My weekend via iPhone

Touring Model Homes

Celebrating that Abbie is on the PGA Latin American tour

Taking naps with Bunks

Up close with  Sheryl Crow

Eating dark chocolate candy hearts

Shopping at Marshalls for wedding stuff 

(and finding Never-nudes on clearance $15!)

Fiance

Have you met my FIANCE?

Today I was telling someone a story about us and I used the word FIANCE to describe Abbie.

For some reason it feels so strange to use that word.

It feels pretentious .

BUT

I guess there are only a few days in my lifetime where he is my fiance

so I've made the decision to try and use that word as much as possible from here on out.

(btw- I have no idea whose hand is reaching out for my buns)

Marathon

Hello Friends

Long time no read.

Well

it has been about a month now

time to finally write a re-cap

 for the marathon that I worked so hard for

Abbie and I drove to Orlando two days before the race

 and stayed at a beautiful timeshare

we did the Disney Expo thing

as well as lots of resting and mentally preparation for the big day

Abbie was great enough to wake up at 3:00am 

and together we made our way to EPCOT

where we hung out about 2 hours before the start of the race.  

The good and bad thing about Disney races is that there are soooooo many people that attend.  And a good portion of these people dress up and really get into the costume-y side of the event

It's entertaining to say the least

For about the first 8 miles of the race, the path was really narrow and there were many walkers and may people stopping short to take pictures of the theme parks and/or the Disney characters that are along the path.  I had the same problem at the Princess 1/2 marathon 2 years ago.  I should have learned by putting myself in a higher coral.  It really hurt my time as I was running 12 minute miles for the whole first portion of the race.  It was extremely frustrating

On the plus side, I felt like I had loads of energy

hence my pose for Abbie's camera

(it's all about the form)

Around mile 18 

the sun came out

and it got

hot, hot, hot!

I hit a wall around mile 21 and really just wanted to be done

without making too many excuses

the heat, the crowd and a bathroom break really hindered my running

I honestly felt like I could have made my goal of 4:30 if those conditions were better

but I ended up with a 5:02 finish.

(side note- my Garmin read that I ran 26.68  miles)

Overall, I am SO very happy that I ran the marathon

I'm taking a hiatus from running for a bit,

but I am definitely doing this again

but next time I am hitting my goal!

(In the meantime...I think I need to work on my tan)

2013

Happy 2013 Bloggies!

Everyone else also trying to recover from last night?

Abbie and I had an amazing time celebrating the New Year with our friends over dinner and drinks.

Funny thing about the picture above...

Abbie used my phone to take it-

and while we stood there posing

and strangers waited on the side for an opportunity to get their picture taken in that spot

he was busy taking pics of himself instead...

Now I'm left with 50 pictures of him on my phone.

nice.

********

Cheers to my friends for inviting us out

and cheers to my fiance

I can't wait to get hitched in 2013!!!

keep on dancing till the world ends

I wrote and scheduled this post in advanced

in case the world actually does come to an end

and I am not here to write a post on the 21st

If I am in fact gone...

thanks for reading!

to all those Dooms Day Preppers out there

major props if you have survived.

Is that your chick...pea pattie?

Another

semi - successful dinner

Chickpea Patties

from

Macheesemo

(get the full recipe by clicking the link above)

Drain and rinse 2 cans of chickpeas

then smash with fork or food processor and set aside

 Shred a cucumber and let drain for 10 minutes

then mix together all ingredients for the sauce

1 cup Greek yogurt

cucumber

2 Tablespoons of scallions

1 Tablespoon of cilantro

salt

Toast the breadcrumbs

(I burnt the first batch)

 Mix all of the patties ingredients together:

Chickpeas

2 Teaspoons of garam masala 

2 eggs

1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs

1/2 cup of Greek yogurt

scallions

3 tablespoons of cilantro

salt

Make patties and fry in pan with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil

 voila!

(once again I hate my camera)

I loved the meal but need to try it again to perfect it 

they were a little dry to me

not sure if I made them too thick or not

Conversations with Floridians

A recent conversation with a Publix Cashier

Cashier: I am not in the Christmas spirit.

Abbie: Yeah, it's a little hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is 80 degrees outside.

Cashier: I KNOW! This year I have to go up north for Christmas and I am going to be sooooo cold!

Abbie:  Really? Where are you heading?

Cashier: Ocala... It is going to be freezing.