Fastnacht Day, Kombucha soda, and SNL40

Happy Fat Tuesday!  Or as we say in PA, Happy Fastnacht Day!  (Fastnachts are Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts made with potato dough and traditionally fried in LARD! Yum!  I never had one.)  But, I do need to try to procure myself a doughnut at some point today for good luck. 

For those that celebrate Lent, today is last day to stuff our faces before 40 days of fasting!  I participate in some Lenten practices like Ash Wednesday and avoiding meat on Fridays, but it's been many years since I 'gave up' something for Lent.  Many years ago I gave up soda and what do you know, after that period I didn't really crave it anymore!  Now, it's a fairly rare occurrence to see me sipping on a soda.  Anyone giving up anything this time around?

So what else has been happening around these parts besides Mardi Gras partying? 

Let's see.  My Valentine's Day was pretty low key.  I made some crafts with my 14 month-old charge at work on Friday:

And then I worked until midnight!

So Saturday I slept in until 10am, and then later went out for a 5 mile run.  I went out in the evening just as it was getting dark, and it was snowing lightly.  It was wonderfully peaceful and perfect. 

I also got a few Valentine's:

 

I am not sure what to do with that big box of chocolates, since I can't eat them?!  Anyone want to come take it off my hands?

 



Sunday it was beyond cold with negative wind chills here, so of course that ended up being the day I had a million errands to run.  I am so over winter.

 

First, I spent some time in the Barnes and Noble children's section.  Nanny heaven:

 

 

Then, I went to Target for a couple necessities and multiple non-necessities.  I saw a Cartwheel deal for this Kombucha soda so decided give it a try:

I've never tried any Kombucha drinks before so I really didn't know what to expect.  To tell you the truth, the amount of 'stuff' floating in them always scared me off!  This didn't taste like real cola but it was pretty good, with a bit of a strange aftertaste.  I think I would get it again, and maybe I'm brave enough to try real Kombucha now?!  I sipped on this while watching SNL40 Sunday night.  My favorite parts of the show were the flashbacks to the old episodes over the years, and I laughed pretty hard at the new Jeopardy sketch.  I could have totally done without some of the musical appearances, especially Kanye and Miley's cover of Paul Simon. 

While watching said TV extravaganza, I baked these muffins:

I made these from a mix (non-dairy one!), but I added in my own fresh blueberries to make them taste a little more homemade.  Not bad, Bean.  Not bad at all.

I've also been trying some new bars lately.  I take at least one bar a day to work so I'm always looking for new options.  They are sometimes hard to come by since I require non-dairy/vegan bars.

This peanut butter chocolate chip Larabar is one of my new faves.  It's not overly sweet and is just really yummy:

I picked up the new chocolate cupcake Luna Bar at Target.  This one is good but pretty darn sweet so I don't think I could eat it every day (which is surprising since it doesn't have an especially high sugar count).  The flavor is pretty close to a cupcake!

Anddddd, that's about it.  I had to work yesterday.  I can't remember the last time I had off for President's Day.  It was probably back in college!  Does anyone other than schools or the government actually have this day off?!  If you did, then lucky lucky you my friend.

Now go party it up Fastnacht style!


Do you celebrate Lent?

Did you watch SNL40?

Do you drink Kombucha?

Tell me about some new food finds!

That weekend I realized I'm 34 years older than someone?!

So my last post was a little tongue-in-cheek about VDay but in reality, I actually had a great Valentine's weekend! 

I headed back to PA this weekend to celebrate the first birthday of my godson.  Late Friday night, as I was helping my friend set up for the party, we started to become delirious from all the crafting and decorating going on, and I was suddenly struck by a very profound realization.  I turned to her and said, 'Can you believe we are like 35 years OLDER than your son'.  My friend, being much more gifted at math corrected me, 'Um, you mean 34'.  Yeah, of course.  Anyway, 'How is it possible that we are 34 years older than another human being?'.  This was something I could not wrap my head around.  HAHAHA  I had so much fun that night with her, we were literally cracking up at everything, and it almost felt like the days we spent back in high school and college together.  Except yeah, there was a baby sleeping upstairs, her baby, who was almost 34 years younger than both of us.  BAM!  When you stop to think about it, it's pretty crazy how time flies.  He is one cool kid though.  Watch him take complete control of his birthday cupcake.  The kid knows what's up!

Jillyruns on Instagram

 

 

In fact, he is so cool, he even has his own FAN CLUB:

He apparently likes older women :)

 

 

I got to spend this lovey-dovey weekend with lots of people I love and hadn't seen in awhile, which was really nice.  And even though I'm single, I somehow managed to come home with a pile of Valentines!

 



 

My dad has been buying Valentines for me and my sisters since we were little kids.  That giant box in the back is filled with all kinds of chewy, non chocolate candy - SCORE!  And my nephew made me some sweet crafts and gave me that new portrait - what a cutie!! 

 

So yeah, I felt very loved this weekend (and also a little old!) HA

 

Hope you all had a great weekend :)

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

And this is why I need a Valentine...

...because I really need one of these giant, creepy teddy bears:



Or not!

I saw the 2014 version of this commercial while cycling my little heart out at the gym one night this week, and I seriously thought it was a parody of something.  I couldn't believe that it was real and they were selling a real product.  The video I posted is from 2012 - I couldn't find the 2014 version online anywhere - but it was even creepier than this one - imagine the same ad, but all of the women are wearing skimpy lingerie and draping themselves over the bear.  HA! I kid you not.

On second thought, I think I'm good on the Valentine's gift this year :)


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all you lovelies out there!


Have you seen this commercial?!?