Irish Soup

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

This also marks the first day of Meghan Madness 2014.  I don't really have a plan this year, not that I ever really do, but I am about to turn 31 on the the 31st making this my golden birthday!  So golden is kinda my theme, we'll see how it goes.

I was trying to get in the Irish spirit and I saw this recipe on Skinnytaste.com and thought I should give it a try.  This soup sounds a little weird, but I already had all of the ingredients, and wasn't sure what to cook with leeks. 

First finely chop the leeks.

Saute them in a pan with some butter till soft.

Add chicken stock and milk, heat till boiling.

Add oatmeal and season with salt and pepper.

Cook on low for about 45 minutes.

Done!

It's actually pretty tasty!

I hope you are wearing green and find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Over the Weekend

Yesterday was the Shamrock Shuffle 3K.  When training to run, my biggest problem is consistency, and as always I had gotten behind on my running schedule.  Also, when it comes time to run a race I tend to get excited and want to pass people which means I run faster than I should,  I forget about pacing myself, then get tired and have to walk..  So my goal was to jog as slowly as I could and not walk for the whole race.

My husband and I before the race began.

After, needed water!

Coffee makes everything better.

I am happy to report, I met my goal.  I did not walk at all!!  My time last year was 24:09 and this year was 20:59.  I'm pretty excited about that, especially considering, when I'm running on the treadmill at home I've been running at a 4 mph or 15 min per mile pace.  I ran this 3K at under 12 min per mile or at a little over 5 mph pace.  I know that I am still the slowest runner ever, but that is really good for me.  After all fitness is not about being better than someone else, it is about being better than you use to be.  (Saw that quote on Pinterest!)

In about four weeks I'll be running a 5K.  I need to stay on top of it this time.

After the race we stuck around downtown for some of the St. Patrick's Day festivities and took advantage of the great restaurants.

Then we came home and relaxed.  The weather was beautiful.  The girls really enjoyed laying out on the deck.  I'm glad we took advantage of the weather while we could since today it is cold and raining.

Spring Wreath

Even though it has gotten cold again over the weekend, the few warm days we have had make me excited for spring.  So I have decided to make some new spring decor to welcome the changing season.

I gathered some tulips, a grapevine wreath some scissors and some floral wire.

I began by pushing the tulip stems into the wreath, trying to space the flowers evenly.

After I had them pretty much where I wanted them I just used the floral wire to tie some of the tulips closer to the wreath if they were sticking out too much.

And that's it! Bright and springy.

It's March!!!

It's finally March!  That means spring really is almost here!!!

I can't wait!