Ice Cream Speed Work

Instead of eating wonderful birthday cake today at a celebration, I offered to cut the cake and watch everyone else indulge.

But I'm glad I did.  Why?

Today's workout: Mile repeats

The ice cream cake would not have been the best pre-workout snack.

This workout is not my favorite, but a necessary evil.

Perhaps one day, I too, will eat some ice cream cake.  But not now...

Details below:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-265-13298-0,00.html

Lazy Sunday...

Late breakfast - Low Cal Bfast sandwich (1 egg/2 slices of thinly sliced ham cooked in a muffin tin + 1 kraft fat free singles + 1 mini bagel = ~250ish calories)

I grazed throughout the day...and got a craving for hummus.  So I made my own modifying a recipe I found online!

Hummus recipe:
2 cans of garbanzo beans (save 2/3's can of liquid)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped in halves)
1/4 cup lemon juice (use freshly squeezed!---takes 2 lemons by hand)
2.5 tbsp tahini (tahini is ground up sesame seed and i found it in the int'l food section)
1 tbsp olive oil (i use extra virgin)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 pinch paprika

Mix everything except parsley and paprika.  Blend mixture into a food processor or blender until smooth.  Sprinkle with parsley and paprika.

It all started when I got hungry...

I had bought some chicken breast the day prior and chopped 2 breasts into bite-sized pieces with no plan of how I was going to use them.  I placed the chicken in a ziplock bag with whatever spices was in my pantry and left it in the fridge for a few hours.  I then grew hungry...very hungry and I was craving rice, but I had just ran out of Het Bahn.  Ugh!!  I hate doing dishes after cooking---which is why I don't like to cook (I need a man who is willing to do the latter--discussion for later perhaps).  Anyways, I hunched over my laptop and poured through the web to find some ideas to soothe my palate.  I was inspired by a Mexican rice recipe I found online that I have used before (with success).  I substituted the following into the recipe: olive oil, short grained rice, onion powder and vegetable broth.  I added the chicken (which I pre-cooked) into the rice recipe to simmer and reduce.  I then dressed up a can (*gasp*) of black beans with sea salt and cumin and simmered on top of the stove.  Voilà!

Then I made cupcakes for a Baby shower.  The topping was blue-colored cool whip (it's a BOY!) and the inside had a pretty neat surprise---a chocolate chip cookie dough center.  BAM!

Now these were incredibly FUN to make.  They're OREO truffles and extremely rich!  Since I was san-food processor, I had the fun task to crush up all of the oreos with whatever I deemed fit.  I put the oreos all in a large ziplock bag and crushed them with my fists...then a bottle of wine and then I used a rolling pin to smooth it all out.  I created my own double boiler with a stock pot and mixing bowl and melted Baker's Semi-sweet chocolate squares to create the chocolate covering.  Oh and I sprinkled each truffle with leftover oreo crumbs.  They're not the prettiest looking truffles, but they sure are mighty tasty!

I can't get enough of her music...

Sia - Buttons

Hold on

I'm alone, but I'm not lonely.

If that makes sense.

I work with great people and since that's where I spent 80% of my time...that has made all the difference.

So it goes...

Past: Good memories...too bad the friendships didn't endure

Present: Clean slate; Alone

The four letter "B" word

Me: Hey, long time no see!  How have you been?
Person: Oh my god...I am sooooo busy.  Work has been so hectic...blahblahblah~  You?
Me: *smile*  I gotta go.

Lately, there is nothing more that I hate than the "B" word.  Four letter C, D, F words don't poke at me as much as this overused, abused and oftentimes, dried-out excuse.

Note: I am not ignorant of the fact that people have to work and in fact, some people do have full and ridiculous work schedules/demands.

But you have to wonder...when you hear the same four letter response from everyone...the word starts to lose emphasis.

If you are the bottom echelon of the pecking order in your career and you think you're "busy" now, I can only imagine when you move up the ranks.  You only get more responsibility and tasks as time goes on.  If you can't handle your business now with some shred of dignity and perhaps, humility (because really, you're not THAT busy---I dare you to tell that to your boss), I think you would realize that the gig you have now is really not that bad.  In fact, you should be grateful as the road to promotion in any job carries a heavier load and you'll stand to have a lot more to lose.

Take my advice.  If you're at the bottom of the totem pole and you plan to climb...shut up and get "busy" climbing.

Mondays

Can't wait till it's Friday already...

Reflection

Today was sight of yet another ugly battle and as always, no one won.

I feel like I'm walking on very thin ice these days.  The only way to keep the peace is to be timid and agreeable.  But I am not perfect.  I have been hypocritical.  I have lied.  I don't know everything (although sometimes I think I do).  I don't always know the right thing to say.  I also have said things out of anger.  I am aware and believe me---it's a constant work-in-progress, because....I'm human.  Deal with it.

How terrible and wasteful that it is so easy to get angry, yet so difficult to kiss and make-up?  Forgive and forget?  It's so easy to point the finger and forget to look in the mirror.

I'm no better.

But still...

It's kind of scary how "right" people feel when they are angry...

*sigh*

It is so hard to find resilient and forgiving friendships these days.

Jizz...in...my...snowboard pants