How much mayo can one family eat?

What a hilarious week so far.  I got a check in the mail for a book sold on Amazon and it was wrapped in this super funny sandwich list from the midwest.  I appreciate the recycling of paper, but I hope they know that I'd read it.  This family Really likes mayo and bologna!!  I can't judge though, I've never had mayo with bologna before.  As a child I would often have bologna and mustard, but somehow the mayo makes it so much more midwest-cozy.  On an unrelated sidenote: the artist formerly known as Prince is totally from Minnesota.

I bought myself a present at Lululemon!  I got black arm warmers for running.  They're basically like tube socks that have a little thumb hole cut out and pull up to your mid-bicep to keep you warm during cold weather runs.  It's pretty exciting, Kara Goucher wears them and lots of other cool runners.  I think I paid too much for them but Lululemon is on the pricier side, the Asics pair go for about $10 and mine were about $28 because they're thicker.  I will take extra good care of them, I plan on testing them out this weekend for an outdoor long run!  My face might be freezing but my arms will be toasty warm.  These little comforts are what I really need to get motivated to get outside because it seems that we will be in New England for a long time, if not forever.

Today, I got a headache for the first time in ages.  You know the kind that just makes the world shut down a little bit?  I marched myself to Starbucks to get one of the holiday drinks, I figured it wouldn't hurt my headache and might improve my mood.  I ordered a tall non-fat peppermint mocha and a petite vanilla scone.  Turns out that I don't really like the peppermint mocha - I only drank half, but I devoured that petite scone, it was terrific: pefectly moist with a sweet vanilla glaze.  I'll admit that it didn't help my headache, and it may have made it worse, but it made me happy so it was worth it at the time.  I need to try not to reward myself with food!  That is a terrible habit... so then for dinner we ordered Thai takeout...dah, I know!!  I could have fixed something light and healthy for dinner, but 99% of the time we eat at home during the week but today it just didn't work out.  Atleast nothing was fried, I have that going for me.  

You Tube Champions!

On the right is our friend Scotty holding a bottle of wine sideways wrapped in a kitchen towel.  On the left is my husband swinging a large rubber mallet.  What is the point of this Idiotness?  Well Abe saw the video of the French guy opening a bottle of wine by placing it into his shoe and banging it against a wall.  The cork gets pushed out by the pressure of the motion.  The boys tried that first, but it didn't work out mainly because they were kind of scared they'd just break the bottle.  I'm not sure how they found the courage in 10 minutes, but soon enough this became their solution...to swing a rubber mallet indoors at the bottle. 

Check it out if you feel like watching some crazy shit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvsmYf8xQ-c

I filmed it on my super cute pink blackberry so it's totally poor quality, and when I shake it's because I'm trying to quietly suppress my laughing...I wasn't encouraging it, I just wanted to capture their moment of triumph!  Please do not try this at home, unless you are in someone else's kitchen.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - WTF!

My husband thought I really had to see this movie.  His sister brought it home one day back in the 90s and he thought it was hilarious....10 years ago.  He put it on our Netflix and tonight was the big night.  I watched the whole thing and I'm honestly not sure if I loved it or not.  What I do know is that there are so many famous people in this movie dressed in serious drag and lip synching their hearts out. 

Guy Pearce from Memento. 

Hugo Weaving...aka The Elf Dude in Lord of the Rings OR Agent Smith.

Terence Stamp aka Yes Man, from that movie with Jim Carey and the cuteness of Zooey Deschanel.

And now all of them dressed in drag.

So did I like it?  Yeah I still don't know.  It had a lot of really good moments, but it was also the strangest movie that I've ever seen!!  I'm totally not sure if I suggest it or not.  Their costumes are seriously awesome though.

Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff

Did you want to make really delicious and creamy pasta without burning your house down or waiting 3 hours?  Do you love mushrooms...because I love mushrooms much more than the average person.

Try the Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff recipe from Williams Sonoma.  It's so fast and easy, you will be thrilled.

To make beef stroganoff, use 1 lb. cooked leftover steak, such as beef sirloin or tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes. Add to the sauce along with the broth.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 2 lb. mixed fresh mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster and cremini, thinly
    sliced
• 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 lb. wide egg noodles or pappardelle

Directions:

Make the sauce
In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and sauté until lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they have softened and released most of their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir to incorporate. Stir in the wine and broth and cook until most of the alcohol has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sour cream and the 2 Tbs. parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add 2 Tbs. salt and the pasta to the boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until al dente, according to the package instructions. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Warm briefly over low heat to blend the flavors. Add as much of the cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce, garnish with parsley and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, One Pot, by Carrolyn Carreño (Oxmoor House, 2008).

Looking for Adventure

So many things are bothering me already and it's only Tuesday!  I've been pretty down and depressed since the Nike race.  I spent 4 months training and looking forward to it, and when it was over it was like: now what am I supposed to do?  I'm sure this is totally common, but that doesn't make it any easier to get through.  I know that I have a half marathon in May/June and then I'm going to try to get into a full marathon for October, but it's all so far away right now.  My next adventure is going to be moving in April, and that's actually not all that fun.

I guess I've sort of lost my direction again.  This happens a lot...

To try and remedy this trash bag full of blues I've done a few things.  First, I scheduled an appointment for a massage at Melt on Newbury Street with a gift card.  Who wouldn't enjoy a free massage?  Then I made it a goal to keep hitting the treadmill (even though I've come to despise that stupid machine) for 10 miles per week so my legs won't forget how to run over the long horrible New England winter.  I found podcasts that I really enjoy: The Gomers and Running with the Pack, but really how into pod casts can I get without becoming strange.  I got really into nesting, and I was baking and all that like a madwoman and then I got kind of bored and stopped.  Our place is now a disaster with too many baked goods. I'm sure there's a better solution somewhere out there and I'll come across it soon enough.

Happy Halloween, would you like a lapdance?

We were Chris Farley (me) and Patrick Swayze (Abe) for Halloween this year.  Can't you tell?  The theme of our party being: Remembering Patrick Swayze.

I know I said that I didn't want to dress up, and I didn't, but Abe went out and got part of our costumes last week so I felt obligated after that.  We were able to finish up our costumes pretty easily so you know whatever, we do look pretty awesome though.  We weren't the only people in wigs:

We still don't really know what Dave the guy on the left was.  Creepy is kind of what he was with that real mustache.  He had a full beard and then just shaved it off leaving like a science teacher mustache on his face.

My favorite doggy was there!  Cute Cute Cute, I wanted steal him.  Too bad he's like the heaviest dog I've ever held, I was actually really straining to hold him, but I could probably still run! 

The party ended with some jamming in the barn.  My husband thrilled the ladies with his guitar playing, also he played the drums.  I didn't know he knew how to play the drums...

It was a long night and a long drive home, but it was fun.  It was much easier to stay warm when I had a giant pillow stuffed into my outfit! 

Cash for Clutter

I have finally found a hobby that isn't costing me a fortune.  My current hobbies like my all women's gym = $1,200 a year.  I know, I'm overpaying but if I'm going to sweat it out it's going to be at a place that doesn't make me want to cringe.  Running, since I really just got really into it = $400 this year already.  I know, you're like: oh my god, running is free just move your legs!  Well you need sneakers to run, and if you run a lot you will need a couple pairs of them, and then when you enter a fun race that's like $100, and then you're like Oh I truly need insoles $40, and now a water belt $30, yeah so it adds up for something that's actually Free.  But I've done it, things are changing in my wallet.  I've sold 11 books on Amazon in just 1 day!  Many of them were not the "cool" books, in fact I would like to say that my sci-fi/fantasy books sold first and fast.  The first book I sold was a Stephanie Meyer book (not Twilight) and I did really love the book and it was hard to say goodbye, but now...my bookshelves have more space.  Now all my books fit in the bookshelves without piling over into piles on the floor and in weird places.  This is the most fruitful hobby that I've ever had: making space and making money.  Also, I sold a Jillian Michaels dvd set.  Don't judge me...it was too hard!!  I ran a half marathon 2 weeks ago and a 30 minute living room workout was too hard, yeah it sounds crazy, but that women is just like way too strong for me.  I was sick of looking at the set judging me for not trying harder, so I passed it on to someone who might be more motivated.  I should have written him a note that said: this box does not say you need equipment but you do, also this box does not say you will hate your life, but you will.  Cheers dude!

The Great Pumpkin...

Ok, so Halloween is right around the corner and we do have a party go to but we do Not have any costumes.  Why not, you ask?  The theme of the party is: Mourning Patrick Swayze.  People will dress as characters from his movies or in black for mourning.  Sure, that's great, but I don't think I felt for Patrick Swayze the way that the hosts felt for him.  I could only think of two movies he was even in.  I'm approaching a time in my life where if I don't want to do something, then I'm just not going to do it.  Last year we went to a halloween party for the same hosts and the theme was (yes they love themes): Create Your Own Superhero.  It was a nice idea actually, but we never thought of costume ideas and then 2 hours before we were ripping stuff up from around our apartment.  You have no idea the bizarre shit we were coming up with!  At one point Abe wanted to take our tall standing lamp apart and use the shade to go as a Larva!  I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard at a grown man squooshed into a tiny lampshade.  Later, he took apart our cow humidifier and was going to have me go as Cow Woman.  Now these ideas are all very good, of course, but in the end I dressed in all black and cut out a little eye mask and Abe put on a t-shirt that said: Wingman.  We were the lamest people there for sure, but I just wasn't feeling it.  So what are we going to do this year?  I have no effing idea, but we almost went as this:

And then I remembered that more than anything else, I really don't enjoy freezing my bum off at a party where I'm the DD so I can't even drink to keep warm.  I'd rather stay mostly bundled.  Plus, like who was going to be Chris Farley?  I couldn't really just assume that I would be Patrick, although I totally have the more awesome hair.

Podcasts

I just got really into podcasts lately.  I got kind of bored of listening to music on my ipod for many reasons, but mostly because I couldn't figure out how to get my new music from one mac to my other mac.  I know,  I'm that ridiculous.  It's also ridiculous that I never knew that podcasts were FREE!

One of my friends was like: you should listen to Fernando and Greg based in San Francisco.  So I did, and honestly, I wasn't really into them like at all.  I think the main problem is that this particular podcast is just taken from their daily radio show, and they aren't specially recorded so there's a certain element of organization missing.  I came across Two Gomers Run a Marathon and from the first episode I was totally hooked!  I listened to a bunch of episodes all in the span of a couple of days until I caught up to real time which actually was disappointing, it's like well now I have to wait?  I don't like waiting.  It's about these two regular dudes training for their first marathon and their trials and tribulations along the way, but the most funny stuff is just their casual conversations.  One episode they talked about Full House for like 15 minutes, but then they did this episode on fast food and eating habits, so it's all somehow related.  They're just really likeable guys too, you can tell they're nice people.  When I say they're normal dudes, they're like totally not athletes or anything like that so listening to their training is very interesting and motivating.  I've been searching for another podcast to fill my commuting time with other stuff while I'm waiting for their next episode so  I downloaded this podcast on people talking about the Glee episodes and it's kind of just the other side of the dork spectrum.  I gave it a shot and listened to 2 full episodes but found it was kind of like cats screaming in a metal trash can.  I would probably skip that one if I were you.

Anyways if you're bored with your current music selection and need something a little bit more entertaining try out a podcast.  

So many nightmares

So of course I slept really horribley after watching Haunting in Connecticut last night.  Why do I do that to myself?  I'm super sensitive to scary movies so I don't usually watch them, but I put it on my Netflix anyways and made my husband watch it with me.  The movie itself wasn't bad, I felt like actors were very good which almost never happens in this type of movie.  The circumstances were really just what I found so scary: it was a true story.  I do believe in ghosts and I believe in that really horrible unknown place before final resting, so mock me all you want but I stand by my opinion.  Abe was really sick so he was coughing and snoring out on the couch and so when I woke up at 5am and he wasn't there...I turned my light on and slept you know, like a scared little kid.

We started our day with pancakes.  Abe loves to make these Wallet Pancakes from Esquire.  The only difference being that I try to have him use wheat flour.

Wallet Pancakes
recipe seen here

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
Combine dry. Beat egg. Combine wet. Mix wet into dry. Stir until barely mixed. Can be doubled, tripled, etc.

After this breakfast I thought it was a good idea to get back out there and start running again.  I took a full week off after my half marathon.  My intentions were to do a long 5-6 mile run nice and easy.  What really happened was that I discovered a week off was too long.  It turned into a 4 mile run and walk struggle to get home.  In the first few steps my left knee hurt and my right shin hurt, both of these pains were unexpected.  I think I just kind of shocked my body, so I just need to ease back into it.  I don't think that it will be like starting from square 1 but it will be like starting from say week 5 of my training as opposed to week 15 when I ran the race.  It does feel a bit strange running without a purpose though, I really do need something to train for otherwise I'm just not in the right mindset.  Maybe I should find a Turkey Trot somewhere : )