Half Marathon Excitement!

The Disney Princess Half Marathon is about 6 weeks away and I am in hardcore training mode.  Granted, hardcore for me still isn't really that hardcore, but I'm trying here. I am truly getting excited though, and as any of my friends will tell you, when I get excited about something, it will completely take over my life. Luckily for you lovely blog readers, this time it means crafts related to my race and not a marathon training guide.

One of the ways I keep myself motivated to train is by checking the countdown on the Princess Half Marathon site. I know that as the days tick down, my runs need to be getting longer and my times need to be getting shorter. When I saw this Chalkboard Countdown on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one for myself.

the original website Pinterest links to

I LOVE countdowns anyway. They're constantly my Facebook status. Days left until friends come to visit: 7. Days left until my next work vacation: 135. (wow, that's depressing.) Days left until my birthday: 245. I could go on, but I won't.

After I decided to make myself a chalkboard countdown and I needed a board to start with, I headed straight to Goodwill.

I found this gem for $1.21. (I also grabbed a board game for $1.51. Score!) I'm not even sure how it was supposed to work as a birthday calendar thing, but I liked the shape of it.

Following Martha Stewart's directions, I needed paint and unsanded grout. I actually already had both in my crafting arsenal, but if you don't, unsanded grout is easy to find at a hardware or craft store.

Before mixing up the chalkboard paint, I painted the birthday board with a coat of regular paint to help cover.

The directions I found were for gallons worth of paint, so, as usual, I winged it. It called for a lot of paint to a little unsanded grout, so that's what I used. I mixed it up until the grout blended with the paint and became paintable (is that a word?) again.

I painted several coats onto the board to make sure there was good coverage.

I could still kinda see the original designs, so I added a few more coats. (Sure, I could've sanded that off in the beginning, but that would have been too easy.)

After it was painted perfectly, I covered the whole thing with a coat of chalk to condition it.

And then wiped it off with a slightly damp cloth.

I liked the lettering on the original chalkboard and how it was clearly not just a chalkboard, but was specifically a countdown chalkboard, so I definitely wanted that on mine too.

I found some great letters, started in the middle and built the words out from there.

That's pretty centered.
So now it's ready to countdown!

I propped mine up in my bookcase and started my countdown...
41 DAYS LEFT!

But that's not all!
(Cue the infomercial music...)

One of the big parts of the Princess Half Marathon is the costumes. Thousands of women (and a few men) dress up in crazy costumes to run this race. Everything from just a tiara or tutu to full princess ballgowns. I have NO idea how anyone could run so far in something like that! I don't want anything to slow me down (I'll be slow enough on my own) so I decided that a big bow in my hair would be plenty costumey, but it would have to be a pretty great bow, so of course I made it, thanks to some great videos from youtube.

My running top is aqua colored and both Cinderella and Kappa's colors are shades of blue, so choosing colors was easy.  I also happened to find this great grosgrain bow on the sale rack at Michaels. The bow isn't quite right, but once I snipped the thread holding it together, it was yards of great ribbon at a much better price than buying a new spool of ribbon. I love a good deal.

Since videos can explain how to make these bows much better than I can with pictures, I'll link to Youtube videos explaining each part of the bow.

The Pinwheel Bow (Fast forward in the video to 1:10)

Topped with two Surround-A-Bows (skip to 1:45 in this video)

Topped with a modified Classic Boutique Bow (Just watch this whole video. It's great.)

Topped with a smaller, white Surround-A-Bow. (You don't need another link to the video, do you?)

FINALLY topped with another classic Boutique Bow. (Have you lost track of how many layers of bows there are? I have.)

I hot-glued each layer together and then hot-glued a barrette to the back to ensure that it won't fall out on race day.

Now that I've got a great bow for my hair and a countdown chalkboard to keep me on track, all I have left to do to get ready for the race is actually train.... That sounds awful.

Chicken Enchilada Stoup

That is not a typo, I meant to say Stoup.
Any fan of Rachael Ray will be able to tell you exactly what a Stoup is: it's halfway between a stew and a soup. And it's one delicious meal.
In college, lunch at Atlanta Bread Company used to be a weekly thing for my friend Rachel and me, and I'd always order their chicken enchilada soup. One day I come to find out they've stopped making it.. and what a sad day that was. The only possible way to continue living was to find a recipe and make it myself. I did some research and tested out some recipes and settled on this one that I love. It probably bears no resemblance to the original soup recipe by this point, but I don't care. This is good stoup.

Ingredients are, as usual, pretty simple. One cup each of chicken broth, cream of chicken soup and enchilada sauce (mild or medium, your choice. I go medium because I'm not a wuss.) Then cooked, shredded chicken, black beans, corn, onion and jalapenos, all in amounts to your liking. I add a lot of each of them which is probably why my soup is a stoup.

After you've chopped up the onions and jalapenos, sweat them a little in some oil. The original recipe called for them to be cooked for a while to be fairly soft, if I remember correctly, but I like the taste and texture of the raw veggies, so I typically only cook them for a few minutes.

Then add in all the liquids: the broth, the cream of chicken and the enchilada sauce. The cream of chicken soup will be thick, so let it cook a while to thin out and blend into the soup before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Finally add the chicken, the corn and the black beans. I never measure these ingredients, I just keep adding them to the pot until it looks good, but it's usually a few handfuls of each.
Then just let it cook on medium for 15 to 20 minutes to let all the flavors blend, stirring occasionally.

This makes a lot of stoup, so I'll eat a bowl (or two) and then portion the rest into containers and pop them in the fridge. They rarely last more than a day or two.

Best served with tortilla chips (hint of lime is my favorite) and a BIG margarita. Mmm.

Chicken Enchilada Stoup
1 large can of chicken (or any cooked, shredded chicken of an equal amount)
1 can of black beans, drained
1 small can of corn, drained
1 can of chicken enchilada sauce (mild or medium)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth
1/2 white onion, diced
3 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1. Sweat the onions and jalapenos in oil until they've reached a tenderness you prefer.
2. Add the enchilada sauce, cream of chicken soup and chicken broth and cook on medium, stirring until the cream of chicken soup has thinned out.
3. Add chicken, black beans and corn to taste.
4. Simmer the stoup, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or until flavors have blended.
5. Serve with chips and enjoy. :)

PS. HAPPY NEW YEAR!