48 Hours Left

Well friends, it's my last shift here at station 2.  And its a 48 hour shift.  It's kinda bittersweet.  It has been my home since I started at the fire department almost 2 years ago and it's been AWESOME!  I have learned a ton since I have been here and made some really great friends/family.

Most people don't know how fire station life works, so I will give you some background information. For fire fighters, the fire station is home away from home.  We are here for 24 hours, every third day, and basically 1/3 of our lives.  We try to make the station as much like home as possible.  We each have our own rooms with a twin sized bed, very small desk and one shelf.  There is one fridge to share with 5 people, one common tv and one common computer.  It may not be the ritz carlton, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  The guys at the station are like a 2nd family.  Which is what makes it hard to move away to another station.

There have been some AMAZING memories made.  I first learned how to use a weed eater at the fire station.  This was interesting, because I'm usually the one to ask for help.  But I was not about to tell the guys that I had no clue how to use the weed eater... let alone start it.  But I persevered and became a weed eaten' FOOL!!  Even learned how to add the plastic string.

Learned that everything is better with bacon.  Mitchell, aka Pee Paw, is a wonder in the kitchen.  I like to think of him as the male version of Paula Dean.  He adds butter, cream, and bacon to everything.  He has been cooking at the fire station for 24+ years and has a old tricks for this spring chicken in the kitchen.  From creamy chicken to bacon wrapped asparagus to homemade apple pie, Pee Paw can throw down in the kitchen!  Also just a really neat guy in general.

Didn't get to fight too much fire while I was here... but hey, I figure I'm doing my job at fire prevention right!  Never got to be first in on the "big one," but you can bet your butt that I have fought some fire and sweated like WOAH.  You will never know what tired is until you have spent hours working on a fire scene.  You will sleep like a baby after!

So as I spend my last 48 hours here and pack all my stuff in my car to move to another station, I'm remembering all the awesome times I've spent at good ol' station 2.  Thanks for the memories....

Well, the public is calling, gotta go save the world from minor aches and pain.

Mondays

Some people don't like Mondays, but I always see Monday as a chance to start again.  Whether it be a bad day I had last week or dieting woes that I suffered the week before, I always look forward to getting back on track Monday.

With that being said, I am back on track with my running today.  Going to Vegas in December to attempt my 2nd half marathon, and my training lacked while on vacation.  But I firmly believe, when one is on vacation, do what vacationers do!  Eat... Sleep... Be Merry... Repeat.  I do not believe in working out while on vacation.  I mean, who wants to stop having a great time cause they need to go sweat for an hour, stink, and miss out on the vacation fun?!  Not this girl!  I always tell myself, enjoy yourself now and get back into the routine when you go home.  I think others should adapt this philosophy, but to each their own.

Training starts back today.  My longest run in my training so far has been 6.2 miles.  Close to half of the half marathon, but time to buckle down.  Schedule says to do one long run a week.  Which is doable.  But I find the hardest part of long distance training is finding that perfect pick me up while you're running.  You're supposed to consume gatorade, water, and some sort of energy boost snack while running.  Water and gatorade are easy, but the "snack" is a pain.  I've tried the goo.  This is what I would think a booger would tatse like.  It's runny, slimey, bad flavory... quite disgusting. Never doing that again.  Protein bites are good, but they make you have cotton mouth.  Homemade remedies tend to stick to your boosum and you don't want to eat them.  Especially when you sweat alot!!  Nuff said.  Suggestions are welcome.  Till then, sticking with the sport beans by Jelly Belly.  Just hoping I don't accidently choke on one cause they are tiny!

Also, back to the dieting wagon.  Totally fine, but I'm going to miss bacony, cheesy, fried goodness for a bit.  Good thing thanksgiving is thrown in there in a couple of weeks!  Trying a cleanse this week.  I'll let ya know how it works out.

Well, the world is calling!!

Wonder Woman

Sunday night... WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!  It was a blast from beginning to end, but did not leave much room for blogging.  How do those people that blog 24/7 do it?  Life is happening out there!  They must be glued to their computers at the hip!  But oh well.... My weekend adventure!

Friday can be summed up in one word!  Chimy's!  I remembered going to this place for margaritas and nachos all the time in college.  And by that I mean 1 one margarita.  Those things are so powerful they slap you in the face, and then they kick you in the teeth.  But, since I'm older and more mature (or have a higher tolerance), they are definitely not as bad as they used to be.  So all in all, I believe that everyone should experience a margarita from chimy's once in your life!  One of the best margaritas and plate of nachoes if I do say so my self.

Saturday... oh Saturday.  Up and down.  My red raiders put up a fight, but alas they could not hold K state.  Still my team, still guns up despite the loss.  Not gonna dwell on that loss though.  How do you get over a red raider loss??  Throw an impromptu Halloween party!  I was Wonder Woman!  I sure did feel empowered that night!  Guess not too empowered though.  My shirt came off the rack at wal mart, and not even in the costume section... it was in the regular clothes section.  It had a cape and everything.  I was just thinking that this was in the normal section of clothes at walmart... who would wear this every day?!  I must say my friends outdid themselves with their costumes though!  It was super fun with lots of laughter.

Sunday... REST day!  Too much of a good thing is bad for you... that's what they say.  But I strongly disagree.  I could go for another week of vacation.  It was so relaxing sleeping in, eating whatever, spending time with the hubs, family, and friends, good wine, EATING.  I defnitely don't see how so much of those good things can be bad for you!  But alas, they also say all good things must come to an end!  What a fabulous vacation spent at home!  There is one thing to look forward to though, headed to Arkansas for an adventure with the hubs in 3 weeks.  His friend Bobby is getting married!  Another state I get to mark off on my way to conquering the nifty fifty!

Till tomorrow, the world is calling... and I must answer!  Wait... that was definitely my bed calling!

Cloudy with a chance

If you know one thing about me, its that I LOVE to eat!  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, brunch, bar food, cheese and wine... really I'll probably eat most anything.  Although I do have a lot of knowledge on food nutrition, I can't help but drool and give into cravings sometimes.  I mean honestly, who can pass over anything with the word bacon?!  Well, I bet most of you don't know where I got my passion for food and cooking... so, I will tell you.

When I was about 9, I read this amazing book called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  I just was overwhelmed by all the food in this book.  And amazed that it fell from the sky.  At 9, I'm pretty sure the only reason I played outside was because I wanted so bad for a storm of potato chips to fall from the sky!  None the less, it never happened.  Maybe if I would have prepared a little better and had some ranch chip dip in the fridge, this might have happened.  LOL

Anywho, everyone in the book seemed sooo incredibly happy when they ate.  And I realized how happy I was when I would eat... thus began my stent of overweightness.  But that was not going to stop my feeding my face with such delicious foods!  Savoring every bite and morsel of yumminess!  With my favorite food being POTATOES!!  So versitile!  I was making my own baked potatoes at 9.

Now that I'm older, I'm definitely more aware of nutrition and make fruits and veggies apart of my daily diet.  Loosing so much weight I think definitely changed my mindset on how, when, and what I need to be eating.  But, the passion for cooking good food is still here.  I'm always trying to find good things to eat that are healthy, but still have that twist that makes you want to come back to eat them.  That being said, praise The Lord for turkey bacon!  I think you could put bacon on anything and make it taste amazing!  There are definitely those days when I revert back to my inner fat kid and pig out on potato chips.  I don't have them often, but I sure do love them.  And I always remember that amazing book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs that stirred up my passion for food.

Well, the world is calling... and I must answer!

My first blog!

Well, it's offical... I'm a blogger.  Mostly I'm starting this blog to share my adventures in travel, food, and fitness.  I'm hoping to get a few tips here and there from friends and family.  Hopefully it might help you friends and family with all my fun adventures.

So... on that note.  Today, I tried this amazing crock pot recipe for chicken tonight.  I sent it with my husband to work with some... and what do I do... I'm going out to eat with the parentals!  But, I will be having this delicious dish tomorrow for lunch! If you like oriental style chicken, you'll like this!

Ingredients - chicken, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ketchup, onion, red pepper flakes, and seasame seed.

In the crock pot(which I find to be one of the greatest inventions ever!!) for 1.5 hours and TA DA!  Greatness!!  If you want to correct measurements, holler at me and I'll hook you up!!  Tomorrow night... bagel dogs!  Until then... Life is calling, and I must answer!!