last call!

A last reminder (if you haven't already) to switch your google reader, your bookmarks page, your blogrolls, etc. to girlevolving.com.

Same boy, same girl, same kitty.  New fun site.

I've moved!

Please join me at girlevolving.com.

Hope to see you there!

surprise!!!

Most people who know me know that I'm terrible at keeping surprises.  Just ask Dave - he gets his Christmas present early every year... like a day or two after I buy it, because I can't hold in my excitement anymore.

So remember how I said I had blog news to tell on Monday?

Scratch that.  I'm not patient enough.

I talked before about moving my blog to wordpress.

Well.

It's happened!

Please join me over at girlevolving.com!

Don't forget to update your RSS feeds and google reader.  It's the same blog with a new name!  I hope to see you all there!

running again

I'm headed out for a long run this morning.  It feels weird - like it's been a long time since I've gone running.  I ran this past week in Tennessee, but for whatever reason, it feels like I haven't run in a long, long time.  Truthfully, I haven't run over 6 or 7 miles since the marathon, so this morning's 15 could be awesome (rest legs) or terrible.  I'm hoping for the former!

The weather is perfect though - it's going to be a FALL run!  I'm dropping the car off for an oil change, then running from there!

PS - Big blog news coming soon... maybe Monday?

art

We recently bought a white frame with three 5x7 spaces in it for pictures.  The plan is to hang it above the sink in the kitchen, for a little decoration and something to look at when I'm rinsing or washing dishes (which, thankfully, is a lot less time now that we have a dishwasher!).  I wasn't sure what to put in the frame, so it's still all wrapped in plastic.  Dave and I typically don't take many vertical pictures and I couldn't think of any I really wanted to hang.  Then this past weekend my mom told me about wordle.net.  I got on and created a few word collages... wah-la!  Art for the wall?  I printed them at Walgreens and I'm excited to put them in the frames tonight and see how they look.  Maybe it'll be a keeper?

I did my wordles from three things I love (also the tagline of my blog!):

Running:

Recipes:

Life:

What do you think?  I'm anxious to see how they look all together.  It could be a win or a total fail!

reader recipe poll: peanut butter cereal movie mix

Movie Mix
2T. margarine or butter
2T. peanut butter
3c. crispix cereal
1/2c. peanuts
1c. pretzels
3/4c. raisins
1/2c. M&Ms

Preheat oven to 250.  Melt margarine and peanut butter together in a 13x9 pan in the oven.  Stir until smooth.

Gradually add in cereal and peanuts, stirring to coat.  Bake 15 minutes (at 250).  Stir in pretzels.  Return to oven and bake 10 more minutes.

Spread cereal mix on waxed paper to cool.

Stir in raisins and M&Ms.  Makes 6c.

I really liked this mix.  The peanut butter was a really light coating (Dave wanted it more peanut butter-y), and it didn't feel really heavy or sugary in your stomach.  I would probably nix the peanuts (I'm not a huge fan of them in snack mixes) and add more pretzels instead.  Definitely a repeatable mix.  I like snack mixes you can munch on without feeling like you need to nap afterwards (ahem: puppy chow).

We ate ours in the hills of Tennessee, beside the white picket fences of Kentucky, over the bridge of the Ohio River, and into the flat, boring lands of Indiana!  I'll leave you to guess if any of the mix actually made it into our house, or if it all disappeared on the drive.  You probably already know the answer to that.  The drive was 10 hours after all, and followed a trail run.  And it's the two of us.  We love food.  And snacks.

This reader recipe poll brought to you by my mom, who paid for all the ingredients!

September's grocery challenge

This week's groceries are a little weird, considering we were in Tennessee for the first part of the week.

Groceries, week 4: $36.28

• 6 cans of pumpkin
• 1 reese big cup
• 2lbs. eggplant ($1.17/lb.)
• 2 packages whole wheat tortillas
• 2lbs. green grapes ($.99/lb.)
• 3lbs. honeycrisp apples ($.99/lb.)

Random, right?  Here's the story behind it all:

• pumpkin: I haven't been able to find any pumpkin in our stores up here yet.  Mom said she knew grocery stores down in TN had it, so I stocked up.  My sister said she heard a rumor that pumpkin is going to be scarce this year?
• big cup: No one in my family had tried a big cup yet!  Dave and I had to fix this situation.  Everyone loooved them!
• eggplant and tortillas: Clearly I'm still greek eggplant roll-up obsessed.  And I'm embracing it.
• fruit: Honeycrisp apples for $.99!!  Yes, please!  

I'm sure I'll have to go back to the store this weekend to grab some things for the rest of the week.  I know we need flour (for bread) and milk (for yogurt) and various veggies for recipes.  But it looks like week 4 will come in under budget as well!  Thus far we have spent $202.96 for the month of September, with a goal of $60 or less per week.  (Read here for an introduction to the grocery challenge, and here for week 3's summary.)

Would you guys like me to continue weekly grocery updates in the next month?