My First 10K Completed!

A few months ago, I found an advertisement for this race, the Jim Klett 10K Memorial. I was looking for a 10K since I thought that would be a better distance for me to train for in preparation for my September half marathon. The ad for this one said that is was a relatively flat course through a scenic area. Sounds nice, huh? The price tag was just right too at just $15. I decided to sign up early to give myself motivation to keep up with my running.

As you may have read in previous posts, I was hoping to get a sub 54 minute time to give myself the best chance at placing (I love getting hardware!) although under 55 would still be acceptable for me, placing or not. I didn't end up training though maybe as hard as I could. I got a lot of miles in, but not at a fast pace. I did very little speedwork, but I had my fingers crossed.

So finally the day arrives. I wake up this morning to rain. I checked out the radar on my local news station's website and I could see that the rain wouldn't be letting up anytime soon. Oh well, at least it wasn't storming. I get dressed in my pink Tarjay running outfit and head out with my DH to the race course. It is raining nonstop the whole way.

Okay, here we go...we start the race and I'm feeling pretty good. The rain is coming down, but not bad. I notice that this part is kind of downhill -- nice! I get to mile 1 and see my time of 8:11. UH OH -- too fast! I better slow down a little or I'll have no juice at the end! I slow a little. Hmmm, another downhill. This is interesting, although I'm getting a little worried because the race starts and ends in the same place, and what goes down must come up -- am I going to have some uphills here? They said this was a flat course though... Okay, here comes mile 2 marker -- split is 8:25. Okay, that's still faster than I should be going. I'm supposed to be hitting 8:40 miles...but these are all downhill and my breathing is fine...so I'll just slow a little. Here comes mile 3 -- what -- more downhill? I'm getting worried. I'm going to have to be going up here soon. I adjust my pace to try to hit my target split. I cross marker 3 with a split of 8:44. Okay, that's more like it. Going into mile 4, the course levels out and I start to encounter some hills. Wait, I thought they advertised this is a relatively flat course? HMPH! I'm getting pretty pooped out and the rain is dripping off my face at this point, but I try my best to stay under a 9 minute mile. I get to mile marker 4 and my split is 8:52 -- not too bad. Okay, only two miles to go! Now the course is starting to wind into more of a wooded area. It's kind of hard to see what's up ahead. I think they did that on purpose...an attempt to shield our eyes from...the mountainous hills before us! AHHHHHH! I'm already starting to get tired and I've gotta summit those things?! "Relatively flat course"....yeah, relative to what, the Appalachians?! I struggle to get up the 2-3 long, steep hills. Much to my disgust, I even stop to walk up part of the last one, although I have to say, I don't know that my run was much faster than my walk at that point. I only walked about 10 seconds, but I'm still mad at myself for doing that. Anyway, after I got to the top, I pushed on in search for the mile 5 marker and finally hit it at a dismal split of 9:31. I figure, okay, 1 more to go. I try my best to pick it up in the last mile. I feel drained -- my hamstrings are getting tight and my breathing is erratic from those wicked hills. I try my best to turn my legs over, convincing myself..."You only have 5 more minutes to the 6 mile mark and then you're home free...4 more minutes...3 more minutes..." I finally saw the 6 mile mark, crossed it with a split of 9:05 and turned it into gear sprinting into the finish line. I cross the finish line with an unofficial time of 54:20. I didn't hit my "Woo hoo!" goal time of sub 54, but I did hit my "not bad" goal time of sub 55.

So overall, here's what I learned from my race:

• I definitely need to do more speedwork! I had trouble maintaining my pace after mile 4. Need to do more tempo runs with maybe 5-7 miles at tempo pace.
• I need to work on pacing better -- my splits were all over the place. I hate that I got slower too. I would like to have had negative splits, but now that I think about it, that course (all downhill the first half, uphill the second half) was not designed for that.
• Never believe in the advertising of a race! Know thy course!
• Now this one I learned from looking at the pics my awesome DH took and that is, hard work does pay off! If it doesn't pay off with rockin times, it should pay off in how you look! What do I mean? Well the other day I was showing my guns off, all excited that I actually had a bump in my arm when I flexed! Well apparently I have a leg bump too! Check it out!

So anyhow, while I didn't get the time I wanted to give me a chance at placing, apparently it was enough. I did get 3rd place in my age group! I was kind of bummed though because instead of trophies or medals, they were giving out...(drum roll please)...coasters! Say what? I just ran my tail off for a coaster? Okay wait a minute here...so as not to sound too ungrateful, I will take a moment here to remind myself that maybe instead of using the money raised from the race to buy shiny medals, they instead put that money into the charity that the race was benefiting. And after all, what's more important -- my shiny medal or $$ going to underprivileged children. GRRRRR, I hate to admit it, but it's the second thing! Oh well, at least I got something! My DH and I were joking though that I could still tape some yarn to the coaster and wear it like a medal! I think it'd be a good look, what do you think? :-)

"Chaos in the Kitchen" Challenge #2: Chicken Scallopine

Challenge #2: Chicken Scallopine with Fontina and Sage (from Food Network's, Everyday Italian)
Recipe Rating: 5 Stars!

As usual, I had the Food Network on tv while I was making dinner awhile ago. Giada De Laurentiis was on with her show Everyday Italian. She made this dish called Chicken Scallopine and it looked really easy! (Basically, it's just chicken cutlets that are rolled up with fontina cheese and sage. They are then seared and cooked in a tomato sauce. Click above if you want the detailed recipe.) I went on Food Network.com, looked up the recipe and saved it for future use.

Well, as I was planning my meals for the week, I ran across this one. I thought this would be perfect seeing as how the sage I planted in our veggie garden is just starting to take off. So, I ran to the store to pick up the few ingredients that I didn't already have on hand. One of them was the fontina cheese. I was happy to find it at my local grocery store, but was not happy at how much it cost. I think it was something like $12 a pound. Yikes! I thought about substituting but then I remembered some of the FN.com reviewers saying not to do so. So, I bit the bullet and got the smallest wedge of cheese they had.

Anyhow, once I had the cheese home, I plucked some sage leaves from my plant outside and began to make dinner. As I thought, assembling this dinner was pretty easy (unlike my last baking adventure!) If you decide to do this recipe, I do have a few tips on how to make it a little easier. This first tip I have is simply to make sure the cutlets are pounded to equal thickness. I didn't do this and it made it kind of hard to roll them. The second tip I got while reading the reviews on Food Network -- when rolling the chicken up, Giada takes a toothpick and sticks it in the chicken vertically to keep it sealed. While it does keep the chicken together, the position of the toothpick makes it hard to turn the chicken when you're trying to sear it. Instead, put the toothpick in horizontally and thread it though -- kind of like a safety pin. I found this works very well! I even secured the sides of the chicken roll with toothpicks. I wasn't going to let that $12/lb cheese just ooze out! And one last thing -- this is more of a shortcut than a tip. In the recipe it says to take a can of whole tomatoes and put them in a food processor with some red pepper flakes, puree, than add to the pan. Yeah, I just skipped all of that and instead used a can of crushed tomatoes. I added some red pepper flakes to that and viola! Much easier and one less thing to clean.

Okay, so anyhow, I made the recipe as directed and it was AWESOME! I mean seriously, when I was eating it, I was thinking, "This is better than some of the stuff that I've had at nice Italian restaurants!" My husband easily concurred. And the reviewers were totally right about the fontina cheese. It should NOT be substituted. The sage and fontina were a perfect coupling! Oh, and by the way, if you read the reviews on the Food Network site, some of the reviewers who gave a lower rating commented on the strong flavor of the sage. My plant is still small, so I just used two small leaves for each chicken and that seemed perfect. My DH even said that it could have used more. So keep in mind, with sage, a little goes a long way. If you like sage, you will LOVE this dish. If you don't care for it, maybe just use a small amount.

Oh, one last thing. Anytime I make a dish, I usually cut the meat portions down to serve just 2 people since it's just me and my DH, but I usually make the full amount of sauce since my DH LOVES sauce. While making the dish, I noticed that I had a LOT of sauce though, so I quickly cooked up some spaghetti noodles. It ended being a perfect side dish! Seriously restaurant quality! Give it a try sometime and let me know what you think!

A Magical Birthday!

I got my first set of Stampin Up! stamps the other day. I finally used them to make this "magic" birthday card!




I got it finished just in time to watch LOST. I'm so glad it's finally back on! Now to watch and hope for lots of snow/ice tonight and a day off tomorrow! :-)

Scared to Go the Distance?

First, an update on my workout with my new video from yesterday. Mark this one down everyone -- my husband was...right! I said that I really felt the workout while I was doing it, but felt fine afterwards. My husband warned me that I'd be sore the next day. Well, all I can say is that video kicked my bootie! My butt is so sore, it is unreal! That video did it's job, that's for sure! I am hoping my 8 mile run tomorrow will help get the soreness out. Speaking of my 8 miles...

This is weird to say, but I'm kind of scared/anxious about my 8 mile run tomorrow. My plan was to do 7 miles last week, 8 this week, 9, then 10. Take a week off, then the following week, is my 10 mile race. Well, as you may have read in an earlier post, my 7 mile run turned to NOT be 7 miles (@$%@$@ Nike + iPod!) It was instead only 6.6 miles. That means my long run tomorrow needs to be 1.2 miles longer than last week! I've never added that many miles before to a long run and I have never run 8 miles EVER in my LIFE! I'm scared that I'm not going to accomplish my goal. I guess I need to just put that aside, get some jammin tunes synced up to my iPod, and get out there and do it! Send out some good vibes for me please!

Oh, as a little side note, I received my first issue of Runner's World magazine yesterday! Guess that makes me official, right? When do I learn the secret handshake? :-)

Funky Flashback: Ladies of the 80s (Part 1)

For this week's funky flashback, I'll be showcasing a few of the ladies of the 80s! The first few are some of my favorites. I still remember buying my first tape (remember those?!) and not being able to decide between Janet Jackson's Control and a tape by our first Lady of the 80's, Tiffany. (I'm glad to say I chose Janet! Tiffany still lives on in my heart though!)



And next, comes Tiffany's arch rival on the chart's, Debbie Gibson with "Only in My Dream".


And finally, an icon on the 80's, Cindy Lauper who brings us one of the great girl anthems, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". I still jam out to that song on the rare occasion it comes on the radio.

Fruit-a-licious

Today, while I was at my local grocery, I was looking for some blueberries. At first glance, I picked these up and put them in my cart only to realize, they were not blueberries at all! They were tiny little grapes called, "Champagne Table Grapes". I've never seen anything like them before! They were too cute and at only $1.50 for the whole container, I couldn't pass them up.


I'm so glad I didn't! These little babies are SO sweet and juicy! I couldn't pick them off the stems fast enough! I polished off one of the four bunches in just a few minutes. I will definitely have to pick up some more. If you see them, give them a try!


~~~~~~~~~

Well after tasting fantastic mangoes in Hawaii, I was really jonesing for some more mango. I remembered that I had some frozen mango in my freezer and I decided to finally try one of the desserts I've been wanting to make, Mango Strawberry Cobbler. The recipe is pretty simple to follow and quick to put together. The topping, with cornmeal, was a little different than I expected though. I decided to just follow the recipe as is to see how I liked it. After baking for 45 minutes, I quickly dove in. The hot mango just melted in my mouth with a burst of flavor. It was SO yummy! The strawberries were equally sweet and a good compliment to the mango. The fruit was wonderful! The topping was just okay though. It was a little grainy with the cornmeal which I could have done without. My husband had the same feeling -- loved the fruit but not the somewhat grainy topping. The next time I make this, I will definitely have to use a different topping recipe. Any suggestions?! The fruit though -- mmmmmm, so fab!

Another Explosion Box!

Here is another explosion box I'm working on. I love making these! The only problem is, I haven't put any pics in any of the ones I've created! Some of them I am going to give as gifts so my friends will put in their own pics, but one I am keeping for myself and I have yet to finish it! Oh well, here is the newest one I am working on...

I am still looking for something to decorate the tabs with. Here are pics of the inside layers.

I am still working on them, but I like the way they've turned out so far. I would like to add more embellies, but since I'm giving them as gifts, I figure I'll leave them more "blank" so that whoever gets them can embellish the way they would like to. I hope someone will want them!

Thanks for looking!

PP: "McKenna" by K&Company

Four Days Off -- The Results

After my knee pain last Saturday, I decided to take a couple days off to let things get better. It's interesting how I was affected by this... I normally work out right after work, but since I wasn't working out, I felt really bummed and disappointed with myself. Instead, I plopped down on the coach, strapped some ice to my knees and scarfed down some Easter candy...and some ice cream...and maybe just one more piece of candy! YUMMMM! OMG -- I was so bad! Then when I was finished, I felt guilty for eating all that crap and not being able to work it off. Oh well! That was one bad thing that happened this week.

Here's one good thing: My feet have returned to looking somewhat normal again! Can I just first say that I have a weird foot thing -- I am slightly obsessed with feet looking cute. I almost did not go out with my husband after meeting him for the first time because when we met, we were at a beach party. He had sandals on which is totally appropriate for the beach, but as soon as I looked down and saw his feet, I was like, "Oh no...you need to cover those things up! I realize socks and sandals are a total no-no, but you just might need an exemption!" Of course I didn't say that though! So anyway, now that I've been running longer miles, my poor little toesies have not been happy! I've had blisters of some sort for nearly 5 weeks! Well, with these 4 days off, they have started looking normal again! Thank goodness too, because these babies need to be sandal-ready in just a few more weeks!

Well, I finally went for a run today after my four days off. I decided to take it easy and only do 3 miles. I figured I would wait to see how I felt after a short run to see if I could be ready for my long 9-miler planned for Saturday. My knees hurt the first mile, but not bad. I'd say, on my pain scale of 1-10 (1 = that's strangely uncomfortable, 10 = call 911 -- I literally can't take another @$#@! step!) my pain during the run was at about a 2 or 3. Not bad! Halfway through the run, I didn't even feel the pain anymore. After I finished my 3 miles, I stretched and iced on the way home. That was a few hours ago -- so far, so good! As long as I am feeling decent tomorrow, I'll be hitting the road for 9 miles come Saturday. Cross your fingers for me!

As a side note, my run today was really nice. The weather was beautiful! It was about 55 degrees and the sun was shining. The snow was all gone and I could finally see the green grass and trails meandering through the trees. I can't WAIT to hit those. The path I run along has a lot of wildlife too and I could hear frogs and peepers singing their springtime songs. I LOVE days like today! Can't wait for more!

***Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes -- I have changed my blog layout...again! I know...I change the stupid thing practically every month! What can I say...I get bored easily!***

Needing Some Changes

So I know that I said that I wouldn't combine topics in one post, but what can I say... I'm a rule breaker... apparently even when it comes to my own rules! I'll at least give you heads up with topic titles within the post! So anyway, first I'll start with a run report.

Run Report: If it wasn't for a tremendous amount of guilt this morning, I think I would have skipped my run. Why? Well, it seems that I'm getting pretty bored with my running. I've been running the same routes for my weekday runs for 3-4 weeks now. As many songs as I have on my iPod, I think I've listened to them all about 17 times now. It's not that I am hating the run... it's just that I'm tired of the same thing over and over...and over! Most of the time, I'm just like, "Am I done yet?!"

It doesn't help that my knees were seriously mad at me after my 10.5 mile run this past Saturday. I had to run the parking lot to avoid the rain yesterday (Sunday) and my knees seriously hurt. I mean, I don't mind feeling pain/discomfort while running, but when the pain sneaks its way into my everyday life, something's wrong. I was planning on maybe taking today off since they were hurting, but wouldn't you know it, they felt fine this morning. I was almost disappointed! It would've been the perfect excuse. Oh well.

The heavy guilt of missing a planned run weighed heavily and kicked me out of the house to start my run. I actually left the iPod at home and just ran with my own thoughts. Scary! Anyhow, I knocked a 5-miler out and am hoping to find some new routes or trails to run on. After all, I had a good 10.5 mile run this weekend and it was mostly better I think because I got to see some cool new places. Maybe I just need a change of scenery...

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What's Up in the Kitchen: Well, I don't have a cooking challenge yet to post. Hopefully I'll have some good stuff to share tonight. I plan on making shredded chicken enchiladas, spanish rice and some honey cornbread. I did want to share a old/new favorite beverage. I say "old" because I've had a version of it dozens of times, but it's "new" because now I am having the authentic version of...Chai Tea!

While I am NOT a coffee drinker, I do like tea and my absolute fave is Chai Tea, which is nearly the only thing I will get from Starbucks or Arabica. Anyhow, even though I've tried all the different versions of chai tea from the grocery store, nothing came even close! Well, last weekend, my neighbor from India showed me how she makes her authentic Indian Chai tea. OMG... better than Starbucks could even dream of!

The secret ingredient is a spice mix called Tea Masala which basically translates too...tea spice! Here is basically how she made the tea (and how I do now too!):

Ingredients:

1/2 part water

1/2 part milk

1 tea bag per serving (basic Lipton is perfect)

1/2 teaspoon Tea Masala* for each serving (or more or less to taste)

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom for each serving (optional)

*Special note regarding the tea masala: My neighbor said that each company that makes tea masala may have a different mix of spices. She says the best tea masala is by "Badshah". I found it at my local Indian food store. I got a 3.5 ounce box for under $2.00! Just think how many cups of Chai Tea I can make with that whole box versus one cup of Chai Tea from Arabica for $4.00! Well worth it! Here's a pic of the box in case your interested in finding it.

As you can see, the tea masala has already made it's way into one of my canisters! It's a keeper! Oh, one more thing... in my recipe above, I just use 1/2 teaspoon of the tea masala. It took 2-3 cups of trial and error to come up with that. You may like more or less spice, so adjust accordingly.

Directions:

1. Take the cup you are going to drink from and fill it 1/2 way with water. Dump water into a pot and boil the water.

2. Once water is boiling, add the Tea Masala. (You will get huge bubbles when you do this. Be careful to watch the pot the whole time it is on the stove -- you don't want it to boil over! When it starts to foam up, close to the top of the pot, just remove it from the heat, lower the heat, and then put it back on.)

3. Drop in 1 tea bag per serving.

4. Allow to boil for a little bit. Add ground cardamom if you have it.

5. Take the cup you are going to drink from and fill it 1/2 way with milk. Add it to the tea. Allow to boil but WATCH CAREFULLY -- don't let it boil over!

6. Add sugar to taste -- I add 1T.

7. Pour into your drinking cup, allow to cool and enjoy!

I'm sure there may be easier ways to make it. In fact, on the back of the tea masala box, it just says to add 1 teaspoon of the spice to a cup of tea and add milk if desired. That may work, but the way my neighbor showed me makes a yummilicious cup of tea, so I ain't changin' a thing! (That may have to change once school starts again. I'll have to find a way to make this in my microwave!)

I Finished a Marathon... Kind of !

After my half marathon a few weeks ago, I started thinking about doing another race soon to keep up my motivation. Soon after that, I got an offer to join a relay team for the Roadrunner Akron Marathon! It sounded like a great running opportunity since I would be able to participate in a marathon event without having to actually go the full 26.2, which I am nowhere near being able to do! I lucked out and was even able to do the finishing leg which was a very doable 12.2K (7.6 miles) and also gave me the opportunity to do the marathon Olympic style finish into Canal Park Stadium. How fun!

I wish I could say that I did some heavy duty training in between my half mary and my relay race yesterday, but I'd be lying. I did a few long runs of 8 and 9 miles on the weekends, but only did a few 3-4 mile runs during the week. I was hoping it would be enough to have a decent showing for the Akron relay.

I arrived near the race venue early Saturday morning. I parked across from the stadium and could see it all set up for the finish. It was pretty cool! I then found my way over to front of the stadium so that I could catch my shuttle to my relay point. People were already lined up along the road getting ready to cheer for all of the runners. There was a gigantic roadrunner (you know the character -- meep meep!) balloon and people were getting their pictures with it! I wasn't one of them though. In fact, no pics for me! I didn't have my camera with me. :-( Anyway, it was really exciting to see the race atmosphere already in swing.

I soon caught the shuttle to my destination and stood in the corrals waiting for my relay partner to show up. Since I was the last leg, I really had no idea how long it was take my other 4 teammates to run their legs, so I got there an hour early and just cheered for everyone until I heard my bib number called. Once they called my number, I jumped onto the course and started waving to my relay partner. As soon as he passed the relay bracelet to me, I said, "Great job!" and started off.

I really wasn't sure how I was going to feel. I hadn't warmed up since I was afraid to miss my bib number called if I wasn't right in the corral, so I had gone from literally standing around for an hour, to full out race pace. Also, my training in the weeks before weren't exactly stellar, so I figured that I'd just try to keep to a 9 minute pace as I had done in my half mary and cross my fingers.

It was really hard to pace myself since there was a mix of full marathon runners and relay runners. Obviously the relay runners bolted out, but I didn't know how wise it was to try to keep up with them. I used my Garmin to try to keep me on track. As much as I tried to keep a constant pace though, I was all over the place ranging from 7:30 m/m to 9:30 m/m! I think that was mainly due to the hills on this course. I rarely run hills anymore, so the hills on this course really took it out of me! I promised myself though that I wouldn't walk the hills though and would instead just run as slow as needed and try to make it up on the other side. Well luckily, despite the three sizable hills on the course, the last mile was all downhill and it was pretty steep too. I cruised down that hill as fast as my legs would carry me! There was a slight uphill right before the end but I knew the finish was in sight, so that made it easier. I was still dead tired though and my legs were so heavy that it was hard to turn them over. After making the final turn into Canal Park Stadium, I saw the finish timer and went into a full sprint. The stadium was packed and people were cheering! It was awesome! I pretended that they were all cheering for me! LOL! It was great fun!

Aside from the cool finish, one thing that I really enjoyed about this race was all the people I saw! First, there were tons of people cheering all over the place. There were bands, and cheerleaders, and people just sitting out on their front lawns cheering for all of the runners. There were people standing at the ends of their driveways handing out snacks like pretzels and drink. Everyone was so positive! I saw a lot of people dressed up too. I saw a group of relay runners all dressed up with batman masks and another group all wearing princess tiaras! I even saw one marathon runner juggling as he was running! WHOA! I also was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of people I know too. When I first arrived there, I ran into a girl that I work with. She and I chatted for a bit before I headed over to catch my shuttle. Once I got to my relay zone, I ran into the wife of one of my husband's former coworkers. She and I had fun chatting while waiting for our numbers to be called. Then, once I started running, I heard a familiar voice shouting from the crowd cheering people on. It was another coworker. I yelled to her and she starting cheering like crazy for me! How nice! Then, a mile or so later, I had to cross traffic. The traffic cop was telling a driver to wait for me. When I looked at the driver, I recognized him as another coworker! In fact, he would have been doing the race himself had he not pulled a hamstring last week. He gave me a big wave and a thumbs up. After I crossed the finish line, I started making my way through the shoot and found another coworker there. She had just completed the full marathon a few minutes ahead of me. Then, to top of my reunion type day, after chatting with my relay teammates for awhile, I started heading back to my car. As I was walking down the sidewalk, I looked to the person on my left and recognized her as the person who first hired me as a teacher! She was my supervisor for a few years and was always very supportive. It was nice seeing her again.

I really could not get over how many people I saw yesterday! I mean, some of those situations were just too coincidental! With the 10,000+ people just at the race alone, I don't think I could have planned to run into those people if I tried! Oh well, so glad I did!

So once I got home, I checked out my split time which for 7.6 miles was 1:07:06. I was wondering if that was on pace as to what I should have been able to do. I went onto the Running Times Calculator and entered in my half mary time from a few weeks ago and then entered in 7.6 miles and found that my projected time should have been 1:06:40. HA! I was less than 30 seconds off my target time and I didn't even know it! Considering that my half mary course was all downhill and my race yesterday certainly was NOT, it turns out that I did pretty well! In fact my average pace was 8:49 m/m -- not too shabby!

So overall, the relay race was pretty fun! I think I'd like to do it again. It has me looking forward to racing again soon too! :-)

I've Got Two Tickets to Paradise

The surprise destination is... The Big Island Hawaii! I can't believe this! This is far beyond my wildest hopes and dreams! I've been SO busy getting ready the past two days though, I haven't even had time to write about how the surprise was revealed! I still have so much to do too. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time on the plane tomorrow to give all the details! Stay tuned!

TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

Michelle of Bake-en selected the Dimply Plum Cake for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. It seemed like the perfect fall recipe with the plums, but I really wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. I mean, when I hear "cake", "plum" usually isn't in the same sentence. For me though, TWD is all about trying new things, so I decided to jump right in! I actually was a little excited though as I perused the ingredient list a little more closely. I saw that this recipe has a touch of ground cardamom. I recently bought a ton of cardamom to use in my chai tea and was glad to finally have another use for it.

This recipe was super easy to put together. Dorie does suggest using Italian prune plums if possible, but my local grocery store didn't have those today. I was just going to get some purple plums when my husband convinced me to grab a few different varieties. I grabbed some super ripe purple plums, a few red ones, and some of the new pluots (which by the way, are a cross between a plum and an apricot and are super sweet and super yum!) Since these plums were larger than the ones Dorie suggested, I could only fit 9 plum halves instead of 12. No biggie though!

I was a little worried about how this was going to turn out as I peaked into the oven 30 minutes into baking it. The cake was starting to really puff up and almost enveloped the plums! The sides were also started to brown while the middle was still nowhere near close to done. I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer to the baking fairies.

After 15 more minutes, the crust was browned all over and a toothpick in the middle came out pretty much clean. I didn't want to risk burning the top, so I pulled it out right at 45 minutes. Once I set it on the cooling rack, I was please to see all the different color variations from the different plum varieties! The bright pink ones are the pluots, the dark-colored runny ones are the super ripe purple plums, and the bland looking ones are the red plums.

After allowing the cake to cool, I sliced out a corner piece with the runny purple plum and took a bite... a bite into heaven! I loved the flavors in the cake! I could definitely taste the cardamom but only a hint of it. (By the way, I had a cup of chai tea with cardmom to drink with this -- FABULOUS!) I could also taste a hint of the orange zest which was a great compliment to the sweet/tart flavor of the warm, juicy plum. So yum! My favorite part of the cake though was something that probably wasn't supposed to be there. My cake was slightly underdone in the areas between the plums... but I didn't care! I loved the flavor even more!

I am normally satisfied with just one piece of desert, but I had to go for another. This time, I grabbed a piece with a red plum. The fruit was not as ripe so it was a little tough to cut through with just a fork, but it tasted yummy as well.

I saved one piece with the pluot for my snack tomorrow, but the rest is going to work with my husband. Dorie says this cake is just good for about 2 days, so unfortunately, I won't be able to make this one last. Oh well, it was good while I did have it! Thanks for choosing this one Michelle!

***UPDATE: I had the piece with the pluot today. It was the best by far! If I make this again, I will either make it with super ripe plums or with all pluots. Mmmm! Unfortunately though, this yummy cake didn't get such a warm reception from others. My DH took it to work but apparently very few people... like um, 2, tried it. Apparently it looked too "weird" and nobody really seemed adventurous enough to try it. Bummer! Oh well. If I make this again, I'll just cut the recipe in half and have it all to myself! Mwaaa haaa haaaaaa!

My Try at Making Christmas Cards

Okay, so every year I say that I am going to make my own Christmas cards using my seemingly endless supply of scrapbook stuff. Well this year, I actually got a couple done. I'm not sure how I like them though. They look kind of plain to me. Any ideas on how to jazz them up? Which one (if any) do you like best? My husband likes the one in the bottom photo in the middle. (Exluding the one in the middle of the second photo which is not done,) that's the one I like the least! I like the one on the left in the top photo. He said it's not "festive" enough. Hmmm, any tips?

Book Review: Twilight

***Spoiler Alert*** Well, it took me just two days, but I finished Twilight! Overall, the story was a fun read that certainly didn't require any "deep" thinking on my part, which is sometimes good. It was definitely entertaining. What I didn't like about it though was that the relationship between Bella and Edward I found to be juvenile. Of course they are in high school so HELLO? of course it's going to be! I don't know, I guess I was just hoping for something deeper. For most of the story, all Bella talks about is how "beautiful" and "godlike" (ironically enough) Edward, her vampire beau is. And Edward is mesmerized by how different she is from the other girls at school (classic) and how her scent is intoxicating to him. Hmmm, would he love her as much if she didn't smell so yummy to him? A question all of us ladies ponder! I digress.... Anyhow, their love affair is innocent and endearing. Their "us against the world" attitude is little much for me at times though. She wants him to give her the "kiss of death," if you will, but he refuses. He refuses to take away the life that still lies before her, yet she is convinced that a life without him is a life not worth living. Hey sister -- You're 17! Quit being so darn dramatic! Yet, I believe I said those same things too at 17 -- hmm....

While I wanted to yell at the young and naive Bella at times, the character of Edward kept me turning page after page. I found him to be a far more intriguing character with complexities that Bella simply can't match. I kept begging the author to tell me more about him! She refused to give in to me, at least yet. (Character development is not strong in this book.) So it appears that I will have to read the other books in the series to delve deeper in the mind of our young, "godlike" vamp and to see how his and Bella's tortured romance unfolds.

Completed a Challenge!

So I said that I wanted to do more challenges, so last night, I tried to make a card using four different stamps for a challenge on the Two Peas stamping board. Well, I read on somebody's blog (sorry, I forget who!) about these cool directions on how to make a criss cross card. The directions are available at Split Coast Stampers. (HERE is a list of all sorts of project ideas!) Anyhow I decided to do both projects in one! I had a little trouble with the stamps on the green band, but I think it still came out okay. The card is not completely done yet. I think it's still missing something, but I'm not quite sure. Still thinking about what to do. Anyhow, here is it!

And here is another card I made last night. This is a TOTAL scraplift though, so I must give credit to Paula over on the Stamping MB at Two Peas. HERE is her original. I have that same stamp and have been puzzled over how to use it! Here is my version. I hope she doesn't mind that I borrowed her idea!

I liked this layout so much, I made another card using a different stamp. I especially liked this stamp because if you look carefully at the flower, it has a paisley design, just like the PP! (Hard to see in pic. SORRY!)

I still want to add a little extra to these cards too. I have to wait until my next trip to Archivers though to get what I want. That'll maybe be next weekend though! Yea!

Well, I think that is all for me for today. My husband has been out of town all week for business and is finally coming home tonight. We're planning on going out to dinner and then just getting some well-needed relaxing for the both of us! TGIF! Have a great weekend everyone!

Trying to Persevere Day 1...and MANGOS!

Today is my first day off (again) from running. I'm planning on taking at least a full week off, maybe even two. I worked out on my elliptical today for about 30 minutes. I wanted to go 40, but my knee started to hurt, so I stopped. During those 30 minutes, I pushed as hard as I could so that I could get my heart rate up, but it didn't seem to want to budge! (I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing!) Well, even though I was at a "conversational pace" nearly the whole time, my legs felt like jello when I got off! I didn't stop there though! After the ellliptical, I did a little Pilates. I got a new target toning Pilates DVD. It's by Denise Austin who can be slightly annoying at times, but the DVD itself is pretty cool because it has 6 or so different workouts for all different areas of the body (and 1 workout for full body) and you can totally customize your workout by choosing which ones you want to do through the menu, then the DVD will play only those. Cool! Anyway, I just the beginner's abs workout, and then the hips and the butt workout. All of those should help with my IT band problems.

Oh, and btw, in case you are wondering WTH an IT band even is, I think this image depicts it well... So anyhow, I think my IT band is getting much better. My left knee is really the only one that really hurts now, and even then, it's not as bad as it has been. Hopefully, it'll be gone soon.



So aside from that, I did have another positive result from this injury. Here's the short story: injured knees leads to time on the couch icing knees. That leads to increased tv watching, specifically, shows I would never normally watch. This leads to the Food Network and the discovery of (a) a cool show called Iron Chef America, and (b) the founding of two cool new recipes! First, Iron Chef...the best part of the show is the opening. It's a cooking show but they are so completely dramatic about it -- it's hilarious! My fave part though is when they reveal the secret ingredient. I could describe it, or you could just see for yourself...




MANGOS! HILARIOUS!

Okay, now onto the new recipes I found. I made scallops provencal with herbed rice. It was my first time cooking and eating scallops and they turned out AWESOME! Both things were super YUM and super easy to make too! I'll try to post the recipes, or at least link them tomorrow! (The website where I got the recipes is being fiesty right now! UPDATE: They are linked now!)

Bursting with Blueberry Goodness

After making the double crusted blueberry pie for TWD, I had a cup of blueberries left over. It was the perfect amount for making the Orange Berry Muffins also from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. This recipe was a nice respite from the blueberry pie. It was so quick and easy -- in just about an hour after starting, I was already tasting my sweet success.

The recipe is pretty basic, the only difference maybe was that it had orange zest that you actually rubbed into the sugar to bring out the flavor more. I've not done that before. It was a nice little touch.

Other than that, I thought the recipe came together well. The batter was thick and easy to scoop into the muffin tins. Oh, BTW, I've learned to use an ice cream scoop or melon baller to get the batter into the tins pretty nicely! Just a little tip! After the batter went into the oven, the recipe said that you could sprinkle some sugar on top after about 10 minutes in, but I decided not to. The muffins puffed up pretty fast and quickly baked up in just 20 minutes. When I pulled them out of the oven, I could see many of the blueberries had burst, allowing their sugary goodness to escape. I had to save one by eating it immediately! While it was pretty yummy, I wished I had sprinkled some sugar on top after all. I think it would have sweetened them up a bit. In fact, they kind of had a savory, corn bread like taste. I have no idea where that came from. There was no corn meal or anything like that in the batter, so I don't know. At first I thought it was just me who was tasting that, but then another person who tasted them said the exact same thing. Oh well. If I make these again, I'll definitely add a little more sweetness with the sugar.

Funky Flashback: A Few Ghoulish Videos!

To help you get in the Halloween spirit, I will be sharing three gouhlish videos starting with "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. While this video was from an awesome movie, I'm not sure what is scarier in this video -- the ghosts or the overuse of neon lights! :-)



And no Halloween-themed music video collection would be complete without...Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!



While the last selection isn't a "funky flashback," hopefully it will get you in the Halloween spirit. Here's "This is Halloween" from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.



For more Halloween fun, I've posted a ghostly tale today and a few others earlier this week. Check them out!

Proof of the Power of Positivity #1

(Wow, my third post today!) Okay, here is my first list of how the Law of Attraction has worked for me. (See post below.) They may be little things, but that's okay!

1. One night while I was scrapbooking, there was a tv show on about lucky people. They were asking the question, "Are there people who are really lucky?" One thing I remember from the show is where they took a group of people who considered themselves lucky and one group who considered themselves unlucky. They put money on a street and sent each person walking down that street. Nearly all of the "lucky" people found the money and nearly none of the "unlucky" people found it! After a few more experiements with similar results, they determined that "luck" is really not some cosmic occurance -- it has more to do with perception and observation. People who think they are lucky, expect things to come there way and look for things to come their way. They are more observant and more celebratory of when good things occur.
   
   I went for a run the next day and was thinking about that money experiment. I thought to myself, "I'm a pretty lucky person. I wonder when I'll find money someday. I just need to be more observant." As I finished my run, I stretched, then started walking over to my car. I decided to take a different way back to the car and just as I cutting through the lot, I looked down and guess what I saw -- a $5 bill! :-)
   


2. Last night I was working on a scrapbook project. Last week my DH and I went to Cord Camera to get some cardstock for my projects. I could NOT find the right color cs to save my life, and they have every color cs there imaginable. I gave up. So as I'm working on my project, I think to myself, "I know I have everything I need right here to make this project even better." I decided to look through my old stash of cs, and there is the perfect color I needed! Yea! (Pics of that project to come!)

I hope to add to my list throughout the day! Do you have examples of how the Law of Attraction (or positive thinking at least) has worked for you?! Please share! :-)

I've Got a Challenge For You!

Okay, you know by now that I think Cards for Heroes is a great program. AND, just the other day I posted about how I want to do some challenges. I also challenged YOU to take some on too. Well, the two have joined! Cards for Heroes is hosting a challenge! For every card you send to them (which will then be forwarded to soldiers overseas so that they can use them to send notes to loved ones,) you will earn one entry. So if you send 20 cards = 20 entries! You can earn entries in other ways too. Then in early Feb, they will draw a name and the winner will receive a bunch of cool prizes! (I think the real prize though is in knowing that you are helping out and doing wonderful things for others who have sacrificed so much! I mean really, stop for a moment and think about what the soldiers and their families have given up for us and for others. Now, how hard is it for us to make or buy just a few cards to send over to them? It's such a small and easy thing for us to, but is one that could be very meaningful to them, so think about it!) Check out the website for more info. You can click HERE or on the banner below!

Speedwork = Torture

I decided to try to get one session of speedwork in before my race this Saturday and opted for a tempo run. I don't have a path near me with mile markers, so I used MapMyRun.com to plot out a course at my local bike path. I was lucky enough to find a path with enough landmarks to do a 1.5 mile warmup, a 4 mile tempo run, and a 1 mile cooldown -- Perfect! I then checked Accuweather to see when it would be best to run. The forecast said it would be clear until noon which was perfect since I had a chiro appt at noon anyway. I set my alarm for 7 and set all of my clothes out.

I woke up the next morning to the howling of wind and patter of rain on the windows. WHAT?! Stupid forecasters! What do you they get paid for anyway?! So I got on INAccuweather to look at the radar. The whole map was nearly all green and yellow. Grrrrr. It looked like it might clear up in another hour though, so I decided to wait it out. After an hour or so it was still raining -- I decided to just go and brave the weather.

I went out to my car, already annoyed at my start to the day only to look over and see a near flat tire! GRRRRRR. I fiddle with the air compressor with no luck. I decided to just go to the stupid gas station down the street and fill it up there.

Finally, I fix my tire, go bankrupt filling my gas tank, and finally head over to the bike path. After all the time I wasted fiddling with the tire though, I had JUST enough time to get my run in. Luckily, the skies cleared up and the sun started shining. At first I thought, "YES, I did wait it out perfectly!" Then I noticed the steam coming off the path...the only thing the sun did at that point was evaporate all of the water right back into the air creating a soupy, humid mixture that hung all around me. Oh well!

I took it easy on my 1.5 mile warmup and then kicked it into gear for my 4 mile run. I am SO bad at gauging my pace, so I did the best I could to stick to a 9 minute mile. I couldn't really tell whether I was on pace or not since there were no mile markers until 1.5 miles into the tempo. I felt like I was going pretty fast though, although I wasn't feeling great at all. My legs felt tired and I felt like I was gasping to breath in that thick air! It took awhile for me to settle my breathing and ignore my legs which were whining at me to stop. I saw the 1.5 mile landmark ahead and was hoping to see a low time so that I could at least confirm that yes, my efforts creating kickin-butt pace. Yeah...that didn't happen. I hit the 1.5 mile mark with a time of around 14:30. Whoa, that's one minute off the time I should have hit at that point. UGH! I already felt like I was using every fiber of my being to run fast, and then I found out I was too slow! WAH! I told myself to suck it up and just move faster. I kicked it up a notch and told myself to just push on. Little negative thoughts kept creeping in my head though..."You don't need to do all 4 miles...you can just do 3.5...or maybe even just 3. That's still good!" I thought, "NO NO NO! I WILL do the 4!" Once I got to the 3.5 mark, I was tempted to stop, but luckily enough, I could see the mile 4 marker ahead. I just focused on that and completed my run. As soon as I hit that though, I was exhausted! I pushed so hard during those 4 miles, I immediately stopped to walk to catch my breath. I haven't walked during a run in months! The only consolation was that at least it was only during my cooldown. I walked for one minute and the jogged the rest of the cooldown.

I wasn't too disappointed about the walk during the cooldown, but I am bummed about how hard those 4 miles were. I ended up running them at an avg pace of 8:45 per mile, which according to my target times via the McMillan Calculator, is pretty good. (My tempo pace is supposed to be 8:47 to 9:10.) What concerns me though is that there is NO WAY I could have done another mile at that pace today. I could barely do the 4 miles! What really bums me out now though is seeing that my target pace for my 10K is supposed to be 8:40 per mile. I had a hard enough time today doing 4 miles at 8:45, and I'm supposed to 6.2 miles at 8:40? I don't know how I'm going to do that! I think I'm going to need a little race magic! Actually, the magic of the race atmosphere has helped me out in the past! In fact, during my 5.25 mile race a few weeks ago, I averaged an 8:36 pace for the 5 mile portion and that was with a crummy first mile! Maybe it was the weather today...maybe it was my harder than normal cross-training session yesterday... maybe it was just a bad run. I hate excuses. Oh well. I'll just have to except it for what it is and let the race atmosphere carry me as fast as I can go this Saturday! ***crossing fingers***

TWD: Black and White Banana Bread

This is my first TWD post since taking two weeks off while on vacation in Hawaii. (To read about that, see posts below.) While I LOVED my time in Hawaii, there is one and possibly only one thing I missed about home, and that is being able to cook my own food! I was glad to get back into baking with Tuesdays with Dorie this week. The selection of the week is Black and White Banana Bread and was chosen by Ashlee at A Year in the Kitchen. (See her blog for the recipe.)

I was excited to try it because I love bread and also because I had never attempted marbling before, so I was interested to see how it would turn out. Then I went over to the TWD blog and saw that many people were having trouble with the recipe. Many said the bread didn't cook through, the batter was too runny, it was too dry on the edges and too moist in the middle or that their marbling didn't turn out at all! I was really worried at this point. I figured though, if I botched it, at least I wouldn't be the only one!

Well, I baked it last night and followed the directions to a T. It actually seemed pretty easy. I baked it in the oven as directed, and what can I say? The baking fairies worked their magic because my bread turned out pretty decent! Now if you click on over to Ashlee's blog, her bread looks awesome! Mine...ugh, not that great. I wish it were more puffed up and airy like hers. Mine settled a bit more and is more dense, but it's still better than I was hoping for considering all the trauma so many people were having.

I gave it a taste and it was actually pretty good! It wasn't dry at all. It was quite moist, but not too much. Now, I'm not a fan of chocolate in bread, so I likely will not make this again, but it was still a good baking experience!

Next week we are supposed to make blueberry ice cream. I don't have an ice cream maker so I immediately thought I would just do the backup choice which is simply to do a recipe from a previous TWD week. But then I started reading about a few people who already made the ice cream and how awesome it was! I know how to make ice cream without a maker (using bags and ice) but it's such a pain in the butt! We'll see how ambitious I'm feeling this weekend!

Cool Cards Using SheetLoad

We had a snowday today (WOO HOO) so I had some extra time to do some fun things. A few days ago, I ran across this cool blog called Sheetload. On the blog, you can download directions for using just a few pieces of patterned paper and cardstock to make awesome cards! (Check them out!) I've been wanting to make some cards so I finally got to today. Here are a couple of cards I made using the August sketch.

What's cool is that with the directions and the sketch, I was able to make the cards pretty fast. What's also cool is that I was able to use materials that I already had! Here is what I used: PP is "Emma" by Making Memories, stamps are $1 stamps from Joanns or Michaels, charms purchased from Joanns or Walmart, flowers by Prima, and the ribbon I just had laying around.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. It was a great way to use up the PP I never use anymore and a quick way to get cards done for next year! :-)

A Few More Summertime Blooms

Just wanted to share a few more blooms from our yard this year! Here are our clematis which are on the side of our house. We've had the large purple Jackmanii for three years now. The others are new. The last pic is an Oriental Lily which is blooming a little early this year, 'Mona Lisa'. Enjoy!

A New Mission: The Power of Positivity!

So since I finally finished The Other Boleyn Girl, I picked up a new book and one that I think I am in need right about now: Law of Attraction by Michael Losier. The basic premise of the book says that whatever you are thinking or feeling, you are putting out a vibe. Whatever the vibe is, the universe responds by giving you more of what you are putting out -- so if you are putting out a positive vibe, more positive, good things will come your way. If you are putting out a negative vibe, more negative, unwanted things will find you. So basically, the law of attraction says that you are attracting positive or negative things (or people!) into your life based on the kind of vibes you are putting out there.

When I first heard this, I thought, WHAT?! That sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo! But then I kept hearing more from all over the place. With everything going on in my life right now (or maybe I should say not going on,) I thought I'd give the book a try.

This book is a super short read! (I started it and finished it in under an hour!) It has a lot of activities and worksheets to get you started in the right direction. After reading it, I figure that whether I believe in the whole vibrations into the universe thing or not, much of what Losier said in the book is just good positive thinking and what could be wrong with that?! Here are some things he suggests:

• Think about what you want. Write it down and be specific! To get started, it helps sometimes to write about what you don't want. For example, if you want to find your ideal spouse, use your negative experiences to write down what you don't want. Those things are often much easier to list! THEN, turn each item on your negative list into something on your list of things you DO want. For example, if you know you don't want a spouse who is controlling, write instead that you want to find a spouse who is flexible, trusting and well-balanced. Losier calls this "identifying a contrast".
  
  Again, whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, many goal-oriented people will take the time to actually write out their goals. I remember reading somewhere that those people who actually write them down are far more successful in achieving them! I see no harm in applying that to personal goals!

• Give attention to what you want. Don't write about what it is and stop there. Take it one step further and write about how you feel working towards attaining it! That'll serve two purposes: 1) It will remind you daily about what your goal is, keeping it fresh in your mind, and 2) It will make you feel good about it, which makes you then put out that positive vibe that will hopefully bring more positivity in your life. Again, believe in it or not, what harm can come from thinking consistently and positively about what you want to achieve?!
  
  Some people may consider this step an affirmation. Affirmations don't always work though. With a typical affirmation, one might say, "I am good enough, smart enough, and people like me." (Bonus points to the person who knows where that line comes from!) The problem with that is, if a person really feels that they are NOT good enough and smart enough, self doubt will come into play and the only vibe that person will be putting out is a negative, doubtful one. To fix that, instead say, "I am excited at the idea of being good enough, smart enough..." We can all be truthful in saying that we are excited at the idea of achieving ____ and therefore, put out that positive vibe!

• Allow things to come into your life. The biggest barrier to allowing the Law of Attraction is doubt. Losier says that we must remove doubt in our lives to allow the Law to work more successfully for us. Again, believe in it or not, what harm can come from having a less pessimistic, more positive outlook. One exercise that he suggests is to list all of the ways the Law of Attraction has worked in our daily lives, no matter how big or how small. The more we do it, the more we will see that it really is working and that we really do have control over our happenstances. I think this activity is a simple idea. Again, what harm can come from acknowledging the good things that come into our lives!
  

So, with that, I am going to work towards writing at least one thing every day where the Law of Attraction has worked for me. Since this post is getting crazy long, I'll start with a new post for today's entry!