I love to cook, and I especially love easy, fast tasty food.  The following recipe is one of our family favorites.  We eat this once a month, if not every three weeks.   I’ve made it so many times, I don’t need the recipe anymore. Enjoy!  I know you will!

Rotini with Spinach & Asiago Cheese

1 pound rotini pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 TBS minced garlic
1 (9-ounce) bag fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup (about 3 1/2-ounces) grated Asiago
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Meanwhile, warm olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and tomatoes and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2 more minutes. Add the cooked pasta and toss. Add the cheeses, salt, pepper, and the pasta cooking liquid and stir to combine. Transfer the pasta to a serving plate and serve.

We serve this with cheesy garlic bread, and call it dinner. A couple times though I have served it with italian-fried chicken (Dredge chicken tenderloins in flour, then coat in beaten egg, then dredge again in Italian Bread Crumbs. Fry in Olive Oil in Med-High Heat until done).

I did it! 52 weeks of photos!  here were times I didn’t want to get off the couch on Sunday afternoon to take the shot… but I did it!  I’m really proud of my little collection of my year in photos.  It’s definitely a project I recommend, as sometimes you have to think out a concept to shoot.

I don’t think I’ll be doing it this next year, but don’t fret, you’ll still see my kids. :) I’m tossing around the idea of the project “5 Burns 12 Times” a family photo a month… but I’m sure Nate would kill me.

Phew! THANKS for coming along on this journey with me!

I rejoice, because I am done.

Sunday, October 31, I ran my first full marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon.

The Friday before I picked up my race-packet and proceeded to carb load.  All week long I’d think about the race and get a belly full of nerves.  The night before I slept terribly… it was like Christmas Eve, and I tend to sleep terribly the night before anything big or exciting.  I woke up at 5 am to eat my oatmeal and coffee, and hop on the Metro.

I underestimated the long metro ride, and the fact that they had the start line a mile away from where we got out.  It was 7:45 by the time I got there, and I had to wait in a long porta potty line, and missed the start.  This meant I was not lined up in the runners equivalent to my pace.

There was a sea of slow runners and walkers to work through for the first several miles. I was pushing out 9 minute miles the first several miles, so that meant I already knew that I was not going to be qualifying for Boston today.   It was like a fartlek: run slow behind a group then speed up the moment a window opens.  I spent a lot of valuable energy dodging and weaving through people going slower than me.

Mile 13 found me wondering if I was even going to clear 4 hours (my ultimate goal) and waiting in a long line of women to use the bathroom.  Surprisingly, I was battling a severe case of nerves for the first 18 miles.  It would just rise and billow, and I couldn’t seem to control my nerves.  I think that my expectations of an awesome race were so high, and I’d dreamt of this moment for 18 months… I just couldn’t shake them.

Finally at mile 18, I came up on my family… Nate, my mom, and the 3 kids had come to cheer and support me.

moments before I had just run into an old friend, and we both smiled as we ran past.

My smile is hiding that my hips were hurting, I had a pulled groin muscle, and my ankles and arches were feeling really sore.  I had already been to the orthopedist about my hips, and it turns out my hips are pointier than normal and rub on my ITBand.

Then I approached 20 miles.  Physically, I was in a lot of pain.  Psychologically I was thinking, “I will Never Do this again.”  I couldn’t fathom that I still had 6 miles to go… another hour of feeling like one long labor contraction.

The last 2 miles I was basically moving at a shuffle.  I did stop to walk a few times, and starting to run again was always excruciating… Mile 25 I was walking when a man ran past and yelled, “you can do it!  Finish strong!”  and that was all I needed.  I ran the last bit.. and the MCM is cruel that they have one final last steep hill going UP into the finish.  The MCM motto is “Earned, Never Given.” and they mean it.

My Garmin time was 4:19:57.  My official chip time was 4:29:19.

Things I’ve learned:

Get there EARLY and line up aggressively.

Don’t stop to use the bathroom.

Don’t cheat on your training.  (I skipped or shortened a few runs.)

Cross train… get other muscles involved.

Get a GPS Garmin, the foot pod ones are worthless.

Race MORE races… toe the line a few times so that my nerves aren’t out of control.

Will I do a full marathon again?  Up until late Monday night, the answer was No Way Jose.  That. Was. Brutal.  The last couple days?  I’m disappointed I didn’t get my sub-four hours I worked hard for, and should have had.  I wonder if I changed my things learned list, and maybe sought out a smaller, less crowded marathon I could get that time I desperately wanted.

Overall, I’m a little disappointed over my time.  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  But I’m incredibly proud of my accomplishment, and now only have something I can improve on and build on.  I do think that ultimately half-marathons are more my distance.

My Seth had a great birthday… “The Best One ever!” he has told me several times.   Which was a relief to me, because my husband’s grandmother had passed away, and the funeral was actually held on his birthday.  But it was indeed special, as he was surrounded by all of his cousins and family… and lets face it, he made out like a bandit!

some portraits of my eldest boy…

who is obsessed with Star Wars

loves legos and junk food

who hates going to bed

yet snores so softly

who comes home from kindergarten with energy to burn

who doesn’t quite pronounce his “th’s” yet, thus the “Ses/ Sef”

who will push his brother down just to get to his sister

who doesn’t cuddle much, unless you are eating and don’t want to be touched

my oldest rough and tumble

he keeps me on my toes

he makes me laugh

that Seth of mine.

Happy 6th Birthday Charlie McGee!

First up, are some macros of flowers hubster brought home this week… “just because.”  I love the soft pinks.

Next up is not for the faint of heart.

Many of you know that I am training for my first marathon.  I have about 6 weeks left, and I’ve completed a couple of 18 mile runs thus far.  Yesterday’s run had me out on a trail in the woods… when I saw this crazy caterpillar crossing my path.  A Hickory Horned Devil to be exact…

He’s a good 6 inches long and a good inch wide.  I scooped him up into a plastic bag and ran 10 miles with him, just so I could show my boys.  He’s currently living in my son’s bug jar… for now.  He is kind of creepy, so we’ll see how long he gets to stay… lol.

Two posts ago I mentioned that we had hired Lisa of Lisa Lucky Photography to shoot our own family session.  My very own sneak peek is now up on Her Blog HERE.

I couldn’t be more happy!  My breath caught on quite a few images, because she really did capture intimate expressions… ones I see everyday that others outside my family don’t.  I wanted a great family portrait, and I wanted to see Lisa’s fine art spin and her creativity with my kids…. and she totally rocked it, and surpassed all of my expectations.  I forsee some rather large prints and canvases going up on my walls very soon.

Lisa, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

It doesn’t seem like it was too long ago that this little guy… was well… little.  And, oh boy… he was mine, all mine.  These last 5 and a half years, he’s been my buddy, my rascal, my tester of patience and wills.  But he was all mine.  I tried my best in teaching him right from wrong.  That “To Have a Friend, You Need To Be a Friend.”  To listen and obey.  I hope he’s ready.

Because, he’s not “all mine” anymore.  Now his teacher, Mrs. H will have him for 35 hours or so a week.

My first baby started Kindergarten.  Amidst my tears, he climbed that bus, and he had a great day.  Seth is growing up, and I hope and pray that he’s ready for this world.

Warning… Photo Overload!  Like I mentioned before… I took over 400 photos, so how do you narrow it down to just a few for the blog?!?!  I’ll try my best….

We had an AWESOME time in Avon, which is near Hatteras Lighthouse. Very laid back and relaxing…. here are some of my snaps and seascapes (taken with a rented Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8)

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2

please be respectful and don’t take my unwatermarked photos… my children do bite.