Pumpkin

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays - football, family & food, who could ask for anything more. I focus a bit more on the food. Pumpkin is by far my favorite food. Thanksgiving is merely an excuse to eat a ton of pumpkin, while in season (people look at me weird when I make pumpkin pie in the summer).

Leading up to the holiday, I attended a pumpkin pot luck, enjoyed pumpkin pie and ice cream at my boyfriend's and went to a pumpkin patch, picking out the most perfect orange pumpkin. Right now I'm even sipping on a pumpkin latte. I'll be sad when this holiday is over, because it will be the beginning of the end of pumpkin season and the start of finals at school.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Roll Tide and eat pumpkin!

cirque du soleil

I went to see Kooza, a Cirque du Soleil show last night at the National Harbor. Pretty freaking phenomenal! I wanted to book a flight right after the show to Vegas so I could see another one.

Week 11 Summary

I'm no longer posting my weekly picks online beforehand. Apparently, I do way better when I don't. With only two picks wrong this week, sadly the Washington Redskins kept me out of the winnings. booo home team!

Brady got his first win, so proud.

My total standings through week 11: 109-51 (pretty damn good)!

National Bundt Day!

No football picks this week because I'm swamped. But I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Saturday, November 15 is National Bundt Day! I am going to a pumpkin pot-luck that day and will be bringing a pumpkin bundt cake to celebrate.

A little history brought to you by Wikipedia ;-)

"A Bundt cake is the name used for a dessert cake cooked in a Bundt pan, whose identifying attribute is its ringed shape. It is pronounced "bunt", the "d" being silent. The Bundt pan (a registered trademark) was created in 1950 by H. David Dalquist, founder of Nordic Ware, at the request of members of the Hadassah Society's chapter in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[1] They were interested in a pan that could be used to make bundkuchen (sometimes called kugelhopf or Gugelhupf), a popular German and Austrian coffee cake. The old-world pans, with fluted and grooved sides, made of delicate ceramic or heavy cast iron, were difficult to use. He modified some existing Scandinavian pan designs and fashioned the pan out of aluminum."

There's a breeze in the air...

Pants and a long sleeve shirt were called for this morning, as I set out on a beautiful fall morning run. It took a little adjusting to get used to breathing in the crisp air, but after a couple strides, I loved it. Nothing beats cold weather running!

I'm not really motivated to do speed work or long runs right now. But there is something nice about just being able to go out and run a few miles with no pressure to finish in a certain time. I'm so distracted by the fall colors, that I almost forget I'm exerting energy.

On complete random note, Vera Bradley is having some nice website sales. Check it out!

Week 10

I ran this morning! I'm so proud of myself. (Although the real reason was that I couldn't bare to turn the TV on at the gym. Good luck America, I didn't vote for him). Since the Army 10 Miler, I have just been running on the weekends and going to the gym during the week. I'm trying to increase my running ever so slightly, aiming for one weekday run and one on the weekends. I went on a beautiful run this weekend through Northwestern University's campus. One week too early because the Buckeyes will be there this weekend, oh well!

My week 9 picks were pretty pathetic, my boyfriend beat me, therefore I have no control over the television remote. Thank god the Greek season finale was last week!

Without further ado, my week 10 picks:
Denver @ Cleveland - I'm going with my new favorite AFC team! Go Brady!

New Orleans @ Atlanta - Going with the home team since this is almost a dead even match-up

Tennessee @ Chicago - I was really torn on this pick, since Tennessee was neck-in-neck with Green Bay at home last week and now they are away. I also have worried about Rex Grossman, but my BFF has convinced me to go with the home team, "Tennessee doesn't really have any tapes out on Grossman for this year its like the first game of the season in a way...he has it in him, h just has to show up"

Jacksonville @ Detroit - The jags should really be so much better, they are going into Detroit to win it.

Baltimore @ Houston - Now that I'm a browns fan, I really hate the former browns.

Seattle @ Miami - Way to turn it around Miami!

Green Bay @ Minnesota - I'm still a cheesehead!

Buffalo @ New England - The bills have disappointed me all season, sorry Courtney.

St. Louis @ NY Jets - New York fans now understand the roller coaster ride that is being a Brett fan... 12 interceptions, but he is still winning games.

Carolina @ Oakland - Do I really need an explanation here?!

Indy @ Pittsburgh - Indy has a lot to play for and Benny boy is out, but I'm still going with the home team, the stealers are looking pretty good... guess I shouldn't say that as a browns fan.

KC @ San Diego - Not much to discuss here, SD is favored by 15.

Giants @ Philly - Time to end all the excitement in the city of brotherly love.

San Fran @ Arizona - Cardinals are sitting pretty on top of a horrible division.
total points: 47


A little college football commentary
For the first time this season, all the college football teams I root for are ranked... let's see if they can keep it up. I'm personally a little concerned about Alabama being #1 this early, but since none of the ESPN writers expect them to be in the National Championship, that takes a little pressure off.

Brady Quinn

You heard it hear first, this blogger is now a Brown's fan. While, I grew in Cleveland I was raised a Green Bay Packers fan (my father is from the great state of Wisconsin, mmm cheese). But today, in front of all my loyal readers, I declare my love for Brady Quinn.


*I still love you more Grady Sizemore.