What a great long weekend! It was so nice to have time off and spend time with friends and family. Our Thanksgiving meal couldn’t have gone any better, the food was amazing and I was not stressed at all. Everyone kept asking how come I wasn’t so worried about the meal – I don’t know why, I didn’t really think twice about it. Probably because I had my itinerary all planned out and everything went perfect!

Something funny did happen that day. For Jim’s birthday, which is tomorrow, I have been trying to get him a ping pong table. Now you may ask what on earth does a 33 year old man want a ping pong table for? I asked that too. So did about every store I went into. Everyone was convinced that I just needed ping pong balls, no paddles. I can’t tell you how many times I got asked “Really, you are going to play actual ping pong?” Geez folks, not all of us are booze hound Beirut or beer pong players 100% of our time, I mean a good sober game of competitive ping pong is a lot of fun and quite the workout.

Anyway, every place I looked the tables were close to $300 or higher. I mean, I love Jim but it didn’t seem worth it to me at the time . So I perused Craig’s list and Wala – I found a used ping pong table for $50. So I went out, picked it up and brought it home. Only to discover it was too big for the basement. I was very sad. But stored it in the garage and thought, oh well- it’s only a summer game. That was until I was at Target doing some shopping and saw a table on sale for $99 and it came in 4 pieces, meaning it would fit in the basement. It was like a sign from God. I asked the lady where they were and she told me they were sold out. She said to let her check other stores, so she did and wouldn’t you know it that moment a table had just arrived off the truck in the back.

So I walked out of Target so happy and proud of myself and with a table. A table that even fit into my little car and I carried into the garage all by myself. Wow, I totally just gave you the whole story instead of the funny moment on Turkey Day. So anyway, as I’m slaving away in the kitchen and not letting Jim get near (well he really didn’t want to) he decided he was going to clean the front porch and rake a few leaves that have fallen since our last big rake. I think nothing of it and just say “ok”. After about 20 seconds of minding my own biz in the kitchen I realize that the tables (tables cause now we have 2 ping pong tables) are in the garage he is about to open. I fling open the back door right as I see him standing there with the garage door opening and his puzzled face at the giant box in front of him.

"Hey!" I scream, wait wait. But at this point it is too late. I of course can’t run outside cause I’m in cooking clothes and no shoes and in my hand is a mixer full of potato remnants so scream for him to come back in. He refuses until he checks out the box only to discover he has ruined his birthday surprise. So I go to the basement, get out the gift bag full of paddles and tons of balls (I was persuaded to buy a lot more balls from the store guy for “adult games” – and no not the dirty kind). By the time I come back upstairs he is excited and I give him the gift and say Happy Birthday. He’s so excited that he immediately wants to take it to the basement. So I take a break and lug the 100 pound table to the basement.

It was a great surprise but doesn’t end well. We go to put the table together on Saturday and it was missing parts, uneven and just a disaster. We spent about 5 hours trying to put it together and finally gave up. Took it apart and returned it for our money back. It was totally destroyed by the time we returned it but we taped it up and didn’t care. I was so annoyed we bought a defunct product I didn’t even care it wasn’t ethical. I immediately wrote a bad review of the product and am back in the market for a ping pong table that comes in four pieces. Alright all you ping pong table makers reading my blog- send me a free sample!

Turkey Day

I can't believe Thanksgiving is already here! Like where has the time gone? I guess being so busy at work and traveling that all of a sudden it's here!

Well, Jim and I are having our first Thanksgiving at the house this year so it's pretty exciting but also a little stressful. I've cooked a turkey once in college and it turned out well, but that was college and it also went with a ton of beer and partying!

We are having 8 people over, all Jim's family. I plan to run the Turkey Day Trot and eat breakfast at the Price's all at the same time as starting the prep work! Then, after the meal at our place we head off to my family party around 6 or so (well I head off and Jim will probably join later in the evening just in time for charades with my family)!

I love Thanksgiving - the food, family and talk about Christmas. I imagine this year will be really crazy so I've gone ahead and made an itinerary for myself. So here you have it! The tricky part is we only have 1 oven and I believe in making things from scratch- so I really had to time things out just right for a 3PM arrival and 4PM meal. And oh yeah, I plan to run the Turkey Trot so I don't feel guilty piling the food on my plate. I figure I will run 6 miles in the AM so I can eat some extra calories!

Wednesday

• Set Table


• Make Cranberry Sauce
  

Thursday

• 8AM Turkey Prep & Put in Oven (Tent so no need to baste for 2 hours)


• 8:30AM Turkey Trot


• 9:30AM Breakfast at Price's


• 11AM Turkey Check and remove tent, begin basting


• 11:30AM Make Spinach Dip and cool


• 12 PM Sweet Potato Prep


• 12PM Mashed Potato Prep


• 1:30 PM Stuffing Prep


• 1:30 PM Green Bean Casserole


• 2:30 PM Turkey Check and let sit


• 2:30 PM Put in Stuffing and Green Bean Casserole


• 2:30 Make Gravy


• 3:30 warm items in over for meal at 4PM

Gobble Gobble! May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I Hairdly Recognized You

Wow, that title is sooo cheesy but amazing all at the same time.

I came across this video in my YouTube subscriptions and almost fell out of my chair laughing . It’s not so much the video but the crowds reactions that got me.

First of all, I also want to know who went to this event? Why on earth would you go to see this? I guess that’s why the crowds reactions are so hilarious and enthusiastic a the freelance beard. Listen closely, the best is the man screaming like a little girl “It opened, it opened”!

On a side note. I’m off to Tampa tomorrow morning for work and then Austin, TX for family time with Jim’s family and some college football. So, if you can stand it, you will have to go all weekend without me!

Who-Dey!

First thing I saw this morning, a Tweet from my boyfriend that the Cincinnati Bengals are on the cover of USA Today! Who-Dey!

The past weekend the Bengals beat the Steelers to put themselves in the lead for the AFC North! We are in a great position as we beat the Steelers and the Ravens on the road and at home, bringing us to 5-0 for the division! I smell the playoffs in in our near future and a hint of a Cuban sandwich.

All I have to say is Who-Dey Baby!

My New Goal

So the other day I was at Urban Iron just pumping it and jamming to the remixes, little secret I LOVE remixes! So we get to the dreaded shoulder track. For some reason, I just hate shoulders and never increase my weight. I think I'm pretty strong and could totally lift a car off someone if the situation presented itself but I realized I suck at push ups!

If you remember my previous blog about the San Diego boot camp I did with the ex marine then you know that when pushed I was able to accomplish a lot of push-ups but almost vomited. Well that night I went home and remember that I met a woman while in San Diego who had accomplished the hundred push-up challenge and was amazed. She didn't look like her head was shrunk cause her shoulders were so big and her arms were buff but not too buff like Madonna's. And right then and there on the spot I told myself I was going to do it.

I went to download the iphone app and then elected to do it online as it was free! So there you have it, my new goal. I also recruited two co-workers to join in with me so we encourage and push each other to do it. It requires 3 days a week for six weeks following their program to achieve this goal. So I plan to start on Monday.

I can barely do 20 in a row so am excited to see how it goes. I am going to try to do them on my toes, but will probably need to do some on my knees. According to the website it doesn't matter how you do them just that you are building strength and over time achieving your goal. So you might see some post in here about my journey and the day that I do the 100 push-up test I'm having Paul film it!

So there you have it, my new goal. It's nothing big and crazy but I think if I can do this I will feel so great about myself and want to keep achieving more and more goals. This first tiny goal will lead to others. Happy Friday!

Really This Could Make You Fat

Obviously I check out a lot of food blogs and read up on nutritional information as it goes hand in hand with my job. Recently, I came across a a slide show on DailyBeast that was titled :Food That Can Kill You Instantly. It might have been the grossest slide show ever. It was clearly inspired from the website, thisiswhyyourfat.com.

The slide show was pretty gross and I could barely look at some of the food. Clearly people make ridiculous foods for the website just to make sure they get featured, but some of them are for real (check out my previous post on the Heart Attack Grill).

Alright I'm going to admit it here - I don't always eat the healthiest (GASP)! But I work out a ton to eat what I want. I actually chose to feature the McNuggetini from the slide because it sounds delicious! I mean who doesn't like chocolate milkshakes and McNuggets with a little bit of sauce and vodka? I would eat that up! Then probably vomit right after.

In all seriousness, I've started to try to make restaurant version food the healthy way and I'm loving it. I have been pulling the recipes from SparkRecipes and we are currently running a contest so lots have been entered, check them out here. I tried the Crunchy Supreme (knock off of Taco Bell's) for dinner last night and Jim and I both loved it.

If only I could knock off the Chipotle recipe - it just never taste the same:(

Hungover?

Ugh, like the worst thing ever. I wake up or am going back to bed saying "I'm never going to drink again!" Well my lovely boyfriend Jim and three of his friends have created a drink Hoist that makes the process go away faster. There is actually no cure for a hangover or quick fix, but Hoist will help you get better faster.

Live in Cincinnati, follow the Hoist Mino around town to see where it goes next. Check out this article the local paper did on these budding entrepreneurs!

Booooooo

Are you scared, you shouldn't be, you're on Scare Tactics! Is there anyone else out there that absolutely loves this show? The most famous Scare Tactic is Rat Boy, which a friend scares his friend into thinking a lab has creatures. Check out this clip of it, go to 1:58 for the start of the good scare but the whole video is funny!

Halloween came and went but that doesn't mean that you still can't scare people year round. It's one of my favorite things to do. Do any of you watch Ellen? She loves to scare people too, check out this clip of her scaring innocent bathroom goers. Click through her website for some even funnier scares she does to her celebrity guest.

An all time favorite of mine is to scare people. I haven't gotten a good scare recently, well not true. The other night I hid in our closet while Jim showered, when he came to the closet I jumped out and he jump and shook- I just cracked up.

I need to get some good ones going, but a few of my all time favorites I've done have been done to Jodie or my brother. I will briefly explain them below as I chuckle to myself.

Jodie

• I once unscrewed all the light bulbs in our apartment and hid around the corner with a mask on. It was night so when she came in no lights were working...as she crept towards the living room out I jumped as she fell to the floor.

• All time best one was I hid in her closet. It was so jammed packed with stuff I barely fit but there was just enough room for me to get in. When Jodie got home she assumed I wasn't there and went about her business. She was laying on her bed talking on the phone and I started gently scratching at the door. I realized she noticed it when she mentioned something to the person on the phone. So I kept doing it, louder and louder hoping she would get up. Eventually she did, as she was about to open the closet door i jumped out and screamed "Are you scared?" she literally fell back onto her bed feet kicking and screaming as I almost peed my pants!

Brad

• When we were really young I once hid under his bed while he was in the shower. When he got into bed and turned out the lights I reached up and grabbed his leg from underneath- classic scare move!

• About two summers ago in Florida we were all out cast fishing in the surf. The fish were biting and the sharks were out. I acted like I hooked a monster fish and it was dragging me to sea, he came chasing after me screaming "Let go of the pole, let go of the pole". He was so scared but cute to know he cared.

I mean I could keep going and going with all the pranks that I have pulled. Whether a fake fall, scaring someone, fake celebrity sighting or whatever it is I love to prank and scare people. It's just fun and totally who I am. I get a kick out of scaring people and making them laugh.