Quality Time with my Kitchen

Ever since Monday, I’ve been spending an absurd amount of time in my kitchen.  It’s been kind of nice, staying home all day baking, making dinner without feeling rushed.  A girl could get used to this.  Yesterday was no exception, and I’m pretty proud of my baking and cooking ventures.

A week or so ago, I came across a recipe for Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes on Andrea’s blog that were just screaming my name.  Pumpkin? Cheesecake? Bite size deliciousness?  Sign me up!  While at the grocery store on Monday afternoon I picked up the necessary ingredients, and yesterday I got to work.

 

Ingredients for success

smash some graham crackers, season them, add butter for your crust

press down into your cupcake pan

prepare your filling

bake until puffy

 

Then comes the hard part.  These babies are supposed to cool on a metal rack for an hour in their pan, and then chill for three more hours in the fridge.  It’s pretty much torture, I recommend leaving the house so they don’t mock you too much.  The finishing touches for these mini pumpkin delights won’t be added until tomorrow before I serve them for desert.  But it is a whipped cream topping, and I can’t wait to stuff a few in my face.

After my baking adventure, I headed out with my mom and sister to find some bedding for my new room.  We were finally successful at Bed Bath and Beyond, and I picked up some new sheets, bath towels, comforter etc.  Now I just have to wash everything and pack it up.  More and more I’m convinced there is no way in hell I’m fitting everything in my car on Saturday morning, but I guess we’ll see.

After a few hours of shopping, I was more than ready for some dinner.  Obviously I needed to make use of the leftover mashed potatoes, and Chicken Marsala sounded like the perfect companion.

 

amazing

 

The sweet marsala wine sauce went perfectly with the mashed potatoes as a gravy.  Slowly but surely making our way through the 5lbs, I’m sure they’ll be gone just in time for me to make some more for dinner tomorrow night :).  Just as I had settled in on the couch last night to watch Glee, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Pumpkin (my cat) in a while.  I did a preliminary search around the house before realizing that my mother had opened the back door a crack while I was cooking, because she was hot.  Instant panic mode.  The crack was just big enough for my baby to slip through.

I ran out into the backyard  barefoot calling her name, and trying to see anything in the pitch dark, nothing.  I ran around to the front of the house, still no Pumpkin.  Finally, I grabbed a treat bag, went back outside and started shaking it and calling her name.  I was seriously starting to think we wouldn’t find her when I heard the faint jingle of the little bell on her collar.  I called her name, and shook the treat bag and the noise got closer.  Eventually I saw her come out of the woods and run towards me, and I scooped her up and ran back inside.  Ugh, pain in the ass cat.

This morning I drug my stuffed up and congested self to the gym to finally try to work the knots out of my legs.  I did an easy 35 minutes on the elliptical followed by some stretching, and my legs are feeling immensely better now.  My cold however, not so much.  Alright, I’m off to whip up a Spinach and Artichoke dip to bring to my friend Alexis’s for one last get together with my work ladies before I move.  Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

A Long Day

For some reason, yesterday felt like the longest day ever.  I kept checking the time and being amazed at how early it was.  Maybe it’s because I did a lot and was up relatively early that the day felt so long, who knows.  I did have a very nice Sunday though.

My day started with a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks, which I enjoyed while blogging and reading some blogs.  Then I headed over to Philly Sports Club with Chris for the 11th Annual Philly Fit Bash.  Chris was part of a team that was riding stationary bikes for 24 hours to raise money for cancer research, so we went over to check on his team.  It was a pretty cool event, there were a bunch of different vendors giving out things, and various group exercise classes going on in the main area.  We hung out for an hour or two, Chris got two different types of massages, and I got some free smoothie samples :).

We left the Fit Bash, and decided to head into New Hope for a late lunch/early dinner.  It was absolutely gorgeous out yesterday, so we knew New Hope would be a great place to eat outside and people watch.  Turns out Chris’s dad and gf were on their way to New Hope also, so we met them at Havana where Chris and I enjoyed some food, and they periodically came over from the bar to our table to chat.  We sat outside on the deck under one of the heat lamps, and were perfectly comfortable in the late afternoon sunshine.

We left New Hope just as the sun started to set, and made our way back home.  It was a really nice Sunday, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to enjoy the warm temperatures one last time this year.  Hopefully it’s at least half as nice next Sunday.  Speaking of next Sunday, forecast update!

I’d be pretty happy with those temps, hopefully it doesn’t change too much in the next six days.

This is officially my last week at work, I’m hoping it doesn’t drag on too slowly.  I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is next week already, and then I’ll be moving! I’m slowly, but surely, crossing things off of my “to do” list so hopefully by the time the 27th rolls around I’ll be ready to go!

12 days…

One Week

By this time next week, I will hopefully have finished my first half marathon, and will be well on my way to celebrating with friends and family.  Not only is November 21 the day of my first half, but it is also my sister’s 22nd birthday so we’re planning to make it a pretty fun day.  My last long run was yesterday morning, so I’m officially in taper mode now.

Originally, my training plan called for an 11 mile long run the weekend before the half, but I decided not to risk that long of a run with one week to go and my IT Band acting up occasionally.  So yesterday, I set out with the goal of doing 7-8 miles.  It was absolutely gorgeous out yesterday, sunny, and unseasonably warm.  Unfortunately, my Garmin started beeping about a low battery the second I turned it on, so I just hoped it would work for my whole run.

If you had told me a year, or even six months ago, that I’d be capable of running 7 miles with a sub 9 minute pace, I would have laughed in your face and called you crazy.  Now, those splits are somewhat deceiving because they imply that I felt great during the run.  The opposite is actually true, my shoulders were tight and sore, my right Achilles tendon felt tight, and my toes kept falling asleep.  During mile 4, I actually stopped and stood still for a few minutes trying to decide if I wanted to keep going, hence the 9:19 split.  Clearly I decided to continue the run, and I think feeling shitty made me run faster because I just wanted it over with, haha.  When I glanced down at my watch during the last mile home, I was shocked to see it in the 7 minute range and not feel like I was in an all out sprint. So I think I’m ready for next weekend, but I guess we’ll find out.

After my run, I quickly showered and put on some clean clothes to get ready to spend some more money.  With bedroom furniture purchased, the next big thing on the agenda was a mattress.  I drug my mom along with me for her mattress purchasing expertise, and we went over to Sleepy’s.  Mattresses are freaking expensive!  After trying out a few different ones, I ended up with a Sealy Cushion Top, and it should be getting delivered at some point this morning to my new house, well assuming my roommates are there to let them in ;).

Aided with the caffeine from a Gingerbread Latte, I finally started packing yesterday.  I fit almost all of my clothes, minus what I think I’ll need in the next two weeks, into my two large Vera Bradley suitcases and wrapped my picture frames in sweats so now they’re ready to go in a box.  I’m hoping to get a little more packing done today, but I’m pretty sure the majority of it will get done next week when I’m no longer working.

Well, have a great Sunday, I need to find something to do today, I’m already bored.  Haha.

13 days…