Monday, all day...

{one}

This weekend was quite productive.  We painted the kitchen and 1/2 the family room, as well as finished off the master bedroom!  Completed a 9.16 mile training run.  We ran to the race (6 miles) and then did a 5K.

 Toasting the newly painted kitchen...

Kitchen, only need to add some doorknobs, change out the counter tops and get a new range/microwave in there and we are good to sell!

{two}

I'm totally excited about the next few weeks!  I have an awesome work schedules because of how vacation, work trip and Thanksgiving fell, but between the next 3 weeks, I'm working only 8 days!  Score!

{three}

I will be here very soon!

{four}

Our 1/2 marathon is only 13 days away!  I'm excited!  Plus, quality time with some of my ladies!!!

{five}

A small part of me wants to train for a marathon again.  The other part of me beats that side down into submission.  Watching coverage of the NYC marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon the weekend before have given me the bug again...slightly.  How long will I hold out?

{six}

I have been fighting it, but tonight, I will lose my battle about going:

It's our new arena.  I just feel like it's a ridiculous waste of money that no one needed to spend in this economy.  Especially for a team that most of the city has a love/hate relationship with. Let's just hope it brings in what the projections were...and then some.

{seven}

I'm tired of the "cold" weather.  I know those of you up north will just laugh at me and my Floridian self, but highs in the 60's aren't my friend.  It's been windy and cold and I'm happy the 80's are coming back.  The cold snap was nice while it lasted, but I'd prefer in the 70's next time please :)

{eight}

Jessica, over at Chronicles of a First Year Teacher, got engaged this weekend!!!  Stop by and tell her congratulations!!!

{nine}

I would be happy with a nap right now.

The End.

Happy Monday!!!

Five Question Friday + Major Score!

1. If you could have any talent and turn it into an occupation, what would it be?

Hands down...sideline sports reporter.  Only for college football though.  I have a pretty good knowledge of football.  It's my favorite thing to watch on a Saturday!  As I've stated before...the Erin Andrews, without the controversy would be fine and dandy with me!

2. Would you rather have a house at the beach or a cabin in the woods?

Fortunately, I have the luxury of both...thanks to my parents :)  We have a condo at the beach which is only 30 minutes from our side of town and we love it!  Both John and I grew up beach kids, so beach kids we will stay!  

Can you really get tired of this?  I don't think so....

My parents also have recently acquired a cabin in Tennessee, mostly for rentals, but if it's not being rented, we are allowed to go up there!  I love it up there!  I might want to move up there one day.  Just sayin'...

3. Is there any meaning or reasoning for the names you chose for your child/children?

I don't have people children, but I do have a fur-baby and her name was  picked for a reason. The story: My dad and I decided to get my grandma a Shih Tzu for mother's day one year after meeting a lady in Cracker Barrel that had just had puppies that morning.  After a few minutes, I decided I wanted one too!  The only problem was I had just graduated and was living at home with my parents while saving for a house.  My dad and I decided it best to not tell my mom right away, although he was ok with the idea.  Weeks went on and it was almost time to get her and my mom still didn't know.  I decided to name her Lily because that was the nickname my mom had for me, so I figured it would soften the blow a little.  It did, after her initial anger shock.  She now loves Lily and so do I :)

4. What is your guilty pleasure? (I know we've done this one before, but I'm guessing people's "guilty pleasures" change frequently. At least, mine do!)

Right now...baking.  I'm obsessed with baking.  Every Friday, I feel like I. Must. Bake.  It's been going on since our first cold snap and I feel like it's out of control a little.  Oh well...it's kept me happy.  And I have people over to eat the baked goods so it's not just on John and I.  Yay!  So far in the past month, I've made sugar cookies, chocolate chip cake, countless chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cookies, cup cakes x 2, muffins x 2...and I'm honestly sure there's more, but that was just off the top of my head.  Hey, at least I have skillz....ha.

5. Do you live in a house that is deep cleaned or straightened?

Uh...well, we deep clean the carpets from time to time if that's what you mean?  Then there's the cleaning of the kitchen pretty much daily and the weekly's of other places.  There's also the cleaning to the fridge every couple of weeks to get out the old and spray it down with some good ole bleach...yea.  I love clean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAJOR SCORE!!!

...on what might you ask?

Laser Hair Removal.

Thanks to

That's right...$1,800 worth for $188.00!  I bought 2...they were $99 for $900, but since I recommended a friend, I got $10 off!  That gives me 12 sessions!  We'll see how this whole deal goes!  I'm going to start ASAP...hopefully I'll be mostly done before the wedding! Woot!

Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

That fabulous little gem is a pumpkin cookie.  I got the recipe from Joy the Baker's blog.

They are perfect for fall and the consistency of a muffin top!  YUM!

Tips:

• I substitute white chocolate chips for the butterscotch chips...I like the flavors together better, but both are tasty.  
• You'll see below it calls for baking on parchment paper, if I don't have parchment paper, as I did not last night, I just spray a little Pam on a non-stick baking sheet and it worked just fine.  
• I also put all the pans in the oven at the same time without any problems.  I totaled three pans last night to fit all the cookies.

Without further adieu...

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.  On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended.  Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it.  Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart.  You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a  scoop.  Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the  cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes.  Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool cimpletely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar.  The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

ENJOY!

Thankful Thursdays

I am participating in my first swap!  I'm excited!  I'm still pretty new to the blogging world, but I love the new bloggy-friends I've made so far!  So...I've decided to participate in



I'm really excited!  Thanks Sandy!

Now...on to Thankful Thursdays!

I am THANKFUL that...

...is only 16 days away!

...Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks from today...and that I can agree with this picture above!

...fall is here and we have a cold front blowing through today!

...this will be on TV soon!

...for John and all his love!

...for the Lil' and her crazy self!

...for awesome and forever friendships...

AND...

My family!

Oh yea...and pumpkin cookies :)

Wednesday's Ramblings...

It's over!  The horrible, attacking ads will now stop interrupting my regularly scheduled programing!  The ballots have been counted...well, all except for the Florida governor's race, and the people have spoken.  I love election day.  I'm a political science major, so I get into it.  I'm pretty pleased with how everything went down, especially locally...minus one tax increase...my poor property tax...

 

WAS DENIED!  The construction industry in Florida is safe from any more harm...for the time being...yay!

Last night, John and I painted the master bedroom.  It was this color before...minus my beautiful artwork...

Afterwards...while watching the election results until midnight...ha!

It's like a green/grey color.  Definitely made a huge difference in the room.  Only the rest of the house to go now...ugh...

Christmas is only 52 days away!  Ahh! and Yay!  (My favorite Christmas movie above!)

Not sure if anyone watches

but the end of the episode last week was horrible.  I really like Charlotte...who was that horribly, crazy dude that attacked her?!

It's Wednesday!  I'm off to lunch with Ashley!  Packet pickup for our race Saturday...and maybe new shoes!

Weekend Pictures

My friend Melissa from high school

Getting ready for the game to start

My love & I

Cornhole...John & I had quite a winner streak going :)

Lots of people

Naptime?  Actually not...for once ;-)

The trash pile...

...be proud you lazy fans...

AND...

Another thing knocked off my 101 in 1001!  Make Gator Cupcakes!

Weekend Recap

Hi my bloggy friends!  It's once again Monday, which means the lovely weekend has come to an end.  What a weekend it was.  John & I drove up to Jacksonville for the weekend to spend time with some friends and tailgate.  We went with the Jacksonville Beach Gator Club on buses from the beaches to downtown and had a l-o-n-g day of tailgating.  We got there at 9am, we left at 9pm.  It was fun, but man, we were we exhausted!  So was Lily after a fun weekend playing with Cady.  Here's Lily this morning at the office, relaxing on her lion...man can I related...

The Gators looked like a football team...with an offense and everything!  They even let Brantley THROW the ball!  Not that they played super stellar, but it's a vast improvement from the Mississippi State game!  Yay!  I will have pictures later to post, I just haven't gotten around to putting them on the computer since we got home late last night.  We would have been home at 7, but poor John forgot his laptop, so an hour in to the drive, we had to turn around and head back to get it.  But thankfully we got it and he is now able to be productive at work today :)

Anyway...back to Game Day...

So we decided to walk around for a while and check out the sites.  It is, after all, called the world's largest cocktail party, so there are always sites to see.  Florida-Georgia has been my favorite rivalry as long as I can remember, until this past weekend. The Georgia fans we were around were rude, crude, and horrible.  Wait until I post pictures, they had trash up to my shins that they just left at their tailgate site.  I have never been talked to the way the Georgia fans were screaming obscenities as we walked by them.  Rivalries are supposed to be fun...not ugly.  We are the SEC.  That should bring us pride in having exciting games to watch and a great history within the teams.  Instead, some ignorant fans ruined my taste for the Bulldogs.  I know not all their fans are like that, and I'm sure there are those Florida fans out there, but how ignorant.  Grr.  The worst were the "ladies".  They were all dressed up so cute, then they opened their ugly, vulgar mouth, and they were only a lady by appearance.  It was seriously ridiculous.  You take a back seat now Georgia...good riddance!  I'm glad we won though!  We needed it after three losses in a row!

I will do my best to download those pictures and have them up by this evening...if not tomorrow!  The next few weeks bring lots of fun and I can't wait!  Tonight, John and I will be watching:

Hope it's worth the wait.  John has been dying to see it.

Happy Monday!