Spring Break, home edition

This spring break was not spent at the beach, (which I intend to never allow to happen again) but it all worked out because I got a lot done.  I mean a lot.  Plus, Florida wasn't warm enough for my liking.  Talked to my grandpa on Friday and he said it was high 60's.  What!  It ain't never in the 60's in N. Fort Myers.  That's crazy talk.  So the money saved on my tan was well worth it. 

I don't mean to brag, but I took down the mother of all checklists this break.  A special thanks to my MOH for conquering the never-ending list and the rest of my BM's for helping make some wedding decisions and cuts. 

Tasks completed:

1. Centerpieces
2. Bridesmaid's shoes

1. Bridesmaid's Jewelry & Mine!
2. Bubbles-- wasn't even on my checklist :)
3. Table numbers-- which required a stop at the Home Depot, eek!
4. Ceremony layout with Readings & Songs
5. Created an impromptu "Love Story" Shutterfly book--It was free!
6. Wedding invites arrived and addressed!  (See notes below.)
7. Wedding Makeup Trial--Check. 

8. Registry updated.
9. And best of all I SOLD my CAR.  (And by me, I should say my Dad.  Thanks Dad!)  Bye, Bye, my love.

9. 5 I managed to play 2 games of monopoly.  I was proudly declared the Master of the Monopoly Rules. Try me.
9.75 I also managed 2 meals at Cooper's Hawk.  Not.a.mistake.


** I was very intrigued by this addressing wedding envelopes process.  **
Observations while addressing:
1.  I am enjoying this more than I think I'm supposed to.
2. I checked 4 different sites about the proper way to address a wedding invitation.  The 2nd envelope for a guest is really causing a conundrum.  I've had to use 4 different methods of addressing.  Names on the same line, different line, Dr's names, oh my!
3. My biggest problem addressing is determining the spacing.. but damn am I killing the "Illinois."

4.  It's all about the right writing utensil.
5.  How do you address a woman who is divorced, separated, or divorced and widowed?  Why are woman so much more complicated than men.  Can't we just have a standard "Mr." title.
6. We have a lot of out-of-state- guests.. I should have planned to visit them on my spring break.  :) 

All in all, Spring break was a stay-at-home success.  I am not mad or disappointed that my tanned skin came from a Victoria Secret bottle and that I didn't sip frozen drinks by the calm, crashing ocean waves.  I will just have to hold out 60 long days til Nashville to resume my vacationing habits. 

Xo

Yours Truly

Valentine's Day really is all about the little things-- The little things that make you feel loved even if for just one day.  Here is 24 hours of hearts and hugs from people who love me.

Taryn-- my valentine that I've had a February 14th date with for 6 years running-- got me this. Best.Card.Ever. 

My precious gems are trying to fatten me up.

How sweet!

These showed up in my classroom as a surprise around 10am.  How sweet is he??!!  I blushed and everything.  One student asked who they were from and another responded, "Her fiance, duh."  Obviously they didn't see the card Taryn gave me.

Eat your heart out.  I surprised Giorgio with a homemade heart-shaped pizza for dinner.  YES,  it tasted as amazing as it looks.

Want a piece of this?? The recipe is posted below.

And finally... what's a Valentine's Day without a little wine, friends and bowling?

HOMEMADE PIZZA:

 (taken from my mother-in-law, Gilma.  Not to be mistaken with Giada though she should have her own cooking show.)

Ingredients:

1 container of homemade pizza dough (bought from Mariano's or Trader Joe's

1 container of peeled whole tomatoes

1 container of fresh mozzarella cheese

4 large cloves of garlic (or more if you are a garlic lover), minced

cornmeal

olive oil

fresh basil

salt & pepper

1. Let the dough sit out of the container for about 20 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. On a pizza pan or a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil and smear it around.  Shake cornmeal on top of that.  Lay down a good amount.  This is to keep the dough from sticking to the pan. 
3. Drain the tomatoes and cheese, chop the garlic and basil while you are waiting.
4. When the crust has been out for enough time, roll it into a ball and then spread the dough to the shape you want. 
5. When the dough is in the right shape, place it on your prepared pizza pan.
6. Lightly coat the dough with olive oil. 
7. Spread the cheese down first.  (Put it under the tomatoes so the cheese doesn't burn.)
8. Then add the minced garlic. 
9. With your hands, break apart the tomatoes and cover the pizza. 
10. Top with basil, salt and pepper.
11. Put into the oven for about 30-40 minutes.  The crust will start to brown on the outside and the cheese will be a little bubbly.  It will look like a cooked pizza =)

My ingredients:

Just add dough & indulge.

I'm supposed to have this hot Valentine's date tonight, but the only thing hot are my flashes.  This fevered girl will be spending her romantic date night in sweatpants with her sweetheart. 

Fat Tuesday!

It's interesting to think about things and people that you know of and have heard the names a 100 times, but you really couldn't tell anyone anything about it.  That's kind of how I feel about Fat Tuesday.  I know it is supposed to be some sort of feast.  For some reason I am linking Fat Tuesday to Mardi Gras, yet it also happens the day before lent.  I'm just not sure where I veered off track here, but I know this is not adding up. 

What I do know is that Lent starts tomorrow.  And while I haven't been to church since the last wedding I attended in November, I do understand enough about Lent.  The purpose is to sacrifice a luxury or indulgence for 40 days & 40 nights to represent Jesus's sacrifice for all of our sins and blah blah blah.  I'm close, right?  You're also supposed to not eat meat on Fridays (or at all really).  That just about wraps it up for the history of Lent. 

The best part about Lent is the people who partake.  I for one am not a practicing Catholic, but I give something up every year.  Aside from Christmas and Easter, its pretty much the only tradition in Catholicism that I follow.  And even better, it's for selfish reasons which I think is the exact opposite intention of the tradition.  Nonetheless, I am all for people taking this opportunity to better themselves (even if only for 40 days.)  It is a time to test your will power and for the common lent participants, attempt to kick start a diet. 

As I debate what to give up for lent this year, I reflect on my prior years success.  The first few years in high school when I started practicing lent I gave up pop.  By the third year, I had stopped drinking pop beyond lent so I had to come up with something new.  Then I think I moved on to candy. I remember anxiously anticipating my Easter candy basket to devour one of the top five candies of all time-- Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies Sweettarts.  (They are just more tasty than the regular ones. ) That accounts for another successful couple years of lent.  And then I went on to salt.  My most challenging endeavour.  Believe it or not, I gave up salt for 8 weeks.  (Yes, that is longer than lent! Great math skills!)  And then, I went right back to being the salt-aholic that I am.  Since that run in 2010, I do not think I have had any more successes to share.  Last year, I tried for the trifecta of abstaining from candy, sweets (cakes), and salt.  What a failure. 

So this year, I'm going with sweets and sweets only.  Recently, I have taken a strange liking to these delicious treats.  Wait, eating cookies and brownies and banana bread are not the key to losing weight? (:  Additionally, sweet treats are my only "bad habit" that I have never really kicked for this special season.    I have attempted before, but failed.  So here goes.  As God as my witness, and all of you, I am giving up sweets until Easter Sunday. 

As much as I'd love to indulge myself on this fatest of Tuesdays, I have, without thinking ahead, jump started my lent kick with a good old fashioned KH 3-day detox.  (I renamed it after myself though it originated from my ex-running pale R. Strandt.)  This is the most simple, mindless, detox without any weight loss goals.  The sole purpose is to reset my body from all the junk I'd been putting in it (aka brownies and buffalo chicken dip and chips and nastiness).  Basically, it involves eating fruits & veggies for 3 days.  The best part of this self-made "detox" is that since wine are fermented grapes, it is not a restricted item!  I know.. its amazeballs!! 

And just because I can only eat salad so many times in a row without hating myself, I whipped up this bad boy for lunch today: 

Avocado, Red Pepper, Red Onion, HB Egg, Roasted Corn, Tomato, Lettuce, Spinach, Garlic, Balsamic
 

Ain't nothing boring about that.

A.R.T.

Do you recall October of 2011?  That is when my cousin Taryn ran that marathon like a rock star.  It was also when I first developed shin splints-- the worst, non surgical/ major injury, ever.  To support Taryn on her run, I signed on to keep her company for ½ the run thinking I could just do a couple of weeks of longer runs and be ready for it.  Wrong.  I think I would have been better off just up and running 13 miles without any “prep” at all.  I was in pretty good running condition and able to run an easy 5 miles at any given moment.  But once I started to do 7 or 8 mile runs a couple times a week,,I found myself with a case of the shin splints.  I tried to ignore them. I even got in 17 miles with Tar Bear.  But these suckers stuck with me.  

             --Insert T's marathon picture here.. if I had one ;(  --

After the Chicago Marathon, I took a month off and iced my shins a lot.  I thought rest  and ice were the answer.  Wrong. I tried to roll the bottom of my foot on top of a golf ball. Which might have been an answer if in fact my shins weren't so bad.  I’ll tell you what else isn’t the answer.  Running after a month after concluding I was stuck with these shin splints forever, and I just had to learn to live with them.  Since giving up running was not an option, I picked up right where I left off.  I even convinced myself that running a spring half marathon was a good idea.  

I started training in January with my running partner, Leanne.  If there ever was a cure for shin splints, this wasn’t it.  Just days before our scheduled half marathon, I found myself in tears on an easy 3 mile jog.  After run-walking the first mile and a half, I called it quits.  I questioned what the point of doing a ½ marathon was if I wasn’t going to beat my first time, and I could quite possibly injure myself and never run again.  It wasn’t worth it.  Being a competitor, this was a tough decision for me.  Looking back on it, I’m glad I didn’t do it.  

Two weeks later, I walked 39.3 miles in two days in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer with my sister.  Now that, that was worth it.  Though I crossed the finish line with tape up and down both legs, I was proud of myself for the accomplishment.  Had I pushed myself through that half-marathon, I probably wouldn’t have made it through one day of the Breast Cancer walk.  

Two weeks after that, I found myself with an injury I could not overlook.  I could not ignore.  I could not run. I could not play softball. I could not even get myself a glass of water.  I sprained my ACL sliding into home plate. 

… gross!  My right knee was four times the size of my left.  I spent 6 weeks in physical therapy and saw a little progress.  But my knee was still swollen and I was frustrated with the activities and tasks I couldn’t complete.

This is when I turned to Dr. Amanda Karm, my savior, for a little TLC.  Amanda is my good friend and happens to be a chiropractor!   I went in to see Amanda to cure my shin splints with a little technique called A.R.T-- Active Release Therapy.  My friend Rachel had ranted and raved about this method, claiming it to be the answer to all my problems.  She was not lying.  

I visited Amanda once a week to receive abuse and that wonderful good pain relief on my shins & my knee (bonus).  She drained my knee (ouch) and taped me up like an Olympian trend-setter with Kinesio tape weekly.  She cleared me to workout & run!  I would.  And then when I felt the pain come back, she fixed me again and sent me on my way.  

What is ART you may be wondering.  Basically it is a massage for this little muscles in your body that no one really pays attention to.  She rubs them and moves them in a way to release the tension or strain that I have been putting on them for a very long time.  --That’s the medical definition, obviously.

I am proud to say that I haven’t been back to visit Amanda since mid-November.  Though I am no longer paying for our friendship, ART + Dr. Karm cured me.  I still have some knee pain and muscle tightness that I solve my giant foam roller-- second only to the doc herself.  

And now here’s my plug.  Chiropractors are the answer to all the weird things wrong with your body that you may be too ashamed to mention to anyone else.  Don't tell me about em, I'll judge you.  Amanda won’t judge you. Go visit her at ActiveCare. 

Halloween Conundrum

It's the middle of October, in case you didn't realize.  And it is time to start thinking about the holiday that I have the biggest love-hate relationship with.. Halloween.  

Hate being scared. I am a big scardy-cat.  I am scared to watch creepy commercials in broad daylight.  I run down the street to my house from my car if it's dark outside.  I haven't been in a haunted house since 2001 and I probably only went because I thought some boy was cute.  "Hocus Pocus" and "Casper" (the Devon Sawa version, obvi) and even Desperate Housewives can be too creepy for me at times.    So all this ghosts and goblins nonsense isn't really my thing. 

Love candy.  "I'll wear anything I have to wear. I'll do anything I have to do, to get the candy from these idiots who are so foolishly just giving it away."  --taken from Jerry Seinfeld's Halloween Bit.   So obviously, I have always been a fan of the candy aspect of this holiday.  I used to truck it out from start to finish, rain or shine, with my pillow sack and my winter coat just to get to as much candy as possible.  Now, I just buy my own.

Hate picking a Halloween costume.  There is just too much pressure.  Every year I have the same debate: Do I want to dress up?  Do I want to spend money on a costume?  And every year, it gets to around this time and I decide.. alright alright, I'll do it.  Reflecting on my passed Halloween costumes, I feel that I have had some pretty creative and successful costumes.  My costume career started in 2003 with my first year of college as Heidi from Tool Time (on Home Improvement.)  I would show a picture, but there's just a lot going wrong with me at this time.  2004 seems to be a lost costume year.  I don't know what went wrong here, but there is no existing evidence of what or if I dressed up.  (Unfortunately, I didn't become a Facebook member until November 2004.

In 2005, I purchased my first costume: Strawberry Shortcake which I displayed at Eastern Illinois and a Guster concert. (Top 10 most embarrassing moments being 1 of only 4 people dressed up for this show-- with Lepper, Haley, and Bando.)

 

2006- Another purchase and some misc. accessories. A Go Go Dancer in which everyone mistook me for Barbie.

 

2007- Gangster.  Which was cool because 3 Hahn Gangsters = a mafia.

2008- Hannah Montana.  How I thought this was a good idea, I'm not sure.  But Jimmy and the Osey got the best use out of that singing microphone prop I brought with me.

2009 - Victoria Secret Angel.  My ballsiest costume yet.  I am still looking for a reason to wear my wings again.  A girl never forgets her first pair of wings.

working the camera.

2010 - Betty Draper.  Candy cigs.  Deal breaker. I don't know why Giorgio didn't want to be Don.

 

2011- My very own super hero.  Face makeup was clutch & a great pulled together homemade costume to form Super T & Super K.    

Love Kari & Brett's annual Halloween party which means I have no choice, but to come up with another costume.

Maybe I should bring back my wings?  Maybe I should let my readers decide?  What should I be for Halloween this year?   Which was your favorite costume of mine in the past?


**Disclaimer** I will be at the XX concert at the Congress before the Halloween Party..  NBD

A Bears W with a side of Mac n Cheese

Is it just me, or do you dislike Tuesdays more than Monday too?  I think Monday I go through the motions, and then Tuesday is when my weekend and festivities catch up with me to make me feel extra unmotivated and lethargic.  My Monday was pretty awake for my action packed day, but yesterday I was ready for bed by 6:45pm. 

Yesterday was athletic day at school (only second to pajama day.)  Of course, I was sporting my yoga pants and Charles Tillman jersey.  How can you not have a great day when you get to where yoga pants to work?  Well my day peaked with yoga pants.  I should have known the rest of the day wouldn't have been so smooth when my classroom was practically on fire.   (Okay, I'm being a little dramatic.)   When the custodian came into fix said furnace, he asked if watched the Bears game last night (which of course, I did.)  And followed it up with the fact that he only watched the 1st quarter because it was boring.  BORING?!?! What is boring about 5 interceptions and a Bears W?  Nothing, that's what. 

There's also nothing boring about an overload of Homemade Mac.  I say overload because there was about 3.5 lbs of Mac n Cheese brewing at the Lair Monday night.  I offered to cook Mac n Cheese as a bribe to the Southport Corridor to watch MNF with me, though we all know that they didn't need a bribe to stay at their house.  Jes was supposed to join us but her case of the Mondays kicked in after school, and she opted out of traveling north, but still was craving Mac n Cheese.  And as for me.. I'll take my mac gluten free.  This is how we came to have 3.5lbs of Macaroni and Cheese. 

Though Tony makes a mean mac, I opted for a variation of Giada's Recipe.  Her recipe is actually a copy from Harry's Bar in Venice (which I've been too! I'm so cool, I know!)  So as Giada was teaching me through this video; I was teaching Jes.  (If you know anything about Jes, you know that the extend of her cooking is grilled cheese.  And don't get me wrong, I would prefer her grilled cheese to mine any day.  But I wouldn't dare let her make me peas.) 

I also made some improvements to Giada's recipe.  I used these large spiral noodles called trata something or tortella or something like that. (No! Not tortellini.)  They were huge and awesome and probably more tasty than yucky egg noodles even though I didn't taste them.  I got them from Jewel, but had never heard/ seen them before.  For my GF recipe.. I used Brown Rice Penne from Trader Joe's.  Since I drink Lactose Free Milk, and its pretty thick, I substituted it for whole milk.  And since I was cooking for boys, I added about 1.75lbs of pasta & some extra Parmesan cheese and an extra 1/2 pint of heavy cream.  And don't forget the bacon. 

Boys <3 bacon.="bacon." boys="boys" cheese.="cheese." cheese="cheese" mac="mac" n="n" nbsp="nbsp" oys="oys" p="p" therefore="therefore" with="with">
Top that bad boy with extra cheese and breadcrumbs to make it crunchy on top.  And here's what you get...

Gluten Free Macaroni & Cheese
 

Regular Mac n Cheese

Plus some happy eaters. 

Macaroni and Cheese

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

 

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing dish
• 12 ounces wide egg noodles
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups (packed) grated Fontina
• 3/4 cup (packed) finely grated Parmesan
• 3/4 cup (packed) grated mozzarella
• 4 ounces cooked ham, diced, optional
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Butter a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Drain well, but do not rinse.
Whisk the cream, milk, flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper in large bowl to blend. Stir in 1 cup Fontina, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, ham, if using, and parsley. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Transfer the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Toss the remaining 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1/4 cup mozzarella in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the noodle mixture. Bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts and begins to brown on top, about 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Laters.

All good things must come to an end.  That good thing being my crip pass that I may or may not have been abusing for the past 2 months.  I say 2 because I legitimately needed it the first month.  Though that crip parking pass cost me a grand total of $330 after fines for not understanding where I can and cannot park, I still thoroughly enjoyed our time together. It is going to be weird adjusting to the common folk city life who pay for parking and have to obey time limits.  I will probably less encouraged to drive places because I can't just leave my car all over the GD city.  Back to the slums of the CTA.  Bummer. 

The worst part of parting ways is that I actually managed to re injure my knee last week. Do you think they will give me an extension for some minor swelling? It went down like this.  I have been running a couple days a week (about 2 miles or so.)  Well on Friday, I was feeling good to be back in my running club with Leanne that I tried to push it an extra quarter mile.  That caused me to trip over my own feet and almost face plant across the sidewalk.  Instead, my bad knee took the brunt of the fall, and my hands and shoulder took the rest.  I don't think I am cut out and coordinated for this running business.  At least not anymore.  When did I get so old?   (Can I blame being a klutz on being old?  I am pretty sure I have been running into walls since I was 2.) 


So since I'm saying goodbye to people, places, spaces, and material objects these days, I'd also like to take an opportunity to happily say goodbye to:

Baseball.  This is the longest season ever and like.. who cares.  I enjoy playing and attending games, but watching it on  TV is so slow.  (Not quite as slow as golf. I don't have a clue when golf season starts or ends.)

Wedding season.  2 more to go.  I know this is still middle of the road for some people, but this years season, come November 26th, is OVA.  Unfortunately or fortunately, there will probably be twice as many next year and the following.  (I guess I'm at that age, yikes!)

Sun dresses.  Bust out your fall boots!  There's no better season for fashion than the
fall.  I love changing the clothes in my closet between the seasons.  It feels like you have a whole new wardrobe. 

September.  Still remains the worst month to ever exist.  I despise you.  I'm still waiting for something happy to happen in September. 

RIP