Comments (8)

By Liz, November 30, 2009 11:36 am

Whew! Where has the weekend gone guys?! I can’t believe it’s Monday already. With all the baking and stuff of Wednesday, Thanksgiving on Thursday and working all weekend…this holiday weekend has flown by! I’m looking forward to a week of getting back into the swing of things…plus a little homework. Heelllo research paper and a speech. Should be fun, huh…;)

So, Thanksgiving must be discussed. I went running in the morning and completed a 9 mile run in 1 hr and 19 minutes…which is quite faster than my usual long run pace and I hadn’t ran since last Saturday, so it was definitely a great run. Also, running made me nice and hungry for my dinners. I went to two dinners…can you say food coma?

This Thanksgiving dinner was at Jacob’s sister’s house. The good: my squash-couscous dish, turkey…the bad: Pillsbury crescent rolls (really bad, like trans fat bad), canned cranberry sauce (or should I say high fructose corn syrup sauce), mash potatoes and sweet potatoes with marshmallow (not that bad) and green bean casserole (no that bad either). Gosh darn, I love those crescent rolls, although I know they were completely unhealthy and contain ingredients I avoid…but c’est la vie. I also had two slices of my pumpkin cheesecake.

I really liked how this cheesecake turned out. I used the recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I followed it almost to a T but I used less sugar and used some reduced fat cream cheese…oh and more pumpkin, cause pumpkin rocks!

The above dinner was at my parent’s house. However, their friend from Colorado, Donna, visited and she cooked the meal. The good: all of it… Donna can cook! This dinner included steamed green beans with almonds sauteed in butter, free-range roasted turkey, wild rice with oysters, roasted onion and gravy. Some Bianchi Zin was savored with dinner. Loved it!

And… I had a slice of my kabocha pie with fresh whipped cream!

Accompanied by the Bianchi Late Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum!

The amazingly delish slice:

I love Thanksgiving not only for all the delicious food, but also for the family. I truly enjoyed spending time with all my loved ones and that is what made Thanksgiving such a wonderful day. I was also quite full, with two dinners and what not, so comfy sweats were very much appreciated by the end of the night. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Friday was “How Many Meals Can You Eat of Turkey” day.Although breakfast was a slice of ezekiel with peanut butter, which did not include turkey, for lunch I had a turkey filled salad with lettuce and carrot…and woodtock dressing of course!Plus some perfectly thawed strawberries. This was seriously the perfect light lunch after such a food filled day on Thanksgiving.

Friday afternoon was very fun! Jacob and I went to an afternoon Bikram yoga class. It felt amazing to stretch and focus and sweat! It also made my body feel a lot more rejuvenated and light after food overdose…I felt pretty much back to normal.

After Bikram, we stopped in my favorite health food store, New Frontiers and I tried my first fresh veggie/fruit juice! It was called the Perfect Blend and had beets, carrot, apple, celery, ginger, and lemon in it. Soooo amazing!! It made me want to get a juicer even more. Also, I can now understand why Alison is big on the juice! I had a little something solid on the way home. too…which was a banana with almond butter. However, driving and picture taking are not conducive with each other, so no picture.

Dinner was turkey meal number two…

This meal included a wing, steamed veggies, my homemade cranberry sauce, leftover couscous, and some chocolate for good measure. Very satisfying.

Saturday was a whirlwind of work and the night was a whirlwind of tiredness…I think the past few days festivities really caught up with me and I called it a night quite early. However, the dinner I made was delish…and incorporated turkey!

I made a grilled cheese stuffed with turkey and steamed veggies on the side. However, I have a secret to amazing grilled cheese with more flavor…Worcestershire sauce! Actually, this is a trick my parents would use whenever they made grilled cheese. It adds so much more flavor and a little kick to an otherwise blah grilled sammie.

Oh, and I might have baked a batch of perfectly fudgy walnut brownies.I totally demolished two of those bad boys. Heaven!

Okay, we’re almost all caught up...Sunday was not too special. I worked and met up with a group of people in my English class in the evening to work on a presentation due next week. The highlight of the evening was getting drinks with a friend afterwards. It made studying much more worthwhile

Oh, on a side note, yesterday I was taking pics of my lunch (which was a turkey leg and couscous). However, I realized that there was just no way to make my drumstick look appetizing, actually it looked pretty gross. This side note really had no point, I just thought it was funny how the leg looked icky.

Anywho, we are here at Monday now…oh glorious Monday! Is everyone getting back in the swing of things alright?

I started my day off with, what may be, the best biscuits I ever made.These fluffy whole wheat biscuits look straight out of a restaurant. I think the whole tablespoon of baking powder may have been responsible for that! They tasted amazing, too.I topped mine with butter, pumpkin butter and cranberry apple butter. Two perfectly seasoned (salt and pepper) eggs accompanied my biscuits. What a way to start a Monday folks!

Well, I believe a run is in order today. I’ll be doing that right after work. And, mucho homework awaits me, too.

Some random ramblings: Now that the cross country season is over my training is going to be a bit more sporadic. I was thinking of either making a serious plan for myself, or just having fun with it. Well, fun took over and I have decided to just do workouts that sound fun to me in the moment. If that means yoga, then yoga it is. Or maybe I really want to pump some iron. Or maybe a good ol’ 5 miler is what the doctor ordered. I just going to play it by ear for the next few weeks until I have to get serious with my training again. However, my rest week is over (even though I only took 4 full days of rest, but eh) and I will be working out regularly, as in 6 days a week, like normal. On another note, I have to admit, my eating habits have been going a bit off the healthy path. I’ve been eating a few too many sweets, drinking a few to many drinks, eating whole plates of pizza and not getting enough veggies. I don’t think I’ve gained weight, but I don’t feel that great inside or out. Pretty much what I’m saying is that I am human, and I’m going through patch here where I’m not practicing what I preach. I’m not going to all of a sudden restrict myself, or diet or anything. I’m going to let this run it’s course but make sure I have healthy options available.  *end ramble*

Have a great Monday y’all!

Comments (4)

By Liz, November 15, 2009 9:31 pm

I absolutely loved having the day off today. I feel (mostly) recharged and (sorta) ready for the weeks ahead.

I slept into almost 10 o’clock this morning! Ack, it felt good, but I usually like to be up by 8 at the latest. I sure felt rested though!

While laying in bed, I made a game plan for how I wanted to spend my day. Jacob and I had thrown around a couple ideas last night, like maybe hiking. But, this morning we decided on making a relaxing breakfast, hanging out a bit, then going for a long run at Montana de Oro (my favorite place ever!), window shopping in downtown SLO and going to New Frontiers (my 2nd favorite place ever).

First things first…

I made waffles using whole wheat flour, oat bran and ground flax. I reduced the butter in the recipe (from Joy of Cooking) from 2 sticks to 3/4 of a stick. They sure were tasty. For some protein power, I made a 2 egg omelet stuffed with spinach and a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese. And, of course, there was some maple syrup on the side for dipping the waffles in. Yum!

Jacob and I hung out in our pjs watching some Spongebob Squarepants. I swear I’m still a little kid! I mean…my comforter on my bed is Pooh bear and I have 2 Spongebob pillow cases. Real mature

After digesting breakkie, it was off to Montana de Oro. I ran 7 miles in 64 minutes. I ran in my regular Mizuno trainers, no Vibrams for longs runs yet. I felt amazing…like I was gliding along. The weather was gorgeous, too. A light breeze, just enough warmth, the rustling of leaves…perfect.

After-run refueling was chicken sandwiches I made before we left for the run.

I was afraid all the fillings would fall out if I took a picture of it after I unwrapped it, so a saran wrapped picture it was. I made the sandwiches with 2 slices Ezekiel bread, 1/4 avocado, 1 tbsp. TJs tuscan dressing, shredded carrot, roasted chicken, red pepper slices, radishes and spinach. On the side, I had 1/2 and orange and a homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.

After lunching, we drove into SLO-town and hit up a couple stores downtown. I made some serious hints to Jacob of possible Christmas presents. I also used a gift card that I had from my birthday last January, and bought a pair of running shorts with it. A little Starbucks was had, too.I got my recent addiction of a cafe americano with 2 pumps pumpkin spice with a splash of half and half. Too good!

Of course, our New Frontiers stop was wonderful. This health food store is quite expensive, but aren’t they all? I limited myself to 4 small items, and somehow walked out only spending 12 bucks. I am proud of my smart spending. I made my selections carefully…

Annie’s woodstock dressing (aka my favorite salad dressing), 2 bars of Green and Blacks chocolate (also my favorite dark chocolate in the world) and a package of coconut water. I’ve heard that coconut water is a good natural sports drink, so I’ll test it out one of these days soon.

When we got home, we were both pretty famished! I whipped up some quick dinner.

All pretty:

All messed up:

This dish was inspired from a similar dinner Christina made a while back. I’ve had it in the back of my mind ever since I saw it, and tonight was the night to try it out. I didn’t use the ricotta though, and I’m a bit sad I didn’t. It really would have added something too the dish…next time though. I also added in some green beans for some more veggie action. I loved the green beans in it, too! This dish was fabulous, even without the ricotta and Jacob and I both went back for seconds. Lucky me, there are some leftovers for my lunch tomorrow!

Dinner was accompanied my a beverage…

This was better than the Blue Moon pumpkin ale, more spice to it. However, I was still a bit disappointed in how it almost tasted like regular ol’ beer. Anyone have some recommendations for a really good pumpkin brew?

Dessert was obvious…

This was the first time I tried this variety and I was seriously impressed. I had to hold myself back from eating the whole bar! I will admit I went back for a couple more little squares. Too good, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from G&Bs.

Just enjoying the rest of my night before I have to go back to the daily grind. Nighty night.

Comments (8)

By Liz, November 1, 2009 8:46 pm

I’m all in the holiday spirit over here! The beginning of November is like the gateway to the holiday season. I can’t wait till Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years, then my birthday! And they’ll all be here before I know it. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s recap this day, November 1st.

Actually, I want to recap the cookies I made last night first…

These were truly the best cookies I have made…ever! I switched my usual recipe up a little. I also used chocolate chips and some Halloween treats (reeses and snickers). Here’s the recipe:

The Best Cookies Liz Ever Made

• 6 tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2c. brown sugar
• 1/4c. regular granulated white sugar
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2c. chocolate chips
• 3 reeses cups
• 5 mini snickers

Directions:Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Melt butter in medium sized bowl. Stir in vanilla, sugars, egg and salt. The add half the flour and baking soda. Stir in candies and chocolate chips. Finish by adding the last cup of flour. Combine until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Drop onto greased pan in large spoonful (2-3 tbsp). Bake for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Just to re-iterate again, these cookies were amazing. They weren’t exactly healthy, but they were delicious…and sometimes delicious things don’t need to be healthy. I enjoyed them and savored every bite of my cookies.

Okay, now to today….

I woke up and went right on my long run. It was my last long run of this cross country season. I ran 8.5 miles in 1hr 22 min. I was proud because I ran my typical route around town a good 5 minutes faster than usual. Maybe it was all the cookies and candy . I felt great!

I wanted a super super healthy breakfast after my indulgences last night (I had a fair share of candy, in the upwards of 10 pieces!). So what better than a green monster to start my day?

Plus a slice of ezekiel toast with butter for something solid.

I worked for 4 hours today. Lunch was leftover chili and strawberries for dessert. I think you guys have seen enough pictures of chili, so I won’t bore you with that.

I had an extremely stupendous snack after work though, that is very noteworthy.

I used Tay’s idea for custard oats. I didn’t follow her recipe exactly. Here’s what I did: Cooked 1/2c. oats, 1 cup water and one egg on stovetop. Topped with cinnamon, brown sugar and 1 tbsp. of peanut butter. I am going to make these a regular appearance on here. The egg made the texture of oats so thick and custardy. Totally delish! I love the fact that the egg adds more staying power also.

Jacob and I went grocery shopping after my snackie. We loaded up on all the essentials plus a few fun things. Oh, and I didn’t forget my Project Feed Me items for last week…

I chillaxed with a glass of beer for a bit…

Then I made dinner…

I tried out a new soup recipe, black bean soup from Rachael Ray. This was supposed to be a thicker “stoup”, but it came out pretty thin. It was spicy just to the point of perfection for my tastebuds. I really liked it. I accompanied my soup with a grilled cheese sandwich made with 2 slices of ezekiet bread and pepperjack cheese.

All together:

I had the last of my jug o’beer with dinner too. This was pure comfort food at it’s best.

Dessert was a coconut bar and 3 mini Halloween candies.

I’m watching Saw right now with Jacob and Justin (one of my roomies). They’re getting drunk on sake because Justin’s truck broke down, so he’s drowing out his sorrows with alcohol…haha, I’m refraining…early morning workouts and hangovers don’t mix well.

Have a good night y’all!

Comments (5)

By Liz, October 18, 2009 9:10 pm

Today has been a great day. Actually, it’s been a great weekend. I haven’t had a really enjoyable weekend in a while where I feel refreshed and relaxed. Ahh, too bad this can’t go on for a few more days!

So, last nights plan of going out with the girls didn’t happen. Oh well, I got to relax in bed, catch up on some blogs and wake up refreshed for my long run today.

When I woke up this morning I had 1/2 a banana with peanut butter to fuel up.

I got dressed in my running outfit, filled up my Camelbak with HEED and was out the door. I ran 8.5 miles in 1 hr and 26 min. It was a good run…not the best ever but good. My legs were a little fatigued and my legs didn’t feel very warmed up the whole time. But I finished in a decent time and got through the run okay, so that’s what matters.

I chugged 2 huge glasses of ice cold water when I got back home, showered and make a quick breakfast.

I had about 1 cup of whole milk plain yogurt topped with ground flax, Uncle Sam’s cereal, the other 1/2 of my banana, chopped walnuts and 4 dates. Yum yum!

Today, Jacob and I decided to spend some quality time together…something we haven’t had much time or opportunity to do in a while. So, we went wine tasting in Paso Robles! If you guys haven’t noticed yet…I really love wine! It is definitely my drink of choice.

I decided to look pretty and rock my new skinny jeans.

I really like ‘em! They are so comfortable, and I think my legs look pretty good in ‘em, too.

I packed a picnic lunch to take with us on our tasting exursion.

Those are fixins for shredded chicken sandwiches including sprouted wheat bread, carrot, avocado, cucumber, tomato and goddess dressing. I also packed 2 pears and honeydew melon.

We stopped at 3 wineries today: York Mountain, Halter Ranch and Thunderbolt.

First stop was York Mountain.

The drive to this winery was magical. It was on a back road with lots of overhanging oak trees and pines. The wines did not disappoint. I especially liked the Viognier and the 2006 Pinot Noir. They had an 2007 Pinot also, but it wasn’t as good. All the other wines were good, but they just didn’t stand to me the way those two did.

The tasting room gal at York recommended visiting Halter Ranch. I also remember my Dad saying something good about them…I think. It was a bit far out on the back roads, but it was a drive well worth it. This winery had a special event going on today (It was Harvest Fest in Paso) for the festival. We didn’t know about it, so it was a pleasant surprise. The tasting fee included 2 glasses, the wine of course and they had fresh baked pizza. I wasn’t blown away by all their wine. The Viognier I actually quite disliked. But then I had their 2008 Cotes de Paso Blanc, which was a blend, but I can’t remember what of. This wine was up there with my fave Pinot Grigio from Bianchi. It was so refreshing and floral…very drinkable. We tried a couple reds that were kinda eh, but then I had the Syrah and the Cabernet Sauvignon. Both were amazing. Truthfully, I don’t remember exactly the specific tastes (black currant, smoke, etc.) but I remember being really impressed by both. The last wine we tried at Halter was their 2005 Ancestor. This blend was pretty good, and Jacob’s favorite. It had a smoky, earthy flavor. I liked it, but the Syrah and Cab were better in my opinion.

Here’s pic of Jacob in front of the winery.

We decided to eat our sandwiches while we were at Halter. It was a pretty place to stop and eat.

I had my sandwich, a bite of Jacob’s pear and a pizza roll up.

However, the highlight of our visit at Halter was talking to the chef/baker who was making the pizza. The pizza bite I had was amazing, but it wasn’t the sauce or toppings that were good…it was the crust! I have never had a better pizza crust, ever. So, I just had to talk to the guy who was behind this delicious crust. His name was Ciro, and not only did I learn a lot about baking but I learned some good life lessons, too (or as he would say, I understood some life lessons). We chatted a bit about different flours and how they affected the texture of the bread. Then he got into the deep philosphies with me. First off, he said that that with bread and with life, simple is always better. And that the secret to success and happiness is intuition, creativity and fun. Very true indeed. Talking to Ciro really made my day.

After Halter Ranch, we stopped at a winery I had never heard of before called Thunderbolt. Apparently this winery is only a few years old…they have been open for 4 years. I was actually really impressed by all their wine except for one. They only had one white wine, a Viognier, and it was actually pretty bad. But their red wine made up for it. I liked every single one! I’m not a huge red wine fan, I love me some Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. But, boy, all the reds were so drinkable and tasty. The one that stood out the most to me was surprisingly their Zinfandel. Way delish! The view from the winery was absolutely gorgeous and the ladies working there were a hoot to talk to.

That was enough wine for me! I probably had the equivalent of 3 maybe 4 glasses of wine. I was kinda feelin it by the time we got home. I was feeling a bit munchy and had a bowl of chocolate moose tracks with peanut butter in top. Totally hit the spot!

Jacob and I snuggled up and watched one of my fave movies, Stranger Than Fiction. I really love this movie because it’s all about living life to the fullest. I swear there is no better message than living every day like it’s your last and not taking any moment for granted.

After movie watching, I heated up some leftover casserole for dinner.

Not the prettiest dinner ever, but casserole isn’t usually pretty. I made a mexican style casserole to share with the roomies last night. The ingredients: onion, bell pepper, spinach, zuchini, pinto beans, cooked and shredded chicken, cheddar cheese, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika. I just layered each ingredient in a 13×9 pyrex dish twice. Then I made corn muffin batter and covered the casserole with the batter. I popped the casserole in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Then, I served it with fresh cilantro on top. I turned out really great, although it could have used a bit more spice. I got tons of leftovers out of it, too.

Not much left on the agenda tonight. Currently watching some low-budge horror flick on Lifetime. It’s pretty funny!

Back to reality tomorrow! I’m gonna milk every last second out of the rest of my Sunday night.

Nighty night folks! I hope y’all had a great weekend, too!

Comments (7)

By Liz, October 11, 2009 9:03 pm

Good evening guys! Is it Sunday? Cause it sure doesn’t feel like it to me. I’ve had a crazy busy day.

First, I woke up at 4:30 (I meant to wake up at 5, but I couldn’t go back to sleep when I woke up at 4:30) to go volunteer at the City to Sea Half-Marathon. This race is put on by my coach and all the proceeds go towards the Cuesta Cross Country and Track programs. So, as part of the team I had to volunteer. It’s actually pretty fun. I love the running community and it’s great to see people putting so much effort into this race. I saw husband and wives crossing the line together, best friends, fathers or mothers with they’re children, people with hand bikes overcoming the odds and hundreds of regular people who took the time out of they’re day to run and support me and my team. It’s a cool experience for sure. My job started of with filling water cups.

One of the race directors brought us volunteers some cinnamon rolls, scones and muffins. I was darn hungry, so I had a raisin scone.

Wasn’t the best scone I had in my life, but it was food, so it worked. My next job was to cut off the timing chips off all the runners as they finished. It got pretty crazy! I saw 2 people puke…which I expected I’d see at some point. At least they puked away from me!

I left in a rush from volunteering to get to work. I made it on time. Yay!

Work was way mellow. I had leftovers for lunch around noon.

This was the last of my chili. I have one more corn muffin in the freezer though.

Since I was busy all morning, I had to save my long run for after work. I was exhausted when I got home, so I took a quick 30 min power nap and headed out right after that. I have to admit that I was not really into going out there for my run today. But I knew that I would regret it if I didn’t go, and as usual, I felt so much better after I finished. I ran 8.5 miles in 1 hour and 20 min.

I had dinner after my run. More leftovers.

This is the leftover whole-wheat spaghetti with veggie sauce I made last night (which I would have shown yesterday if my internet didn’t randomly crash!). I also had some unpictured honeydew melon.

I tried out a new cookie recipe tonight, too. I found it here.

I didn’t have enough almond flour, so I used 1/2c. of whole wheat and 1/4c. of ground flax to make up for it. I also used honey instead of agave. These were awesome! They weren’t too sweet and were pretty rich, so they’d be hard to OD on. I love the deep nutty flavor, too. Yum! Highly, highly recommend these.

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So, I just want to apologize for my lack of enthusiasm for posting the past few days. I have been in “thoughtful” mode the past few days. By thoughtful, I mean that I have been evaluating my life and my happiness. Lately, I’ve felt like my life is a stagnant pond instead of a moving stream. I’ve been at the same job for over a year, which is one of the longest jobs I ever kept. I’ve been going to college for three years now, and I’m losing motivation. I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost 5 years, and I’ve been re-evaluating aspects of our relationship. Lastly, I’ve also been competing on Cross Country for 3 years and I feel like I’m losing my passion for competitive running. Pretty much, there hasn’t been much change in my life and I’m losing sight of my goals.

Instead of wallowing is self-pity, I’ve been trying to be proactive and consider the possibilities of what can make me happy right now. I’m not a quitter, so quiting school or work or Cross Country right now are not options. However, at the end of the semester I might consider not doing Track. I’ll at least finish my AA degree at Cuesta…but after that I may reconsider transfering to a university. As for my job, I’ll keep it for now unless a better opportunity arises. I have really nice, caring bosses…which seems hard to come by, so I don’t want to ruin a good thing. I just don’t know…maybe I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing. My life right now may be like running a hilly marathon. I’m hitting the wall and I just need to push through it. However, the one thing I do know is that everyday I need to do at least one thing that truly makes me happy, or at least actively think happy thoughts. It’s easy for negative thinking to overwhelm a person. Sometimes just actively trying to think positively can turn a frown upside down.

I partly wrote about this for me, to write out my thoughts. I also wanted to explain to people what I’m feeling. It’s easy to be fluffy and just post my food pics and act like a peppy person all the time. But I’m a real person behind this blog, with ups and downs. I feel like I’m in a valley right now, but I’m working my way out. So, thanks for bearing with me and following me out of this valley. I really appreciate the people I’ve “met” in this blogging community and always feel happy knowing you guys read my everyday ramblings and care enough to comment. Thanks guys!

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Whew, that was heavy. On a lighter note….Julia over at Jogging My Memory tagged me for the Over the Top Blog Award. Thanks!

I love doing questionnaires! Here are my answers:

1. Where is your cell phone? Backpack
2.Your hair? Long
3. Your mother? Hard-working
4. Your father? Caring
5. Your favorite food? Peanut butter
6. Your dream last night? Anxious
7. Your favorite drink?Pinot Grigio
8. Your dream/goal? Pacific Crest Trail
9. What room are you in? Dining
10. Your hobby? Running
11. Your fear? Alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Married
13. Where were you last night? Bed
14. Something you aren’t? Quiet
15. Muffins? Chocolate
16. Wish list item?  Vibrams
17. Where did you grow up?Ossining
18. Last thing you did? Ate
19. What are you wearing?Pjs
20. Your TV? Expensive
21. Your pets? Heaven
22. Your friends? Awesome
23. Your life? Blessed
24. Your mood? Better
25. Missing someone? No
26. Vehicle? Ranger
27. Something you’re not wearing? gloves
28. Your favorite store? Grocery!
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday
32. Your best friend? Jacob
33. One place that I go over and over?Montana De Oro
34. One person who emails me regularly?Facebook
35. Favorite place to eat? Villa Creek

So, I did answer some of those with 2-3 words, but they were names of things, so it’s okay I’m pretty sure most of the blogs I read already got this so…I won’t link peeps. If you haven’t…do it! I love reading these things, too!

Okay guys, I think I’ve made this post long enough. Enjoy the last bit of your weekend!