Sweaty Betty Crocker

Hi Guys! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

I'm not sure whether it was the 75+ degree weather, or the fact that my best friend was in the middle of her first full marathon, but I woke up yesterday morning with a hankering for a run.

After some pre-run fuel (bananer + peanut butter) and making a brand-spankin-new playlist (I will post it later today!), I laced up my shoes and was on my way.

I got in about 5 miles (if you haven't noticed, I'm a little off the 1/2 marathon training schedule at the moment) and it felt super sweaty great.

I came home with a face as red as a tomato to Justin telling me I was the "sweatiest he's ever seen me."

He may have a point there, but I swear I smelled like roses ;)

I showered (obviously) and headed off to finish my paper.  It was pure torture sitting inside while it was SO warm and SO sunny out for the first time in what seems like forever.

I plowed right through it, finished a first draft, and headed home to have a little BBQ on our patio!

We enjoyed bugers -- a Garden Turkey Burger for me and a Buffalo Blue Cheese Burger for Justin, with some Alexia's potatoes! Yummmmmie.

It was much sunnier earlier in the day. By the time we got out to the patio, it was very windy and a storm was on its way in, so we hurried up and chowed down.

We got the burgers on Saturday at Whole Foods.  I took Justin there for the first time, and despite his being skeptical, I think we have a new fan!

A grocery store where you can walk around with a freshly poored draft beer (for Justin) or a glass of wine (for me)! Who knew?!

I might be able to get him to go with me every week now! Cha-chinggg.

We picked up some other goodies, including some of these guys for my daily oats:

I felt like Whole Foods tricked me into playing dominos. I failed miserably, especially because I had to juggle that glass of wine! Priorities, people! ;) 

After dinner last night, we enjoyed some homemade dessert.  I don't usually make dessert, but when we saw these at the store:

They seemed destined for a Sunday strawberry shortcake moment.

I've never made strawberry shortcake on my own, but it seemed easy enough.

Here's the "recipe" I created. 

Jessica's "Easy as Cake" Strawberry Short Cake: 

Vanilla Cake Dessert Cups (I'd guess-timate this makes 4 portions, so you'll need 4 cups)

1 carton of Strawberries

3 to 4 teaspoons Sugar (use more for more "syrup-ie" consistency)

Light Cool Whip

Powdered Sugar

Step #1: Cut up your strawberries into small pieces and place them into a container (or ziplock bag).

Step #2: Sprinkle sugar on top of the strawberries, 1 tsp. at a time, stirring in between.

Step #3: Seal up your container, and let the strawberrries sit in your fridge for a few hours, stirring them every so often to help the syrup develop.

Step #4: When you're ready to eat, place your desired amount of strawberries + sauce, and cool whip, on top of each cake, and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar for fun!

These were DE-licious, and oh-so-easy! Perfect recipe for a Spring or Summer BBQ.

If you like a mory "syrup-ie" shortcake: My strawberries didn't get as "syrup-ie" as I would have liked, but I didn't want to add any more sugar to them. I did some searching on the internet, and found a similar recipe over on Hungry Girl, where she recommends getting Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves and mixing 1 tbsp. of the preserves with 1/2 tbsp. of hot water to make a separate strawberry sauce. I think next time I will try this maybe instead of adding the sugar to the berries, and layer things up like she recommends in her recipe.  Do you guys have any other ideas for making the syrup?? 

For your Monday dose of happiness, I wanted to share with you guys something a good friend of ours, Josh, forwarded on to me.  Guaranteed to warm your heart. 

Can you say "I love you" any better?


A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8-year-olds: "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.  See what you think:   

1) “Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.”
 Terri - age 4

2) “Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” 

Danny - age  7

3) “Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you  still want to be together and you talk more.
 My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss”

 Emily - age  8

4) “Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”

 Bobby - age 7 

5) “If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,”
Nikka - age 6

6) “Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
 Noelle - age 7


7) “Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”

 Tommy - age  6

8) “During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the  people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

 He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.”

 Cindy  - age 8

9) “My mommy loves me more than anybody. 
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”
Clare - age  6 

10) “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”
 Elaine - age 5


11) “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”

 Chris - age  7

12) “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” 

Mary Ann - age 4

13) “I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” 

Lauren - age  4

14) “When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen - age  7

15) “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.” 

Mark - age 6

16) “You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

 Jessica - age  8

Isn't that incredible!? So adorable, so true. 

Something to talk about: Which of the above love "definitions" struck you the most? My favorites were 10, 12, and, most of all, 16.

I'm off to a full day of school work & classes -- and I'm going to visit my new love, Barre Burn, again tonight.  Sweaty betty, minus the crocker! ;) 

Have a happy & healthy day, everyone!

**Check back this afternoon for my brand-spankin-new playlist, I think it might be my favorite one yet! 

xoxo

Jessica