Birthday Cookies

I received this huge box from Alissa in the mail yesterday, but I was given strict instructions not to open it until my birthday.
It was extremely difficult to let a big box like that sit in my room unopened. But I obeyed. I figured out that my mom and Alissa sent me gifts, each with an opening time written on them. I was born at 3:50am, so my first gift is set to be opened at 10:50am on Friday and then each corresponding hour after that. I am so excited to open a gift each hour! It is going to spread my birthday through the whole day. How fun!

Here is the inside of Alissa's box. She called me tonight and told me I could open it and unwrap the 10:50am gift.

The gift was candy cane chocolate cookies and she didn't want them to get stale. I dug in right away and gave some to my friends. I LOVE these cookies and was so happy to get a big bag of them. Alissa just posted the recipe and I definitely recommend you make them. They are super easy and taste really good. Perfect for the Christmas season.

I'll keep you posted on the rest of the gifts and my birthday fun this weekend!

Crazy Day

Today was crazy! I got up at 5:15am for clinicals and accidentally locked my keys in my car once I got to there. I guess I was out of it since it was so early. I didn't realize the keys were in my car until I went to leave and I had to wait for an hour for hospital security to unlock it. But, I think the good in my day cancelled all the early morning drama out. I got out of clinicals early and got to have lunch out at Noodle and Co.
I got mac and cream with chicken.

Then I went across the street to Panera and redeemed my free birthday pastry. (My birthday is on Friday!) I got this HUGE cobblestone muffin. So far I have only made a little dent in it.

When I got back to school, I had a birthday package waiting for me at the post office from Alissa. I can't open it until Friday though. The suspense is killing me!

Have you ever locked your keys in your car?

Snow?

It's suppose to snow tomorrow! Right now it's drizzling and occasionally hailing little ice balls.



I am drinking hot chocolate out of my husband's fav starbuck's christmas mug with some of this in it. I wish I had real whipped cream for the top!



And I'm thinking about painting my nails OPI's "alpine snow" (not my hands)

I've just started watching "Desperate Housewives: Season 1" on Netflix. I've seen every season except this one. It's so good. I can't wait to lay on the couch and marathon it tonight. I'm pretty sure I'm skipping the Tuesday night group run. It's so cold!

I hope I get a snow day tomorrow but it's unlikely. I really wish I had a pair of these to wear. I'm sure it will be wet outside.

I'm looking forward to a lazy evening. I'm only considering venturing out for Taco Mac. Boneless Buffalo Wings and fries? Hmm. We'll see ;) What are your plans?

Oh and most of the photos i use are found on my pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lisdyer/

Deciding What to Pack

I'm leaving for Pittsburgh in the morning, so tonight I'm trying to pack all my stuff. I hate trying to decide what to bring. I usually pick my outfits in the morning right before I leave, so planning them for a week is not my thing. I like to have options, which means I tend to over pack. I found this packing light list on the Travelista blog. Its helpful to remember to pack neutrals and layers, then throw in little things like scarves and jewerly to make the outfit.

My must haves are a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of regular cut jeans, simple shirts, scarves, a cardigan, a sweatshirt, my pea coat, brown boots, and black flats. I'll probably end up throwing in a few extra things in case I want options.

What are your packing must haves?

Top Model Allstars

I can't decide who I want to win America's Next Top Model Allstars. I'm torn between Laura, Lisa and Allison. I don't know when Lisa started growing on me but I like her now. I think she'd do the best job working at E. I think Allison is the best model though. I dunno... Who do you want to win??

Laura Kirkpatrick

Lisa D Amato


Allison Harvard

Five Favorite Thanksgiving Foods

I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I have been getting excited for a break from school and about eating some of my favorite foods. Here are my top five favorite Thanksgiving foods in order of importance.
1. Mashed Potatoes. I love, love, love mashed potatoes! They are definitely one of my favorite foods. Alissa and I make really good ones with cream cheese and half and half. They have to be horrible for you, but they taste amazing. I'm going to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving this year, so I might volunteer to make the mashed potatoes.

2. Corn Souffle. This is so easy to make...just mix together creamed corn, canned corn, jiffy cornbread mix, and a few other simple ingredients and pop it in the oven. I definitely go back for thirds of this one.

3. Pumpkin Roll. I don't really care about pumpkin pie, so my dessert of choice is pumpkin roll. So good! Alissa has a funny story about making one for her first Thanksgiving with Joe's family. She forgot to add sugar! It is tricky to make and roll up without cracking the bread, but I really don't care about how it looks as long as it tastes good.

4. Cranberry Nut Bread. This is probably Alissa's number one favorite Thanksgiving food. She is obsessed with it. My grandparents owned a bakery in Pittsburgh and the Cranberry Nut Bread from there is really good. I get to have Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh this year at my aunt's house, so I'll get some fresh bread. Alissa will be beyond jealous. If she's lucky, I may mail her some.

5. Lemon Pepper Green Beans with Almonds. Last, but not least, my list rounds out with a vegetable. If you didn't notice, all the others were carbs and starches, so I got to at least try to eat something green. These green beans are really good and my family makes them on a regular basis, but they are definitely a Thanksgiving staple.

What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Lightened Up Sweet Potato Casserole

Last night was Joe's birthday. I made tilapia, lemon-pepper green beans and this:
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/11/lightened-up-sweet-potato-casserole/

It's amazing! Go make it. It took awhile though, so consider yourself warned. Perfect for fall/Thanksgiving.

What are your favorite food blogs? Mine is definitely howsweeteats.com

Teal

Lately I've been really into teal walls and accents for the home. I think the color is so pretty and fresh. It makes me excited to have a place of my own soon to decorate. I think smaller spaces like bathrooms and laundry rooms would be the easiest to paint totally teal. Here are some teal rooms I have pinned recently on pinterest.

 I love the chandelier in this laundry room too!

The light teal color and teal tiles mixed with the natural sunlight is so pretty and refreshing for the morning.

Oops

So I feel like crap today...I stayed out with friends until 4am and unfortunately I'm way too old to be doing that business. But anyways, I feel awful but I knew I needed to go grocery shopping for Joe's bday dinner that's on Wednesday. So I force myself. I'm on the phone with my mom and totally out of it and I go over to get 2lbs of yams that I need for this casserole thing. I see that each bag is .5 lbs so I get 4 bags. I think for a second that it seems like a lot of yams but I obviously don't think about it too long. I get home and start unloading and suddenly it hits me how I always get 1 bag to make mashed potatoes and stuff like that and how I can't imagine how long it's going to take me to peel and chop this many yams. So I check the bag again. And it totally says 5 lbs. So I just bought 20 lbs of yams. WTF me???!!! I'm totally returning them asap. Ugh!

Did anyone else do something completely stupid today?? Make me feel better :)

Five Things I'm Looking Forward to This Weekend

1. Seeing Crazy Stupid Love again with my friends tonight at the $3 Theater. I love this movie and Ryan Gosling!

2. Getting fro yo afterward at Yogurt Mountain. They have a s'mores flavor fro yo, which is really good!

3. Sleeping in and staying in bed while catching up on TV shows.

4. Painting my nails with one of my favorite fall colors, Essie's Sassy Satchel.

5. Making some sort of cookies or brownies to pig out on.

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Group Run

I've run twice so far this week and I'll probably run again tomorrow or Saturday. 3 days is pretty good for me, unfortunately. I should be doing 3 times a week minimum. It's only going to get harder as it gets colder. I can't stand running on the tredmill. This Tuesday I did a group run at with a Beach Peach Running Co store that is nearby. I was nervous to run with other people but I ended up being really glad I went! I parked and as I was getting out of my car I saw a bunch of runners jogging...so I sprinted over and joined in the pack. Perfect timing! I need to work for being on time. I ended up doing 3 miles in 30 minutes and I felt really strong doing it. I definitely could have ran farther. Afterwards, I went in the store and got a free hat, bag and night reflector from Saucony. Yay for freebies! I can't wait to go back next Tuesday. Chatting with other people really made the run fly by.

Do you like to talk when you run? Or do you prefer to only listen to your ipod? I like to do both. A mix is perfect. Have you ever gone on a big group run?

Running Incident

On Tuesday morning, I decided to wake up early and go for a run before my classes. I felt groggy when I was leaving, but I just figured I would wake up more once I got outside. I ran two miles without a problem (except for almost being hit by a car pulling out of an alley), but, unfortunately, I somehow tripped and fell during my last mile. The sidewalk dipped down for a crosswalk and I tumbled down right in the middle of the street. Luckily, no one was around to see this whole thing happen. I fell on my knees and broke my fall with my hands, which as a result got all cut up. I was a mile away from campus, so I figured since I had to get back someway, I would just choose the fastest option and run the rest. My knee was dripping blood down my leg, which got me quite a few weird looks.
Please excuse how awful I look in this picture. It was a traumatic morning.

Here are my knees. My left one got the worst of it. Now they look worse with all the bruising and scabbing.

My palms actually are the most annoying because I have to use my hands for everything. Hopefully they heal up quick!

As if the morning was not eventful enough, I ended up getting a migraine about an hour after I got back. I don't know if the impending migraine caused my clumsiness and fall or if my fall brought on the migraine somehow. Either way, Tuesday morning was not a good time for me.

I was supposed to run a Turkey Trot on Saturday, but I'm not sure if my knee will be able to handle it. It still hurts pretty bad and is kind of swollen, so we'll see how I feel.

What's your worst running/exercise injury?

Black Bean Fiesta Dip

Black Bean Fiesta Dip

Combine:

2 cans black beans (drained)

1 c. frozen corn (thawed and baked with 1 T corn or olive oil @ 450 degrees 7-8 min.)

1 large tomato (diced)
2 large avocados (diced)

2 T red onion (diced) (This is what the recipe says but Joe and I usually add more)
¼ c. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. pressed garlic

Dressing:

2 T lime juice

¼ tsp. cumin

1 T cider vinegar

2 T corn or olive oil

1 tsp. salt

Pour dressing over mixture and stir. Serve with frito scoops or as a stand-alone salad. I love it with the fritos. I usual put some shredded cheddar cheese on top and microwave it for 1 minute. Also, I mix everything ahead of time and put the avocados and tomato in just before serving. Otherwise, the salad gets soggy. I got this recipe from my mom and aunt and it's great to bring to a party. Joe and I often eat it as a main dish too. Enjoy!

Oh and the picture was taken by my friend, Jen

Watches

One of my favorite current trends is the chunky watch. I love how it casually puts together an outfit.

http://www.everythingfab.com/

I love the way this looks.

http://www.paloma81.blogspot.com/

It's cute when you add a bunch of bracelets too.


http://www.atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com/
I love this look even without a watch. The chunky bracelets look amazing.



http://www.fossil.com/

I love the look and color of this watch. I'm not sure if it would go with all of my clothes though. It's important for a watch to be neutral. I want to try and on before deciding if I want it.

I'm thinking about adding a chunky watch to my Christmas list. Michael Kors makes cute ones and so does Fossil...Fossil is a lot cheaper which is a plus. Should I get the purplish gray one? I'd like to wear bracelets with it but honestly, I probably won't. I have a feeling they would start to bother me plus I sadly don't have very much jewelry. Is this a look you like?

Jean Shirts

This Trendy Tuesday, I'm going to share my favorite fashion trend of this week. Lately, I have been really liking jean shirts, which is kind of unusual for me because I hate jean on jean and jean jackets. Here are some of the jean shirt looks I've seen on pinterest.

Instead of wearing the shirt with jeans, I would wear it with black leggings and boots.

I think the look is best with hair up in a bun for some reason. I also love it with a scarf.

I love this look except for the jeans on bottom. I really am liking the chunk sweater scarf too.

It also looks cute hanging out of a sweater with cords.

So I think I will be looking for a jean shirt next time I go shopping. Preferably a cheap one since I'm not sure how long I'll be into this look.

Spotify

I just made a Spotify account today at the urging of my friend Beth. Spotify basically allows you to make playlists and listen to music on your computer without downloading anything or paying for anything. The only catch is that you can't burn the music onto a CD or upload it on your ipod. Its a good way to listen to music though and decide if you want to buy it. Already today, I added the new Coldplay CD and Florence + the Machine's new CD that has only been released in the UK. I'm going to have to mess around with it tonight and make some fun playlists. If you want to make an account, just go to http://www.spotify.com/us/ .

The Great Pumpkin Chase 5k Recap

Saturday was the Great Pumpkin Chase 5k Race. I ran the race with my friend Beth who actually just ran a half marathon, so this was no big deal for her. I was a little worried about the race since I stayed out until 1am the night before celebrating Halloween, but I ended up doing fine! The race was at 11am, since my college knew no one would want to get up early on a Saturday for it. I woke up around 8:00 to drink a few cups of water then went back to sleep until 9:00. I had oatmeal and a banana for breakfast before getting ready for the race.
It was in the 40s that morning so I made sure to wear a long sleeved UnderArmor shirt under my tee shirt. I actually got really hot during the race and ended up regretting that decision though. I like to be cold when I run, so I know for next time to not bundle up as much. Since the race was a Pumpkin Chase, I wanted to wear orange and black to be festive, even though the blue in my shorts didn't really match.

Here I am at the starting line getting my ipod set up. I started off a little too fast with the momentum of everyone taking off.

My roommate got this picture midrace and I'm still looking in good spirits. The course is very hilly and different from running on pavement, so I always struggle toward the end. I got pretty tired, but pushed myself to keep going and finished strong with a time of 28:15.

Beth and I showing how we really felt after the race! She did great too with a time around 30 min.

I was a little disappointed after the race since my goal was to beat my last 5k time of 27:39. I only was 45 sec behind that time, so hopefully during the Turkey Trot in November I can beat it. Overall, the Great Pumpkin Chase was a small, fun race and I'm glad I did it!

Lingerie Cookies

Last weekend, my friend Jessie and I made these adorable panty and bra cookies for my friend's lingerie shower. We got the idea off pinterest and thought they would be perfect for the occasion. All you have to do is use a heart cookie cutter and decorate accordingly. Since we don't have our own kitchen, we quickly made the cookies with store bought sugar cookie dough then decorated them in our dorm. We had such a fun time coming up with all the bra and panty designs...and i even threw in a naked cookie! They were definitely a hit at the party!