Learning to Live Strong.

Earlier last week in my post,From Austin to Athens for Uncle Mike, I told you how because I am living in Greece that I wouldn't be able to run the Austin Livestrong Half Marathon I signed up for this summer that takes place February 20th. Instead I will be running my own Half Marathon for Team Livestrong the same day only I'll be doing it in Athens, Greece in memory of my Uncle Mike who lost his battle with cancer this past July.


I'm excited for the challenge of running my first Half Marathon by myself. The motivation behind why I am running it will definitely get me to the 13.1mile mark. 

The only down side to running over here in Greece is that I don't get to partake in all the marathon weekend activities.  Today I received an invitation to have brunch at the Livestrong Headquarters in Austin. Now if you know me, you know that I am a major geek when it comes to this kind of stuff. Last summer when I was in Portland my boyfriend and I were trying to make our way into the Nike Campus only to be rejected (ouch). I am super sad I can't be there. 


What makes this even worse is that Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson will be at the brunch for a Q&A. Now as a woman and as a marathoner, Joan Benoit is well...MY IDOL!!! She was the first woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal in the marathon distance, she is a bad ass! 

I guess it wasn't meant to be this time, I'll have to visit Livestong HQ and meet Joan Benoit at some other point in my life. 


I do know that running for Team Livestrong has been amazing, this is my fourth event with the Team and knowing that every mile I run is helping people living with cancer and research so that cancer will one day be a word of the past. 


My goal was to reach $1,000 for this event and I am currently at $923! If you are interested in donating check out my personal Livestrong Webpage below. 


My Livestrong Donation Page

So with February now underway, I am in Half Marathon mode. Only 18 days to go until I am hitting the 1/2 mile loop in Nea Smyrni Park living strong!

For Your Entertainment.

This week YouTube has put out some awesomely hilarious videos, but the winner is from  YouTube Sensation Keenan Cahill.  This kid always has me rolling, in his new video he has teamed up with music superstar David Guetta for quite the collaboration. 

Enjoy!

My Sister Makes Me Hungry.

My sister's baking blog Fat Bottom Cupcakes always leaves me extremely hungry. Her recipes and the pictures that follow are amazing and she is always whipping up yummy new treats for me to drool over. Her most recent post is for Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes and I feel as a decent human being that I must share this with you. 

I've posted her recipe and the awesome pictures! She is a member of the Daring Bakers Club which is an exclusive baking community. I am so proud of her and her freakish baking talents. Definitely check out her blog for great recipes and baking tips, you will not be disappointed.

Here's the recipe for her Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes.

Enjoy!

spicy chocolate cupcakes

well, i know the weekend is basically over, but here's a sweet and spicysunday treat for you all... yummy fragrant cinnamon and vanilla bean cupcakes topped with a sugary-spicy chile chocolate buttercream... this was such a nice little pick me up today since i felt like i was dragging... well... that and the double espresso that accompanied it :)cinnamon vanilla cupcakes:

dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
8 tbsp (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract, or 1/2 vanilla bean
1/8 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt
directions:
1. preheat oven to 325°F and prep cupcake tins with paper liners
2. sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and cinnamon and set aside.
3. in mixer, beat together melted butter and sugar until combined, then add egg whites and beat until mixture is smooth and light, and then add in vanilla.
4. add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the yogurt.
5. bake for 20-25 minutes, until cupcakes are barely golden on top, remove from oven, let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then cool on wire rack
chocolate chile buttercream


ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

directions:
1. in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter until creamy
2. at low speed, beat in the confectioners' sugar, increase the speed to high and beat until fluffy, scraping down the side of the bowl, about 2 minutes longer
3. at low speed, beat in the cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ancho chile powder and cayenne, then gradually beat in the bittersweet chocolate
4. scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light, 3 minutes longer

happy baking everyone :)

Quote of the day. + A Nice Tune.

Happy Wednesday Loves. I need to start off the day by wishing my cousin and sister at heart Lyndsay a very Happy Birthday. You are an amazing young woman and I am so honored to have you in my life.  I can't wait for you to come visit in a few weeks, we are going to have such a blasty blast.

To all my family, friends and co-workers in New York City please be careful getting into work or school today, I heard that NYC is now the largest ice skating rink on the East Coast.  I really got lucky with missing this winter. 

Today's quote is from the movie, He's Just Not That Into You. Yesterday my boyfriend's sister and I watched this together over the slingbox and afterwords she quoted the best line from the best scene in the whole movie. I may be a little bias though, because the scene did involve Jennifer Aniston and she is my absolute favorite actress out there, I don't care that she plays the same role in every film, she's awesome.  But anyways the quote is extremely mushy and it would pull at any girls heart strings and maybe even some of the more sensitive male viewers. I really don't have to explain the quote, it's simple, sweet and something every girl wants to hear.

Enjoy!

I need to make you happy, to even have a shot at being happy.

-He's Just Not That Into You

I've been hitting YouTube and iTunes hard the last few days, really on a music kick. Here is one jam that is special to me, it's Regina Spektor's cover of John Lennon's Real Love. It's so beautifully done, Enjoy!

Simplicity.

I consider myself a simple chick who loves simple things, as I say this quite often. I have no desire to be rich monetarily, I'd rather be rich with love. I'm grateful to have my health so I always make sure I give back because I am able. My mother has said I've always been a giver and I consider that one of the best qualities to possess. 

To get a smile on face all I need, is a good cup of coffee, a great quote, a touching story, the love of others and maybe some trashy reality television. 

Be passionate, be giving, be a loving, don't hate, laugh often, enjoy the company of friends and live simply. 

Here are some other simple things that make me happy.

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Oh So Shady.

Sunday night I witnessed one of the ugliest displays in sports, referees blatantly calling a game in favor of a team. The team they were calling in favor of was actually playing against my manfriend's team Ikaros.  Now you might think I am saying this because the calls were against my guy's team but anyone who knows basketball or sport in general would agree with me if they were in the arena, well maybe not the fans of the team getting all the love from the refs but you get what I'm saying. 

From the tip off it was clear the refs were after Ikaros' big man Deon, they called him for two fouls in the first two minutes of the game, which forced the coach to take him out. The whistles kept blowing, all against Ikaros, it was almost comical when you looked up at the scoreboard and so the disparity of fouls between the two teams.

Fortunately the other team could not shoot from the free throw line, so Ikaros managed to stay in the game even with all the calls against them. It was an extremely close game neither team leading with more then six points the whole game, but I knew the refs weren't going to let Ikaros walk away with a victory.

With less then two minutes to go Ikaros was up by one 79-78, well the refs of course called a foul and sent a member of the opposing team to the foul line, pulling them ahead by a point 80-79. Ikaros called a time out with 16 seconds to go drawing up what they hoped to be the last play of the game that would lead to a victory. My guy got the ball and went one on one with the other team's pointguard with time dwindling down, my guy pulled up for a jumper and bam he hit it! I went freaking nuts, this was the third time in four games that my guy hit a shot at the end of the game to give them a victory 81-80, or so we thought. 

There was three seconds left, a time out was called. What I then witnessed was so disgusting I couldn't believe my eyes, the refs were literally in a huddle covering their mouths in what only looked like a conversation about how they were going to get the other team a win.  With just three seconds left the ball was inbounds at half court and all I could hear was the whistle, they called a foul on a member of Ikaros at top of the key, that sent the other team to the foul line. This was honestly so ridiculous that Ikaros' coach was actually laughing because it was so blatant. The game ended up being tied 81-81 at the end of regulation, meaning there would be an overtime, the bad part about this was that Ikaros had all their big guys foul out, so they couldn't hold on. They lost in one of the most corrupt games I've ever witnessed. 

Shady, shady, shady.

This was extremely disappointing, I mean it didn't matter how hard Ikaros played, they weren't winning that game. I kind of takes the whole "purity" of sport away from the game. It was clear that the refs most likely received some kind of payment, as I've heard that this kind of stuff actually goes on over here. 

Four people on Ikaros fouled out and had a total of 33 fouls called against them.


This is my personal point of view as I am just a fan and I may not know all the the "in's and out's" of the game, but when you see such a drastic difference in calls, one begins to think something isn't right here. I told my guy it was like watching the movie Remember the Titans, when the refs were calling every play against the Titans because they were a racially mixed team, it was that ridiculous. 


We'll see what happens next game, I hope to watch a more evenly called game because watching what I saw on Sunday was not very enjoyable. 

Quote of the day.

Oh my word, I can't believe it's February! For all my friends and family back in New York, smile today because spring is right around the corner and I know the snow sucks but it will be gone soon. I am excited about February, and no it's not because of Valentine's Day (overrated), but because my cousin will be visiting me in Greece in three short weeks and after that I'll be home in New York setting up my new apartment.

Today's quote is from the movie Rocky, which is one of my manfriend's favorite movies which he always tries to make me watch. Rocky is probably up there as one of the greatest sports films of all time. The quote is about going out and conquering your dreams , not making excuses and not giving up. As an athlete I love quotes like this and I thought this was a perfect quote to start the new month, so go out a get some!

Enjoy!

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But, it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

-Rocky