My Kind of Valentine Part Two

❤  Happy Valentine's Day! ❤


I hope you all are having a fantastic day - either with your Valentine, your friends or with a bowl  of ice cream and the tv!


If you recall, I previously posted about, in my opinion, the perfect Valentine's Day gift - a coffee mug, chocolates and wine bottle accessories, but, today I received a very close rival... 

(I'm passing a gallstone as we speak. That's hard)

Ahh! This totally made my day! Sue is my favorite character on Glee, and this card a perfect representation of her personality.... ah, I can't even explain, I just  l o v e  this card. 

And this is how Erin Expresses it,

p.s. If you can't read, or didn't realize who signed the above card, this card is from Jackie (my roommate's sister) who is quite possibly the coolest sister ever  coolest oldest sister ever... thank you!!!!!

Added to Edit: Kelsey you are the coolest sister I will ever have, love you babe ❤

Low Key with Cuzzins....

.... Not my real cousins...but the frozen yogurt Cuzzins!

I decided to take a night off from my usual weekend arena district debauchery (kidding), and keep it low key with some frozen yogurt this past Friday night. I've seen these self-serve concotions all over the food blogging world for quite some time now, and have been waiting for the opportunity to experience one myself.

After a few attempts, I eventually convinced Bobby Z to take a night off from dollar shots at Gaswerks, and to join me on my quest for Friday night ice cream. My cup contained cookies n'cream and peanut butter frozen yogurt - topped with oreos, graham cracker crust, reese cups chunkcs, brownie bites, and a lone block of cheesecake for good measure.

Me and Bobby Z's conversation on the way home:

Me: "You know this is semi-good for you, right?"
BZ: "What! I'd eat this over ice cream any day!!!!"

Needless to say..... it was great! Probably too great... I might show myself some love on this Valentine's day and get some more? Yes? Maybe after I shred.... ;)

Love yourself,

My Kind of Valentine

I had a serious boyfrend in college, and one valentine's day I got roses in the mail. They were great, but a new hooded sweatshirt would have been better - with dark chocolate hidden in the pockets.... I shouldn't complain about the roses, but it's hard not to complain when you receive Valentine's gifts like the one I got last night:

A Coffee mug full of dark chocolate and peanut M&M's with a wine bottle stopper and opener. Can you think of anything better than chocolate and coffee and wine accessories?! I mean, yeah, a million dollars comes to mind, but let's be reasonable here folks...

It was the perfect end to an awful day and the perfect Valentine's Day gift - aren't moms the best?!

Love yourself,

Overshadowed.

If any of you are friends with me on facebook, work with me or are with me on a fairly regular basis, you may think that I'm a huge complainer.... and while I probably am a complainer 87% of the time, I realized this weekend that my complaints often overshaddow the things that make my life so wonderful...

So for this post, I am going to erase the idea that my job puts me to sleep, pretend that I don't have college and car loans to pay for, and forget the fact that I have to wait 2 weeks for results of a biopsy on a really gross mole that I just had removed - and point out to you the little things about my past weekend that are often overshaddowed by all that complaining I tend to do.

FRIDAY

• (insert complaint here about how awful my Fridays at work are)
• Dinner and Magic Hat beers at Mac's with Annick and Bobby Z, - which according to most dictionaries qualifies as a double date...I am getting so mature, right?!

This is Bobby Z. I'm allowed to post this picture because I have 100% confidence he will never see this blog.



SATURDAY

• Went for a run in my beautiful neighborhood with beautiful houses that I dream about living in if I get married and quit working in the near future
• Watched a Glee marathon on tv (need I say more?) 

SUNDAY

• Went for another run in my beautiful neighborhood with beautiful houses that I will live in once I get married and when I quit working
• Met Bobby Z for lunch at Jason's Deli and scored a FREE soft serve ice cream cone (woot woot)
• Krogering.... love love love grocery shopping but hate hate hate buying groceries
• Made AWESOME (low fat) cookies! (insert second "woot woot" here)
• Went to Nick Foor's (Annie's sister's fiance) for a fun little Super Bowl party where it was quite the full house - Nick, Annie, Jackie, Stephanie, Shane, Nate, Nancy Chuck (aka my second family) and the host himself
• Needless to say there was amazing food, amazing company and an amazing outcome of the game... but anyone who beats the Steelers is okay in my book

The host and Jackie

Me and Gil (ughh winter skin is the worst)

So see! I can get through an entire weekend post without complaining (second paragraph excluded)... and I have to say, I feel good - great even. So many times I place all my attention and focus on the negative in my life, that I forget that I have just as many, if not more, great things going for me. I have friends, my own apartment, free time to do what I love and a supportive family.

Sure it's fun, and sometimes even necessary, to sit with your roommate and bitch all night, but it's 10x more fun to enjoy the positive things in life - the things that are often overshadowed by all that's negative. 

Love yourself,

Dedicated or Just Deranged?

I ran 10 miles Saturday morning.


Yes, I said Saturday morning.


The same Saturday morning that rained, then iced, then sleeted then snowed.


Dedicated? Sure..


Deranged? Most definitely.


My face was pelted with ice beebees.


My shoes were wet.


I got strange looks.


Dedicated to training for a spring marathon: Sure.


Deranged for training for a second spring marathon: Most definitly.


Back to sanity for deciding that I'm too busy to train for 26.2 miles: stay tuned....

p.s. I am fully aware that this is the worst quality photo ever. My battery died after the first take. 

Happy Friday?

No. This is what my face does when I think about going to work on Friday. I hate Fridays.

But on a more positive note, I hope you all wore RED today for National Wear Red Day for Women's Heart Health! Heart disease is the number one killer of women - more than cancer...  spread the news and the awareness!

Love yourself.

Endorphins

endorphin en·dor·phin (ěn-dôr'fĭn)  n. Any of a group of peptide hormones that bind to opiate receptors and are found mainly in the brain. Endorphins reduce the sensation of pain and affect emotions.

I'm sure many, if not all of you, have either heard of, or know what an endorphin is - whether it be in your mandatory college health class, your new years resolution issue of Glamour or from your personal trainer at the gym... because we all have one of those, right? oooooff course!


But anyway, I bring up the topic of endorphins, because after some serious daydreaming this morning at work, I realized that this might be the best hormone ever invented secreted. Sure it may take some serious will power and motivation to get those peptide hormones into binding action, but once binded - MAN is the feeling it creates awesome.... allow me to explain...

After a day of constant himming and hawwing on whether or not to attend a spinning class after work, I walked into my apartment with not only a bad attitude, but also with the mindset of sitting on my ass for the rest of the evening, (and mindlessly eating my freezer stash of dark chocolate kisses).... that is until I walked straight into a damn fitness circus that was my living room: My roommate was on the floor in midst of the last exercise from Jillian Michael's 30-shred program, music was thumping and her boyfriend Nick was in a knee bent stance, fist pumping Gill (my roommate) through the last of it....

Okay, I'll be honest, that was a TOTAL exaggeration, but I'm going for a theatrical explanation, so please, bear with me... I'm almost done.


Soon after discovering the madness in front of me, my roommate finished up the last bicycle ab move and  popped her sweaty little head off the floor and, with a total unecessary and chipper voice mind you, shouted "Hey Gill!!!"


....I'm not going to lie, I was annoyed. Here I was all ready to be a total bum the rest of the night, complain about my job, eat chocolate, watch the Biggest Loser - you know, the typical depressed 25 year old evening - but for some reason I felt like I didn't necessarily need to exercise, but that I should exercise..... ughhhh the pang of guilt! Gets me everytime!

And it did. 15 minutes later I somehow found myself in the spinning room of the Urban Active and in the middle of the warm-up to a 45 minute class. How I got the motivation to get there I cannot tell you - but I will tell you that those 45 minutes of intense cycling and loud techno music not only reiterated my hate for Sandstorm, but really got my chemical brain action rockin'. I walked out of that spinning room refreshed, tired and happy - ready for a perfect evening of Biggest Loser, hanging out with *Annick and responsible chocolate decisions. Endorphins, you saved my evening.


So, next time you feel like you want to rip off your stuffed monkey's head in rage, please, stop, think and go exercise. Think about endorphins and what they can do for your mood. Run up the stairs a few times, do some jumping jacks, go to a fitness class - anything to get those endorphins flowing and your mood elevated. 


*Annick - the combination of Annie and Nick.