Momsie in SC

Yum

Why wait for a holiday to eat cheese ball?

It's time....

You know it is time for vacation when this is what you desk looks like when you first get to work...

Is it Friday yet... Sister Palooza 2011 here I come!

Happy Halloween!

Greetings from a vampire, witch, and Sookie!

And the cutest costume ever!

Courtesy of ...

Pumpkin Time

It was a beautiful day at the pumpkin patch in the mountains today... Fall leaves, sunshine, and two of my favorite little friends...

Warning: Not for the weak stomachs...

We had a blood drive at work today. Definitely worth it just to get the cookies!

Hello from my desk!

Skirts n Dirt

Swirl

Because James got a new toy for his birthday...

For Momsie

Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing woman I know!
Thanks for all the love you give. I am very lucky to be able to call you my mom.
I am sorry I cannot be with you this year, but at least I can share some memories.
I love you!

MudRun

I apologize for the wait to see these pictures (although if you have FB, these will be a repeat). Thank you to all of you who donated to our team. We raised over $1000 for LLS. I think all four of us were very nervous on the day of the event, but once we made it through the first obstacle, all of the nerves were quickly forgotten. The very first obstacle was a set of logs over about two feet of mud. We were instructed to crawl under the logs and as I watched the team in front of us, I realized that thinking about the mud would only make things worse. The logs were at the same level of the mud, so there was no option but to fully immerse my head in the mud. Did I mention I hate mud?? That was probably my second to least favorite obstacle. My least favorite was the very last one which I think was only added for optimum dirt coverage at the finish line. After walking through a stream and crawling over logs, we were actually relatively clean until we came across this trench - full of thick, black mud - that smelled horrible. Tar pit would be a good description. My teammate started to slow down towards the end of the trench, because it was so thick, and I had to tell her not to stop. I thought I was going to be sick! But other than that, the rest of the mud throughout the course was more liquid-like and not black either. The only two our team was unable to complete was the Tarzan-like rope swing (which was pretty much impossible in my opinion anyways- 6 or 7 ropes across a mud pit that required you to swing from one to the next without falling - which requires an enormous amount of upper body strength without even taking into account that you are already covered in slippery mud) and the arm walk (which apparently not many females completed - using your arms to travel the length of two parallel bars without touching the ground. Sounded easy enough, until I tried it). The rest of the obstacles were a mix of mud, more logs, ropes, and walls, plus running up and down several mounds of slick mud (did I mention it was raining while we were on the course). The total distance was over 5 miles and we finished in 1 hr 40 minutes which seemed to be the average time for non-serious competitors. The results are all posted on the website along with links to pictures through the course. Luckily our TNT trainer was able to take some action shots along the course, plus some before and after pictures as well. And yes, Team Skirts N Dirt is signed up for the fall MudRun!

Team Jorts happily posed for a picture with the TNT group.

Nice and clean...

Ready, set, go

This mud - not so bad.

Tar mud - blech!

I got the easiest job!

At the finish!

These didn't make it home!

Thanks to our coach Cliff!

Beach Day

Happy Sunday!

Tonight's Dinner

Provencal Style Edamame Saute:

Much yummier than I expected - would eat this again. I had to look up how to core and slice the fennel since I had never actually cooked with it before (or for that matter, eaten it). Other than that the prep/cooking was actually really easy.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/provencal_style_edamame_saute.html

Goodbye to a memory

While cleaning my room this weekend, I found my special pencil cup was broken. I had to take pictures before I could throw it away....

By popular demand

So to answer Just Jenn’s question, “Who are you?” I have been running (yes running) at least two to three times a week for the past month. I also lift weights with a trainer at least one day a week and do Zumba another day. After the Mud Run, I will be able to go back to my Body Pump class too that I really like. So with all of these exercising, I still have free time here. Working only 40 hours a week, plus my 5 minute commute really has changed my lifestyle! Since January, I have really tried to make an effort to eat at home for lunch and dinner as often as possible. For someone who used to only keep frozen dinners at home because everything else would go bad before I got around to eating it, this is a big change. I have really always like to cook, just not to do dishes, or eat the same thing four days in a row. I have found now that eating the same thing isn’t that bad as there are less dishes to do and prep time for lunch is easy. So I cook lunch and dinner on Sundays now. I also am trying to eat less cheese, meat, and bad carbs, but add more veggies. So if anyone has more recipes I would love to try them! (Oh, but without kale, I have tried to like it but just can’t do it). And yes I am even trying to eat new things... such as avocados and even tomatoes (well as long as they are very tiny and not fresh!) Some of my recipes are from magazines and a couple of books, but most are from the internet. I just search for an ingredient (such as edamame) that I am looking to make a meal with and try that. Or I search for vegetarian meals. Here are the recipes for the previous post...

Black Bean Burger: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/homemade-black-bean-veggie-burgers/Detail.aspx (I really like these for lunch, but I still haven’t found the exact consistency to keep them from crumbling too much) Today I used less egg (well I use egg whites anyways) and a little more whole wheat panko and that worked better.

Homemade Chipotle Mayo: 3 to 1 ratio of fat free sour cream to fat free mayo, add chopped/minced/food processed chipotle peppers in adobe sauce to taste (beware they are hot)

Egyptian Edamame Stew: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/egyptian_edamame_stew.html This recipe was okay, a little too tomatoey for my taste, but good flavor other than that. Also good over plain couscous.

Mayan Couscous: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/mayan-couscous/Detail.aspx (Really yummy, but I would only use 2/3c couscous)

Modern Succotash: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/edamame_succotash_with_shrimp.html (I ate this for dinner one week without the shrimp, really simple, reheats well. Did eat over salmon one night, also very good)

Peppered Pork Tenderloin: This was really easy, I just bought the pre-seasoned tenderloin and stuck it on the oven! Way too much meat for me though, ended up giving some to people at work.

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, & Olives: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001963972 (This was very good too, but mainly because I really like all three of those things. It was a little dry though so maybe a tad more oil than called for)

Turkey Chili: this was from a checkout aisle cooking light guide (bad impulse buy). Really basic chili, not enough flavor. I much prefer mom’s version with the mac n cheese!

Happy cooking...

Food in Pictures

My Valentine's Day present to myself...

Black Bean Burger w/Homemade Chipotle Mayo and Avocado

Egyptian Edamame Stew

Mayan Couscous

Modern Succotash

Peppered Pork Tenderloin w/ Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, & Olives

Turkey Chili (Sorry about the view...)