i’m deluding myself

BIG TIME.

I thought I prepped enough (meals, etc…) on Sunday that I’d have dinner on the table at a reasonable hour.

Well, let’s just say I wasn’t finished with the dishes until 10:15.

First of all, what was I thinking that I could roast a chicken, whip up a corn pudding AND a wild rice dish all in one night?

Must I give up my love of cooking while I go to school to LEARN ABOUT FOOD?

In my defense, today was out of the ordinary; I had to stop at the mall on the way home to pick up our drapery rods (and a Starbucks!), and then I laid down and iced my neck for a little bit once I arrived home (I did something to it this morning at bootcamp class, which should tell you something), so I didn’t get dinner going until almost 6:30. And it isn’t like roasting a chicken can be rushed…

Andrew helped by loading the dishwasher before hanging our curtain rod and drapes in the dining room while I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen, whipped up some blueberry muffins (SO TIRED of packaged breakfast items!) and boiled some lentils in preparation for dinner tomorrow night.

And then it was 10:15.

I promptly laid on the couch to finish watching The Voice (great show! Blake Shelton–I love you!) and ate a Skinny Cow fudge bar before heading upstairs to (finally) begin my schoolwork.

And now it’s 11:26 and I haven’t packed my swim bag yet, nor have I finished all the schoolwork I wanted to before bedtime. My alarm goes off at 5:15.

Definitely HAVE NOT hit my groove yet…

mr. nye’s birthday, and other happenings

This post was originally supposed to just be about Mr. Nye’s birthday get-together (which was Sunday afternoon), but so much has happened since then! Note: This post is in no way chronological.

(Edited to add: Yet again, I’ve delayed a day… It’s now Saturday morning and mom arrived last night to visit. We already made a Bed, Bath and Beyond run for a couple small items–blast! Andrew took my coupons in the Pilot on his trip to Ohio this weekend–and are planning lots of house-y things today. We’ve already reorganized my small kitchen appliances and it’s not even 10 a.m.)

And speaking of the Nye’s… I took Hadrian on his first walk in the village yesterday–I can’t believe it’s taken almost a week–to their house to stop by their yard sale. I walked away with a well-loved cookbook of Mrs. Nye’s in which she marked some muffin recipes. Those are always the best kind to have–the marked-up and splattered ones.

Getting him in the shot was surprisingly difficult…

This…

…and this is what you see when you round the park (which is across the street) on your way to the Nyes’ house.

What a beautiful view! I started off in a sweatshirt (can you believe you can wear sweats and pants here in summer?! I LOVE IT.)

In other news, we put our bed together. (I use “we” loosely here; I mostly watched.) And in true pet-fashion, Hadrian had to be in the middle of everything. We had to force him out of the bed so Andrew could finish putting the slats in!

Check out this pint glass. I LOVE pint glasses with fun logos and things, except that I need to curb my habit of ‘collecting’ things I love; my mug, glass, scarf and Le Creuset collections are getting dangerously large…

Anyway, I bought two of these at Hallmark (I much rather would have liked to have found them at some neat store or Goodwill or something, but oh well, Hallmark does have cute stuff) LAST SUMMER almost as soon as we moved into the hotel. I couldn’t bear to break them out until we were in our “forever home,” so they’ve been living in a paper bag shoved in a bin ever since.

I busted them out the other night as we ate leftover pizza and celebrated getting both the extra fridge and freezer into the basement. (There I go again with this “we” business; I had no part in that victory. Andrew, his dad, and a couple other engineer friends from Moog graciously helped move our appliances this past week.) And a victory it was! They had to take the doors off both of them, plus the basement door AND doorframe, and even get a special tool. But I’m happy with them in the basement, which is all that matters 🙂

Now, onto the party!!

We’ve been ‘adopted’ by the Nyes, especially since Alex had to go and move to Pittsburgh, just as we moved back to EA. We find ourselves over there once every week or two–invited or not–and Mrs. Nye force-feeds us homemade cookies and Kone King ice cream she keeps stocked in the freezer. We have it rough, I know.

So, when we heard Alex would be in town for his dad’s birthday and that his little get-together would be Sunday afternoon–as in, the Sunday we were in the middle of moving–there was no question we’d be taking a break to attend. These celebrations are always ‘intimate’ affairs–late lunches in which family (immediate, cousins and grandma) and Andrew and I–crowd into the eat-in kitchen. This time we feasted on steak, pork, potatoes, green beans, rolls and fruit.

I know posting this picture of Andrew is dangerous–what with the Nye boys being loyal readers and all–but I had to. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up on a blanket!

We sang and Mr. Nye blew out his candles before we enjoyed some of the best chocolate cake (or should I say best icing) I’ve had in awhile. Mrs. Nye, I’m (almost) ashamed to admit that I single-handedly ate all the leftover cake you sent home with us…in one sitting. Do you have more? I might need some soon.

And the event wouldn’t be complete without one of Adam’s ‘Andrew creations.’ This time, Andrew’s blanket presided over us, hanging from an upper window, akin to a poster of Kim Jong Ill or something.

You just never know what you’re gonna get with Adam. You just never know.

one happy (valley) girl

Well, where did I leave off? (I realize I’m two days behind… I’ve been a busy, traveling girl!)

When I woke up Sunday morning, this is what was waiting for me on the table:

Awwwww 🙂 When Adam had asked me what I ate pre-race, I mentioned toast, peanut butter and banana. And he got organic–double awwwww 🙂 🙂

Here we are, before:

I got the tank to match the neon pink trim on my shorts!

And can I just say that it was like 90% humidity and that State College has WAY MORE HILLS than I remembered? Like, a ton. It was as I was rounding the golf course hill that it all came back to me…

(Check out the building behind me in the above picture–that totally was not there when we went to school!)

And here we are, after:

Adam was DRENCHED and I was pretty sweaty, too. Hot and steamy, it was!

And guess who WON her age group? YOURS’ TRULY! A 10k in 46:56. Not too shabby.

I’d love to say I was shocked, but I wasn’t. Perhaps surprised is more accurate. I definitely wasn’t feeling fast that morning and was, as usual, intimidated by the field. I have to admit; all this winning is still really new to me (let’s just say running wasn’t my sport of choice for, like, my entire life), but I’ve placed in my age group enough now that I feel like I can’t leave a race until they’ve posted the results. It’s weird. Awesome, but weird. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. I mean, I don’t even really look like a runner. At least not the fast ones.

And I have a theory: I’m in what I’m calling a “sweet spot” right now. I’m in the 20-30, or sometimes 25-29, age group, which is just older than the super skinny, super fast high school/college ‘elite’ runners, but I’m younger than the ‘been-running-for-twenty-years-post-kids-competitive’ group. More times than not, I’ve noticed that the ladies finishing just ahead of me are older, but don’t win THEIR age groups.

Apparently, my 15 minutes of fame is limited. Or I’ll just have to get faster. (I think I’ll take the latter.)

And the perfect end to a fantastic weekend, a great run and a win? The Waffle Shop!

It’s a State College mainstay and super famous. It now has three locations–the original being right on College Ave.–and always has a line around the building on weekends. I’ll admit that Andrew and I weren’t regulars here while we were students, but it is the first place I had chocolate chip pancakes, and for that I will be forever thankful.

Adam, Andrew and I met up with Abigail and waited outside as the temps started rising. We made it into the air conditioning just in time!

I ordered the “mini platter” and was able to request chocolate chip pancakes instead of plain. Thank goodness for substitution-friendly establishments!

After our delicious and very traditional PSU breakfast, we all parted ways and I headed toward Philadelphia, while Andrew and Abigail went north back to New York. I’ll be on the road through Thursday–more photos and updates on my travels soon!