What are you, French?

Hubby has been teasing me as I am obsessed with my latest Farmer's Market score. A crunchy loaf of delicious, whole grain, organic bread. He says my lunches have been looking rather "French" lately. ha! They have looked like this



and this...



I am almost out so will definitely be hitting the same booth this Saturday. I also scored some fabulous fresh flowers for a grand total of $5. Love that.



Fresh flowers are something I buy weekly at the Farmer's Market. Such a great pick me up for not a lot of dinero.

The beginning of fall is definitely in the air here and I am loving it. We've been sleeping with open windows, playing outside, and just enjoying the break in weather. Ahhh, fall is definitely my favorite time of year! I adore the newness of everything, pumpkins, sound of school buses, mums on my front porch, cinnamon candles, non-stop football, beautiful leaves....the list goes on!

In other news, I found a running group! It is actually a group of women ranging in age from mid 20's to mid 50's. One of the nurses at the hospital where I work has been involved in this group for years and invited me to try it out. I am so glad to have found a group of women runners! My last running group was fine but it was composed of mostly men who were HARD CORE and honestly probably weighed 100 lbs. soaking wet. They were awesome runners and I did learn a lot but I just felt like I was always struggling to keep up. They always ran 8 minute miles and well, it was just kind of stressful, especially when I was having a 9 minute mile kind of day. Anyway, I'm super excited about this new venture!

Hope you are all having a great week! For good measure, here is a picture of my home slice showing off her favorite baby.

Happy Weekend and a new obsession...

On the agenda....

Saturday
- Farmer's Market
- 5 miles outside (it's gorgeous!)
- Trader Joe's (we are out of everything!)
- Quick house clean
- Date night!


Sunday
- Maybe trying a new church
- Gym and pool with Kennedy
- Getting clothes ready for the work week (does anyone else do this?)
- Grilling out (Sunday night tradition)

As you all know, I am a nut butter addict. Always have been and always will be. Needless to say, I squeeled with excitement when the folks at Naturally More sent me this fabulous trio of peanut butter and almond butter to try!

Here we have natural almond butter, organic natural peanut butter, and protein/flax infused peanut butter. YUM!





I dug into the almond butter first.


I will admit that it took some serious manpower to get this stirred up well enough to eat. Oil kept dripping over the side of the jar and I had quite a mess. It's no fun cleaning up oil! However, the mess was well worth it. This was extremely delicious. Decent sized chunks of almond, which I loved, and such a great flavor. I loved that it didn't taste smoky, like a lot of other almond butters out there. (TJ's comes to mind.)

Next up is the organic peanut butter.

Yeah, we clearly hated it. :) Hubby is on a mostly organic, minimally processed diet (long story) so he was on this like white on rice. Between the two of us, this was gone in about four days. Eeek!

And my personal favorite is the Naturally More fortified peanut butter. I found myself eating this with a spoon right out of the jar as a little pick me up. So good! It contains 50% more fiber and 25% more protein than regular peanut butter. It is also fortified with flaxseed, which you can taste in the peanut butter. If gives it such a nice little crunch. I ate this on toast, apples, in oatmeal, and of course straight from the jar on a spoon!
I am definitely addicted to this and luckily found a grocery store down the street that stocks it. You can find out where to buy Naturally More here. I will definitely buying more. Price wise, it is pretty comparable to TJ's nut butters. Not bad!

It's about time...

that I participate in

Thankful Thursdays was developed by the lovely Shannon who is also a native of Columbus.

Currently I am thankful for...(in no particular order)..

- My hilarious 2 year old and how she makes me belly laugh at least once a day.

- OSU football and how the first game is only a couple weeks away. I just can't wait. It's my favorite time of year.

- The health of my family and parents. Something happening to my family has always been one of my biggest fears. Bad things happen to good people all the time. I am so thankful that my family is currently healthy and safe.

- My treadmill and my little "gym" in the basement. As much as a dread it sometimes, it is such a lifesaver in squeezing in a run or quick workout on days when it would otherwise not happen.

- My girlfiends. They are the best and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful, talented, smart, funny friends. I would be lost without them.

- The hubby's job. In this economy, I thank my lucky stars that he still has a job.

- Hard Knocks on HBO. Hubby and I are obsessed with this show, which chronicles the Cincinnati Bengals at their training camp. So entertaining! Plus, it's kind of a bonding experience for the hubby and I. He is such a good sport in watching my shows. This is kind of his show but I happen to really like it.

What are you thankful for?

UPS man...oh how I love thee....

Nothing makes my heart pitter patter with excitment quicker than a UPS truck heading down my street when I know I have a package on the way.

Yesterday, I was pleased as pie to look out and spy the UPS man strolling up my walk with four packages in his arms. (Thank goodness hubby was at work.)




First we have a box full of goodies sent from Amazing Grass for me to review on the bloggy. The box contains several different bars, meal replacements, wheat grass, greens, the list goes on. I can't wait to dig in.




Secondly we have three pair of shoes from Aldo.


Sadly, these little babies have to go back as they run ridiculously small. I can't even get my foot all the way in. Granted, my feet have grown since having a child but this was ridiculous. I wanted them to fit and was practically sweating trying to make it work, but no dice.

I got the next two pairs as work shoes for fall. I wear black heels pretty much right down to the nub at work and was in dire need for some replacements.



Both of these are comfy enough and I am a sucker for an almond toe. I am a tad bothered by the fact that I can see the glue on the inside of the second shoe but I'll get over it. Keeping both of these.

I am off to hit the tready while Kennedy naps and pack for the weekend. TGIF!

Lately I am loving....

... cooking... while sipping on a delicious glass of wine. There is just something so therapeutic about chopping and grating while sipping on a good glass of red wine. Yes, I have to put on Dora the Explorer on in order to keep my two and a half year occupied for 30 minutes but it works. Don't judge.

I am also loving ...


I have the ebay bug again. I have recently sold three different dresses from Anthropologie that I have worn a couple times each for well over what I paid retail.

I have also sold a couple of Kennedy's Hannah Anderson dresses that I never really loved for several bucks over what I paid.

Granted, I got all of these items on sale, but still! Gotta love that. I'm thinking instead of a garage sale this summer (which, when it all boils down, I am too lazy to follow through with and end up saying "screw it, just take it to the Goodwill" at the last minute), I may just Ebay the rest of our loot and Goodwill what doesn't sell.


I'm also really loving...my new gig.... I don't think I shared with you guys that I have been working solely on the post partum (mom/infant) unit at the "pital." While I have filled in regularly on this unit in the past, I haven't had the pleasure of having this as my sole assignment. I adore it and get so much satisfaction out of working with moms and newborns. Granted, it is tough and sometimes I wonder how in the world some of these little innocent babies are going to survive in some of the environments that they are going home to.
However, I feel like I am definiely serving as a valuable tool to these moms who really want to parent but have never had the resources to do so. And when the situation really is horrific, I feel like I am able to serve as a voice for these innocent, helpless newborns who really have no chance without legal involvement. I could go on and on but in a nutshell, my new gig really is amazing.

And lastly, I'm loving interval running. It's such an effective way to get in a nice sweaty workout in about 35 minutes. Lately I have been busier than normal and really rely on this workout. I do best with this workout on the treadmill. I typically start out with the first 5 minutes at 6.0, followed by one minute at 7.2 and one minute at 5.8. I repeat the 7.2 and 5.8 at one minute intervals for 25 minutes. I finish the last 5 minutes at 6.0.
A quick workout that is guaranteed to kill close to 400 calories. More if you add a little incline. The great thing about this workout is that you can play with it. Some days I don't run at these speeds and run slower, some days I run faster. The great thing about interval running is that regardless, I am always dripping in sweat at the end. Which in my mind, equals a good workout.

Hope everyone is having a great night.

Is it really August?

Where oh where has the summer gone?! Whatever happened to the long days of summer that seemed to last forever? As a kid, it seemed that summer lasted for about 300 days. No?

We had a great weekend. We started off at the good 'ole state fair. Normally, I am not a fair go-er at ALL. But having a child obviously makes you do things you would never have considered during your childless days.

Kennedy adored every second, which makes it all worthwhile.
Home slice with the sheep.


And home slice and my mom on the carousel.


Friday night, we had dinner with friends. They served an amazing dinner that consisted of filet mignon, twice baked potatoes, asparus, and s'mores for dessert. I hadn't had a filet in forever and a day and it was seriously DEE-LISH!

Kennedy was obsessed with their two miniature weiner doggies. :)




Saturday morning consisted of a 4 mile run, packing, wrapping, and prepping to head to D-town for my friends' baby shower. She is about to pop and is adorable. She lost a baby late in the second trimester over a year ago. This pregnancy seems extra special and we are all so excited for her that she is pregnant again and only 3 weeks from her due date.

Saturday night was girls night in with my best girlfriends. We ordered pizza, drank wine, and talked until 1 a.m. As always, it was a blast and I laughed until I cried on more than one occasion. So good for the soul.

Sorry I have no pics. of the remainder of the weekend. Hubby took the camera and they haven't been uploaded. He is headed to the Pete Yorn concert with his buddy and they have backstage passes to meet Pete. So jealous!

We have seen Pete a few times together so I told him to take his buddy and make it a guys night since he was pretty much a single dad all of Saturday.
How nice am I?

Friday Wrap Up

Busy week!

Between work, Kennedy, squeezing in workouts, and household stuff, I haven't had time to blog since Sunday. Where has the week gone?

I did have a chance to make a new short running playlist. I love running with the Ipod shuffle because it's just so little, light and easy to switch playlists.


I do, however, hate these headphones that comes with the shuffle (and all Ipods for that matter). I always go to Target and purchase a pair that don't fall out of my ears with each and every step. It seems like this is such a common problem. Not sure why a fabulous company like Apple wouldn't work on improving them??

Anyhoo...new playlist consists of...

Boom Boom Pow- Black Eyes Peas
Womanizer- Britney Spears
Viva la Vida- Coldplay
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)- Proclaimers
If You Seek Amy- Britney Spears
Harder to Breathe- Maroon 5
Black or White- Michael Jackson
King of New Orleans- Better Than Ezra
Dammit- Blink 182
Zero- Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
That's Not My Name- Ting Tings (Kennedy's FAAAAVorite song)
Want You Bad- Offspring
I Got a Feeling- Black Eyed Peas
Let's Get it Started- Black Eyes Peas
Fergalicious- Fergie
I Do Not Hook Up- Kelly Clarkson

Speaking of which, I got stuck in the rain during my run on Wednesday night. I was about 2 miles in, and two miles from home and the sky opened up and dumped on me. I was mainly worried about Garmin as I have heard horror stories about Garmins dying from getting wet! I ran home as fast as humanly possible. Not exactly the relaxing run I was going for but whatever.

For those of you that ordered Jillian's necklace, have you recieved it yet? I am sure the seller is backed up but I thought I would have recieved it by now. I know several of you ordered it. What's your story?