Brownies, brownies, and more brownies!

I love brownies.  I REALLY love brownies.  I always thought they were nice until I had my first daughter five years ago.  When I was in the hospital, my mother-in-law brought me fruit to munch on.  Strawberries were among the fare in the basket.  One look at them and I thought, "BROWNIES!".  When my brother-in-law came, he and his girlfriend offered to bring us some dinner from a shop nearby.  I asked if they could please bring me a brownie too and ever since I've been hooked! 

With this new found love came quite an intensive buying of box mixes.  "Brownies from scratch???  Is that possible???"  I didn't think it was within my grasp.  But, whenever I made the box variety, they would be almost burned on the edges but gooey in the middle (gross gooey, not yummy gooey).  I tried and tried to fix the problem.  Bake longer, bake shorter, higher temperature, lower temperature, moving the rack, and finally just dealing with either burned edges or using a spoon in the middle.

But then it happened: I LOOKED for a recipe for brownies!  Low and behold, on www.allrecipies.com I found the most wonderful, yummy, quick, foolproof recipe for brownies!  The best part?  No chemicals to try to turn it into something like what a brownie should be.  This morning, I remembered I still had one more box of mix in my cupboard.  I thought I'd try it since it was sitting there all lonely looking without its friends around anymore.  So, I helped it fulfill its destiny.  Yup....WAY better from scratch.  :o)

Gear Review - Nike Featherlight Dri-Fit Women's Visor

So I bought this visor when I was getting new running shoes yesterday (but that's a whole other story...).  I was waiting for one of the sales staff to bring out a selection of shoes and saw some sitting on the wall - glowing like a professional runner's beacon.  I may have even heard a choir singing in the background. 

Now keep in mind that during this whole running journey I've had this "I'm not going to get sucked into that" sort of mentality.  A person can easily spend hundreds and even thousands on gear to hopefully help them run better, longer, faster, etc.  But in the end it's still just you and your feet. 

Anyway, back to the visor.  I had been wearing a chunky cotton visor that I think I got in a lost and found somewhere.  It soaked up sweat like a pillow on the Titanic and looked as such by the time I got done with a run.  But I used it because it's what I had.  Enter the Nike Featherlight Dri-Fit visor for women.  All I can say is, "where have you been my whole...um...running life?"  I love it!  It's light so you barely feel it on your head, the sweat wicks away (I'm not really sure where it goes so I'm going to assume that some sort of alternate universe portal opens up in the bill), the bill is small enough to keep visibility high but big enough to shade your face, and best of all, my hair looks super cute popping out the top in a messy knot.  And lets face it, who doesn't want to look cute on a run?