16 Days left…

Alright so I’ve FINALLY got some time to sit down and write a post! I have been so busy these past few weeks, but I’ve definitely been able to cross some major stuff off of my To Do list, which feels great.

I don’t even know where to begin. Surprisingly I’ve been able to keep up with my running during this craziness. I’m actually going to exceed my monthly goal of 75 miles this month. August is now the month I’ve put the most mileage into ever. I’m actually going to take a few days off from running. My body feels like it needs some rest from it, but I am hoping to get in a long run this Saturday morning, anywhere from 7-9 miles. I haven’t been running outside much though because it SO damn hot! I’ve been sticking to the treadmill mostly, otherwise I have to stop and walk a lot outside because of the heat and humidity.

I signed up for the Nike Human Race in New York City!!! I am SO excited for this race. It’s something I’ve heard so much about in the past and I am ecstatic that I will now be living in a city where it is held. It’s a huge 10K race that is held in 6 or 7 different cities across the country on the same day.  I haven’t been this excited for a race in a long time! I really can’t wait. It’s October 24th at 8am in Brooklyn at Prospect Park.

Had a yard sale last weekend and it went pretty well. We didn’t sell any of our big furniture stuff that we wanted to, but we are going to put it all on Craig’s List. We sold a lot of junk! and we made $165, so I’m pretty happy with that. My sister and my dad had some stuff in there too and they were nice enough to let us keep their profits! : ) Hopefully by the time all of our furniture sells we will have enough to cover the cost of the moving supplies.

Derek and I and Kerri and Scott went down to Salem, MA on Saturday night to go to this place called Gulu Gulu. It was awesome there! It was a cafe that served amazing beer, really good coffee, and yummy crepes! They had other things on the menu, but their signature food was definitely the crepes.

This was the banana walnut crepe with nutella, it was fabulous!

I also got an Ommegang Hennepin

and…I don’t remember what this is! It isn’t a Gulden Draak. It’s going to drive me crazy trying to figure out what this was!

We had 2 delicious cheese plates as appetizers…

and then played a game of scrabble

Kerri kicked our butt!

After that we headed to a sweet comic book shop and then hit up Salem beer works, where we shared a pitcher of Watermelon beer.

I had a lot of fun that night! It was pretty much out last night out all together before Derek and I head to NYC. I will miss them a lot and I hope they come and visit frequently!

I got my car inspected today and it passed without any problems, yay! It was quick and painless, except for the fact that it cost me $45!!!

My mom got some major surgery done yesterday, but it all went smoothly and she is doing well. She pretty much got her whole thigh bone replaced (femur?) because it was extremely thin and frail. I am going to visit her in the hospital tomorrow morning and hopefully she will be going home on Friday.

16 days til I move! Eek!

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Moving to NYC is hard work!

So I’ve totally been neglecting my blog lately and I’m sorry! This has seriously been the busiest week of my life! It’s crunch time for moving to NYC. I have been packing, cleaning, and rying to keep up with my running and by Sunday I am going to be EXHAUSTED!

I have been focusing on preparing for our yard sale that is this Saturday. It is a lot of work! We are getting rid of everything and I should’ve started two weeks ago instead of one.

I will be back to blogging normally after this weekend is over. When this yard sale is over I should be ahead of the game (I hope!).

Also, I am super excited because I am now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher! Click on the link on my sidebar and check out their website.

My To Do List for the nex 2 days:

• Buy Posterboard
• Make Posters for yard sale
• Buy ingredients to make cookies
• Bake the cookies
• Clean and Price everything for yard sale
• Transfer everything over to my parents house
• Squeeze in a 4 or 5 mile run.

I don’t know how I am going to run my long run on Sunday. I foresee myself sleeping ALLLL  day!

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New York City Here I Come!

There is lots to catch up on!

I ended up running 9.1 miles on Friday and it was amazing! I felt extremely prepared for it and it turned out well. I originally had only planned on 8.85, but I felt strong at the end so I kept on going. I was a sweaty mess by the end.

• Distance: 9.1 Miles
• Time: 89:49
• Pace: 9:52

I had so many different turns and roads to follow, I wrote the names of the streets on my hand so that I would remember where I had to turn.

I worked half a day on Friday and was able to run my 9 miles and finish packing and preparing for my weekend trip to NYC. I had this for a post run snack. I was so hungry all day though, I couldn’t stop eating because I constantly felt hungry.

I was excited to find this strawberry organic milk at my trip to the grocery store right after work on Friday.

Anyway, moving on. Derek and I left like an hour and a half later then when we originally planned (of course) but we finally hit the road around 5:30 or 6. It was a pretty smooth trip overall and we ended up getting to Matt’s house around 10pm.

Saturday was filled with lots of apartment hunting. We saw a lot of crappy places and a lot of good places. It came down to about 3 potential places, but when we saw the last one we just knew that it was the ONE. We were all very excited about it and applied for it the next day. We ended up hearing from the guy on Monday morning! It was super fast and he pretty much told us that the apartment was ours and to send us his money. I am super excited, it’s a really nice place and I can’t wait to move in.

Unfortunately I don’t have any good pictures of the inside. It was all under construction anyway. Everything was being redone so it was a mess at the moment. But! This is the outside, it’s very cute. We are the door on the right and it’s the second floor up. It’s in Astoria, Queens on 46th street.

It was an excellent trip foodwise also.

This was the MOST amazing bagel sandwich ever! A yummy NY bagel with cream cheese, avocado, and bacon. Mmmm, it was so good!  It was from La Bagel Delight in Fort Greene (I think?) This was breakfast Saturday morning.

This was an excellent lunch stop! It is focused on recycling everything and had lots of solar panels all over the roofs. I got a beer and their ‘famous corn’ which fit my small appetite perfectly.

Habana Outpost was the name of this amazing place. I will definitely be going back to this place.

This was dinner.  A pretty good BLT. Not much bacon, the bread cut the roof of my mouth, but I ate most of it. I also ordered a Brooklyn Lager.

Man, it is tough to remember the order of all this, but I also got a Thai Tea at some point in the day. I have never had one before, but apparently a bunch of my friends think they are amazing and get them all the time. It was pretty damn good.

It even had a cute little rose molded from the tip of the straw.

Sorry it’s so blurry!  After an exhausting night we all decided to go and see GI Joe. One word: Ridiculous. and mostly in a bad way.

Woke up on Sunday morning and ate another delicious bagel, but sorry no picture. It was an Egg bagel with plain cream cheese from Astoria Bagel Shop. We headed from there to a few open houses which did not live up to that one place that we are going to be living!

This was lunch on Sunday even though it looks more like a Breakfast. We went to a place called ‘The Telephone Bar and Grill’ They had a decent menu, but was only serving brunch at that point. It was also really expensive. This was good, but not $9 good.

This was Derek’s monster burger, which he said was really good, but also not worth the high price.

CAUTION: Gross picture coming up…

This was in the middle of the living room in one of the apartments that we looked at. This is why they had an exterminator come in once a month. Eww!

On a good note, I can not wait to live in the city!

PS. I found where the Trader Joe’s is!!!!

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9 Mile Run Tomorrow

I’m working a half day tomorrow, from 7am to 11am. I am stopping by the grocery store real quick and then I’m going to embark on my longest run yet! It isn’t quite 9 miles, 8.85 to be exact, but definitely a step up. It’s tough mapping out really long runs, I feel like I have to run up and down every side street just to rack up the mileage.

I’ve posted a link in case you are interested in checking out my route. This one actually isn’t so bad. My first 8 miler two weeks ago was ridiculous. I did write down all of the names of the streets that I have to run down so that I don’t forget. There are so many different turns I would never remember them all off the top of my head. I might write a few on my hand before I go tomorrow, ha!

After that I am headed to NY for the weekend! I’m really hoping I can come back Monday with a new place to live! It’s very nerve racking. I’ve prepared a bunch of food/snacks to bring with me up there because there won’t be much available I’m assuming. Good night and wish me luck on my run tomorrow! (I am a little nervous about it)

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How to make your own Drumsticks and Cupcake Cones

Cupcake Cones

Drumsticks

I had to post these because I can’t wait to try them out. I know I say I’m going to make everything, but really I am definitely going to be making the cupcake cones. I remember these from when I was a kid and I never realized how simple they really were.

Enjoy!

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Roasted Potatoes with Scrambled Eggs

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Woke up early this morning (well for me) at around 9:15, made it to the gym by 9:30 and was able to pump out 4.3 miles on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the bike! Got back around 10:30 and woke up Derek. We searched for about an hour and compiled a list of places to call in order to set up appointments for this weekend. We are going to New York Friday afternoon to look at apartments and hopefully come out of it with a new place to live 🙂 So far we have about 3 appts. It’s going a little slowly, but I feel it confident we will find a place we like.

• Distance: 4.32
• Time: 40:00
• Pace 9:15
• Calories: 429

I have so much to do. I have to obtain references from work, possibly get a guarantor letter from my Dad and we have to set some more appts in place. Here is my To Do list for the next two days:

• Do a load of laundry
• Go to Grocery Store
• Run 8 or 9 miles
• Pack for NY, which includes food, important documents, and clothes
• Make a Veterinarian appointment for cats
• and go to work on both days

Here is my dilemma. Our stupid landlord people need to come in and look at our place in order to see what they may need to order for the next tenants. We scheduled it for next Thursday at 10 am, which we thought was perfect. We need to get the cats out of the house for that b/c we aren’t supposed to have them. I figured I would make a Vet. appt for that time next week and everything would work out. BUT! then I realized today when I was about to call the Vet office that I am working first shift next Thursday! I am running a 5K race in the evening therefore I needed to change my hours for that day. Now, I don’t know what to do. Derek has to be here for when they come, I have to leave with the cats, but that can’t happen if I am at work. I am considering just not going to work that day. I still have to make the appointment so we will see what happens.

Anyway, today I made a delicious dinner that started off with roasted potatoes, both russet and sweet!

I diced them up and coated them with some extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Oh! and a little bit of Lawry’s Season Salt!

In the oven at 400° for 30 minutes. They came out nice and crispy, just the way I like’m.

While they were roasting away, I sauteed a few thinly sliced red peppers and garlic. Then added some scrambled eggs and diced tomatoes. I’ve pretty much used just about everything we have to eat in the house. Our refrigerator is empty! I almost like when this happens though, it makes me feel like we aren’t wasting anything. It’s definitely time to go grocery shopping though!

I threw the scrambled egg mixture right on top with a little bit of cheese (or a lot).

It was so good! Derek liked the regular potatoes better, but I liked the sweet potatoes more. I have always loved sweet potatoes. My Dad always makes me a special baked sweet potatoes during our gatherings for the holidays. I love eggs, you can do so many things with them.

Oh and I have to mention that I ate a piece of Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake last night for dessert. I am obsessed with PF cakes! They are so good. This has been in my freezer for a while, but I just took out one piece and let it thaw for about 10 minutes. It was still a little cold when I ate it, but it just made it that much better.

YUM!

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Brooklyn #1 bed bug borough

Brooklyn still #1 bed bug borough, Manhattan (UWS & North) next | BrickUnderground.

 

Eww!

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Martha’s Exchange

These were from the other night, Saturday afternoon to be more exact.

This was the Tapas Trio Dip with Hummus, Smoked Salmon dip and Olive Tapenade, mmm it was delicious! My favorite was definitely the tapenade, it was so salty and good. I think I ate most of the vegetables and Derek ate most of the chips, ha!

I got two beers with my meal. This was the Biscuit City Pale Ale.

This was probably one of the BEST pale ales I’ve ever had. It was very crisp and refreshing and had a nice bitter after taste. I will definitely be back for another.

For my second beer,  I had the Lackey’s Brown Ale.

It was very dark in color, but really refreshing. This one didn’t stand out to me as much as the Pale Ale, but I definitely enjoyed it. I drank this with my meal, which was a plain old cheeseburger with a side of fruit

It was exactly what I wanted.

Derek got the fried haddock to make up for his last attempt with fried fish at The Shaskeen, which was a total let down. It sure was an upgrade, his meal came with a huge piece of fish and onion rings AND french fries!

Those onion rings were amazing! I find it hard to come by good onion rings, they have to be perfect or I don’t like them, ha!

Well back to today, I woke up pretty early, probably too early considering I only went for a short run this morning. I did make a delicious egg wrap for breakfast though and I COMPLETELY forgot to take a picture! It had two scrambled eggs, yellow peppers, and mushrooms all wrapped up inside a whole grain wrap with a little guacamole and garlic hummus. It was good and filling.

• Distance: 3.1
• Time: 28:45
• Pace: 9:16/mile

I was actually hoping to go a little faster, but I think the hot weather is what killed me and has been killing me for the past two weeks. I’m not complaining though! I would rather hot sunny weather any day.

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Will Run for Beer

I just got back from an 8 mile run, it was great! I left around 10am and it was only about 69° which I was very happy about. There was a nice breeze most of the time, but it was still pretty damn humid outside. It was a great run overall, a lot better than last weeks. It was a little slower this week, but a lot more enjoyable. I felt pretty strong the whole time and I even sprinted the last half  mile. It was nice to feel strong at the end of the run, instead of feeling like I wanted to die. Definitely worth the slower pace.

• Distance: 8 Miles
• Time: 79:54
• Pace: 9:59/mile
• Calories Burned: 750 (estimate)

Today is my Dad’s birthday! Derek and I are going over to my parents house for a family gathering. I bought my Dad the Shamwow! and a tub of pistachios (he loves them). There is kind of inside joke in my family where my dad always ends up with all of the ‘As Seen on TV’ products. I think he will like it anyhow. You’ll say WOW every time!

I went out on Friday night for one of my co-workers birthday. We went to Jillians and I was only going to stay for an hour or so, but I ended up having such a good time that I stayed the whole time. I got there around 4 and left around 10! I’m really going to miss all of the people I work with.

I had planned on a 3 mile run for Friday, but I thought it was worth the sacrifice of hanging out with good people instead. It turned into two rest days because I didn’t end up doing anything yesterday either. I drank sooo much beer from Friday to Saturday.

Yesterday, Derek and I did some errands and then went to Martha’s Exchange in Nashua. We got some really good food and beer there and then ended up going out to The Wild Rover in Manchester for even more beer and we met up with sister, Kerri and her husband Scott. I have some great photos to share, but I will have to upload them a little later because I am heading over to my parents house now, hope everyone is having a nice Sunday!

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