The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

Hey y'all, sorry it has been a week since I have visited this little corner of the internet; life has been BUSY. This weekend we were down the Cape for a few days for the Hyannis Half Marathon and gone are the days where we can be gone for the weekend and just wing it for the week. Sunday evening was all about laundry and food prep and foam rolling and vacuuming the new layer of salt from this terrible winter we have been having and then all the sudden I woke up and it was Wednesday. But, I digress. It was a lovely weekend and one that I was more than happy to scramble around to make up for just to have the sunshine on my face and quality time with my favorite people for a few days. My half marathon was...ok. I used my Garmin watch for the first time in a race and enjoyed being able to keep an eye on my pace as I started out. I wanted to go fast but not too fast in order to avoid a burn out, so I tried to stay between 9:20 and 9:35, which I did for the first five miles. A...

I know I posted one like this already, but I just can't handle the cute! Oh those rosebud lips! Reading: I have put Skinny Legs and All down for the second time and I might not pick it back up. I really liked Tom Robbins when I first read him in grad school, but I just can't get into this book. I am half way through and have a weird thing about finishing books so I am sure that I will plow through at some point, but when my reading time is so limited I have a hard time reading anything that I don't love. I have picked up The Red Tent (finally!) and am really enjoying it;  it makes me want to hug all the midwives I know and be all earthy mama with them. I am also reading the ever-so-trashy Lipstick Jungle (same author as Sex and the City ) and am shaking my fist that the show was cancelled so quickly. They should have put it on HBO like Sex and the City and let it be as trashy as the book. Next up, Lean In , which is sitting on my nightstand ready for me to jump in....

Whoa, last week was a doozy, and this week is going to be pretty crazy too. I have a lot going on at work and am getting prepared to run the Hyannis Half Marathon on Sunday by eating as clean as possible, sticking to my training plan and trying to get a lot of sleep and kick this lingering congestion. Here's hoping I can make it happen!  There is so much going on but I wanted to put up a quick post with some of the cute pictures I took of Maddie over the weekend and let everyone know that I still hate winter, especially after spending three hours running outside in it yesterday. All of us had a three day weekend that made me wish all weekends were three days; it is just amazing what I can get done with just one extra day, and getting to spend extra time with my little family was pretty great. Highlights included: longs runs on separate days (yay for  not eating up a whole day!), Nutella pudding (by me) and banana bread (by Matty), Maddie's first time with  paints an...

It is no secret that winter and I have a love/hate relationship. In November, I love the winter: Christmas! Fresh snow! Scarves and hats! It is new and hopeful and I have dreams delusions of grandeur about ice skating and baking cookies and snuggling under a warm blanket. Then February hits and I loathe every damn thing about it: Christmas debt! Black soot with snow and ice under it! All those damn layers to put on me and the toddler who refuses to keep her damn hat on! It is old and tiring and I am sick of falling asleep under a blanket on the couch super early every night after my will to be awake and living through another winter has disappeared. This year, I started hating winter early. Like in January, and now that February is here and I don't have a vacation somewhere warm(er) until April, I am officially in loathe with winter. I am tired. So, so tired. After we put the kiddo to bed and get ready to catch up on our DVR or read books or talk I really just want to go to be...

We made it! I had one of those weeks where I consistently thought it was a day later than it really was, so of course now that it is Friday the day seems to be dragging on. This week has been rough - not feeling well Monday, a snowstorm Wednesday and then last night I had a terrible allergic reaction to something. I woke up at 3:30 this morning with my face itching and burning and when I finally admitted that I couldn't fall back asleep I got up to take a look in the mirror and the reflection was just awful. I looked like one of those dried out apple head dolls and my eyelids were so swollen that it looked like I had been on a bender/crying for a week. I think that it had to do with mixing Retin-A with the face lotion I have been using, but whatever it is I am seriously done with Retin-A and my dermatologist. I have not been blessed with good skin and have never really found a good regimen; anyone have any good suggestions? I have super dry skin in the winter and am prone to b...

I have gotten into a good routine of prepping things for the week on Sundays so that we have more time when we get home to play trains and less time having to chop onions, because, priorities, you know? I am always on the look out for recipes that can be made ahead, and I recently stumbled across a delicious quinoa stuffed bell pepper dish on another blog that looked like a good make-ahead meal. I paired it with some baked beans (Maddie and Matty both prefer them over black) and a nice Abita Pecan Harvest poured into a fancy Allagash glass from our trip to the brewery two summers ago. Delicious! Here is my version of the recipe, modified to make ahead (I made them Sunday and we had them Tuesday night).  Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, serves four to five adapted from A Beautiful Mess 1 cup quinoa (I used a mixture of colors) 5-6 tablespoons olive oil 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and chopped 1/2 onion, chopped 1 teaspoon cumin 1/2 cup tomato sauce (I used 2...

I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Like, at all. I got up early, showered and then picked up friends to give them a ride to the airport and somewhere in between all that my body told me to STOP. I got a terrible hot flash and wave of nausea and it all happened while driving in fast city traffic. Of course, since not feeling well isn't bad enough, my anxiety kicked in and by the time I had driven myself back home through side streets for fear of needing to pull over on the highway (again) I had ten panic attacks and had called our nanny to tell her to stay home. My plan was to get home, crawl into bed until Matty had to leave for work, and spend the rest of the day watching movies, snuggling with Maddie and drinking some Imodium and Xanax tea. So, that is what we did. Later in the day, since I was feeling a little better and felt guilty about cooping the kid up with me, we went to the mall for Pinkberry, which is my cure for most things. She got to walk ar...