CLOSING

We officially CLOSED on our house!!!!!!!!  As of Friday, January 23, 2012 - Kevin and I are now the OWNERS of Hagen Haven (well the actual haven) HAHA!!!

We will have the keys on Tuesday, and I will FINALLY post pictures.... I have pictures of the house, but I didn't want to post pictures of the sellers personal things etc...

I will be posting more house pics ASAP!! 

PS - I miss blogging. and I haven't run - since my last blog about running..... I need  to get into this house!!

XO

EH

End of.... Soup??

OK, so its the end of the week of the soups...  My third soup, was a bust.  I attempted a lentil soup, and the recipe I tried had no flavor....  and I burned it (in a crockpot), geesh..... Not going to share the recipe or the pics.  GROSS! 

It is also the end of something else.... an era?  Kevin and I have "official" word of when we get the keys to our new HOUSE. AHH!!  January 30th - we will be IN! 

Our first order of business, is that we are going to rip up all the carpets and paint all the walls.  The house is very staged, it's all white and VERY plain.  We have a general idea of the colors we are thinking - but we are having a consultant come in and advise.

We are giving ourselves two weeks to prepare the house and move in.... I will keep you posted of our progress....

In the meantime - I am up to my ears in MATH (BLAHHHH) and packing (BLAH BLAHHHHH).....  also, I will be in Florida, one week from today for a tradeshow (nice break in the winter) - so hopefully I will have some time to get on here and blog...  If not, please forgive me - I promise, I will blog about our moving progress and post pictures of the house!!!!!

XO

EH

Chicken Soup Goodness

Long, crazy day... it was so seriously Monday.

Today at work I spilled an entire aluminum bottle of water on myself, in a meeting . fun. I got fitted for my "invisalign"....drooled on the dentist.  I always wonder if it's just me, or if EVERYONE drools at the dentist.... every time.

Tonight I am making a very simple chicken soup: (which I have made a MIL times, so I am comfortable sharing the recipe) :)

About a cup of chopped celery
About a cup of chopped carrots
1 med onion
Chicken broth
Rotisserie Chicken (shredded)
2 cups of dry egg noddles
Escarole if desired
Salt/pepper to taste
parm Cheese (Garnish)

- First put the broth on to boil & add chopped celery/carrots and onion (continue to cook until soft)
- While the broth and veggies are cooking, shred the white meat and add to the soup
- Once the veggies are cooked and soft add the noddles until soft
- As a last step add the escarole if desired.  It only takes a minute to wilt
- Serve warm and garnish with parm cheese

OMG - enjoy.

Week of the Soups

On a quick side note:  Tonight, I dragged my husband to the market - which he truly hates.  I don't know why I do it, honestly, he annoys me in the store and just puts him in the WORST mood.  For some reason, every time I need to go to the store, I seem to forget my need for market independence.  Tonight, on my very serious quest to get healthy foods for the week I ended up with "Boo Berry Cereal" - this is NOT a joke. oy!!

This is the week of the soups, in Hagenhaven!!  First, tonight I am making a beef & barley soup, that I found on a website which has lots of heart healthy recipe ideas :)  For the recipe and link to the site click HERE

The beef &barley soup, is literally delish!  It took kind of a while to make (an hour and 15 minutes) but I definitely think it was worth it.  I love making my own food at home because I know it's 100% healthy and I know exactly what I put into it.  PS, I reduced the meat by half...  Do whatever is best for you, I am just not a huge beef eater. 

XOXO -

EH

New Running Shoes / First Run of the Season

SO, the weather in Northeast OH, has been Phenomenal!!!!!  It's been 40s and sunny (which means I have been in running shorts in flip flops)! 

Yesterday I went for an awesome run around in my neighborhood.  I went roughly 3 miles and felt great.  This morning my legs felt a LITTLE sore but it didn't stop me from heading out to Liz's house and running another 5.  I am going to go out for a few more runs in the next week or so and talk to Liz (my running buddy also training for Cleveland half) to decide what our training for our spring race will look like....

In the meantime I am in DESPERATE need of new running shoes, I have had mine since last year and because I had given up on my running for a while (just got busy with our wedding and the 20 others I went to in 2011), I never got new ones..... ANYONE who is a runner knows this is the cardinal rule - TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET....  I won't go more than 5 miles on my old ones for SURE.... even that is bad. 

Anyone, who is thinking about running just as an FYI, you should change your shoes every 400-500 miles and if you are a little heavier change them closer to 400 miles...

For now, I am wearing Brooks Stability shoes (Ravenna 2)

I have been running with the Ravenna 2, since I started running 2 years ago.  I literally buy the SAME shoe every time I need new ones. 

I will go out and buy these same shoes in the next week or so but then I think I will switch it up in the spring and try something lighter.  I am afraid to get lighter shoe with less support NOW because I still need to lose some weight  and I don't want to get injured because I am putting too much weight on my knees.... I am pretty loyal to the Brooks brand so I am pretty sure I will just go to a local running store and get fit for a lighter Brooks....

OK - well gotta go get ready to go out to dinner for my father-in-law's birthday!! :)

XO

EH

Relaxing

I really have nothing interesting to blog about - but figured I would anyways while waiting to be a half an hour into a show (Grey's) that I want to watch. I feel like a half an hour is a perfect amount of time to wait to watch a show so you can fast forward commercials.

So tonight, Kevin is out at a work dinner at Gervasi Vineyard (so jealous).  But not really, because I was able to have the night to myself (YESS)... I was so excited to clean and cook a nice dinner and take a long shower etc.  So I get home and catch up on a show (that honestly I am too embarrassed to admit my obsession with).... Clean the kitchen up a bit and then boil some water to make me some Ramon noddles (that nice dinner I spoke about before HAHA)... (right, about that resolution - I plan to start that when we get to the new house)...  So I boil the water and go to dump it into the soup; keep in mind that I am boiling my water in a pan because we didn't want to open our tea kettle from the wedding until we get in our new house (OMG, right)!!  Anyways, I dumped the ENTIRE pot of water on my left hand.... so i drop the soup and the pan and took off my wedding ring (because of course I didn't want it to get ruined by the water??? I mean REALLY)....  Then i dry off my hand before I realize it's SOOOO burned.... There goes my night.... OOOOOO  did I mention I had on this Latin music my sister recommended in the background (to set the tone for a relaxing evening) HOWEVER, it kind of sounded like a circus in the background.... I think I had it too loud in the first place.... And then when I went to take my "long" shower, my hand was so burned I couldn't stand to be in the hot water.... WOMP WOMP

Anyways, so hereI am.... typing my blog because I just needed something to relax me.  And this is it.

Other than the evening, I really did have a great day - went to work (had free pizza for lunch) SWEETNESS!  I know its not part of the resolution....  February 15th is when I will be better.... you wait and see.... I love my job so it was cool to be at work.... (such a dork I get it)....

PS - my blog (like my resolutions) will get better....... You guessed it, when we move into our new house!!!

XOXOXO

EH

2012 Goals

As it gets closer to January, I (like most) tend to reflect on the past year.  2011, was an exciting year for me:

- I got married to my best friend :)

- Ran in the Warrior Dash with my other family ;)



- Ran the Cleveland Half Marathon
- Re-connected with some old friends from college
- Picked up a new hobby (crafting)
- Bought a house
- Didn't manage to ruin my (very) OLD car :)
- Paid off all my debt!!

YAY!  Sounds like a huge year, which it was....  But what's even crazier is 2011, hasn't even been my most eventful year.... in fact, during 2010 I ran my first full marathon (check out that bling on my left hand, we were engaged a couple weeks before I ran the marathon)

got engaged, got a new job etc. etc.... in January 2009 I up routed my entire life and moved to OH, discovered a new career path, moved in with my boyfriend (for the FIRST TIME living with a man, which is HUGE in itself).  So the big news for 2012 is::: DRUM ROLL PLEASE:::  normalcy... If you couldn't read that it's probably because it's not big haha.  Normalcy is my goal for 2012.  I am serious nothing big this year.  I am really looking forward to enjoying time with my husband (never gets too old to say), and our dog (which we haven't rescued yet, but will when we are officially in our house Feb 15th).  I am enrolled in Walsh University to pursue my MBA this year & both my husband and I are happy in our careers, which will help give us a sense of routine. 

Although I want a normal year, I can't go into 2012 without some goals.  Here are just a couple: eating healthy and at home (I will post all the new dishes we try), being a good host, getting A's in all my classes, run the Cleveland Half and Akron Full marathons this year, use as little plastic as possible, keep my car in good shape, stay organized, be the BEST pet owner possible, be nice to everyone, keep an open mind, remain HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!

Happy New Year everyone!  I have a good feeling about this year!!

XOXO!

EH