Climb for Air
Saturday I finally did the Climb for Air. I figured it would take me a minute a flight of stairs.To my surprise, the 33 flights of stairs or 660 stairs, only took me 8:07. But let me tell you, it was the hardest 8:07 of my life. But the third flight I was panting and had to start walking. It was crazy. I’m telling you, if I had any stairs near by, I’d start walking them. That was the best/hardest exercise I’ve ever done!!!! What was even crazier was firemen from around the area went in and did it wearing full gear. It took most of them about 5 minutes or less to climb to the top! I was so proud of my entire team. We did so good! I’m going to put this on my annual races, but next year I will try to train for it at least a little bit. 🙂
After the race, we went to Coal Vines on 2nd street. Three of us shared a sausage bell pepper pizza. I was a little leary of this because I usually only put cheese on my pizzas, but this was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten! I recommend this place to anyone. It wasn’t crazy expensive either!!
The fire fighters did the climb in full gear.
A fire fighter waiting to go in!
I’m about to climb THIS????
Two ambulances ready to serve…we saw several people going out on stretchers.
These guys are amazing!
I think this was just another day for them!
Really? WHY did I sign up for this?
This is the stairs I had to climb.
I saw this car in the parking garage as I was about to leave. It reminded me of being a kid.
What a beautiful building!
After the climb, we went to Coal Vines. Their wine wall was too cool!
This is one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten!
I can’t believe I did it!! That building is MINE!!! 🙂
Southwestern Chicken Cornbread Salad
This weekend I signed up to climb to the top of the Frost Building to raise money for the American Lung Association. You would think that knowing I’d be climbing about 33 flights of stairs that I would train a little bit for it. Nope. Not me. I have let it go until the last minute and now I am going to just have to do it. I’m really nervous, but I’m going to make it no matter what!! I’m not sure why I thought I would be better off making something to eat rather than training this week, but I found this and it seemed easy enough.
I got this recipe off Pinterest. I copied it exactly from the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. The only major prep to this was making the cornbread, grilling the chicken and dicing some of the vegetables. Other than that, it was an easy recipe to make!!
- 6 cornbread muffins, very dry, coarsely crumbled, divided… I used a box of jiffy cornbread muffins and just made it in a small dish
- 1 (2.25 ounce) can sliced ripe olives drained
- 1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel sweet corn, drained
- 1 cup Hidden Valley® Spicy Ranch Dressing, divided
- 1 cup bell pepper, diced, assorted colors
- 2 chicken breasts, grilled*
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1 cup tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- In large clear salad bowl or trifle dish, layer half of the cornbread followed by olives, pinto beans and corn. Top with 1/2 cup of the dressing. Layer with bell pepper, chicken, onion, tomatoes, remaining cornbread and remaining dressing. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
I’ve Decided to be High Maintenance
Recently, I decided to start spray tanning. As I get closer to 50, I figure the spray has to be better for my skin than laying out in the sun all day. I got a membership to Darque Tan for $40 a month and I can go tan any time I want. One of the benefits to spray tanning, is it takes about 5 minutes as opposed to 3 – 4 hours in the sun! I have been going for about 3 weeks and I have a nice tan, I’m just a little worried about turning orange and looking like an Oompa Loompa!
One of the drawbacks to spray tanning is that my nails were starting to look a little yellow. I even put tons of that cream on my nail beds, but I just felt like I was looking a little sick with the off color nails. I decided to combat the yellow, I would start getting fake nails. I went to the salon and they suggested shellac nails. I just got them done, but I’m sure I’m going to like them better than the acrylics. My nails don’t feel as thick and they last about 2 weeks.
With all this self improvement, my sister asked me if I was getting ready for the real housewives of Manor!
One Lovely Blog
It’s All About the Shoes!
I love shoes. I have way too many, but when I was in Dallas over the weekend, I decided I needed another pair. I’ve never really worn heels very often, but lately I’ve really liked all the heels I’ve found. I got these at DSW. I was excited because they were on the 40% off rack. I went through the store and found the same pair out on the floor, but they weren’t on sale. I feel like I got a deal!
Driving around Dallas
I was in Dallas over the weekend for my nephew’s SECOND birthday. My sister asked me if I could watch the kids so she could get the house ready for all the party guests. I haven’t really watched them alone, so I was a little nervous. She suggested that I take them for a drive around town. I wasn’t really sure where to go, so I started out at White Rock Lake. I didn’t take any pictures there since there were a lot of bikers on the road. I loved listening to my nephew in the back talk to himself about the water and the “caca”, which I think means birds. He’s also getting really good at the alphabet. He’s so smart! 🙂 After the lake I drove down Central Expressway, back to Mockingbird. This led me to Peavy road, so I decided to do some reminiscing. I went past Bryan Adams, my old high school. I graduated from there in 84. I really loved it there. You can say what you want about it, but it was a great school for me.
I also went to Bishop Lynch as a freshman. I can’t believe how much it has changed since I went there. It looked nothing like this when I was there.
After going past Lynch, I drove past my old house. I lived there until I was 39. Most of my life was spent in this house. I sometimes miss living there.
I drove past my middle school. I loved W.H.Gaston too! I’m really sad they had to change the mascot from the Warriors to the Panthers.
On my way home from Dallas, I finally got to drive over then new bridge leading to Oak Cliff. I’ve been watching it being built for a long time and it was exciting to get to drive on it.
The last major thing I saw as I was leaving was Reunion Tower. I have such good memories there. I went there for my birthday one year with all my friends. I’ve had dinner and drinks in the bar there over the years. It’s one of the best places to go to see Dallas since the floor rotates when you are up there eating. I really enjoyed my weekend in Dallas. I miss my family and friends, but I love where I am now, too!!
Another Lilly has bloomed
We bought these Lillies a year or two ago and they are finally blooming. We didn’t know for sure what color they were, so it’s a surprise when they bloom. Here is our second beautiful Lilly!
Taco Salad
A bunch of the teachers at my school decided to participate in the National Screen Free Week this year along with about 120 of the students. We wrote down some of the things that we wanted to do instead of playing on computers/games and watching TV. Several of us wrote that we would cook more. I got the bright idea that maybe we should have a potluck with some of the new recipes that we were going to try. The first person that responded said she was going to make enchiladas, so I had to find something that would somewhat go with that. It also happened to be May 4th, so the potluck kind of turned in to a Cinco de Mayo theme. I’ve always liked taco salad, so that is what I decided to make. I found this recipe on Pinterest. It was pretty good, but I think it would have been easier if I just would have used a packet of taco seasoning. If you don’t like to use pre-made mixes though, this is a great recipe to try! I got this recipe from Taste of Home website.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, torn
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup taco sauce
- 1 package (10-1/2 ounces) corn chips
Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 cup) equals 245 calories, 17 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 22 mg cholesterol, 398 mg sodium, 14 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 8 g protein.
Cook the meat over medium heat until it is no longer pink, then drain.
Stir in the ketchup, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper. After it boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer with a lid on it for 10 minutes.
To make the dressing, Mix the taco sauce and the mayonnaise. I had to use my hand blender to get the lumps out.
Since it was for a potluck, I served everything separate and let people add all the ingredients the way they wanted for their plate. It can be pre-made for a family if you wanted, but you would need to serve it immediately.
Carmelitas
Last week was National Screen Free Week. I’ve never participated before, but this year I decided to give it a try. I didn’t get on the internet other than for work or to research something and I didn’t watch any TV. I thought I would be miserable, but the week actually was quite nice. I haven’t even reactivated my facebook account yet. I’m pretty sure I will do that this evening though. One of the things I said I would do with my free time was to cook something new. I decided I would make carmelitas and bring them to the office for everyone to try! I really liked them, but they are REALLY sweet! I got the recipe from Lulu the Baker Her picture of the carmelita is so much better than the one I took.
32 caramel squares, unwrapped…I used a bag of caramel morsels
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Mix the caramels and cream in a saucepan over a low heat.
You will know the caramel is ready once you see it get really creamy. Once it’s done, put it to the side until the cookie part is ready. 
Mix the rest of the ingredients (minus the chocolate morsels) in a bowl and then put half of the mixture in the bottom of the 8×8 pan. Put it in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes.
Top the mixture with the semi sweet chocolate morsels.
Cover the chocolate with the caramel.
Put a layer of the left over cookie recipe over the caramel and put it in the oven and bake on 350 for 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges are brown.
Let it sit out until it cools. You can refrigerate it if you want it faster, but they should be stored at room temperature. 
My husband said he wishes he had some ice cream to top it. I think it would be too sweet.
Fabulous after FIFTY 