This is just gonna be a quickie (TWSS) but I needed to stop in and say

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

Not too late to enter Sperly’sFirstGiveaway!!

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!

I’m stealing my post that I wrote on RW, because after writing it, I realized it was basically a novel, and good enough amazing, so I should put on my blog. Not to mention, today is a perfect day for a post because l because I got called off of work!! I woke up this morning to dreary skies, rain, thunder, and lightning. So I apologize if you’re a college RW forumite, and you read my blog, because you’re getting *slightly shortchanged! (*I changed it a bit. PLUS, see end of post!! And pictures!!)

Yesterday I went to this store called Opitz - it’s sort of like Overstock.com, only you can physically go there. I used to love it in high school because they would get tons of Delia’s clothing and they always had my sizes (for once!), and I actually still really like *some* of their clothes. They get a lot of True Religion and 7s and crazy expensive jeans, but the fantastic thing is – EVERYTHING IS AT LEAST 70% OFF. Wednesdays are like the restocked-secret-mailing-list-members-only day.. and THIS Wednesday was the start of the “Hey you college kids.. come stock your dorms!” advertised in the mailer. So, stock we did! Hah.. actually not that much. I got two pairs of jeans, a sweet shirt, and a 10 piece bakeware set for our suite.

(don’t ask me why I decided to wear a skirt..?)

(World Wildlife Fund!)

(Baileys.. from Delia’s)

(Urban Behavior. Not gonna lie.. I’ve never heard of that brand.)

(hah! “Tools of the Trade”! It will work just fine for me!)

I struggled with this whole suite deal before, because I feel like I’m the only one out of the 6 of us who doesn’t spend (or have money to spend) like crazy on all these name brand things. One girl’s coming with all this William’s Sonoma stuff, and I’m like “Yes! Target!”. But I’m starting to feel better because now I can feel like I’m contributing. I’m also bringing our 2nd Magic Bullet, which we haven’t opened yet. The bake set was new.. but only $10! (YESS 70% off!) And then my mom came home last night with a basically new set of flatware (forks, spoons, knives.. that’s called flatware, right?) from her friend who just got themselves a newer new set. AH! Feeling better.

My mom and I went BACK to Opitz today, and I found the GREATEST pair of jeans.

(Paige. “Premium Denim”. My legs are smiling.)

Can you see that price tag?! $215. And I got them for $65. Hah! And $65 is already a “splurge” for me on jeans! I figure that everyone is entitled to one pair of really good, really nice, feel good jeans. And these will be mine. I haven’t gone shopping for me shopping in what feels like forever, so today I’m a happy camper. I also love good pockets (oh.. cause that makes me unique..) so these ones scored double points. Well maybe not the black pair, but the other two..

(pockets!!)

I would also like to say that I feel stellar about my running and the way things are going right now. Despite the groin injury/tear/pull that I was struggling with (that I would say is about 90% healed right now), I am really enjoying running and life in general. Last week was rough – really rough – but I can look back on it now and say “Erika. Quit crying and T.T.F.U. You only get one life so you better make the most of it!”

(T.T.F.U. is pretty much my favorite acronym, and I suggest you all incorporate it into your daily vernacular. (Is that a proper use of vernacular? Oh boy.))

(both mom and I are devoted Asics-for-lifers. RoadID is a must! Safety first kids.)

So yes. Running. Strong, hard, easy, enjoyable. I ran a few sub 7s on my run yesterday without realizing it, and I’ll be running probably 9:30s when I go with my mom this afternoon. I’m running the Urban Wildland Half Marathon on Saturday.. at 7:00am. Yikes!

I am pretty sure I wont be racing it, just coming off this tear and all, but none the less I am SO EXCITED. From everything I’m heard, it’s a wicked race. (Gotta start incorporating that Boston vocab!) It’s quoted as “Minnesota’s Green Race” which is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen so far. This is quoted from their website:

The Urban Wildland Half Marathon & 5K is a no-waste race! All refuse from the event is either composted, recycled, or reused.

Not only is the no-waste effort kinder to our environment, it helps to meet one of the key goals of the Urban Wildland Half Marathon & 5K: to raise awareness about the environment and to practice the earth-friendly values that are taught through Wood Lake’s environmental education program.

Did I say yet that I love life?

(Anddd it has a built in coffee pot!)

Also on the list of purchases yesterday at Opitz a new coffee/espresso maker. My mom is THRILLED. I’m hoping this was a really good brand, because despite being like 70% off it was still over $100! We tried it out today for the first time and it’s AMAZING.

(hah mom you look surprised. You’re too cute.)

We did a CostCo adventure today, and no joke – every single time we’re there my mom looks to see if they have an espresso machine. She has been waiting and waiting and waiting, and they’ve never carried one (except for online, and it was like $$$). What did they have today? The day after we bought an espresso machine?

Well too bad. We like the one we bought better. Plus, being black and sliver, it matches the rest of our appliances. And I just thought I’d throw this in here, since the blog world seems like it’s just discovering these amazing goodnesses..

(Amongst other bulk goodness. I actually think that box of Rice Krispys has been down there since I was like a freshman in high school.)

What the heck took you guys so long!? For those of you that have a CostCo.. they sell them in bulk – Clif bars, Lara bars, those nasty coco type Lara Bars, Power bars, Balance bars, the new Trio bars – they’ve got em’ all! Just a heads up!

WOW! What a post for a Thursday! Back to work tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Ugh where’s my effin camera when I want it? Upstairs in the office, at home.

Well I just woke up from a much needed 2 hour nap, and even though my body’s still in sleep debt, it was a good start at getting some hours back. I wanted to take a picture of where I slept.. hahah lame. One of the only great things about the U is that because it’s sooo big, and because there are so many commuter students, they put in a TON of chairs and couches in the student union. Seriously.. theres about a bajillion places to sleep, and some of them are even QUIET! I scored a nice big comfy chair and a big ottoman (so I could lay down) over by the bowling alley in the basement. I wouldn’t have even needed the ear plugs.

So like I said, I pulled an all nighter on Monday to get this drafting project for Arch Studio done, and then the two nights after that I was up until at least 1:00 finishing a 20 page field report of Minneapolis. And I feel like I need to defend myself – it’s not like I waited till the last minute to do these. There was just that much work plus other stuff I needed to be working on before that. I guess I could have skipped run club, but I needed to keep some level of sanity.

Yikes I need to go to the bathroom, and I want to make a pit stop through starbucks before class. I’ll have to finish this post later! With pictures and a recap of the last couple days!

[EDIT - EDIT - EDIT]

Arighty.. time to finish up:

This bad boy is the culprit that made me pull the all nighter on Monday. I had to skip my 1st class on Tuesday morning too so I could finish up another drawing. I don’t know if you guys can click on it and make it bigger.. otherwise it’s pretty hard to see. I’m really grateful that drafting isn’t done by hand in the real world any more. Like really really glad.

This lil guy is pretty random.. but it just so happens I really like salsa. And I happen to be pretty bomb at making my own. This is a kick ass tomatillo salsa I learned how to make way back when I was like 12 from one of my old best friends’ mom. (Is that apostrophe in the right place?) Salsa is a good combo with almost anything.. but cottage cheese is at the top of the list. I was trying to be cool artistic.. hence the candles.

It also just so happens that I really like edamame. And apparently Dora and Boots do too. BOOO on me for buying the individual packages (something I openly disapprove of), but these are soo damn cute.

Did I mention my 20 page Minneapolis Field Report? Yes I did. Well that 20 pages required driving around Minneapolis for 11 hours. I could run like 68 miles in that amount of time! I broke it up into two different outings (for the sake of my butt. Literally), and my dad and I did part II last Sunday. We went out to Noodles to fuel up for the trek. No offense pops.. but this is not a flattering picture of you – you’re hair is not really that long, and the camera is giving you way more than 10 pounds

And last but not least, closing with two U of MN pics. This is the shoe tree over at the end of the Washington bridge on West Bank. There are a ton of different rumors about it’s origins, but no one really has a definite answer. My asics are too precious to leave on a dang tree if you ask me.

Here’s the view looking across the bridge from West Bank over to East Bank. A) This is a half mile bridge. It’s no wonder I get so many walking miles in – I have class on both banks every day but Friday (and Monday of course – no class). I guess the Mississippi is just pretty darn big! B) You may look at this and say why would you leave such a nice campus? Look at the blue sky, the nice buildings, the [Minnesota] nice people. Welllll.. it’s just not the school for me. I’m sure if you’ve been to college, you know the deal. If it doesn’t feel right.. it’s just not.

OHHH one more thing! I have an interview with Ellerbe Becket tomorrow afternoon! If you’ve never heard of them.. they’re a big architecture/engineering/construction/design firm.. and a pretty big deal. They have offices and have done projects all over the world, including in every flippin state in the US. Check out their website to find a project they’ve done near you!

It is time for me to sign off my dear friends. I have a couple things saved up for future posts, so keep comin back!

I promise I wont rant for this entire post, but I just need this little bit:

My alarm didn’t go off. I couldn’t wash my hair post-gym/pre-class. I had to pay $2 extra for parking because I missed the time cut off by 1 minute and 17 seconds. It’s cold. It started raining within the first mile of my run. It was the only time I’ve had my mp3 player with me in over a month. I applied for something, and was seriously thinking it would be a no brainer – of course I’d get it. Wrong. My mom is out of town this weekend. It’s forecasted to rain during my 20 miler tomorrow. I have a date tonight that I don’t want to go on. At all.

AHHH FREAKIN A – I HATE DAYS LIKE THIS.

And now I will stop crying because if I truly look at the day there have been very good moments. I just started a David Sedaris book at the gym and it’s hilarious. I got new contacts at my eye appointment, and my eyes are happy. I picked up my replacement pair of shoes. I’m just got back from tanning Sun tan lotion smells good.

And now for goodies:

My shoes have been in at the store for like a week, but I kept forgetting to pick them up. I’m gonna try to hold off for another couple hundred miles because honestly – I don’t have the $$ to change my shoes every flippin 400 miles! That would be new shoes EVERY SEVEN WEEKS!

Right now I run in the [used-to-be] white and gold ones. The grey and orange are currently for everyday use.. but they’ve seen their miles. They were my favorite Keepin the blue in the box until I make the switch.

So this little 8 oz. amphipod is my solution to hydrating on long runs. I. DON’T. WANT. A. FUEL. BELT. I know they’re not really that inconvenient, but I can’t even stand a freakin shirt tied around my waist! So, we’ll see how this goes. I have a 20 miler this weekend (still debating between tomorrow or Sunday) so I can give it a try. I’m also attempting to get used to using sports beans. Key word: attempting.

My buddy Andy is coming up to do the long run with me! I love my running club to pieces.. but if I do long slow runs with them, I’m going to get good at long slow runs. There’s nothing wrong with long slow runs – but it’s not my pace, and it won’t grant me my BQ.

On a different note – I made another stir fry creation for dinner last night. SO GOOD! This one had yellow and green zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. What a talented little chem I am BTW, I am fully endorsing the Camelback here.. or any reusable water bottle. Please, take the 30 seconds, save a plastic tree, and fill up your own! (AND REMEMBER: If you have to buy a water bottle, and of course you recycle it, make sure to take the cap off before recycling because otherwise your bottle may never make it to the recycling process! I’m not sure why.. but that’s what they say!)

This time I managed to only eat half of the container of hummus. Because the first half was already eaten the day before Still one of my favorite snacks.

But definitely not as favorite as ice cream. And Fresca. Last but not least

The Tin Fish – the restaurant where I waitress – officially had the water turned on last week! (We’re only open seasonally) If anyone is coming to Minneapolis, I FULLY EXPECT a visit! The food is AMAZING.. and the view.. just look at that last picture! I LOVE closing just to see that! I’m so excited to open up! We should have our official start day within 2-3 weeks!!

Can we talk about how great this mug is for a second? Growing up, I was pretty much obsessed with anything Sanrio. My best friend gave this to me on my 16th birthday, right before the Sanrio Store at Mall of America closed. I cried.

Today was one of those mornings when you’re really alert, but for no good reason. I had like 6 hours of sleep at most, but barely even sipped on my coffee. I usually try to take a nap after my 1st class on T and TH, and I COULDN’T. I’ve never been a good napper, but it was super frustrating! I even whipped out my handy dandy..

ear plugs! Seriously.. after such little sleep.. and even a good hard workout and one long lecture.. I *wanted* to sleep!! But my body obviously didn’t. Anyways, I got home early today because my last class was a quiz (leave when you’re done!!) and I’m currently munchin on:

This picture basically gives the impression that I eat moldy mushrooms and baby food.. but I promise my life is not so sad! The mushrooms are FRESH – just bought yesterday. The brown mush is lentil dip.. and it’s soooo good! I use it in all the same ways as hummus (a veggie dip.. sandwich spread.. I guess that’s all you use hummus for?). Sooo good doesn’t even cut it, but I can’t find anything else to compare it to, so just have faith =]

To make up for an ugly picture, I will indulge you with a more appetizing looking one:

Black bean enchiladas with mole sauce and tons of red pepper flakes. I could eat just this for.. ever. YUMMMM! This is from a couple nights ago.. just never posted it. So night time wrap up – yesterday we saw Run Fatboy Run. My opinion: Good, but not FANTASTIC. It’s not an inspirational movie like Spirit of a Marathon. But it was pretty damn funny. Running club tonight.. and my teacher for Nutrition and Body Maintenance is our guest speaker tonight! She’s a registered dietitian, but she’s doing the adjunct professor thing.

I should go get some real food so I have time to digest before the run! Adios muchachos.. hope your weather is nicer than it is here!

*BTW* I’m still MAJORLY in need of a lunch bag type thing.. so if someone has a good one – PLEASE enlighten me!