My New Favorite App Obsessions

Happy Hump day!! I’ve got some hot “tips” for you all today 😉 I’m not really sure how I ever lived without my iphone, as sad as that is to say. It gives me directions, finds me local restauraunts, can answer random trivia questions, plays music all day long, and keeps me in constant touch with the rest of the world (not always a good thing!). I recently downloaded 2 new apps and am LOVING them so I wanted to share them with you. One is a fun app and one is a more practical app (but is still a lot of fun!). Both apps are free to download from iTunes! #winning First on the list: QuizUp! I discovered this app while on February vacation, and immediately got sucked into it. This is a trivia app that has questions in almost any category that you can think of – more than 350! (and they are constantly being updated). I’ve played questions in categories such as Harry Potter, Disney movies, Psychology, Food, Human Body, Spelling, Name the Pop Star, Health, Food Logos, and Fashion. You can either play against random people and/or you can challenge your friends to matches (You don’t have to play at the same time, and you’ll see the results once you both have finished). I’ve gotten P and K both addicted to the game as well!

One of the best things about the app (besides the breadth of categories) is that each game is 7 rounds and takes approximately 2 minutes! You only have 10 seconds to answer each question (which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it usually is)! So, you can use this game as a brain break – or (and I guess this is a con), you can get sucked in and end up playing for 30 minutes. But at least you feel like you might be getting smarter! You get more points the faster you answer, and the winner is the one with the most points- which can change at the last second since round 7 is double points!

It’s fun to play with your friends, but I’ve also played “matches” against people from all over the world! You “level up” in each of the various categories as you play and earn points (i.e, I’m level 10 in Psychology and level 1 in Spelling). You get to choose the category that you want to play as well. It’s a ton of fun and I really like playing against friends – P and I sometimes play against one another when we are seated on the couch next to one another – and K and I just continue to play the “food” category! Sometimes you’ll get repeat question, but it doesn’t happen often. There have been times when I’ve disagreed with the answer to the question, but again, that hasn’t happened often!

App #2 is called ShopKick, and it will help you to feed your Target addiction 😉 K got me into this app, and it’s quickly becoming another obsession! So, basically, you earn “kicks” (points) at various stores. A whole bunch of stores participate, such as Target, Old Navy, Walmart, American Eagle, Macys, Sports Authority, Best Buy, CVS, Victoria Secret, Home Depot, Kohls, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Gap, etc.. I think it’s based around the area that you live, but there seems to be a ton of places. You can search by store or just in the area that you are in. So, you get points just from walking into the stores (open the app as you’re entering the store, so it registers!!) and then you can also get kicks from scanning various items from within the store. The app gives you various products to scan, you find it and then scan the barcode with your camera. It’s super easy to do – I have an iPhone 4- which seems to register things slower than the 5 – P definitely is able to scan faster than I am! You also get point values for the various products. There are times when a survey pops up after you scan an item; however – you are able to “X out” without being penalized. You can also link your credit card to the app to earn more kicks – I haven’t yet done this.

So, why do the kicks? These add up, and you can choose from a TON of different rewards to work for – gift cards to stores or restaurants, actual items (clothing, purses, headphones), gas – there are tons of possibilities. Obviously, some rewards are a TON of points – but you can change your rewards anytime that you want! I’ll take a $50 gift card to Target for just scanning items – thanks!

Of course, you can look a little silly racing through the aisles to scan items – but you can also make it into a scavenger hunt!! I’m not afraid to mention that P and spent some time in Target hunting down items to scan … it’s more fun with a friend! At one point, we came upon 5-6 items that had been left on a shelf (ones that you could scan). So, clearly, someone else was using their ShopKick app too! So yes, you may look a little silly, but hey, if you’re going to be at Target anyway, you might as well earn some free stuff, right?! Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with either of these apps in any way– I just really enjoy using both of them and wanted to share with you! You should definitely give these Apps a try – you can get them both for free through the iTunes store – let me know what you think of them – and if you wanna play me 😉 Answer me this: Have you tried these Apps? What are you favorite Apps that you use every day? And on a completely unrelated note –anyone have a good birthday cake recipe?

~ Brittany xo

Weekend Stories: Think Spring Edition

Hellooooooooooooooo, how was your weekend? The weather was amazing here in NY this weekend – and even though it was more than a little wet – I have to say I enjoyed the warm-up for a few days! After all, that’s what rain boots are for J Sadly, today we are back to more typical February temperatures and I am currently back to work – most likely prying my eyes open since I’ve been home for the last week! The first day back to school is always the worst part of vacation. But, as always, my body will be happy to be back on a more regular schedule!!

So, this weekend was a lot of fun – mostly because we were able to venture outside the house without 10 layers of clothing and a shovel! We spent the first part of the day at a car dealership, as P’s lease will be up in the next couple of months. I wish I could tell you a fun story about a crazy/sleazy car salesman – but P had made the appointment ahead of time and warned them not to pair him with someone who was pushy! P has been known to walk out of a dealership due to said personality – but we not successful, since the price we were presented with was ridiculous – well if we wanted to eat and pay our mortgage anyway! So maybe I’ll have some better blog stories in the future! We are looking to put at least one of us in a bigger vehicle, as Fiona doesn’t really fit comfortably in a car for long periods of time, and you know, hopefully we will be needing a car seat or 2 in the new car! I did get Starbucks out of the car shopping deal, and look what I spotted while we were waiting at the drive-thru! It made me smile.

A mini snowman! With penny buttons!

We spent the afternoon at P’s parent’s house with the rest of the fam – it was nice to see them and chat for a few hours! We then hurried home to walk the dog – check out this snow fort that I spotted on our walk the other day! I was a little concerned that it might cave on the little snow architect – but isn’t it so cute? Remember when snow provided hours of amusement?

We then headed out to our local taco joint with K to celebrate a very, very important day – Did you know that Saturday was National Margarita day!?!? There was no way I wasn’t celebrating that one!! Bomber’s Burrito Bar (home of the infamous birthday margarita) makes some pretty delicious margaritas! Plus they are in a mason jar – how can you NOT love drinking out of a mason jar?? And they also make something called a “Jimbo” (1/2 beer and ½ frozen margarita together – it sounds disgusting, but it’s really popular! P loves them) Margaritas make me think of summer and flip flops… can’t come soon enough! I’ll bet you can’t guess which one mine was …

On Sunday morning, P went to his soccer game, and I got my workout in – Tina’s BBBC pyramid workout for the win J Then we headed out the door quickly for our Sunday date day J We had heard about “NY in Bloom” at the NYS Museum, thanks to a FB post from our wedding florist! At only $5 admission, it was a steal for a fun afternoon! Various florists, garden club members, and designers in the Albany area created over 100 unique floral arrangements that went along with the  museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions. There was also demonstrations (which we missed, sadly), and a flower market J I haven’t been to the NYS museum in forever, and it was really neat to wander around and see all the various arrangements and designs. Here’s a few of our favorites:

Pretty J

This went with one of the bird exhibits

This was the design by the florist for our wedding – it was hard to get a good shot, as he designed the entryway to the museum – it was filled with this cool furniture, large arrangements, and antler chandeliers covered in moss. It was pretty impressive!!

All in all, totally worth the $10 for the 2 of us – and it was a nice change for a date day – I wish we had taken pictures of some of the arrangements that really looked like their exhibits! We also discovered that the museum is a fantastic place to people watch – which is one of our most favorite pastimes!! We finished up as the show was ending and the flower market was selling their flowers 2 for $1, so we scored some cute little roses! Fresh flowers always make me happy and roses are some of my favorites! All in all, it was a great day with my favorite guy ❤

In other VERY EXCITING news – I FOUND BOOTS THAT FIT! Remember my plight of not being able to find boots that fit my calves? I found several pairs at Macy’s that were under the “wide calf” distinction. So I went with the ones with the largest circumference and held my breath! (Plus side – they were on sale, and I was using gift cards, #score!) And THEY FIT! It’s the small things, right? I love them J

Yay for amazing weekends – now if only we felt the way about Mondays, right? Here’s some humor for your day….. Cause I sure need it! These came from an email my dad sent to me:

Almost through the first day of the week – baby steps! Hope you’re having a great one

Answer me this: Did you celebrate National Margarita Day? (mine was the blue one, by the way) What was the best part of your weekend?

~ Brittany xo

Life Lately

Long time no talk!! How are ya? Since I kinda sorta disappeared off the grid, I thought we’d just play a little catch-up today! So, grab yourself a cup of coffee (or other beverage of choice) and a little snack, and let’s rewind to Valentine’s day! P and I had a fabulous dinner together, and then we headed to the Darius Rucker concert—we were lucky enough to have box seats through P’s company and we had a great view J The concert was really good –despite the opening acts sounding off key/muffled – and we had a ton of fun!

Look, I even managed to curl my hair (with my straightener!) and I was pretty pleased – especially since I apparently did not get the female “I can make my hair look amazing” gene

And then we had a quick change for the concert!!

P and I pretended that we were in our 20s again on Friday, and didn’t get home until after 2AM – party animals! And check out my yummy goodies from my Valentine – chocolate cake balls and chocolate covered strawberries from Cocadotts – a local bakery (they were on Cupcake Wars!) – he sure knows the way to my heart J

I tried to be a little creative with my gift – I picked up some of P’s favorite snacks, and attached little corny notes to them. (PS I accidently tried his bufflo chicken wing pretzels – omg, I’m addicted!! I can’t stay out of them!)

We also made sure that we hit up Dunkin’ Donuts for heart-shaped donuts! I can attest that the brownie batter one tastes exactly like brownie batter (or a bowl of sugar!) The cookie batter one wasn’t AS good!

The weekend was spent with scouting out some materials for a wedding project, some house cleaning/errands, and having dinner with my BFF K, who is back in town for the week (hooray!!). On Monday we spent the day in VT at the outlets – we thought that we’d find some great deals since it was President’s Day weekend – but the pickings were kinda slim We did have fun, and visited our favorite taco joint, Cilantros, for lunch though!

Monday ended by heading over to see my parents and BOOK OUR HONEYMOON 😀 !!!!!!!!!! That was SUPER exciting. We are headed to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas after we are Mr. & Mrs. I’m thinking of putting a picture of the island on the fridge to remind me that the stupid snow is not going to last forever! Paradise, here we come!

Tuesday was pretty much low key – I finished cleaning the house, hit up the library, and went to the grocery store. Nothing thrilling. P and I did make sure to have wine with our veggie burgers though – it WAS National Drink Wine day – couldn’t let that pass on by without celebrating!

Yesterday, I had a lunch date with K and Carolyn, at this adorable little restaurant called the Tailored Tea House that was I dying to try (despite my aversion to tea!). The place is so cute inside and you feel like you are having lunch at your grandmother’s house – complete with lace tablecloths, and mismatched china and cloth napkins—adorable. I was a bad blogger and didn’t take pictures – mostly because I couldn’t really do it inconspicuously! But I had a ½ salad and ½ sandwich combo along with a cranberry and pecan scone – it was DELICIOUS! We ladies also polished off 2 pieces of cake – chocolate, and a salted caramel crunch cake (which was BEYOND amazing) and sat and chatted for quite some time. There’s nothing quite like hanging out with your girl friends and chatting about anything and everything! K came home with me to work on some wedding things, and she ended up staying over for dinner – taco night again (haha). I love when she’s home 😀 It was a good day.

Not much on the agenda today – a BBBC workout as soon as I hit publish, dinner prep, cleaning, and making sure to take my little lady for a walk today since it’s supposed to hit 40 degrees here today! Yay! Later on this evening, I have a doctor’s appointment that I’m definitely dreading … I finally made an appointment to have the cyst on my hand looked at, as it’s been progressively getting worse and hurts all the time. I’m more than a little anxious about it… let’s all hope it goes well, and that something can be done with the gross bump on my wrist – I’m not sure if my PCP will be able to drain it or if I’ll have to go elsewhere.

Ok, now you’re all caught up! J I sure feel better – have definitely been feeling a little anxious about my poor neglected blog – but I just haven’t felt like writing! So hopefully I’m now back on track – and I should probably go do something that I would deem as “productive!!” Hope that you are able to get some Vitamin D in your neck of the woods today! Happy Thursday!

Answer me this: favorite taco toppings? (mine are greek yogurt, avocado, and Newman’s tequila lime salsa!) Favorite place to shop? What have you been up to?

 

~ Brittany xo

Happy Valentine’s Day Love

I am a lucky girl today – I am currently parked on my couch, starting February break a day early, due to the MASSIVE amounts of snow that we have gotten over the last day and a half. We have at least two feet outside – P was snow blowing for 2 hours this morning, and Fiona now has a puppy race track of trails in the backyard!! The snow started yesterday and has only just stopped!! Craziness, I tell you!! But, I’ll take an extra day of vacation – and snowed in isn’t so bad 😉

So, Happy Valentine’s Day dear friends!!

This is the last Valentine’s for P and I before we are Mr. & Mrs.! I know, I know, it’s pretty much a hallmark holiday …. And yes, you should be saying “I love you” every day – but still, it’s a fun holiday to celebrate, and people are generally happier on holidays. I know it’s kind of a sucky day for those who don’t have a significant other – I have certainly been there. But I say, indulge yourself today! We ALL need to practice self-love, and I think at least one little splurge is totally necessary today for all of us!

Since today is Valentine’s day, I started the day off by adding a spoonful of hot chocolate to my coffee — who am I to not partake in today’s theme food of chocolate? MMMM…. It was SO good. I think there is still leftover coffee in the pot, so I may be heading for round 2 as soon as I hit publish!!

I thought I’d also some other things that I love in honor or all things Valentine’s Day: First off, this stuff:

I know the ingredient list is far from ideal, but I seriously cannot get enough of it and have been eating it on just about everything!!

2. I love…. Painted nails. Last night I had a little “Me time” and decided to paint my nails – I love this color: enchantress by Nicole – it’s subtle, and pretty easy to clean up if you miss your nail 😉 Plus, I didn’t smear it 10 seconds after I put it in, which what I usually do!

3. I love …. Candy hearts – what is it about these things? They don’t even taste that good, and half the time you can’t read the message, but I still feel like Valentine’s Day is incomplete without them!

4. I love …. This face J the best part about snow days is that Fiona likes to snuggle and take up the entire couch. She looks annoyed because I woke her up when I took her picture.

5. I love … watching P and Fiona play in the snow – they are both SO happy as they chase one another around like crazy people, and it makes my heart happy

6. I love … Hannaford (store) brand cinnamon and Autumn spice granola. I gave it a whirl 2 weeks ago – and I was pleasantly surprised that I loved it! I am so particular about my granola – it has to be crunchy, and these 2 kinds did not disappoint! The Autumn spice one has dried apples in it! Plus, the store brand is so much more cost effective than my fancy schmancy brands.

7. I love … great runs. Despite missing being able to run outside, I’ve had some really great treadmill runs this week – the kind where you feel like you can just keep going and going. I do think I need to buy new shoes though – I am definitely starting to get some shin pain that I haven’t had in almost a year

8. I love…. MY valentine. I couldn’t have a Valentine’s Day post without P J Today is one of those days when I can be totally corny and sappy about how crazy in love with him I am – I am truly blessed to have a man who loves me so much and works so hard to make me happy. ❤

I hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by everyone who loves you (and if you’re dealing with HOLY SNOW BATMAN, please be careful!). We are going out to an early dinner this evening, and then are headed to a Darius Rucker concert for our Valentine’s Day — we are super excited, since we LOVE Darius Rucker — I think P may have a little bit of a #mancrush – but hey, dude can sing! Let’s just hope that nothing gets canceled due to this crazy weather!!

Answer me this: Tell me something that you’re loving today!

~ Brittany xo

Weekend Stories: The Cold Edition

Another Monday is upon us… and apparently another snow storm is headed this way at the end of the week. I don’t know about you – but I’ve totally had enough snow to last… oh, I don’t know, forever? I need to move to Hawaii!

It was a good little weekend around these here snowy parts –1 day of go-go-go fun, and one day that was a little more laid back. I’ll take it, for sure!! I think that if I had not slept so crappy, I would have been ready to approach Monday with a big ole smile (although part of that may be due to the fact that after this week I’ll be on February break). I was awake from about 12:45-2:30 for no good reason – just completely wide awake, and once my brain gets going, it’s the snowball effect! Yuck.

P found/created these amazing little beauties for breakfast on Saturday.

Breakfast with a side of puppy J

He had originally asked me what I wanted on Friday evening for breakfast the next day – to which I replied waffles – but I didn’t really want to clean the waffle maker! (In our house, when one person cooks, the other person is in charge of the cleaning – although we usually end up doing it together anyway). We then also discovered that we were almost out of pancake mix. P originally wanted to make pancake “cups” in a muffin tin (where they collapse in on themselves) – but most recipes called for 6 eggs! So, he made these amazingly awesome pancake, bacon, and egg cups! It’s essentially pancake mix on the bottom of a muffin tin – you cook it for about 4 minutes, and then wrap bacon (we used turkey bacon) around the muffin tin well and crack an egg into it – then you bake them! We used this recipe here. P also made some plain pancake … fritters? Mini muffins? They were pretty delicious too!

Sadly, the did not pop out of the muffin in any way shape or form, and it was a labor of love to get the muffin tins clean – I should have just washed the waffle maker, haha!! But we dipped these yummy things in syrup, and I just finished off the last 2 for breakfast this morning!! They definitely have staying power as well, which is awesome!!

The rest of Saturday was pretty much occupied with adult beverages. Somehow I got talked into attending Winter BrewFest – which all revolved around craft beers that you could sample – and I don’t drink beer – can’t find one that I actually like, although I’ve desperately tried to find one!! However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were also hard ciders to test!! WE tried one cider that was made by a brewery called McKenzie’s – apple pie cider – stuff was AMAZING and tasted just like apple pie. Somehow, I need to get my hands on some.

Apple pie in liquid form!

So, myself, P, and some of my co-workers (with their +1s) had a great time trying out different beers – or just stalking the apple pie cider booth, in my case. Down side: we were inside, but the heat wasn’t on. Sadly, that totally added a damper to the whole experience L We were totally frozen after a couple hours, and headed to a local restaurant to regain feeling in our extremities! We also chowed down on some appetizers – P and I had a chicken satay that was pretty tasty – especially the peanut sauce it came with 😉

Please notice everyone’s winter coats…

(side note: the lovely lady all the way on the right is a good friend of mine, and she just started her own blog –show her some love at embracingpapertigers.wordpress.com! She’s pretty hilarious!)

P and I were then off to a dinner date with my parents at an Italian restaurant – the food was nothing special, but the company was more important anyway. It’s kinda neat when you start actually being friends with your parents J All in all, a pretty spectacular Saturday.

Unfortunately, Sunday wasn’t as much fun. I have been fighting some sort of virus/cold in my body and chest for a while now, and I think traipsing around in the freezing cold on Saturday did nothing good for me. I woke up during the night coughing my brains out, and that’s pretty much how I spent most of Sunday L I did do some cleaning and got my workout in … but yeah, by mid-afternoon, my body had quit on me, and I pretty much laid low for the rest of the evening. Thankfully, P is an angel and did all the running around for us so that I was able to stay home and out of the cold!!

Still all in all – a weekend that was a good mix of fun and downtime. Hopefully this “thing” in my chest goes away soon – seems to be a little better at the moment.

Random side note: Does anyone else have a HORRIBLE time finding boots to fit? I’ve been searching for weeks for a pair or low heel “riding” boots, and none of them fit my calves! I’m now searching online for a “wide calf” boot, but I have to go home and measure the circumference – geesh. I just want cute boots to wear. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has this issue!

No questions today, just tell me whatever pops into your head on this lovely Monday 😉

~ Brittany xo

Italian for Beginners {Book Review}

It’s been quite some time since we talked books around here! I PROMISE that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading though! And interestingly, the book I’m posting about today is not from the book club that I’m in – sadly, I have not enjoyed either of the books we’ve read so far! Book club is on Monday, so maybe third time’s the charm? If you have any good book club suggestions, send ’em my way!

Last night I finished reading, Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel. Kristin is a new-to-me author, and when I picked the book out of the library, I thought it would be an easy fun to ready to throw in amidst my murder mysteries. It was definitely an easy read—but maybe that’s because I couldn’t put it down! It definitely did not end up being a “fluff” read at all!

The book synopsis reads: “Cat Connelly plays it safe. She’s an accountant with no debt who lives near her family in Manhattan. She’s also thirty-four, unmarried, and with nothing promising on her romantic horizon. After a humiliating incident at her sister’s wedding, she throws caution to the wind and flies off to Rome to find Francesco, the man she’d fallen in love with thirteen years earlier on a trip to Italy. When Francesco turns out to be a dud, Cat is adrift on the streets of Rome, no safety net in sight. With the help of an eccentric waitress with a spare apartment to rent, the handsome restaurateur who calls her Princess Ann, and the family secrets only Rome can unlock for her, Cat discovers that happiness can be found on the back of a speeding Vespa… but only if you’re willing to take a few risks.”

Cat is an extremely likeable character – but maybe that’s because she kind of reminded me so much of myself. She tends to play it safe and is always worried about what everyone else needs and wants. I think that women, especially those who are Type A, tend to do this a lot – leaving themselves on the back burner. But Cat also has a past that has created a lot of this stress and tendency to play it safe as well, and it has also created an immense burden that she carries around with her. It’s only when she starts to face her past and decided to stop playing it so safe that she really starts to find herself.

I kinda found myself wishing I could jump on a plane to a foreign place so that I could actually forget about everything else going on around me, and just focus on what I want and needed. I think that’s pretty much impossible to do in your daily life when you have responsibilities that you concentrate on!

There was a passage that really stuck out to me, and it read like this:

“But maybe the world wasn’t as black-and-white as I’d thought it was. Maybe I was ignoring a whole spectrum of colors. Funny how I could see all those complexities so sharply through the lens of my camera, but without it to hide behind, I reverted to the safe simplicity of wrong or right, without considering all the shades in between. It had always seemed like the perfect way to view the world, because it left little room for error. But now, I was realizing that perhaps the viewpoint has been one big error all along” (p.301)

I thought about this passage for quite some time. I am a VERY black-and-white thinker (just as P!) – I struggle when there is no “right” answer – and I’m pretty sure that comes from my perfectionist tendencies. I like things to be clean and not convoluted, and I see myself as a “failure” if I’m wrong. I can sometimes struggle with having an opinion on things or making a decision because there is no “right” answer. But when I stopped to think about it, I realized: how much am I missing when I’m only focused on these two colors!?! And how do I start to embrace the grays, and then purples, blues, and reds – how do I let go of that black and white thinking? How do you stop being so safe? I haven’t yet figured out the answer to this! But I do know that only thinking in dichotomies isn’t the way to go. Not everything is black/white or right/wrong. I tend to be an overly empathetic, emotional person, and sometimes I think it’s just easier on my heart if I only think in terms of black and white.

Anyway – I love books that make you think. Plus, I loved the descriptions of Italy and Rome, and Cat’s story. I enjoyed following her on her journey to start finding and loving herself, and I certainly thought about her and her cohorts after the book was finished J To me, that usually means it’s been a really good book when I start to miss the characters!!

Bottom line: this was a great read that felt like going on a soul-searching vacation with a good friend. I’m definitely looking forward to reading another Kristin Harmel novel! Let me know if you’ve read this one, or any of her others! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Answer me this: are you a black and white thinker too? How do you “get out of the box” and think in color? Any book club suggestions?

 

~ Brittany xo

Winter “Wonderland”

Well … it finally happened ….

** SNOW DAY**

Despite the massive amount of snow that the northeast has experienced, we have somehow managed to avoid the majority of it – we have had some wicked snow storms, but they’ve always been on the weekend. So, this is the first snow day that we’ve actually used. I have no idea how much snow has actually fallen at this point, but it has to be a least a foot! School actually closed last night, so that took all the pressure off for waiting for the call at 5AM!

So, I am currently parked on my couch, watching the snow fall – and the lack of plows coming down the street, since where I live is notorious for not getting plowed … unless its 5AM, or you’ve just been outside for the last 90 minutes shoveling … which is what I WAS just doing. Let me tell you – great workout – minus the DOMS in my entire upper body thanks to a fantastic muscle fatigue workout from Best Body Bootcamp!

So the day started off with this fantastic breakfast:

We tried making the Biggest Loser Veggie Frittata with Turkey Bacon for this week’s breakfasts, and we’ve decided that this one has more taste than the Mexican ones that we made 2 weeks prior. So, I had one of those, and also toasted a banana bread English muffin – (P brought them home after I informed him that we NEEDED hot chocolate and donuts in case we were snowed in today, lol), topped with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. You can’t have banana bread without chocolate chips! #yum

It was also nice to get my workout in during the day instead of after work – I did my long run while starting to watch the Biggest Loser finale – and then finished it while I was eating lunch. Quick side note about BL: I’m a big fan of that show – has certainly has motivated me through a lot of runs lately – but I was absolutely APALLED at the sight of the winner, Rachel – she has been my favorite for most of the season, but she looked so unhealthy and almost anorexic – (obviously, I am not a doctor or nutritionist, nor do I know anything about her lifestyle habits, I’m just going off of what she looked like). The fact that she was able to drop 155 pounds in a short amount of time concerns me. I hope that it doesn’t cause a whole new set of problems for her now…

I also did a few things around the house, got sucked into the vortex that is Pinterest for wedding things, and snuggled with a sleeping dog. I also played in the snow with Fiona, which means that she is now gone back to sleep, and has stolen the entire heating blanket to make herself a nest! All in all, a pretty stellar day – a much more enjoyable than spending it at work!! Definitely a nice hump day break J

And now, I think it’s totally time for some caramel hot chocolate, don’t you? 😉

Answer me this: favorite snow day activities? Are you a biggest loser fan?

~ Brittany xo