Sunday Bakery & Running Outside On The Weekends.

 

Sunday Bakery this week is  these Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookie Bars from Mom On Timeout. They are AAAAAH-MAAAAAAA-ZING. Seriously… the goeyness from the caramel, all those chocolate chips… so awesome.

I didn’t post a recipe because I didn’t adapt it enough. The only thing I changed was the chocolate chips. I used 1 cup of dark chocolate chips, and 1 cup of peanut butter chips. I also sprinkled about a half cup of each on top of the caramel after I poured it on top of the cookie dough.

There’s 2 things that I’m planning on doing differently when I make these again. 

First- I’m changing the cookie dough recipe.  I had a little issue with the amount of oats. Personally, I’d like there to be more, OR none at all. There wasn’t quite enough to make the cookies oatmealy, but there was enough to make the cookie texture a little, um,  different. I’m planning on making these with my favorite peanut butter cookie dough OR my favorite oatmeal cookie dough.

Second-  I’m only making half the amount of caramel sauce. it’s sooo rich (and delicious) I felt like the cookie part of the bar got lost. And no cookie dough deserves to get lost.

No matter what… I’d suggest you try these out, and as soon as I bake my version it will def be posted!

 

I actually baked these bars yesterday because I though I had a lot of “grown-up” (AKA BORING) stuff to do today. Turns out… I don’t. the only thing I HAD to do was go for a run. Usually I run at the gym on the weekends… These are a few of the reasons why.

• There’s so much traffic on Saturday & Sunday. And if you run on the street/ sidewalk, you probably know how annoying it is to have to constantly stop and wait for a car to go by. I had a fit today trying to avoid any of the main roads, my route looks like a 3 year old drew it! Basically,  cross streets suck and don’t you people want to sleep in on the weekend?!
• Then in the spring/ summer/ fall there’s the yard sales. Seriously people, if you see me huffing along the least you could do is scooch (scootch) your cheap ass over a little so there’s room for both of us on the sidewalk! I’d rather not get hit by another (cheap) guy who is cutting across a lane of traffic so he can get that stupid rooster clock they’re selling for a dollar.
• And finally… it seems like there are way more dogs out on the weekends. I love dogs, and (so far) I’ve never been attacked by a dog. But dogs… they don’t like runners. Maybe its their chase instinct? but whatever it is… UGH. the worst is when it’s close and barking but you can’t see it. it’s like “IS THIS going to be the dog that comes out of nowhere and mauls me”?! The other thing that drives me crazy is dogs that are off-leash. I got chased by a tail-wagging, tennis  ball weilding labradoodle today. After I stopped and accepted the slobbery tennis ball deposited at my feet his owner says “He just wants to run with you”. Well, Lady, I might not LIKE dogs. And I might not be nice enough to stop, and your dog could have run into traffic… Fortunately for me that dog was well behaved. The point is- if you HAVE to let you dog off it’s leash in an unfenced area please call it back to you, or exert some sort of control over it!

 

Ooops. That got a little more angry than I intended. I think I need to go calm down and eat a gooey caramel cookie bar.

Happy Sunday!

-Hey Waitress!!

Running Music!

Up until recently I’ve used Pandora every time I workout or run. And it got SUPER annoying. Mostly the commercials. I haaaaaaaate commercials! Which is also why I DVR everything I want to watch on TV (but that’s a-whole-nother story). At any rate… besides the excessive commercials, it also stops and asks if “I’m still listening”. the music cutting off in the middle of a run is also SUPER annoying. Then I have to stop, pause my watch, take my armband off, turn the music back on, put the arm band back on, unpause my watch, THEN get back into my “groove”. NOT COOL.

Um, that turned into more of a rant than I intended. The whole point of this post was to share my new running playlist! I upgraded my phone, and used it as an excuse to finally download iTunes, and start working on my music library again!

I’ve got an eclectic mix of running tunes. I like to mix it up a bit. I tried to leave off music I hear a lot on the radio (or Sirius, or Pandora). Some of these came from a “top 100 running songs” search I did on Yahoo!, I’ll post some of the lists at the end.

The total playlist is 45 songs and about 3 hours long. ENJOY.

1. Hands- The Ting Tings
2. Bubbles- Biffy Clyro (I love this guy’s voice, but not his name.)
3. Like a G6- Far East Movement
4. I bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor- Arctic Monkeys
5. Should I Stay or Should I Go- The Clash
6. Kickstart My Heart- Motley Crue
7. I Believe in a Thing Called Love- The Darkness
8. Breathe, Stretch, Shake- Mase
9. Lose yourself- Eminem
10. Hey Ya!- Outkast
11. Sex Type Thing- Stone Temple Pilots
12. Wolf Like Me- TV On the Radio
13. Closer- Nine Inch Nails
14. The State of Massachusetts- Dropkick Murphys (I’d probably have a doz more DKM songs, but I didn’t want to crowd my playlist with a ton of stuff from the same band)
15. Never Miss a Beat- Kaiser Chiefs
16. Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana
17. We Didn’t Start the Fire- Billy Joel
18. Dog Days Are Over- Florence + the Machine
19. London Calling- The Clash
20. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House- LCD Soundsystem
21. Chelsea Dagger- The Fratellis
22. We Got the Beat- The Go-Go’s
23. Epic- Faith No More
24. Atlas- Battles
25. Immigrant Song- Led Zeppelin
26. Head Like a Hole- Nine Inch Nails
27. Rebel Yell- Billy Idol
28. Crazy Bitch- Buckcherry
29. Baba O’Riley- The Who
30. Come Out and Play- The Offspring
31. Kashmir- Led Zepplin
32. Sabotage- Beastie Boys (again… I’d fill my playlist with these guys. But only the old school stuff)
33. Double Vision- 3oh!3 (again… full playlist)
34. The Distance- Cake
35. I Just Wanna Run- The Downtown Fction
36. Tik Tok- Ke$ha
37. Keep Your Head- The Ting Tings
38. Higher Ground- Red Hot Chili Peppers
39. Lasso- Phoenix
40. Banditos- The Refreshments
41. Toxic- Britney Spears
42. My Body- Young the Giant
43. Joker & the Thief- Wolfmother
44. Another One Bites the Dust- Queen
45. Uprising- Muse

Not too shabby right? There are a few songs that I’m kind of embarrassed to admit are on there (Tik Tok, and Toxic), but I just couldn’t help myself. There are also a few band/ groups/ artists that I’ll def be adding more songs from (Beasties, 3oh!3).

 

Happy Workouts & Happy Running!

-Hey Waitress!!

Running Fall & Gym Annoyances

Fall Down. Ouch?

I’ve been running outside 2 or 3 times a week since September, when I started the CouchTo5K plan.  Go me. If you don’t know, I have a Love/Hate relationship with running. I don’t particularly enjoy it, but If I miss a day I feel guilty. I’m also a bit clumsy. I mean, I can trip on air, I constantly bump into things, and I usually manage to burn myself or spill something at least once a week. So,running outside and clumsy… 2 things that don’t usually go well together. That being said, since September I hadn’t fallen once. Until last Friday. Lucky for me the only thing seriously hurt was my pride. As I sat there on the sidewalk, doing an inventory (pain, no. phone, whole. watch, not broken. sunglasses, just a few feet away)… I had to laugh. I just imagined what the people driving by must have seen… me (windpants, jacket, gloves, puffy vest) cartwheeling through the air, skidding a foot on the sidewalk… I would have laughed if I was driving by. Just sayin.
So… my first fall was pretty traumatic, but when I finished the run (50 minutes, 5.08 miles, 9’50” pace) I realized how lucky I was. I was wearing layers so my knees only got bruised/ slightly skinned (no blood). I only got 2 small holes in my pants, and a BIG hole in my glove. I didn’t break/ strain/ pull/ tear any bones/ muscles. I wore my contacts & cheap sunglass, so my “good” frames didn’t go flying off and get ruined. I didn’t land on my cellphone OR my GPS watch…

As bad as my pride was hurt… I’m glad I got my first running fall over with. Now all I can do is hope it doesn’t happen again for a loooooooong time.

Oh… and the only thing that convinced me to finish that run was The Bollox followed by Nirvana, Cake, Trapt, Dropkick Murphy’s, and the other rockin tunes that made my playlist that day.

 

Annoyance in the Gym

I should preface this rant by  clarifying something- When I say “gym” I mean the “fitness center” at my apartment complex. It’s pretty basic, a nautilus machine, 2 treadmills, stationary bike, elliptical, and a few medicine balls…

I dislike January at the gym. There are always a ton of people getting their NY Resolutions in. It’s a total bother. I know that makes me sound like a total gym rat, but so be it. In general it bugs me when there are too many people in the gym. I always feel like I have to rush through my routine, or hurry to claim my favorite treadmill. Not to mention the enclosed space with all those (potential) virus/ common cold/ flu carriers. *shudder* I go to the gym everyday at the same time, and it always messes up my flow when there are to many other people there…

I think it’s partly because I feel like people are wicked judgey. I don’t particularly want to know if that guy is staring at my ass in a good way.. or a bad way.

Yesterday… the lady who cleans the “fitness center” in my apt complex talked to me for (at least) 30 minutes while I was trying to get my workout in. I got to hear half her life story, why she hates working for the apt complex, and got admonished for not having children yet. All I wanted to do was workout. Seriously… unless it’s an emergency, don’t talk to me until I stop doing whatever I was doing. If I had lost count of my reps one more time I might have screamed! I mean, she’s a nice lady, and probably just wanted someone to talk to…but DAMMIT, I’m not the kind of person who tells someone to leave them alone. Then she cleaned the treadmill belt as I was getting on it. REALLY.

One more thing… I really dislike people who listen to music w/o headphones while they’re working out, while other people ar in the gym. It’s rude. I don’t want to hear whatever kind of crap music motivates you, just like I’m sure you don’t want to hear the crap I listen to. Invest in a pair of headphones. Or listen to me heavy footing the treadmill and deep breathing during my yoga & stretching. I ALWAYS put my headphones in when someone else is working out. If you need an extra pair I have one…

 

Eeeh, (kinda) sorry if that rant was snarky.

-Hey Waitress!!

I Hate New Years Resolutions

I hate New Years Resolutions. Every year, people (myself included) make stupid & unmanageable demands on themselves, setting goals so high that the resolutions never stick… and then end up feeling like shit about themselves. Or they don’t take their resolutions seriously…

 

So, this year I’m doing things differently.

 

I WILL NOT “diet” or eat “healthy”. I like baking, junk food, and our weekly takeout too much. Moderation is key, and I’m tired of getting on the scale and being disappointed every day.

I WILL attempt to cook one new dish a week. Just one… and I’ll probably share.

 

I WON’T run a half marathon. But I’m sure as hell going to train.

I WILL run a 5k. I do it at least 3 days a week, so why not a race?

I WILL run 5 miles more a month then I did the month before.  Maybe I’ll be 10k ready by the summer!

 

I WILL NOT fold the laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer. I hate folding laundry, and I’ll most likely continue to leave it in the “clean laundry basket” for as long as I damn well please.

 

I WON’T be nicer to the cat, but I WILL brush him more. He’s an asshole. I don’t call him Jelly the Destroyer for nothing…

 

I WILL sing out loud and dance around the apartment in high heels and sweatpants when I clean it. Or whenever else I want to.

 

Happy New Year.

-Hey Waitress!!