Just an another Tuesday

Not much to report from my end tonight.

I finished a few knitting projects :) which means I am that much closer to being done with Christmas gifts :)

(source)

Then I hunkered down for tonight’s Glee. I loved how they integrated West Side Story into the entire show, but I am not sure how I feel about Blaine/Kurt and Rachel/Finn’s choices at the end. Why both?

What were your opinion on tonight’s episode?

Hello November

Wow, I feel like I say this every month, but is it already November? With October behind us, let’s recap on those October Goals.

BodyPump: I wanted to attend 4 classes this month. I only attended 3 because I skipped the Wednesday before the marathon. While I always want to accomplish my goals, I am glad I decided to take last week easy.

In November, I would like to attend 4 classes again and increase my weight. I am kind of a whimp when it comes to increasing weight. I always regret not working harder when I don’t feel it the next day. In the spirit of toning up for the holidays, I am going to work hard to go up 2.5 lbs in every muscle group by the New Year. Let ‘um rip!

Yoga: My goals was to attend 2 classes. In actuality, I only attended one class, but I was a lot better about practicing Yoga on my own at home. I think my tight IT Band scare mid-October taught me a lot about the importance of stretching. The last two weeks I have incorporated at least 20 minutes of Yoga and stretching into my routine both before and after workouts. Plus, if I did skip class, I would sleep in an extra 30 minutes but still get in a solid 45 minutes of yoga. All-in-all, I am pretty satisfied with my mat tie this month.

For November, I would like to continue my devotion to the mat. For the sake of concrete numbers  would like to attend two classes this month.

Happy Hour: My goal for October was 1 per week. In reality I think I only went to 2 the entire month. How did that happen?!?! Don’t worry, I still consumed my fair share of alcohol, just not out in bars.

This month, I would like to continue to monitor my nights out to once a week. This includes Glee nights at a Friends and Wing Nights at the Bar.

Shopping: Of all my goals for October, I think I made the most progress in this category. Jay and I only have one person left in his family and one and half for my family (one person I may get a bonus gift for).

My biggest challenge this month will be finishing those darn knitting projects. One Project down, four to finish!!! I don’t why finishing projects is so hard!!

After being sick in September, I promised myself I would be better about sleep, extra vitamin C, tip-top nutrition, foam rolling (err pressing?) and listening to my body. I think I accomplished this in October. When I returned from Orlando, my cold relapsed slightly, practically causing me to make taking care of myself a October goal. While taking care of myself should always be a goal, with no big race coming I just hope to get the sleep I need to help me be the happiest I can be. (aka no sleep Sarah = angry Sarah, well rested Sarah = happy and pleasant Sarah).

Run a Marathon done and done! It feels so great to accomplish this goal. For a full recap please read this post.

So besides my comments above, what’s new in November?

My main goal this month is to continue running.

I would like to get at least a 6 mile run in every week to stay in shape until I start training for the USA Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon. As I have said before, I really want to run a sub 2 hour half marathon and I really think Rock ‘N’ Roll is my chance.

I also would like to PR at the Charleston Gobble Wobble over Thanksgiving (which I am officially registered for as of TODAY)! I know I will really need to focus on speed training in the next few short weeks to accomplish this goal. But after the marathon, I am determined t reach my goal!!

That is it for this month! I am off to finish those knitting projects and watch Glee!

What goals have you set for yourself this month?

T’was the Night Before the Marathon

And we had a pretty relaxed day ahead of us.

We dreamed about our future honeymoon. More on that later because it’s changed!!!

Then we went and looked at grooms-wear. As with many wedding adventures, this one was a little overwhelming at first. After 2 stores and a little modeling, we decided on the look we wanted and a time to get the guys together.

Then it started to snow.

Yup, it snowed in DC today. So far it does not appear to be sticking, but I a a little worried about icy conditions tomorrow morning. Oh well, nothing much we can do.

Well, except be prepared.

It looks like the precipitation has stopped (YAY!) and it should remain above freezing the entire evening (YAY!). But it will still be pretty cold the entire race. So much for wearing my short spandex and a short sleeve shirt. I pulled out all my cold weather running gear including gloves and a new ponytail hat :)

I also made sure we had all of our fuel ready to go. I plan to carry my hand held water bottle and fuel belt (but without the bottles) to carry all my Gu, IDs and cell phone.

After we were all set for tomorrow, it was time to relax. This included finishing a few Christmas gifts like the Hoot Hat.

Isn’t it adorable? It’s for Preston our nephew. I hope it fits, I followed the directions exactly for a 1-2 year old, but I feel like it’s soo big.

And while I finished my project Jay and I enjoyed a little Wonder Years. Yes, we have been on a Wonder Years kick. 2 1/2 decades later, its still good.

Now, it’s time to go enjoy some pre-marathon fuel.

I can’t believe its almost here!

Did it snow at your house today?

Knit One Purl One

I think I have already established that I made fingerless gloves for everyone I know this Holiday season. What was I thinking?!?!

The other evening I finally finished... Well, except for the pair for my mom, Jay's mom and Alissa. Yikes!

Anyway, below are the pairs I gave Jay's sister

And for my Girl Friends,

My friend Charlotte

And for my friend Bri

I love making my friends and family gifts, but next year I NEED to start in like September. NO JOKE.

Do you give homemade gifts? What did you make this year?

Do you receive homemade gifts? What is your favorite all time homemade gift?

In High School my mom made my brother and I Harry Potter scarves. We joke that they were knitted with mommy magic!

Fingerless Gloves

Every Christmas I find myself knitting any number of gifts. This year, I decided to go with a simple pattern and make most women on my list the same gift.

The Fingerless Pattern I used came from One More Skein by Leigh Radford. This project is quick and easy, like most of the patterns in this book. If you can knit a scarf, you can knit Fingerless Gloves.

I was able to complete both pairs of gloves within a week!

These two pairs went to my two girl friends who celebrated their birthdays this past week.

I think the girls loved them!

Of course, no knitting project can be completed without a snack! Carrots 'N' Cake has been blogging about her Sandwich Thin with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips for a while now, but this was the first time I tried it.

I also added in White Chocolate Chips! It was delicious! We don't always have Sandwich Thins in our house, so I don't know if this will become a staple. But when we do, a few Thins will be used for this purpose!

Do you make friends and family gifts for the Holidays? What gifts do you make?

Oy Vey One of THOSE Days

Jeesh! I don't even know where to begin! I was definitely one of THOSE days! Which is a shame because I looked really really cute!

Pre - 9 a.m. went pretty well, I went to yoga, had an amazing oatmeal concoction,

finished my portion of the Traveling Scarf I was on (before and after below)

and blew dry my hair (if only you knew what novelty that is!) and put on a pretty cute outfit.

Then... everything went down hill. First, I found out the Prince William was engaged to Kate Middleton and suddenly my hopes of becoming Queen went out the window. Just kidding! I am very happy for them that they are finally engaged, but aren't we all sad that the world's most eligible bachelor is off the market?

Ok, then everything went down hill.... I don't know if you heard or met anyone that was affected by this, but I was and it was nerve racking! Today, Facebook mistakenly disabled thousands(?) of accounts. This really threw me off guard. Not only am I an original Facebook user (Were you part of Facebook when it was only open for the Boston area Universities?) but I am the most harmless person with numerous privacy settings. It is amazing how violated I felt. It was not like my identity was stolen, but at the same time was it?

If you lost access to Facebook, how would you feel?

It really made me reevaluate what I put on my Facebook page. And, you better believe I went on and changed a few things as soon as I got access back!

In other news, as I walked from work to get my haircut I managed to spill coffee on myself and almost get hit by a car. AWESOME! To further my "I can't control anything day" my hairdresser was running late, so my 5:30 appointment suddenly turned into a 6:15 appointment. At least I always love what she does!

Yup, I actually have layers and styling again! I need to work haircuts into my schedule more often! How often do you get your haircut?

I just put my pre-chopped Roasted Root Veggies in the oven for tomorrows work Thanksgiving Potluck. Yup, Round 2. Thankfully, I thought cooking through ahead of time and chopped up all the veggies last night.

I only had four containers full of chopped veggies... I am hoping to have enough to save for the Apartment!

Well, 12 hours after my world took a turn down the wrong street things are looking up again. I am now parked in front of the TV about to watch Parenthood, checking my Facebook account and smelling roasted veggies.

I just hope tomorrow is less stressful post 9 a.m. At least I started my day off right and I looked cute!

Do your THOSE days work themselves out by the evening?

Traveling Scarf 2

Let me start out by showing you my latest find.


The necklace I am wearing from my grandmother's costume jewelry box. How cool is that?

Since I am always watching my money and have a really hard time buying fun jewelry, I tend to let my jewelry find me. Recently, most of my fun, big and funky jewelry has come from my grandmother's and mom's costume jewelry. Going through your family's old costume jewelry is not only economical but also environmental. So, recycle that jewelry ladies and be fashionable at the same time!

For those who can not find your relatives old costume jewelry, try shopping at Goodwill and Garage Sales. You will be amazed at the fun things you can find for a bargain of a price. Where do you find your big, fun and funky jewelry?

Now, on to my second traveling scarf. This scarf had a simple pattern and a simple request. Knit 2 together, Knit to the end, Knit in the back (as well as the front) of the last stitch. SIMPLE. But, she only wanted shades of blue.

This is all fine and dandy, except that I felt my creative ability stifled. I really wanted to add purple, but I knew the woman wouldn't be happy.

So I followed instructions and choose a tame blue I had for my zig-zag curvy scarf.

I think it turned out pretty well.

Now, some of you may wonder why the strip before me looks color blocked. Well, the simple explanation is the woman before me choose yarn that gradually changes colors. This pattern obviously did not like that.

A simple solution would be to knit every other row with another ball of the same yarn.

Are you a knitter? What knitting project are you working on?

Pizza Pizza

Tonight is knitting! And, the other day I finished, my 5 inches of T's scarf. I am so ready for my next scarf adventure. The Moss stitch was fun, but too easy to mess up.

Once I had finished the scarf I ran. It was a nice day in DC so I knocked out a solid 3 miles before venturing to Trader Joe's to buy dough and a few other odds and ends.

Buy dough? Yup! Cause I was making pizza. Our roommate made pizza using Trader Joe's dough a few Friday's ago and I have been hooked ever since!

I choose the whole wheat dough to give my pizza a healthy twist. After rolling out the dough, I chopped up lots of veggies. I was feeling pretty Italian, so I went with zucchini, tomatoes, green onion and spinach.

Add a little marinara sauce, right out of a jar.

And load that baby up!


I sprinkled a combination of shredded mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese.

After all the toppings were piled high, I folded over the dough to create a crust.

And threw her in the oven for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees.




I don't think I will ever order carry out pizza again. Have you ever made homemade pizza? What is your favorite pizza topping? Share your favorite homemade pizza experience with me.

I t has been chilly and rainy in DC recently. I am hoping to squeeze in a 3 or 4 miler tomorrow! Pray to the warm sun gods for me!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarves

Our knitting group organizer decided to start a traveling scarves group within the group. The idea is simple, each individual showed up last night with 5 inches of their scarf, instructions and a pattern. Here is a picture I took of my scarf.

I choose a simple pattern, 27 stitches, *K1, YO, k2tog; rep from *. You can find the pattern here. I am using number 9 needles with number 4 worsted acrylic yarn. My instructions called for any color you can find in the fall. I can't wait to see what it looks like!

The first scarf I got was from our organizer T. Below are the first 5 inches of T's scarf.

She choose a Moss Stitch (Row 1 : K1, *p1, k1, rep from * to end; Row 2: P1 *k1, p1, rep from * to end; Row 3: same as 2nd; Row 4: same as 1st row). She requested merino wool in any color.

Thankfully, she gave us a couple balls of yarn to work with! I don't own any merino wool... Good thing the rest of the group requested worsted yarn. I have a lot of that!!!

And a close up of the moss stitch!

Besides the traveling scarf, I am still on my donation scarf for a child in West Virginia. I need to get moving tho, I have a goal of one scarf a month before we send them off in November.

A little close up! I really like how it is turning out. I wish it had more of a wave to it, but I can't complain it looks good! I hope it makes some nice kid warm and happy!

Off on a 4 mile run!