Bits & Pieces

IT'S SPRING!!!  Well, not officially but we're getting warmer.  Just look at the forecast for this week:

50's all week and 60 on Wednesday?! Yes, please.  I don't even care if it rains. 

Also, the sun didn't set until 7pm last night and it was glorious.

I've been craving avocado more lately.  I didn't eat them much all winter.  Maybe because I think of them as more of a 'summer food'?  But this is what I used to fuel myself up for my hour of shoveling last Thursday:

 

While I was out there digging out my car, I got to talking to a woman doing the same a couple cars down from me.  She told me she just recently moved from Connecticut, and the last time she went home to visit, they had 4 1/2 FEET of snow!?  I didn't even know how to respond to that.  I hope Spring is truly here for you New Englanders.

 

I was able to get out for a long run again this weekend and there was decidedly less snow.  It was also sunny and warm!  Like 49 when I went out.  It put me in such a good mood :)

 

Jillyruns/IG

 

Still hoping to run a half at the end of April so I hope this weather continues.  I've pretty much had it with the treadmill for this year.  I feel like a rat on a wheel on that thing.  It's just not natural.

 

I burnt myself on the toaster oven last night.  See that little white spot on my middle finger?  On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad would you say that is?  Because it felt somewhere around a 250.  I took some Tylenol and it somewhat improved.

 

 

 

I re-watched This Is 40 over the weekend and it reminded me how much I love this song:

 





And finally, I am apparently going to be 36 in a week?!  ONE WEEK.  I dk where the years of my life are going.  It's really true as you get older that time seems to move faster.  I wish I weren't turning 36 but I guess it's good that I still only look about 21?!  In all seriousness, this year has been pretty good so far and I feel like it's just the beginning of big changes and good news to come.  For some reason, I keep feeling like things are going to come full circle this year but I can't quite put my finger on how/why.  But then this happened on Friday:

I follow Vegan Treats on IG where they often showcase their soft serve flavors for the week.  Gives me something to dream about from Baltimore.  A few days ago they posted a new flavor: Bubblegum!  A bit of back story here.  I always say that I don't really miss dairy anymore and I could go forever without cheese, pizza, yogurt, etc., but there are 2 things I would give the world to taste again.  One of them is a Snickers bar (used to be my fave candy as a kid) and the second is bubblegum ice cream.  It was my favorite flavor.  We used to go mini-golfing at a dairy farm that made their own ice cream when I was a little kid.  It was this bubblegum ice cream that first got me sick and took me down the long and winding road to discovering I was lactose intolerant.  It hasn't touched my lips since.

Soooooooo, anyway, I responded to Vegan Treats on IG and asked if they would consider featuring this flavor when I come back to Bethlehem for my birthday in 2 weeks.  And they responded and said they WOULD!  Full circle baby.  It's been at least 20 years since I've had bubblegum ice cream and I am finally getting it again two weeks.  This is big.  This is huge.  36 IS MY YEAR!

Let's do this Monday.  Have a great week!


What have you been up to?

If you are an ice cream eater, what's your favorite flavor?

Is the weather becoming gloriously warm in your neck of the woods yet?  I hope so!

Pisces for Life and Breaking up with Winter

OMG it's my BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!  Happy March.  And happy birthday to all the other dreamers out there.  #PiscesForLife 

Source/via Pinterest

 

I am welcoming March in with every fiber of my being, and not just because of my birthday.  Can we just be over Winter now?!  Woke up to this again yesterday and I just can't anymore.

 



 

Thank heavens I decided to do my long run on Saturday, otherwise Mother Nature would've screwed me again.  I've been doing most of my running on the treadmill for months and am hoping to do a half in April so I kind of need the weekend weather to cooperate for the next 2 months so I can get my long runs in out there.

 

Speaking of that run, I cursed more than I have in weeks out there on Saturday.  It has been A WEEK since our "giant" snowstorm here in MD (and by giant I mean 8-10 inches) and 90% of the sidewalks on my hour-long run STILL HAD NOT BEEN SHOVELED.  Baltimore City law gives homeowners and businesses 3 HOURS after the snowstorm to clear their walks.  It's been 7 DAYS!!!  I was plodding through snow and ice, twisting my ankles, throwing my hands up and looking in every window of every house I passed and cursing the residents therein.  I prob looked like a madwoman.  I don't care.  I even passed some businesses that hadn't cleared their sidewalks?!  Apparently I've still not calmed down.  I dk who these Marylanders think they are but up in PA everyone I know shovels their sidewalk right after a storm because they aren't RUDE.  Ughh, ok I'm done ranting.  But you can bet your bottom dollar if I would have seriously injured myself on someone's sidewalk S*it would've gone down. 

 



Mooooooooooooving on.  I made a sweet potato for the first time ever this weekend and it was incredible!  Here's a little tidbit about my food preferences:  I strongly dislike potatoes.  Baked potatoes especially, but I also don't like mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, potato wedges...shrimp salad, shrimp stew, shrimp gumbo.  Oh wait, different list.  Every once in awhile I'll eat French fries but if they're too 'potato-y', NOPE.  So, I guess I always thought that my taste buds would also reject sweet potatoes.  Plus, whenever anyone prepared sweet potatoes they were always loaded with butter so trying them wasn't even an option for me.  Well, last weekend my mom baked sweet potatoes with dinner and offered me a plain one.  I decided to throw caution to the wind and try one, fully planning on it triggering my gag reflex.  Well what do you know I LOVED IT! 

 

So this weekend I made one for myself in the microwave and topped it with some Smart Balance Light (vegan butter alternative) and cinnamon.  I ate this after my freezing, treacherous run outside, and not only was it delicious, it also somewhat settled the litigious urges I had against all of my neighbors.

 

Lastly, I wasn't even into "the dress" saga that was all over the internet on Friday, but somehow curiosity got the best of me.  However, after being force-fed article after article on my FB feed, I am still pretty unclear as to why everyone was seeing different colors?!  I guess I'm an idiot.  For the record, I'm team #WhiteandGold but I think regardless of what colors you saw we can all coexist in harmony. One love. (I mean, but really, how can you see Blue and Black here?!) Ok I'm done.

 

 

I am counting down the days to Daylight Savings.  5 more to go.  I'm about to tell Winter IT'S OVER.  It's time we see other seasons.  It's not me, it's you.  IT'S DEFINITELY YOU.


Have a great week!!!


Do you like sweet potatoes?

Do the residents of your neighborhood do the right thing and shovel their sidewalks?!