THE RETURN OF THE BLOG

Remember that time we started a blog to keep up with each other?

Remember when we stopped writing in it?

Remember when we made the worst life decision and moved away from each other?

Remember when that was almost SIX YEARS AGO?!

Remember when we got old?


Waaaaaaaa.

<3

Guess Who's Back... Back Again...

... Brookie's back... tell a friend.

(well... you're my friend I'm telling, so lets put a big check mark next to that one!)

It has been FAR TOO LONG since I've blogged, and for that, I apologize. It has, as you know, been a crazy couple of months in the life of Brooke. (Thank goodness blogging isn't the only way we can communicate!)

Let's recap, shall we?

-New Job
-Life Sucked
-Life Got Better
-Moved

... I guess that's about it. Moving is the big one, as you know... that shit is a life sucker! Thankfully, we are FINALLY (almost) completely settled! And to prove it... PICTURES!

          

 

The Living Room...

 

The Kitchen (and our tiny stove!)

 

 

 

And the bathroom! The toilet is to the right, but I think toilet pictures are weird.

 

 

 

Clearly, it's still pretty messy... it is my place, after all. Daniel is doing a good job controlling his OCD urges, too... although I don't know how much longer that will last.

 

 

And so, we cant WAIT to have you visit! When you're done bleeding clams and saving the world, of course. Although it is my turn to come down for our HAMPTON BEACH SUMMER EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

 

Lerv lerv lerv.

 

-Me-

 

Guilt trip!

I had this dream...

And in this dream, you had blogged me...

And then I woke up.

:(

Amanda's daily affirmation... (I love my job, and my school, and my whole house...)

Happy Friday! (Cause you know, I can say that now that you actually have a normal person schedule.)

Perk #952 of working for McGregor: If, while you happen to be dropping off cupcakes at your rent-a-kid's school for her birthday, your phone alerts you that the ambulance is transporting and there is no one to staff a second truck, you can text back that you will be there in 10 mins. Then, promptly park in their spots which are much closer to your classes, refill your coffee from the free Keurig machine, and sit on the couch hoping that a call will come in so you don't have to go to calculus. (Unfortunately, no one felt the need to rescue me from the Fundamental Theorum of integral calculus by needing to be rescued. Ahh well.)

Not a bad start to a day that I anticipated was going to suck, being that I got out of work at 6am this morning. Mood is infinitely improved by free coffee. Also I had a nice breakfast to convince myself that a 45 min nap would just make me feel more sleepy. 

Tonight, Emily and I are going on an adventure up to York Beach because I've never been and picnics are awesome. Jackets required. Tomorrow I am working a 24 hour shift in Somersworth, which is fun except that I have no clue where I am when I work there.

[As I am typing this, in Rudman Hall, (The bio labs) there is a professor who's lab I'm trying to get into one classroom over. I'm hoping he will walk by me so I can bug him because he is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to get a hold of. So naturally every time I hear footsteps I look up. And 5/10 times it's been the same woman walking by. She has since called me out as being "easily distracted, you keep looking up every time I walk by!" Oh well.]

Tomorrow is Miss Katherine's birthday, and on Sunday I'm going to watch her as a bluebird in Cinderella. Could not be cuter. Hurts my heart.

She is the goofy-faced one on the right. Not sure why Teagan has 2 different colored shoes on...

Now my love, I must go, and learn about genetics and molecules and other biologically related things like that. Punnet squares are my favorite. <3

Second favorite, I mean. You are clearly my favorite biological entity.

Lerv fererver!!!

LRA

Hi... my name is Brooke and I'm a Lazy Runner.

We should probably start our own Lazy Runners Anonymous. Especially since I have my half marathon in September... definitely no one is clapping for me right now. Haha.

I love you and your snow forts. I'm in New Employee Trainng right now... almost two months later... and I'm fighting to stay awake. Wishing I was watching Barbie Princess Pegasus. Or Sparkle Unicorn. Or whatever.

Danny is already chomping at the bit to get back to Dover, so I'm sure our next trip won't be far off. Once we're financially stable again after having to pay two rents and deposits and everything else, we will be Manner bound!! Although, you have to definitely make manner buns. Bc Danny says his are better.

Yeah, right.

Lovelovelove

Confessions of a bad blogger...

"Hello. My name is Amanda."

"Hi Amanda."

"It has been 10 days since my last run."

-Everyone hugs and cries and drinks free coffee over my struggle to overcome exercise-

Embarrassing. In real life no one applauds you when you're rewarding yourself/it's snowing/would rather play the Sims and as such fail to be physically active. Your friend is occasionally lazy.

I have also been very bad at posting for one reason or another. You should know that I have become an adept snow fort builder and have seen the Barbie Princess Pegasus movie at least 3 times. (Or maybe it's fairies. Or rainbow unicorns. Who knows.) I also started my new job at McGregor and it's fan-fucking-tabulous and I get free coffee. So the company will potentially bankrupt in a few months and my caffeine addiction will be to blame. I'm also taking full advantage of Emily's birthday week and will be enjoying many outings with my newly legal girl next door. :D

When is our next visitation? I miss you already! Oh yeah. Danny's alright too I guess. He's invited too. :P

<3

Just Keep Swimming... Just Keep Swimming...

Light of my life, dark of my knight (yes, like Batman... but you can call me Bob):

I have to tell you that the fishbowl analogy has gotten me through life the past couple of weeks. I finally think my tank is as disgusting as it can get because things are really starting to look like I can escape soon! Other than the impending trip to Dover (THREE DAYS! THREE DAYS!) Danny and I have decided (as you know) to live with each other. In doing so, we figured out that between the two of us, we will be saving almost ONE THOUSAND dollars a month. Holy Moley.

In other news, I got a pair of boots today for one dollar after trading in clothes at Plato's Closet and checking in on Four Square (which EVERYONE picks on me for but who's laughing now, bitches?!) Danny and I are also going to see our new apartment and make our friend dinner because she lives in it currently. AAAAAAAND we have a life plan to remedy this long-distance crap we've had for, what... five years now? We really planned that poorly. Good thing we're both so good at long distance.

Want some reading in between your incredibly awesome movie studying? Check this out!


 CLICK ON MEEEEEE


I LERV YER LERK THER SERNGGGGGGG

Bererrrrrk

I wanna hold your HAAANNNNNDDDDDD!

Dearest Brooklyn, light of my world,

Oh heart! My very soul aches for your company, when thou art so far from my side! Thine beauty knows no bounds, and the goddess Aphrodite herself turns her head in shame when you are near. That I could offer a thousand years of torture for but one moment of your sweet voice calling my name in summons...

(This roughly translates to Amanda loves Brooke a lot.)

(.... Speaking of alot.....)

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html


After your week in the fishbowl from hell I figured you could use a cyber-hug and a funny website. Cyber-hug sounds really dirty but I assure you it is not. Just a digital form of spider-monkeying.

Also, if you would like to study for my exam with me, (it's suuuuuper hard....) please go to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsVKIyxCWnCobOoBvjRMRFE1TXyFuhUFx

I was lying about the being super hard part. This is my music class. Identifying these particular songs and talking about musical elements within them. Love it.

I hope you have a lovely hump-day evening planned! (That one might be dirty...)

Love and hugs and snuggles and such,

Manner

Lets Get Up To Speed

My dearest darling Manner:

Holy good gods I have been a busy human the past month or so! Besides securing the job (hooray!) and leaving my other job (also hooray!) I have been attempting to get healthier, which involves more running, spinning, and less butter and cream (damn it.)

There are a lot of things we need to catch up on. Firstly, I am SO SO SO happy College Student 2.0 is going so well for you so far! Obviously, it would. You are incredibly amazing and I'm not surprised you have multiple planners for all of your crazy awesomeness. That's a perk of the new job... I get a sweet new planner, along with a work laptop, work phone, and lunch breaks! Secondly, my coworkers are all so sweet and simultaneously assholes because all I did was cry this week. Two things of flowers, cupcakes, an abundance of nice, sad, borderline threatening emails begging me not to leave. It was really nice to feel appreciated after 2 years of being there... sad it had to be on the last day.

Thirdly, I am head over heels hard in love with Mr. Chefy-chef Hoyt. He is the proverbial cheese to my macaroni, which is convenient seeing as he makes some of the best I've ever tasted. He's at an interview right now while I sit perched at a cute little coffee shop that Burlington is so famous for sipping cafe au lait (minus the lait) avec my frozen fingers (minus the frozen part, too... so I'm drinking black coffee and people watching from a warm window seat. haha.)

I've also been watching a family with a mom, dad and kiddo play in the snowbank across the street from me for about a half hour and it's making my uterus scream. CUTEST THING EVER. The kid keeps "pushing down" his dad, and when the dad doesn't fall, the mom helps by shoving him off the pile. It's incredible.

Speaking of uterus screaming, princess is absolutely allowed to help you destroy the book. And it looks like she's doing a great job of it! haha. I can't wait for you to take the book in the shower with you and send me that picture. That and sew this page, the random signature page and wear the journal. Clearly, I spent ample amounts of time looking through it before I sent it to you. Haha.

Well, I'm going to go get another cup of coffee, since 8:30am is an hour I haven't seen in a very long time and my body is not liking it. One. Little. Bit. Oh, evening shift, how you continue to make my life miserable. After another cup, I might be able to think of a clever and witty title for the food blog Danny and I are going to start up... any suggestions?

I FERKEN LERV YER LERK THE SERNG FERERVER ERND ERVERRRR

Pascale xo

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Bonjour!

Just a quick one today... I hope you don't mind that the princess is helping me destroy my journal. <3

The maniacal giggle when she realized that she got to rip the paper makes me think that she may have a future in super-villianry...

Her hair is in many braids because she wants curly hair for pajama day tomorrow. (Straight haired-people problems.) The bow is because she is on a Matilda kick.

Fun fact: I do not look cute while biting paper.

Have a wonderful day lovely! (Say hello to boyfriend for me!)

Manner

Wildcats in the house!

Hello Lovie!

God I hope you are not still sick... 2 weeks is enough! So in reference to my title... Aren't Wildcats also the mascot for the fictional high school in the atrocious High School Musical?? I think that makes me lame...

So I am blogging you from the atrium (read: tables in the lobby) of the chemistry building. Yes, it is freezing out, and yes, it takes me forever to walk to all my classes, but I only got a little lost! I did not, however, wear sweatpants. Not an athlete, I have no excuse. And clearly I left my house almost and hour and a half early because I'm paranoid. That's the same reason why I'm sitting in the building of my calculus class, which I was informed was cancelled but I'm afraid might actually not be. Luckily, I brought a laptop and lots of backpack snacks.

So far, life as a college student 2.0 has been great. Got my ID then went to my intro to music class, which it turns out is almost entirely listening to and identifying Beatles songs. No problemo. Then I took my calculus pretest which was not horribly terrible but was also only 20 questions so hopefully I didn't get too many wrong. We'll find out tomorrow... Fingers crossed!!!

So if you move to Boston A: we'll live SO much closer and B: will you be roomies with Bee? Also GOOD LUCK on this third interview which basically means you've got the job HOORAY! :) I'm so proud of you. Thank you for filling out that form so that I too can leave my atrocious employment for slightly better prospects.

Journal is coming along... This week it took the back burner to those other purse-sized notebooks called day planners. I have one for things I need to do and one for homework. Organization on day one is impeccable. I'll keep you posted, as that's surely not going to last.

Note my clever removal of only some of the masking tape, so as to preserve the functionality without destroying the destruction.

I'm rocking the "spill coffee on this page."

This room just got horribly crowded... Someone has a class here right now. (It's not mine though... 10 more minutes and I make a break for it.)

I love you even when you're contagious!

Amanda

Don't forget your lunch, honey!!

Why hello, my student friend.

YAY FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! I hear its a frosty single digit day in the great state of New Hampshire, making walking to and from your first day of classes extra exciting, I'm sure. Especially if you can't find them and have to wander around all lost and confused while upper classmen ridicule you because you're so sore from preseason you can barely walk and you're in sweatpants... (insert awful flashback to freshman year here)

I am sure your experience will not mirror mine, mostly because you were not stupid enough to put your body through crazy pain a month before school even started. Also, you're way better at directions than I am. I went to UVM for four years and still get lost on campus.

So I'm hoping I'm all plagued out... unless something hits me this week and wants to make it three for three weeks that I've been bedridden and dying. I'm just hoping I can make it to my third.interview on Thursday so I can give my two weeks ASAP and get the heck out of dodge, so to speak. Lately I've also been looking into jobs in Boston, which would be really fun. Except for if I get hired here I have to stay here for at least six months out of good conscience. And good resume building.

Speaking of resume, I will be filling out your reference thingy tonight at work... when I'm inevitably done by 10pm and have two hours to kill. Haha.

Alright. Time to get ready for the rat race. I want to hear ALL about your first day! And I'm going to text you immediately. Haha.

GO WILDCATS (makes me cringe saying that, so you know...)

Love love love

Moi

(PS how's the journal coming?! I want pictures!!)

Sucks that they guessed wrong on the flu shot, huh?

Hey sicky...

I'm sorry you caught this super-mega-death-flu that's been going around. :( I'm glad you've got Danny to bring you soup and medicine, since I just keep moving longer distances away from you... What the hell happened to our adjoining backyards idea? Location fail. We are geographically-undesirable bestest friends. GUDBF for short. (You can thank my mother for the GUDB/GUDG terminology. It was in reference to a certain Lamby, many many years ago.)

So the move is almost complete... I've got a carload of kitchen stuff left to unpack and a TV and couch left at the Manchester apartment. And that's it! :) I'm loving this living situation, as well as my super smart and awesome 6 year-old roommate. Single-handedly the coolest kid ever.

You can be jealous of my enormous walk-in closet. Although your bathroom is the size of Sarah's old bedroom... Maybe you can't complain after all!

Pardon my very unmade bed. I like to make Amanda-cocoons when I sleep. Being cozy = <3

And the living area! That chest should soon be my TV stand and the ancient TV I emancipated from my parent's sunroom.

I think this drawer is interesting... It currently holds only very tiny items like eyeliner and nail clippers.

Obviously, it will look even better when your painting is all framed and hung up! Interior decorating is not a strong suit of mine... You'l have to assist when you and Danny boy come to visit! Puppy pile in my big-girl bed???

So I don't know if you know this but I had a birthday. I almost forgot, to be honest with you. Justin is all like, "Hey, what are you doing Monday?" and I'm all like, "Dude, we have to work..." and he's like "No, for your birthday," and I'm like "Oh yeah... That is that day huh?" Pretty par for the course for me. So I did indeed work, and then afterwards got dressed up super fancy and went out to dinner at Cotton, which is an American restaurant that has never served me any food that was less than spectacular. It's not a black tie type place, but dressing up is fun!

He's more than a foot taller than me... I even had heels on. Short girl photo problems haha.

So last night at work I only did two calls. The first was an involuntary admit to an isolation room in the hospital for a man who has 3-drug resistant Tuberculosis. Fan-fucking-tastic. Because I'm sure the 30 other Hispanic residents of his 2-bedroom apartment don't have it now too. So we took him in, and then spent the next hour making sure that there was not a living microbe left in that ambulance. I don't even know what that stuff Jackie the Environmental Lady gave me... But it kills everything!

The second call started out as a late-night slip and fall on the ice. 20-something year-old guy climbed back up to his third floor apartment and THEN decided to call 911. Paramedics hate stairs. Just so you know. So we assess him, decide that his back pain is low risk based on the story he told us, and carry him down on the stairchair. WELL... As we are finally informed when we get to the ambulance, he actually fell from the 3rd story while trying to get in through his window from the outside. So that changed our course of action dramatically. Moral of this story: Don't lie. We've heard dumber stories. You're just making our job harder.

So I just got back from spending the night with my fabulous new neighbor Emily. I can't wait for you to meet her. Her whole apartment is an art studio. She has a whole room just for arts and crafts. You'll love her.

I hope you are in a Nyquil-induced coma at this moment, and that you wake up tomorrow miraculously cured! I love you dearly, and have not forgotten that you owe me a phone date!

Tu me manquais trop,

LiLi

2013

My dearest darling apocalypse surviving Manner:

Welcome to the new year! How does it feel to know we made it through five or more world ending new years? I, for one, feel like I can take on zombies no problem after surviving Y2K, the rapture and the Mayan apocalypse.

In the spirit of New Years, I have made a new years resolution. I will be running 2 days a week and lifting 2 days a week this entire year. So far today, I have done neither, but I do have the whole day off tomorrow, so after my second interview I will be hitting the streets in my new Yak Trax then pumping some iron. I would also like to be writing once a week and start doing yoga, but those are bonus points if I actually get around to it.

Tonight, when I get out of work, Danny will be making me a surprise dinner, so I will definitely need to be running a ton with as much as he's cooking for me.

What are your new years resolutions? Also, had a very strange dream about you last night. And, as always, miss you profusely.

Lerv Lerv Lerv...

Brooke

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... Just don't crrash your car when I'm working!

My dear Star-Wars deficient friend,

The only difference, as far as I can tell, between Ghandi and Yoda is that Ghandi has never needed to resort to lightsaber violence to get shit taken care of. Doesn't mean that he can't. Just that he chooses not to.

I don't approve of our current work schedules and how limiting they are on best friend snuggle time. I miss you terribly. How did your interview go??? I need to get on that job application horse... AMR has laid off half a dozen upper managers this week and another 3 or so have resigned. So we are a body without a head, and this company was barely functional to begin with. Rumor had it that our general manager resigned because he knocked up his assistant, (who is absolutely smoking hot, by the way) but that was unfounded and we aren't supposed to spread it anymore. Which is a shame. It's the best rumor I've heard in a while! But all this translates to "Amanda ought to get a job on a different ambulance company just in case this one stops working out."

So, in other news:

• I ran 2.6 miles today. In the snow. Which wasn't bad at all but I definitely thought that it would be a longer distance when I looked it up later. Ah well.
•  Quadratic equations and I are friends once more.
• Prior to running in the snow, I ate shit walking out my front door on the "massive puddle" that is always in my driveway, and is now being re-named the "massive ice death trap." My elbow is bruised. As is my ego, because of course my neighbors were outside.
• I have a TV again, and christened it by watching Despicable Me. Thanks mom and dad. And I made myself a new avatar on the x-box because it's fun. Thanks uncle Matt.
• Still haven't gone Christmas shopping... That's the plan for Tuesday. I'm a huge slacker. 
• What do you want for Christmas anyway? 
• I'm going wall climbing tomorrow! Hooray! I'm going to suck. There is a climbing gym in Dover, as I recall... I oughta get back into this.
• My old ambulance partner Spencer is back in NH!
• I made a new OkCupid friend. More on that as I have it. :)

Soooooo tell me about this rave!?! You looked phenomenal, of course. Loved the leg-warmers/booties. I demand more pictures! I know you have them dammit!

I'll leave you with an unrelated picture of Spencer and I pretending to be hobos, and Jennie and I pretending to be Pocahontas and Nakoma. Nakoma was a babe. Too bad Kokomo got killed. (Yes I watched that movie last weekend...) There are lessons to be learned though! You must find yourself a handsome sturdy husband, who builds handsome sturdy walls. So wise, those indians.

Lerv.

You have boyfriend??

Hello my RUNNER FRIEND!!!

You might look ridiculous in your non running clothing, but I have adequate running clothes and still look like this...

See? Case in point, it does not matter the clothing in which you run, but only THAT you run! I think someone said that once... maybe Ghandi? Or Yoda. I always get them confused.



I am anxiously awaiting your review of my cover letter so I can finish applying to NCSS. Damn those Manchvegas citizens for needing medical assistance while I'm attempting to better my future! I'm hoping I don't sound like too large of a pompous ass, which I feel like everyone who writes one of those damn things sounds conceited to some degree. I also feel like I wrote too much, but that's normal.

I wish I would have looked at your post before today (or answered your texts this weekend) because I was in Mountainland too!! Only for a night, though... my great uncle passed away. Before you say sorry, he had stage 4 bone and prostate cancer and lived a full and wonderful life, so there are no sorry's for Uncle Ed! I will be home for that whole weekend (as far as I know) so we must absolutely have a North Country reunion. Momma Crane (Huntington... damn it!) would love to see you, and I am definitely in need of a Marie and John fix. Also, THE fix... can we make Christmas fix please please please pleaseeeee?! There's also a new cafe in Littleton called Smooch I think we should check out, and then venture to Aylakai and maybe get something pierced? Perfect, I'd say.

Aaaand there is ADD at it's finest, ladies and gentlemen.

So, as for the rest of my week, I will be purchasing a ridiculous neon outfit tomorrow and wearing it Friday to Becca's company Christmas party... which is a RAVE!!! How AWESOME is that?! I will be unt-sis unt-sis ing all over the place come Friday in my neon tutu, corset, furries and, potentially, wig. (probably not wig but whatever... I get to wear a corset in public and it's acceptable!) It's going to be outrageous. I can, Not. Wait.

Today, I went all super girlie and got myself a pedicure and gel-nail manicure. Have you ever seen the Anjelah Johnson stand up comedy skit about the nail salon? If you haven't, watch it right effing now and you will know what I experienced today. For two hours I sat in that salon and had to do everything in my power to keep from laughing because that skit kept playing in my head...

 but Mai Ling/Tammy did a fabulous job on my nails, and she even used the Kritol Geaaaal.


That's enough rambling for me, love. I think I'm going to hope for the best and just send that letter, because like you said, if they don't love me they they're not worth my time. Lets pray to every god imaginable that I get this job, because if I have to work under my supervisor, who isn't leaving for Florida anymore in January, any longer, I might just kill someone.

For real.

xo

Pascale

Please tell your best friend to go buy some actual running clothes...

<--- This person looks ridiculous.








And yes, I did cut the thumb off that glove so that I can still work my I-pod. Genius? Possibly. But it's cold out. Desperate measures, my friend, desperate measures...

I'm not crazy... My mother had me tested!

Darling Brooke,

Sadly, that is not just a quote from the beloved sitcom Big Bang Theory, but a testament of my own childhood. Not a clue what the child therapist determined about me... Maybe it's best not to know.

But a bit of insanity is beginning to rear it's crazy head... In the form of my taking Calculus 5 DAYS A WEEK next semester. Yep. Get me on Lithium stat. I can't even remember how exponents work with any accuracy. Prepare yourself for several mid-semester, hysterical phone calls about how I hate my life and can't do this.

That's just one week... 11 classes...

In other news, ran 2 miles today! Hooray! You're absolutely right, though, I go super slow and I think I'm starting to find my stride. Which leaves us with only 1 problem... What song to sing at karaoke?

Oh! I also just recently learned that I make a BOMB shepherd's pie. FYI. It's delish.

So lover, I'm getting ready for work, which is basically all I do anymore, so I must cut this short. I'm going up to mountain land tomorrow for the St. Martin family christmas tree expedition, but we need to have a phone date sometime soon! I miss your beautiful voice!

Are you going home for christmas this year? I should be there the day of... Maybe I'll see you?

Love you for always!

Chocolate Fixes Everything

This, we know.

How long have you and I been using chocolate as a fix all? Or, for that matter, sweets of all kinds. When it comes to emotional eating, there is no discrimination.

So after I had to help two toddler girls transition into custody early last week, a task that left me in an emotional state I don't think I've ever even touched before, I needed some therapy. Sure, there was wine involved as well, but the real therapy came from these:

Crock Pot Crack Brownies

What you Need:
4tbs MELTED butter
1 Box of Brownie Mix (your choice)
1/4 cup of water
2 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 incredibly horrible, very bad, terrible day that makes you want to eat your weight in sugar.

What you Do:
-Pour the melted butter into the bottom of your very well greased crock pot, (My friend Lyndsie showed me these amazing Reynolds Wrap crock pot liner things that completely eliminate the clean up of the crock pot once you eat everything in it... amazing.)
-Mix the brownie mix, water and eggs in a bowl. Pour into crock pot. (It will be REALLY thick and concentrated, which makes it more like fudge when it's done. Also amazing.)
-Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over top of brownie mix.
-Evenly spread (in this order) oats, coconut flakes, walnuts, chocolate chips in layers over condensed milk.
-Cover and cook on LOW for 2 1/2 hours.
-Serve with ice cream. Or just stick your face in the pot when it's finished.

These, my friend, are INCREDIBLE. Think Conga Bars, but better. Gooey, fudge-like, full of sugar and that delicious condensed milk like what they put in Thai iced coffee, which in itself is crack.

I ate the entire pot by myself. Basically in one sitting.

Needless to say this weekend I ran and lifted weights to help conteract the effects of this deliciousness. And the Friendsgiving food, which was plentiful and carbiful as well. Going to have to really start training hard for that Will Run for Beer series.

Speaking of which... how's your training going? The biggest piece of advice I can give you (and I've been meaning to do this all week and keep forgetting to text you... my bad) is to start slow. If you can only run a half mile at a time to start, that's all you can do. When I started training last April, I couldn't even do a full mile without walking, and it frustrated me so much I almost stopped running. Instead, I started chunking it up into smaller intervals so I felt like I'd succeeded running for 15 minutes instead of failing at a full non-stop mile. Then, once you've got a mile solid, you can start focusing on two, then three. And then lots of karaoke and beer. So much beer.

I am really proud of you for signing up to do this with me. You're wonderful, and as much as you hate running now, I bet the bug bites you too once you're in the race. And then we can be running buddies! Right after we move next door to each other. And have lots of puppies in our joined back yard.

Enjoy the crack brownies, love. I'm warning you... use them for emergencies. Or, you know, when you're feeling like you need a good fainting spell. I won't tell Mommy St. Martin that you had sugar. :)

Lovelovelove

Brookie

I don't know how you talked me into this

Dear Runner Brooke,

I went for the single-most pathetic little 1/2 mile run today. But I didn't hate it. Which means I will be more likely to go on more pathetic little runs in the future. Baby steps.

To reward myself for being so physically active, (snort) I am making mushroom raviolis for dinner, and because I am a cheap bastard (read: culinary mastermind) I made a homemade mushroom stock out of the leftover stems, half a carrot that I found, superhero parsley and rosemary, and some shallots and garlic. Not too shabby... So excited to eat it! Also very sad because I subconsciously always make enough food to feed exactly 1 Brooke and 1 Amanda. But I'm lacking in the Brooke department. :(

So we need to start planning our song for the karaoke contest. Thoughts?

Love for always,

Wheelie