Happy Turkey Day!

I'm sure you're all VERY interested in whether or not I ran the entire 3 mile Turkey Trot. Drum roll please...

I did! I did! Last night I was a bit nervous about whether or not I'd be able to run the entire 3 miles since I have trouble running outside. (I've become a treadmill girl.) Oh yeh, I finished in 33 minutes. Holla! Running it was awesome!

Anywho, Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Hope you have a great day with family and friends. And GO COWBOYS!!!

Soap On A Rope

This is my sassy horse/soapbox/disclaimer: Peeps, Christmas comes after Thanksgiving!!! The tree, the decorating, the Christmas music, etc. etc. etc. needs to stay in the attic til after Turkey Day. That is my opinion, I am entitled to it, and I will share it if I want to.

With that said, Friday morning I will post my list of fun Christmas activities in Dallas. Of course, as I find out about more cool stuff, I'll update the list. If I don't hop back on here before Friday, hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I Want An Oompa Loompa NOW!

I'm channeling my inner Veruca Salt today. Why you ask? Jen Lancaster's new book is now on Amazon, but it won't be released until May 5th, 2009. Such a tease! I seriously do not want to wait til MAY!!! but apparently I have to. Bah!

Here's the cover for her new book, "Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending,Egomanical, Self-Centered Smart Ass Phase"

Potluck Season

If you work for a company like mine, and many others in the US, a potluck is the favorite option for (smaller) company holiday meals. With this hodge-podge of a food extravaganza, it's never easy to decide what to make and how much to make. Here is a yummy dessert solution that my mom used to make for us when I was a child.

Momma G's Dumpcake Cobbler - (I can never remember if it's technically dumpcake or cobbler so I made the executive decision on the name.)

2 Cans Of Fruit In Own Juice, Fruit Cocktail, Pineapple, Pear, etc. (with it being in it's own juice, it's a bit healthier than the more sugary options.)

1 Box White Cake Mix (can be plain white mix or coconut or another flavor but white looks most appealing.)

Butter or Margarine

1. Lightly cover 13"x9" with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Empty canned fruit and juice into pan.
3. Sprinkle cake mix on top of fruit.
4. Evenly place small tabs of butter or margarine on top.
5. Bake on 350 degress for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

Adding nuts, coconut, or additional fruit is optional.

Shout Out!

Several previous posts have mentioned my good friend Chelsea and her passion for helping the non-profit Attitudes and Attire. Most recently I wrote about her new business venture where she makes, and sells, custom-made aprons.

A few weeks ago, Karyn Bosnak asked her blog readers to submit their small businesses/crafty friends for her Holiday Shopping list that she posts on her blog. Guess who submitted their wonderful friend Chelsea? Guess who made #4 on the list? WOOOOOOO YAY!!! I am totally stocked! I really, really, really hope Chels gets some awesome business from the Pretty In The City Blog. (As a side note, aka tooting my own horn, the description of Chelsea's company is EXACTLY what I submitted. I wrote that!)

Anywho, here's the link to the "Pretty In The City: Holiday Shopping 2008."

Congrats Chels!

Gobble, Gobble

T-Minus 4 days and counting for the Turkey Trot. I've been working my butt off to try and be able to run the 3 mile race this year. Finally last week I was able to hit 3 miles with NO walk breaks! Talk about getting over a hurdle! I'm totally excited.


The end of last week I went to Luke's Locker and registered for the T Trot. I got wrapped up in my own excitment and bought a pair of running shorts. Actual running shorts. No more ackward positioned shorts for me, no sir!


As far as the Bandage Dress deadline, an official date has been set: December 19th. That's when I'm going to wear that bad boy. After Thanksgiving Day I'm going to keep running for cardio, but I'm going to step up the weight training as well. I need to check to see if there are any 5Ks in the next few months.


Anywho, that's about it for right now, but I'll be back with more later!

Ghost of Weekends Past, Present and Future

Weekend Past


Even though this weekend is almost here, I gotta tell ya about my last weekend. My friend Amy (shout out!) and I went to a fairly new bar called Black Friar Pub. We've been to this place before and sat at the bar. It was pretty fun last time so we thought we'd try it again. The bar is the best seat in the house. When it gets really crowded, we can still grab the bartender and get our beverages. There is a fun crowd and you never know who you'll run into.
Black Friar Pub - 2621 Mckinney AveDallas, TX 75204(214) 953-0599


Saturday morning my friend Nicole (shout out!) and I volunteered at the Alzheimer Association's Memory Walk at the Dallas Zoo. It was a super early morning, but totally worth it! We ended up having a great time and met some fun people. The whole thing got me really excited about the pubcrawl. The walk raised $300,000 and it is very encouraging and I can't wait to raise as much money as possible.


Saturday night a group of us went to the House of Blues to see the band Who's Bad? Who's Bad? is a Michael Jackson cover band. I got free tickets at Tasti Delight and thought it would be absolutely hilarious to go. It was hilarious, but it was one of the most entertaining concerts I've ever been to! They did everything from 70's and 80's MJ and even did a Jackson 5 set. It. Was. AWESOME! I do have a soft spot in my heart for the song "You Are Not Alone." By best friend since 7th grade used to sing that song in the back of English class. Gotta love it!

Weekend Present

Tonight a group of us girls are going to join the masses and go see the new movie "Twilight." I haven't read the books, but if I like the movie, I imagine I'll have a new series. I just can't imagine enjoying a book about vampires; however, that's what I thought about Harry Potter and I Loved. Loved. that series.

After the movie, a few of us will head to Club Dada in Deep Ellum for a show. I really excited to see Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears again. In addition to Black Joe Lewis, I'm really excited to hear my buddies Spammie and Jeff in their band Les Americains. They're a rock band with more melodic tunes. Don't take my word for what kind of music they play, as I'm NOT a music guru, but come check em' out! Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at frontgatetickets.com. If you purchase a ticket online, it's $19.

Weekends Future

For Turkey Day Weekend, I'm in town on Thanksgiving, but then headed to San Anton with the fam. I will totally be fat when I return. And I will love it.

That's about all I got for right now, but I'll write more soon. Promise! Oh yeh, I'll post a Turkey Trot/Bandage Dress update later this afternoon.

SecretTweet

One of my favorite blogs, Pretty In The City, had this on her blog today.

SecretTweet

So I went to the site and now I feel insanely guilty! Like I heard something I shouldn't have and it would really hurt someone's feelings if they knew that I now know. Sheesh! If peeps wanna post something that personal on the internet, go for it, but I'm not going to read it because I don't want to feel bad for your problems!

Would you ever post something on this site?

If The Dumpster's A Rockin'

It has been quite a while since I blogged about the drug dealers across the street. They were AWOL for a while but are back, with some new friends.

The construction across the street is getting closer and closer to being finished on a daily basis. I guess the new apartment company didn't like the ghetto fence that surrounded the dumpster area. Last week some people started tearing down the old fence and on Sunday they started building a new one. I'm not thinking they were the best fence builders in Dallas because it took them all day. ALL day. They were still sawing and nail-gunning at 11pm. Is it bad that I called the cops for a noise disturbance? I couldn't sleep! Fine, deal your crack, but when you disrupt my sleep that's where I draw the line!

Now there's a bigger problem: how am I going to spy with the new fence?

Tis The Season...

For eating! YEH! Despite all my recent "bandage dress" efforts, I have absolutely NO intention of holding back during the holidays. However, the exponential growth my butt will experience later this year is not what this blog is about.

This time of year is known for all the cooking and baking and time spent in the kitchen. When that much time is spent in the kitchen, it is inevitable that things will spill. On the cook. Well, my friend Chelsea (shout out!) has a great solution! She has started a custom apron company.

Chelsea designs and makes each apron. No two aprons are alike and can be made to order. If you, or a loved one, has a special vintage piece of fabric (table clothes and dish towels work great) Chelsea will create a special item for just you.

The best part of her company is that she donates 20% of the profits to Attitudes and Attire tm. These aprons make great gifts and are very functional. Perfect for this time of year! Check out her company website here. It also links to her Etsy page where you can view the aprons available for purchase and buy them!

Want to get a jump on your Christmas shopping? This aprons are great for the lovely ladies in your life! (Take a hint boys.)

SIDE NOTE: All the photography on Chelsea's site was done by Jenny Leigh Photography. She does great work. Check it out here!

Music To Move To

Right now I'm waiting for my iPod to charge so I can go run (or attempt to run). I thought I'd share my motivation! It's fun and good to groove to. The first half hour is for 5 mins of warm up and running. The last half hour is for weight training.

Promiscuous, Nelly Furtado 4:02
Figther, Christina Aguilera 4:10
Womanizer, Britney Spears 3:45
Single Again, Trina 3:45
Toxic, Britney Spears 3:19
It's Not Right But It's Ok, Whitney Houston 4:21
Mr. Brightside, The Killers 3:43
Do It Well, Jennifer Lopez 3:08
Maneater, Nelly Furtado 4:25
Won't Go Home Without You, Maroon 5 3:51
Shake Shake, Metro Station 3:02
Keeps Gettin' Better, Christina Aguilera 3:06
Live Your Life, Rihanna 4:03
Don't Trust Me, 3OH!3 3:17
Candyman, Christina Aguilera 3:14
Beeper, Count & Sinden 3:00

Now, I'm headed to the gym to "move it, move it!"

Wanna Know A Secret?

Want me to tell? Huh? Huh? Huh?

So, part of the reason I've been so busy is that I've been working on a "project." Until it was official, I really couldn't say anything. Now that it's a done deal, I can totally blab!

On February 14th, 2009, I will be co-hosting the "Honey, I Just Forgot" Pub Crawl - Benefiting the Greater Dallas Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's has hit my family very hard in recent years and it's important to me to do whatever I can for research, education, and family and patient care.

The pub crawl will take place on Lower Greenville and have various after parties with live music. I'm totally excited and can't wait to work really hard to make this a successful fundraising event. As of right now, the Dallas Sport and Social Club is partnering with me to host this event. The Development Department of the Alz. Assoc. is totally behind us and are totally excited about this event.

This event is in the very early stages and as things progress I'll let you know. So... don't forget, you totally have a date for V-Day this year! Woo!

Mexi-talian

I am not what you would call a "Suzy Homemaker" in the kitchen. I can never remember how to boil an egg, I burn microwave lasagna and I have lit my stove on fire. However, recently I have perfected black bean enchiladas and whole wheat pasta.

When scrounging together some dinner tonight, I found some left over black bean/onion/garlic combo from enchiladas, enchilada sauce, cheese and whole wheat penne pasta. I threw the pasta and black bean combo into a bowl, covered it in sauce and topped with cheese. After microwaving it for a few minutes I had the most delicious meal ever! Ever!

Who knew! It was amazing! No joke, I've been craving it ever since. Try it out sometime. It super east and cheap to make!

Turkey Time!

It's time for the Turkey Trot!!! Every year on Thanksgiving Day morning, Capital One bank sponsors the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. It is an 8 mile run with a 3 mile fun run/walk. The proceeds from registration fees support YMCA programs.

My sister is a nurse at a cancer hospital and apparently still has to help save lives during the holidays. (Stupid cancer. Take a vacation.) She usually works on Thanksgiving Day and then our whole family meets up on Friday. That leaves me in Dallas. With nothing to do. So... I had a genius idea!

You may recall, I am trying to fit into a certain dress in about a month. Training to run in the Turkey Trot 5K will give me great motivation to workout and something to do on Thanksgiving morning! Since I am the anti-runner (me+running=scary), this is going to be a rather difficult feat. Think Phoebe from "Friends" scary.



Luckily, I still have an old running book from a previous attempt at learning to job. It's by Hal Higdon, a senior writer for Runner's World magazine. His website has training plans for taking your first steps (not literally, but in a workout sense) to running a marathon. The 5K plan is 8 weeks long but I only had 6 weeks when I started. My first run was supposed to be 1.5 miles. So didn't happen. Last week was the 1.75 mile run week and I'm able to get through it with only 1 walk break for about a minute. Tomorrow is the first 2 mile run and I'm kinda excited. It should be interesting. It seems like I'm doing ok and I'll update you periodically on how it's going.

If you have plans to be in the Dallas area on turkey day, check out http://www.thetrot.com/ for more info.