(95). Getting my Minges Fix & Halloween Baking

I’m very all or nothing when it comes to a lot of things.  Exercise is one of those things, and with the ramping up of the running, I’ve been back to working out 6 or 7 days a week.  Which is great – overall I fell a lot better when I’m doing that (somehow I lose all motivation with moderation of 3-4 workouts a week) – but I’m finding that it’s taking a bit to adjust and I’m really tired in the mornings.  To the point where yet again today, I slept in till 6:30.  Must start getting up a bit earlier once again.  Maybe that can be the goal for next week.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to getting out of work today because Melanie and I had plans for lunch and a dog walk in Bethesda this afternoon.  The rain held out this week (we’ve had to postpone twice now due to the rain and Snowy’s stitches which can’t get wet), so this was the first time since we got back from our trip that Mel & I had a chance to just hang out.  It was a great afternoon!  Even with the chill in the air, the walk was all festively autumn, and lunch at Cosi never disappoints.

Got home, power nap – and baking for tomorrow nights festivities.  Wasn’t really sure what to make, but then I saw this post and thought these Ghost Cupcakes were adorable – and was thus inspired to make them at home.  (Added bonus – I’ve never made fondant before, and with the hot tip that marshmallow fondant is much better than regular, found a recipe and was able to try that at home!)  My cupcakes turned out pretty cute – I couldn’t find gumdrops as the ghost base so I used Halloween Peeps which worked out pretty well.  I think I probably should have made the ghost eyes a bit bigger, but all in all, no complaints – AND I’m really excited to try out the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake!

Tonight, Nick and I are rocking the scary movies for Halloween  – starting with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, which I’ve actually never seen before.  Totally excited

(92). Dreary Tuesday – With a Twist

Started out as the same ol’ Tuesday.  Dreary, drizzly.  I slept in till 6:30 (gasp!) which meant that it took a good hour to get to work, and it took a good 1.5 hours to get home.  Lots of dreary time on the road today.   Pinot is not big on going outside for walks when it’s more than dribbling, so we didn’t go to far this afternoon, and she turns into a gremlin when wet.  You’d never know it by this picture, but right after this docile dog photo shoot, she was running around the living room wrestling with the towel.

Typical Tuesday run, indoors – I have to say that I’m really enjoying re-watching Buffy episodes while on the treadmill.  I have to wonder – with the current vampire ‘thing’ going on, would Buffy be more popular if it was airing now for the first time?

Food find for the week – Trader Joe’s sausage-less Italian soy sausage.  (Woot, veg 9 days and counting!)  Tonight, I crumbled that into a pasta sauce mixture with carrots, green onions, a purple bell pepper, garlic (lots of garlic!), basil, walnuts and organic tomato sauce.  A douse of Riesling in the pan too.  All in all, turned out pretty well – we topped it with goat cheese and served it with whole wheat penne.  Once again, I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

The highlight – highlight – of the evening was watching the movie Zombie Strippers with Nick.  This movie had it all.  Humor.  Strippers.  Gore.  Moments where I turned from the screen only to watch Nick make a face and then say “yeah you wouldn’t have wanted to have seen that part.”  (He always looks slightly amused during the really gory parts.  Gotta love that sense of humor!)  Usually I get caught up in the goriness of Halloween movies, but this one, set in Nebraska (who wouldn’t love a zombie stripper movie set in Nebraska?!) – had me chuckling to the end, and watching the commentary.

(88). A movie and fake take out

We received the movie “The Wrestler” from Netflix on May 20th and literally just got around to watching it tonight. ( Have I mentioned how psyched I am to be home for a full weekend?).

On the menu tonight to go with our movie night in was fake take out – homemade sesame noodles with steamed broccoli, fresh from the CSA. Definitely a keeper – Yum!

Today was indeed the perfect start to the weekend.  Well – a bit bummed that Melanie & Snowy and Pinot & I decided against our meetup this afternoon due to the impending rain and Snowy’s stitches, and then it didn’t rain.  But alas, we have rescheduled.    My Friday afternoon, while Nick was hard at work, was spent ….  taking a nap.  A luxurious, 4 hour, middle of the afternoon type nap.  The type that you wake up from and feel completely refreshed, and then you take a second and realize that no, it’s not Monday morning, it’s Friday afternoon and there is a whole weekend of at-home type bliss in front of you, and the person you love is going to be home in just a few minutes!  Good stuff.

The Wrestler – I had been looking forward to seeing this, and afterwards, I was glad I didn’t see it in the theater because I didn’t know that I enjoyed it THAT much, but then after more retrospect, it was a good movie.  Glad that I saw it.  And that Netflix will now realize that we haven’t dropped off the face of the planet because come next week, they are getting 3 (count ‘em, three!) movies back from us.

(87). Whip It!

I have been looking forward to seeing this movie!  Apparently the movie ticket kiosk is excited we are seeing it too, considering we bought 2 tickets and it spit out about 6 blanks between them.  Now that is excitement.

Follow up – the movie was highly enjoyable!  I’m actually really glad that we went to K*’s bout (go Green Mountain Derby Dames!) last spring, otherwise I wouldn’t have known what the heck was going on in terms of scoring, ect!

Weekend @ Home :D

What a great weekend at home. Caught up on a couple of movies (though both Sex & the City and I Am Legend weren’t as good as we thought they’d be).

On Saturday, Mehul joined Nick, Pinot and I for a hike at Riverbend & Great Falls Parks in VA. I think we all had a lot of fun, and followed it up with lunch outside in Bethesda. Pinot was exhausted!

On Sunday, we met up with Patterson & Connor at Wheaton Regional Park for a bit of doggie playtime in the sunshine.

Managed to get a decent amount done around the house this weekend too!

The Grandadddy of all vampire flicks…

Is a 1922 German, black & white, silent film called Nosferatu….which we just happen to be going to see tonight at the AFI in silver spring….

it’s playing with a live orchestra, how cool is that??

Movie Review – Superbad

Matinee showing of Superbad didn’t disappoint – I gave the movie about a 7-7.5, Nick gave it an 8 out of 10. We both were lovin the McLovin scenes, and the whole movie was fun for the whole family. (I was surprised at the diverse crowd in the theatre at 4PM!)