take it and run thursday – love the music (with a giveaway)

Posted on by
19

This week’s Take It and Run Thursday is all about podcasts and music. I have never done the podcast thing, so music it is. I love music and rarely manage a run without it (just not that in love with running, I guess). I have learned to run without my Nike + iPod when I’m attempting to just run without any thought for goals, but the music is still there.

In honor of the music, below are some of my favorites from the marathon training days. Enjoy! I chose to only list songs that I could offer for downloading (not protected songs), but I would feel awful if I failed to mention my all time, number one (at least for the St. George Marathon of 2007) training song, Sexy Back by JT. I love that song!

My number two is listed below. Be the first one to guess it in the comments (you only get one guess) and I will send you my latest running mix! And, because I love giveaways, leave a comment between now and next Thursday, and you will be entered in a drawing to win a running mix, as well. Winners will be announced in next weeks installment of Take It and Run Thursday. (Even if you’re not a one for running, you might still enjoy listening to the mix blasting in your car.)

And here is a a little paragraph from an old post on how I incorporated music into my marathon training.

The next thing; I incorporated walk breaks. When doing long runs, especially for the novice runner like myself, there are several different schools of thought, but one tip that seems to be pretty common is to take walk breaks every so many minutes. Well, I didn’t want to look at my iPod (my only source of time) at all for all of the previously mentioned reasons, so I decided, rather than timing my breaks, I would just walk every fifth song (four minutes walking for every 16 running).

The “walk break to music” plan worked brilliantly. I will never do it any other way. As I continued to do it, I figured out what worked for me. I love running because it is really about what works for each one of us.

P.S. For those of you worried about me after my day yesterday, let me just say that I am doing much better today. Amazing what a few hours and a great conversation will do to ease the stresses of life!

head case

Posted on by
14

Yes, I was really trying to have a Wordless Wednesday. I love the picture below. Emily took it while we were in New York. It is just a happy, wonderful picture, which is a small miracle since it’s a backside shot of me.

Today, though, I am not feeling happy and wonderful. And while I try not to post more than once a day (you know, in an attempt to control my OCD), I felt the need today.

Lest you think my life glorious and perfect all the time…

Sometimes life seriously sucks. Sometimes I’m not the happy person I want so badly to be. Sometimes I want to hit people. Sometimes I want people to feel how stupid I really think they really are. Sometimes I really hate being single. Sometimes I really don’t care about other people and their problems. Sometimes I break down in a ball of tears and can’t stop crying. Sometimes I wonder why anyone is friends with me. Sometimes I miss my mom so much it hurts. Sometimes I actually wonder if I should have just gone through with the wedding. Sometimes I want someone else to make my decisions for me, not so I can blame them later, but just so I don’t have to do it. Sometimes I hate what I look like. Sometimes I don’t want to get out of bed, because getting out of bed means finding something to wear, and sometimes I hate finding something to where because sometimes I hate my body. Sometimes I wish I could understand why knowing that something is the best thing to do is not enough motivation to get me to do it. Sometimes I wonder if I will always be alone.

And sometimes I wish I could understand what the hell I was thinking when I signed up for my particular set of problems. And yes, I do believe that I signed up for them, which totally eliminates any feelings of justification I might have had in complaining about my lot in life, which just makes me that much angrier. And if that isn’t enough to irritate me, there’s always my mom’s voice in my head reminding me that “it always works out”.

So, just in case you thought you were the only one, you’re not. I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

P.S. On a happier note, I’ve put up February’s downloads on my sidebar. They are all about love. So, in case you are depressed after reading this, you can download some love songs that might cheer you up, unless of course you are depressed about your love life; in which case, might I suggest waiting?

brie en croute with caramel and walnuts

Posted on by
16

(I also threw in some dried cranberries)

  • 1 8 oz. round brie cheese
  • 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts (I forgot to toast the walnuts…and it was still delicious)
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries (optional)
  • 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp of water

Thaw out the puff pastry dough according to package instructions. When thawed, put on lightly floured surface, unfold the dough, and roll it out. It should be about two inches longer and wider, both.

Cut brie in half horizontally. Put the bottom half in the center of the puff pastry.

Spread brown sugar, walnuts, and cranberries on the brie half, and place the other brie half on top.

Trim the pastry dough so that there is a 4-inch border around the brie.

Brush edges of pastry with the egg wash and fold pastry around the brie, pressing the edges together at the top.

If you want, cut shapes into the excess pastry dough and use them to decorate the outside of the brie.

Brush egg wash over the outside of the pastry.

Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden.

Serve warm with crackers and pear slices.

The rest of these pictures are from the engagement party Sarah and I threw for Richard and Bre on Saturday night. We decided to go with a very simple, but oh so elegant, spread of various cheeses and carbohydrate media with which to eat the cheese, a fruit platter, and red velvet cupcakes.


The reddish glob at the bottom of this picture is actually delicious and very simple. Just take an 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese and cover it in the pepper jelly of your choice. I prefer medium heat, as opposed to mild, since the dairy of the cheese tempers the heat of the peppers.

a little mika love

Posted on by
8

The Mika concert was amazing. After spending over TWO HOURS in line in the freezing cold, we discovered that the reason the doors opened at 8 pm, rather than the 6 o’clock time we had been told, was that Mika’s instruments and costumes were not in Salt Lake, but somewhere on the road. Happily, Mika decided to play the show anyway, despite his insurance company’s recommendation to cancel and it was the MOST AMAZINGLY, INCREDIBLY FUN concert I have ever been to. The video above is the Grace Kelly (I started filming a little into the song) and at the end is Mika’s fabulous welcome (oh, and he’s British and a musician, so he swears).

I got a few songs on video. The best song, without a doubt, was Lollipop (a song I didn’t get on video). He went right into it from another song (a song whose tempo is quite a bit faster than Lollipop’s) and he was all about audience participation. Sadly, he didn’t play Big Girl (You Are Beautiful), but other than that, I can honestly say that I have never been so pleasantly surprised in my life.

Before he came out to play, Sarah said, “This better be an amazing show after standing in line for two hours just to get in the door.” Neither one of us was disappointed at all. And, due to the delay and lack of the “real show”, we were all refunded $10, making it that much better. Hopefully Sarah will mention all of the zoobies that were in line with us. All I can say is that if you haven’t experienced life in Utah, you just can’t know what you are missing.