But not burnt to a crisp. (Holla if you get the reference!)

Tonight’s dinner was a Pinterest creation and took only about 5 minutes of hands-on time (if that). The buffalo chicken was made in the crockpot while I shopped the day away at the Grove City outlets with my mom, and I took some shortcuts with the sweet potato stuffed with honey, goat cheese, and roasted grapes. Instead of baking the sweet potato in the oven, I poked some holes into it, wrapped it in a damp paper towel, and nuked it for 8 minutes. And instead of mashing the innards of the sweet potato and mixing with the goat cheese, I simply kept the potato as-is and crumbled the goat cheese on top, then topped with the roasted grapes.

Speaking of roasted grapes… who had any idea they’d be so delicious?! When I took them out of the oven, I tentatively tried a crispy one and was stunned by the flavor explosion in my mouth. I made a decent-sized batch of them, but I kind of already want to make more.

Considering the amount of time I was actually in the kitchen, this was an incredibly delicious (and easy!) meal. Someone remind me of this meal the next time I reach for a frozen pizza…

Roasted, Toasted… by lsnod · 365 Project

As I left the country club this afternoon for the last time until March (the club closes in February), I was full of mixed emotions. Sad because I like working there, happy and relieved because I really need a break, scared because I’m used to having that money cushion and I’ll be missing that for the next month, and rushed because I wanted to leave and get to the gym.

As I walked out the door, I was surprised to see the clouds part and the sun started shining brightly. But as I started walking to my car, raindrops started falling on my head. I looked out over the woods and the river and blinked. One second there was nothing in the sky; the next second a brilliant rainbow had appeared.

I’m taking it as a sign that everything’s gonna be alright.

Over The Rainbow by lsnod · 365 Project

Today I got to do some of my favorite things after work – I ran outside (2 miles), grabbed Natalie after 1.5 of the miles, then dragged her to the gym for a weights workout. It’s strange to say, but I think I might actually prefer hanging out with friends while working out (legitimately working out) as opposed to meeting up for happy hour. Not that there’s anything wrong with happy hour, but the best part of any happy hour (for me) is hanging out with people and commiserating. It’s just as much fun (plus cheaper and healthier!) to hang out and chat at the gym while getting buff.

When I got home, I was ravenous, so I popped this super-cheesy ham & cheese into the oven with some sweet potato chunks and got a shower while dinner baked. I emerged fresh, clean, and with the beauty above waiting to slide down my throat.

Dee-licious.

I Melt With You by lsnod · 365 Project

Waking up at the crack of ridiculous in order to make an 8 am doctor’s appointment sucks, but treating yourself to a Starbucks breakfast after the hassle almost makes it worth it.

Almost.

The egg-bacon-gouda sandwich was really good, though – even if I did ask for egg whites and they gave me egg beaters. Blech. The bacon made up for it, though. And, you know, the coffee.

Cause nothing beats battling 7:15 am traffic sans caffeine and then getting poked with needles while on an empty stomach.

But really, the sandwich was tasty and brightened my rainy day.

Top O’ the Mornin’ To Ya by lsnod · 365 Project

As much as I hate to admit it, there are benefits to the clean house I’ve been maintaining for a few weeks now… namely, my “yoga room” floor is clear and available for, well, YOGA. I haven’t done yoga in ages and it felt pretty wonderful tonight. In fact, I’m more sore from the stretching than I was from yesterday’s 4 miles.

I suppose that’s a good thing, right?

Ohmmmtastic by lsnod · 365 Project

Whelp, I’ve successfully been converted.

I used to run exclusively on the treadmill at the gym. Running outside “hurt my knees” and was harder for me. I came up with excuses to not run outside – “but I pay for the gym!” “it’s so cold out!” “it’s raining!” “it’s safer to run at the gym!” But lately I’ve been on a roll. I think I’ve run outside more times since November than I did the entire rest of 2011 (Jan-Oct), and that included training for my first half-marathon.

Now it seems I can’t stand to run at the gym – I can handle it for about 2 miles, but then I’m done. I hate it. I hate the hassle of waiting for a treadmill to open up, and I hate when people beside me run way faster than me – it very much lowers my running self-esteem. I also hate that I seem to run slower on the treadmill and take walking breaks more frequently…

Speaking of walking breaks, I finally called myself out tonight. My runs lately have consisted of many more hills and I’ve been forcing myself to run up them instead of walking up them. When I reached the top of one steep hill tonight and started trucking towards a long, steady incline hill, I thought to myself, “I should walk for a sec.” But instead of slowing to a walk, I actually questioned myself. Was I hurt? No. Was I in any pain? No. Out of breath? Not really. I’ve gotten it in my head that when I accomplish something (in this case, running up a steep hill), I deserve a reward (walking for a minute). So tonight, instead of giving in, I ran until I was completely out of breath, which happened just in time for me to reach a busy intersection. I walked a few seconds until the light changed, and then I ran the rest of my route. I walked a total of 3 times along a 4 mile route, and for only a few seconds each time. This was a HUGE breakthrough for me.

So now I run almost exclusively outside. It toughens me up for marathon conditions and it wears me out better (I’ve been sleeping like a baby). I make myself wear a sweet little reflective vest (pictured above), but that’s no big deal.

No more treadmills for me if I can help it.

Long live the road.

Rage Against the Machine by lsnod · 365 Project

A case of the Mondays deserves the “traditional” Monday meal.

It was my first time making red beans & rice, and I’d wager I was more than a little inspired by my venture to NOLA on the Square last Wednesday. My version was vegan and cooked in the crockpot all day, but it was not what I’d call a winning recipe. In fact, when I got home and sampled it before my run, I almost spit it back out. Wayyyy too salty. Then again, a hard pretzel stick was too salty for me today, so who knows? Maybe it’s just one of those weird days.

I scooped out most of the remaining liquid and added plain water, then left it cook on high for about 40 minutes. When I returned, it tasted much better. Still not great, but better. I pulsed a hand blender a few times to turn the beans into a nice thick paste (I would take more water out next time to make it thicker) and served it over pre-cooked frozen brown rice.

It certainly wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed eating it, but I think a second attempt will turn out better. Still, I’m not complaining – it was nice to essentially have a really healthy meal (no meat = no added fat) ready for me when I got home.

A Case of the Mondays by lsnod · 365 Project

One of my favorite things about going to work at the country club is that I just never know what to expect when I go in. The servers aren’t told the events ahead of time, so it’s always a surprise when we walk in the door. Sure, 9 times out of 10, if we’re coming in at 2 pm on a Saturday, it’s a wedding, but the rest of the events are unknown to us.

So when I walked in this morning to work on a birthday party, I was surprised to learn that another party – one I wasn’t working – was incorporating some interesting props. A “bird man” showed up for a kids’ party and brought with him a ridiculous amount of large birds. When I heard there were going to be birds, I automatically thought of little birds that kids buy as pets – parakeets? – and had to do a double-take when I saw the size of these suckers. I only got to peek in for a small portion of the show, but I was told that one of the birds rode a bike. Creepy and awesome, all at the same time.

The funniest story from the day, however, comes from one of my coworkers. Apparently she was standing behind the bar area (you can see the glasses – the edge of the bar – in the photo above) when one of the birds decided that her head looked like a nice perch. It sat on top of her head and wouldn’t get off. ::shudders:: Nightmares.

There’s no telling what next weekend holds in store, but I have my hopes set on hosting a party with a monkey that can crunk.

Birds of Prey by lsnod · 365 Project

I’ve waited so so long for the perfect day to use that title.

Turns out I don’t hate winter weather quite so much if I don’t have to go to work. It’s actually a nice excuse to stay home and catch up on Hulu shows and do some really exciting things that could hopefully come to fruition in the next couple months. If good things happen, I may have a greater appreciation for snow and ice… and be more willing to use up vacation time to deal with winter weather disasters.

Fingers crossed!

Ice Ice Baby by lsnod · 365 Project

I feel like this is one of my weirder habits, but it serves a good purpose – I like to cut the sleeves off my t-shirts before I wear them to the gym or volleyball. It started with my first PSL volleyball team (we all cut off our sleeves as a “team thing”), and then I continued the tradition every season thereafter. It’s been over 4 years now since I’ve started playing again, so I have an abnormally large sleeveless t-shirt collection in my house. Tonight after work I decided to add to the collection.

I kinda really like my redneck side.

Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with the shorn sleeves? I don’t have enough to make a quilt or anything (it’d be a pretty boring quilt anyways – all solid colors), but I feel like using them for cleaning/painting rags is also unexciting. Ideas welcome.

Bits And Pieces by lsnod · 365 Project