8 days to go!

I am blogging after my third glass of chardonnay.  God help me, but…I’m feeling more relaxed than I’ve felt in WEEKS.

For lunch, I resurrected the egg puff!

With cheddar cheese, a yogurt mess, and a multigrain bagel.

I took cookie Friday to heart.

I don’t remember the last time I’ve had a plain old cookie out of a store-bought box.  Crazy! 

I skipped the gym today.  It was pouring.  I’m sore from lifting yesterday, and I’m not sure what cardio I’d do because my shin is still twinging. 

Came home and immediately poured this times three:

Cheap chardonnay.  Not good, but it got the job done.

Dinner was take n’ bake pizza.  It’s all about balance, friends, and today tipped towards the “unhealthy” side, and I don’t so much care.

Tim helped me open a fun package!

A whole bunch of Cascadian Farms goodies from the good folks at My Blog Spark!  Cereal, granola, and granola bars.  I can’t wait to try these.  (Note: they sent these to me for free.)

 

I’ll be reviewing these after the wedding most likely, but we dipped into the Cinnamon Crunch cereal while waiting for the pizza to bake and mmmm…it was seriously addictive!  I can’t wait to try everything else!

Also, Tim’s very sweet co-workers gave us a wedding gift!

 

A bread maker!

There is a long and tragic story of bread makers in the Fit Bride household, but this is not the time or place.

Tonight, I will sober up and make some escort cards.  Good times.

Also, 10-day forecast, you suck.

What foods do you indulge in on not-so-healthy days?

Fast Friday

Quick update! We have houseguests a-comin’.

Today was crazy insane busy at work. No lunch, so I left at four.

The theme of the gym today was REST YOUR LEGS. I did the super-speedy Fitnessista Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps Workout.  Minus the dips, because for some reason dips scare the bejeezus out of me.

Then I left under the guise of going to the grocery store before our friends showed up.  I happened to make a quick stop at TJ Maxx, and found a pair of Cole Haan Nike Air dress shoes for $29.  No idea if they’re authentic, but they’re definitely comfy!  Woo.

And also my super cute (AND OMG comfortable) new Clarks came from Zappos!

I both love and hate Tim for buying six boxes of Girl Scout Cookies from someone at work.

I can avoid the Thin Mints and PB Sandwiches no problem…but PB Patties are the best.

Anyway, off to straighten up.  What’s your favorite cookie?

Friday traditions

Happy Friday!

First things first: the random winner of the Chobani giveaway is Hallie!  Congrats!  E-mail your mailing address to thefitbride at gmail dot com and I’ll send it away so you get your free case of yogurt.  Enjoy!

Today I beguiled my co-workers with my baking skillz.  Red velvet cake balls, German chocolate cake balls, peppermint brownies, and peanut butter cookies.  Nom!

I may or may not have had a peanut butter cookie myself.  It was delightful!  The peppermint brownies are also a big hit.

Anyway, as predicted, I’m verrrry sore from my lifting yesterday.  My quads and back muscles, especially, are whining.  I usually don’t get sore in the back, which makes me happy, because that means I’m working it well.  Those lat pulldowns can really be a killer.  I’m happy today is a rest day!

Not too much to report here–we’re planning a nice easy night of bumming around the house.  As per Friday night tradition indicates, we’re going to make homemade pizza and catch up on our Tivo.  If I can muster up the energy, maybe I’ll work on wedding invitations a little.  (MAYBE.)  I am so ready for these stupid little suckers to be done with!  I’ve been working on these intermittently since FEBRUARY.  I don’t think I’ll ever be more happy to mail something in my entire life.  I stopped at Michael’s to pick up the last stuff I’d need (hopefully) to get them done, so we’ll see.

Have a great night!  Do you have any weekly traditions?

I’ve been on a soup kick lately.  The old school, plain, chicken noodle and tomato soups, straight out of a can.  I don’t know why, but I find them so filling!  Maybe all the liquid?  The heat?  Who knows.

Productivity!

I didn’t work out today, but I feel like I did.  I’ve just been so gosh darn productive it’s mind-boggling!  My feet hurt and my shoulders and neck are tense and sore.

First, Tim and I got up early and went to church.  We both like going to church, but it’s a struggle to get out of bed most Sundays.  We made it, though, today, and it was really nice!  The decorations for Christmas were gorgeous–tons of poinsettias and a beautiful Christmas tree and there was really nice Christmas music going on.  It definitely helped get me in the spirit!

Then we made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up the necessities for my baking extravaganza.  I always do a TON of baking at the holidays because a) I love to bake and b) I love giving away what I bake!  I’m bringing a lot of stuff to school tomorrow for a special holiday thing, and then on Saturday we’re having a Christmas get-together with Tim’s family in Kansas City.  I figured it would be perfect to make up a little something for everyone to take home.

First up? A triple batch of cake balls.  I started these last night, but didn’t finish them until today.  These puppies are LABOR INTENSIVE, but so good.  I did one batch of red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and two batches of German chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting.

Then, I tried my hand at dog baking.  I made these pumpkin & peanut butter treats to include the four-legged family members in the holiday festivity.  (Milhouse actually needs to put on a few pounds!)  This recipe was super easy and Milhouse loved the results.

Next up?  Peanut butter cup cookies.  I made these once, forgot about them, and then remembered (thankfully).  Again, somewhat labor intensive and finnicky, but delicious nonetheless.

I love peppermint and chocolate together, so I decided to try making peppermint chocolate bars.  I haven’t tried one yet, but I predict they’ll be good!  (The batter and frosting were, anyway.  Whoops.)

Somewhere between the peppermint bars and the PB cookies, Tim left.  He’s traveling for work and will be back either late tomorrow night or late Tuesday night.  So, I’m living like a single girl for awhile!  This means lots of wedding/girly shows on TV and canned soup for dinner.  I’m also watching a girly-ish movie from Netflix, 7 Pounds, but it’s pretty bad.

I also managed to do two loads of laundry, tons of dishes, all my ironing for the week, several dog walks, and a bunch of invitation cutting.  Okay, I’m trying to talk myself into invitation cutting still.  God, this project sucks.  Is it over yet?

Get excited–tomorrow morning I’m starting a most excellent giveaway!

What’s your favorite holiday baked item? I can’t be loyal to just one, but my mom’s caramel brownies are high on the list.  Every time I try to make them myself they turn out horrible, but hers are always perfect.

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?