been through anything like this that’s changed your life?

Personal savasana

Y’all, I am tired.  Being on the road is tough.  Even though what I’m doing is not particularly mentally or physically taxing, it just wears on me being in the car all the time.  I drove roughly 6 hours yesterday, and 3 today, and have 4 on the schedule for tomorrow.  I ate lunch in the car today–a sandwich between two schools, and my Kind bar and baked chips while commuting to my hotel for the night.  I feel like I can barely form sentences coherently.  See?  That’s my lunch.  In my car.

I did manage two Operation Beautiful notes though for my own personal challenge.  School #3:

And #4!   I was stationed near a Christmas tree so I decided to put my own ornament on it.

I arrived at my hotel and tried to do a Yoga Download video, but unfortunately my computer was too slow and it kept stopping and stalling and freaking out, which was not exactly relaxing.  There was also the problem that I didn’t have a yoga mat with me, so I tried using a towel, which was not sticky at all.  Combine that with a recent application of hand lotion and you’ve got a recipe for disaster while in downward dog.  (I bonked my head.)  And I had a headache, too.

So, I took a very yogi approach to things and decided that organized yoga was not meant to be today.  I am tired, and I am hungry, and it didn’t feel good.  Instead, I opted for some cardio.

Christmas shopping!  I finally got the go-ahead from my boss to take off December 23rd and 24th, so we are booking our flights to visit my family as I type this.  I’ve been rather grinchy about Christmas until now, but now I’m suddenly in the spirit.  I almost bought these for T as a present, but decided against it.  They would be too small for him.

I found this display of calendars hilarious:

Interesting choices, don’t you think?  I didn’t actually buy anything because we’re going to do all our shopping online and have it shipped to our destination so we don’t have to worry about carrying a bunch of presents on the plane.

I had dinner at Panera and now I plan to spend the rest of the evening snuggled up in bed watching Grey’s Anatomy and other such programming.  Good times!

EDIT: I’m an idiot and forgot to mention two awesome things.  See?  I’m tired.

1. I’m a Bombshell Bride!  Check out a super cool interview with me here.
2. Last day to enter my Oikos giveaway is Saturday!

What puts you in the holiday spirit?

Wedding update

So, right.  Somewhere in all this craziness there is still a wedding going on.  Hmm.  About that.  Nothing TOO exciting has happened lately on the wedding front, but here’s what I’ve been working on behind the scenes.

• Bridesmaid’s dresses are in!  I have to go pick them up soon.  If all goes according to plan, I’ll be delivering 3 out of 4 of them in person over Christmas.  The fourth one will have to be shipped because my good friend Lindsey lives in Boston and I won’t see her until the wedding.  Sad.

• Invitations. Basically, each invitation requires that I cut two 8.5 by 11 inch pieces of paper into four smaller pieces of paper with very specific measurements, and one sheet of vellum as well.  Then I’m going to have to glue/tape everything in place.  This will clearly be a lot of fun.  Thankfully, I’ve started well in advance and I’m hoping to just sit down and do 5 here and 10 there for the next month or two until they’re done.  We’ll see how that goes.  (snort)
• I’m working with my sister to set a date for my shower and bachelorette party which will take place in Chicago.  I’m hoping they’ll both happen the same weekend, because it’s a really long trip there and back.  I’m really excited about both of these–it’ll be nice to set a date so I have something to look forward to before the wedding.
• Our wedding bands should be ready to be picked up soon.  I can’t wait to see them and take a ton of pictures for the blog!

Things I kinda need to get moving on:

• T is thinking of buying a tux, so we have to look into that.  We also have to set up an account for the guys who just want to rent.
• After the first of the year, we’re going to update our registry to include bedding and towels.  I also think our china pattern has been discontinued, so we’ll have to find a new one.  Sad.
• Our flower girl needs a dress.  I’m hoping we can go shopping with her around Christmas when we see her.  She is very cute and very opinionated on fashion!  Like me, when I showed her a picture of something I loved she immediately fixated on the shoes.  What a cutie!
• The honeymoon.  We’ve been tossing a couple of ideas around (cruise?  Colorado?  Napa?) but haven’t made any serious plans.
• I should probably decide if I need any special undergarments for my wedding dress.  I’m debating whether it would be worth it to purchase a mermaid crinoline for underneath it.  Unfortunately, the dress shop doesn’t have any I could try, so I may just have to risk it one way or the other.  Thoughts?
• Oh, eff.  Favors?  Should I attempt to do out of town bags for our guests?  These may wind up being thrown by the wayside until the last minute…or wait a minute, hey, this might be a good mom project.
• Anyone want to let me borrow something?  I have something new (shoes, dress, etc), something blue (shoe monogram) but still don’t have anything old or blue.  Hmm.

And this made me laugh, from my Knot checklist on this month’s “to-dos”:

Start taking better care of yourself. Get in wedding day shape by eating right, joining a gym, and/or even hiring a personal trainer.

At least I’ve got one thing done!

Iowa!

Hi from the road again!  I’m in and around Iowa this time, a place near and dear to my heart.  T and I met in Iowa and I will forever remember it as the place we spent one summer falling in love, the place we got engaged, and the place we started our happy little family together.  (Cats, people.  No babies.)   Driving around here reminds me of all the various things we did in our three years here together and it makes me sad that I’m by myself this time.

I made a breakfast cookie again this morning.  This time I used less milk and added dried cherries!  Yum.  It’s not to the point where I can pick it up and eat it yet, but I think the third time will be the charm.  (Unfortunately, I’m out of protein powder and will have to pick up more!)  I also used peanut butter, not almond butter, today, and I liked the flavor a lot better.  I like AB and PB, but I think sometimes they’re better suited to different things.

Anyway, when your job takes you through rural Missouri and Iowa, you see things like this–an entire aisle of jerky!  (I could not find a single snack in this gas station that didn’t scare the bejeezus out of me.)

I broke into an Almond Fudge Clif Bar instead.  I ate half at around 11 because I was getting hangry and had to work through the lunch hour!  I finished up around 1, and instead of hitting up Subway in the town I was in, I ate the other half of the bar and drove an hour to my alma mater’s town for the best tomato soup ever.  I didn’t eat until about 2, but it was worth the wait!  I had a cup of soup (their cup is huge), a piece of bread, and a bowl of watermelon and pineapple.  Annnd they just happened to have my favorite bar, so I picked one up for tomorrow’s snack!

I will be at five different colleges this week.  Because traveling makes me a little sad and I miss T and the animal crew, I decided to make others happy with Operation Beautiful notes on every campus!

College #1.  Please note my kicky red winter coat, which I lovelovelove.

(Bonus points: name that movie!)

College #2:

At College #2 I had a rapt audience of thousands:

Oh, wait.  Dammit.

The upshot of nobody attending was that I only stuck around waiting for SOMEONE to show up for half an hour…then I checked into my hotel and did half an hour of Jillian Michaels’ Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism in a tiny square of hotel room space.  See?  I would estimate this is about the size of a yoga mat.

I forgot my sports bra (TMI) and almost threw in the towel and didn’t work out.  And then I realized how ridiculous that was, and that skipping the workout because of something so minor was something the OLD me would have done.  The NEW me works out in a regular bra and just holds the girls in place on the extra bouncy parts!

Now, I am off to have pizza with an old friend from law school and I will likely spend the evening watching Glee and catching up with the backlog in my Google Reader.

What places always make you feel warm and fuzzy when you visit?

C is for Cookie

Breakfast cookie, that is.

You all know about my deep-seated hatred of oatmeal, as I’ve discussed here.  However, I’ve read about the breakfast cookie on several blogs and the idea has always seemed interesting.  My issues with oatmeal aren’t about the flavor of oats, but that I don’t like eating a steaming hot bowl of goo first thing in the morning.  Cold, mostly dry oats mixed with yummy stuff sounded good to me.   When Leah at Leftovers for Lunch tweeted to Susan at The Great Balancing Act about wanting to try, we decided to do a dual blogger challenge–mission: Breakfast Cookie.

I made it last night and let it set in the fridge overnight.  I used (roughly):

• 2/3 c. oats
• 2/3 scoop Optimum 100% Whey Chocolate protein powder
• 1 T. almond butter
• 2 T. milk
• A sprinkle of dark chocolate chips

However, I wasn’t paying attention at one point and splashed in too much milk, so I knew my cookie wouldn’t be perfect.  Apparently you have to be verrrry careful not to get it too wet.

This is what it looked like in the morning:

But when I tried to flip it over it turned into this:

I ate it anyway, and put a little Marshmallow Fluff on top in Susan’s honor.  It was GOOD.  Thumbs up to breakfast cookies!  I’m going to try again tomorrow and be a little more cognizant of what I’m doing.  It was also incredibly filling–I eat breakfast around 6:45, and usually by my noon lunch hour I’m nibbling on my arm to tide me over, but not today.  I felt stuffed after this, which isn’t usually a good thing but when you need a breakfast with staying power, it totally is.  I will report back with tomorrow’s findings!  (Note to self: buy more protein powder.  And coconut and chocolate chips!)

Today at work I tried two new things.

Thing one was Oikos blueberry Greek yogurt.  It was good, but I generally don’t get too excited about blueberry stuff.  I’d buy it and eat it again, but I wouldn’t look forward to it as intensely as I would the strawberry.  It was very purple.  I was busy and forgot to take a picture.

Thing two was another Kind bar, this time Sesame Peanut with chocolate.  I wanted to like it because it was pretty and expensive, but it was hard and tasted like Chinese food.

Rather than wasting the calories on something I didn’t enjoy, I busted out a bar I know I love–Balance Peanut Butter.  It looks like cat poo, but tastes great!

Tomorrow I start a three day jaunt for work.  The downside is that I’ll be away from T and the animals until Friday, but the upside is that this time I’m hoping for a more calm trip than last time because I’m driving instead of flying.  I also won’t be doing much traveling overnight after this until the weather gets nicer!  Unfortunately, T is going to be traveling for work a little this month too but hopefully we won’t pine for each other too much.

I did take a pretty picture of the skyline on the way home from work.  (Traffic was stopped and my car was in park!  Don’t worry!)

Tonight I’m taking a little rest from the gym and getting in quality time at home before I leave.  We have a kiddie throwback meal (my favorite) of mac and cheese and hot dogs on the menu and some nice Netflixed West Wing.

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow–I’m hoping to do some Jillian Michaels on the road, but we’ll see!

Don’t forget to enter to win some Oikos here!

And because everyone else is doing it…here’s a November recap:

• Oh, hey, I ran an 8K and snotted all over my gloves
• I did gentle yoga with my elderly co-workers.
• I have ass-mar.
• I went to Nebraska.  It’s real flat.
• In which I got sassy new glasses
• I put an Operation Beautiful note on my cat
• I became a Knot featured blogger
• I went to Chicago and wound up sobbing in an airport parking garage
• I ran a very bad 5K but PR-ed anyways
• We shot guns at Thanksgiving
• I had my first giveaway

What was your biggest moment of November? My 5K PR was pretty great, I gotta say!

Manic Monday

This day has been kind of…all over the place.  I guess I’ll go chronologically.

I woke up this morning and on a whim decided to weigh myself.  In theory, three weeks ago I promise you I’d weigh in every Friday on the blog, but last Friday we were out of town so I didn’t.  Anyway, the last two times I’ve weighed myself I was 164.8 pounds.  This morning (and go figure, the Monday after Thanksgiving), I was 161.2, meaning somewhere in the last week and a half, I’ve lost 3.6 pounds.  Now, I know the scale fluctuates…but that is a pretty significant difference, so I hope it means at least a little something good.  I have been focusing on saying “no” and eating mindfully lately, so maybe that’s it.  Or, maybe my body wants more food?  Oh, who knows.

Then I got in the car.  My commute to work in the morning is half an hour, so I usually leave around 7:20 and get in the office around 7:50.  Well, a truck full of hydrochloric acid overturned on the bridge that connects me to work and suffice it to say, I didn’t get to work until 9:40 or so.  Worst.  Commute. Ever.  I had a few brief panic attacks, called T 3 times, and cried once.  (I’m a crier.  It’s a stress reaction.)

I sampled the Oikos strawberry at lunch, though, and that made me extremely happy.  I cannot think of a sophisticated way to describe this yogurt other than that it tastes like red gummi bears.  It is delicious.

Before stirring:

After stirring:

Post-assembly:

(Psst.  Don’t forget to enter my Oikos giveaway below!)

I worked all afternoon with a slight headache.  Since I couldn’t find the different Oikos flavors at my usual Super Target, I went to Hy-Vee yesterday.  Well, they have a MUCH better bar selection than my usual grocery store does.  And I went a little nuts.

Whoops.  At least bars don’t expire.

For my afternoon snack I chose a bar that combines two of my favorite things: almonds and coconut.  I am generally suspicious of bars that do not contain chocolate, but I figured I should give this one a try.  And oh my GOD am I glad I did.  This may skyrocket to the top 5 of my “favorite bars ever” list, which is a BIG DEAL.  It’s substantial and chewy and sweet but not TOO sweet.  Behold:

The only drawback is that these are pretty expensive…BUT, I think they’re sold at Starbucks, and I travel a lot on an expense account, so I know what I’ll be snacking on on the road now!

After my traffic nightmare, I needed a good workout.  I just wanted to run hard intervals for some reason, so I did.  Here’s the rundown (0% incline.  I get enough hills at home.):

• 0-1:00: 5.5 mph
• 1:00-2:00 6.0 mph
• 2:00-3:00 6.5 mph
• 3:00-4:00 7.0 mph
• 4:00-5:00 7.5 mph
• (Repeat above pattern 2 more times)
• 15:00-16:00 5.0 mph
• 16:00-17:00 6.0 mph
• 17:00-18:00 6.2 mph
• 18:00-19:00 6.5 mph
• (Repeat the 6.0-6.5 pattern 2 more times)
• 25:00-26:00 6.0 mph
• 26:00-28:00 6.2 mph
• 28:00-30:00 6.5 mph
• Cool down

I don’t know why I don’t do intervals more often.  They make the time fly and I think they really do help with my speed.  It’s nice to run at an 8:00 pace and think, “hey, this isn’t so bad!”  For some reason, though, my shins were hurting a bit, which is weird because they didn’t hurt running outside this weekend.  Maybe something about the treadmill?

Anyway, by the time my workout had ended the traffic issue seemed to be resolved, although I did have to take an alternate route.  I came home to a lovely plate of roast chicken leftovers, plus cranberry sauce!

Love these little Christmas tree dishes.

What’s been your worst driving experience?

Oikos Yogurt Giveaway!

As you all know, yogurt is one of my favorite foods.  I would guess that I eat yogurt five or six days a week.  It is my oatmeal.  I don’t eat it for breakfast, but one of the healthy substitutions I made early on in my weight loss was to switch out “fake” healthy foods like 100 Calorie Packs with a cup of yogurt, usually accompanying some kind of sandwich for lunch.

As time went by and I learned more and more about nutrition, I shunned my beloved Yoplait once I realized it was full of HFCS and other slightly scary ingredients.  Eventually, I fell in love with the high protein content and lack of scary ingredients in Greek yogurt!  It is still my yogurt of choice, though cost can be an issue.

The folks at Oikos yogurt were kind enough to send me some coupons so that I could try their products and give some away to you, too!  Oikos is a part of the Stonyfield Farms family of products.  I really respect their outlook on food–they strive to promote health and nutrition and to keep the planet healthy, as well!

I first tried finding Oikos at my usual grocery store of choice, Super Target.  I wanted to sample a couple of flavors.  Unfortunately, they only had one–vanilla!  So, I went by the nearby Hy-Vee the next day and found Strawberry and Blueberry as well.  I wanted to find the plain, but no luck.  Plain Greek yogurt is supposed to be a great substitute for sour cream.  They also have a honey flavor that sounds delicious but I could not find.

First, I sampled the Vanilla.  Greek yogurt differs from regular yogurt, taste-wise, in two basic ways (as far as I can tell): it’s thicker, and it’s a little bit more sour tasting than mainstream yogurts.  However, it’s also wonderfully creamy and delicious.  I tried a bite of the vanilla plain and it was very good–the vanilla flavor was very light but definitely present.  Then I made one of my usual yogurt bowls:

Strawberries, Oikos vanilla, and granola.  It was great mixed with these, too.  I could still taste the vanilla but it wasn’t overwhelming.

I’ve had the blueberry and strawberry in the past, but it’s been awhile.  So, I have the strawberry in my lunch today and will bring the blueberry tomorrow and update you as the week goes along!

All in all, I give Oikos two thumbs up for taste and nutrition.  The only thing that holds me back from being a regular Oikos purchaser is cost–the individual cups are about $2/serving (on sale!), which is a wee bit too much for my pocketbook given that I eat yogurt pretty much every day.  I will keep an eye out in the future for sales and stock up then, though!

While I was at the store, I also purchased a cup of Stonyfield Farms plain yogurt.  I’ve heard that plain yogurt is great for dogs and cats in small amounts to help keep the bacteria in their stomach healthy.  I’m a firm believer in proper nutrition for our furrier friends, too!  So, I gave some to Milhouse in a Kong as a treat.

Two paws up!  He was a HUGE fan.  Dogs shouldn’t get much–no more than a tablespoon or two at a time because they can have trouble digesting dairy–but a little bit on a regular basis keeps the healthy bacteria in their stomach functioning and happy!  You should also make sure to use plain yogurt and not flavored.

Oikos was generous enough to give me enough coupons to share with Fit Bride readers.  So, this week’s giveaway will be free yogurt coupons of your very own! Again, like last week you have three chances to win:

1. Leave a comment on this post about your favorite yogurt concoction.
2. Tweet about the giveaway and then come here and post a comment here saying that you tweeted.
3. Blog about the giveaway and then come here and post a comment about it.

This contest will again run through Saturday, December 5th, at noon. Comments left on the Knottie Files feed will not be counted, so click through to my blog!

Speedwork the Beagle

Today has been one of  those lovely days where I’ve been able to get lots of stuff done around the house.  Nothing significant, really, just little piddly stuff.  It’s nice.  This is going to be a travel-heavy week; I’ll be on the road from Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon for work, so two nights away from home!  Sad.

I did a little decorating for Christmas.  T and I painted these stockings our first Christmas together in 2007!  I love that we did this and saved them.  We’ll put them up every year, even if we have other nicer stockings (which we do).

We’re not doing much other decorating–we’re going to buy a pre-lit tree (hopefully) on clearance right before Christmas or right after.

I did manage to make some holiday foods though.  A giant bag of cranberries was $.60 at the store, and I was tempted…so I made cranberry sauce.  I haven’t tasted it yet, so no promises if it’s good or not!  I basically reduced the pound of cranberries like I do for applesauce in 1 cup of water and 1 cup of orange-pineapple juice (it was what we had!).  I added a healthy dose of sugar and let it simmer.  We’ll see how it turns out.

And I had some leftover sugar cookie mix and icing, so I said “what the heck” and made frosted sugar cookies to take to work:

And for dinner?  Roasted chicken in the oven with carrots and taters.

I really did not feel like working out this afternoon but I knew I’d feel great about it once I did.  So, I pleaded on Twitter for motivation and Lauren and Susan gladly kicked me in the pants.  I decided to run, but to make things fun I thought I’d take Milhouse along.

I’d written him off as “not a jogger” when we first got him awhile back, because he was not great on a leash and was prone to stopping and sitting on the sidewalk.   He’s gotten much better now that he’s settled in his new home, and he’s definitely attempted to run a few times on walks together.  I went in with low expectations–hey, even a brisk walk is better than nothing–and I was ASTOUNDED.

I should have known better, I guess.  Beagles are meant to hunt rabbits, so obviously, they have to be FAST.  (look on YouTube for “beagle running” and you’ll see what I mean.)  And Milhouse didn’t disappoint!  We ran 3 miles together–I didn’t pay attention to the time, because we stopped for a few doggie sniff and bathroom breaks, but it was a lot of fun!  I’ve also firmly landed on the “no iPod” side of running–I think I run faster and smarter without it.  He is a speedy little devil, and was actually pulling ME about half the time!  (Note: he weighs 20 pounds and is 13 inches tall.)  I definitely see some more running together in our future!  I had a great time and I think he did, too.

Here’s me and my running buddy.  He’ll get extra dinner tonight!

Anyway, have a great night.  I have a new food giveaway starting tomorrow and some cool reviews to do this week, plus hopefully a wedding update later on.

Have you done any holiday decorating yet?

A Country Thanksgiving

First things first–the winner of my Thankful Tee Giveaway!  Using the Random Integer Generator, the winner is (strangely enough) comment #1, which was made by Gwen!  Gwen, check your e-mail for details!

If you didn’t win, don’t fret!  Inkbox Design has been generous enough to offer 10% off any order to Fit Bride readers–just use the coupon code cake at checkout.  Thanks, Inkbox!

Anyway, brace yourselves.  This is going to be a long post!

My boss was kind enough to let us leave work at 3:00 on Wednesday, so we got on the road earlier than predicted.  We were traveling to T’s parents’ house for the holiday, and they live 4-5 hours away, so we had quite a long journey, which was only made longer when we saw a very scary accident on the road ahead of us.  We were delayed for about 45 minutes while tow trucks were brought in and they landed a helicopter to Medi-Vac someone to a hospital.  I was pretty freaked out–we were on pitch black, windy country roads and not a minute before we saw the accident I told T to be careful because it was so scary!

Luckily, we all made it in one piece and went to bed pretty immediately after arrival.  T’s parents have the most beautiful home.  It’s actually built into the side of a hill!  They’re pretty far out in the country (at least by my standards), so everything is beautiful and rustic and PEACEFUL.  I slept like I haven’t slept in months there because everything is so quiet and pitch black!  Here is the part of this post where I assault you with a million pictures of how gorgeous this place is:

On Thursday morning, I went to walk Milhouse in the front yard, and what did I find?

Oh hai.

Not to be outdone, we went and peeked over the backyard fence…llamas!

Did you know that llamas make a noise that sounds exactly like a dog barking?  Well, they do.

However, my favorite animals of the weekend were inside the house–T’s parents have three doggies that were fast friends with Milhouse!  (Well, mostly.)

A big yellow lab:

A medium-sized scruffy terrier:

And the teeniest bundle of energy I’ve ever seen (I couldn’t keep her still enough for long enough to take a good picture!)

She weighs probably four pounds.  Please note that she is barely larger than a kitchen tile!

T and I have been discussing guns a lot lately, and since I’d never shot one (or, really, seen one in person) he took me out in their back acreage to do a little target shooting.  I sampled four different guns (after receiving proper safety lessons from T and his father): a 12 gauge shotgun, a .40 caliber Glock, a .38 special, and a .22 pistol.  My favorite was the Glock.  Here are a few re-enactment photos, taken AFTER the gun was safely unloaded and the safety was on (we did this twice, so that’s why my outfits are different):

Shooting a gun was an interesting experience for me.  I was a little nervous at first, but as my aim got better it melted away and I felt very empowered.  T and his father are very knowledgeable about guns and hunting and I felt as though I learned from great teachers.  I am still uncertain as to my stance on guns politically speaking, but I feel much better know knowing that I can operate one and use it safely and relatively accurately.   But anyway, on to Thanksgiving dinner!  T’s mom set the table:

And then…the food!

Sorry, using my phone again.  I had:

• lots of turkey
• lots of mashed potatoes
• a side salad
• mac and cheese
• stuffing
• cranberry sauce

And a lot of this:

We brought the Chateau Ste. Michelle riesling, which we liked, and the Monogamy cabernet, which T didn’t have but I didn’t like.  (And there’s not many cabernets I don’t like!)  We finished dinner off with pumpkin pie (for everyone else) and chocolate crumb bars (for me!).  After dinner we collapsed and watched Into the Wild on TV.

On Friday, we did a little more shooting, and lounged around the house.  T helped his dad cut down a tree and cleaned out a closet, but I mostly sat around and read and took a nice long afternoon nap.  We ordered pizza for dinner, watched Casino Royale, and then played Scrabble!  (I won.)  After Scrabble, we watched Burn After Reading and eventually drifted off to bed.  All in all, I had a nice, quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving!

We got going around 9 this morning.  Milhouse pooped out in the car:

And, as soon as we got home, I decided the weather was too gorgeous to stay inside (it’s 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky today!).  Since I didn’t work out at all Tuesday-Friday this week (oops), I wanted to do something, so I changed into my running clothes and ran 3.0 glorious miles in 29:00 around my neighborhood.  (And I reviewed a cool new product which I’ll tell you about tomorrow, most likely!)

Anyway, I hope you all had great Thanksgivings like I did!