Mondays

So, back to the grind. Well, except for work, that comes tomorrow, which is better since it is a Tuesday. This weather has been amazing. Can I tell you, how excited I am to be out of winter. Anyway, the problem with having off of work is that it leads to baking. Good if you like to bake (I do) bad if you are trying to lose weight (I am). So, I compromised. I made these cookies. Remember, I made these before for my house warming party. Anyway, since I need to get back to the health kick, I also made myself some protein bars. I got the recipe here and since I didn't have enough PB, I made half a recipe. Hopefully it will turn out well. I am always up to trying new things, and they are healthy and supposedly taste like fudge...I will let you know. Other than that, I ran today 2.76 miles, which is my Wednesday work out, but my friend Steph has asked me to help prepare her for her first 5K so when we have a day off together I work my workouts around her schedule. Speaking of running, my long runs are no shorter than 7 miles. Can you believe that in 6 weeks I will be running my first half. Now, I am trying to figure out hydration, if beans, gus or gels work best for me. I have time, I am just going to try a little at a time now, so nothing new on race day. I have also begun to silence the voices in my head, or well not listen to them anyway. I have a lot to be proud of, that I have lost 54# since May, began running in Sept and 7 months later I am running my first half marathon. I am also flattered that people I work with, friends actually, are asking me to help get them running. Who knows, maybe next year I will be running a full marathon. Anyway, since I know you come here to see pics of my daughter, here is a picture from our trip to Fairview Park today. I really miss these things when I go back to work tomorrow. But, without further ado...

Hope you had a great Monday...hopefully I will be able to blog more frequently. The more I blog the more stress that is lifted. Here's to more blogposts!

Awesomeness

Those that know me, know that I work 3-11. There are many things about it that are worth it, I get the morning with Makayla, I get $0.75 shift differential.  However, things like family dinners, bedtime, snuggle time, Makayla night time stuff that I miss. So, when the job gave me an opportunity to have the day off, without hesitation, I said yes, it gave me the time to enjoy the awesome weather with Makayla, and then she went to day care so that I could go to the gym.  Lately, I have been feeling like I am stuck where I am with my weight loss so I know I need to embrace every chance I can get to move.  I also want to make sure that with the weather being so beautiful, I wanted to make sure that there would still be time to get outside and enjoy it, hopefully as a family. So, I jumped at the opportunity to make dinner and even dessert.  I was feeling like I wanted meatloaf, so when I found this recipe, I was excited to be able to try it out. I also made mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes. All things, that I can't wait for Makayla to try. And for dessert, I found this recipe for cake mix cookies and let me just tell you, I CANNOT wait to taste them! I will let you know how they turn out...

Running

My life seems to be on fast forward lately. I don't know about you, but when I was in high school, I thought time went to slowly. In college I thought it went at the right speed. Now, since my daughter came along, I feel like it is in fast forward. Who hit the warp speed button, and how can I get them to depress it? I can't believe that I have been training for my half marathon almost a full month now?! I can't believe that I have less than 2 months until I run it. There is a lot I can't believe, I am just glad that I am healthy enough to enjoy every minute. I just got back from my 5 mile run. Tomorrow was supposed to be my long run day, but I did it today so that I could run with my running friends. I remember when I was training for my 10K and 5 miles was my max I ran, and now this will be the shortest long run until after the half. I am so humbled by the complements I got today. My pace felt great, I just have to now work on pushing myself harder. I need to get all of my miles closer to 10 even, not even want to, I feel like I NEED too. Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a much faster pace than when I first started running, but I am actually starting to feel like a runner, and I don't want to stay in my comfort zone. I want to push myself, and know that I left it all out there.
Now that running is finished for now, I can relax and enjoy the day. I am going to try some new recipes today that I got from my "friend" Courtney. I can't wait, it is fresh fruit salsa and some healthified cookies. Who doesn't like cookies, but no one like me loves them more when they are made healthier!
Tomorrow I am cross training and will be swimming. I CANNOT wait to stretch out in the water. Then, tomorrow evening, I am running/walking with my friend Stef to continue supporting her with her running for a 5k. Running with her humbles me, since I know where she is coming from, and for the sheer fact that she asked me to run with her to get her in shape. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect someone to ask me to help them get into shape.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of the mothers out there and to all my blog readers who are moms, I am wishing you the happiest and healthiest mother's day you can have! See, I even baked for the occassion...

I found these Easy Write food markers by Betty Crocker and thought I would give them a try. Glad I don't have to write for a living!

Hope you have a great day!

Give away time!

I don't often blog about other giveaways, but this one I want to share. My blog "friend" Kristen is giving away an awesome cupcake book, so I thought I would share this opportunity with you. So, go over to her blog and enter for your chance to win this fab book!

Apple Pie

An aunt of mine makes apple pies all the time for my grandparents, and whenever I ask for a recipe, the answer I get is always the same...THERE IS NONE! (And, I want to respond "If you know how to make it, you had to learn it somewhere right?") But, I just mumbled nonsense under my breath. Well, thanks to a new blog I read from an awesome girl named Katie, I became obsessed with trying to make my own apple pie. What a better way to vent your stress and frustration than baking right? Yeah, I know. Penguin does the cooking and I do the baking. It is an agreement we have and quite frankly I am OK with that. Anyway, I chose today to be the day that I try it. Now...I have learned that making your own pie crust from scratch is messy but none the less fun. Here are the pictures like she did...step by step.
Here is my crust in the kitchen aid pie pan...always wanted to use it;)

Even Penguin helped...he was in charge of peeling and slicing the apples.

Pie with apples assembled....wow looks like it is going to EXPLODE!

Pie with topping...almost ready for the oven...

Pie all topped off and ready for the oven...

See, the pie is in oven...I can't wait to smell it cooking...


TALA! The finished pie...


Now, I just hope it looks as good as it smells.