A PR!

It is a raining, pouring day in Maine.  But I am still on cloud 9.  I PR'd in the Maine 1/2 marathon today.  And not just a little PR - I shaved at least 15 minutes off my last half marathon!  I don't know exact numbers yet, but according to Runkeeper, I was at 1:55.  According to the clock as I passed through, it was 1:54.  They haven't posted official gun time results yet.  Regardless, it is at least 15 minutes.

Before starting, I set a few goals for myself.  First was to finish.  Second was to finish without any walking.  And third was to finish under 2 hours.  After the gun went off and the running actually started, I added a final goal to the list.  It was to make sure to beat the rude cutter and shover woman in gray and peach striped spandex.  I hate runners like that.  If you are that good, start all the way at the front and put some distance between yourself and the pack.  But, as usual, the ones who behave this way aren't premier runners.  She would take off in a sprint, bumping people out of her way, cutting right in front of them causing them to stumble and then I would shortly catch up with her.  I had her too, and then in the last 1/2 mile, she took off in a mad sprint again.  So goal 4 was not achieved!  But the other ones were, so I'm putting this in the victory column!

Race Playlist

I have a race this weekend and I have been tinkering with my playlist.

I usually don't use music when I am running a race, only when doing training runs.  But I've decided to use one this weekend as I will also be using the Runkeeper app to keep track of my pace.  I've set a goal to not just finish this time, but to for a personal best as well.

My current playlist includes the following:

• Burn It Down by Linkin Park
• New Your Groove by Ace Frehley
• Twilight Zone by Golden Earring
• Lowlife by Theory of a Deadman
• I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy
• Rock of Ages by Def Leppard
• It Takes Two by Rob Base
• Money Talks by AC/DC
• Stronger by Britney Spears

Aaaaannnd there are a few that I would just assume NOT share publicly.  

But, I would like to possibly add some new music as I have been using this playlist for all of my runs.  I'm going to be fine tuning it over the next few days to make sure there aren't any songs I would rather not hear, as I won't be able to easily skip over them.  

What suggestions do you have?  What songs do you feel are "must haves" while working out or running?  

What I Wore Wednesday

Another Wednesday, another link up with The Pleated Poppy.  I love the outfits she puts together and can't believe the tops she finds at Forever 21.  I get sensory overload just walking in there, and have never found anything that I would wear. I wonder how different the stock is depending on the area?

Only two outfits this week.  No, I didn't go to work naked.  I was running very, very late and didn't have time to have one of the kids snap a photo for me before we ran out the door.  And Stella Thunderpaws was not going to wait for her walk when I got home.  So into the running shorts, t-shirt and running shoes I went.

How could I make her wait for a walk/run?

So, what did I wear today?  No picture of that, made it to work today in the nick of time!  And, it was kind of depressing.  I wore socks today.  And pants that went all the way down.  Egads!  Winter is coming.

I even had to break out a vest this week.  Standing on a football field can be cold.

Jeans - Kohl's

Sneakers - chucks

Shirt - LL Bean

Vest - Land's End

I made a last ditch effort to go without tights this week.  If Indian Summer does not make its appearance soon, this will most likely be the last time I go bare legged until June.

Dress - Macy's clearance rack

(for full view click here.)

Sweater - Land's End

Shoes - Land's End

I actually get to wear jeans to work for the next two days.  Tomorrow is a field trip and on Fridays, if you make a donation to charity, you can wear jeans.  That may make it easier and faster to get dressed in the morning.  Maybe enough that I can take pictures - but probably not.  

Try It Tuesday

We eat a lot of eggs in this house.  I buy at least 3 dozen each week and of those, 18 are hardboiled for egg salad, to be chopped up in a salad, or to eat as is.

I saw on Pinterest that hard eggs can be done in the oven and thought I would try it. The claims were that the egg tastes better when baked and, as a bonus, makes the process easier.

In order for it to work, the eggs have to be at room temperature.  They should be placed on the center rack, with a cookie sheet underneath just in case an egg breaks.  The oven should be set at 325 and the eggs baked for 30 minutes.

I tried this with a few eggs and the results were a disaster!  The eggs got brown spots on the bottom - at least the ones I was able to peel the shells off of had brown spots.

I took a step back and reassessed the process to determine if I did anything wrong.  I 'fessed up that I may not have exactly planned ahead and the eggs most likely were not at room temperature.  I also left the eggs in an extra 5 minutes.

So I tried it again.  And again.

Three times at bat and three times I struck out.  I will be hard boiling my eggs the way I have been for years.  Even if this procedure had worked, it seems much more time consuming.  To boil 18 eggs, I just place them in my big pasta pot, fill with warm water, add a touch of vinegar to the water and bring it to a boil.  Once it reaches a boil, I turn it off and let it sit for 11 minutes, drain the water, allow the eggs to cool and wash the pot.  If I use the oven, I have to remember to take the eggs out and allow them to come to room temperature, put them in the oven, along with a pan (just in case).  If one does break, I imagine baked egg is a pain to clean.

I'm just not sold on this one and it is getting deleted over at Pinterest!


**I apologize for lack of pictures this time.  My camera went with the husband and kids on a boating adventure and seems to have failed to make it back out of the boat.  I don't trust the set up enough to climb in there and search for it.

What I Wore Wednesday

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday again today!

It has been a navy kind of week around here.  Guess what arrived?

 My navy Joanne driving mocs from Land's End!  I have worn them twice already this week.

I wore them first with this outfit.  Skirt a STEAL from Target's clearance rack last week!  And the top was from Marshall's.  I can't even tell you how much I got it for - you will simply die of jealousy.  But I am going to tell you anyway!  $12.99!

I love the detail at the sleeves.

It was cold and rainy yesterday.  So I wore this.  I am admitting to the sin of slovenly-ness, and if it's not a sin, perhaps it should be.  The shirt had been tucked in all day.  But, by the time I remembered to take a picture for the blog, it was out.  And it was not going back in!

The shirt is new from Land's End.  The pants are from the Gap Outlet and the sweater is from LL Bean.  The shoes have shown up here before and are also from Land's End.

These pearls were a great investment.  They are fakes, but decent fakes.  I have my grandmother's real pearls, but they probably should be restrung.  So for now, these from Talbot's are all I usually wear.
My pearl earrings were a gift from my Godparents years and years ago.

Super mini stack.  An actual stack did not seem appropriate with this.

This was one of my stacks this weekend.  But I digress.

Navy and pink!  I think I like this even more than pink and green.  Yes, yes I do.  Pink capris from Land's End and navy ruffled tank from Target.  If this tank washes well and doesn't kill me and my Rowenta, I'm headed back to buy it in other colors.  I will keep you posted.

The ruffles were hard to see in the other picture, so here is a close up.  Love it.

So, what did you wear this Wednesday?

Try It Tuesday

Sometimes when we set goals, we fail at reaching them.  So be it.

I had planned on trying something each week from my Pinterest account.  An issue that cropped up is that I wanted to first move some of the pins from my private Pinterest account, to a public one linked with this blog.  I sort of just kept putting it off.  I did set up an additional account, but moving pins from one to the other has been more difficult than I anticipated.  Slowly but surely, I am figuring it out.

Now I have done that and the testing can begin!

Or so I thought.

First road block.  I never actually pinned the tip I was going to try this week and then share today.  I have been looking and looking for it, but no luck.  I have also been searching for a saying about weddings that I thought was wonderful, but obviously not wonderful enough to either remember it, or pin it!  I am suffering from Pinterest regret :(

But I am the kind of gal that throws caution to the wind.  And you WILL forgive me when I share this tip with you.  Because it works INCREDIBLE and you will LOVE me and ADORE me for sharing it with you.

Are you ready?  Because this is a game changer.

We eat a lot of enchiladas around here.  We also eat a lot of chicken salad, and salad with chicken in it. And a lot of chicken noodle soup and chicken rice soup.  Chicken and broccoli.  Get it?  We eat a lot of chicken.  But cutting and cooking chicken can be time consuming and a pain in the tush.  Did I mention I was about to share a game changer?

Do you see that?  That is a load of shredded, cooked chicken.  It is just begging and waiting to be added to an enchilada, to soup or to any other recipe you have.  If necessary, it will sit in a freezer bag in your freezer until you need to whip something up.  And it was so simple to get to this point.

 While boneless chicken breast cook in boiling water on your stovetop, pull out the Kitchen Aid mixer and put this attachment on.  I am sure it has a name, but I have no idea what it is.  Ree would know.  I love her - for many more reasons than the fact that she would know the name of this.

Remove the chicken from the boiling water once it is done.  If they went in frozen, they need to be in there about 40 minutes.  If they were thawed, 25 to 30 minutes will work.  These HAVE to go into the mixing bowl HOT!

I put three breast in at a time.  In hindsight, I probably could have done more at once.

I turned the mixer on to 3 and let the mixer work its magic.

Here is its magic.  Look at that beautiful shredded chicken!  I shredded an entire family package of boneless breasts.  I put 1/3 of it in the enchilada's we had that night.  I used a bit of the rest to make enough chicken salad for all of us to use for lunch for 2 days.  The rest went into a freezer storage bag to be used when I want to make a quick batch of chicken noodle soup.

Since recently returning to work, I have found my biggest challenge to be getting a healthy dinner on the table.  When I get home from work, I can either walk my dog or start making dinner before I have to get at least 1 kid to a practice field.  My dog (and I!) deserve that walk.  This weekend, I am going to do another batch of shredded chicken and then plan my weekly menu around it and the use of my crock pot.

Now that I have shared this tip with you, feel free to spread the love and share with me any ideas you have on how to incorporate shredded chicken into a recipe I may not have thought of making.

Required Reading

Gone Girl.  So good.

That. Is. All.

No, seriously, I highly recommend this book.  It has been the first time in a long time that a book has made me want to stay up past my bedtime.

Now, I have to seek out others who have read it so I can discuss it with them.  And I have one friend in particular that I am going to push to read it because I am interested in her take on the dynamics presented as a major piece of the story.

In addition to the plot being interesting and well planned, the writing itself is excellent.  No one can accuse Gillian Flynn of phoning this one in.  Her spot on the New York Times Bestsellers is well earned.

I am leery of starting my next book, as I am not sure it can match up.  THAT is the bad part of reading something that is very well crafted.