Please update your blogrolls, your google readers, your feeds, your bookmarks, tell your mom, tell your sister, RunRoamRecycle has moved, and Dr. TriRunner is a go!

www.drtrirunner.com

Go there NOW, because to celebrate the grand opening of this training camp/sports med clinic/good food cafe, there’s a popilicious party (read: GIVEAWAY), starting at snack-o-clock. You don’t want to miss it!!

Thank you all so much for all the love and support you guys have given me here at RRR. I hope you stay with me through this new adventure at Dr. Tri Runner. Looking forward to seeing you there!

-E

Last night something came over me, and apparently the roomie too. For whatever reason it was absolutely necessary that we stay up and watch Scrubs until 1:00am. On a WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Whoooo does that?

Because of my mandatory-8-hour rule, and because my first class isn’t until 11:15, I skipped the gym, turned off the alarm, had a super random dream, but woke up feeling much better than I think I would have had I dragged myself to go do cardio. (RSC to be specific ) However, as “refreshed” as I may have been, apparently my mind was still running a little behind. Hence this tragedy happened to my morning coffee:

My morning cup of black gold turned into a morning cup of black NaCl onion garlic paprika cup of NASTY. I realized it the second I sprinkled it on and did my best to skim the spices off the top, but no amount of skimming could remedy this catastrophe, and down the drain it went.

Despite the absence of caffeine this morning that would usually leave me dragging, I was feeling just fine. In large part I’ll attribute that to the SUN that finally decided to reappear over our lovely city of Mini-apple. Splendid. I had a really fun first class.. we broke into three groups based on our personality types (A, B, C) and the got in little groups and just talked about how we act in different situations. I’ve mentioned before, I’m type A to the max.. probably type A+, but it was hilarious  to talk to the guys in my group about what we do when we’re waiting for someone who’s late.. have a slow car pull out in front of us.. or even just how extreme we take playing a board game (Grandma.. you’re goin DOWN). The class is called Lifetime Health & Wellness, and it’s through my major department (Kinesiology)… definitely my favorite!

Anywho my kiddies.. I will keep this brief because I need to meet the kids for SPIN soon! Tomorrow is TEAM MOVIE NIGHT and I’m hosting, so I have to hit Target on the way home to pick up some movie snacks! I mostly just didn’t want to go too long without posting, but also, I wanted to make sure I’m keeping alla YOU in the loop! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled, because there are some big exciting things coming to RunRoamRecycle! Some will be happening sooner rather than later, but in short, I’m pumped. And you should be too!

Until soon mis amigos!
-E

Well, a winner has been chosen, and tomorrow a box full of goodies will be embarking on its journey to Pennsylvania! Hope you enjoy it Susan!!

If I had been picking winners based on how good their photos looked… man that would have been hard! I didn’t get as many entries as I had hoped – only 8 people submitted photos, but a lot of you hopped on the multiple entry thing and many of you did all four options to enter! I really appreciate it guys!! It’s not like I get sent stuff from companies to give away, so I can’t promise that I will do many of these, but my first giveaway was definitely fun!

Here are some of the good lookin yummies you lovely ladies sent me (wait.. I didn’t have any male entrants did I? I don’t think so…)

Looks like yall are lovin the fall flavors as much as I am!

CHANGING SUBJECTS…

As I mentioned yesterday – the bone growth stimulator was delivered! Apparently they’re a lot more commonly used than I thought! I asked the rep who brought it out to my house and set me up how many of these she did a month – she said she does at least one every day! Based on the reactions I’ve gotten when I told people I was using a bone growth stimulator… I would think that they’re like a rarity. Apparently not! Here is my gift from the orthopedic Santa:

And here is my trying to demonstrate how the BGS will work from a very awkward angle:

Hahah fail! My roomie offered to take a photo of me and my new BFF later in the evening. Clearly the novelty hadn’t worn off yet:

Excuse the hot mess of hair.. I just got home from spin.. put on the PJs.. and hunkered down with Grey’s! (Close to definition of a perfect night.) I am supposed to use the stim for 30 minutes one time every day. And no trying to cheat or extra stimulate them bones either – it will ONLY work once a day. Clever thinking Mr. Manufacturer! I am excited that this finally came through, and although its pretty much a crap-shoot (that is the phrase.. right?) if it’ll actually WORK or not, I’m game to try.

Haha I just realized almost no one will be making this whole BOSS connection. Toooo much to explain for now. Sorry!

[Location change! Now home with my stim chillin on the hip and a bag of popcorn]

WELL I think I can wrap this post here. It went from a 57° partly sunny morning to a coldddd 36° rainy night. Unfortunately, I dressed for school during that 58° temp, so when I finished practice in the pool and went to catch the bus with wet hair, a long sleeve shirt, and a light running jacket, I turned into this:

Only I can guarantee you this little toots had on way more layers than I did, and I didn’t look nearly as cute with my “cold face” on. Anyways, sob story over – I’m warm now. Enough complaining!

Man I hope this bone growth stimulator is working. When I sit for half an hour at any other time, it seems like no biggie. But when I’m doing it off my own schedule, it feels like a chore! Hhaha more complaining. I think I should go now.

-E

p.s. you guys should help me come up with a nickname for this bad boy. Bone Growth Stimulator is a mouthful! And “the Stim” just sounds dirty… help!

Without further ado… the winner of Sperly’s First Giveaway selected by Random.org is…..

Susan from SusanRuns!!! I know this Pennsylvania lady will enjoy it, and hopefully if her small-town town outside of Philly doesn’t have stores that carry the coupon items, she’ll get a chance to load up next time she’s in Philly! Susan – please email me your address and I’ll get that off to you ASAP!

Today is a rainy drizzly day here in the Mini-Apple. Definitely not my cup o’ tea, but luckily I have a killer spin class at 6:00 and Grey’s at 8:00 to cure me of my rainy-day blues.

ANNNNND… regarding the bone growth stimulator, I got approved! Approved by my insurance AND approved for financial assistance due to my basically-no-income student status. I guess being broke is OK in some respects! The lady from the medical device company is coming to my house TODAY to get me all set up. Actually, she’ll be there in about an hour, and that would mean I should be there in an hour too! Bus comes in 15 minutes, so with that, I will say adios mis amigos! I will try n get back in here tonight with the rest of the crazy-good looking fall foodie photos that were submitted!

Until we meet again my friends!

-Erika

LAST DAY TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY

so if you haven’t yet done it, step ya game up and send me a photo already! Yes folks, it is really that easy.

I also needed to say that I just bought 48 bags of popcorn for $1.89 because I love Costco and I also happen to love coupons and I’m a boss (warning – mucho profanity ahead with that one). Really though… I am.

(excuse the blurries.. la madre doesn’t have practice taking photos on a cell phone)

Whhoooo does that? I felt like I was holding a child. A child stuffed with three types of meat, cheddar, swiss, and tomato slices. Beast. Or I guess I should say “Big. Overloaded. Sub. Sandwich.”

So basically, you really should go enter the giveaway. And then my friends, life will be complete.

Innn other news – so I told you about the bone growth stimulator. Well, turns out with insurance and the whole the 80/20 deal, my “20%” is $700. Somehow I don’t think that fits in my college budget. BUT!!! Silver lining here.. maybe. Hopefully! As an independent and a student, I qualify for financial assistance. So if everything works out (go find some wood – knock on it!!) then I wouldn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. I’m prayin!!

I may not be eating any BOSS sammies, but I definitely am still getting good solid training in, and the appetite is high, in true Sperly fashion. My mom and I made our mother-daughter-tradition venture over to Costco today to get some goodies. As mentioned above, BOSS Orville Redenbacher popcorn – my favorite!! – had a coupon in the biweekly Costco Coupon book. $4 off an already low price of $5.97, making my 48 bags of salty goodness only $1.97. Also included in the purchases were many a produce: broccoli slaw, tomatoes, asparagus, mushroooms, and sugar snap peas, as well as my staple of all staples: egggg beaters a la Kirkland. I really do love Costco.

Wait wasn’t I talking about training? Right. So Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday is SPIN on my schedule, and this morning SPIN I did. It is not running, but at least it makes me sweat and I feel like I’m working. NTM, my Thursday/Saturday instructor is also a BOSS (how convenient) and he makes it that much more appealing to go to class. He had a sub today (as in substitute teacher, not SUB sandwich. I’ve moved on), and she is ALSO really great. My list of I-Like-You-Spin-Instructors is short and selective, but these two are both on the top. If you’re ever venturing into the world of Lifetime Spinning.. lemme know and I’ll hook you up.

I took this photo a long time ago, and have been meaning to post it, because really, I do love my gym. BOSS? Hahha yeah I think so. This is over the railing, going down into the world of cardio/weights. I especially love my gym when I’m injured, as in now. They have so many options, and so many classes! In place of our run workouts on my practice schedule, I have “RSC” – otherwise known as Running Simulating Cardio. My favorite machine isn’t included in that picture, and it’s definitely NOT running (I don’t count it as “x miles” or any of that b.s. business…) but it is good. Good indeed.

Alright kids, that’s about as much random goodness I have time for today. If I didn’t mention it before, I got a research position at school through my kinesiology department and am a co-investigator on an awesome study we are about to start! I have to finish my IRB training, which if you’ve had to do it before, is loooooong, tedious, and did I say long?  I think I need to go pop some popcorn…

Love,
-E

I have never used one before, but a girl from the XC team last year used one on her foot for a metatarsal fracture. Here’s what it would look like if you broke your radius or something…

Only somehow it will fit differently to sit on my left groin basically and send its magical wishes to my femoral neck. IMO, you can never be sure if it’s the stim that is actually working, or if it’s just the fact that you are taking time off of _____ (running, skating, etc.) that actually heals it. I will try just about anything though at this point! (Nerd alert: as if you couldn’t tell from my title..) It feels like this is straight outta Harry Potter here!

Wish me luck my friends! In the mean time.. get your rear in gear and go enter my GIVEAWAY. Only four days left!

Love,
-E

A little link love for other giveaways while I’m at it…

Tri to Cook.. how does people get this stuff?

Go. Do. It. Now!

Helllooo blog buddies. Apparently I’m all about alliteration today… so sorry if it gets overkill! It’s only noon, so it may be a little too early to determine this Monday as “magnificent”.. but so far it’s off to a muy bueno beginning. Here has been my day thus far:

• 7:20 – wake up call
• 8:10 – leave hose to catch bus to school
• 9:00 – practice: 4,000 meter swim
• 11:15 – ROCK my anatomy exam!!!!!

Clearly this last one is makin my day. The occipital protuberance.. serous fluid.. and synovial joints aint got nothin on me baby!! The test was on 11 chapters (half of our book!) so it was a lot of material. We were aloud to make a “cheat sheet” – 8×11, front and back, whatever you can fit on it.. mine sheet took me about five hours to make! I think I only used it for like three or four questions though.. it feels so good to go into a test actually excited about it because you’re PREPARED and your brain is so effing saturated that you know everything you can possibly know!

Well now that I got that out…! Just a heads up, this is a pretty NRR (non-running-related) post… so if you’re waiting for that one about injury prevention – this isn’t it! (Still  coming though.. promise! Going to the Underwater Treadmill dealio soon!)

Time to move on to other important matters:

Snack like no one’s watching!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while.. you know that I luuurve my popchips. Love as in I could buy a bag at 2:00, and it might very well be gone by 10:00. I’ve made all sorts of crazy creations with my pleasurable little poppers… nachos, chili dippers, taco salads, you name it. They’re also the perfect snack to bring when you’re going to a potluck.. a MOVIE.. a team dinner

[This is supposed to be a photo of the awesome package.. but apparently it's still on my camera at home!! I'll upload when I get there!]

Not too long ago, Shana, part of my snackfamily over at popchips was awesome enough to send me a sample pack! What I really had wanted to get was a racing jersey to sport the popchips logo.. but they don’t have those. Yet. I got an awesome t-shirt to sport in the mean time!! I just feel like Popchips is such a fun, upbeat company, but they also work so well with my athletic lifestyle! They’re “love, without the handles” and they’re a healthy (delicious) snack I can plain take on-the-go, eat em’ at home, or make them into a more elaborate meal. Here’s my official rundown on the flavors that were included in the box, in order of my favorite to least favorite. And by “least favorite”, I mean that in a liked it a lot, but SOMEONE had to come last! kind of way! Here we go:

1. Cheddar Potato – I. Love. Cheddar. Pretty much cheddar anything. Don’t even get me started on cheezy popcorn because I’ll never get to the end of this post! I feel like the cheddar popchips have juuust the right amount of cheezygoodness to satisfy that craving, but it’s not overkill. Actually, my VERY FAVORITE POPCHIPS EVER are the Golden Cheddar MULTIGRAIN flavor. There is absolutely nothing they could do to make those better in my opinion. Pure goodness on a plate napkin? straight out of the bag? You know how I do

2. Salt & Pepper Potato – These are soooo good! Aside from the little kick you get from the pepper, I think these are also one of my favorites for their versatility! I mentioned popchip nachos.. and these are BOMB just for that reason. These make fantastic soup dippers/cruncher topping. My favorite is with thick creamy tomato basil bisque (a la French Meadow if possible!!). Heaaaven!

3. Sour Cream & Onion Potato – Alright. Who doesn’t like sour cream & onion chips? Haha for some reason I feel like that is such a guilty flavor! Maybe because I’m remembering regular Ruffles potato chips with the sour cream & onion DIP.. the dip being the guilty factor! Honestly guys, if you like sour cream & onion, these are for you!

4. Barbeque Potato – favorite #4. These have a reallly strong barbeque flavor, so if you want mild, then pick a different flavor. But I definitely don’t want mild, so I think these are great! The only reason these aren’t higher up on my list is because the only way I have figured out how to eat them thus far is just plain. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I like to get creative! What are other ways you do up your BBQ chips? I’m open for suggestions!

5. Original Potato – Really, these last three were all so hard to rank. They’re ALLLL good! The original flavor is great because you can dip it, top it, crunch it, and really get crafty here. These were my very favorite for making nachos until I found the Salt & Pepper flavor. Salty crunchy good!

6. Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato – Alright.. here’s my explanation. I have some weird thing with acidity. Or maybe it’s like a brine flavor that I can’t do? I don’t know.. but it prohibits me from eating olives, ketchup, really anything with that briney flavor. Sea Salt & Vinegar chips have always fallen under that same taste-category for me. I don’t know how to explain it.. it hurts my tongue? The problem is though, I still LOVE these chips!! Hahah so I eat them anyways.. and then my tongue is like swollen! It’s not a popchip problem – I promise you that. It happened when I bought a bag of Sea Salt & Vinegar soy crisps too… bummer! These are my mom’s favorite flavor though!

So those were the 6 that were in the box. How awesome is Shana! Like I said though.. they now make MULTIGRAIN flavors, and the Golden Harvest Cheddar is by farrrr my very favorite. I have also tried the Multigrain Sea Salt, and those are great too! There is a Parmesan Garlic Potato flavor which I have yet to find at any of my local grocery stores… but I am dying to try it! I said I love cheese. Parmesan = cheese. Something tells me those chips are golden.

If you can find popchips near you, I think they definitely outshine any of the other chips out there on the market. And if I need to include a disclaimer.. (yeah.. enough with you new blogging protocol rules…) I can tell you that obviously popchips sent these to me, but in no way was it dependent on a review by me, much less a positive one. Trust me.. if there’s something I don’t like, I’ll be the first to let you know!

Well how’s THAT for a good start to the week! The rest of my day is pretty scheduled, just the way I like it, and it looks a little somethin’ like this:

• 3:30 – practice/PT exercies
• 5:30 – WORK! Just a couple hours tonight. I’m liking makin $$
• 8:00 – hopefully earlier? Hit the grocery store on my way home. My fridge looks naked.
• 11:00 – again, hopefully earlier! SLEEEEEP

I’m trying to implement a new 11:00 rule – must be IN BED by 11:00. I have been trying to work on getting more sleep for howww long? I set the alarm on my phone to go off at 10:30, so it’s my little reminder that if I’m not already getting ready for bed, I need to start makin’ my way to it. Yesterday I FAILED and wasn’t in bed until 12:15.. which for me, is pretty ridiculous for a Sunday night! I had just spend the last like 6 hours at the coffee shop though making that study guide, so when I got home at 8:45 I felt like I had barely been home all day. Because I hadn’t! Anyways.. I’m going to try and work really hard on this new 11:00 thing, because SLEEP* is an important component of recovery! Not to mention.. I’m a bltch when I don’t get my 8 hours of Zzzs. (* OMG. For this reason alone I am so happy I decided to keep blogging. That post was from my freshman year in college when I used to nap every day in Coffman. And that hummus!!! I haven’t had that in SOOO long but will definitely be picking some up at the store tonight!)

Well, I’m off to catch the bus! I’m uh.. not attending my math class today. My 2nd class of the day was canceled, and I have math last, so I’d just be hangin around all day. Plus I talked to the professor and the material we’re covering today is stuff I’m solid on. No biggie! Plus, that lets me get practice done early, which lets me get to work tonight, which makes me a Money Maker. Yessir!

Seeee ya.
-E

p.s. meals & moves is 6 months old and is hosting a giveaway! check out cookware.comfor your favorite brands like cuisineart, emile henry, rachael ray cookware and more! giveaway ends 10/23!

Well, this is not the previously mentioned Injury Prevention/XT/goodness post that I promised. YET. It is about half way written, but I am going to a seminar thing this coming week regarding the underwater treadmill.. and I thought it would be a good idea to hold off so I can include some info about that!

Being the fantastic Friday that it is.. I thought it about right to bring back that little thing I used to call…

Friday Confessional.

I don’t know if I can say “bring back” if I only did it like once or twice .. but my main point is I would like to reinstate this lovely practice. Friday confessional is all about getting whatever you’ve got off of your chest.. being honest.. and being real. I’ll go first

1. I will admit that although I’ve come to the “acceptance” phase of this injury.. I still get b!tchy when I hear other people talk about running. So much so that the other day I legit saw someone running and thought “wow.. that’s a waste of running.” Hahha how terrible is that!! Sorry guys… =/
2. I may or may not have gone through an entire bag of candy corn all by myself.. NO not in one day, and the bag isn’t gone yet..  but that’s a whooole lotta sugar for not a whole lotta person!
3. I am already starting to look at a different place to live next year.. and we still have 7 months of our lease left.
4. We took three spin bikes last weekend for our team to use.. didn’t know there was a spin class scheduled during that time. Apparently the class was full so I’m guessing 3 people got turned away. We didn’t know!!!
5. Always need an odd number of things. I drank a Sobe Life Water while I was grocery shopping.. usually do that and pay for it at the register, which is totally allowed. Only I finished it before I finished shopping, tossed the bottle, and didn’t even think of it until I was in the car!

Alright bloggies.. your turn! I know we all get caught up in some naughty business every now and then. It’ll feel good to go into the weekend with a clean conscious.

Speaking of weekend – what are your plans? I am going to see The Hangover tonight with a kid from my team, and then tomorrow we have spinning in the am and I work in the afternoon. Sunday I am going on a “final outdoor ride” with a bunch of people. I hope the weather is really as warm as they say it will be!!

I’m supposed to be in class in 11 minutes… so I guess I better sign off! Have a great weekend!  Seee ya!

Mondays and I have a love/hate relationship goin’ on. Love em’ because I have one of my favorite classes (Human Anatomy for Kinesiology majors), we get 4,000 yards done in the pool first thing in the morning, and there is $1 coffee at Caribou (which I actually no longer partake in now that I don’t drive to school.. but it definitely always made my day!), and Somer is the spin instructor on Monday nights she pretty much kick SASS. Hate em’ because it means there are still 4 days left of the work/school week, I have my least favorite (though easiest) class, I am reminded that I think I’m allergic to chlorine, and the fact that Monday’s come after Sunday – a day of which could not possibly be any better. (haha oh wow – how’s that for a throwback post?

This Monday is lookin’ pretty darn  good to me. I just got home from the gym where I got to sweat it out on the xrunner with my favorite gym buddy, got in a solid 10 min. core sesh, AND got through all my PT exercises for my glute muscles. And now, I write to you from the oversized-heaven-on-a-box-spring.

Please note all the necessary accessories in the photo:

1. multiple sources of hydration (Sleepytime tea in huge green mug, earth friendly metal water bottle #1, not so earth friendly but free water bottle #2)
2. the McMac. I can’t imagine ever going back to a PC now… ( <3 iCal!! )
3. the pain stick, also referred to as the roller of doom. Important enough that it warrants itself a spot in bed.
4. new cell phone!!
5. and the made-for-blogging-in-bed backrest pillow god I got from my godfather. Thank youuuu!

Nothing could make this look more appealing to me. Unless dinner were on a little TV tray next to me, but it’s cookin’ in the oven so that will have to wait. Oh… well maybe looking at it from this point of view…:

Grey’s. My dear Grey’s. (Please excuse the calfs that look exactly like drumsticks which is exactly why I am a vegetarian…) This dang TV that is in such a convenient location doesn’t even work!! Haha it plugs in.. but no TV. I got one of the federal coupons for getting a digital converter box, but I have no idea what I’m looking for at the store so I have been putting off going to get one. Not like I couldn’t just ask “Hi, my name is [blank]” at Target Boutique and be pointed in the right direction. Grey’s Anatomy is the ONE show that I’m dedicated to and still enjoy watching (except the news.. what a granny!) and I’m finally all caught up with this new season after being gone the last FOUR Thursday nights in a row. Honestly.. who plans team meetings on Thursday nights at 8:00? Don’t they know I have something important to do?! Hence #5 reason to dislike Mondays – THREE DAYS until Grey’s!

Anyways, I promise, there was a point to this post. Having to refer back to my title tells me I’ve gotten a little off track. Lo siento!

That would be the across-the-street view from my bus stop this morning. I think God knocked over his sugar bowl when he was making his cup o’ coffee this morning. I have no other way to describe 2.4″ on OCTOBER 12th. Jeeeez. We set a new record for snowfall today in the good ol’ MiniApple. Woooo. ?!

Sweet dreams? I had a dream the other night that I won a crazy blog giveaway. And I’m pretty sure this blog giveaway doesn’t even exist.. because at the end of the dream I ended up in the Natatorium with my tri team handing out muffins. Mmm yep. But there was a ton of sweet stuff in that dream that I WISH I was winning! If anyone wants to jot down what I dreamt I won, and then make a Sperly-just-for-you-Greatest-Giveaway-EVER.. let me know. Haha and I promise that wasn’t just a fakey-flakey way to segue into THIS, but now that I’m talking about giveaways…

Holy smokes! So many going on. First of all… I would really appreciate it if you all would enter MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! As of right now, I wouldn’t exactly call the competition for winning “steep.” And come onnnn kids.. I know who is reading my blog. I can see incoming links. The majority of you are either food bloggers who happen to run, or run bloggers who happen to very much enjoy food. Chances are you already have a photo posted of one of your favorite fall flavas, and you know the recipe off the top of your head. We don’t need to be talking Gourmet Magazine or anything here. And I may add that a certain variety of bars that a certain variety of [ALL OF] you happen to enjoy very much so was on sale this weekend at my lovely local grocery store. And that certain variety of goodness may have happened to make its way into my package of goodies. Still plenty of time left to enter my giveaway, but it would reassure me on my first one if you did it sooner rather than later!

Hah.. now that I’m done begging… here are some other sweet thangs that are givin away sweet thangs:

OneFrugalFoodie and her DairyFree basket of deliciousness…

RunToTheFinish and the sickest (in a very good way) arm sleeves…

Miss Missy who’s Maintain’ away and her Silk goodness…

SeeJessRun and her eco cool bag…

The Experimentarian’s apple goodies galore…

RunToTheFinish goes gluten free with Gilbert’s…

Oh my lord I know there are how many more..? Looking at my history I can’t even keep track of where I’ve been.

The timer just went off on my delicious dinner bubbling away in the oven, so it is of utmost importance that I get to that, but I just wanted to touch base real quick on the injury front. I have been a VERY good girl with this no running business. Maybe a bitchy very good girl at times, but I have followed my orders. To turn the frown upside down here, there are several POSITIVE posts that I feel should be made regarding my injury, running injuries in general, and whathave you. Given that I have gone through this twice, as well as two other stress fractures in each fibula, I know some things about XT. I have also had a great medical team and coaches behind me all the way, insuring that I don’t eff up my injury even worse. If anyone is interested, I want to do a post about cross training for runners > injury prevention > core strength for runners > swim workouts > bike workouts > the whole deal. Would that be helpful to anyone or would I just be writing to myself here? Let me know what you are interested in learning about!

Let me know…

Enter my giveaway…

Have a lovely evening!

Yours truly,
-E

This is my first ever giveaway.. and while it might seem like everybody and their mom is having a giveaway right now, one more definitely can’t hurt! I intended to do a giveaway on my 100th post (mmm yeah, that says something about my posting frequency) but that day came and went, and here I am, a giveaway virgin. I am really excited though – I constantly see incoming links to my blog that I don’t know, and it makes me really happy to think I’m getting new readers! I hope this opens up my blog to a larger community, as well as showing ME some sweet blogs that I have yet to discover!!

So what are we playin’ for?

Healthy Cooking mag – it’s not just for the Britains
Organic food coupons and raisins not bitten
Agave Nectar – like liquid gold with wings
These are a few of my favorite things…

(OK tell me you guys are picking up on this song and I don’t just sound like an idiot…)

Advice from the Mayo on choosing your noodles,
Plus “Disease Fighting Foods” – the whole kit n caboodle
Goodies from Quaker – a key chain on a ring
Plus a pen and you have some of my favorite things…!

WOW….

that was a stretch. Please excuse the lameness.

Contents of the giveaway:

• The last issue of Healthy Cooking magazine – I browsed through it – lots of fall pumpkin infused goodies!
• 4 $1.00 off coupons for any Cascadian Farm product. I recommend either cereal or frozen b.nut squash!
• 4 booklets of coupons for lots of good organic goodies… yogurt, cereal, soup, natural cleaning products, etc.
• Mentos!! Haha I love em. They’re not breath mints.. they’re movie candy. Clearly.
• To-go packets of organic agave nectar. Seeing as how this is apparently a popular thing among bloggers…
• Two booklets from the Mayo Clinic on healthy eating out, and some super disease fighting foods
• Some little goodies I got from Quaker for all you oatmeal fanatics – a pen and a key chain
• A bigazz bag of dark chocolate Raisinettes!! Soooo good.

Alright, so the majority of these are not necessarily “favorite things,” (except the Raisinettes and Mentos) but they are definitely all good stuff. And the COUPONS! Alright let me tell you a story my friends. I ventured to the land of the Food Hole (otherwise known as Whole Paycheck) with several coupons. Rare is the occasion that you will find me there, unless I am accompanied by a generous credit card other than my own. Come to think of it, I think about 90% of the times I have been in that store have been just for lunch off of the salad bar, not actual grocery shopping of my own. That place is such a trap – the had SO MANY good things! Brands and producs that I had never even seen or heard of before! You will be seeing something related in a future post. ANYWAYS, the point of this story – with my coupons in hand and a wee bit of restraint, I got to the checkout counter and saved $15. That’s nothing compared to what I’ve done at Target before ($41!!), but that was $15 off of a $35 total!! That’s a 42% savings!! You too can save %42 my friends. All you have to do issss….

Rules to enter:

Each one of these steps counts as a separate entry – upping your chances of winning!

1. Submit a photo of your favorite food/snack/drink/meal/whathaveyou that makes you think FALL!!! You have to SEND the photo to me ( RunDogMpls at gmail dot com ) and before I (randomly) select the winner, I’ll have a photo post of all of your favorite fantastic fall favorites!! (How’s that for alliteration?) Since the winner is picked based off of the number of your comment, leave a comment saying what it was you sent a picture of. This is NOT OPTIONAL.. to enter the giveaway you need to send a picture!
2. Follow me on Twitter, and post a comment saying you did so. My Twitter screen name is SperlyTriRunner.
3. Leave a comment with a recipe for your favorite fall [blank] that you sent me a photo for. If you have a blog and you’ve already posted about it.. you can just leave a comment with the link to your post.
4. Post about my giveaway on YOUR blog including a link to this page, and then leave a comment with the link to your post!

Alright so #1 is mandatory – everyone get that? If I draw your number and you haven’t sent in a photo, I gotta pick someone else. Capiche?

So you have FOUR chances to enter. I don’t like even numbers.. but I can’t think of one more thing that would be a good entry. Just a side note – there are a couple things being added into the loot bag, but I already took the picture, so those are just gonna increase the suspense! I know already that there is a larger item that has been added in to the winnings, and also a little item that I threw in this morning. If I get stuff between now and when I pick the winner there might be more! And so when I pick the winner – you have between right now and Saturday October 24th at midnight to make your submissions. I will draw on Sunday, and then that week I will be posting all of your lovely photos! If you sent link to the recipe for the photo that you submitted (hahah that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built) and you don’t mind me SHARING that recipe, I’ll also include the link for that!

I’m playing by the rules here (but no, I won’t be sending off this package to myself). Here is my submission for a favorite snack that instantly says leaves are a changin’, pumpkin pie is in the oven.. it’s falllll baby!

Ingredients:
- One serving of Caramel corn
- Those burntdelicous tasting caramel coated peanuts (think Cracker Jacks) that come with the caramel corn
- A crappy paper prize A big ol handful of candy corn.

Yummmm!

OK.. I think this post has taken me close to an hour to write. Hence why I don’t post so often. What do you all do to make it easier? Wait.. don’t answer that.. at least not on this post. That doesn’t count as an entry to the giveaway! Listo muchachos? Ready… set… GO!

E Sperly – signin off from the coffee shop. Byeeee