It's always about running, isn't it?

A couple of things have been brought to my attention. One, I squint. And two, apparently I talk about running too much.

Mike clued me in about the running thing, by saying things like:

"Please don't use terms that I don't understand, like PR. Just say he ran his fastest race ever." and "How much did they charge you for those inserts?"

The other day at lunch, I was ordering Eliza's chocolate milk, and I went off on a tangent about how chocolate milk is the perfect recovery drink. That was the first time Mike said "It's always about running isn't it." Which turned into his catchphrase for about a week, and he said it as often as possible.

As for the squinting, I think it's a habit that was formed when I was a kid, before I had glasses and had to squint to see. The other night I was obsessing over these lines that have appeared around my eyes, and I noticed they get worse when I squint. Now I realize I squint all the time, so I'm trying to keep my eyes relaxed. I'm hoping that will keep me away from the botox, because there's always a chance it could backfire. And then I'll end up looking like Mickey Rourke.

I'm getting excited for my 10 mile race on Sunday. I have a few friends running too, and Mike and the kids will be at the finish, along with my friend Karin. I found out yesterday that ipods are not allowed, which gave me a moment of panic, I could really use some Billy Idol to get me up those killer hills. But then I remembered all the times this winter when my ipod turned off in the cold, and I was fine. Hopefully there will be some good crowds to cheer us on and give some motivation.

In any case, I've had a few pangs of nervousness, only because I've never done the whole course at once. I did one last six mile hilly run on Monday, a three mile tempo run Wednesday, and I have a two mile run tomorrow. That will be it until Sunday. I don't have a time goal, my main goal for this one is to run a strong race, and have fun!!!

I can't believe it's another givewaway

Did you spot the tub of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter in the photo of my fridge in my last post? On second thought, you can't see it, but it's in there.

I had a chance to shelve my butter for a few days, and experiment with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. I use butter when I bake, and when I make things like toast, waffles, or grilled cheese. I was curious though, to see if it had a buttery taste, because when you compare the two, ICBINB comes out ahead of butter nutrition wise. It has less fat (8g vs. 11 g), less saturated fat (2g vs. 7g) zero cholesterol (butter has 30 mg), and 460mg of Omega-3's.

It does have a stronger butter flavor, which really came out when I made Rice Krispie Treats, and I don't know if it had anything to do with this, but my chocolate chip cookies came out in perfect circles. We used it to sautee onions and garlic, it melted very easily and we again noticed the buttery flavor.

We melted some ICBINB to have with steamed clams, and weren't big fans, butter was the winner in that case. You do need to keep it in the fridge, but unlike butter, it spreads very easily while cold.

Onto the giveaway. If you'd like to try I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, I have a kit with a coupon for a free tub, a spreader from Crate & Barrel, a little zip drive, and a magazine with recipes. To enter, just leave me a comment saying why you would like to try it, or what you would make with it.

For extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each):

1. be a follower of my blog, or become one
2. spread the word, via Twitter, Facebook or your blog.

Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., and ends midnight on Monday May 3.

*disclaimer: I received the same kit to try I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and my opinions on the product are my own.

food curiosity, and the Amazing Grass Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the Amazing Grass Energy Bar giveaway. I used random.org to pick the winner, and it is number 100, Kelsey @carrothead! So Kelsey, send me your deets!

I'm the type of person who, while eating a meal, is already planning the next one. I have to, so that I can even everything out. My friend S was over for dinner the other night, salmon burgers with grilled asparagus and salad, and she commented on how healthy we eat. She wasn't here yesterday when we had family over for cheeseburgers with avocado and bacon as condiments. As I've said before, my mantra is everything in moderation....sometimes including moderation.

I'm so curious about how other people eat. When I'm on the checkout line at the grocery store, I look over what I have on the conveyor belt thing to see the ratio of good to bad foods. Then I get nosy, and look at what the people in front of me, as well as behind me have in their carts. If only I could go into their homes and see their fridges and cabinets, I would have a field day with that. If you're a fan of the Real Housewives of the O.C. there was an episode when Vicki and Jeana had a personal trainer go through their kitchens and toss all the crap......loved it.

What do you always have in your fridge? I always have fruit, veggies, cheese, butter, yogurt, yogurt smoothies for L&E, eggs, Amazing Grass and condiments such as salsa, real and light mayo, mustard, and salad dressings. Turkey and tuna for lunches, white wine for me, and Labatt's Blue for Mike. Milk and Italian Sweet Cream Coffee-Mate (I know it's bad, but I only use a bit in my one cup of coffee). The freezer always has black bean burgers, ice cream (for the kids, seriously), sandwich thins, Ezekiel bread, ribeyes, chicken/feta/spinach sausage, chicken nuggets, butternut squash ravioli, some kind of frozen pizza and frozen fruit and veggies.

I won't go into a full blown description of the cabinets, but my fridge speaks for itself, I eat everything, just not all at once. My kids eat fruits and veggies, and I let them have sweets because I want them to learn how to incorporate those foods into their life if they choose to do so, I hope they never have an internal battle over "forbidden foods" like I do.

So tell me, what do you always have in your fridge? Better yet, take a photo of your fridge and email it to me! Just kidding. Well.....maybe not.

In case you need a kick in the pants

I wanted to share a quick story about my friend B.W., and the running of his 18th marathon, this past Monday in Boston.

B wasn't sure if he was going to be running it until four weeks ago, and at that point he had only done moderate long runs to train for a half marathon in March. Three weeks before Boston, he managed a 22 mile training run.

B ended up with a Boston PR of 6 minutes after 5 attempts, and it was his 2nd fastest marathon of his 18 marathons.

B finished with a 5:55 as his fastest mile of the day! His time was 2:43:10.

I mean, seriously. Wow.

B ran in memory of his father who passed away nearly 14 years ago to the day of the Boston Marathon. I haven't seen B in a long time, but I am so impressed with what he has accomplished with his running, and I'm proud of him.

Go B.W.!!!!

I'm not the only one who likes the foam roller

I had a running nightmare last night. I dreamt I was on the treadmill for an eight mile run, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get the numbers to go past two miles. I woke up after I jammed my toe into the foot board of my bed, which kind of hurt.

I know the dream is the result of a minor freak out I had yesterday, over my 10 mile race scheduled for a week from Sunday. I started worrying that I haven't been getting the right amount of training in. After thinking about it, and looking over my miles these past couple of months, I realize I'm okay. I run 3 or 4 times a week, at least five miles at a time, and I've been running hills basically every Saturday morning since early January. So I have my head on straight again, and for the moment, I feel okay.

Luke has Spring Break this week, and he and Eliza were really good about letting me run 8 miles on the treadmill today. I put a movie on for them, and aside for the time I had to stop to help Eliza out in the bathroom, they occupied themselves with an elaborate game of Bakugan, a Sleeping Beauty doll, and Legos. My run was great, I tried out some Lemon Lime Nuun that I won in Allie's giveaway. Aside from a slight Alka Seltzer taste, it did a great job at keeping me hydrated.

I've been using my foam roller every day since I bought it, and I love it. After my six mile run to the beach, I had a weird cramp/ache in my hamstring. I rolled it a few times that night, and the next day I was back to normal. When I'm not using it, Luke puts it on his arm as some kind of Star Wars/Transformer Armor. So we're getting our money's worth.

Don't forget my Amazing Grass Energy Bar Giveaway...it ends this Sunday, April 25th.......

The Ghost came through......and his name is Edward

Excuse me while I loosen my pants so I can sit down and type. A long weekend around family, friends and food is just asking for trouble. Thankfully I was able to run while we were away, it got to the point where I was just trying to break even calorie wise. And, we had quite the reading with a medium, which I'll get to in a minute.

Confession time. I'll say right off the bat, I was bad about keeping my food journal, but I was good about not picking at what the kids had leftover on their plates. I just sucked it up and tossed their plates into the garbage. But the food kept showing up, like when we stopped at a bakery with my Mom on the way home from a museum (ate a bit of a cookie). When my sister and brother were over with their families, the easiest choice for dinner for the large group was pizza (I ate a veggie slice....AND a Sicilian slice....AND half a regular slice). We went to brunch after one of my BFF's had her baby baptized.....all I can say it's a good thing I was able to go on a six mile run down to the beach after (I thought of taking my camera, because it was a beautiful day, but didn't have anywhere to carry it. So I'll make due with this photo of Luke at the same beach last spring). We also paid a visit to my sister A's cute new apartment in my old neighborhood in Astoria.

After freezing in windy Astoria Park flying kites, playing in the playground, and walking past the track where I used to run, we had lunch. Where we discovered Eliza loves lamb gyros, and the spinach pie is as kick ass as I remember. Wine was a staple throughout the weekend, and on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Mike mixed up some Margaritas. It was that kind of an afternoon.

While we were there my Mom gave me her 33 year old Le Creuset pot.

Now onto our reading. As I've written before, I grew up in a house with ghosts. As soon as M the medium came in and sat down with us, she said the house has a very good energy, that there is nothing dark about it. She saw a man who was pacing the floor next to her, she described him the same way we have all seen him, with a long dark coat, and a hat. His name is Edward, and he was showing her candles, which made us laugh, because he has made himself known by blowing out candles in the backyard (when there is no wind to speak of). M thinks he died in the house after falling down the stairs, and asked if we hear him pacing in the hallway, which we have. She also talked about the woman who hangs out in the house, and asked if we ever smelled lilacs, because that is her. At first she mentioned a little girl spirit, but it's actually a little boy (the one Luke spoke to). M thought he was a girl at first, because he's a very sensitive spirit. M then pointed towards the back of our house, and asked if we see him in a bedroom upstairs.......Bingo.

I don't blame you if you think I'm completely full of it, and so is M, but I believed her. It was crazy. A few people who have passed over came through to talk to us, and she said things that I don't know how she would know unless we told her. L&E were both asleep before she got there, and she described the two of them to a T.

My sister in law has been calling me every day to talk about it, because she can't get over it.

All I can say that I came away from the reading with an immense feeling of calm.

And of peace.

Weekend and the Winner

This week had it's moments. On Saturday I went out to get some lunch, and I backed into a parked car in a lot, because I was so excited to go home to eat the burrito I bought. Another day Eliza opened an umbrella in the car while I was driving, but I managed not to hit anyone else.

Another night something in the oven caught on fire while I was making the kids dinner, but we managed to avoid using the fire extinguisher. After that, Mike turned on the house fan to air the place out, without my realizing it. I was chatting with a lawn care sales guy who stopped by on a sales call, when we were finished I shut the front door. Started cleaning the kitchen, until the kids said, "lookit that smoke!" My whole family room was full of ash, that kept pumping out from the grates of the fireplace. The room, was covered in ash. All because the house fan was sucking air in to clear the place out.

On the plus side I've been good with my runs this week, hit the treadmill a few times and ran inclines. Today Mike had a rare morning home, so I managed to get outside for a beautiful 8 mile run. I even got a bit crafty with the kids this week. We took all the broken nasty crayons, and melted them into big chunks of crayon. This was a great time filler since we had to sort them out, and take the wrappers off. We used a muffin tin to form the shape, and they came out cool because as L&E drew, the color would change shades depending on which color melted where.

We're heading down to LI to visit family and friends for a few days, which I am reeeaallly looking forward to. While we're at my mom's house, a friend who is a medium is going to come over and do a reading. If you haven't read my posts about the haunted house where I grew up, you can check 'em out here and here. And here is a new story, which happened to my Mom recently. She bought a bottle of wine, uncorked it, poured a glass, put the cork back in, then sat down. Heard a pop, went to the kitchen, cork was out of the bottle. She put it back in, went and sat down, heard the pop again. Cork was out.

Do do DO do do do DO do..............

Do you like how I made you wait to see who won the Vita Top giveaway? Thanks to everyone who entered. I used random.org to find the winner, and it's.......Blue Violet at Nut in a Nutshell!

And good luck to everyone running Boston on Monday......including my cousin C, my friend C!

Crafty Challenges

After igniting the spicy green beans on the grill last week, I decided to make them in the oven Monday night, and they came out much better! I had a request for the recipe, it's not exact measurements, but here it is:

1.Fresh green beans, enough to fill a cookie sheet, in one layer.

2.Wash and trim the ends off the beans.

3.Toss in a mixture of olive oil, three cloves of garlic (chopped), ground pepper, a bit of kosher salt, and a tablespoon of Huy Fong garlic chili sauce.

4.Roast in the oven at 350 degrees, about 20 minutes, stir halfway through cooking time.

Amanda at Run to the Finish has a 30 day challenge going on at her blog, you have to commit to doing 3 things for the next 30 days. I've been feeling like I'm in a food rut, so this is what I decided to do:

1. keep a food journal. I've never done this, but being home all day, I pick at whatever is in the fridge, or on leftovers. I'm always starving by 4:30 so I need to do something about it.

2. stop munching on whatever is leftover on the kid's plates.

3. cut back on the sugar. I've actually been good about this already, I threw out a ton of Easter candy that none of us need to be eating.

And don't forget my Chocolate Vita Top giveaway, it ends tomorrow at midnight, and the Amazing Grass energy bar giveaway, which ends on April 25.........

Gisele I'm not, but I can try

I'm not a big Vogue magazine reader, but I buy their April issue every year, because it's the "Shape" month, where they focus on body, and diet, etc. I also had to buy it since Gisele was on the cover (who, if I have a favorite supermodel, it would be her), with an article talking about having her baby, and life with Tom Brady (who I really can't stand because he plays for New England, and his dumping of Bridget Moynahan, but he's hot).

So we're making dinner the other night, and I showed Mike this picture of Gisele doing yoga, and thinking I'm all hot stuff, I decide to demonstrate it for Mike. It went something like this:

Me: look, I can do her pose.

Mike: whatever, I can do it too (proceeds to do the pose)

Me: no you can't. Her arm and leg creates a perfect square, you're making a triangle.

Mike: lets see you do it again.

Me: posing

Mike: You can't do it either! You're making a triangle too.

Well I tried.

I went out to Fleet Feet today and got myself a foam roller. I've been wanting to get one for a while, and they just mailed me a $25 rewards coupon, which gave me a perfect excuse to buy it. I've been thinking lately how running isn't as cheap of a sport as people would have you believe. You have to have the right shoes, good sunglasses, sunscreen, comfy running clothes. I could have easily dropped some major cash today, looking at water bottles, GU, and fanny pack type things (which I am seriously thinking of wearing for the Mountain Goat, to hold all my crap because I'm so high maintenance). But its funny, I never feel guilty about buying something fitness related, but I do when I buy something like a pair of jeans. Unless they're cute jeans........that make my butt look good.

One Year....plus a Bonus Giveaway

Today is my blogging anniversary. When I started writing, I wasn't sure which direction this blog would go, I treated it as an online journal, to work through what was going on in my head on a day to day basis. I wrote about my kids, all of the great "homes" I've been lucky to live in, how I missed a job that I loved. I needed to figure out what I truly enjoyed in my life, to see which path I was going to go down next.

Fast forward a year, and I realize I enjoy several things: making a happy home for my husband and children, being a good sister, daughter and friend, running, cooking, and of course, eating. I decided to challenge myself in my running, it's something that has been a part of my life for over 20 years, and I took a big step and ran my first half marathon. Now I'm gearing up for a full. I take comfort and pleasure in cooking and eating good food, and realize if I eat right the majority of the time, I won't feel guilty about eating chocolate, or drinking wine. I enjoy writing, and I love to find humor where you least expect it. I've made some friends through this blog, and I thank you for reading my ramblings.

That said, I'm excited for this next giveaway. Last summer I did a 30 day Smoothie Challenge, made with Amazing Grass. I love veggies, but I'm not a huge fruit person, so I figured if I blended the fruit with the Amazing Grass, I would get a good portion of my 7 -9 servings in one shot. I haven't been compensated by Amazing Grass for my views, this is really how I feel. This stuff re-hydrates me after a long night of listening to Mike snore, and there were a couple of times during the winter when I felt a cold coming on, and I slammed a few extra servings, and my symptoms were gone. My Dad uses it now, as do a few of my friends.

My first giveaway was with Amazing Grass, and that is what I have to give away today, a sample pack of their Organic Green SuperFood Whole Food Energy bars. Two bars each of the Original, Chocolate, Berry and Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars. Each bar has 2/3 of a serving of the SuperFood drink powder, which is what I put into my smoothies.

To enter, check out the Amazing Grass website, and leave me a comment.

For additional entries (please leave a comment for each), you may:

1. be a follower, or become a follower of my blog.

2. spread the word, via your blog, twitter or smoke signals.

3. become a fan of Amazing Grass on facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

4. tell me what you like to use for energy, either to get through the day, or through a workout.

This giveaway ends at Midnight EST, on April 25.

Peace out my friends.....

What's another word for steep?

Great run today. The good thing about having a lousy run, is that it's almost guaranteed that the next run will be great.

I was a bit nervous about this morning's 7.5 mile run, I hadn't run this part of the course yet, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Of course it was freezing cold, instead of last weekend's shorts and tshirt weather, and even though my ipod craps out in the cold, I brought it anyway. I made a new playlist that I thought would motivate me on the hills.

I felt really good in the beginning, but hung back at dreaded Colvin street, it's about 3/4 of a mile of steady incline, and at the end it switches to a steep incline. It was definitely hard, but not impossible. Then it turned flat for a while, until we headed into a park, and up a sharp hill. I focused on taking shorter steps, and tried to pretend I was hiking, just to make it up. Everyone in my running group wore their new group shirts, so it made it easy to see where people were along the course, which was fun.

The rest of the run was smooth sailing, I was surprised when I realized we were almost done, I felt like I could go farther, which is a good sign. I ran the last mile or so with another gal who ran at the same pace, it was nice to chat through to the end.

And thankfully my ipod lasted the whole time, here is what I listened to (and yes, I have Miley Cyrus on there):

Who Are You - the Who
Seven Nation Army - the White Stripes
Live Like You Were Dying - Tim McGraw
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Breathe Me - Sia
Relator - Pete Yorn & Scarlet Johannsen
I'm Shipping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphy's
See You Again - Miley Cyrus
LDN - Lily Allen
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson
When Your Mind's Made Up - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
If I Ever Leave This World Alive - Flogging Molly


Tomorrow marks one year of I'm A Sleeper Baker. As I'm noticing more and more, that year went by quickly. So check in, because I have yet another giveaway, and I'll give you a hint, it's green. And no, it's not money, although that would be fun.......

Three Things for Thursday, including a Giveaway

This week went really fast, I forgot what day it was when I woke up.....but it's Thursday, and this is what I'm thinking:

1. Now that my marathon plan is set, I need to start researching training plans. I've been looking at one from Dean Karnazes, but I'm not sure.

2. my training run on Saturday is 7.5 miles, on the second part of the Goat course. The hills are "steep but quick." okaaaayyyy.......

3. New Giveaway! Ever had Vitalicious Vita-Tops? They're all about guilt free indulging. The tops have zero preservatives or artificial anything, with 6g of fiber, 3g of protein, and 8g of whole grains. And only 100 calories.

Some of you guys (like you Julie) who live in the Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH,WI), can get Deep Chocolate VitaTops (12-pack) at Costco for the next 4 -6 weeks. But if you've never had them, I just so happen to have a 12-pack of the Deep Chocolate to give away!


To enter, leave me a comment saying what time of day you think you would eat your Vita Top.

And for additional entries (please leave a comment for each):
1. follow me or tell me you do so
2. spread the word, via your blog, twitter, or facebook, and tell me you did so.

This giveaway ends April 15th at midnight.

mmmmmm........chocolate (cue the Homer Simpson drool).

NYC is out, but MVP is still in

I didn't make it into the NYC Marathon this year. Bummer. My friend Jennifer didn't make it either, double bummer. Going home to do my first marathon would have been fantastic, but like they say, better luck next year.

So that means the MVP Rochester Marathon is going on the calendar! I ran the half marathon last year, and it's a fairly flat course, and since I lived there for five years, I would love to run through my old stomping grounds in a marathon.

Barefoot Angie Bee has a Nuun giveaway going on, and she gives you five extra entries if you write a poem, so this is what I came up with:

I love how running makes me fly,

Although at times it makes me cry.

In sun or snow, and sometimes rain,

I always look for a chance to get out there again.

I won't be posting the after photo

Before I get into my green bean debacle, I wanted to mention a giveaway that Tara at Colorado Runner is hosting....a pair of sunglasses by Ryder Eyewear from their Adrenaline Essentials collection. Tara's was the first running blog I ever read, and she's a pretty funny chickie who is training for her first marathon, so definitely check out her blog.

Do you ever tempt fate by saying something like, "Oh the Jeep is running okay, maybe we can look into buying you a Garmin..." then something goes wrong with the Jeep and you end up spending $600 to fix it? On Saturday we planned on using the grill for dinner, and Mike mentioned that there was something broken on it, but that he might be able to fix it himself. We were making grilled chicken seasoned with Adobo, spicy green beans, and sesame noodles. Instead of putting the green beans on a tray and roasting them in the oven, I decided to wrap them in tin foil, and cook them on the grill instead.



So I toss the beans with olive oil and chili garlic sauce, and Mike gets the chicken going, and boils water for the noodles. These peanut sesame noodles are our newest obsession. They are organic soba noodles, that come with a packet of sesame oil, and peanut sauce. You just mix it together after cooking the noodles, and they are SO GOOD.

Mike took the chicken off, and I opened the beans, decided they needed more time, and threw them back on. Then I got engrossed with watching The Ten Commandments (gotta watch it every year, even if it's five hours long) and forgot about the beans. Next thing I know, I look through the screen door at Mike, who has the grill open, with huge flames shooting straight up in the air, and I'm talking flames. Mike had to dump water on the grill to put them out. I think the olive oil leaked from the packet of beans that I guess I should have maybe possibly closed a wee bit tighter.........because the oil caused the fire that ignited something else in the grill that leaked onto Mike's hand as he was shutting off the propane, which ultimately gave him some nasty burns. And fried the grill.

Well, the beans were burned, but today we got our tax refund so we can buy a new grill. And I will stick to putting beans in the oven. At least for a few weeks.

From One Extreme to Another

Last night I had a wacky dream. I was running a race in a large building, and I had to run into a room, chug a beer, sign my name in a book, then run to the next room. What that heck is that about?!?!

I ran another training run this morning for the Mountain Goat, which gave me a feeling of redemption after last Saturday's Virtual 10K. As I had suspected, I really did run farther than the Nike+ipod indicated, I ran closer to seven miles, in an hour and seven minutes. The only reason I figured it out was because after today's run, a fellow runner said his Garmin read 6.97 miles, while the Nike+ read 6.22.

And honestly, it felt like seven, it was a hard run. The steep hills begin at mile one, I charged right up, but I got hot, even though I had on a Tech shirt and shorts. It's crazy how much the weather has changed in a week, last Saturday I ran in 20 degree weather, this morning it was about 60 degrees, and right now, at five o'clock it's 89!!!!!

Around mile three I felt a bit of a stitch in my side, which was annoying because that hasn't happened in a while. So I slowed down, had some water and kept it at bay. I have to say how nice this one guy was whose house is on the route, he set up a water station in his driveway, and further up was another station, with a couple of cub scouts helping with the clean up.

At mile six, I was feeling tired, probably because I've been used to running in the cold, and this was my first warm weather run in months. I was wicked thirsty, we passed a Burger King, and I'm not a soda drinker but I felt like running right in there for a large, cold, bubbly Pepsi over ice. Then I made the mistake of looking at my reflection in an office building window, my form is terrible. I was hunched over, lurching along like, well, Lurch. But I decided to just suck it up, and get the last half mile over with.

So that run is done for another week, next week they are switching to a different section of the run, apparently these hills are very steep, but relatively quick. Whatever that means.

I wanted to give a shout out to two bloggers, whose giveaways I won last week! Thanks to Suzy at Running on My Time, for the Starbucks giftcard! It was funny that I won, since she won my book giveaway. Thanks also to Brad at Eat N Listen, for the Flavorwood BBQ Grilling Smoke cans. Brad is a food blogger who loves bacon, one of the first posts of his that I read was about a basket he made out of bacon....bacon!!

So now I can plan on sitting outside in the warm weather, drinking a latte, and smoking some meat.

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

Two Hundred

Well what do you know, this is my 200th post. So to celebrate, I'm going to write 200 things about myself........April Fools!

Did you ever put a Peep in the microwave? They blow up like balloons, it's hilarious. I like to put two on a plate, facing each other, with a toothpick stuck in them like swords. When you turn on the microwave, as they grow it looks like they're jousting. Great entertainment for adults and kids alike.

I'm not a huge Easter candy person. I used to like the Cadbury Cream Eggs, but now they're too sweet for me. If I eat the Cadbury Mini Eggs, I just bite off the more pointed end and toss the rest. Not a fan of jelly beans. I would eat my chocolate bunny though, I would stick it in the freezer, then break pieces of it off and dip it in peanut butter. yum.

So the Easter Bunny is bringing just a small amount of sweets for L&E, along with.....clock radios. Luke has been asking for one for a while, so we figured it would be funny to have the bunny bring it.

I got an email from NYC Road Runners this morning, which made my heart lurch, but it was just info about how you can watch the lottery live on April 7th. I've still got the logo taped up next to my laptop on my minuscule "vision board."

I'm wondering if I'm going to make my goal of running 1,000 miles in 2010....I ran more in March than in February, but I need to do the math to see where I am now, and where I need to be. I keep looking at my bike, hopefully I can take a spin on it this weekend.

Lost was good again this week! I heard that the price of a commercial for the finale is going for $800,000....that's like Superbowl prices.

By the end of the week, it's supposed to be in the high 70's, low 80's.....do I dare say it's time to break out the running shorts?!? I'd better buy some sunscreen......