Happy 4th of July!!!
1 box vanilla cupcake mix, prepared according to package directions, subbing applesauce for oil + cream cheese frosting + red liners + red and blue sprinkles = TAAADDDAAA!!! Super simple festive 4th of July cupcakes!
Little changes making a big difference.
· by Ari ·
· by Ari ·
So, perhaps you noticed that I’ve been a little quiet over here? It’s been the good kind of quiet. The my-life-is-loud-and-full-so-my-blog-is-quiet kind of quiet. My life up here is super busy, and filled with things that probably make no sense to the outside world, but here’s some highlights from my first week of grown up summer vacation at theatre camp.
I’ve enjoyed several delicious cappuccinos from the nearest local coffee shop.
I saw Brave with my favorite ladies.
I enjoyed my weekend off by getting pedis and coffee with my oldest camp friend Karisa. Karisa and I became friends my very first summer as a student in 2000!
I’ve also spent a fair amount of time at the McMeniman’s School down the street. It’s super cool–an old elementary school turned into a restaurant. They even have the “Detention Bar”. And cute water fountains. Terra drank from one.
On Sunday, Terra took Nicole and me out to her family’s cabin in Trout Lake. It was fun. I peed in an outhouse.
And enjoyed nature.
We dug meet out of the ground, and then we ate it. It.Was.Awesome.
We also played my favorite game. The Camera Game.
The rules: Move your face
and as fast
as possible.
Now I’m back to an other busy week. I guess the camera game will have to wait until the weekend 😉 PS, this weekend I am going up to Seattle to visit 2 of my very favorite ladies! Cannot wait!!!
· by Ari ·
Gahhhh, I am so behind on blog things. This is way late, but better late than never 🙂 Last month, for the first time I participated in Foodie Penpals, and it was tons of fun! For those of you that don’t know, here’s what Foodie Penpals is all about:
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.
If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!
*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!
I was lucky enough to receive a truly amazing penpal my first time. Kimberly sent me a super amazing box of goodies including granola, sweet potato chips (my favvvvv), Larabars, tea, and peanut butter pretzels. Ummm, YUM! Excellent work, Kimberly.
She also wrote me an incredibly sweet note, that made me a little teary eyed. She wrote about reading my blog, and about my journey, and it was just nice for me to hear that my writing had meant something to someone else.
The coolest part of this whole experience was actually being able to open the box with all of my students. It arrived just after lunch, before afternoon classes, and we were all in the lounge area. I got really excited to open it, and I told the kiddos all about the Foodie Penpal program, which they thought was really cool, and every single item I took out, they cheered and got more excited than I did! I seriously wish I could have gotten the whole thing on video because it was hilarious. Maybe for July 😉
Thank you so much Kimberly for your kind words, and well thought out gifts! I absolutely loved all of it, and I am so grateful–you totally made my day!
· by Ari ·
Hey, look at that. I never posted the first week of my training. Whoops. I’ve decided to refocus my Work It Out posts to marathon training, because, really, marathon training is so much more exciting! My first week was basically just easing back into running post surgery. I had to walk my first few training “runs”, but by mid week I was officially BACK! Here’s how it went.
Monday: 3 miles power walk. I was in Ashland. It was gorgeous. So wonderful, in fact, that I almost forgot how lame it was that I was walking my first week of marathon training. I was actually surprised at how great of a workout walking was. I was sore the next day. It felt lame, but I was moving my little walking days. It’s a great reminder that you don’t have to run to get a great work out.
Tuesday: Easy walk. I like walks. They’re nice. Since I don’t have my bike, or spin class, or motivation to do squats and push ups, I’ve just been trying to go on a nice walk on my non running days.
Wednesday: 3 mile trail walk/run. I tried to do a few running intervals. They mostly hurt, but I ran/walked with Mandie around all sorts of beautiful trails throughout the park. We chatted a lot, and it was really great to have the time to really catch up, while getting my training done.
Thursday: 3 mile walk/run. I RAN!!!!! HOORAY!!!! I did running and walking intervals with Terra for the first mile and a half, and was so amazed that it hardly hurt at all! I was so excited that I ran the last half, and came back with serious runners high. I even ran at NIGHT. What? Who am I?
Friday: Easy walk. This walk came with coffee. Those are the best kinds.
Saturday: 6 mile run. I ran “long”!!! 6 miles isn’t really long, but that’s what was on the plan, so that’s what I ran 😉 I ran sloooowwww, but it was awesome, and I was so happy to be able to complete my first full run back!
Sunday: Easy walk. Walking is nice.
Week 2 was better. No more Post Surgery Ari. Only Imma Kick This Marathon’s Ass Ari. Yup. It was also realllllly hard because all of the sudden, in addition to marathon training, I also started dancing 3-6 hours a day. Ouch. I forgot how sore I get when I’m dancing all the time. It definitely made for a few days where walking was a challenge, but I’m thrilled to be keeping my body so active and spending every day doing what I love! Here’s how it went.
Monday: 3.1 mile run. This run felt AWESOME! I ran with Tali, and we kicked it into gear in the last mile. We averaged a 9:59 pace, and I’m pretty sure it was Tali’s first time running the distance ever. I’ve coerced several of my co-workers into running with me against their will.
Tuesday: Dancing all day long.
Wednesday: 1 mile time trial. Ran 1.3 mile warm up, found a track (YAY!), then ran my 1 mile in 7:31 (hello 2012 goal 😉 ), then practically crawled a mile cool down.
Thursday: 3 mile recovery run. 10:17 pace. This run was tough. My legs were soooooo sore, and my body did not want to be running, but I made it through and felt better by the end. I feel like that is the point of a recovery run, yes?
Friday: Daning alllll day long.
Saturday: 9 mile long run. Set out for the scheduled 8, but ended up with 9. I felt a little sluggish, but this was the first time I’ve run any real distance in quite a while, so I felt good about that. Averaged 1:30 pace.
Sunday: Full on rest. I’ve never been so excited for a rest day. It was awesome.
And those were the first two weeks of NYC Marathon training!
How are you workin’ it out? Training for anything exciting??