Sugar Scrubs

Today's project was DIY sugar scrubs.  Just like my honey butter yesterday, it was really simple and yielded a great result.  I admittedly haven't tried it yet, but I did handle it a little bit while testing the consistency and my hands smell wonderful.

I got the basic ideas from here and here, and tweaked it for what I had.

All I used was sugar (granulated or brown depending on the batch), oil, and essential oils

For my first batch, I used 2 heaping cups of brown sugar, about 3/4 cup olive oil, and about 25 drops of peppermint.

I started by adding only 1/2 cup of the oil, and continued to add more until it reached a consistency that I liked.  In the end, it was best described as a crumbly paste.

The second batch was very similar, but I used honey almond oil.

The last batch was lavender vanilla, and I decided to go with regular, granulated sugar.

Each batch yielded two, 8oz jars.  I prettied them up with some pretty fabric, string, and jingle bells.

Voila!  Pretty Christmas gifts, just waiting to be given away.  The best part is that the lavender vanilla batch made some extra, so I get to paper myself a little as well.  I'll let you know how it is!

Homemade Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Honey Butter

In my very first post I mentioned that I had recently acquired a whole lot of free time.  Unfortunately, The free time is courtesy of my company closing down the lab where I was working.  Business-wise, I completely understand their decision.  Personal life-wise, it stinks.  Big time. 

Aside from the obvious lack of job/income, this mega stinks because I'm BORED.  I've never been one to love sitting at home and now I don't have much of a choice.  Theres only so much time you can spend working out/walking the dogs/cleaning/reorganizing the closets/etc.

I've become obsessed with this fantastic website Pinterest.  If you've never been, you should.  It's full of wonderful procrastination.  Also, it's full of recipes and crafts just begging me to try them.  So that's what I've decided to do.  At worst it gives me something to do.  At best, I might find out I'm actually good at this stuff, and will have found myself a new hobby.

Today's project:


Cinnamon Honey Butter
(original recipe here)

2 sticks salted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup honey
2 tsp cinnamon

Whip it all up together.  That's it.  Really easy and really, really delicious.

I divided it into 6, 4oz jam jars for portion control.  I can't imagine this will last too long, so I'll think I might have to make more to give as gifts!

P.S.  Sorry for the terrible picture quality!

It's time.

"Possibly the most beautiful ad for marriage equality I've seen"

Ouch

Ugh.

I know that this whole chiropractor thing is necessary, but man am I sore.  Even though my hips/lower back were out of wack, they never actually hurt.  Now that they're being re-adjusted, they're freakin sore. 

I know that things will have to get (briefly) worse before they get better, but I don't have to be happy about it.


Anyway.  Posts without pictures are boring, so here's your daily dose of cuteness. 

Murph with his new favorite toy.

Soup!

Why on Earth have I never made soup before?  It's easy, inexpensive, and oh so tasty.

The best part is, you don't really need a recipe.  I just threw a bunch of stuff in a pot that seemed to go together, and called it a day.  This actually made a lot of soup.  I plan on freezing half to eat later.  George thinks there's too much stuff and not enough broth, so you might want to consider more chicken broth.  I like the "stuff" though, so I left it the way it was.

Italian Tortellini Soup

3, 48oz boxes cans of low sodium chicken broth

1lb carrots, peeled and sliced 

8oz celery

about 10oz fresh spinach

2, 15oz cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

20oz tri-color cheese tortellini

salt, pepper, Italian seasoning

grated parmesan reggiano cheese

- Add the chicken broth, carrots, celery, and spinach to a large stockpot and cook until veggies are tender.

- Add beans and tortellini.

- Once tortellini is cooked, season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste.

You can add the cheese (to taste) at this point, or you can add a heaping spoonful to each dish when served.  I like more cheese, so I tend to add more later on.

Enjoy!

Beyond excited

I am officially registered for TWO Warrior Dashes next year!

Bring it on.

Boo gimpy Katie

You know, I'm not sure why so many people (and GP doctors actually) look down on chiropractic.  The science is sound, and it just makes sense.  If you have neck pain a GP will give you drugs to treat the pain.  A chiropractor will adjust your neck and potentially eliminate the cause, and consequently the pain.  Why wouldn't you just fix the issues straight from the beginning?

I've been debating going for awhile.  I know that gimpy leg affects how I walk, and I can only imagine that it's having an affect on my spine.  I kept putting it off though, since I wasn't having any pain.

Well.  Funny story. George and I were at a home show and the local chiropractors had a booth.  Turns out my shoulders and hip are out of line, and I don't carry my weight evenly.  According to Dr. Alyssa, anything more than a 3lb difference in distribution is potentially problematic.  I had a twenty pound difference.  That was enough to make me schedule an appointment.

I'm really glad I did.  We took X-rays, and let me just say, it isn't pretty.  Dr A keeps asking me if I'm sure I didn't have some sort of trauma that would throw my spine out of whack.  For the record, no, I did not.

The ironic part is that while my back/hips aren't perfect, it's my neck that is the main issue.

It's supposed to look something like this:

My Xray was somewhere between the two stages of disalignment below-

The black line is where the bones are supposed to be, red it where they actually are.

 Instead of a forward curve, my neck is mostly straight, with the bottom two vertebrae having a slightly backward curvature.  Not so awesome.  Apparently I'm "far too young to have a curvature like that".  But you know, I've always been advanced for my age.

So now I get to go get adjusted multiple times a week for the foreseeable future.  Kind of a time and money suck, but I guess it's better to start fixing it now while we still can, right?  It's better than starting 15 years from now when I'm even more messed up.

Matt Nathanson & Sugarland Perform "Run" at 2011 CMAs

Love, love, love me some Matty Nay.

I've never gotten into Country music, but I may be willing to revise my stance and check out some more Sugarland.

What? A race?

Thats right! 

Watching George run the half marathon reminded me what I was missing.  I may have my moments where I hate running, but I love racing.  The crowd, the adrenaline, pushing myself to beat my previous times- its just such a great experience.

So I looked through my 5K training program, guessed where I was, and went for a run!  I'm happy to report that I haven't lost as much as I thought I did.  I think my problem was that I didn't have a set plan of action.  When  I run without a route/distance in mind I tend to quit once I get tired.  I can do so much better if I know I'm going to run X miles or take a specific path.

So now I'm on track to run the Santa Claus Shuffle on Dec 3!  Go ahead and laugh, but all the runners will be dressed as Santa.

With registration you get the suit, a long sleeve tech race T, a pint glass and two free beers at the local bars.  Not too bad for my first race back.

Manchester Half Marathon!

Are you ready for a gush-filled, picture heavy post?  Good.  Because George ran his first half marathon!!!

I'm so beyond proud of him.  He's only been running for about six and a half months, so this is an amazing accomplishment.  He started running with my 5K group, got the bug and just never stopped.  He worked his but off for this.  The training group (same trainers as the 5K one) met 3 times a week, often running long after it got dark.  They even ran through that freak snow storm we had a few weeks ago.

I honestly can't say how proud I am!

Ready for pictures?  Here we go!



Frost!  It was COLD!




Team photo



Obligatory "before" picture

Fueling up.  Pre-race Gu.



Starting line!

 I tried to get a shot of them actually starting, but there was just too many people.  After the start gun, I ran like hell to get across town to beat everyone to the 8mile point.  I figured they could use some cheerleading!


Looking good 8 miles in!

I waited until most of them has passed, then I ran back across town to catch everyone at the finishline.




Strong finish!




Finish line!  Note the Rocky victory dance.



It's kind of hard to see, but there he is crossing the finishline at 2:02:31 gun time.  Net time was 2:01:48!  My boyfriend is a freakin rockstar! 

 

"After" picture


I think it says a lot that he can run 13.1 miles with a smile on his face.

Marriage

This.  I don't even need to add anything.