Happy Thanksgiving

I'm off to the Big Apple this afternoon for the big Thanksgiving feast which, I understand, is actually going to be a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Who would have thought you'd find turkey and stuffing at an Italian restaurant?! I can't wait for the always entertaining dinner table conversations with some of the coolest (and opinionated) people I know. Oh, and I also can't wait to eat this...


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

culinary accidental genius

Bad news, my orange cinnamon rolls were more of an orange cinnamon goo.

Good news is that my orange cinnamon goo actually made a pretty tasty orange cinnamon bread with orange icing.

Uhh, I might have eaten a whole loaf all by my little lonesome.

Now who wants to teach me how to make actual cinnamon rolls?

Go Utes!

Among other things, my boss and I share an alma mater. In fact, I think this was one of the reasons I beat out the other candidates when I applied for this position, although don't get me wrong, I am incredibly good at my job.

The first thing he did when I saw him this morning was pull out his Ute keychain and play the Utah fight song. Later today he plans on pulling the two Cougars from our team into his office and doing the same for them. I have a feeling they won't appreciate it as much as I did.

GO UTES!!!

Enabler

This is why my boss likes me so much...

Sad day in TV-land

I just read that two of my very favorite shows are being cancelled. I'll miss you Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies. The world won't be the same without you.

Hey SLC friends!

Did you know that Christmas is just over a month away?! I know that time is so quickly passing by that I haven't even started thinking about Christmas lists. My lovely and talented sister is making holiday shopping easy with her Holiday Gift Show taking place on December 2 and 3, featuring local artisans goods such as photography (by my amazing sister), jewelry, yummy treats and many many more. If you're in the Salt Lake area, you should go check it out (and bring all your friends).

trends

I bought some purple footless tights last week.

I think I love them.

Richmond marathon recap

my gear

I don't even know what to write for this one. It was three weeks after my last marathon; Runners World recommends at least one month of recovery time between marathons. I did more "recovering" and "celebratory eating" than "training" in the past three weeks, so it is not surprising to me that I logged my slowest time ever. But you know what, I did it. It was hard, there were head and side-winds, I almost got hit by a car (really), but I did it.

Richmond is beautiful (although I understand the marathon route kept us away from much of the less than perfect parts of town). All I remember is that there were fall leaves everywhere. On the trees, on the ground, blowing in the air (making me feel like I was in a leaf globe, which is my made up version of a snow globe). It was just plain gorgeous. I walked a lot of the course, so I really got to soak it all in. There were lots of people sitting on lawn chairs and drinking beers (at 10 am) and some even offering runners shots of vodka or solo cups of beer. It was a neat atmosphere. What wasn't so neat was just past mile 23 when an old lady turned into the runners lane instead of the driving lane and skidded to a stop a foot or two behind where I was running at the time. I heard the traffic cop's muffled yells of "Maam!!! Stop!!!" and then wheels sliding on wet leaves behind me before I turned around. I cried for a mile I was so shook up. It's a good thing they gave out wet towels at mile 23, so I had something to wipe my tears. Crazy crazy.

That little pink dot is me...sprinting to the finish line.

Well, this post is sounding a little depressing. Sorry about that! It wasn't all bad...

Me and Kristi, post race

I am happy that with a weather forecast of 80% chance of thunderstorms, we ended up with the 20% chance of beautiful weather (aside from the wind of course). I'm happy that they printed our nicknames on our bibs so that people could cheer for us by name. I'm happy that I got to run the first two miles with Kristi. I'm happy that Kristi's family was there to cheer me on along the course. I'm happy that Richmond has beautiful trees and rivers for me to look at. I'm happy that the wind was at my back occasionally. I'm happy that Chocolate Mint Gu is actually quite delicious. I'm happy the little old lady didn't hit me. I'm happy that some people were handing out orange slices. I'm happy that I got to play "leap frog" with a guy with a big orange stripe on the back of his shirt for 20 miles, and that I beat him to the finish line. I am happy that the last 6 blocks were downhill (it made for a dramatic finish). I'm happy that Carrie, Holly and her friends were there to see me finish and take pictures. I'm happy they had Papa John's pepperoni pizza in the food tent. I'm happy that Carrie and I are big enough dorks to wear our medals to dinner. I'm happy that I was hardly sore this morning. I'm happy that marathon season is over!!

Carrie and I with our hardware

I think it's high time for a pedicure!!!

(the playlist)

This World Is Watching Me – Armin van Buuren
As The Rush Comes – Motorcycle
Whoa, Yerr a Joke! – Santogold
Untouched – The Veronicas
Chains of Love – Erasure
A Little Respect – Erasure
Human – The Killers
When You Were a Starlight – Team9 vs. The Killers vs. Muse
Keep Your Hands Off My Girl – Good Charlotte
2000007 – Modeselektor feat. TTC
Blowin’ In The Wind – Bob Dylan
Love to Hate You – Erasure
Burn It All Down - ???
XR 2 – M.I.A.
Littlest Things – Lily Allen
Lithium – The Polyphonic Spree
Viva la Vida – Coldplay
Satisfaction – Benny Benassi & The Biz
Pieces of the People We Love – The Rapture
Blush (Only You) – Plumb
More Than Words – Extreme
Believe – The Bravery
Cish Cash – Basement Jaxx feat Siouxie Sioux)
Collides With Beauty – ATB
Apologize – Timbaland feat One Republic
SOS – Rihanna
Home – Depeche Mode
The Hand That Feeds – Nine Inch Nails
Every Time You Say Goodbye – Alison Krause
Closer – Ne-Yo
In The End – Faithless
Waiting in Vain – Annie Lennox
Mass Destruction – Faithless
Tonight – Basement Jaxx feat Phoebe
Uptown Girl – Billy Joel
Scream – Timbaland feat Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger
Hunting for Witches – Bloc Party
The Dark Side of the Sun – Modeselektor feat Puppetmaster
Girlfriend in a Coma – Noah and the Whale
Deboutonner – Modeselektor feat Siriusmo
Joy – George Winston
End Credits – Spider-man
One Love – Cirque du Soleil
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
Happy Birthday! – Modeselektor
Discipline – Nine Inch Nails
U.R.A.Q.T. (The Root Out Remix) – M.I.A.
Polaroid Solution – Faded Paper Figures
In a State – Unkle
Bury Me With My Money – Forest World
Breathe Me – Sia
Show Me the Money – Petey Pablo
Handlebars – Flobots
American Boy Around The World – Kanye West & Estelle vs. Daft Punk
Little Lovers So Polite (The One AM Radio Remix) – Silversun Pickups
In My Arms (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit) – Plumb
Kill Yourself – Timbaland feat Sebastian & Attitude)
Brand New Lover – Dead or Alive
I Remember Being Young – Bikini
Chasing Dreams – Magnet
Shake It – Metro Station
Plug It In – Basement Jaxx feat JC Chasez
Track 10 – Frou Frou
Ecstacy – ATB
Mr. Brightside – The Killers
The Weather Episode – Go Home Productions
$20 – M.I.A.
Mad World – Michael Andrews & Gary Jules
Miscommunication – Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & Sebastian
Alive – Dirty Vegas
Bite My Tongue – Reliant K
Song 2 – Blur
Electric Barbarella – Duran Duran
Do Your Thing – Basement Jaxx
The Luckiest – Ben Folds
Valley Winters Song – Fountains of Wayne
Blue Savannah – Erasure
Make Me Feel – Benassi Bros
Candles – Dirty Vegas
Shout… - Tears for Fears vs. Evanescence
Big Love Adagio – Bond
The First Rebirth – Modeselektor
Couleurs – M83
Oh My God – Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen
Dark Night – Depeche Mode
Let Me Talk To You Prelude – My Love – Justin Timberlake feat. Timbaland
Audio Crash Yourself – Abstrackt Keal Agram vs. Eminem
Faith – George Michael
The Distance – Cake (Soooo very perfect)
Rabbit in Your Headlights - Unkle

Hey family

You may have forgotten, but I'm running the Richmond marathon this Saturday. If you want to track my race, you can do so by clicking here. And Mand, don't forget to turn your ringer off...unless you need a 6:30 am wake up call.

associations

I had a bag of these today. They tasted like the 24th of July. Family reunions in Uncle Jepp's football field sized backyard. Fireworks lit on a sheet of plywood. KFC, homemade caramel ice cream, and potato salad with cucumbers and clam dip (Grandma and Grandpa's specialties). Yum.

National Cathedral

Hallucinations

On my way home from my adventures this weekend I drove along some of the marathon route, including the very stretch of Spout Run Parkway I saw those two lovely ladies taking care of business in front of the Spout Run sign. It was here I made a disturbing discovery...there was no sign!! I could have sworn they were squatting in front of a big stone sign. In fact, that image is burned in great detail in my brain. Could I really have been so delirious at mile THREE that I was imagining these things??

the picture BETTER have turned out

...my abs are killing in this photo!

I voted!

Even as I drove to my polling place, I was an undecided voter. I spent the morning asking each member of my family why they voted the way they did. The great thing about them is that collectively, they represent the entire political spectrum and all gave me very compelling reasons to vote for their candidate, which ultimately helped me make my own decision.

I know they say that every vote counts, but I can't help but feel like my vote counts just a little bit more than those of my friends and family in the great state of Utah. *wink* Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to play a part in this important day in history.

Thanksgiving plans

Since I've lived in DC, each Thanksgiving has been spent with the few members of my extended family that don't live within a five mile radius of my parents, either in DC, Corning, NY, or my personal favorite (and most frequented) New York City. There was some uncertainty as to where we would hold the festivities this year, but the decision has been made and I'm sooo excited to say that we will be going yet again to NYC. Things will be a bit different this year as we will not be cooking our Thanksgiving meal, and the meal that we do eat might not be very traditional, but coming from the girl who merely tolerates turkey (and despises most of the fixins) this is fantastic news! As usual, our trip will consist of lots of eating, shopping, a run or two around central park and movie watching, but I would also like to hit up some museums or cool sites. I'll probably do a bit of searching online, but if you have any must sees, please let me know!