What to wear to a NASCAR race

So we went to a NASCAR race. Yes, it's true. What do I know about NASCAR?

1. It originated with the transportation of moonshine

2. Someone named Dale Earnhardt was the best ever.

That is it. Caleb's work paid for us. And I was totally up for it. Since you know, I am never paying $93.00 of my own money to go to a race. Sorry NASCAR.

I did not know what to wear to a NASCAR race. I was unfamiliar with appropriate attire. I chose a pair of super roomy jeans because they were comfy. I looked through these pictures and realized that was a horrible decision. So you do not get to see a pic of me from the waist down. And you do get a tip: baggy jeans do not look good on people with hips/large backsides. Caleb chose to dress punkish because he felt like no one else would. This was true.

Bristol Motor Speedway behind us!

 Benny brought his kiddos. They were super stoked. You can tell because the little one is pretending to be asleep. And the older kid decided punkish dressing was his style as well. That made two people.

I know I am going to sound like a super airhead girl for saying this. But here goes. Basically, you just watch the cars turn left. 500 times. I'm not kidding. And it is so loud that you have to wear earplugs and use sign language to talk to people. BUT the best part is when the pull in for a pit stop. Because the pit crews are super fast and awesome! The kettle corn was exceptional as well.

Apparently not a lot of other people wanted to pay $93/ticket either.

 Also, we did see Jeff Gordon get in wreck right in front of us. Kinda cool. (He was fine, ok?) I guess Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped him. People were upset. They yelled things like "That is SO Jr.!" Except I mostly read this on their lips and with my exceptional sign language skills.

Conclusion: NASCAR is kinda fun. I think I'm good though. Going in the summer would probably be better. Better, as in crazier NASCAR fans. Which is the whole reason to go anyway, honestly.

Oh, and what to wear? White shorts and black tanks, obviously!

Sexy Kiewit girls!

Happy Monday friends!

My March Madness Elliptical Interval Workout...because I love basketball and hate being fat

Oh friends. I wanted to blog. I looked through all the photos I have taken over the last few weeks and came to the conclusion: I work a lot. I don't have photos of anything I have cooked, projects I've done, or fun places I've been. Because honestly, I have been working constantly. I'm not complaining, I choose to do it and the paychecks are beautiful. But here is a truth: today is the first time I've actually gotten dressed in real clothes in weeks. I either put on scrubs or some form of workout/lounge wear. Which I wear for my work out and then wear around for the rest of the day until I eventually take a shower and put on clean versions of the same thing. Or I just pretend I'm going to work out and then I don't. Its gross but true. But since you probably don't want to see pictures of nasty wounds (taken with permission, of course) or various forms of enemas, I have something different to share. Get excited.

This is magical. Are you carrying some extra fluff from the winter? Yes! Do you love March Madness? Double yes! Do you totally hate going to the gym for a boring workout? Triple yes! Then I have something amazingly nerdy and wonderful for you.

March Madness Elliptical Interval Workout


It sounds ca-razy. And something awful. But it is wondrous. Because you are getting your basketball fix and your workout all at the same time. And you kind of forget that you are even working out. (Ok, not really...but you are distracted!) I tried this yesterday and again today. I can just feel the lbs melting off. And I can just hear the snarky comments from my husband and brother. But I don't care. So here you are friends. Let basketball set you free!


First, pick a time when you want to watch a March Madness game. For the last few days, that time could be any time between the hours of 12pm and 11:30pm. Oh, glory of March.

Go to the gym. Pick the elliptical closest to the TV. Turn it on the previously mentioned game. Disregard snide looks from other gym rats who do not care about basketball.

The best time to start this is right before a game starts or as halftime is ending. Warm up until the action gets started. I set my elliptical to level 5. I don't know what that means, but it makes me feel better than level 1.

As soon as a basket is made, here are the rules.

1. Two point basket: maintain speed between 5.0-6.0 mph.


2. Three point basket: maintain speed between 7.0-8.0 mph.


3. Timeout/ Commercial break: all out speed.


4. After a timeout: resting speed until the next basket is made.


5. While free throw shooting: resting speed. 


6. After free throw shooting: maintain 4.0-5.0 mph until the next basket is made. 

So basically, for most of the game you are doing a nice steady 5.0-6.0 mph. But you are usually never doing any one speed for more than a couple minutes. And the blasts of speed at the commercial breaks are fun...or good for you. And you were probably going to sit on the couch and watch the game anyway! Good job to you, for getting your March Madness Elliptical Interval Workout on!

According to the inaccurate machine calculation, I burned almost 600 calories in a hour today. Mmmhmm.

Tips: bring a water. Plan a delicious filling meal for after this workout, if you are super out of shape like me. I am ravenous now and just ate my weight in chips and salsa. Which probably negated the whole workout.


And I can't end this post without saying Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Go KU!

Celebrations

I love celebrating things. It makes daily living more fun to have something to look forward to and enjoy. And we've had plenty of things to celebrate the past few weeks. 

At work we had a Valentine's themed baby shower for my sweet co-workers, Ashley and Brittany. I made a big batch of taco soup, everyone else brought sides, and it was delicious and fun. Was this event after Valentine's Day? Yes. But it was in the month of February, and Valentine's Day generally encourages baby-making, so I felt like the theme was appropriate. Ha.

We like chips, ok?

 Ashley is getting ready to pop! And Brittany actually had her baby several weeks early. She finally got to take him home last week!

I celebrated being able to walk like a normal person and wear normal clothes again (after my burn incident), by going to Biltmore with some Kiewit girls. 

Me, Tess, Mary, and Cassie

We celebrated Caleb's 24th birthday with a dinner out at the Chop House. And this amazing Nutella cheesecake. Nutella is from the Lord.

My crusting skills could use some work. But it doesn't make it any less delicious. 

We celebrated our seven year dating anniversary with a yummy dinner of salmon in a strawberry balsamic sauce, mashed taters, and asparagus. Serious yum.

 And I got these beautiful pink roses. Amazing. My man is good to me.

It was National Pancake Day on Tuesday. I'm telling you friends, it's the little things.

Caleb celebrating getting a receipt with a total ending in a 4 by tipping in pi.

And finally, I celebrated making it through 52 hours of work this week by laying around until 2pm today. In a pair of green surgical scrubs. They are insanely comfortable. And free from my work if you encounter an...accident. But then you can accidentally on purpose keep them forever.

Happy Friday friends! As I looked back through this post I realized that we obviously celebrate life events with food. I'm going to go celebrate hating on some fat with a visit to the elliptical. Right now.

Celebrate something this weekend, ok?

Breakfast Salad

So on my days off, I like to make delicious breakfasts. Maybe because when I work, breakfast is some crappy hospital coffee and a few saltine crackers. This breakfast is awesome and helps you get some good veggies and protein in right out of the gate. I'm not sure when I started my love affair with spinach, but it is amazing. Pretty sure five year old me would not approve.

Breakfast Salad

Half a bag of baby spinach

2 slices bacon, chopped

A couple slices of onion, chopped finely

Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Tear up the spinach leaves and get them ready on a plate. Fry up the bacon and onion together. Throw them on spinach. In the leftover bacon grease (there won't be much, it was only two slices!), fry up your egg. I like mine over medium. Sprinkle some parm on top of your salad. Place the egg on top. I don't use any salad dressing, because the hot bacon and onion kind of wilt the spinach and the runny egg gives it a little moisture. But I bet a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil would be good. This is super yummy!

Happy Wednesday friends!

(And happy seven year dating anniversary to my love, can you believe we still celebrate the anniversary of that late night phone call? We've come a long way baby!)

Why marriage is awesome, according to me

I love being married. Not that I'm trying to rub it in the face of all my single friends. Quite the opposite actually. I feel like marriage has been getting a bad rap these days. The other day on KLG and Hoda, I saw a stat that 2/3 of single people never want to get married. Mostly because they see how a lot of marriages are and don't want that. Every day we see a new celeb divorce. (Heidi and Seal?!? I did not see that one coming!) Obviously after being married for a whole two years, I'm an expert. Ok, I'm still a novice. But honestly, marriage can be awesome. So in honor of Valentine's Day, marriage, love, and my sweet gun-loving, long-haired, hilarious man who is turning 24 on Monday, here is my list of why marriage rocks. In no specific order. (Disclaimer: my husband may not completely agree with this list. But he's not the one making it, is he?)

1. You have someone to put your cold feet up against in bed at night. Now your feet are warm.

2. Instead of doing all the hated household chores yourself, you can delegate them. He takes out the trash, I do the laundry. Win win win.

3. When you make bad jokes or quote lines from movies, someone always laughs.

4. You have someone to take you to the ER after burning yourself while cooking. But not before rolling his eyes that you would do something like that.

5. You get someone to celebrate things with. Like birthdays, paying off student loans, getting through a bad day.

6. You have someone to tell you how awesome you are and how you have the best ideas and that you should be getting paid at least twice as much.

7. Also, you have someone to tell you that your idea was dumb and you need to make a different decision because that one was just really bad. Ouch. Reality check. Have you ever watched an after school special. Come on, you know that's not going to work. (Real words, from my man.)

8. You have someone will to try all your new kitchen adventures. Someone with blatant honesty.

9. You have someone to pray for you and with you. Like when I was in the ER screaming about my pain being 10/10. Or before I'm about to serve something with a vegetable hidden in it.

10. Freedom. I fee like there is a freedom in marriage that wasn't in dating. Like I don't have to spend every waking moment with this man, we get to hang out with other people sometimes and that's ok. We get to have our own jobs and do our own thing sometimes. Because at the end of the day, we are going to be in the same house, in the same bed, in the same life. If we get in a fight, we won't break up. We'll work it out. Because we are married.

11. Office/30 Rock/Parks and Rec/Big Bang Theory+bagel bites+glass of wine. Perfect evening.

12. The same last name. It makes me feel like I'm on a team. And that I'm super awesome at baking stuff.

13. Someone to vent about work to. I like that he knows nothing about what I do. So he can just passively nod and say that I was probably right.

14. You always get the window seat on the plane.  Unless, of course, you are the one always giving up the window seat.

15. Black Friday strategy shopping. As in, you go get this, while I get this. Meet me at 0500 in aisle 15. Go time!


16. Traditions. Like pizza on a Friday night and hating Mizzou. It's the little things.

I feel like this list could go on for a long time. But marriage rocks. So far! Enjoy the throwback pics from my dorm room. I love you, my sweet nerd.

Oh, life. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

The past couple weeks have been full of ups and downs. I want to be all cool and bloggy and show you all the nifty DIYs and recipes that I do all the time. (Oh wait, DIY...that must be someone else.) But this is just life. Baker style.

Our up and down list. Accompanied with photos where appropriate. (I love Instagram, don't you?)

1. Down: my sweet Grandma Frank spent a week in the hospital. She's home now, my mom is there taking care of her. And she is recovering, but there are still some worries about her health. Send up a prayer for her if you think about it!

2. Up: We paid off ALL of our student loans! This felt so amazing. Champagne necessary.

3. Down: The Civic died and we had to tow it. It wouldn't start, even with a jump.

4. Up: The Civic lives on! It just had a super dead battery. 

5. Up: Awesome Friday flowers. Maybe the best ones yet.

6. Up: The discovery of the Green Monster Smoothie. I've seen this on Pinterest and everywhere on the intraweb and decided to make my own version. So so so good! I love getting a serving of fruit and veggies first thing in the morning. 

Green Monster Smoothie

1/2 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

1 frozen banana, chopped

1 spoonful of creamy peanut butter

Half a bag of spinach (or as much as you want)

1/2-1 cup skim milk (depends how thick you want your smoothie)

A couple ice cubes

Blend on puree setting and then on liquefy to get a nice smooth texture. Serves one.

7. Up: Getting cool points with all my coworkers for wearing blue Chucks with my scrubs. 

8. Down: Chemistry lesson learned the hard way.

So on Wednesday night, I planned to make chicken and dumplings, a Southern delicacy. I made a batch over the weekend but it didn't turn out well. So I went at it again, hoping for some better and blog-worthy results. 

I had a big stockpot full of the boiling chicken broth that needed straining. I decided that a great idea would be to pour it into a glass pitcher and then easily strain it from that. I picked a nice big thick pitcher. I poured my just boiled chicken broth in it. I was almost finished when I heard a loud cracking noise as a the pitcher broke and a gallon of almost boiling water spilled onto me. I said a few choice words, ripped off my pants, and got some cool clothes to put over the burns, which were already blistering. 

Caleb insisted I go to the ER. Note: a pain rating of 10/10 and some juicy red skin gets you in super fast. I got hooked up with some pain pills, silvadene cream, and ice packs. In and out in 45 minutes, impressive. 

Taco Bell and a Smirnoff later, I was feeling much better.

Basically, where the ice packs cover in the pic is where the burns are. Yes, I did take pictures of the burns. No, I will not show them on here. Because that's gross and no one wants to see them.

Bottom line: Do not put boiling water into room temperature glass. I feel like I should have already known this. But I didn't. And now I do.

9. Up: My sweet husband took the day off yesterday to take care of me. He brought me things, dressed my wounds, and did the laundry and dishes. And we spent most of the day watching movies and playing video games. Time well spent.

10: Down: It was my Grandma Voth's vintage glass pitcher. And I loved it.

So today I'm taking my first sick day of my life because I can't really put pants on. Which is kinda lame, but true. Don't worry, I plan on being a real woman tomorrow and going in. 

Oh pants-less life. I bet I'll never forget this one! Happy Friday!

(PS follow me on Instagram, @lorrib)

Christmas in February

Friday, February 3rd was a joyous day. It was the day Caleb finally received his much anticipated Christmas gift. A gun. More specifically, an AR15. It was magical. Tennessee, we embrace your lifestyle completely.

Please note the other gun and knife on his belt. Necessary to protect the homestead.

We went out on Sunday afternoon to shoot her (as in, the gun... guns are girls, were you aware?). Again, magical.

Why yes, that is an old freezer we are shooting at.

He looks so happy.

Ah, Christmas. Extending into February. What could be better?

Now taking ideas for a name for the gun. The other gun's name is Lucille. Again, guns are women. Your suggestions are appreciated.

Recipe post coming tomorrow. In case you aren't really into guns or something.