In Love With My Best Friend

I often write about how our weekends are filled with fun adventures, good food, and great friends. This past weekend Brett and I spent it as we rarely get to do - just us. He was so sweet in wanting the weekend to be exactly what I wanted because I started back to work today. He wanted to take me out to dinner on Friday night, but I had beat him to the plans and cooked us a sensational meal. I tried something new and cooked scallops. So easy and turned out oh so yummy! Paired with green beans, one of my fav side dishes - Rice w/ white raisins - and a chilled bottle of Riesling we spent the evening chatting away on the patio.
We set the alarm Saturday morning and bright early we were out the door. Our first stop was of course, Starbucks for the usual and then we headed to the French Market. We shared a delicious cinnamon chip scone and bought some corn for the week. After returning home, we geared up for our cross training which turned into a bike riding adventure through DuPage County's Prairie Path and Forest Preserve Trails with stops at Herrick Lake and the Danada Equestrian Center. We ultimately rode about 13 miles and my behind was screaming when I lowered myself from the bike!

Brett took this picture of me in the racing corrals for the horses!By the time we got back to Wheaton we were starving and it just so happened that the local bank was having a community cookout so we stopped off there for some free hot dogs, live music and what every suburban cookout needs - a petting zoo! The pot belly pig was my favorite while Brett fell in love with a goat, pregnant with twins!
We went to rest for bit but were still looking for something else to do. At about 3:00 we decided to go to the Cosely Zoo, a very small local zoo that is free to the public! We spent an hour there...a great place for small children (if anyone questioned the creepy couple without kids, our plan was to say we were researching for when we do have them) but there are not too many animals on exhibit so we weren't there long.

Saturday night turned into date night and we dined at the lovely Buffalo Wild Wings. Oh how I love the yumminess of that place! After dinner we were off to the movies to see none other than...The Time Traveler's Wife (see why I love Brett?!?!) which happened to not be nearly as good as the book, big surprise, but that is beside the point. We enjoyed the movie and ended the night with some ice cream from Oberweis - chocolate peanut butter for me and a chocolate malt for he!

Sunday we had our longest run yet. I am happy to report that we ran 8 miles in 81 minutes and 24 seconds. We walked only about 2 minutes of that!!! We were on a high from our run and cooled down with Jamba Juice and that is were our weekend ended. We spent the rest of the day lying on the couch, snoozing, watching TV and playing cards.

I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to someone I can call my best friend. I sincerely had the best weekend spending time with Brett doing fun little things. That is what I call true happiness.

Outrageous Oatmeal Cookies

Here's a recipe for some delicious oatmeal raisin cookies. Brett mentioned the other day that he thought they were his favorite kind of cookie so I thought I would surprise him today. I can't wait until he comes home and gets to have a big plate of these with a cold glass of milk. After we run of course! Hope you like...

Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

I have wanted to read this book for a while, but I will admit it wasn't until the advertisements and previews for the movie that I really wanted to read it. The movie looked like just my kind of flick...a little love, a little romance, the perfect chic movie so of course this has to be the perfect chi book, right? Yes and no! I broke down and bought the book last Friday because 'i was tired of waiting to be moved to #1 on the library's wait list. I am always a little hesitant to buy books because there will be some I will not read again. well, this will become one of those books that will be read over and over. I digress...back to my yes and no to being the perfect chic book. Yes this is a love story. A truly amazing love story that transcends time, age, and all the nuances in between. What I liked about this book though was that it did not follow your typical plot line. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Enter some dramatic problem. Problem solved. Boy and girl live happily ever after. This book truly makes you question the extent to which your decision affect the direction your life is going versus that of fate, predetermined destiny. I thought at one point I knew what was going to happen, but I was wrong and glad for it. Audrey Niffenger takes a difficult story line and does an impeccable job of guiding the reader through the story without ever getting lost. Not a difficult task considering that every other page is a different year and age for the characters. Anyone looking for a book to curl up with and not put down until the very last word is read - this is it. Not only will you love every second of reading it, you will be left wondering about the possibilities of time travel and thinking of the love story of Clare and Henry.

A Very Funny Martha Moment

So this may not be the most politically correct thing ever said but it made me laugh out loud and I wanted to share.

This morning I had the TV on as cleaned for background noise. The Today show turned into Martha Stuart with Joan Rivers as her guest. I turned off the vacuum to answer the phone, ended the call and watched for a few moments. As Martha was showing Joan how to make a purse for Valentine's Day the following conversation took place:

Martha: Do you have a sewing machine?

Joan: Are you crazy?!?!?

Martha: You should get yourself one for when you get old (this in itself is funny to me because that women must be 90, but that is what $80,000 of plastic surgery will do for you) and have time. You know, I have a room in my house with ten sewing machines that all do different things.

Joan: You should send those to Angelina Jolie and she could put her kids to work.

I am sorry I just busted out laughing!

Happy Friday!

Some good eats!

It seems as thought this summer, I have not got to do a lot of something that I love and that is cook. The training plan that Brett and I are following has us running every night during the week and since he gets home so late, we usually end up with something quick and easy when we get back. This week, though, we were in for two yummy treats. Last Sunday we had the perfect day...one of those that you sit and quietly pray would never come to an end. After our long run in the morning, we enjoyed coffee and donuts (thanks Nat and Jase!) on the patio and then spent the afternoon reading on our new lounge chairs. When our bellys started growling loud enough to hear, Brett fired up the grill and made some amazing steaks while I boiled some of the best corn ever ( Mirai corn from the Wheaton French Market, but there early, it goes fast). Doesn't this look like a happy boy ready to eat some meat!

We also had some tasty wine (in the backgorund) with such a clever name - Vin De City Red :-)

Last night, I tried a new recipe that Sam had given to me from her Rachael Ray magazine: Chili Stuffed Zucchini. Click the link for the recipe, but I did make a few changes and have some ideas for next time. First, I used ground turkey instead of beef. I also had no idea what pickled jalapenos were so I used regular slices like you would put in nachos. Next time i would buy the hot ones thought because they didn't have much of a kick. The recipe also suggested that you could sue potatoes instead of zucchini, but I really like the zucchini! I would definitely make this again, but I think I would go with an Italian taste for a change. Season the meat with some basil and oregano, use mozzarella cheese and maybe even sprinkle on some bread crumbs. Very tasty and the possibilities are endless. And last, this was the fabulous snack I had yesterday afternoon that allowed me to beat my four mile time by two minutes! Water, shades, and some light reading only made it better...

Fresh banana, organic cottage cheese, and a dark chocolate granola cookie, Mmmmmm!!!!

What have I been reading...

I know I have done a little complaining about how busy I have been and that I have been feeling a bit stressed. In between summer school, classes, yard sale,and all the other things that have been keeping me running, I have found some time to read. At the beginning of the summer I made a summer reading list for myself. Unfortunately, it took me half the summer to get started and it seems that these books are on a lot of other people's list and are difficult to get from the library.

But, so far I have read the following chic books and was not disappointed by any of them:

• Such A Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
• Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster
• Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
• Something Blue by Emily Griffin
• Shopaholic Ties the Know by Sophie Kinsella

And I read the following non chic book and was not disappointed in it either:

• Night by Elie Wiesel
  

Not bad given that it took me until half way through July to get started...

So, anyone read anything else that I should move to the top of my list? Happy Reading!

Scotty comes to town!

Last week my brother Scott and his friend Stephanie came to spend some time with us. We had a busy and fun filled week showing them around. The highlight of their trip was Wednesday night when the went to see Blue Man Group. They loved it and even got be part of the show - the people who come in late.
Brett and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Jack's on Halstead while they were there. The food was so good, you only get to see what was left or rather, what was not left on my plate...
On Saturday we went downtown. We decided for a change in mode of transportation that we would try out the water taxi. So fun! I think from now on, I will go to the city and just a ride around on one. I never knew how many neat things there were to see from the river level. I now have a whole new list of restaurants to try! The ride really gives you a whole new perspective of the city and Brett had dun seeing what kinds of pictures he could take. Pretty cool...

After our water taxi ride, we exited onto Navy Pier. It is such a touristy pace, but I always enjoy walking around and being close to the water. Everyone was staved so we had a very delicious lunch at Bubba Gump's and then did a bit of shopping on Michigan Avenue, where Stephanie made her first Tiffany's purchase.

I always love when one of the boys come to visit and this trip was no different. I do however wonder if they'll ever make a trip out together...hahahaha! We did a few other things - made ribs on the grill, tye-dyed t shirts, shopped at Woodfield, went to the outlets and otherwise just hung out. Another great summer visit!

Just checking in...

Here I am again...stopping by for quick hello and a quick update. The past week has been a blast - two teenagers int he house! Scotty and his friend Stephanie came for a visit and just left last night. So one of my many "To Do"s today is to download pics and give them a respectable post.

So what else is going on? I have two distance learning classes due at the end of July and I have barely started them. Distance Learning means that you sign up for a class over a to month period, they send you all assignments and reading materials and you have to be self motivated enough to budget your time to complete these classes. Well, I took two over May and June and two over June and July and here I am with a lot of work to do.

Tomorrow is our Summer Challenge Day meeting. For anyone who doe snot know what Challenge Day is I urge you to go to ChallengeDay.org and see what it's all about. Here's a little preview:


I told you in the last post that I had a bit of a surprise. Well, the surprise is that as of the start of this school year, I will be starting a new position. Still in the same school and still special ed teacher but in a much different capacity. Before, I was the inclusion facilitator and worked mostly with students with Asperger's Syndrome, something I became very involved in and passionate about. I accepted a new role as an instructional teacher that will allow me to have my very own classroom and actually teach! I will be teaching 4 English classes and will have a caseload of about 10 kids. What a change and a challenge it will be but I am so excited. My own classroom is something that I have been wanting and this opportunity, while very hard to make, will be a good next step! My old job has been filled by a new teacher. She is a doll and I think she will do a phenomenal job. even better, I was asked to be her mentor (so awesome, but add in another 2 days of training for that!) so we will be able to work together to make this an easy transition.

With everything else I have going on, the thought of this new job has been making me very anxious. Needless to say I have not done a lot of the things I wanted to this summer, mainly take too much time for myself. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will be able to do that. For now, I will stop blogging, get off of facebook, and stop checking my email so that I can work on my classes. First up - Teaching with the Brain in Mind!

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Worst Blogger Ever Award

Yep - that is the award I am giving myself for my lack of posting over the last two weeks. I received the following email tonight:

Marissa,
Are you guys ok? No blog-aganza in over 2 weeks???? You've got me worried.
Love you,
Aunt Z

And so I decided that it was time to catch y'all up on where in the world the Clancys have been. I don't even know where to begin because we have just been so darn busy.

1. My baby brother turned 18 on June 27. Happy Birthday buddy!

2. We attended a wedding of the brother of a long time friend of Brett's. He's always been close with their family and it was such a great night! Who doesn't love a good time in Bloomington!

3. The Brownlees came to town! The first night here, we had a delicious meal of ribs cooked on the grill by the Mr. and they were YUMMY!!! I managed to get a picture of everyone tearing the meat off the bone and Brett got a good one of my - very dirty and a little embarrassing! As always, they did not disappoint with the amount of work they got done. Thanks to Dad the fence and garage is painted and thanks to Mom the flowers are happy and the jungle is gone form behind the garage. Scott - as always supervised.

4. We went to the July 4th Cubs game and spent the entire day in Wrigleyville with the Bergers and their friends. What a day!

5. We had a yard sale this weekend so that pretty much took up all of last week trying to get organized and ready for the sale. It was lots of fun though simply for the fact that people that come to yard sales are...interesting.

6. We had a girls day at Wrigley...Natalie, Jess, Sam and I headed to Wednesday's game and had a blast. A little rain never stopped us from having fun!

6. And last, but certainly not least, we just finished Week 3 of training! That means 9 weeks until the race. Today was our longest run yet - 5 miles - and it was the first time I have ever run that far. It has certainly not been easy but very rewarding.

That's all for now...our schedules don't seem to hold much down time in the future so it may be another two weeks until I post. Scott is coming to visit again this week, a few weddings coming up, summer school wraps up this week, and I have a some good news to report soon. It is exciting but I will wait until I have time to give it a post unto itself. However, it does not involve babies!!!

Well wishes to all my friends and family who read. I love that I have this outlet to let you all know what is going on in our crazy life. I have recently been feeling a little overwhelmed by everything but I am reminded on a daily basis that my life is filled with the most wonderful people to support me. For that I thank you all!

Another catch up blog!

Happy Friday! Things have been super busy around here lately. We saw the Cubs beat the Indians last weekend AND I got my picture taken with Ronnie "Woo Woo".

Monday we started training. I mean for real. The Chicago Half Marathon is on September 13 and we are officially registered. There is no turning back now. We are following a training plan by Hal Higdon that came highly recommended by an awesome girl that I work with who truly went from walking to running her first marathon this year! The first week wasn't too bad other than all the running we did was in 90 or above weather. It's true love when Brett will still give me a "good job" kiss with all that sweat running down my face!

Today I am trying to accomplish a million chores. OK, that is an exaggeration but I feel like there are a million things on my To Do list. We are leaving in the morning for a wedding and then driving straight to the airport Sunday to pick up my parents and Scott who are flying in a for a few days! So excited to see them but I want the house to be ready when they get here so it all needs done today! I am making some new recipes given to me by the lovely Mrs. Natalie Leslie Billings. Since I probably won't be blogging for a while, I will share them with you and give you some fun summer treats to make!

Chicken Salad

Bake 3-4 chicken breasts, shred or cut up in cubes
1 cup green seedless grapes, quartered
2 1/2 oz. raw almonds, slivered or chopped by a food processor
1/2 c. Helmans mayo
1/2 c. miracle whip, or to taste
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp sugar

Mix all ingredients together - great served on mini crescent rolls

Strawberry Fluff Something
1 pkg. Cream Cheese
1 c. COLD milk
1 3.4 oz box dry vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 c. thawed cool whip
20 Nilla wafers
1/2 c. strawberry ice cream topping
About 12 strawberries, quartered

DIRECTIONS:
Beat cream cheese until creamy.
Gradually add in cold milk.
Add in dry pudding to mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

STIR in cool whip, strawberries, broken up nilla wafers, and strawberry topping

Freeze and thaw for a while before serving in waffle cups.
If you prefer, you could put entire mixture into a chocolate or graham cracker crust and freeze.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!