After everything I ate from Wednesday to Friday, the only thing I had the heart to eat for lunch on Saturday was this: Arugula, tomato and cucumber salad with a little piece of sour dough baguette.
9 miles done on black Friday morning and a half marathon coming up this Sunday. I can only hope to burn off 1/4 of the insanely delicious carbs and fats that I ate… I’d do it again, darn it!
Costumes were a hit and I think we’ve inspired others to get a little crazy next year!! Check out these awesome pics!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year again!!!…. time to start thinking about the holidays. My step mother, Jane, has already finished her Christmas shopping (I’m not joking). And although I haven’t even begun to deplete my bank account on useless chotchkies, I have successfully finished making our insanely awesome costumes for the Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot race….
Ah yes, the age-old tradition of running 5 kilometers while wearing a very politically incorrect Native American costume or brown tutu and crazy turkey hat. I’m pretty sure that the first race was organized by the pilgrims themselves… the same year they initiated Black Friday camp-outs in front of Best Buy and Walmart…
Regardless of the ridiculousness of the whole thing, it’s something my sister and I love doing and have absolutely no plans of stopping despite the embarrassment it causes others. In fact, our bodacious costumes from last year’s event got us featured in the flyer that came in the mail for this year’s race! We’re dragging my brother-in-law and some friends along this year in full costume for our most outrageous Turkey Trot yet!!
I have very simply taken some cotton t-shirts from the craft store (you can use old ones from your closet and up-cycle them!) and pieced them together with ribbon, rickrack, fabric and dollar store finds to create a family full of pilgrims, Indians and turkeys that would rival the first thanksgiving. Here’s how I did it:
Pilgrims:
Materials:
Black T-shirt
white cotton fabric
ribbon remnants
sewing machine or no-sew iron tape
hot glue gun
lace fringe/ buttons (optional)
Directions:
For Shirt
1. fold a square piece of fabric over to form a rectangle.
2. Cut a half circle from top for neck hole and a slit down center to create two lapels.
3. With hot glue gun, glue the collar onto the black t-shirt. Add bow or button to finish.
Skirt/ Apron
1. take any piece of ribbon long enough to be tied around your waist and a large rectangular piece of fabric.
2. pleat the white fabric as you either sew or iron it onto the ribbon.
Bonnet
check out this great site’s simple directions
http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/2011/11/easy-pilgrim-costume.html
Indian
Shirt:
1. Take brown shirt and create pattern using rickrack, ribbon and fringe. Attach with hot glue gun.
Skirt:
1. Take a rectangular piece of fabric long enough to be tied around your waist and fold it onto itself.
2. Cut it on an angle from the fold to create a triangle.
3. Open triangle and cut out decorative edges.
Arm Bands:
1. Hot glue fringe to ribbon
2. Sew elastic to ends
The Holidays are a time for being with family, enjoying your friends and… eating. A LOT. And, as much as I love eating, I have to say that I almost enjoy baking and preparing holiday foods even more. I always loved helping my mom in the kitchen when I was younger and some of my fondest memories are those that include the amazing smells of certain dishes that MUST be served yearly in our household. Now, I love making those recipes myself (or heading over to mom’s and helping her out like the good old days).
Although I have been sworn to secrecy and have promised my mother to never divulge the details of our most prized recipes, there are some yummy things I can share with you. Namely, those things that I have created myself and have become NEW traditions. I’ll be honest, I can bake a mean cake from scratch by following a recipe but, I’m not a chemist so I’m no good at coming up with recipes on my own. I take recipes that already exist, add a few things, omit others and put my spin on them. A lot of times, they are “semi-homemade” but they are never “semi-good”… They’re always totally amazing 😉
The first yummy recipe I’m going to share with you is almost not a recipe at all. Its more like a set of directions on how to put together something that is both gorgeous and delicious: Irish Crème Berry Trifle. You are guaranteed “ooooohs and aaaaaahs” every time you bring this to the table and it is the desert that inspired my friend Kris to name me her “most Martha Stewart-y friend I know.”
Ingredients:
1 box of prepared yellow cake mix (follow directions of your favorite brand)
Irish crème
I pint each: Blue berries, raspberries and strawberries
Small cool whip
1 box of vanilla Jello pudding prepared (I add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to make it special)
Raspberry jam
Directions:
1. Slice the prepared cake into rectangular pieces and place one layer on the bottom of your trifle dish. (yes, you need to invest in a trifle dish to make this recipe. They’re really inexpensive and easy to find at discount stores like Marshalls, TJ Max, Homegoods or Ross.)
2. Drizzle ¼-1/2 cup of Irish crème over the cake so that it gets absorbed.
3. Spoon and spread raspberry jam over cake.
4. Carefully spoon pudding on top, making sure that the layer is clean at edges of trifle dish.
5. Layer berry mix
6. Layer of cool whip
7. Repeat until you are at the top!
8. On top of your last layer of cool whip, decoratively place some berries.
Let set over night so that the irish crème has time to absorb and the flavors meld.
Gorgeous!!
Let the holidays begin!! More festive recipes to follow.
Little Miss Sunshine State 