O is for the Only One I see

Happy Valentine's day friends!! On Friday, one of the boys in my class came up to me and told me that I could be his Valentine on Tuesday....he either doesn't know that Valentine's is today, or he has the girls lined up until then! : )
I ran my first 1/2 marathon yesterday! What a great experience!! I never in my life have enjoyed running...at all and if you had talked to me about running prior to this summer I would have told you that running was my least favorite way to work out. What made me try again was the Diabetes 5k that we did in November. I wanted to get a team together and if I got the team together, I wanted to be able to actually run the 5k. I mentioned this to my cousin, Mindy, and she suggested a running plan called Couch to 5k. It starts you out running just 60 seconds with 90 second walking intervals. Let me tell you that when I started this, it was so hard for me. Each week it increases the amount that you are running until you can run for 30 minutes. By the time that I got up to running the 5k, I was hooked. I just kept pushing myself to see if I could run a little farther. By the time that I got to 5 miles, I decided that I wanted to run a 10k (which I'll run in a few weeks). All the excitement of the Chevron Houston Marathon, made me wish that I had run the 1/2 that day, so I found the Surfside 1/2 marathon and registered!

Yesterday I got to run my 1/2 marathon along the beach! What beautiful scenery! I finished in 2 hours 4 minutes which beat my 2 hours 20 minutes goal, but did make me wish that I had just been four minutes faster so I could finish in 2 hours. Maybe next time!
My amazing valentine woke up at 4:40 with me yesterday morning, drove all the way down to Surfside beach, supported me as I ran my first 1/2 marathon and then drove back. What a great guy!

Before it began..very nervous & cold (It was 37 degrees)

Mile 1
Mile 3 or 4
13.1 miles..exhausted!
Crossing the finish line
2:04
Yay!! Can you tell I was a cheerleader? : )

Last weekend I went to Dallas for one of my best friends, Traci's, bachelorette party! We had so much fun and are looking forward to her wedding in a few weeks!

And a few yummy recipes to share : )
I love mac and cheese, so I just had to try Paula Deen's recipe!
Ingredients
* 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stuck) butter, cut into pieces
* 2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
*I'm not going to lie, I started the mac and cheese a little late and got a little over anxious, so I turned it up on high to cook and it turned out a little powerdery. It was still great, I just messed up the texture, so be sure that you have plenty of time to let it cook and be patient :)

Paella ~ So good!! :)

from Real Simple
Ingredients
* 1 8-ounce package yellow rice mix (I bought a yellow rice mix that already had saffron in it)
* 2 8-ounce bottles clam juice or water
* 1/2 teaspoon powdered saffron (optional)
* 1 12- to 16-ounce bag frozen cooked shrimp, thawed
* 1 pound cooked chicken wings
* 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
* 1/2 cup sliced pepperoni
* 1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, diced
Directions
1. Prepare the rice mix according to the label directions, substituting clam juice for the water and adding saffron (if using). Cook for 20 minutes.
2. Fold in the remaining ingredients and cook another 5 minutes. Serve.
3. If you made it from scratch: 3 hours.

Banana Pudding (The Eagle brand makes it a very thick, rich banana pudding)
1 lg box instant vanilla pudding
12 oz Cool Whip
1 3/4 C milk
1 box vanilla wafers
1 can Eagle Brand milk
approx 5 bananas
Mix pudding and milk. Add Eagle Brand milk. Fold in Cool Whip. Layer vanilla wafers, bananas, pudding mixture.

Bread Pudding
8 slices bread cubed (like raisin bread)
3 eggs
2 egg whites
2 cups half and half
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Sauce
2 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp flour
2 cup water
6 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1. Place bread cubes in greased cooker
2. beat together eggs, whites, and half and half. Stir in sugar, raisins and cinnamon. Pour over bread and stir
3Cover and cook on high 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook 3-4 hours.
4. Make sauce just before pudding is done baking. Melt margarine in saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add water, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes or until thickened.
5. Serve sauce over warm bread pudding.

Sorry this was such a long post! Lots to share! I hope you all have a day full of love with friends, family and God!