I actually started in 2006 with the Arizona Derby Dames and skated 4 seasons with the Brutal Beauties. 

3 out of those 4 years, my team won the championship, and I had a blast skating with them.

I retired from the Dames, mainly because derby is such a commitment, and with the Dames going banked track, the commitment factor was going to escalate.  I was planning a wedding, a bit burnt out and looking for time outside of the sport.

Fast forward a little over a year, and all of a sudden I started to get the urge to skate again.  I tried to fight it.

But I just couldn’t stay away.

I approached the Arizona Rollergirls and began skating with a new group of girls. 

And I fell in love with derby again.

I skate with an amazing team, the Cadaver Crue.

The team has grown leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season, even eeking out a hard fought victory against the undefeated team, The Hail Marys. 

Next week is the playoff bout between the Cadaver Crue and Lolitas de Los Muertos.  This decides who goes onto the championship in December, and I’m super stoked. 

If you haven’t checked out your local roller derby yet, I highly suggest you do it.  Its worth it.

Like, super tight.

We hang out almost every day, usually in the morning, and when I don’t get my morning fix, the day just isn’t the same.

That’s why I was so excited about a certain special delivery.

As part of Foodbuzz’s Taste Maker Program, I received 2 bags of Godiva’s limited edition seasonal coffee.

Uh, please AND thank you.

I’ve been drinking this coffee for the past month and I must say I’m a big fan.  Huge, even. 

The caramel pecan bark is my favorite because I love anything that has anything to do with caramel.  So you mix coffee with it, and I’m yours.  Its strong, fragrant and the caramel flavor really comes through.  It makes going into work just a little bit better.  Even Brian, the non coffee drinker, thinks it smells amazing.

I was nervous I wouldn’t like the pumpkin spice flavor, but I was proven wrong.  It tasted like coffee flavored pumpkin  bread.  Amazing.  I’ve been using it more around once a week, to change things up a bit.  And since Arizona is finally cluing into the whole, its November thing, its finally cold enough to enjoy a fall flavored morning beverage.

Also, I might also mention this coffee saved me lots of trips to the local coffee shop down the road.  Who needs to spend money on expensive coffee when I can make it at home?

It also helps deal with this.

I’d ask Shea what happened, but I think she’s slunk off to a corner somewhere looking very guilty.  Tsk. Tsk.

Wedding Series: First Look

On Sunday, Brian and I celebrated our first year wedding anniversary.

In true Amy fashion, I never posted the actual ceremony on my blog.  So in honor of our first year of wedded bliss, I decided to showcase our I dos.

Looking back makes me want to do it all over again. 

I’m a lucky girl.

P-U.

Since this week has been filled with late work hours and roller derby practices, dinners have had to be quick.  I’ve been a total slacker in the meal planning department.  Womp, womp.

Luckily, thanks to Brian, we’ve got some good staples in our armory to get through this week. 

Unfortunately, we’ve had to fend for ourselves since our intramural sports schedules are conflicting.  By the time I get home from work, he’s already left for softball or kickball.  Once he gets home from that, I’ve left for roller derby.

Nothing like an 11pm meetup while an AC repairman fixes the fuses on our AC unit, which is what happened last night. 

Unlike the rest of the country, its still in pretty warm in AZ, and AC is still required for the animals during the day.

But I digress.

Dinner.

Last night, I put together a delicious dinner, and it took no time at all.

I cooked up some quinoa in my handy rice cooker.

I got this rice cooker in a work white elephant gift exchange.  Someone actually brought it because they didn’t want it.  No problem, I’ll take it!

While the quinoa was getting nice and fluffy, I broke out the wok and threw in some frozen stir-fry veggies and quorn chicken tenders.

To this, I added something I picked up on a whim at Sunflower Market.

All I had to do was pour it over the veggies and quorn, heat it up and then serve over the quinoa. 

This was the perfect meal to get me through a super tough derby practice. 

Tomorrow, Jenny Penny is coming to town! 

My bad.

Things have been crazy! Work has been off the charts stressful.  Hopefully its going to be settling down in the next few weeks. 

On top of everything going on with work, derby and friends, we decided to take on a new addition to our farm.

My friend Jordan posted this picture on facebook.

Jordan’s husband, Kevin, found this little cutie wandering the streets of Phoenix.  They received no response from their craigslist, pet finder, etc ads and resorted to reaching out to friends to see if anyone wanted to take in an adorable stray.  With two dogs of their own and moving out of state, they had no room for her to stay permanently.

I saw the picture and immediately called and then texted Brian.  He pretty much knew from the moment he saw my text of “Hey, did you see the picture of the puppy on J’s facebook page?” that we were getting a puppy.

I mean, look at that mug!

After a successful first date with Shea, we decided that the little boxer puppy, who we thought was 4-5 months old would be a perfect fit. 

Seriously, look at this face.

Squish.

The next afternoon we took our new puppy, now named Lulu, to the vet to get her checked out.

After another scan to rule out a microchip, the vet came in and told me this little girl looked like she has had a rough life up until now.  She has a bunch of scars, including one big one on her foot, which looks like something was wrapped around it.  For a puppy to have lived so hard for her short little life, this dog is a total sweetheart. 

The vet also deduced she was probably more like 8 months old, and looks like she might not grow anymore.  She said her growth had probably been stunted. 

I’m so happy we took this little girl in.  She’s such a happy go lucky boxer, who is such a little love bug.

Now, we just have to break the news to the cats that the energetic new animal isn’t leaving.  I don’t think they are going to be too happy about this…..

Ok…

We’ve had 2.

But that’s two in a months time, and which is more than enough.

For the past few potluck’s, I’ve turned to my Dad’s “secret” recipe of No Bake Oreo Cookie Cheesecake.  This has turned into a ridiculous hit, thanks Dad.  I threatened to not make it this time and received a very poor response.  Gasps, threats even.

The crowd demands what it wants.

I also wanted to create another star dish usually seen at our potlucks, since its maker had the day off today.  So, I basically swooped in to play the hero.  Please, the applause isn’t necessary.  You are too kind.

I introduce…

Easy Corn and Black Bean Salad

• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 red pepper
• 1 small red onion
• 1-2 stalks of celery (optional for those who don’t like celery…. ahem…. me)
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 cloves of garlic
• cilantro
• 1/4 balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 olive oil
• salt and pepper

So it goes like this.  Chop up the red pepper, chop up the red onion (and celery if you must), chop up the jalapeno and garlic and throw into a bowl.

Mix

Beautiful, isn’t it.

Mix together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Add the cilantro to the mix, and pour the dressing over everything.

Its as easy as that!  In ideal circumstances, this is allowed to sit in the fridge overnight to let the veggies and dressing get to know each other.  The balsamic vinegar MAKES this salad, and it goes perfectly with pita chips. 

Thankfully, there was a bit left over and I’m super excited to snack on it.  Unfortunately, the oreo cookie cheesecake was massacred.  No leftovers in site. 

The entire potluck was pretty outstanding actually.  One of the ladies of honor is a vegan, so some coworkers picked up some food from The Loving Hut, an entirely vegan restaurant, and it was delicious.

I know it looks like a full plate, and it was, but 75% is salads.

On the plate

• Quinoa salad
• Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Corn and Black Bean Salad
• Spicy Cha Cha from the Loving Hut
• 1/2 Moo Shu Veggie wrap
• Homemade hummus and 1/2 whole wheat pita

Fullness.  And there was a ton more food to sample from. 

So I’ve gotten back on the fitness wagon, after taking last week off due to an insane cold that just wouldn’t quit.  I’m not 100% and still relying heavily on cough drops to get me through the day, but I’m need to be in bout-form on Saturday.

Roller Derby practice yesterday was brutal on my lungs and I hacked my way through 1/2 of it before calling it quits.  My body was saying that’s enough, and I listened.  No reason to overdue it 4 days before the bout. 

Today, I hopped on the incline treadmill for about 45 minutes at an easy pace (burning about 450 calories), so I could burn off some of the  potluck goodness.

Now, if I could just get rid of this cough…..

Yes, I’m still dealing with a lot of snot and the cough hasn’t gone away, but my voice sounds almmmooooossst normal. 

I’m good enough to go to work, ok.

I contribute my success to lots and lots of tea.

Well… and theraflu and ramen.  That’s the prescription I swear by. 

After a week of feeling like pretty much dog doo, I’m happy to participate in one of my favorite pastimes.

Pumpkin Beer!

I’m trying to sample my way through the various types of pumpkin beers on the market, and this is my first taste of the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.  I could definitely taste the “punkin’” ness, and enjoyed the spiciness of this ale. 

I enjoyed this with a delicious bowl of chili. 

Wait. 

Hold up.

Have I told you about the ridiculous weather Arizona has going on? As in, no air conditioning, window open weather?  Like, for reals fall weather?  Like, I want to spend every day apple picking and pumpkin patch weather?

That’s what made me crave chili. 

Crave, and you shall have!

Next in line to sample

Tasty, but the pumpkin-y spiciness wasn’t as delicious as the Dog Fish Punkin Ale.   I’m not going to pour it down the drain, but its not my favorite. 

After watching the Bears fail miserably during Monday Night Football, we took Shea dog on a walk around the neighborhood.   Because it is freaking nice outside.

Tomorrow, I will get to go to derby practice in the first time in over a week.  Hopefully I won’t snot all over the track.  I’m ready to get rolling…

Well after all that fun, we still had a full day ahead of us on Sunday. 

We raced back to Phoenix, to shower (definitely needed), throw on our jerseys and head out the door to do some tailgating.

Quite the rivalry!

Soon it was time to head into the stadium, so we packed everything up and joined the mass of people to get in.  Lets just say it was hotter the heck outside, much different then the perfect weather up north. 

The sun was beating down, there was a large crowd and NO SHADE.  It was a beast, but we finally reached the cool air conditioning of the stadium.

There were Giant fans everywhere! The two guys in front of us were way into them.

Our seats were redonk.  It was better than watching the game on TV.

We could see all of our favorite players.

It was an AMAZING game and it looked like the NY Giants were going to lose until the very end.  Thanks to a controversial call, the Giants pulled ahead to win at the end of the 4th quarter!

Lets just say, I was spent by the end of the weekend.

Good times, great friends, what more can a girl ask for?

A few weeks ago, James and her coworker Steph (nicknamed Staylor and will hereforth be referred to as such), mentioned a potential camping trip, and in true Amy fashion, I invited us along.

Because that’s how I do.

And I’m so glad I did.  Even though we realized we were already booked to go to the AZ Cardinals vs NY Giants game on Sunday. 

Who says you can’t do it all?

Camping took place at Woods Canyon Lake at the Aspen Campground, and it was glorious. 

Not only was the weather ridiculously cooler than Phoenix, but the fresh air and company was fantastic.  It didn’t even feel like we were in Arizona anymore.

5 dogs = Puppy parade!

On Sunday morning, we packed everything up and threw in in the car to drive back to Phoenix and put our tailgating face on….

I. Is. Sick.

Let me tell ya, I’ve got a sexy voice going on right now.  Meow.

I’ve managed to trudge through work, much to the chagrin of my coworkers, but its a busy, transitional time at work. 

Lunches out with friends help!

We hit up Thai Basil, which is a delicious restaurant by Marisol and my workplace.  Luckily Natalie is able to drive to our part of town because Marisol and I are usually chained to our desks.  It was so nice to get out and catch up.

I was craving soup like it was my job, but was sad to hear the soup is only on the dinner menu.  No worries, I’ll “settle” for the Panang Curry.

Chock full of veggies, tofu and delicious peanut curry.  Oh Thai Basil, I love you so! 

Best part was this supplied lunch and dinner for the day.

Other than lunch, my life is filled with theraflu, cough drops and ramen.  Don’t be jealous.