Wordless Wednesday

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

I'm thankful for everything that makes me happy and content :)

Since we've moved to Maryland, except for one year, the BF and I have always had a Thanksgiving at home, with just us since we're our own little family.  We're home bodies, so we're totally fine with pigging out and just watching tv/playing video games for the day.  I usually make a big dinner (since there are two of us, we have leftovers for days).  And every year, I like to try out new recipes, while keeping some of the old.  

Here's the menu (with links to the applicable sources):

Breakfast
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Appetizer
Broccoli Bites
----These were really good.  A little ranch dressing on the side and they were perfect.

Dinner
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Apple Cider Gravy
Cheesy Stuffing/Dressing (I never stuff the bird, but I still call it stuffing :)
Paula Deen's Green Bean Casserole
7 Up Biscuits
North African Spiced Carrots
Cheddar and Bacon Smashed Potatoes

Desserts
Cinnamon Roll Dutch Apple Pie
Chocolate Eclairs
----We're doing two desserts in case the pie is a flop.  The eclairs are also the BF's favorite dessert ever and I don't want to disappoint.

I prepped everything yesterday, so all I have to do is assemble and cook.  I have everything organized and I've made a schedule of the order I need to do things.  The turkey is already in the oven and everything is going according to plan.  Honestly, the hardest part of today will be the dishes....which I'm hoping I can pass on to the BF....

Now since I have some time to kill, I'm gonna surf the interwebs to see what kinda of shopping deals I can find....

No to Centipedes

I have a fear of centipedes.  I'm not sure it's to the point where I'd call it a phobia, because I have no problem destroying the babies when I find them.  But once I see a full grown one...it's over for me.

Here's a little background info.  We live on the ground floor of our building.  Half of our place is underground, so essentially, we're living in the basement of our building.  Basement = haven for insects.

I came home the other day to this monster on my kitchen ceiling.

Just so you can compare the size, those are liquor bottles and the track to our lighting.  That thing was huge.  It had stripes.  It was like a tiger centipede or something.

Being the scared pansy I am, I just about had a panic attack.  My heart was thumping, my adrenaline was going and I was almost on the verge of tears.  All because I was trying to pump myself up to kill this thing.  Long story short:  I didn't have the cahones to kill it.  So instead, I watch the tiger striped demon from a safe distance and hoped that the BF (aka official centipede killer) would get home soon.  Well, he came home an hour later.  In that time, I made a run for the bathroom and came out to see it crawl down our kitchen cabinet, fall off the cabinet (because it was so big and heavy mind you), crawl onto the floor and proceed under the fridge.  I was so overcome with fear and panic, all I could do was watch the whole thing.  I'm such a pansy, I couldn't even kill it when it was crawling on the floor and I had the advantage.  I fail. 

And now we have a tiger centipede living comfortably in some corner, getting bigger and fatter by the day, only to do the whole thing all over again.  Fingers are crossed that the centipede killer will be around...

Dog Fail

So yea, Gypsy didn't realize the water was too deep to simply walk into...

Hope you did too!

30 Before 30: Do an Obstacle Course Challenge

I can finally cross something else off my "Before 30" bucket list.

Last weekend, the BF and I not only did our first race, it was an obstacle race...with zombies.

I heard about their inaugural race last year, and I had to sign us up for the following year.  It also kick started our fitness motivation.  Here's the concept for Run For Your Lives.  It's a 5K, filled with various obstacles at about every quarter to half mile, with "zombies" throughout.  The "zombie's" goal is to get your "life flag" that you, as a runner, wear flag football style around your waist.  If you make it past the finish with at least one flag, you've survived the zombie apocalypse.  If you come out of it without a flag, you'll turn into a zombie.  But, huzzah!  There's a free beer waiting for you at the end!  As well as an apocalypse party with live music and food!  And every finisher gets a medal and tshirt.

Some of the obstacles included were:  a couple of walls to jump over, a freezing cold lake to swim across, a couple of trenches to climb in and out of, some tunnels, a maze, electrified fences, barbed wires to crawl under, a crazy steep hill, a slide into a "pool of blood," and of course, mud everywhere.  This race is all over the country, so each course is different depending on the terrain of the location.  And if you don't wanna run, no problem, sign up to be a zombie and you'll get a professional makeup job and get placed on the course, with access to the after party.

We had so much fun, and I'm hyped to do another one.  It was the most physically demanding (which, with my current fitness level, that isn't saying much).  Our finish time wasn't the greatest and it showed how much more I need to go to get fit, but I'm totally looking forward to it next time.

Oh, and we had the best shirts ever.  Mine said "Korean Fast Food."  And his said, "High in Fiber."  Ha, I'm so clever sometimes, and apparently others agreed because we got alot of compliments.  I'm pretty much amazing because of them.... :)

We even went into the race with the same strategy, which ended up fizzling out pretty early on.  In the end, we didn't survive.  I guess we didn't have what it takes to live through the apocalypse.  Next time...

THE END.

Friday Favorites

Favorite Teacup via Etsy.  Everytime I see this I just crack up.

Favorite Picnic Locale.  I don't know where this is, but I want to partake.

Favorite Presidential Nominee.

Favorite Hashtag.  I don't have a Twitter account, so I had no clue what a #hashtag was until recently.  Well, I like this description better.

Favorite Gutter.  This'll make any rainy day so much better.

Big Brother Visits...and Runs a Marathon!

Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of spending time with these two...technically three, I guess.

My brother is Johnny Depp...wearing a marathon medal, if you couldn't figure that out.

My brother was running in the Marine Corps Marathon in DC, so they made a trip out it from Arizona to the East Coast.  The BF and I showed them around some of the local sights, which isn't much by the way!  And they were the perfect photographers for our zombie run.  We ate at the famous Ben's Chili Bowl.  I got to see the buzz associated with marathons by going with them to the runner's expo.  I ended up getting legitimate running shoes, and I'm calling them because all the shoes I've had before have been an all purpose cross training type.  So I'm pretty excited about this, albeit expensive, purchase.  I got to see my sister-in-law's growing belly and found out the name.

The marathon was so great to see.  I definitely got some motivation to run.  There was also a great sense of patriotism throughout the race, but then again, I always get that when we go to DC.  Watching some of it even brought a tear to eye.  At one point, my brother spotted us on the side and kissed the pregnant belly.  That pretty much did it for me.  I cried.  Another thing I learned from the marathon... restaurants in the area, sure know how to market to runners during a marathon week.  We saw a Mexican place with a spaghetti special.  Hmmm....