Snowy Night

Well the snow fell here pretty much all day yesterday, and they let us out of work about two hours early which was awesome and definitely saved me some time on the drive home.  Don’t get me wrong, it still took an hour, but it very easily could have taken two if I had waited until 5 pm to leave.  I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and I think the contents of my shopping cart were amusing other people.  Three bottles of red wine, two bundles of fire wood, ricotta cheese, and garlic.  I bet they were jealous of the night I had planned ;).

The parking lot of the grocery store was an unplowed mess, so please picture this if you will.  Me, trying to push the grocery cart through a few inches of slushy snow, in heels.  Got a good visual, I assure it, it was as hilarious as you’re imagining and I came close to wiping out multiple times.  I made it home without any other major incidents, despite the streets of my neighborhood being completely unplowed and slippery, and was met by cheery roommates already well into their first bottle of wine.  I made my way right to the kitchen to start making us a good dinner for a snowy night, and they poured me a glass of wine and uncorked a second bottle :).

the house in the snow

Dinner was Zucchini and Yellow Squash Lasagna.  I’m still trying to figure out the difference between cooking with a gas stove and electric, so it wasn’t my best effort (some of the veggies burnt in the oven) but the girls still loved it so I’ll call it a success.

The rest of the night was spent sitting in front of the fire, and drinking almost two more bottles of wine.  Yes, that would be almost four for the night, haha.  We watched Charlie Brown Christmas, and Adrienne prayed the high school she teaches at would have a two-hour delay this morning, which it did!  The bundles of fire wood had been sitting outside in the snow at the grocery store (way to go Harris Teeter) so they were somewhat damp, and in order to dry them out we had this set up going on for a while.

We may actually be trying to burn the house down

Smartest idea to have the fire wood lined up and leaning into the fireplace? No, probably  not, but it was sure effective!

Roommates enjoying the fire

It was a great night, with the roommates, and fun continues tonight as one of our other best friends from college and my sister arrive for our big Holiday party tomorrow!  Lots to do tonight and tomorrow before then, but first I have to make it through the work day, sigh.  Happy Friday, one week until Christmas!

Time with My Sis

This morning something happened that hadn’t in months.  The cold weather warning display came on in my car.  I heard the ping, looked at the dash, and sure enough there was the little snowflake encased in a triangle indicating that the temperature was at 37 degrees.  I think it is safe to say that fall is officially here, and here to stay.

Yesterday afternoon I got home from work, changed, and my sis and I headed on over to the gym.  She ellipticalled while I did my tempo workout on the treadmill next to her.  About 2.3 miles into my run a funny thing happened.  The fire alarm in the gym started to go off, and no one left.  People paused their workouts for a second, took their ear buds out of their ears, and looked around at each other, but no one did anything.  My sister and I looked at each other, and decided that since none of the actual gym employees were leaving, we were probably safe to continue our workouts.  The alarm continued to go off for a few more minutes before someone finally turned it off.  Guess we were all pretty intent on getting our workouts in, haha.

• 1 mile warm-up 10 min/mile
• 2 miles @ 9:05 pace
• 1 mile cool-down 10 min/mile

I felt so much better than I did on Monday, and this run went really well.  Half-way through training and 5 weeks to go!  Honestly, when this half is over, I’m going to take a break from training and running 4-5 days a week before signing up for another race.  I am getting burnt out and I know I’ll be ready for a break.

After the gym, we ran into the liquor store to pick up some wine to have with dinner.  I was making Ravioli Lasagna, and nothing goes better with lasagna then red wine!  My sis had yet to experience the gloriousness that is pumpkin beer, so while I was cooking we each had one of these.

I used two different flavors of Buitoni ravioli and a jar of Classico vodka sauce.

I really like both flavors of this ravioli, they combined pretty well in the dish, and Col said it was her favorite version of Ravioli Lasagna so far.

Yummy.  This is so fast to throw together, then you just stick it in the oven for 40 minutes and wait.  While we waited, we broke open the red wine and settled on the couch for a night of ABC comedy.  The best part about watching these shows with my sister is that we both start snickering at the same time, which leads to full on laughing, and eventually me snorting.  As of right now, I’m thinking Better With You is my favorite new show of the fall season.  It’s so funny, and so relatable and true.  Plus I’ve loved Joanna Garcia since her Reba days.

Somehow today is already Thursday, for some reason this week really flew by.  I’m heading up to NYC tomorrow after work for the weekend, and running the Terry Fox 5k on Saturday morning with Alex.  No other real plans except for that, but I’m sure it will be fun.  Have a great day!

“I Die”

Happy Wednesday friends, how are you all today?  I’m doing just fine, and a little more excited about Wednesday than usual because I’m having dinner with two of my girlfriends after work.  My friend Michelle got engaged a month ago, and we finally have the time to go out and celebrate.  There’s a bottle of champagne chilling in my work fridge as I type this :).

Last night was yoga Tuesday, and I’m starting to feel like one of the regulars.  My sister liked it better too because she felt less lost this time.  Like I said before, the instructor is kind of hard to hear and understand so if you know what’s coming, it makes it a little easier.  I tried to zone out and not think about anything during yoga, but thoughts of dinner kept creeping into my head.  By the time I got home, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  Zucchini and Squash Lasagna.

Dinner was prepared and in the oven relatively quickly, but then comes the worst part.  Waiting for it to cook.  That might have been the longest 35 minutes of my life.  Soon enough, the wait was over and dinner was served with some red wine and garlic mozzarella bread.

I didn’t think it was possible, but it was even better this time around.  The sauce was better, the veggies were better, it stayed together better.  I give myself an A+ for sure.  I even went so far as to say that I will never make lasagna with pasta again.  The bf shed a tear for his beloved carbs.

Some of my favorite shows were on last night, and I wanted to throw something at the TV when they ended Pretty Little Liars the way they did.  I also watched Rachel Zoe, and one of my favorite thing about the show is her little phrases like “I die” and “ba-na-nas”.  Haha, it makes me laugh.

Alright, well I hope everyone enjoys their Wednesday.  Half-way to the weekend!