I fought the gym…and I won!

Well, I fought the nervous newbie feeling, anyways.

I don’t know what I was worried about. It was fine like my mind knew it would be, nobody was watching AND they’ve even upgraded the machines since I last had a membership!

Check this out – not only did my treadmill have it’s own tv attached to it (so I could catch up on Family Guy and the news) but it also had AIR CONDITIONING VENTS! Yeah! My own little mini AC cooling me off as I chugged along.

4.36 miles in 40 minutes at speeds ranging from 6.3 to 7.0.

I was going to lift some weights, but couldn’t find the women’s weight room and was too much of a hot mess after running to ask someone. Next time…

In other news, it was a picture-perfect, blustery Fall day today!

I’m glad I whipped up a big pot of cozy, Chili Corn Chowder last night to re-heat for dinner this evening.

I spied the recipe on The Pioneer Woman the other day, and knew a big mug of it would be perfect to warm up with on one of these chilly evenings we’ve been having.

It looks like a standard corn chowder, but it’s spiced up with the addition of green chilies and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

If you’ve never had chipotles in adobo – you’ve GOT to give them a whirl. You get them near the diced green chilis, enchilada sauce, etc. in the grocery store. They aren’t too spicy, rather, they give the dish a nice, warm heat. SO GOOD!

I followed the recipe, except I used half & half instead of whipping cream and accidently let the soup boil while I was distracted by…something…which resulted in a different looking soup, shall we say. It tasted miiiighty fine though!

Topped with bacon & cheese – SOUPER good! Sorry I couldn’t help myself…

In other news, I keep forgetting to tell you but, unfortunately, I was axed from Project Food Blog last weekend! I guess my luxury-meets-cozy lunch party didn’t go over too well with the judges… At any rate, thank you x 1,000,000 for your votes throughout the first 3 challenges!

AND if you have a second, fellow Midwesterner and faboo cook, Mara @ What’s For Dinner DID make it through and needs your help to to get to Challenge 5. Check out her latest entry which describes how to make homemade Ciabatta bread & Roasted Beef Tenderloin Sandwich (I die). Vote if you can!

In more news, guess who’s in town? My Grandma (of Grandma’s Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup) and Aunt! They flew in from Ohio this afternoon and will be here all weekend. I’m excited to spend some quality time with them tomorrow on my day off and be together as a fam this weekend.

AH – isn’t she the prettiest?!

We’re all gathering tonight to watch "our shows" (The Office & 30 Rock, obvi) and hang. You know.

I have to go shower and get over there, aka skidaddle. Have a great night!

Oh, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning at BREAKFAST!

~~~~~

I want to bake something with my Mom, Grandma & Aunt tomorrow – fun family activity. Any suggestions as to what we should make?

What are you baking up this weekend?