Good news, cheesecake, and gym socks - a winning combination!

First - the good news:

I passed my entrance exam for the NYU Certificate in Translation: German - English program! YAY! I was so worried that they were going to take a long time to evaluate them but apparently they had nothing better to do over the weekend :) So relieved and happy! I will probably postpone until January for my first class but I should still be finished with the 6 course program by the end of next year, yay!

Next - check out this cheesecake!

Its not even just cheesecake... its a recipe for oreo cream cheesecake cupcakes - wow, are you drooling yet? I know I am!

Luke and I are going to try a new recipe once a week for dinner and a new recipe each weekend for dessert. This is #1 on my dessert list for sure! Just have to force myself to wait to make them until we get back from vacation. Homemade mac'n'cheese might be first on the dinner list as well - I'll keep you posted on our "Kitchen Adventures" in September :)

Last night Gina, Lukas and I went to get fro-yo on Main Street. One thing I love about where we live, we can take a nice long walk to Main Street for dinner or dessert. It was a lovely cool evening and it was nice to take a stroll together. I've learned from one of my new favorite blogs - The Hungry Runner Girl - that Fro-yo and/or ice cream are essential parts of the training process ... who am I to doubt an expert? haha.

Next door to the fro-yo place is the Delaware Running Company - where we purchased our wonderful shoes last year. My feet have been getting sore in various places lately while jogging so I went in search of some new socks and came back with these lovelies:

Feetures multi-sport light cushioned socks. They have awesome ribbing around the center that hold onto your feet to reduce slippage, great cushioning in the heel, toes, and bottom, and are also moisture wicking to keep your feet sweat free during a long run. The great thing is they also have a lifetime garuntee. They feel like heaven on my feet just walking around the house - excited to try them out for cross training today. I'll let you know what my verdict is this afternoon - I'm expecting a lot from a $10 pair of running socks but the review all seem to be positive so I have high hopes.

Hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday!

Can I get some fries with that shake?

We made it through the earthquake... we made it through Irene... can we make it through Godzilla? Who knows! :)

We were very fortunate in our area - no trees down, no power lost, water is still running and clean. We even have a beautiful Sunday afternoon here - in the 80s, great breeze, took the dog on a mile walk and sat up at the reservoir for a bit just enjoying the weather. Many were not so lucky... keeping them in our prayers!

On Friday I took my entrance exam for the Certificate in Translation at NYU. It was online, timed, and very nerve wracking and I have no idea how I did nor when I will find out. I was shaking from nervous energy so I was super happy when Luke got home and we could go on our 4 mile training jog.
I'm still SO slow - averaging between 12 and 13 min miles which is so lame because I'm closer to 11 on the treadmill, even when I'm doing a 5k. No clue why there is such a difference but hopefully I'll get used to the pavement and get a bit faster. Luke is way faster than me but I'm grateful that he stays with me, way more motivating than jogging on my own. My mp3 player died and my charger is at work so it was hard enough to keep going already!

Saturday morning was super grey and overcast but since it was not calling for rain until noon I went on a 5 mile jog while Luke went to help a family move. I averaged around 13 min/mile again and ended up messing up my hips pretty bad - I've been walking a little funny this weekend due to sharp pains in my hips but it seems to be getting better so hopefully I can still go for my 4 mile jog tomorrow morning. So thankful for Sunday rest days, in all respects! Apparently I have too much hippie-hippie-shake for my own good haha ;-)

Grateful for jogging time with my hubby, grateful to have weathered the storm with no damage, and grateful for a beautiful sabbath day with Luke & Winston.

... o yea, they cancelled church already on Saturday morning. Why is it that being allowed to stay home from church is not nearly as fun as skipping? Opps... did I say that outl oud? haha. It was weird having no where to be today, espec. as the weather was just fine. I got some sewing done and a 3 hour nap in tho.. very productive :)

Hope everyone else had a lovely weekend! Anything of note you want to share?

There she blows.... all hands on deck!

And here comes the beast...

To be honest, it looks to me like a mass of dementors from Harry Potter are heading to the Carolinas... but unfortunately it really IS Irene and she is a weapon of mass destruction :(
If you look at "Baltimore" - we are right above the M. We won't get hit as bad as the Carolinas fortunately.

Keep those in the path of the storm in your prayers!

I would walk 500 miles.... but can I run 13.1?

This is the thought that is literally running through my mind constantly for the past few days. No, not men's legs haha... but running. Running a half-marathon to be precise. Insane? I think so... but can we do it? That is the  million dollar question.

I've wanted to run a 1/2 marathon for the past 2 years and everytime I've "tried" training, I get knee pain and give up. We bought good shoes last Winter and they have made a lot of difference in my knee pain and ability to run faster and longer. I am up to a steady 5k - still at turtle's pace but I'm ok with that. Luke and I have been working out 3-4 times a week at the gym at work and its helped a ton but really... I want more. And that more is a 1/2 Marathon.

So, step 1, pick a 1/2 Marathon - DONE! November 5th, 2011 - Amish Country Half Marathon in Lancaster, PA.

Step 2, start training - scary part! haha

Basically this is the plan... following a 9 week training plan until the end of Sept (1/2 way through the plan). If my knees can handle it up until that point, Oct. 1st we will sign up for the 1/2 marathon and keep pushing ourselves through training. If my knees need to train slower to not get injured tho, we will just go back to Step 1, pick a date for the spring, and train slower.

I really really hope that November works out tho. I'm soooooooooo excited about this goal and I really feel like I'm way more prepared this time to start than the last 2 times. I've not been this active for an extended period of time since probably freshman year of college and it feels great.

So, being a little over zealous, I ran 2.5 miles at work yesterday and then another 3.3 with Lukes after work and walked another .7. Seriously... am in insane?! lol I'm stiff and sore today and regretting it, but really, it was exciting ;-) We need to run 5 on saturday to get ready for week 1 of training beginning next week. Wish me luck! You can wish Luke luck too but I think he can already handle a 5 mile jog, especially at my turtle pace, its me that will need dragged the last mile haha.

(And expect a lot of blah blah blah training blog posts to come after this... sorry but if I'm thinking about it constantly, it helps to talk about it too.)

Beach day beach day, hurray!

Last Saturday we had our second beach day of the year and let me tell you, it was one of the best!

There was napping...

Luke taking a Siesta

Reading...

My best buddy in Delaware - Gina

And some awesome dogpaddling done by me - yes, that is right, I SWAM IN THE OCEAN!!! I realize millions of people do this every year but it was my first time actually getting in and playing... and I loved it! Can't wait to go back!

Me doggy-paddling while Luke belly-surfs a wave to shore

Such a gorgeous beach day - just one part of a fantastic fun-filled weekend!
On Friday Luke and I had a great date night at California Pizza Kitchen, followed by a stroll around the mall to relax our full bellies. Roasted and toasted at Rehoboth Beach on Saturday. And Sunday we made some new friends and were reuinted with old friends at a game night at Gina's house. Can't ask for a more perfect weekend :)

One last weekly tidbit to share with you - Adventures in furniture assembling!

Did you know they made gliding lawn furniture for Giraffes? Apparently we thought so when we were assembling this... it is supposed to be ground level and swing back and forth... hrmmm...

I'm 5'11 and I would have had to hop to get my bum on this seat lol. We are geniuses... I know. Being the nice people we are tho we did help Gina rebuild this, instead of leaving her with a strange piece of lawn furniture haha. O the good times just keep rolling on in...

An Earthquake in Delaware? Really???

Around 2pm EST on Tuesday August 23rd, 2011 we were sitting in our cubicle, looking around confused. The windows were vibrating and so were the ceiling panels, but we couldn't figure out how someone upstairs could be making so much comotion... then the desks shook a little, and it was all over. "We just had an earthquake!"... hahahaha was our first joking response. Then we stood up and realized this vibrating happened all over our floor because everyone else was standing and looking confused... and then we found out it really WAS an earthquake!

... let me just say that I'm SO excited that this happened, but no one was hurt, so I don't have to feel bad about the excitement haha. Never in my life living in Indiana/Ohio/Delaware did I think I would experience an earthquake!!

In case you are interested, here are some of the news details.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck Tuesday afternoon near Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said.


The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. The quake was four miles deep, according to the USGS.


The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack. Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.



Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.


In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"

In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."

And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.

The earthquake could be felt in NC, VA, DC, MD, OH, NY, PA, DE and even in Toronto, Canada... crazy!

Upon arriving back at work on Wednesday, there was an email warning waiting for me about Newark's drinking water. Apparently our little earthquake caused a water pipe to break which has contaminated all of our drinking water and we may all get Ecoli... o joy. So now for the next 2 days I need to be boiling water for dishes, drinking, and brushing our teeth... and ofcourse for the dog too. Just wish we would have known this yesterday before we ... drank, did dishes, and brushed our teeth!
... and in other news, we have a hurricane on its way... Armageddon? Perhaps! :)