You've got to try this!

Several weeks ago I was out and about with my mom running errands and enjoying her company for the afternoon. She was getting ready for the annual crab feast and we were stopping everywhere looking for plants and decorations and any odds and ends she wanted for the party. One of the stops she insisted we make was Willy's which is a garden center, farmer's market, and so much more. If you know me at all, you know I enjoy cooking in general, but especially baking and trying new things, so when I came across these in the bulk foods section, I couldn't resist.


Cinnamon drops (or chips as I've been calling them) sent my mind spinning through the possibilities. I've never heard of these before, what would I put them in? Muffins? Snickerdoodles? Scones? I couldn't decide so they have been in my fridge waiting patiently for me to make up my mind. This week, I finally decided on scones and I have to say, it was the right choice. I love this recipe for scones which hasn't failed me yet. It calls for raisins which I've never used because, well, they're just not my favorite, but I have used craisins & lemon, chocolate chips, sprinkled raw sugar on top, dried blueberries, and now I have made them with cinnamon chips.

I'll be making them again in OBX, and I think I'm going to start stocking up on cinnamon drops to see what else I can make with these awesome little pieces of goodness. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Even More About My Feet

I'm sorry if you all are sick of hearing about the seemingly never-ending saga of my feet, but there is yet another chapter which I hope, more then anyone, is the very last. I took my month of prescribed anti-inflamitories and my feet were definitely improved, but still not back to good as I had hoped and the Dr had been anticipating, so he got another call from me.

The next step was an MRI, which he had already mentioned at my last appointment, just to make sure there wasn't anything torn or worse. I'd never had one done before, so I didn't know what to expect but I brought a book with me, so I considered myself prepared. Chris was kind enough, and unsuspecting enough, to offer to take me to my 9:30pm appointment, which ended up taking almost two hours. A very long time to sit in a waiting room for them to give you your wife back! But before they could do the MRI, they ended up making me change completely into one of their snazzy paper outfits. I had to take pictures to share...


With the tie at the waist, the entire thing wasn't that bad, and it did hold everything together - and closed - pretty well.


But obviously, these gowns are made as a one-size-fits-all type of deal.

The pants were comically gigantic!

The nurses were all very sweet, letting me take my book with me; even if I could only turn pages when the MRI machine wasn't making noises; chatting with me while they switched feet, and even offered recommendations for some better books then what I was reading. I saw my Dr. a couple of days later who had the good news that the MRI was negative and all I needed was another month of the anti-inflamitories to hopefully get me back to perfect. He was even willing to take care of the toenail that was broken and falling off. Sorry, no pictures of that.

So, I'm going to be optimistic in saying this is the last of my fascitis woes and I will be moving on to new, more interesting topics. I ran almost 4 miles this morning which I'm going to say is a very good sign of healing to come.

New Shoes

On the heels of my last post, which I had written the bulk of a while ago, I did finally go to the Podiatrist about my feet last week. Fortunately, I got good news, they just needed time, an anti-inflamitory, and new shoes. The Doctor took one look at my Sauconys and said, these are good running shoes, but not for you.

Wait, what? As much as I love getting new shoes, I had never really put a whole lot of thought into buying new sneakers. Suddenly I was getting a whole lesson on my feet and what I have to do to be nice to them. So I left the office with a prescription as well as a list of shoes that would cushion my arch rather then support it and strict instructions to buy myself a new pair. Have I mention I like this guy?

Lots of internet research/shoe shopping later I had decided to get a pair of Asics, but not the Nimbus which had been on the Dr's list seeing as they were $120. Although they did come with the benefit of being able to call my running sneakers nimbus 3000, and were pretty cool looking to boot.
But I still couldn't fathom spending so much on a pair of sneakers, especially if I had to replace them in only 6 months. So moving on I found the Asics Cumulus, which was another cushiony shoe and to my delight came in a snazzy color green. So for $60, I ordered these:
Or so I thought, what I got were these:

But I have been wearing them around the house for the last couple of days and I'm liking them a lot so far. I guess I'll just have to get the green ones next time.

OK, I'm willing to admit it...

I think I've become a runner. I've been getting into running in the last 8 months or so thanks to a few different factors, the most influential being the awesome Zen player Chris gave me for Christmas. I love this thing, not only does it have an FM radio (take that apple!), it has lots of awesome DJ features, and my personal fav, a speaker that allows me to run and listen without dealing with the headphone wires bouncing around my neck. But this blog is about running, not cool toys.

For the most I've been active my whole life, I love soccer and will play it at any opportunity I get, especially now that I'm an adult and women or even co-ed leagues are fairly hard to come by. Besides playing club ball and high school soccer, I grew up in a great neighborhood for pick-up games and sports. We were constantly running around, rollerblading, riding bikes, and yet every fall when it was time to start running for soccer, I dreaded it. I waited till there was someone else to go with me, and even tried to clip my walkman on my shorts and then spent the whole run keeping my umbros from falling down (another reason I'm so excited about the zen). In junior high I didn't make the soccer team, so I decided to do track. I rationalized it by figuring at least I was still "playing a sport" but the only thing left for me to run was the mile. Ugh, it was torture, I can even remember, to my everlasting shame, not finishing one race. Definitely not an experience that endeared me to running.

Flash forward 16 years and I'm all I've got to motivate myself to exercise, but my choices are somewhat limited since I don't believe I would get my money's worth from a gym membership. I've memorized the Tae bo video, and laughed through a couple other videos I'm embarrassed to mention I own. We purchased a stationary bike shortly after moving into a home that had a better location for exercise equipment then Chris's side of the bed (that's where he wanted to put one at our old house). The bike is good, it does the trick, and I can watch TV, or read, or even play wii while I'm riding, but even that gets boring to me. I really never thought I was this hard to please!

Now with a brand new toy and a very mild winter, I decided to see if maybe my feelings had changed any for my old nemesis, running. Alas, it had not, well, not much anyway. The Zen provided entertainment which kept me distracted from the actual exercise, and was enough initial motivation to keep me going. I wheezed my way through the first few weeks till suddenly I started to notice that I was running further, getting less cramps, and even made myself go out on days where the weather wasn't so mild. Still, I really didn't consider myself a runner since my enjoyment came more from the sense of accomplishment, than from actually putting sneaker to pavement.

So why am I finally willing to admit it? A little over two months ago I hurt my feet. I ran 5 miles, they were sore, but then I finished the job at John's wedding where I wore fabulous 3 inch heels and then went barefoot, dancing and running around all night. My already sore arches were destroyed, and I've been struggling with them ever since; resting and stretching and icing and wearing my sneakers 24/7 and they still kept getting hurt. Sure I was frustrated that my feet were hurt and I couldn't seem to get them better on my own, but I also missed running. I didn't want to get out of the habbit I had formed, and after weeks of shortned runs at a slower pace, I long for the challenge of adding distance and the reward of shaving seconds off my best times. I like running, I enjoy the exercise, and after 28 years, I have officially become a runner.

I could make myself so fat...

I love to bake, but don't really get to do it very often since Chris and I are only two people and we definitely don't need to eat a whole batch of cookies or pan of brownies ourselves. However, I found a blog that makes me want to go home every day and bake something! Bakerella has the cutest ideas and I am just dying for an opportunity to make cake pops out of something.

Take a look at these!


Visit http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ to see more adorable shapes and ideas! She also takes fabulous pictures of all her goodies.

(and this on the heels of reading Erin's anti-sugar blog. I do agree we have too much sugar in our diets, but these are just the cutest things!!! I can't not make them...)

Weather Whining

I've been pretty whiny lately, just ask Chris, but I seriously want to know what happened to spring? I used to love summer, but honsetly, show me a kid who gets summers off from school that doesn't count summer as their favorite time of the year. I'm also included in the minority of people who would rather be warm then cold. However, now that I'm an "adult" and no longer have three months of leisure time to go to the pool and rollerblade around the neighborhood, I've started to appreciate much more the beauty of spring and fall over the heat of summer.


Every winter I shiver my way through the season waiting anxiously for warmer weather and signs of new life pushing through the chilly ground. I love planting daffodil and tulip bulbs because they are the first color of spring to be seen, and I'm coveting the beautiful cherry and crabapple trees in my neighbor's yards that are shedding their delicate flowers all down my street. I'm hoping to plant one of my own this year.


However, the weather has been less then cooperative, in my opinion, and I guess I've been complaining a lot about it lately. Chris reminds me there's nothing I can do to make mother nature bend to my will, but somehow that doesn't stop me. Today is actually going to be a beautiful spring day; sunny with big puffy rolling clouds, highs in the upper 50's and breezy. But this is one day, which has followed three days of rain and chill, never really making it out of the 40's, and is to be followed by three days sweltering summer heat flirting with low 90's at times.


The bright side of all this? Next week looks like spring will be sticking around for longer then an afternoon sandwiched between unpleasantness, and Saturday will be the perfect day for a wedding. :) I really should stop complaining, if not for Chris's sanity, for my own. I am not in control of the weather, but I know who is, and it looks like He's got the important stuff covered.

Bachelorette

Here are a couple of nice group shots of the ladies in Ocean City.

At dinner.

Headed out to the club.