White Chili

Looking through my blogs as I do daily, I came across a white chili recipe from Plain Chicken. It looked easy and delicious so Hannah (one of my roommates) and I decided to try it out tonight. 

We adapted a few things from the original recipe. Here it is!


Ingredients: 
4 seasoned and cooked chickened breasts 
1/2 cooked onion
3 cups chicken broth
2 cans cannellini beans, drained
1 can green chiles
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a big pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

Optional: Top with Monterey Jack cheese, salsa, and sour cream.

My dinner!

I have to say I was really impressed on how it turned out. It was quite delicious and tasted great on a chilly night! I would highly recommend it because it's really easy! 

Music Monday: Catch My Breath

New song by Kelly Clarkson. I like it! (Although I may get tired of it soon...if that makes sense....)

Sibling Love

Since the whole family was home for Thanksgiving my Mom wanted to get a picture of us to use for this year's Christmas card. This is it! What do you think? We took several shots and this one was the best. Bailey's eyes do some creepy things when we use the flash. 

I sure like it a lot! :)

Christmas Candy

This Thanksgiving Break was once again filled with lots of candy making for Christmas. I always enjoy making it all and my family/friends usually love them ;). 

Here is what I made this year....

- Chocolate with toffee
- Vanilla with rice crispies
- Chocolate with rice crispies
- Vanilla with raisins
- Pretzel with rolo and peacan
- Chocolate covered peanut butter crackers
-Peanut butter cookies dipped in chocolate
- Chocolate dipped pretzels 

That's sure a lot of sweets! 

Thanksgiving 2012 in Pictures

Thanksgiving was spent at home with my Mom, Dad, Nick and Chris. It was a relaxing day full with lots of food! 

Lots of this action happening all day! Bailey looking for some scraps. 

Appetizer: Spinach Artichoke Dip 

Turkey, of course! 

Stuffing

Mushroom Spinach Casserole 

Blue Cheese Bacon Mashed Potatoes 

Dessert #1 Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownie

Dessert #2 Pumpkin Trifle 

 And this is what happened after the food was eaten....

Thankful to be Home after the LONGest day ever!

I had been looking to this day ALL semester. November 21st was the day I could finally come home for Thanksgiving. It would be the first day home since starting school in August and I was ready! The plan was that I would land in Hartford, CT at noon.....little did I know that didn't happen! 

Here's the story:

I left Bowling Green at 3:45 am to catch my flight in Nashville. I did not sleep well that night because I kept checking the clock, so I was running on little sleep. I arrived in Nashville, ready to board my flight to Chicago, where my layover was, and then onto Hartford. At 5:30, they announced that my flight would be delayed to 6:30 am because of the severe fog in Chicago. I thought "Ok 30 minutes won't hurt anything." Fifteen minutes later they announced that the flight was completely cancelled because of the fog. What was I supposed to do?! So I wanted in line for 45 minutes to talk to the flight peeps, they told me I will get on the 7:45 am flight to Baltimore and then after that the next available flight wasn't until 6pm to Hartford. 6PM!? What was I going to do for that long? They said there were 3 earlier flights that I could standby for. 11:05, 2:35, and 3:30. So, I was off to Baltimore.

Once I arrived in Baltimore, I ran to the 11:05 flight which was completely booked. Then it was time to wait for the 2:35 flight. So I had to figure out what to do for the next 3 hours. I had my homework with me and LUCKILY they had free wi-fi (my first "thank you" of the day). The flight time rolled around and they once again were booked, boo! So off to wait for the 3:35 one....I worked on some more homework and crossed my fingers that I would get on this flight. Waiting by the desk at 3:30...they announced my name!! (my second "thank you" of the day). I called my Mom and told her I was on my way home! I arrived in Hartford at 5 pm. 

Once in Hartford, I went to claim my luggage...once again, my unlucky-ness struck. My bag wasn't on that flight! I went to the luggage workers and asked them where it was. They said that it was probably on the 6 pm flight which I was originally booked. That flight wasn't arriving until 7:10 pm so my Mom and I went to a mall and dinner to kill some time (FYI: We live 45 minutes from the airport  so it wasn't worth going home). We ate dinner at P.F. Chang's (third "thank you" of the day). I didn't eat lunch, so I was ready to eat. It was quite delicious! After, we walked around a really nice mall. I received a text saying the flight wouldn't be in until 7:40 pm...so more time to kill, yay! (that was sarcastic by the way). We arrived at the airport at 8 pm to get my bag, to only find out that the flight was delayed until 8:30. So we sat in the cell phone lot until 8:45 rolled around. I went inside to get my bag... and guess what?? It wasn't there! I talked to the luggage people and they said they had no idea where my bag was. How did they have no idea where my bag was?! Crazy! They informed me that they would bring the bag to me that night or the next day. The good thing was I had a carry-on as well that had all my important things (fourth "thank you" of the day) like my running shoes and clothes for the 5k race the next day. After that ordeal, we were headed home. 

On our way home we go (bag-less, of course), but I was finally on in the car driving towards Southbury, CT.   As soon as I opened the door Bailey greeted me. I sure missed her! I also, saw Dad, Nick, and Chris, missed them too! My whole family is home now! (Best "thank you" of the day). I was FINALLY HOME! (at 10 pm) It sure was a long day. Looking back, even though I was stressed about getting home (and could have driven home in that amount of travel time), I was productive at the airport and made it safely home. I thank God for all my blessings and that I could be with my family for Thanksgiving! 

Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 5K = Complete! 

Take One of after race! (Sun in eyes=wrong angle)

Take TWO- Much better! We did it!

I am very thankful that I completed it, although I didn't meet my goal. The Gym, in Southbury (which is literally 3 minutes from my house) put on the Turkey Trot 5K and there were 1,000 runners/walkers. It was a big race, which I enjoy. I ran with my Mom who always motivates me when I run (once again she beat me!)

I don't want to make excuses, buttttt it was quite chilly out (low 30's) and I have not run in that kind of weather yet this year, so I think that may be one of the reasons it didn't go as well as I would have liked. Also, my breathing was terrible! I need to learn to breath through my nose and out through my mouth a lot better. That is going to be my new running goal, learn how to control my breathing when running faster!

So, my final time was 27:55 (pace 9:12) which is under 30 minutes! So I'm happy about that. My goal was 26:30, but what I did wasn't too shabby. I came in 415/1050 (all) and 35/120 in my age group. 

I have to say, it was a great way to start Thanksgiving (considering I lots and lots of food was planned for later). Hopefully I can do the race again next year!

Music Monday- Mistletoe

So I've kind of been in a Christmas mood lately and I wanted to share a song that I really like. Yeah, I know it's Justin Beiber (not a huge fan) but I do really like this song. I hope I can find a Bowling Green radio station that plays only holiday music, probably after Thanksgiving. 

Oops to Music Monday

So I forgot that I was going to do music Monday, oops! It is going to be Music Wednesday this week. 

The news in music  is I'm will be going to a Dave Matthews Band concert on December 4th in Louisville. I'm very excited! We just ordered tickets a couple of days ago. I'm going with Kevin and two other friends, Maggie and Zach. We are all looking forward to it! Because of that, here is one of my new favorite songs of DMB, Tripping Billies. 

Week CINCO (5) T-Giving 5K

WOWZER! Look at the 21 miles I managed this week! It was a beautiful week for running and I'm glad I got to run that much! Definitely a stress reliever with the semester winding down, with lots and lots of work! 

Here's how it went...
11-4-12: Ran 6.5 miles 65:00 (Ican't believe it and I'm very proud of myself :) )
11-5-12: Ran 2 miles 19:48, elliptical 40 minutes
11-6-12: Ran 4.5 miles 45:00
11-7-12: Ran 1 mile 9:38, Elliptical 50 minutes
11-8-12: Ran 3 miles 30:00, Walked on incline 20 minutes
11-9-12: Ran 4 miles 41:00
11-10-12: REST

Pro-Life and the Election

So being pro-life and all you could probably figure who I voted for in the presidential election yesterday...I honestly could not believe the results because I was so hopeful for a good outcome. This morning my Twitter and Facebook were full of election comments and I couldn't stand reading them, so I just logged off. And the news this morning talked about it so I turned off the TV. Basically I was feeling really negative....until I received an email this morning from Susan B. Anthony List....

Dear Pro-life Friend,

We have work to do.

The most pro-abortion President in our nation’s history was re-elected.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that we have heroes in Congress – some long-time warriors and some just elected just tonight – who are willing to take him on and fight for unborn children and women. But they are going to need our help.

Now is not the time to give up, but instead, I hope I can count on you to join me in fighting the President’s radical pro-abortion agenda for the next four years.

Let me make one thing clear: the pro-life cause did not lose tonight, Mitt Romney did. It is with a heavy heart that I say that he ran a campaign purely on economic issues – and time and time again did not go on offense on our issue. Polling this cycle and historical voting trends show that the pro-life issue isn’t only the right thing to do, but it is the winning thing to do politically. I’m afraid Mitt Romney and his team failed to recognize this. We will need to work on this too.

Now, let’s talk about the silver lining:

• In the U.S Senate, Deb Fischer was elected by Nebraska voters tonight. This is a major victory for unborn children and women – she joins our hero Senator Kelly Ayotte as just the second pro-life woman Senator we have in Washington. She replaces Senator Ben Nelson, a self-described pro-life Democrat who betrayed unborn children by voting for Obamacare.
• In Indiana, three major victories: Jackie Walorski won a Congressional seat. I can’t tell you how fired up she is to stand up for unborn babies and their moms in the House. Meanwhile, at the statewide level, Mike Pence and Sue Ellspermann were elected Governor and Lt. Governor. They are heroes to our cause.
• In Missouri, Ann Wagner joins the ranks of our pro-life women in the House. I’ve known her for years and can’t wait to work with her next January.
• In Iowa, Rep. Steve King is re-elected, despite a strong challenge from Christie Vilsack, a major supporter of abortion who even once directed a Planned Parenthood program. Working with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Steve King was a true, selfless hero in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood. I am so thrilled that we can count him in as one of the courageous leaders who will fight Obama’s radical abortion agenda in the House.

More victories – and more losses – will come in into the wee hours of tonight. And you can bet I’ll keep you posted as they come in.

Finally, Pro-life Friend, I’ve saved the best for last: Thanking YOU. I want to thank you for your enduring support of unborn children and women. I want to thank you for your enduring support of the SBA List. I want to thank you for everything you did to protect Life and Religious Liberty. I want to thank you for committing yourself – right now – to fighting Obama’s radical agenda and electing pro-life leaders who will pass laws that will save lives.

I can’t say it enough – thank you. Together, we will win this fight. Don’t lose faith. Unborn children and women are counting on us.

Marjorie

Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List
www.sba-list.org

This turned me into a better mood. The Pro-Life Movement is still strong and going. We can do this and I know we can! I'm proud to say that I am a member of Hilltoppers for Life on WKU'S campus and little by little we are making a difference in our community....which will eventually spread to the whole country. 

If you were wondering, The Susan B. Anthony List is...

"The Susan B. Anthony List, and its connected Political Action Committee, the SBA List Candidate Fund, are dedicated to electing candidates and pursuing policies that will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, the SBA List will emphasize the election, education, promotion, and mobilization of pro-life women." 
Website

I'm on their email list so that's why I received the above email :)

Music Monday: Live Like That

So I think I'm going to start this new thing called Music Monday where I will post about a song that I like right now or just thoughts on music in general. I think this will help me keep blogging consistently, since I've been so busy. 

This week I wanted to talk about this awesome radio station I've recently discovered in Bowling Green. It is 88.1 WAY-FM aka the Christian radio station in town. The songs are very uplifting because I was getting tired on some of the "hit" songs out right now. They do play some popular musicians such as Lifehouse and Daughtry that most people know. 

Here is one for today called Live Like That by Sidewalk Prophets. Enjoy! 

Week 4 Thanksgiving 5K

This week it was officially THREE weeks until Thanksgiving and I get to see my family! I'm super excited! You know what else that means? The Thanksgiving 5K is in three weeks too! This week wasn't so good for running...I'm blaming it on the cold weather that came through this week. I hate cold weather! (I ran 6.5 miles today though..so week 5 is off to a great start!)

Here's my not-so-many-miles week:
10-29-12: Ran 3 miles, weights 30 minutes
10-30-12: OFF
10-31-12: Ran 2 miles, elliptical 50 minutes
11-1-12: Ran 2 miles 20:00, elliptical 35 minutes
11-2-12: OFF
11-3-12: OFF

Happy Halloween...a few days late

Happy Halloween! I really should be saying Happy November! But since I never posted anything for Halloween, it's going up today. I didn't do anything on Halloween night, but I did go to a party last Saturday night at the Catholic Center. We did lots of hanging out, haunted house, voting on best costumes, dancing, and musical chairs.

Kevin and I dressed up as gangsters, since he's a huge fan of Boardwalk Empire. He was Jimmy Darmondy and I was Angela Darmondy. How do we look?!

Some other interesting costumes were: Hobos, Richard Simmons, Pillsbury Dough Boy, Peter Pan, Sheldon...just to name a few.

Here is the group photo from the night...

How was your Halloween? What was your costume?