i get it from my momma

Obviously our parents influence how or why we do a lot of things. Often times I notice myself doing something and can’t figure out why and then I realize it’s because my mom did it that way. Don’t get me wrong, my dad has had a lot of influence on my habits (like the need to walk down the ice cream aisle at the grocery store every time I go). But there are some little quirky things that are definitely from my mom.

Two recent examples:

1. Drinking coffee and eating breakfast in the bathroom while getting ready for the day. This works a lot better for her than for me since I no longer have bathroom counter space and quite frequently spill on my white rug, but it is a habit I just can’t break. Even if I have plenty of extra time to eat breakfast elsewhere (which is a rarity) I always have coffee in the bathroom with me. Side note: my dad along with both Meg and Phil are sit at the table and read the paper while eating before getting ready for the day kind of people.
2. Chewing a half a piece of gum and putting the other half back in the box. This used to frustrate me as a kid because I’d reach for a piece to only pull out a half. Now it frustrates my friends when they go to pull out a piece and only get a half. Hahaha.

thanksgiving (part 2)

here is a smattering of pictures from thanksgiving (this was on thursday but i uploaded my photos out of order so the posts are out of order)...

breakfast bright and early (well, bright and early for my friends - i was up at 3:15 to take trupti to logan express)... tim, nicole, angela

ben was so excited to be going to work on thanksgiving
angela chopping onions for the traditional stuffing
peeling fifteen pounds of potatoes. yes, i sat on the floor - it was the least awkward position for my back
nicole chopping chorizo for the mexican stuffing
mmmm... appetizers... chex mix, veggie tray, green and black olives, amazing crab dip, and awesome spinach artichoke dip
tim sauteing the celery
angela's apple pie recipe made by nicole (for dessert we also had cheesecake by rachel, pecan pie by me, pumpkin pie by yoly, chocolate fudge pie by angela)
buttering up the turkey
poor rachel had her wisdom teeth removed on tuesday and her face was incredibly swollen and sore. a sweet kiss from her husband to make it feel better...
dinner for fourteen
lalo's contribution: making hot cocoa for chris
rusty carved the turkey

ready to eat! menu: two kinds of stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, chicken noodle dumplings, broccoli, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, baked mac and cheese, overnight layered salad, crescent rolls, cranberry orange chutney
family picture: tim, ben, nicole, yoly, lalo, jeremy, angela, me, rachel, randall
the boys had dish duty. since men are linear thinkers, they formed an assembly line (i was actually pretty impressed by how efficient they were and how quickly they got it done)

black friday

every year my friend, amber, has gone black friday shopping (she is seriously a master shopper). i've never felt the need to go. in fact, last year i worked on black friday. but this year i decided to go with her. she returned from baltimore at 3:30 friday morning after driving through the night to get her husband, alex, back in town so he could work. instead of going to bed she came and picked me up. crazy girl.

there weren't that many people out and we got some good deals (i got jeans, and two sweaters).

plus, i got my first of the season peppermint mocha (with whip) from starbucks!

this is her "it's 5:00 in the morning and i haven't been to bed yet so don't take my picture" face from old navy

modeling hats at khols
the steal of the century: denim and leather jacket from target. love it!

after five and a half hours of shopping we watched elf to officially kick of the christmas season. while amber looks lively in this picture, she was passed out ten minutes later. hahaha. of course, i can't say anything since i also slept through almost the whole movie.

thanksgiving (part 1)

Every year growing up we always had the same menu for thanksgiving where we all got to pick a dish in addition to the staple of turkey and stuffing (and every year we all chose the same thing): oysters for nate, peachy cream salad for jon, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes for meg, pie for phil, and overnight layered green salad for me.

Last year was my first thanksgiving in boston and it was…uuummmm… different. The green beans were organic string beans with slivered almonds instead of cream of mushroom soup. The sweet potatoes were real potatoes cut in perfect circles with cinnamon and cloves instead of out of a can topped with brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows.

This year I am doing Thanksgiving with my friends. And while it will be different than the traditions of my family, I am uniting the old with the new by making my overnight layered green salad (which just goes to prove you can call anything with lettuce in it salad no matter what the other ingredients are) and a pecan pie.

yes, that is cheese and a sour cream/mayonaise mixture on top of the greens (thanksgiving is about greatness not health)

cat at work told me yesterday that "anyone can make pecan pie... the trouble is cooking the darn thing." it can be difficult to find the perfect level of cookedness where your crust isn't burned but the middle isn't a pile of goop. My crust may be a little golden but the center will not require a spoon to eat, which with my pecan pies has happened in the past. yay!!

today promises to be a great day filled with fun times with friends... but it still isn't texas ;)

boy after my own heart

Sometimes I babysit my pastor’s youngest son, Joshua. Last night was one of those times I’m reminded of why I love him so much.

Here are just a few reasons:

1. He loves “sneakers” as much as I do and we discuss them every time I see him (whether I’m teaching Sunday School or babysitting) -- he has some really awesome “The Last Airbender” ones and I have Nike Lunar Glides
2. He thinks I’m smart – yes, he actually told me this last night after I explained all the pieces of an ambulance and its equipment which is a big deal in his world right now.
3. Entertaining him is easy – he appreciates the simplicity of running through a room and then sliding across the floor on your knees
4. He asks me to sing – I readily admit I have a terrible voice and usually when I sing people ask me to shut up, but Josh insists I sing him to sleep
5. The kid talks up until the very moment he is asleep – I was the exact same way (and probably would still be if I didn’t live by myself). I remember my first night of college when I didn’t have Megan to talk to and I wondered how in the world I would get to sleep because I was so used to talking until I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore

But, my favorite conversation of the night happened to be our discussion regarding what pajamas he was going to wear to bed. It was twenty seven degrees outside. I’m one of those people who’s always cold and I have a tendency to wake up freezing in the middle of the night. So, in all my wisdom, I tried to convince Josh to wear pajamas that have long pants and a long sleeve shirt. However, he insisted that he wanted to wear shorts to bed. I tried rationalizing that it was chilly outside to which his response was “it isn’t in my house.” Ok. Then I tried compromising, telling him he could wear a short sleeve shirt with his long pants. No go. Finally, he looked at me with an exasperated expression and said “am I saying bbbrrrr?” I didn’t get it. When I asked what he meant he repeated “AM I SAYING BBBBRRRR??? Since I’m not saying bbbrrr I’m not cold so I can wear shorts to bed.” Bahahahaha. Good point, kid. Well played. You may wear shorts and a tshirt to bed.

In other news, I should have some new pictures soon… Thursday I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with a few of my church friends at Angela’s (there's about fifteen of us who don't have family here) and Friday I’m going shopping with Amber (she promised the experience would be “unforgettable” and her husband told me it would be like me taking her running).

it's a new england thing

while massachusetts and texas are only a couple thousand miles apart they might as well be two different worlds.

besides the obvious socio-political differences and the disparity in weather (it was thirty when i went running this morning and i'm sure it is at least twice that in arlington) things are just done differently.

for example, in texas if i want coffee i go to starbucks and they hand me a cup of black coffee. if i wanted milk in it (which i don't) i would ask them to leave room, walk to the bar and add my milk. here, people go to dunkin donuts where a "regular" coffee comes with cream and sugar and you have to special order to have it black. often times people order "extra extra" which means extra cream and extra sugar. and then they place a napkin over the lid, their finger over the opening, and turn it upside down and shake it.

side note: this coffee phenomena kind of surprises me because food in general up here is considered healthier than texas due to the fact that they don't deep fry everything and slather it in butter or gravy.

the other thing i've found slightly difficult to get used to is what they call things. i'm not simply talking about the incredibly annoying accent where they put an "er" instead of an "a" (e.g. mander and idear) and an "a" instead if an "er" (e.g. silva) and words aren't pronounced as they're spelled (e.g. worcester). no, they have completely different words. here is what i've learned: a water fountain is called a bubbler; jeans are dungarees; a liquor store is a packi; milkshake is a frappe; sprinkles are jimmies...

and, the one i learned yesterday: "so do i" is "so don't i" or "so am i" is "so aren't i".

26 days 'til texas where we eat meat, fry our food, wear shorts in the winter, and talk normal!

i have been blessed

Psalm 100:3-5 (New International Version)

³ Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

When you get caught up in the daily beat down of life and overwhelmed by circumstances that are beyond your control take a step back and remember that God is God, He has it all under control, and His provision is always enough.

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

count your blessings. name them one by one. count your blessings. see what God has done.

Tufts 10K

"i didn't win and i didn't tie, but i didn't walk and i didn't die..."

and, i did beat my time of 1:14:27 from last year.

According to my Garmin, here are my splits for today's race:

Split Time Distance Avg. Pace

1 06:18 1.00 06:18

2 06:31 1.00 06:31

3 06: 36 1.00 06: 36

4 06:38 1.00 06:38

5 06: 34 1.00 06: 34

6 06: 24 1.00 06: 24

7 01:47 0.29 06:12

Sum: 40:50 6.29 06:29

My official Results:

Time: 40:51 (so i either started or stopped my watch a second off)

Pace: 06:35 (10K is officially 6.2 miles)

Overall: 64th out of 8200

Age: 37th out of 1595

I am pleased with my results. This was a national championship race so the USA Track and Field team was there competing along with some other pretty great athletes -- I don't mind losing when it is to people like Molly Huddle, Genoveva Kigen, Jen Rhines, and Katie McGregor.

And, Joan Benoit Samuelson shook my hand! Yes, THE Joan Benoit Samuelson who won the gold medal in the 1984 summer games making her the first ever women's olympic marathon champion.

No pictures from the race, though i will take one to post of my new headband that says "I run so I can eat." I do wish i had a picture of my bloody shirt (I got a bloody nose about half a mile into the race). Or one of everyone else in panty bottoms and bras with me in my knee length spandex shorts and t-shirt.

just call me betty crocker

i'm not gonna lie, that is one good looking pie! <-- meaning it looks tasty, not that it is particularly aesthetic.

(side note: the "A" is for apple, not amanda)

greatness

yesterday was stormy and gross. definitely a comfort food kind of day. as a result i was in an autumn mood when i went to the grocery store last night and ended up buying some acorn squash from BJs thinking I'd make some soup. However, today isn't a stormy soup kind of day and I still have plenty of apples left from my race last weekend (wow! was that only a week ago?!?!). so, i did what any normal person would do and googled "squash apple recipe". the first recipe that popped up was the winner since it also included another one of my favorites, cranberries, and is super simple to make.

Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake from Simply Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (i bought mine pre peeled and pre cut)
• 2 large tart cooking apples cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (i used craisins)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter (i used unsalted)
• 1 Tbsp flour (i used whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon salt (i used reduced sodium salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace (can substitute ground nutmeg) (i used 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cloves)

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice and peel squash and apples.

2 Put squash cubes in ungreased 7x11-inch baking dish. Place apples on top and then cranberries. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and mace and sprinkle on top. Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes.

i loved it! the pictures don't do justice to the taste. it's pretty delicious.

the other thing i made today was pancakes. keep in mind, i don't typically like pancakes therefore i do not make pancakes. however, they are great for athletes to eat as pre-workout fuel due to the rate at which the complex carbs break down (no, i won't bore you with the science lesson) not to mention they're easy to freeze and pull out in a hurry.

The following is a recipe from Playtri.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Make this ahead of time! The dry ingredients can be mixed and stored for later use. Just add the buttermilk, eggs and butter. High in protein and low in fat!

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup instant nonfat dry powdered milk
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp packed brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cups lowfat buttermilk (i used the powdered and only did a cup and half -- since i've not made pancakes i don't really know how thin the mixture should be so mine was maybe too thick)
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup light unsalted butter

Preparation
1. Pulse oats in food processor 5 to 6 times until ground.
2. Combine ground oats, wheat flour, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and butter; stir into oat mixture.
3. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn and cook other side.

Makes 10 servings (1 serving = 2 pancakes) -- mine only made 12 (probably because of the buttermilk)

Per serving : 183 Calories; 9g Protein; 26g Carbohydrates; 5g Fat; 256mg Sodium

The batter:

for all you people who make pancakes on a regular basis, having your pancakes form a circle isn't a big deal. for a novice like me, a circle is a minor miracle.

it isn't burnt, just crispy (it took me a couple to learn that i needed to turn my burner down a little).
overall, i'm pretty impressed with how my pancakes turned out. granted when i go to eat them i may not be as pleased. but i can always blame it on freezer burn...

Apple Pie

As a last minute decision angela decided to use some of the apples i won from the race (see previous post to see how huge the basket is) to make some apple pie to give to the sawyers (our small group leaders who are moving back to south carolina).

Ready to begin:

However, we ran into a few "issues" when she went to make it. first, her crust recipe called for milk. i don't drink milk therefore i don't own milk. so, we decided to do her pie filling with my crust. sure, no problem i thought. however, i forgot that i made dave (allison's husband) an apple cake on thursday as a thank you for letting allison come to new hampshire with me and i had used almost all of my white flour. so, i ended up making the bottom crust with white flour and the top crust was a mixture of whole wheat flour and white flour and the filling has whole wheat flour. we were worried about how it would taste (i'm not a huge fan of baking with whole wheat flour because i think it tends to make things too heavy) and were hesitant about claiming it as our pie and giving it as a gift. but then, since we got a late start making it and used a whole lot of apples it didn't finish baking before we had to leave so we left it baking in the oven and i'll take it to work tomorrow. those people with eat anything, even apple pie made with whole wheat flour.

it isn't burnt, that is cinnamon on the top

Update: people at work gave the pie rave reviews. i give all the credit to angela being fabulous

Birthday

When I got back from New Hampshire on Saturday my friend, Angela, had left me a rose, a balloon, and some chocolate. So sweet! p.s. this is why we give friends keys to our apartments :)

rachel and randall (a.k.a. "the fernandez family") gave me a watermelon (i love how well they know me) as well as the most perfect card ever (the front says "after a certain age, women face an increased risk while jogging" and the inside says "specifically, getting slapped in the face by their own boobs"). bahahahaha

and, then, trupti gave me a super wonderful birthday surprise on Sunday

she invited my friends from church over. tim, randall, brad
lalo and ben
juliann, rachel, angela
and then she made me all my favorite foods.

mini bananas and candy from the chinese store

cheese and bread with homemade butter

"guacamole" but it is a mix of avocado and bleu cheese
lettuce wraps and thai chicken
not pictured, "experimental" lemon grass chicken and stir fried rice.

we had root beer floats for dessert because last friday we went to red robin for brad's birthday and lalo and randall each had three root beer floats but due to race training i did not get to drink one. hahahaha.

AppleFest Half Marathon

For my birthday on Saturday my running buddy, Allison and I ran the AppleFest Half Marathon on Hollis, New Hampshire.

I was really excited about it until Thursday. Why until Thursday? Because on Thursday I looked up the course route. And then on Friday I drove the course route. Since you won't be able to fully understand without a visual aid, below you will find the map (courtesy of my really awesome garmin watch) of the elevation of the course. If you'll look, there is a hill right before mile two that is a quarter mile long. not so bad. then there is a stretch of flat followed by a steep descent. honestly going down hill is just as tiring as going up because most people don't run on their toes like they should. then there's a few miles of "rolling" hills. now, look from about mile nine and a half until mile eleven. that is ONE HUGE HILL! then there was flat, then just after mile twelve was the same quarter mile hill that was just before mile two but seemed a whole lot steeper ten miles later.

Needless to say, i was seriously freaking out going into Saturday. This was my first half marathon to run "on my own" since Allison and I ran side by side at our last one and I train in relatively flat framingham.

But, my sister sent me a new neon shirt as inspiration. side story: she actually sent me a long jog bra but i was afraid of it being chilly in new england at the end of september so i traded for long sleeve. however, it turned out to be 85 degrees yesterday. And, my mom sent me some new race socks. so, even if i fell on my face at least i had new gear.

allison and i pre-race.

ready to run!

race story: just after mile eight the man who handed me some water told me i was the 13th woman. i saw a pack of three women in front of me and another girl up ahead and thought "if i can pass them i can be top ten". so, the hunt began (except i had to remember not to be too aggressive too soon because i still had one monster of a hill to go). the first girl i passed at the water stop when she actually stopped to drink her water. two more i took down on the super long mile and a half hill. that left the one girl up ahead. i decided my best chance to pass her would be on the flat before the final hill. so, i took the risk and went for it and was a little worried she would be able to draft off me going up the hill or i would burn out. but, at the last water station at mile twelve the kind kids doused me with water which was just the cool down i needed. going up the last hill there was a woman on the side of the road puking which relaxed me some because it meant even if the girl behind me passed me i would still be in the top ten. but, i survived and actually increased my lead. then, on the home stretched i found my legs again and passed a girl who had started off super fast and had no fuel left. sooo....

race results: out of 1200 people

Overall: 37th

Women's Division: 7th

Age Group: 1st

Time: 1:38:36

Average Pace: 7:27/ mile

the prize for first place was a basket full of apples (yes, the base is full too).

2nd and 3rd got pies. fatty amanda would've preferred pie :)


post race.

Allison ran 2:12 got 432nd

her mantra was: i didn't win and i didn't tie, but i didn't walk and i didn't die. hahahaha

I love my running buddy