strawberry pretzel salad

last night i attended a work party.  it was a beautiful orchestral performance and fireworks.  we had a picnic at the concert, and of course, because i am known as the "work baker," i was in charge of dessert.  i knew it would be hot, and that my boss isn't a huge chocolate fan, so i decided to go with my mom's favorite summer recipe: strawberry pretzel salad.

the actually cooking part actually only took about a half hour, but it is about a full day process because each layer has to completely set before you can add the next layer.

i altered it slightly for the 4th of july, and added a fruit flag on top.  here is the recipe!

ingredients:

2 cups crushed pretzels

3/4 cup melted margarine

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz cool whip

2 - 3 oz strawberry jello packets

2 cups boiling water

2 - 10 oz packages of frozen, sliced strawberries

8 oz can crushed pineapple

10 fresh strawberries

 1/2 pint fresh blueberries

directions:

- preheat oven to 400 degrees

- combine pretzels, margarine, and sugar

- press into 9x12 pan

- bake for 7 minutes; allow to cool

- beat confectioners sugar and cream cheese until smooth, fold in cool whip

- add mixture on top of crust and refrigerate until chilled

- dissolve jello in boiling water; cool slightly

- add strawberries and pineapple to jello mixture and pour over cream cheese

 mixture

- refrigerate until firm

- optional for american flag: (ingredients: 8 oz cool whip, 10 fresh strawberries, 

and 1/2 pint fresh blueberries) smooth additional 8 oz of cool whip on top 

of jello/frozen strawberries. cut strawberries into 1/4ths and shape strawberries 

and blueberries into an american flag on top cream cheese/cool whip layer

find fellow bloggers!

as you already might know, i belong to 20sb [20 something bloggers].

but if you are looking for fellow bloggers who live near you, definitely add yourself to shane's map.  i did!

diy master bathroom: the before

so, after living here a year, i decided to tackle a project by myself [mostly].  mike and i recently finished painting our spare upstairs bedroom [more about that later], and i have the diy bug again.  i've learned a lot about renovations while living here, and i think i'm finally ready to take the lead on a project.

our upstairs bathroom is the last room of the house with wallpaper, and boy, will it feel good to get rid of that final, ugly, 1970s style wallpaper.

here is my before:

rundown of updates:

- tear down wallpaper

- repaint walls

- repaint cabinet and drawers under sink

- new hardware for cabinets, drawers, etc.

- clean and line all the drawers

- repaint radiator

- re-grout tiling around the room

- re-caulk the bathtub

- new light fixture above the sink

i know the color isn't so great in the video [and won't be in many photos because of the little light in that room] so here are the colors i'll be painting the radiator, the cabinets under the sink, and the walls.

disclaimer: this video was made a week ago, and i am already well on my way to the radiator and cabinet projects - i will post photos soon!

summer shoe shopping!

what did this title make you think of? sandals, maybe? what about some jellies or water shoes?  well, that's not what i'll be doing this summer.

number 1: i bought a pair of  sperry's boat shoes for summer camp last summer, and they were so comfortable and great.  but as you can see, they are SO worn out.  they are like permanently wet inside from constantly wearing them on the golf course.  it was definitely time for a new pair.  i decided to get almost the same ones, but a slightly different color and style. i went from this to the new more silver and pink ones - they don't quite look like that anymore, do they?  oh man, does it feel nice to have sperrys with cushioning [unlike my old ones that are now hard as rocks].  

yeah... that's a big difference

number 2: i haven't bought new sneakers since before my last half marathon in january, so it was definitely time for some new running shoes because my current ones probably have a few too many miles on them.  i love my current nike's, so i bought some that were very similar and lightweight.  here is what they actually look like for color since these photos are a bit off.  and the light green swooshes perfectly match my staff uniform [that i have to wear at special events].  

and to go with it, i got another pair of my favorite shorts ever. seriously, buy a pair.  they have built in compression shorts, so they are ridiculously comfortable and cool! 

the ones on the left i already had.  the pink main color and blue accents are the same colors as my old sneaks.  the new ones mike bought me, on the right, have the same main magenta color that matches the magenta sneaks perfectly!

thank you, nike, for your relatively small color palette. 

so, those are my most recent purchases.  summer goal: get back in shape.  can you tell?  

only 359 days until next year!

last day of the travelers championship was today in connecticut.  an australian named marc leishman won his first pga tour victory!

just a casual red, umbrella shaped green in the middle of the pond

closing ceremonies

work is done... time for play!

yay, it's tournament weekend!  that means i worked this morning, and got to enjoy the tournament this afternoon.  we had some amazing tickets with inside a/c, free food, and drinks.  i had a few of these new michelob ultra iced tea/lemonades.  if you haven't tried them, you need to!  there was also a ben and jerry's bar, tons of snacks, and about 3 different meals. amazing!  and we get to go back and do it all tomorrow!

yesterday almost half of the golf was rained out, so today was chaotic.  we also had a patrons' breakfast for our donors in the morning [hence why i worked]; it was wonderful!

how amazing is this ice sculpture?

pga tour professional, brad faxon spoke

as did golf channel analyst, frank nobilo

and what would an event be without taking home some beautiful flowers?  mine from 2 weeks ago just died, so it was good timing!

go for barney!

anyone, anyone?  

for those of you not as obsessed with himym as me, that's what barney [neil patrick harris] says anytime he answers the phone.  i cannot believe i forgot to mention the [almost] best part of yesterday!  every time someone called me on my radio while marshaling, i got to say "go for meghan."  i swear, everyone was doing it.  i felt legen.... wait for it.... dary.

now onto today.  i got to sleep in a bit this morning since i was in the sun for 13 hours yesterday, and spent a few hours in the morning in my office returning parent calls and getting ready for our annual patron's breakfast on saturday.  then, in the afternoon, i met up with two of our kids who acted as "junior course reporters" over the past two days and wrote a blog about their experiences.  i had lunch with them, helped them write in the media center, and then went to a live taping of a golf channel show "golf central pre game" in their studio on the 18th hole.  it was really cool!  and i got to meet the anchors after the show.  after editing the kids' blogs, we had an event for young professionals and entrepreneurs in the area on our learning links. we had a little putting course and a couple closest to the pin contests.  

i just got home like a half hour ago, took a freezing cold shower, am about to throw some food in my face, and will do it all again tomorrow!

getting ready for the show!

info about the filming

snoopy 1 to my right outside the studio (you can see how small the studio is!) 

on air

i'm almost as tan as the made up anchors (todd lewis and tripp isenhour*)

inside the media center

*fun fact, when tripp isenhour was playing on tour 4 years ago, he was arrested for killing a hawk** with a golf ball! read the story here.  he didn't have to go to jail for it, but was on probation for a year, did community service, and had to pay a fine.

**anecdote: two years ago, my junior year of college roommate got attacked by a hawk!! like seriously. we were studying for finals in the history department and the huge windows into the hallway were open.  all of a sudden, we hear that typical "RAAAAAAAAA" of a hawk and all of us and the one professor still there ran out into the hallway to see what it was.  i was still remember his, "what the **** is that?" reaction when we saw a hawk, with its huge wingspan, flying down the hallway.  my roommate had left for a minute, and all of a sudden, we hear the hawk's cry again, and then a scream.  it was so scary!  apparently its talons got her when it flew up behind her.  apparently it had a nest outside and hawks are very protective when they are nesting.  no exaggeration, 8-10 people were attacked by hawks around that building in a one week span before animal control finally had to come for it.

pro-am day at the travelers championship

tomorrow begins the actual, professional tournament, so that means today was the pro-am.  sports fans, look at this field - chris berman, bill murray, doug flutie, ahmad rashad! 

my organization marshaled (aka held up quiet signs and found golf balls for players) on the longest hole on the course.  it was really fun, but a really long day.  we had volunteers for two shifts: 6:00 am - 12:30 pm and 12:30 pm - 6:00 pm, but i was there all day as hole captain.  oh, and did i mention there was record heat?  by 8:00 it was 80 and by 1:00 it was 100. crazy.  a few people even had to be carted off the course for heat stroke - scary!

photo i forgot to post last night - how cool is this lego man?

that's us!

6:30 am and ready to go

my uniform... LOL

inside mike's car when he finished his shift. wow.

afterwards, we went to the mall to get mike some sweet new oakleys! and i got an AMAZING godiva dark chocolate raspberry shake.  you need to try one of these!

most wonderful week of the year: travelers championship

and by most wonderful, i mean most busy ...and awesome.  the pga tour is in town!  and when i say in town, i mean literally.  the golf facility where my office will soon be located, and where i direct summer camp is the same course where the professionals play this week.

needless to say, i am there non-stop.  i got home at 7:30 tonight and need to be back there at 6 am tomorrow.  

even though the tournament doesn't officially start until thursday, there is a lot going on all week.

here is what i have been up to over the past two days:

monday - work in the office for our annual saturday of travelers week breakfast, lunch with all my bosses at the tournament, a meeting for our summer programming, and a pro-am reception (with amazing food and an open bar - including a ketel one vodka ice luge).

tuesday - fan and family day (aka 6 hours of putting tic-tac-toe and hitting whiffle balls at inflatable targets), office catching up for our breakfast, and a junior pro-am tournament that 8 of our kids played in.

and some photos from today:

doesn't this look like fun?

the first tee kids warming up for the pro-am

they got to meet webb simpson who won the us open 3 days ago!

all of the pro-am participants and their caddies

some of the first tee's pro-am participants in front of our close-to-completion learning center

and the front of the learning center - amazing, right?

and somehow, mike and i thought this would also be a good week to complete two house projects. what were we thinking? [more about that later]

happy father's day!

happy father's day to all of the amazing dads out there!  

my dad and mike's dad (along with our mothers) will be over later to watch some u.s. open golf and for dinner. we are very excited!

my 2nd birthday

pebble beach in california

disney world

my day via instagram

unhealthy, fun, tiring, and all around awesome.

the pga tour will be in town in three days!

cake pop and java chip frappuccino for lunch

playing some disney princess bingo with my favorite kiddos

our new dining room!

moved the side board and china cabinet tonight!

and dinner

my second half marathon!

i have exciting news!  

i decided to run in my second half marathon!  it won't be until january, but i am still so pumped.

i will be running in the........ tinkerbell half marathon in disneyland, ca!

after running my first half marathon in florida at the disney world half marathon last january, i feel like i won't ever enjoy another half marathon as much as a run disney race.  seriously, if you are a runner, you need to travel to florida or cali and run one of these.  the characters, the cheering crowds, the awesome scenery, EVERYTHING is so magical!

my goal for 2013 is to run the "coast to coast challenge."  basically, i will run the tink half in cali then hopefully the wine and dine half in florida in november, so i will get a special medal for running on each coast in the same year.

i will be traveling to anaheim for the weekend with my parents.  they will be running in the never land 5k with me the day before!

if you want to see some of the photo highlights from last year's inaugural tinkerbell half, visit the run disney facebook page here.

here are a few of my favorite photos from the album!!!

last year's course

oh yeah, did i mention the half starts at 5:00 am and the 5k starts at 5:45 am?

SO EXCITED!

raspberry jam

as i alluded to in my last post, i haven't exactly had the chance to eat healthy/ be crafty or creative/ bake/ even write lately.  work and house projects have kept me constantly busy.

today, on my day off, i had to drive to rhode island to get my jeep fixed [something about a recall on a part].

in the meantime, my mom and i went out to lunch, and we went to the market to get lots of fresh fruits.  she loved the strawberry jam i made a month or so back, so we bought plenty of raspberries so i could try and make raspberry jam.  

i sort of winged it, and i really like it!  it's a bit more tart than the strawberry jam.

ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of raspberries

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 lemon juiced

directions:

- combine lemon juice and sugar in medium pot on medium heat.

- stir occasionally for 5 minutes.

- add mashed raspberries, stir, and turn up the heat to medium/high.

- stir once a minute or so for 15 minutes or until the temperature reaches 215 degrees.

- cool and enjoy!

so much fresh fruit from the market - now i'll be able to eat much healthier this week!

how delicious do these look?