Candytopia

When I heard that there was an exhibit called Candytopia and that it featured free candy, I was there.

I guess I'd call it an art installation. There were rooms with different themes, each room filled with things made from candy, and each one featuring free candy.

made of candy

Dave isn't that into candy, so I got DOUBLE candy. Wheeeee! Needless to say, I ate too much candy and felt sick. That is not Candytopia's fault.

I love dragons.

This was my favorite thing in all of Candytopia, and it was in the first room. Candy dragon!

me and Dave

It was pretty cool.

Of course the Candy Man himself made an appearance...

Willy Wonka

All in all, it was a worthwhile experience.

First pupdate of the '20s

Pupdate! Jedi is doing well. He has a large fenced yard of his very own now, and he loves it. He also has his own Instagram account on which he discusses books, @readingbeagle.

Jedi and I tend to like the same books.

Cinnamon buns

I love cinnamon buns. I had never made them before, because yeast dough seemed intimidating to me. I've since discovered that yeast dough is fun and not that hard. I make homemade pizza dough fairly often now, so it was time to find a good cinnamon bun recipe.

YUM

I was going to make the cinnamon buns (or cinnamon rolls, as everyone else calls them) for a family brunch. I found this recipe and it seemed like it would be good. However, I'm not the biggest fan of cream cheese icing. I did a test run before brunch and did half with the cream cheese icing in the recipe and the other half with a butter/sugar glaze.

pre-icing

Dave and I decided that the cream cheese icing, while good, was a bit too overpowering. We preferred the sugar glaze. That's what I used for brunch. Oh, and the taste? WOW, THESE ARE THE BEST. Seriously. The best. They were amazing.

I messed up the icing a little bit, as you can see. I didn't let the butter soften enough, and you can see little bits of butter on them. Oops! They were still great. These cinnamon buns will be made many times in the future.

The Great Pumpkin Run

Oh my goodness, I haven't blogged since April! 2019 was a crazy year. We bought a house, Dave severely sprained his ankle, and work was even crazier than the year before. I'm determined to get back to blogging in 2020. So here it goes...

To deal with stress and anxiety, I started running again. I hadn't done that for years, so I decided to set a goal and seriously dedicate myself to meeting it. I signed up for The Great Pumpkin Run 5K in Allentown.

starting gate

The race was in the beginning of November. I signed up in September. My goal: To run the entire race without walking. Walking three miles is easy. I love hiking. I can walk two or three times that distance. So I had to run. My first step was to download a free "couch to 5K" running app. It had an interval training plan that I could listen to while I ran. It cued me when to walk and when to run, building up to running longer and longer, three days every week. I got my running music playlist together and started.

almost 3,000 participants

After the first run, I walked in the door, collapsed, and told Dave I was going to die and I couldn't do it. He said it would get easier. It did! I kept at it every week and felt myself getting stronger and in better shape.

The race was getting closer, but I hadn't run a full 3.1 miles yet. I was close, and I hoped I could do it on race day.

getting toward the finish line

The morning of the race, it was 20 degrees and I wore four layers. This is the Lehigh Valley in November, after all. It has snowed on Halloween here.

The race started with a giant hill. Ugh. I hate running up hills. There was an incredibly steep hill at the very beginning, and the entire first mile was uphill. I told myself to keep going because I WAS GOING TO RUN THE ENTIRE RACE. This hill was not going to defeat me after I worked so hard to reach my goal. I slowed my pace and kept going up the hill.

Yay!

I did it! I ran the entire race. People were cheering on the sidelines along the route through Allentown, and that felt great. At this point, I was listening to audiobooks instead of music while I ran, and I wasn't even paying attention to the book during the race. I was taking in the experience. It was fantastic. I was truly proud of myself for doing it.

I finished my first 5K in 37 minutes and 27 seconds. That's not great, but it's not bad for a first time. Next time, I want to do better.