“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The Declaration of Independence

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Bill of Rights, First Amendment of The Constitution

A few things:

1) The pursuit of happiness is an unalienable right.  Sometimes, people decide to get married in the pursuit of happiness.

2) Government derives their power from the consent of the governed.  Every statistic I’ve read in the past year says that more than 50% of Americans believe in Marriage Equality.

3) Some religions acknowledge marriage equality.  Denying marriage equality would prohibit the free exercise of those religions, no?

I am VERY skeptical of “healthy” versions of junk food.  I find that they are often not at all healthy, or not at all delicious.  Neither of these options seems like a good deal to me; however, being averse to dieting and wanting to look good in a bikini, drive me to hope that maybe there are actually healthy and delicious versions of my favorite junk foods.  I have found and tried “healthy chocolate chunk cookies” (not healthy), “healthy paleo brownies” (so, so not delicious), and “healthy fries” (not healthy and not as delicious as the real deal), among many more brilliant failures.

Never one to be discouraged, when I came across this recipe for Sweet Potato Cupcakes in SELF Magazine that used only 2 tablespoons of butter and 6 tablespoons of sugar (in the entire recipe!), I ran with it.

They are delicious!  Charlie even likes them!  They are reminiscent of a carrot cake or a pumpkin bread, and they’re really really good.

Sweet potatoes.  Who knew you could make such a delicious dessert?

So now that I’ve found a “healthy cupcake” recipe I can endorse, I will continue to troll pinterest for the most delicious looking images of food mislabeled as healthy.  That said, if you have a wonderful healthy version of something I should try, let me know!

It’s that time again, football, food and advertising working together to create one magical evening that could only be described as SUPER.  I enjoy my football, and I can appreciate a good commercial, but what I really love about Superbowl Sunday is the opportunity to eat nachos. Nachos with guacamole, nachos with melted cheddar and black beans, nachos with chili con carne, nachos with jalapeños, nachos with salsa, nachos with refried beans and pico de gallo.. nachos, nachos, nachos.

As you can imagine, I’m not about to tell you how I made healthy Superbowl snacks. I’m a big fan of balance, and to me that means it’s ok to indulge, as long as it’s in moderation and not all the time.  Obviously, as the official holiday of junk food, Superbowl Sunday is a time to indulge.

Which of course means, I am eating nachos…specifically with queso blanco.  To give credit where it is due, this recipe was totally ripped off of my cousin Sean, who made a better version of this for a recent family birthday .

Crock-pot Queso Blanco

1.5 lbs white american cheese
1/2 cup of milk
1 can of diced green chills (4oz)
sliced jalapenos per your taste preferences

Put all ingredients in the crock pot.  Turn it on low, leave it alone and stir every once in awhile. Done.  Eat that deliciousness.

Unfortunately, cheese sauce is not a complete meal, so this year I took a go at barbecue  chicken wings.  Now, I’ve warmed up FRIDAYS wings from the frozen section before, but I’ve been watching too many documentaries about the evils of the industrial food chain.  According to the labels I read, even the plain frozen chicken wings are “up to 25% seasoning solution.” I don’t know what that is, but it means only 75% is actually chicken and that freaks me out.  I decided to buy real chicken and see what I could do…  Thankfully, my good friend the internet knows everything, so we joined forces to make this one happen.

You guys- these turned out to be super delicious, and because I bought skinless drumsticks and chicken thighs, they are way healthier than the pre-packaged versions.  Also, did I mention they were super easy?  You can find the recipe here.

What did you eat this Superbowl Sunday?

This time of year always makes me a little antsy. It’s awards season, so beautiful people in beautiful clothing are getting trophies for being wonderful; the granddaddy of all championship games is about to go down (the Superbowl), showing us all that the super jocks will always be the coolest kids in school; and I have already given up on my New Year’s resolutions.  It can be kind of a bummer…OR, it can be a time to celebrate all of the AMAZING things I accomplish in my daily life!

Exhibit A. I did not word-vomit or celebu-stalk all over Anthony Rapp when he rode across from me on the subway on my way to work yesterday.  (I KNOW!!) I’m definitely losing points for writing about it now, but at the time, I played it soooo cool. VICTORY.

Exhibit B. I was quoted in New York Magazine for my intimate knowledge (aka for spending one day-with three years ago) of the new Miss America.

So what if it wasn’t the most profound thing to ever pass my lips?  That’s my FULL NAME in New York freaking Magazine.  VICTORY.

Exhibit C. I didn’t eat the entire box of Brownie Bites the second Charlie and I got it home from Costco.  This needs no explanation, unless you’ve never had Brownie Bites from Costco, in which case, you have not lived. VICTORY.

Exhibit D. I packed my lunch every. single. day. last week.  Ok, so I’ve already forgotten it once this week, but if I was perfect at it alllll the time, it wouldn’t be a victory; it would be boring. VICTORY.

As you can see, I’m not nominated for an Oscar.  I’m not playing (or headlining halftime) at the Superbowl.  Heck, I haven’t even met the meager goals I’ve set for myself in 2013.  It’s all good.  I’ve accomplished a few things I can be proud of, so I’m going to OWN them.  I bet you’ve got some victories.  You should probably own that sh*t and put me to shame .

What’s your small victory this January?

I want to know, what does everyone use for an alarm in the morning?  Are you a multiple iPhone alarm kind of person?  Do you set the alarm to music?  Do you prefer an old school alarm clock with a screeching beep?  Has anyone tried that app that knows to wake you when you’re at the end of a sleep cycle?

For years, I had the same alarm clock.  It was great, but every couple of weeks I had to re-set the time because it was just a littttttle slow, so when I moved in September, it did not make the cut.  It was 2012, the iPhone was king.  I didn’t need an alarm clock anymore.  So with very little trepidation, I walked away from a beautiful relationship in favor of a cell phone with customizable alarm tones.

Things with the iPhone alarm started pretty magically.  It gave me endless options of songs I could wake to, and never failed to go off.  I continued to wake up early, go for runs and get to work on time.  Until I realized I could set multiple alarms at one time.  I could set an alarm for the time I needed to wake up to work out, and then set another alarm for work in case I decided I wanted to sleep through my workout.  No need to hit snooze, I could just turn that early alarm off, and know that another would wake me in time for work!

Things went downhill quickly.  Ask me how many times I actually got up to run before work in the past two months.  Less than 10…total.  Ask me how many times I got up to run before work before I discovered this magical power. 4 times a week.  I had gained the power of multiple alarms, and lost the will to get up in the morning.

Now I’d been trying to get out of this rut for the past few weeks to no avail when the situation came to a head. The first alarm went off at 7am, RUN.  My brain said, nah, man it’s cold, turn it off, the 8:15 alarm will get you on the flip side. I happily rolled over, warm and slumbering to await the second alarm.  After a blissful sleep, I rolled over, assuming it was almost 8:15 and saw 9:59am on the clock. Suddenly I remembered that the night before I had only turned on the 7am alarm in a last ditch effort to motivate myself.  Ooops.

As you can imagine, I was late for work.

I’m back on an old school alarm clock.  It goes off at 7:15am, and I have to get up.  My phone gets plugged in at an outlet on the far side of the room.  I’ve gotten up on time 2 out of 3 days since the mishap.  I think I’m on the road to recovery.

I want to know, am I the only person to fall victim to a sophisticated alarm?  Has anyone overcome the power of the option to sleep in?  What do you do to wake up early?

I have to be honest with you, for the past few months, I haven’t had a good answer for this question.  As a result, I haven’t written anything for quite awhile.  So much of my blogging has centered around my goals of running a marathon, and maintaining balance in my life.  After Hurricane Sandy, and my resignation from the (eventually cancelled) NYC Marathon, I didn’t want to run for awhile.  I got back in the swing of running, albeit with a very different attitude, but I never got back into blogging.

Lately, I’ve wanted to blog. Maybe it’s the impulse of a new year; perhaps it’s just that my lazy mind has gotten restless, but here we are!  It appears, I still have something to say.

I blog because I have the benefit of being surrounded by amazing people and incredible experiences that I want to share with others.  I’m exposed to some serious knowledge, by no virtue of my own, and I feel obligated to pass it along.  But let’s be real, the majority of info that finds it’s way onto this blog is in no way inspired.  I’m a total goober, and I think, do and say, really goofy things.  I make mistakes, I do things that are far from cool and graceful, and I work my butt off just trying to get by.  I think that’s what we all need to see.

I feel inundated with images and messages of and about perfect women and flawless humans.  Maybe I’m projecting, but I think you might feel that way too.  So, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason I blog is to litter the interwebs with the best intentioned misadventures of someone who is desperately normal.  I’m blogging about doing my best, and I hope that makes you feel better about your best.

Gratefully yours,

Aubrie

The answer is yes, I have always been this cool.

I have officially dropped out of the NYC Marathon- there are things I am able to do as a New Yorker this weekend that are more important to me.

Please support those who are running. Every single runner deserves to be cheered and celebrated for their hard work, regardless of the circumstances. It is not the runners’ decision to hold Sunday’s race as scheduled.

I applaud you runners, and will be cheering you on from wherever I am.

Instead of running, I’ll be spending my weekend working on relief efforts.

Tomorrow I’ll be with Friends of Firefighters processing donations for those in affected areas like the Rockaways, Breezy Point, and Staten Island.  If you’d like to help out, here are the details: http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/846227/77cd417d72/ARCHIVE

I’m not yet sure where I’ll be volunteering Sunday, but I’ll post info here for anyone who wants to get involved.

Thank you and please, don’t get angry- do something.