Life since Sunday...

Since my half on Sunday, I've been taking a few days easy... no running. After lots of high mileage weeks, I'm sure my body is thanking me.

So what does a girl do when there's no training plan to adhere to? Lots of things!

On Sunday after the race, we hit up my favorite place in Columbus - Easton Town Center. We had a leisurely breakfast/lunch at Panera, and then followed up with some shopping. Although my legs were screaming at me for walking so much after the race, it actually ended up being good in the long run. My legs weren't nearly as stiff as they would have been if we had hopped in the car and driven straight home.

We went in a few shops, including Anthropologie. I love all their kitchen accessories. Seriously. I could drop thousands of dollars in that store. I have slowly but surely been acquiring a set of bowls from there. The perfect bowls for oatmeal, cereal, soup, ice cream... pretty much the perfect bowls for anything. We got two new colors Sunday.

This rainbow stack of bowls makes my heart happy.

The other big purchase at Anthro? New oven mitts!

So cute!

My old green & white polka dot mitts are cute, but so nasty. What can I say, I'm a messy cook/baker.

Hurtin' for certain.

Our next stop was one of my most favorite places ever.

Yes. And we stocked up.

Cranberry goat cheese, turkey, mandarin chicken, tomato bisque, hummus, brown rice, and frozen artichokes. That goat cheese is amazing.

Real maple syrup, salad dressing, instant oatmeal, shells & cheese, soup, coconut milk, and almond butter with roasted flaxseed. Just the best ever.

And my favorite treat from Trader Joe's?

So delicious. Last time we bought them, I accidentally dumped half of them in the sink. Which was full of water. I was not a happy camper.

Yesterday I went to Sam's Club (by myself) after school to get some K-cups for our coffee maker and for my Business Man's coffee maker at work. Yes, you can buy them elsewhere, but you get the most bang for your buck at Sam's. Unfortunately, they usually only have plain boring coffee. Boo.

But not yesterday.

Yesterday, I hit the jackpot.

Cuddling with coffee K-cups is completely normal.

Okay, not really. I don't think I can equate coffee flavors with winning the jackpot. But I'm really excited because this means we should have enough pumpkin spice K-cups to last us through Thanksgiving.

Typically I don't go to Sam's Club by myself, because I'm not really good at restraining the impulse buys. Case in point:

And yes, this flat was full yesterday afternoon. Whoops.

So delicious but so expensive at normal stores.

Last but not least, this afternoon/evening was spent baking cupcakes. Six dozen to be exact, for an order by a friend of a co-worker.

Strawberry, Red Velvet Cheesecake, and Cookies & Cream.

I love baking cupcakes. :)

Question: What do you do when you have unexpected free time?

I like to sleep, bake, and run random errands.

Hot Off the Press... [Chicken Bacon Bleu Panini]

So I totally forgot to post a panini recipe last Thursday... whoops. I'm sure you were all waiting with bated breath and were very disappointed. Well, never fear, because I've got a fabulous panini recipe tonight! Tangy bleu cheese and salty bacon come together to form a delectable sandwich. It comes from the panini cookbook I received for Christmas, 200 Best Panini Recipes (thanks Mom!) . The Chicken Bacon Bleu panini : grilled chicken, crisp bacon, and bleu cheese on sourdough with a spread of barbecue sauce and sliced red onion. I had never thought of putting bleu cheese on a panini before I saw this recipe. I feared there wouldn't be enough ooey gooey cheese! But bleu cheese actually melts pretty nicely. It's no Velveeta, but it added a great tang to the sandwich. First, spread the bottom piece of bread with a bit of barbecue sauce, and top with some grilled chicken. I actually used my panini press to grill my chicken for the first time, and it wa

The Arrival of Something New...

Woo hoo for the last Friday of the school year! And only one more day of school next week. (And then a couple teacher workshops...) Another reason to be excited? Our fridge came today!! Isn't she a beauty? It is so nice to have a fridge again. You don't realize how much you miss a full-size refrigerator until you go a couple weeks without it. A bit bare... but that can be solved easily. Bottom-drawer freezer, containing the essentials: moose tracks & Diet Dew trying to get cold asap. Anyways, I'm just popping in to share my beautiful new appliance. The baking monster has taken over, and I'm in the midst of making 150 cupcakes for a graduation party tomorrow. First big baking project in the new kitchen! I'm loving all the counter space. Mmm... chocolate buttercream! Making good use of the baking nook! :) Adios!

Boston Marathon, week #3

Last week was a great week for training - lots of easy runs, a V02-max workout, and my first long run that actually felt 'long'. The goal was to get in 50-55 miles, and I ended up with 56ish, so right on target. Saturday's long run was glorious ! Temps in the 50's in January (!) makes me a very happy runner. I headed out for 16-17 miles and ended up with almost 18. And I remembered to bring fuel! I tried out the blueberry-pomegranate Gu chomps, and they weren't my favorite. I ate one every 2 miles once I hit the 8-mile mark and they left a strange aftertaste. Pretty much as soon as the aftertaste went away, it would be time to eat one again. I'm thinking I will try something else next time. This was the week of the 8's... what a monotonous bar graph. I'll try better next week to make it a little more exciting. Weekly Rundown 1.7.2013-1.13.2013 Mon - 8.2 miles easy Tues - 8.3 miles easy Wed - 4x1200m @ 4:29 (4:32, 4:31, 4:31, 4:34);

Livin' the Dream in Lima

Search This Blog