Livin' the Dream in Lima

So this weekend was a busy one! Super-fun, too. My Business Man is really tight with his friends from college, and every few months they have a friends' reunion, at someone's house or a more exotic location. (In May, we went to South Carolina .) It was our turn to host, so we had to whole crew out to the Bean Town ! The weekend was full of fun activities - board games, corn mazes, cake-pop making, running, bonfires, s'mores eating, and just plain old hanging out. A few friends had expressed an interest in learning how to make cake pops , so Saturday morning we had an official Cake Pops 101 class. Crumbling up the cake. Party rainbow chip was the flavor of the day. Fun was had by all. (I think.) Wrapping up the goods. The decorating skills were definitely top notch work. Whitny and her blondie cake pop. After coming down off our sugar highs, we headed out to partake in a classic Midwest fall pastime, the corn maze. Suter's Corn...

It's official. It's summer and HOT. And humid. I stepped outside yesterday morning to run at 5:30am and it was already 78*F. With 98% humidity. Fun, right? Triple fisting it at breakfast yesterday morning with a smoothie, iced coffee, and ice water. One of the beautiful things about the heat of summer is that I can go to the pool to cool off. A few friends and I have discovered the gem of the Wapakoneta Waterpark , which is only about 15 miles south of the Bean Town. And it's only $5 to get in! Megan, Amber, myself. Yesterday was our second visit, and it was glorious. There's two pools, two water slides, and two diving boards. One of the pools is a zero depth pool, so it's nice to sit with just your legs in the water. You just have to try not to get mauled by the tens of dozens of small children splashing around. Pretty sure I was kicked and/or smacked (not on purpose) at least 23 times yesterday. The best thing? At every 0:45 on the hour, the lif...

Today is Wednesday, which means it's almost Thursday, which is really my Friday because there's no school this Friday! Got that? Here's why : 1. The taper has come into full swing. Due to taper, here's the amount of miles I ran today. Yup, that's right. I get to take two rest days this week! And only 10 miles for my long run! I will admit, I'm getting a lil' antsy... just ready for this marathon to be here! 2. Yesterday we had a 2-hour delay for school, thank you very much to the rainstorm that knocked out the school's power in the wee hours of the morning. I very much enjoyed my morning at home with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. And drinking my coffee in a real mug, not a travel mug. It's the little things. 3. I scored some sweet Rite-aid deals on my way to school yesterday morning. A free bag of chips, free Lysol disinfecting wipes, and two free chocolate-covered Peeps . Ever heard of 'em? My Business Man and I sampl...

Just wanted to share with you some Super Bowl fun before we head off to a friend's house for some football watching (commercial watching for me) and some delicious eats! I was in charge of dessert... which meant... CAKE POPS! Little footballs, Green & Yellow for the Packers, and Yellow & White for the Steelers. (I couldn't find black candy melts anywhere, and the black food coloring wasn't working out too great. Water-based food coloring mixed with tempered chocolate = not a great idea.) Happy Sunday!!

So yesterday was the best day ever. Well, the best day of this year so far. Haha. Love is in the air! I woke up at 5:45am to go to the gym and run before school. I used to do this all the time, but haven't in a month or two because I don't like to get up that early all that much. I checked for a school delay before I left, because that's what I do first thing everyday when I wake up. (Hopeful, much?) Alas, no delay was called yet, so I went off to the gym. While driving, it was very icy. So icy in fact, that I ran a red light because I couldn't stop! Thank goodness it was 5:45am and not a lot of cars were out.  Anyways, I completed my run (4x800m intervals! woooo!), and was stretching a bit before I left, when the owner of the gym came over to ask if I had a delay. (He knows I teach.) Of course, I didn't think we did, but decided to check the TV anyway. Woot woot! A delay was called. So I decided to add on a couple extra miles, since I had the time.  I got...

Yesterday was an adventurous day in the kitchen.  I put to use one of my new Christmas presents! I received Bakerella 's Cake Pops book from my mom. Yay!! You'd think I never want to see another sweet again, after the 25 (err... 23) days of Christmas Cookies, but that is definitely not the case. I'm a sweets girl all the way. Give me a choice between a DQ Blizzard and a $25 steak, and I will choose the ice cream every time.  Now, if you haven't heard of cake pops yet, let me explain. They're little balls of cake-frosting dipped in candy coating or melted chocolate, on a stick. Because everything is better on a stick, right? They're basically little balls of sugary goodness. You can do different flavor-combinations, but I went pretty basic for my first time. I chose to do vanilla and chocolate. You first start off by baking a cake. Cake mix will do just fine, since you will be crumbling it all up anyway. Once it cools, you crumble it up into teeny tiny pi...