Bahhh....

Happy Halloween!!

Better late than never, right? Our fabulous friends and their fabulous little one came over Monday afternoon to show off the cutest little costume! I couldn't stop taking pictures with such a perfect little model. Prepare for picture overload:

This is the deep-in-thought-because-I'm-so-pretty-pose. You know, like real models...

If you look close enough, you can almost see her gangster sign for the I'm-tough-but-cool-in-my-sunglasses pose...

She pet our albino raccoon very nicely...

Winner for best ghost costume:

Back to the raccoon to say hi...

Taking a little break with mom...

Ready.....set......

......GO!!!!!

Her mom was mumbling some nonsense about "not over the concrete" but I think there might have been something wrong with the guys' ears (*wink*wink)...

I may or may not have shown her where the magical rock garden was (full of rocks so sparkly clean that you could eat gumdrops and lollipops off them while watching unicorns dance over the magical rainbow that keeps kiddos from turning white clothes into brown clothes).  

Try keeping that outfit of whiteness white...

But a face this cute never gets in trouble...

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Warrior Wednesday: Adding Yoga

As you may have noticed from past posts, I have been working on becoming a runner! Woo-to-the-hoo!! I started the Couch-to-5K program almost two months ago and have been pleasantly surprised at how I have been doing. Don't get me wrong, it's still incredibly hard to keep jogging but I've realized that jogging is just a mind-game. It's a cruel one but it's still nice to know that you can overcome the pain (it's all mental anyway) and conquer the 30 minutes. I actually just jogged for 38 minutes last week!

I started the program because I was looking for a way to be active and get into shape without having to think about it too much (which is a bit ironic because all you have time to do when you run is think about how hard it is and how nice it would be to walk).

The program goes from way too easy to way too hard in like, a day. However, I like how it's making me feel mentally. Doing the program three times a week has given me a new challenge and something to look forward to. Life was a bit stale before I took up this jogging deal but now I have this thing that I can only do by myself and for myself. It's pretty empowering and provides a nice escape from the mundane things in life like work.

I think it's important for people to realize that getting into shape and getting healthy and losing weight isn't something that happens overnight. You can't go balls to the wall and expect yourself to be able to keep up. If I tried jogging for 30 minutes straight, I'd give up immediately and feel bad about myself. However, running for 30 minutes started as a goal and I've taken small steps to come closer and closer to it. Now it's a reality for me and I feel good about myself and the work I've put in. Since reaching my goal, I am working on creating new ones to add in!

There are many different types of workouts that I'd love to incorporate and bundle up into a pretty little "ideal-active-lifestyle" package with a big-a$$ bow on it, Lady Gaga-Style:

But like I said, if I go balls to the wall and try to do strength workouts on Tuesday and Friday, yoga on Wednesday and Saturday, and runs on Thursday and Sunday, I won't keep up the habit. It's too much at once for me to take on and I would never "make it work" as Tim Gunn would say. Which leads me to the whole point of my post: adding yoga.

Anyone else think this is just weird?

Now that I have reached my goal of jogging for 30 minute 3 times a week, I am going to incorporate yoga as well. I picked yoga because it's something I used to love a couple of years ago but got away from, and because my flexibility stinks!

Stretching after jogging is getting me nowhere fast and spending so much time in the car has caused my hamstrings, hips, lower back, and shoulders to get really tight. It is my hope that incorporating yoga a couple of times a week, in addition to jogging, will gain me greater flexibility as well as allow me to be more mindful when it comes to making choices like eating the chocolate bar or eating the chocolate bar and the cupcake and the ice cream. I love me some sweets, but at some point in time, I should probably be semi-adult and make smarter choices. Besides, if my mom is going to live forever, she's going to need someone to keep her company. (Wanna hear something funny? I'm eating tootsie rolls right. this. second.) ((OMG!! Wanna hear something even funnier??? I just wrote the previous sentence and was feeling pretty pleased with my funniness and accidentally put the tootsie roll wrapper in my mouth instead of the tootsie roll I just unwrapped! I die....)

Kitty Litter Cake and a Birthday

Last week was my both my sister's and grandma's birthday! It was sad not having AJ here for her b-day but at least she didn't have to eat this:

She got to eat a fancy pumpkin loaf instead (minus the poopsies). I actually made this cake a couple of days before the real birthday for Ken's family and I'm glad I did! Unfortunately, Ken's family got the gross version. And when I say gross, I really mean gross. It tasted nasty. I followed the directions in the recipe and made two cakes (white and spice), crumbled them up, mixed them together, mixed in cookie crumbs, and mixed in vanilla pudding. The texture wasn't appealing, it didn't taste like cake, and I believe everyone tried to eat it because they didn't want me to feel bad.

However, this simply meant I could make another cake..........a better cake! This time around, I made only the spice cake but instead of crumbling it up to make it seem like cat litter, I transferred it (well, mom and dad did it while I bit my nails in the background and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't fall apart) from the cake pan to the litter box. Success!!

After that I just frosted it with a cream cheese frosting and followed the same recipe directions to finish the top. So, in essence, both cakes looked the same in presentation, but tasted like they came from worlds apart. The second cake had a cake-y texture, tasted like cake, and I didn't get the "pity-eat." It was good! I presented it to Grandma like this: "79 years of this shit....happy birthday!" I was worried that it would be inappropriate but she got a good laugh out of it.

Overall, I think Grandma really enjoyed her birthday! My aunt and uncle came from out of town and we all got to reminisce over old memories and share a special day with a special woman!

My Lovey-est Lovey....

Oh, my poor lovey....

My sweet little baby had 6 sutures placed in her paw today. I went for a jog this morning and took the dogs because the chilly weather makes them frisky and they tend to stay out with me the whole time instead of running up back to the house. Unfortunately, the field of hay behind our house was recently cut. It is now a massive playground of new smells and friendly little critters peeking their heads out to see where their blanket of hay went. If not for Ken, I wouldn't have even known Sky was hurt. He was inside eating Tornados for breakfast and somehow happened to see Sky limping and came out to see why. 

He motioned to me that something was wrong. It just looked like weird waving to me so I kept jogging. He called me. I figured it was nothing that couldn't wait five minutes for me to finish and catch my breath (I figured it was about job interviews or dinner plans with a family friend that had come to visit). He calls again. I moodily stopped my stopwatch, stopped running, and rudely said, "WHAT?!" After I heard what he had to say, I sheepishly said, "Oh. I'll be right there.", and ran up to the house. 

Sky was bleeding all over the place (not really, but there was a little spot on the bed) and Ken showed me the cut which looked just about awful. I turned into Super-Mom that doesn't get upset about anything like blood on the bed and takes care of all emergencies with strange calmness. Somehow, she managed to slice the webbing between her claws in the hay field out back. 

Look at that face...

Don't worry, there will be lots of cuddles for this little love plum tonight!

Penne with Brown Butter, Arugula, and Pine Nuts

You can never go wrong with Giada DeLaurentiis. She's my fave (you know, because I have so many). I've tried a couple of her recipes now and they were a hit each time I made them. I think I gravitate towards Giada's recipes because they are pretty simple for me to follow (I'm not a good cook) and they utilize real, whole foods. They aren't over complicated with tricky cooking techniques or too many ingredients either. This recipe was so easy to make! I recommend halving the recipe if you are cooking for two. I bought all of the ingredients to make the whole thing, but knew that I would make only half of it one night and the other half another night (the two pasta dishes I've made from her have not reheated well but they are so good fresh!).

The recipe calls for penne noodles, arugula, parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, grape tomatoes, half of a lemon and its zest, capers, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

The sauce is made from the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. One thing Giada has you do is save about a cup of your pasta water (instead of pouring it down the drain when you're done) to use in part of your sauce. The starch in the pasta water helps take your sauce from homemade quality to restaurant quality. That's my own thought process, but I can't remember what she said about the starch in the pasta water and why it's important, but it's something I didn't know about before.

Looking at it in the pan, I wasn't sure how it would taste. It looked pretty but also looked like just a bunch of noodles with some salad and cheese mixed in. 

However, it was amaze-balls! Ken inhaled his. Before I met Giada and we became BFF's, getting Ken to come near my food was difficult. I can understand why. If he didn't know what "saute" meant on the back of a 11-minute meal box, I might not want to come near his food either. If I found part of the box in my 11-minute meal, I would probably run the other way, too. Just saying. But, but, but - I have come a looong way since those days, and have a couple of great meals under my belt now. This just happens to be one of those two meals. 

The other recipe of Giada's that I highly recommend is her Fusilli with Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper. It is to die for. You can find it here. The one I made in this post can be found here. Simple, easy recipes for inexperienced cooks like me to dabble in, call their own, and take all the credit! Thanks, Giada! BFF's for life!

Motivation Monday

http://singingmysong4u.tumblr.com/post/5824457471

I've come across this quote a few times now and it still makes me chuckle (and re-read it at least three times, every time)...but if you think about it, it speaks of determination, will, and drive to succeed and to be the best you can be (even if you have to rely on your inner mean girl to tough it out with a pretty little smile on your face). I think we all need that sometimes, no? 

I hope everyone's Monday finishes fabulously! I started mine out with water pouring out of an air vent in our downstairs ceiling onto the floor, directly underneath our dishwasher/sink upstairs, that was still dripping every couple of seconds when I made it home later in the day. Thrilling...

Still look like a flower hair do, Anonymous?

Just Because...

Monday's Mansion from a Mole Hill

This is my first post that actually goes along with the theme of my blog! Today's Mole Hill (a.k.a. problem) happens to be an extremely dead plant smack dab in the middle of our front landscape. Here lies a very dead bush:

R.I.P.

If you look very closely below, you can see that Mr. Frog is very lonely without his usual bush to keep him company:

Soooo......I created a Mansion (a.k.a. solution to our little Mole Hill) for him to be Head Butler at! He is taking to his new position very quickly given the poor economy:

I'm really excited about having a pot in the middle of the landscape instead of an evergreen perennial! Now I can change out flowers with the season with extra pops of color and holiday flair. We have a neighbor that has gorgeous landscaping, but...they cheat. They have several potted annual flowers that overflow with color all year round and scream, "Look at me!! I am part of a big beautiful landscape with lots of color and beautifulness!!" Well. Do they have a Head Butler Frog? I think not. 

I'll be sure to update you when the above mums look like the ones we already have below!

A Wedding (But Not Mine)

Before time gets away from me and I never get it done, I am posting these pictures of my cousin Tina's wedding from last month. Being the copy-cat I am (and knowing that my sister won't mind),  I have put them into photo collages. It's a world easier than posting them all separately. Enjoy!

The Ceremony

Cake Cutting

Special Dancing

Portraits of Very Important People

***For the record, I did not get married on September 30th.