It's The Most Wonderful Time....

OF THE YEAR! Why? No, not because Christmas is finally within sight (although that does make me giddy, because I absolutely love Christmas). It's the most wonderful time of the year, because it's time for THIS:

Yep, college basketball season has officially begun.  And my Tar Heels have kicked if off right this week by beating Florida International on Monday and NC Central last night.  (For those of you who don't follow college basketball (are you crazy?), that's UNC's coach, Roy Williams.  Love that man.

I am a die hard, down and dirty Carolina basketball fan.  I've been known to throw couch pillows at innocent nutcrackers by the fireplace when we lose in triple overtime.  (Yes, this actually happened once when I was home for Christmas in college.  My parents were a little taken aback.)

I was lucky enough to be a student at UNC when the Tar Heels won the national championship in 2005.  It was so much fun to be a part of that.  I can still remember watching the last seconds of the game tick down (it was a close one), and then we popped some Andre and ran up to Franklin Street where we became a part of this crowd:

And saw people jumping through bonfires in the street...

 It was such a fun night and one of my favorite college memories.  What about you?  Any favorite memories from when you were in school?

GO HEELS!

Bag Love

As a reward to myself for my new job Since I'll be doing some traveling for my new job, I'll be needing a good bag that I can carry on the plane and to the meetings I'll be attending (which means it will need to be big enough to accommodate a laptop).  I've been doing some hunting on eBay, and this is what I've come up with.  Except I can't decide.  Black or brown??  I tend to like bags in the brown / neutral family more than black, but most of my work clothes, including my suits, are mostly in the black and gray family.  And when I travel, I'll be attending meetings where I'll need to wear a suit.  So black seems like it would get more use, if I want my bag to coordinate with my clothes.

What do you think?  Please forgive the not-so-great photos.  They're swiped from eBay and since these are past season bags, I can't find a better picture online.

Black Coach bag?

Or brown Kate Spade?

Don't judge me, but I'm considering getting both.  Or maybe buying one now and asking for one for Christmas...

Tasty Tuesday: Baked Ziti

There isn't much more to say about this recipe other than it is THE BOMB. I absolutely, big time heart it.  It's a recipe that I found on AllRecipes several years ago and modified a little bit to improve on the original, if that is even possible.

I made it for a group this weekend, and everyone asked for the recipe. It makes a TON, so if you're cooking for 5 or less people, I would half it. This recipe easily feeds 10.

Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
1 pound (1 box) ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
(2) 26-oz jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz. sliced provolone cheese
1.5 cups sour cream
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease 9x13 baking dish.
Boil a large pot of water and cook ziti according to box instructions (about 8-9 minutes); drain.
In a large skillet, brown ground beef and chopped onion over medium heat.
Add spaghetti sauce; simmer 15 minutes.
Layer ingredients in baking dish as follows (listed in order of bottom to top layers): 1/2 of the ziti, 1/2 of the sauce, provolone slices, layer of sour cream (spread over provolone slices), remaining ziti, remaining sauce, shredded mozzarella.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Cover and bake in preheated oven 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is melted and all ingredients are warmed through.

Enjoy! 

Ice Baths...I'm a Believer

In my blog hopping, I've seen a number of people post about taking an ice bath after a long run to help with recovery of the leg muscles.  My initial thoughts were that an ice bath sounds absolutely horrible.  Why would you want to do that to yourself?!?!?  I did the requisite googling to find out more about it, and had to admit that the theory did sound convincing.  But the thought of actually doing it...not so much.

I went for a run yesterday and did 10 miles.  My legs were feeling pretty sore in the last couple of miles of the run, and I could tell I was going to be feeling it for days.  When I got home, I thought...what the heck.  Let's give this a try.  If it's horrible, I don't ever have to do it again.  But.....IT. WORKED.  I'm a believer.  I now completely understand why people will subject themselves to this torture.  I felt like a new woman after spending 10 minutes with my legs submerged in freezing cold water.  I'm not going to lie.  It wasn't the most fun I've had in ages.  But honestly, it also wasn't that bad, once you get past the initial shock.

My method was to crank up the heater so the air around me was warm, and wear a sweatshirt to keep my upper body warm.  I filled the bathtub about waist-high with cold water, sat down and submerged my aching legs.  Then...I added a big bag of ice.  Painful, but necessary.  I set the timer for 10 minutes and read a book to try to get my mind off the fact that the lower half of my body was freezing.  When the 10 minutes were up, I gladly drained the tub, took a hot shower and was no worse for the wear.

I'm telling you...it worked WONDERS.  Usually, when I run that far (not that I've done it all that much!), my legs ache for days.  Within an hour of finishing the ice bath, my legs felt great.  They were a little sore last night, but much better today than they normally are the day after a long run.  If you run longer distances and get sore when you do it, try this.  Just once.  I don't think you'll be sorry you did, once it's all said and done.

If you want to learn more about the theory behind how the ice bath helps with muscle recovery, there's a good explanation here.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Show Us Your Life - Thanksgiving

I'm linking up to Kelly's Korner for her "Show Us Your Life - Thanksgiving Recipes and Traditions".  Thanksgiving is one of my FAVORITE holidays!!!

I think I've mentioned it before, but my mom's side of the family has been going down to Kiawah Island, SC for the past 21 years.  It's a tradition that my mom's parents started when they lived in Charleston and wanted their three grown kids (my mom and her brother and sister) and their families to all get together for Thanksgiving.  We decided to rent a big house at Kiawah (which is about 30 miles outside of Charleston), and the rest is history - we've done it every year since, and even though my grandparents are no longer alive, the tradition stands and it is because of them that this wonderful Thanksgiving vacation happens every year.  It's a time filled with golf for the guys, a spa appointment for the girls and lots of good laughs and great eats for everyone! 

Our Thanksgiving menu is the same every year:

Turkey and gravy

Creamed spinach

Baked cheese grits (don't bash 'em until you try the recipe below!!)

Cranberry sauce

Sister Schubert rolls (YUM)

Homemade jello salad

Lemon Tea Bread and Pecan Pie for dessert

I'm going to post the recipes for the baked cheese grits and the Lemon Tea Bread.  Grits are a southern thing, but if you're from the north and have never tried grits, I promise...you will love these.  People generally think of grits as a breakfast food, but we serve it with our Thanksgiving dinner and BOY! are they good!

The Lemon Tea Bread is a recipe that has been passed down through several generations.  It is so yummy.  The recipe makes one loaf, but we always make three because it's so popular with our family.  I have to be honest - I probably consume about a loaf all by myself in a matter of a couple days.  It's not the most healthy recipe, but it's worth it.  I'm just keepin' it real.

Baked Cheese Grits

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Quick Grits

6 cups boiling water

8 oz Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheese, grated

1 stick butter

3 eggs, beaten

2 tsp salt

3 tsp seasoned salt

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Directions:

Add grits to boiling water.  Cook for 5 minutes (covered) and remove from fire.

Add cheese, butter, eggs, salt, seasoned salt and Tabasco sauce, stir well.

Pour into baking pan and cook at 250 degrees for one hour, uncovered.  If desired, sprinkle paprika on top for pizazz.

Lemon Tea Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, softened

1 lemon (1 tbsp grated lemon peel (2 tbsp if you want a more lemon-y taste) needed, and the juice from the lemon is also needed)

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Cream sugar with butter in large bowl.  Add grated lemon peel.  Beat in eggs.  Mix dry ingredients together in a 2nd bowl.  Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture, alternating with the addition of the milk.  Pour batter into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
After removing from oven, while bread is still hot, mix 1/4 cup sugar with the juice of one lemon.  Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves.  Pour warm glaze over bread and let cool.

Enjoy!

Are there any special Thanksgiving traditions that you and your families have?

New Job!

Well, this week has kind of gotten away from me.  I think I'm going to forego the Halloween recap because, well, Halloween has passed us by.  (The word "forego" makes me think of The Bachelor every time I use it...you know, forego the individual rooms and stay in the fantasy suite...)  But it was fun, my party was good, and my DIY decorations were super cute!  I will post one pic of the jack-o-lantern jars I made using this tutorial:

Cute, right!

SO!  The past week has been a bit of a whirlwind.  I've been on the job hunt for awhile now, but I will admit, until the past couple of months, it was a sort of half-&*$ search.  I finally reached a point where it really was just time to move on.  Without going into details, my current company has had some struggles in the past year due to the economy, and morale is really at a low.  Combined with the fact that I've essentially maxed out in terms of growth at my current company, it's just time to move on.  So I kicked it up in the past couple months, polished up my resume, and stalked Indeed.com.  I actually got two offers in the past month, and accepted one of them last week.  I put in my two weeks notice last Friday!  Yowza!

My last day at my current job will be a week from tomorrow.  There is SO much to do before I leave...I have to get all of my work transitioned to the people who will be taking it over, and there are a lot of things that I've had on the back burner for awhile that I really should tie up before I go.  Ugh, the pains of having a conscience.  Some people would just leave a lot of loose ends, but not me.  I want things to be in order before I leave.  So needless to say, this week has been a busy one, and next week will probably be even busier.

I'm excited but nervous about my new position.  It's in the same industry (pharmaceutical research), but it's a big step up in terms of responsibilities.  I am going to be a Project Manager for a company that has several different technolgies that are used to collect data in clinical trials.  I'll spare you the details!  I'm excited because I'm going to be the one in charge of everything on my projects, which is great but scary too, because I have to make all the decisions - people will be coming to me for everything, and I can't pawn off the tough stuff on anyone else like I can in my current position!!  I know I'll be fine, but anything new is a bit unnerving.  I'll also get to do some traveling (including international), which is exciting for me.  If I'm ever going to be able to travel, it's now, before I have a family, etc.  And why not see the world on someone else's dime??

I start on Monday, November 16th, so I will definitley be posting updates as I get rolling!

Oh, and major sad part of this - right now, I have my own big office with a window (I know, who gets that when they're 25?) which I love, and I'm going to be moving into cube land.  UGH.  It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure.

And, is it bad that one of my biggest fears is that Gmail will be blocked at my new company and I can't Gchat during the day?  Pathetic, I know.

5 Quick Things

It's been a few days since I've posted, so just wanted to do a quick post to prove I'm still alive and kicking!

So 5 quick things:

1. I hosted book club on Friday night (The Glass Castle was the book of choice - host gets to choose) and a Halloween party on Saturday- pics to come later this week!  I was a fairy :)
2. I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!  Details to come :)
3. I have a bum neck.  I was doing some last minute shopping in Target on Saturday before my party, and I got a weird pain in my neck, then within a couple of minutes, it hurt so bad that I couldn't even hold my purse on my shoulder on my right side.  I STILL can't turn my head to the right.  When I change lanes when driving, I practically have to do the robot to see if anyone is over there.  It's a pain in the neck.  Literally.  I've got a moist heat pack on it now as I write this.  Not cool.
4. I've totally slacked on my running in the past couple of weeks and I'm worried about my upcoming 1/2.  After my impressive showing a few weeks ago where I ran 10 miles, I have only run a peasly couple miles twice.  WTF?  Not ok.  This needs to stop.
5. I'm hating the time change.  Being dark prior to 6pm is really not my cup of tea.  This is not going to help the running issue in #4.  It's not so much fun to run in the dark (and cold).  I will say, though, that it does make my nights feel longer, which I enjoy.

Stay tuned for more updates!