The Hunger Games

Book One

I finally gave in and am reading The Hunger Games. I resisted for a while because I wasn't sure if this was just another Twilight phenomenon or something. But how could I not read this book? My sister is reading if for the second time and asked that we read it for our book club. I am so glad she brought it up. I'm only 50 pages in and I can't stop thinking about reading it more. So far, this book reminds me of The Giver by Lois Lowry, Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell...and that movie Hannah. I hope Katniss is like Hannah. Seriously. I'm only on book one, and I'm told it only gets better. I'm so excited about this, and totally kicking myself for waiting so long to pick it up! Oh well, I'm reading it now! I've only heard good reviews on these books, anyone hate it?

Marathon Training Guide

On February 1, 2012 I was registered for my first full marathon. My mom signed the both of us up, so no backing out. For those of you that know my mom, she's an incredible athlete and an Ironman. Yeah, an IRONMAN. So, we'll see if I can keep up with her!

I'm not sure it really sank in that I am running a marathon in October until about a week ago when I tried creating a training plan. Right now, I have 216 days until the Chicago Marathon. Seems like a long time, right? Wrong. That's 31 weeks. I'm sitting at 4 miles right now! Yikes.

Here is what I came up with for anyone that is looking for a marathon training plan, CLICK HERE. I think it will be challenging. I'm telling as many people as I can about this training plan so that I will stick to it!

Cupcakes :)

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make cupcakes for a co-worker/friend's work baby shower. It has honestly been so long since I made cupcakes, and I couldn't tell you the last time I made them from scratch. I decided to go all out and try to make some vanilla bean cupcakes - who doesn't love vanilla bean. After some solid  research, I came up with this recipe from The Busty Baker. They turned out amazing. Not too sweet which created a perfect balance for the ridiculously sweet butter cream frosting that I chose to use from the Food Network. Needless to say, I will be returning to The Busty Baker for more guidance on baking.