1. I spent the week with my college roommate. She came all the way down from Seattle just to hang with me, and we had a total blast. We hiked Piestewa Peak.

We created a Phoenix bicycle beer tour where we rode from my house to Papago Brewery to Handlebar to Spokes, then back home. It was SO FUN, and now I want to do it every weekend.

And we went to Tumbleweed Park. I love parks. We’re both basically like 6 year olds.

2.So, I like to tell my puppies good job for a multitude of things. You know, build their self esteem. I often tell Winston things like “Good boy, Winston. Good loving.” when he is being sweet, or sometimes I say “Good Winstoning.” Yes. I made his name into a verb, which led to telling Steve ridiculous things like “Good husbanding.” Heather has now caught on too. Good best friending, Heath.

3. We also spent the week with this cutie.

4. On June 12th, Spirit of the Marathon II will be in theaters!! This means I have to see the first one before then. I can’t wait. I will probably cry.

5. Speaking of movies, I saw The Great Gatsby. It was….fine, I suppose. I mean, I guess I was mildly entertained, but it was nothing like what I was expecting, and certainly did not do the book justice. Also, the soundtrack. Cannot, will not get behind it. I understand that it was a choice that was supposed to be “artistic”, but it just doesn’t work for me, and took me out right away.

6. This month FitFluential is celebrating their second anniversary! One of the proudest days of my blogging life was the day I found out I had been accepted as a FitFluential Ambassador. Their newsletter, blog, twitter and facebook have tons of motivation, great tips, fun workouts and healthy recipes to share, and if you don’t follow them already, you should jump on that ship, my friends!

7. The other night, I fried up some center cut bacon for burgers, then I cooked some onions in the bacon fat. It was totally, completely the opposite of healthy, and was totally, completely delicious.

8. After Heather’s visit, I have about 5 zillion new recipe ideas swimming around my head. I can’t wait to tell you about them.

1. For the lucky few who haven’t been subjected to my countless reminders on facebook, twitter, and instagram, I’M RUNNING AGAIN!!!!! I have no doubt that this is equally as exciting for you as it is for me, and that you’ve been on the edge of your seat for the last 3 and a half months wondering “When oh when will poor Ari get to run again? This is miserable!” No? You weren’t thinking that? Shhh, don’t ruin my narcissistic sense that everyone in the world spends all of their time thinking about me.

 

2. Wednesday I drove up to Flagstaff to meet my new niece. I got to see my friend Lisa transform into the most intuitive mother you could ever imagine. I just kept wondering “How does she just KNOW what to do?” It had been only 11 days, yet she seemed so natural, as if this is what she was born to do. I’m not usually into babies, but the whole experience was actually super emotional for me–in the best way possible. One of my best friends, the man that brings out the best in her (Ummm Sam, you probably won’t read this, but I think you’re AWESOME!), and their perfect daughter. I may have cried a little.

3. This weekend Nicole and I are shooting FOUR episodes of Drink & Dish in one day. I’m pretty sure I will be drunk by the last one. And, like, realllllly full. Who wants to come eat all my leftovers? There is a pretty sweet red, white and blue dish coming. Just saying. I made it twice, and I’m still excited to make and eat it again.

4. My college bestie and cookingspiration Heather arrives on Tuesday!!! I seriously can’t even stand how excited I am. It’s better than Christmas!!! We are going to cook so many things. And I may or may not have already planned our workouts for the entire week. Sorry Heath, hope you came to Phoenix with intent to do a lot of sweating because that’s my version of “entertaining”.

5. You know what I did not miss about running? The fact that my laundry basically triples. So many ruffly skirts and sports bras to wash all.the.time. Ugh. I hate laundry. And chores of any kind. I’m kind of envious of those super rich people who just have these kinds of things “taken care of” for them. Who wants to come be my live-in housekeeper? I pay in cookies.

6. Okay, so you’re probably going to judge me, but one of my favorite things to do when I go to the movies is sneak in Chipotle. You see, what I really want is a huge bag of buttery popcorn, but then half way through the movie I will feel sick and gross, so I opt for smuggling in one of my favorite dinners. I bring a huge purse, and sneak it in like a little kid. It tastes so much better when it’s smuggled into a good movie. This week that was Ironman 3 which I loved. I’m not always into the comic book movies, but I did enjoy this series, and the last one was my favorite.

7. Speaking of movies, WHEN CAN I SEE THE GREAT GATSBY ALREADY?!??! I feel like it looks so good, but I am also worried about being seriously disappointed like the time I thought the new Fame was actually going to be good. That was a big mistake.

8. It’s almost time for restaurant week in Phoenix, which is one of my favorite times of year. I have plans with a few of my favorite ladies to check out Cowboy Ciao, but I’m hoping to hit up a couple others as well. Pig & Pickle looks realllll good.

9. It’s almost summer!!! I am not excited for the heat, but I am excited for feeling like I’m on summer vacation. Things have mellowed out with end of the year things and I’ll have a solid week off between doing a camp here in Phoenix and heading up to Portland. I can’t wait to spend my summer doing my very favorite job with some of my very favorite people again. Also, running in the northwest rather than Phoenix where it’s 100* at 6am? Yes, please.

 

 

1. EEEEE!!!!! I can’t believe it!! I’ve been nominated for Arizona Foothills Magazine’s Battle of the Blogs!

This is the first time my little blog has been nominated for anything like this, and the prize is incredible–a feature with the magazine, guest posts, dying of happiness…you know, the usual. 😉 It would mean sososo much to me if you would take a moment and vote for Ari’s Menu. The contest goes until April 15th, and voting is unlimited. So if you’re feeling extra generous, you can vote multiple times, and share with all your friends.

2. I LEAVE FOR NEW ORLEANS IN ONE WEEK!!!! A real vacation! No to do list. No work. No outside world. Just me, and my cute husband. Oh, and tons of beignets. Duh. I started a pinterest board for the trip, and right now it’s pretty much all food. I’m sure that comes as no surprise. 😉

3. For months, and months I’ve been searching for cute little ceramic spoons like some of my favorite bloggers use in their photos, and I finally found some cute ones at World Market! They were just sets of measuring spoons, but they work perfectly, and were only like $5 per set. Look how much better they make things look!!! So cute.

4. Speaking of World Market, is it now just the most amazing store on the planet??? Every time Nicole and I go in, we can’t leave without looking at allllll the pretty food photography props. So many pretty things. So cheap. Also, they have things like potato chip chocolate, and some kind of chocolate bar with pop rocks in it. Hello childhood. Why yes, I’d love to go back.

5. You know those weeks where it seems like everything you do is 5 billion times harder? Well, this was one of those weeks. I may have cried a little over photos of one of my new fav meals not working out for the second time in a row. Then, I had some Drink & Dish technical difficulties, and it was just one of those weeks. All of this was made better by #1, though. And I feel like it just means next week is going to be really great!

6. I beat my Bop It. Or at least the first level. You see, I was having a really good go around with it, and then all the sudden, it did this happy little beep, and told me I passed the novice round because I got to 100. Then it moved on to some harder round which I didn’t understand at all because it doesn’t tell you what to do! It just makes the noises, and I was all kinds of confused. I got a zero in that round, and I haven’t played since. Maybe I’ll bring it on the plane to New Orleans. That would certainly win me a lot of friends. 😉

7. One of my favorite bloggers-turned-friends Sally is in a really awesome contest with Nestle. The prize is super amazing, and she totally deserves it. Please go show her some love. All you have to do is go here and repin her salted caramel dark chocolate cookies.

8.  Recipes that made my jaw drop this week include these brownie peanut butter cup cookie bars, this pistachio cardamom hot chocolate, and this spaghetti squash baked eggs.

 

1. IT’S HERE!! IT’S HERE!! IT’S HEREEEEE!!!!! Academy Awards weekend!! I’m a total movie nerd, and award season is like a 3 month long holiday for me, and this has been such a great year for movies in my opinion. Lincoln is still my favorite film of the year, but Argo was probably second. I loved almost everything I saw this year, and the only film left that I really want to see is Beasts of the Souther Wild. How cute is that little girl???

2. I’m trying out this new thing called Not Eating Chipotle for Dinner Every Night. You see, I easily get out of the habit of the whole meal planning thing, then I get really hungry, insist there is absolutely nothing to eat for dinner in my entire house (if you’ve seen my pantry, you know this is a dirty lie), then convince Steve that we should go to Chipotle. While I love Chipotle, it’s not great on the wallet, and I LIKE cooking. So this week, we planned ahead, and I made 4 new recipes that were all healthy and delicious. This is a double bonus because now I have lots to blog about. As much as I love cookies, all cookies all week long was starting to get a little old…

3. This weekend Ragnar del Sol happened. I moped a little, but I’m mostly just tried to be excited for my girls running. I also avoided social media at all costs because it certainly was not helping my “positive attitude” to read an entire news feed full of people running. Also, on Thursday the fro yo guy told me he was running the Phoenix marathon, and I walked away from him refusing to continue the conversation. I swear, I can be an adult sometimes…!

4.This week, my chai spiced snickerdoodles were featured on THE HUFFINGTON POST??? What??? You guys, I’m still in shock every time I get a comment that someone made my recipe, or an email from someone saying they want to feature me. There is so much amazing work out there, I just feel so honored that people are interested in my creations! This whole blogging journey just keeps getting more amazing!

5. Last night we all went out to celebrate Nacho’s Birthday. I started the evening in a totally grumpy mood between my knee being a little jerk, my scones not turning out the way I wanted, and just general grumpiness, but by the end of the night, I was happier than I’ve been in a long time. There’s something to be said about an evening with your husband and best friends. Oh, and beer.

6. I have a super embarrassing confession. I’ve started Tivoing and rewatching the entire series of Gilmore Girls. I don’t know what sparked this interest, and I’m not proud of it, but I can’t stop, won’t stop.

7. Speaking of TV, we’ve started watching Breaking Bad. From the beginning, obviously. It’s actually good, not Gilmore Girls good. I never find out about the good TV shows until it’s too late, and they are super far in, or off the air entirely. Whenever people start talking about current TV shows, I just kinda sit there pretending I’m at all caught up on pop culture. Sorry, I didn’t watch the latest episodes of Girls or Dexter, I was busy watching the Gilmore Girls and Paula Deen. Oh, and can’t forget about the Seinfeld reruns I could watch all day ever day.

8. I’m really excited for Friday night. Nicole and I have devised a genius plan for our Drink & Dish filmings. Instead of starting early in the morning, we’re spending our Friday night recording, because then at the end there are DRINKS and DISHES. Meaning dinner and liquor. Editing is going to be so much more fun.

9. I am currently letting my bananas die so that I can make these. Also, I am pretty obsessed with these brownies.  And I tried to make this on Friday, but I didn’t follow any of the instructions really. It still tasted fantastic.

1. You guys, I feel so spoiled. For the past 2 weeks, life has been pretty much about me. All my friends and family came out to support me at my first marathon, then I had all this birthday celebrating happening, and I just kept getting the best gifts! I don’t know if I can go back to real life now. It’s going to be so disappointing.

2. My favorite birthday gift was probably from Steve. And it isn’t my iPhone. Nope. You see, I knew I was getting an iPhone, and I am a girl who needs surprises, so I politely hinted insisted I also get a surprise present (because I’m a brat) that only costs about $5. Not only did he deliver, but it was like themostperfectthingever. Every time I go to Target, at least one of my hours there is spent playing with the Bop It. I’ve wanted one for ever and ever. But how is a girl in her 20s supposed to justify $15 on a toy labeled for ages 8+ when I obviously need to save up my $15s to buy one ruffle of a Lululemon running skirt? Well, the answer is marry the perfect man.

3. You know how I don’t really like candy? Well that was before I discovered pretzel M&Ms. I am beyond addicted, and it is totally a problem. I may never recover. The addiction is well worth it, however, for one of the recipes I have coming soon…

4. Yesterday, something REALLY COOL happened!! I’ve been reading Iowa Girl Eats for over a year, and every week I look forward to her Friday Favorites–drools-worthy food pics, cute puppies, and super cute clothing that makes me wish I had a better fashion sense. Well, yesterday I open my reader, and there at the bottom of the Friday Favorites post are MY CUPCAKES!!! My favorite ones I’ve ever made 🙂

 

5. This weekend, I am going up to Flagstaff with my mom’s side of the family. When I was little, we used to go a lot, and we always stayed at the same hotel. This year for Christmas, Steve and I made reservations for the 5 of us to go spend some time together. We’re staying at the same hotel, but they used to allow dogs (hence the appeal), and now they don’t. Poor Winston and Clemenetine are not happy about it.

6. I know I said my favorite present, was the Bop It, but I wrote that part before I actually got my iPhone. I am over the moon for it, and I don’t think I will ever stray for the rest of my life. I can’t stop playing with it. I’ll be in a social situation, but just want to take out my cute new li’l iPhone. It also takes pretty great pictures for a phone.

7. I think I may be at a point in my life where walking around looking really weird is becoming embarrassing again. Like, I turned 28, and I’ve reverted to my teenage years. I have this huge ugly bruise down my left IT band from astym at physical therapy, and it’s been in the 70s here so I’ve been wearing shorts. Well, yesterday I kept catching a glimpse, and then I was sure everyone was staring at me. Suddenly, I felt like a teenage girl wearing last season’s jean fade. Luckily, we’re expecting to go back to winter, so I can go back to jeans until I look slightly less freakish.

8. I really need to go shopping. I have this collection of gift cards just…waiting for me. I love shopping, but I hate spending money. You’d think it would be better with gift cards, but I always want to save them for when I “need something”. Well, that’s not really the point. This gift card to my very favorite stores (Anthropologie, Lulu, and Hobby Lobby–shocking, right?)  cannot sit here and burn a whole in my wallet. Time to buy some pretty dresses, running skirts (for when I can actually run again…WAH!), and cute things for my house that I absolutely don’t need, but really want. I’m going on an all day shopping spree–who wants to join me? 😉

9. I really want to start watching Smash from the beginning. I kept half watching every single episode, and now I have no idea what’s going on which makes me pretty much the worst musical theatre person ever. John says I need hulu plus, but I’m cheap. I just need them all on Netflix, like ASAP.