What I have in common with Kristen Stewart

You know how Kristen Stewart is known for using a singular facial expression to display an array of different emotions? If not, view below:

Sadly, as I was (once again not studying for finals) and looking back at fb pictures from last year, I realized that I also have had a 'face'. ... Examples:

What am I doing? I'm literally embarrassed for myself.  Luckily, all of the pictures with 'the face' was contained to last fall, so I guess I subconsciously decided to stop doing it.  Thank God. 

And that's all that I have in common with K Stew, sorry if the title of this post was somewhat misleading. 

Awkward 1st Day of Training Pictures

Remember those awkward first day of school pictures that your parents always took?  You hated it, but let's face it, you really loved it.  And now you can go back and remind yourself of how far you've come.  I didn't want to deprive myself of photographic evidence of the first day of marathon training because ***YAY IT'S FINALLY HERE!!*** (Fake it til you make it. In all actuality, I'm sick and feel like death right now. I had no desire to run today whatsoever.  I'm just too stubborn to sway from my running plan.)

It's also very weird to start my running plan right now.. it seems so early! The race is on April 15, and when I trained for the halves, I would start my training in the middle of January.  Hopefully the extra month (and extra 13.1 miles) doesn't kill me this year.

Anyways.  Less talk, more awkward Ilooksuperintense time:

For this one, I finally took the time to figure out how to use my camera's self timer:

Honestly the run itself was tough.. I just don't feel good :/ Supposedly there is a "neck" rule when it comes to working out: if your sickness is above the neck (throat, nose, head) then you should be in the clear to go ahead and run, but if your sickness is below the neck then you should abstain.  But obviously, you should take cues from your body concerning body aches, fever, etc.  

I tried to tone down my pace... I'd really like to be running 8 minute miles but sometimes you have to remember to go easy on your body when it needs it:

Recovering with stretching, foam rolling, and banana soy smoothie!

It's going to be a beautiful journey!

 

What to do when someone gives you 3 loaves of Jimmy Johns bread

White elephant gifts are honestly my favorite part of Christmas. Because they're so stinkin random and useless.. usually.  So when I went to the DSP Ugly Sweater Party on Friday night, I was fully expecting to get an awesome white elephant gift in exchange for the one I was bringing (A 2011 desk calendar of crossword puzzles. I HATE crossword puzzles, sodoku is more my thing.)  As I went up to the Christmas tree to select a conspicuously wrapped white elephant gift, a particular one caught my eye as it looked like sticks of dynamite. "I choose you" I thought.

30 seconds later, I discover I am now the owner of 3 loaves of Jimmy Johns bread. "Touche", I thought. Touche.  Because in all actuality, what I had just received wasn't a terrible white elephant gift (as to be expected)  but actually something super awesome.  The only problematic thing was that... well, I had 3 whole loaves of bread and a girl can only eat so many sammiches before she explodes.  

The next day, over a sammich, I pondered what I would do with all of this bread.  It was on its way to getting gross, hard, and crumbly.  I contemplated waiting a couple of days until it could really do some damage and then use it join the LARPERS (Live Action Role Play-ers) on the quad.  ..... Bad idea, Sarah.  Then finally a better idea struck me:  Bread pudding, and lots of it. 

I use to make bread pudding with my grandpa all the time when I was younger and the recipe is practically ingrained into my body, sort of like some weird Avatar type thing.  Nonetheless, my grandma had given me a recipe for banana bread pudding a couple months ago, and I hadn't gotten around to using it so I decided to give it a look.

Easy enough.  So let's begin.  Ingredients: 

Cube the bread and make the liquid mixture:

Combine and add bananas:

Dish into muffin pans:

Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes:

And voila! I decided against making a sauce for the top, because as my grandpa would always say... that's a direct insult to the bread pudding itself. 

Even after all this, I still had some leftover bread. Croutons?! Croutons. I had never made homemade croutons before, and actually... I don't really like croutons all that much (except for the crazy amazing ones at Ruby Tuesday's).  But you only live once.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was really doing with this but I figured it would be hard to mess up. I just combined olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and Italian seasoning... 

Popped it in the oven (375 for 7ish minutes)

And... oh hey, that's how they make those. Easy peasy. 

So, if you ever find yourself in a situation in which you have too much bread, these are just a couple of my suggestions to you. Although, I kind of regret not keeping a bread sword.  Maybe next time.

New Obsession: Being Sick and Watching Arrested Development (and WHY did it ever get canceled?!)

My immune system is awful... I'm sick pretty much all the time.  Luckily for me, being sick goes hand-in-hand with watching Netflix on Nyquil all day.  (Don't judge me, Nyquil was all I had and I didn't want to go to the store to get Dayquil.)  Also, extremely lucky for me is the fact that Arrested Development *cough cough cough cough cough cough THEBESTSHOWEVER-EVS-EVS cough cough* is on Netflix.

For those of you that don't know, Arrested Development can be summed as such : Level-headed son Michael Bluth takes over family affairs after his father is imprisoned. But the rest of his spoiled, dysfunctional family are making his job unbearable. Taken from IMDB.  You also know it has to be good because it's rated 9.5/10 stars. HOLLA.

True, as this is the weekend before finals week... I probably shouldn't be sick and I probably shouldn't spend all my time watching Arrested Development, but I'm taking the honey badger approach to this whole thing.

My theory is if I dress up like a honey badger to class, while taking my final, I automatically win.

Anyway.. back to ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT!  

This show came out in 2003 and ran until 2006 on Fox.  During its time, it was widely unknown, ignored, and under appreciated due to its jolly imperfections and comedic genius.  Mainstream America (and 6th grade me) just wasn't ready for that kind of sitcom.  

This video says a lot about why Arrested Development wasn't so popular its first time around:

As America's humor morphed and matured, Arrested Development was re-discovered and sorely missed.  

  

Word is, TV execs realized they made a mistake and are actually producing 10ish new episodes in late 2012 ALONG with a feature-length movie to be released in early 2013.

  In the meantime, everyone should catch up on the first 3 glorious seasons that were originally released.  I'm going back to bed but I'll leave you with this:

Saying Goodbye to Fast Food

"The time has come", the Sarah said, 

"To talk of many things: 

Of fries--and pies--and Happy Meals

Of Frosty's and Burger Kings..."

As I've been going through my pre-marathon training (yes, there is such a thing), I've been giving a lot of thought as to the kind of diet I'll need to follow to maximize my marathon training success and avoid dying.  I've been doing a lot of research about fitness nutrition, and running nutrition in particular, to devise some sort of eating plan.

Needless to say, I'd rather be the win penguin. 

I already have a fairly healthy diet, eating lots of vegetables and fruit, wholesome carbs, lean protein, low fat dairy - and I usually cook at home.  So I'm not looking at a drastic lifestyle or health change, just some tweaking that will help my athletic performance.  

I was sort of joking (but not really) when I said one of the reasons I signed up for the marathon was to eat more pasta.  Long distance runners should be eating a diet high in carbohydrates (anywhere from 50-70%!!!!!!!!) to keep stores of glycogen up.  This, I am excited about... VERY excited about... Because I love me some carbs.  But I have a feeling that when they say carbo loading, they mean whole wheat penne or steel cut oatmeal, not the 47 grams of carbs you're gonna get from a McDonald's Big Mac.  

This idea, along with general common sense about nutrition is leading me to *another* challenge and journey to embark on... A life without fast food.  Now, I don't even frequent fast food "restaurants" too often... definitely less than once a week.  But I'm going to follow the adage of "If you put junk in your body, you'll get junk out" and I simply can't afford that.  So for at least the 4 months that I'll be in training, I'm going to avoid the stuff.  THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: McDonald's coffee. Because I'm pretty sure they put crack in it so that I'm hopelessly addicted, and it's one of the only easy and convenient coffee stops in Kirksville. (Plus a large coffee at our Mickey D's is only 1 dolla... ballinnnn)

A big reason why I'm writing a post about this is for accountability.  Usually, if you announce that you're going to do something, then you're going to follow through with it.  I'm not really sure how hard this will be at all... I don't think I'm addicted to fast food by any means, but *sigh*... Cheesy fiesta potatoes...

I'll let you know how it goes.....

Retailers Are Trying to Kill Black Friday

Everyone should go Black Friday shopping this year.

Because the infamous "holiday" may not survive much longer.

I've been an avid Black Friday shopper for years, waking up in the wee hours of the morning (or in the case of the past couple of years- not going to bed at all.)  My personal reasons for going Black Friday shopping are mostly out of novelty.  Black Friday is what you make it: If you drag your friends along with you at 2 in the morning, drink lots of coffee, and play Quelf while waiting in line, you're going to have a lot more fun than the person sitting outside of the store constantly complaining about how cold they are.

Black Friday is intense:

Haha, pun.  Some people are literally in tents.

                                               
But lately some people have been taking it too seriously.  Stories of fights breaking out, trampling innocent employees until the point of death, and shooting fellow shoppers have flooded the media in recent years.  Obviously, this behavior is completely unacceptable and stores are looking for ways to avoid this.

Of course, change in results only occurs from change in action, so retailers have decided to go about Black Friday differently this year.  Whether they are opening at midnight instead of 4 am, offering sale prices at 10PM Thursday night, not requiring shoppers to wait in line outside of the store, extending all sale prices online, or honoring price-matches until Christmas, retailers are drastically changing the dynamics of Black Friday - and this has received vast amounts of backlash.

Whether you agree or disagree with employees having to forgo portions of their Thanksgiving celebrations to come into work earlier - that's not what this blog post is about.  No, what this is about is:

RETAILERS ARE TRYING TO KILL BLACK FRIDAY.

There.

It is my belief that Black Friday will be non-existent in 3 years.  5 years tops.

Black Friday originally coined the name as it was the first day that retailers supposedly were able to turn a profit for the year, thereby their books were not "in the red", but "in the black".  In today's changing world of commerce, retailers have many other opportunities to make sales, and it is not contingent on a singular days' in-store success.

Black Friday, sadly, is now irrelevant.  Profitable, yes; no question.  Necessary?  Absolutely not.  
Granted, I don't have the economic or financial research to back me up here (possible senior seminar topic next year? Hmmmm)  But my theory remains.

I believe that retailers are sick of Black Friday and are trying to kill it.

So celebrate now, joyous shoppers!  For Black Friday is forever changing, and you never know when your last opportunity to experience the madness may be.

Missoni for Target : Fabulous and Finally Mine!

In 7th grade,  I got a subscription to Teen Vogue and my life was forever changed.  For the first time, I saw fashion as not purely functional but as an aesthetic.  I learned the names of designers and developed an appreciation for their art.  Italian designer, Missoni, especially struck a note. 

In a short period of time, Teen Vogue published photographs of both Mischa Barton and Nicole Richie (halfway relevant celebrities back in 2004) wearing Missoni dresses and I was in love (with the dresses).

Missoni is known for their signature zigzag patterns, bright colors, and retro feel - all of which I all love.

But here's the kicker.  Missoni is going to run you somewhere around the ballpark of $50... FOR A PAIR OF SOCKS.  

Socks!!!!

And thus, my 13 year-old, Teen-Vogue-reading self was defeated.  No Missoni for me.

Except all of that changed this past summer, when I stumbled along a fashion blog trumpeting yet another affordable designer-collaboration line at Target.  

**For those of you who are unfamiliar with designer collaborations, here is a diddy from their PR site:

Designer Collaborations is an expansion of Target's existing designer fashion program and each collection is available only for a limited time. Designer Collaborations is a unique program that features well-established designers who draw inspiration from a collaborative partner, muse or creative element. It is a new and exciting way of delivering the latest styles to our contemporary female guests at the prices they expect from Target.

Sounds gooooood to me. 

Last summer, I had been absolutely delighted by Target's Liberty of London collaboration:

(which I bought way too much of), so I was excited to see how they could possibly follow that up.  Well...

EEEEEK!  TOO.  EXCITING.

The collection was to be released in stores at a set date in September, and I was excited to get me some.

Except, small problem.  I knew I'd be in Kirksville in September.  Kirksville does not have a Target (try not to be too surprised).  In fact, the closest Target is an hour and a half away.  Since the collection was to come out on a weekday, I considered the option of making the early morning drive before my 9:30 class to snag what I wanted when the store opened at 8, but ultimately decided against it.  I figured I would just wait for it to go on clearance in a month and grab some the next time I went home for break.

...

I had no idea that this would happen:

And lastly, the most sad:

Do you think that lady was going to personally wear all of that Missoni? 

Of course not!  She was going to sell it on Ebay.  In fact, the day after the Missoni launch, there were 30,000 Ebay listings for the highly coveted items, all fetching outrageous prices.  

Today, there are approximately 12,000 current Missoni for Target Ebay listings.  

Demand for the Missoni collection didn't only affect business inside of the retailer, but also managed to cause an unprecedented amount of traffic on the Target.com website which the server was unable to handle.  The website crashed, and those trying to purchase online (directly from Target) experienced extreme difficulty and were rarely successful.  

Between the website crash and the hoarding/Ebay issue, the whole ordeal created a PR mess for Target, which I won't really get into now (Doing a quick Google search will come up with several blogs and news articles which have addressed all sides of the issue).

I was honestly super bummed that I was unable to get a piece of the Missoni collection, but I refused (on a fundamentally moral basis) to purchase any of it from the Ebay sellers.  I wanted no part in contributing to skeezy profits. 

A couple of months have passed and I had begun to get over the pain of missing the Missoni for Target collaboration.  I am currently home for Thanksgiving break and so with an abundance of time, and a slight shopping itch (unaccompanied with an abundance of $$), I decided to drop into my local Goodwill store.  I had already been completely successful in my finds, snatching up a pair of The Limited dress pants and a pair of loafers when I nearly had a heart attack. 

This...

.... Was staring me in the face.

With the tags still on.

In Goodwill.

And this is one of those moments where you don't ask "how" or "why" or "for realsies?!", you just grab it and buy it as soon as you can, so that you know it can and will be yours forever.

Curiosity did lead me to look up this little gem on Ebay, just to see how much I could sell it for...

50 bucks. I paid 4. (Retail was $23.99)

I would never sell it. 

So a sad story turned less sad and I am finally the proud owner of the infamous zigzags I have admired for 7 years (35% of my life, mind you).

How fabulous is that.