K-State vs. KU Party

Well, the basketball game turned out to be a disappointment (IMHO) but my parents were kind to have me and a couple friends, plus my cousin and her boyfriend over to watch the game. We had a good time, and lots of good food, despite the loss. Until the next game....




Per the TV, Bill Self appears to have a mullet...

Linds after a things took a turn for the worse....

Sad Peachy....

My BIG Surprise.....and B2B recap!

As I mentioned Friday, I have had a secret/surprise I've been keeping since the end of February. My friends that I work with and me were preparing and planning to run in the Brew to Brew, which we did last year as well. That wasn't the surprise though. The surprise was that one of my good friends that worked at the hospital with us before moving to Colorado last May, came back for the race. She agreed to join us and we decided to keep it a secret from the rest of the team. Such an awesome surprise for everyone and we were all SO pumped to spend time with Amanda. The surprise:

We had a pasta dinner at my house Saturday night to carb-load before the race Sunday. We left Topeka about 5:40 Sunday morning for KC. It was a great day with friends, minus the 20+ mph wind we ran directly into. Not a nice time. I ran 4.8 miles in about an hour....I'll take it considering it was the farthest I've ever ran and it was more hills and wind than I'm used to. We had a good day enjoying hanging out and having snacks and just relaxing. I was done running by noon so had several hours to just cheer for my teammates. We are already excited to do it all again next year! After the race was completed, we went to The Salty Iguana, a mexian restaurant in Lawrence and had LOADS of water and some mexican food. We got back to Topeka a bit before 7:00 and were all SO exhausted! Thankful for a fun day with my friends!

The team before we ran:

Me before I ran:

The team after the race:

Super Bowl Weekend....and new (to me) recipes!

This weekend FLEW BY! That could be largely associated with the fact that I worked Saturday, went to the gym Saturday and Sunday and spent most of the rest of the time at my parents' house.

Friday night I went to see "No Strings Attached" with a few friends. It was cute. Natalie Portman was funny- who knew she had that in her?! More vulgar than I was expecting for a little romantic-comedy but still a movie I would recommend.

I cooked dinner Saturday evening for my parents and cousin and tried a couple different recipes. I found this Laughing Cow Chicken recipe on Cara's blog. I LOVE Laughing Cow cheese and finding new ways to use it. So low in calories, but really tasty with crackers, pretzels, veggies, etc. I love trying new recipes and while not my favorite, would recommend you give it a shot. I also had made a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Friday after work that I found on a blog of a friend of a friend. I made it to have a little dessert Saturday night, but ended up giving some to my friend's kids who shoveled my driveway last week as a thank you and then took the rest to work Saturday. You could say it was a hit. Definitely recommend it next time you want some serious chocolate!

Yesterday brought the SUPERBOWL! I went to my parents' house for the game. One of their friends, along with my cousin and my friend, Sharee, joined us. Sharee decided to cheer for the Steelers "cause she thinks their coach is cute and probably nice" so I got onboard with that plan....before realizing K-State's Jordy Nelson plays for the Packers. It was fun though since the Steelers' colors are black and yellow and there just so happens to be a song right now with that title.....so, for the majority of the game, you could hear us singing, "Black and yellow, black and yellow....". It turned out to be a close game, which is fun.....but I was a little disappointed with the commercials. :( I liked the Doritos ones the best....especially when the guy licked his co-worker's cheesy fingers. INAPPROPRIATE!!!! :)

Some of the biggest talk post-game is about how Christina Aguilera flubbed up the lyrics for the National Anthem. REALLY Christina?!?!?! I know some people think it's harsh to think she should sing it correctly, but I'm sorry....if you're going to be on national TV and it's the biggest professional sporting event of the year- YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T MESS IT UP! I know if they ask me to do it next year, I'll nail the lyrics!

Of course the best part of the Superbowl (well, for most girls) in addition to the ads, is the snacks! Sharee brought over two dishes, including a new recipe for a "Hot Seven Layer Dip" which was really tasty, as well as some BBQ weiners. Mmm. My mom also made a bunch of stuff (of course) and we ended up with a good variety of stuff.

Sharee and I got festive by dressing in our team's colors. Too bad for the Steelers I picked them to cheer for....as that usually doesn't tend to work out for whatever random team I pick. She even painted her nails in team colors!

Here are a couple other pictures from the evening....

As promised, I made my first veggie pizza, and it was pretty good too. There definitely was not a calorie shortage. I worked out hard yesterday in preparation and actually just hit the gym tonight after work. Whew! Getting back on track today after a treat-filled Sunday! :)

At the current moment, I am watching "Glee!" from last night and just made a Weight Watcher Chicken Pot Pie and I will share the recipe later (tonight hopefully). I made it once last winter when we had a chicken pot pie cook-off and I thought I posted about that, but I can't seem to find it. Oh well, I think it's post-worthy even if I have before. Low calorie and tasty!

Meg hosts Thanksgiving 2010

I cannot believe today is December 1st! Last week I was lucky to get a few days off so my parents and I could go to see my sister in Dallas for Thanksgiving. Proud to say my sis made some awesome food, we got to hang out in her place, do some Black Friday shopping and even got to go to the K-State vs. North Texas football game. Great weekend and so glad to see Meg!

Meg's beautiful table....via Michaels.

Mom and the turkey!

Me with the host....
Meg and Dad at the K-State pre-game party in Denton.

Meg and me at the pre-party. Go State! :)

Brew to Brew...

Last weekend I took part in the "Brew to Brew" run with some friends from work....this was my first race....since track in high school....so it's been awhile! This run is a relay from The Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City to Freestate Brewery in Lawrence and is approximately 44 miles. I ended up running the first leg of it, which was marked as 4.3 miles and it was tough! The whole day we cheered on our teammates and drove along the race trail dropping off a runner and picking up the one who just finished. It was perfect weather for this all-day outdoor excitement and since my work was done by 9:30 I got to relax and enjoy some snacks and cheer on my friends! We are hoping to do it again next year....definitely worth it!

Did I mention they gave us free beer at the Boulevard before we ran?! Yum! Nothing like beer at 8:00 in the morning!!

We survived! Here is us in Lawrence. Happy to still be friends after 7 hours in a car together!! :)

Vacationing in Topeka

Yesterday two of my best friends came to visit/vacation in Topeka and we had the best time! Kylie and Lindsay are two of my college roommates and we were bummed our other roomies Julie and Katie couldn't make it, but had a day full of shopping, snacks, watching the K-State/KU game and catching up!

My guests arrive to their vacation home. My friend Sarah (yes, pictured below in that horrible blue color) told them when we were watching the game regarding having a beer or something, "Go ahead! You're on vacation!"....Topeka is nice this time of year. :)

Go State!
Sadly, it's actually true they are #1. :( Dang Jayhawks!!

Me with Tom Hagen, a local weatherman/celebrity. I had to get a picture with him for a friend who is a big fan! He was very nice and apparently a Tiger!

For my birthday which was earlier this month, they brought me the BEST gifts! They gave me two cookbooks that I am PUMPED to use! One, is to plump you up "The Pioneer Woman Cookbook" written by a well-loved blogger from Oklahoma Ree Drummond and it looks fantastic. She is also a superb photographer and there are some amazing pictures in the book. The other book is to slim you down and is "The Biggest Loser Cookbook". Thanks so much girls! Look forward to trying and sharing some good recipes!

Thankful....

....for a weekend with my family and getting to witness K-State win a basketball game at the Sprint Center. What a fun trip! My parents got tickets when they first went on sale and for some reason they called this week and moved us into better seats and we got access to the "Founder's Club" which is a lounge-type area. Anyway, very fun and then after we went with the rest of the K-State fans into the Power & Light area and watched the very close KU/MU game and we all cheered on Missouri to a win. Rivalry is a vicious bug, huh?

Here are a couple pictures from Thanksgiving and from the KC trip. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

The last one is Meg as a crazed Wildcat cheering for MU...

When the mountain people came to visit...

My cousin Jennifer and my Uncle Roger came from Colorado to visit last weekend so my cousin could visit KU and Washburn to look at their law schools. It was good to spend some time with them playing Blockus (nice win Uncle Roger) and one of my favorites, Apples to Apples....my mom took them to a KU basketball game which they reported as a lot of fun. Then, we went to the K-State football game that Saturday. Sadly, Missouri beat them but before the game, we had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures:

Jen secretly wearing her KU sweatshirt under her vest (yek) and took a moment to display it proudly. She did however wear a K-State t-shirt under that too.

Since it was a chilly morning my dad offered my uncle his big K-State jacket to warm up. Here are the Jayhawks trying to figure out how to put it on...

Look at their faces full of disgust as the purple goes on...

He looks pained!!!

At last- it's on!! :)

The K-State graduates!!

Bobby enjoying a beer in a festive K-State cup!
Jayhawk fans!

We had some difficulties getting everyone looking at the camera (Uncle Roger)...

and again....

A super fancy K-State bus that had a horn that went off randomly.....like here:

We were slightly surprised!

Another festive K-State vehicle....they had a horn on top that played the Wabash!

In the game....trying to cheer, but apparently not hard enough. Better luck next year Cats!!