C is for Cookies

Cookies may be one of my favorite things ever.  They are my all time favorite treat.

I sometimes consider myself a cookie connoisseur.  I love them crispy, chewy or soft.  Cookies with chocolate are the best.

Here is a recipe for some of my family's favorite cookies.  

I found them on pinterest last year via another blog.  They are *so* good & easy to make (you make the entire batch in a pot!).

Marry Me Cookies

Marry Me Cookies
Source: Melissa Stadler, The Cooking Channel
http://www.macaroniandcheesecake.com/2012/07/marry-me-cookies.html
Yield: 4 dozen cookies when using a small cookie scoop
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar (light works too)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (I use a combo of table salt AND course salt)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Directions: 

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove melted butter from heat and stir in the brown sugar and granulated sugar.  Stir until fully incorporated and well mixed together (will be a wet, thick stirrable mixture). Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Once chilled, remove from refrigerator and add in the egg, egg yolk & vanilla.  Stir to combine.

Add in the flour, oats, baking soda, salt & cinnamon.  Stir together until fully incorporated.  (Alternatively, you can whisk all these dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and then add it to the wet mixture, this is what I did).

Add in the white chocolate chips & chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly.  (This will seem like too many chips, but trust me it isn’t).  Place dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cover baking sheet with parchment.

Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop into balls using a small cookie scoop.  Place on prepared baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart.  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until lightly golden and tops look set.

Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.  Repeat for remaining dough. Keep dough in fridge in between batches. Store baked cookies in an airtight container.

A - Action & Achievement

Bear with me for the next 26 or so post.  I am doing an A to Z blogging challenge (my first challenge!).  If you know me, I LOVE a good challenge, so this is right up my alley!

So, to my readers, I bare my thoughts on topics A to Z…..

 Action and Achievement go together.  One must occur to get to the other.  Point A to point B.

You can’t get to achievement very easily, if you perform no action.

I shake my head, roll my eyes and sigh deeply daily, when I see postings on facebook for “miracle weight loss in 7 days”, “flat abs in 2 days” and what not. 

There is NO miracle weight loss remedy.  If there were “everyone” would be doing it.  The only good way to do this is to take action.  Blah blah blah Cambodia Garcia or whatever it is - not the miracle cure.  Sorry.  

As a health advocate, I often hear excuses from people who are unhealthy , but “can’t” get healthy because of a myriad of excuses.  

I’m not saying I never make excuses.  I may or may not have slept in on a Saturday morning when I told my frunners I’d go running with them (sorry).  There have been others.

But, I roll my eyes when the overweight diabetic I'm case managing tells me on the phone that he “can’t get out and exercise because of the kids”.   

Come again? 

If you don’t take action, there will be no achievement.

Walking is free.  Kids love riding bike.  Throw the football around.  Turn the radio on and dance and sing.

Be active.  

I say to this man: your diabetes is not going to go away on its own because you take medication to control your blood sugars (in this case).   You have to take action.  Action = achievement.

I decided one day I wanted to run a marathon – I took action to figure out what I needed to do to be able to do that.  When I took on this task, I could not run a mile straight.  I could barely run around the block.  It took a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, but I achieved it, not overnight, then repeated nine more times.  I found it involved a lot more than just going out and practicing running. I feel like I have so much more to both learn & achieve.

I want to be a Nurse Practitioner.  Since they aren’t handing out NP degrees to just anyone, I had to take action.  I applied to the two schools..  I was denied admission at the first one.  Tough blow.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I am a part of the inaugural class of NP’s at the college I attend now; forging the way for others.  I love my school. Looking back, I’m happy I wasn’t accepted by school #1.  Even though not being accepted was a bit of a set-back, I persevered.   I have to give up things now and then to work towards achievement, but every day is one day closer to graduation.  My son is incredibly proud of me and thinks it’s cool that I will what he calls a “nurse doctor”.  

While I know this sounds incredibly “preachy”, I just want you to know that you can achieve most anything you set your mind too (I know it sounds cliché, but it’s for reals!).  Make a plan.  Write it down.  Tell other people.  Put it “out there”.  Find people who will hold you accountable and ask your plan.  

But most importantly, SHARE with everyone you ACHIEVEMENT.  Bask in the praise for the accomplishment you have attained.  It isn’t selfish or self-centered, it is inspiring.  Someone else may look at you and think, if they can do it, maybe I can too.  But first, you must do the “action” to get yourself there.

Stepping off my soapbox now….

So tell me….what kind of actions are you taking towards what you want to achieve?

B - BRF's and Barre

 About a year ago my life was forever changed.  In a fantastic way!

I found out about a local running group called Moms Run ThisTown (sorry (not really) I talk about them all of the time, but they are *that* awesome).  I became a member of my local group, which was kind of floundering at the time….not a lot of engaged members, not enough interest, etc.  So when the current leader put out the call that she wanted someone else to take over, I jumped on it (luckily with a co-lead, so I wasn’t in it alone).  The growing was slow.  I outreached for some assistance from other local leaders & little did I know what the result would be.

Long story short….my group merged with another (thanks to one best running friend (BRF) Alicia).  I now have dozens of frunners, a solid group of true BRF’s and am having the most fun as a runner ever – really reveling in the joy of running, rather than the task (especially when and where there are cupcakes involved).  This group of women pushes each other to new (attainable) goals, while never getting pretentious, competitive or catty, which can happen when you have newer runners mixed in with more experienced runners, especially with women!  I would have never run a trail until I met these ladies (learning that "doable" and "easy" are not the same - yes, you, DK!).  I would have never signed up for back to back marathons (thanks Kim!!).  I feel like I owe it all to MRTT!  We are 500+ members strong and growing.  Ladies….if you have a MRTT local group, please considering joining.  Like I tell new members….show up to a group event – I guarantee you will walk away with several new friends.  Besides that, it’s free! There are no dues, no requirements (except that you have to be a girl), no crazy obligations.  It’s really the best! 

B is also for Barre.  I’ve written so much about it in the past couple of weeks since I started going very obsessively  religiously, but I LOVE it.  It hasn’t grown old.  I’m noticing a TON of changes in my strength and flexibility (tonight I NAILED my splits!).  I can’t wait to see what two more weeks of intensive practice bring! 

I am so glad I have a friend to go with now too!  Elaine, another MRTT member, whom I probably would have never met otherwise, regularly meet at the “barre” for workouts and chit chat.  She’s the one that talked me into going to the class at the gym in the first place.  She’s also a RN and we have a TON in common!  So Elaine…  I’m blaming you!

 Just kidding.  

“C” you tomorrow!!

Weekly Chase #4

It's April! What happened?! Wasn't it just Christmas?

It was a productive week and I have a couple super busy weeks coming up.  A baby shower, a half marathon, a fun run for the kiddos, grad school, then a wedding, Easter, more races.  Yikes!

So here's how last week's goals went down....

Monday - Barre - check!

Tuesday - Barre Fusion & 3 miles - done +.1 miles (ever little bit counts, right?)

Wednesday - 4 miles and strength train - change of plans...6.2 miles + abs & leg work

Thursday - rest - I went to Barre over my lunch (do you see a pattern forming?)

Friday - Barre - done

Saturday - group run with MRTT (6ish?) and strength - I did 6.2 on my own, including a mile of hill work + Barre

Sunday - Barre (I am still really loving this Barre thing!) - I went on Sunday too!

I am at the two week point of doing some serious barre work.  I am noticing a lot of changes.  My legs (which were pretty strong in the first place are even stronger) & my core is getting more stable. When I was playing fetch with my dog tonight, I noticed how much stronger my arms were and how much further I could throw (yes, there is burnout arm work too!).  I can't wait to see what two more weeks (or more) of intensive practice brings! I was so happy that my friend Elaine joined me on Sunday (and more this week!) and another friend Ampy is joining me on Thursday!  Yay!!  Frunners make everything better (or at least make you feel as though you aren't suffering alone).

I started a new furniture project....(ok....maybe 2)

This hot mess I picked up from some one in Grand Prairie.  It has good bones.  I am also trying to fix my first epic disaster so that I can have some office storage.

What does this week hold?

Monday - Barre @ lunch
Tuesday - Barre @ Lifetime + 3.1 miles
Wednesday - Barre & 6.2 miles
Thursday - Barre
Friday - REST!
Saturday - Fairview Half Marathon & a 100 yd dash for Louis
Sunday - Moms Run This Town 5k/1mile Bunny Hop (Kid's Run)!

Finish at least one of the two furniture projects, which are currently in this state:

Watch Louis crush the two fun runs he has this weekend.

I am sooooo looking forward to the Fairview half this weekend.

a) there are going to be a TON of my MRTT friends representin'

b) snowcones

c) the seriously awesome hardware!

 last year's medal

this year's medal!

How will you be crushing your goals this week?