Livin' the Dream in Lima

Reasons I am Happy Today 1. I ran outside today! In shorts! In the middle of February! Yessss! It was so glorious. Even though the wind was treacherous. I just did an easy 4.5 miles because I've got 16 on the schedule for tomorrow. Yikes! Rockin' out my favorite Nike tempos. Running in 60*F weather in February means a lot of melting snow. Which means a lot of running water around town, which means a lot of puddles and mud. Which means dirty legs. Good thing I got a shower after! 2. We have no school tomorrow to make up for our two nights of Parent/Teacher conferences this week. Woo hoo for sleeping in! I'm gonna stay up late and party like it's 1999. Okay, not really, I will probably still be in bed passed out before 10pm. But at least I don't have to set an alarm tomorrow! 3. As a result of no school tomorrow and no school Monday (President's Day), my Business Man and I are going home for the weekend! I'm excited to see our fam and get som...

This past weekend, my Business Man and I had the treat of discovering a new theater (well, to us) in a town about 25 minutes from the Bean Town, the Shannon Theatre . A friend has been a few times, and insisted that we go on Saturday night. No complaints from me! Now, just three weekends ago we discovered the dollar theater here in town. (Which costs $2, by the way. Don't ask.) The only thing about the dollar theater is that the movies are, well, old. Not like several years old, but several months after they have come out on the big screen. Sometimes you just can't wait that long! But who wants to pay $8.50 at Regal Cinemas? And another $12 on pop and popcorn? (Not that we ever have... it's not like it's within walking distance of our apartment or anything.) So, upon hearing about this new theater in a nearby town, we were excited! It only costs $3 a show! And it plays new shows! Well, only one new show. Ha. It only has one screen. So it rotates shows once a we...

As long as I remember, I have loved to entertain. I love having people over, cooking a nice meal, and sending them home with full, happy bellies. It also gives me a chance to try out fun recipes that I wouldn't make just for me and my Business Man. My love for hosting dinners and parties all started when I was about 16 years old. I decided that I wanted to throw a fancy schmancy dinner party for all my friends, and of course I enlisted my (then would-be) Business Man's help. We prepared the most gourmet meal we could (at that age) for all our closest friends, and dined al fresco on my parents' patio. It was such a good time, that we continued on the tradition for another 5 years! If only we all lived near each other and could continue on the tradition to this day. I'm having a hard time recalling what we even served at that first dinner party... I know we had grilled steak-on-a-stick and some sort of potato. What I will never forget though, is the dessert. C...

With Valentine's Day approaching, I've been thinking a lot lately about love, romance, and fairy-tale stories. I realized that I haven't talked much about our wedding here, and that makes me sad! It was one of the most beautiful days of my life, where my Business Man and I committed our lives to each other FOREVER! (Ha... now he's stuck with this loony.)  Please ignore the spot on my Business Man's shirt. I had a little too much fun with the "Eliminating Red-eye" tool, and couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. And of course, looking back on that special day, the first thing that comes to my mind is CUPCAKES  (Obviously...) !!  I haven't shared any of the recipes of the cupcakes we had on our big day!  Now, for those of you who might not have been in attendance at the wedding, let me explain. I am a cupcake-lover. Some even call me the "cupcake queen." The students at school know me as the "teacher who makes awesome cup...

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!!

The sun came out today! This left me smiling from ear to ear all day. Ironically, though the sun was shining strong, we had Snow Day #3 of the week. (I guess the roads were really icy this morning. They actually were pretty bad when I headed to the gym around 10am.) Fingers crossed we'll be back at school tomorrow, because now we're at the point where we will be adding days to our school year in June! Anyways, I've pretty much exhausted myself of ways to entertain myself outside the baking world. I've watched TV, read blogs, read books, organized closets, dusted, changed sheets, and even cleaned the bathroom. I haven't touched a lick of schoolwork, but that's beside the point. I finally broke down and got busy in the kitchen today, preparing a special treat for my Business Man. I discovered a recipe for Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies while browsing the interwebs this morning. Now, most recipes that I find on the internet, I usually file away on my...