Happy Friday!

I'm in an especially good mood because this morning on the Metro a lady who I have never met before told me she really liked my haircut. Apparently she sees me every morning and noticed the difference. I thought that was such a nice thing for her to say, especially because people on the Metro tend to keep to themselves.

So I've got a little extra pep in my step today.

Recipe Time

I was so in the mood for tacos this week so I decided to do a fun twist on the traditional taco.

I browned some ground turkey (which I always use in place of ground beef) and then seasoned it with a packet a taco seasoning.


Meanwhile, the BF chopped up some red pepper.


When the ground turkey was almost finished, I dumped the red pepper into the pan to warm it up and mix it in with the seasoning.


I took some whole grain tortilla chips to make the base layer and then scooped some of the meat and peppers on the top.


Then I drizzled some taco sauce on the top and sprinkled on a little bit of Mexican blend cheese.


This totally satisfied my craving for tacos!

Q&A

Time to answer the last of your questions!

What are your go to running shoes?

Mizuno Wave Inspires. I think I'm on the fifth or sixth version of this shoe. It's what I've been wearing since I started running four years ago. The last time I bought shoes I tried on several other brands and styles, but nothing felt quite as right as these.

I would like to know what the coding is that you used for getting the left sidebar of text on your blog...you said anything.

I did indeed say anything. Shoot me an email (jess@jessruns.com) and I'd be happy to email you the code or if you want you can check out ThreeColumnBlogger.com and they have some great hacks that will help you add a third column to any Blogger template. I should note though, you should be comfortable with CSS and HTML coding before you attempt to mess with your template or else you could seriously messing up your blog.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

What do you mean? An African or a European swallow? (Wouldn't have known this was from Monty Python if the BF hadn't told me. Plus it was the question his mom and stepdad asked. Thanks guys.)

When you see overweight or unhealthy people on the street, do you judge them for not being more in shape?

First, it's really hard to tell who is "unhealthy" just by looking at them. Skinny people can be just as unhealthy as overweight people. So it's kind of hard to determine who is healthy based on size. I do sometimes wonder why I see lines at McDonalds' drive-throughs several cars deep, and I wonder if people really don't know that food is killing them. I certainly don't make value judgments based on people's health choices. I might think they need some basic dietary education/reminders, but I certainly don't think it makes them a bad person. I also know plent of awesome unhealthy people who have no intention of changing their habits. I don't think less of them for it.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

That's a goooood question. Let's see in five years I'll be 28. Yikes, that's crazy to think about. Hopefully I'll still running strong and healthy and loving every minute of it. Unless some crazy job opportunity takes me somewhere else, I imagine I'll probably still be in the DC/Md area. Maybe married, maybe not. Hopefully I'll have an awesome job in social media/interactive marketing developing strategy and marketing plans for organizations that work with causes I support.

Current "kicks you in the butt" song to run to? Any other must-haves for the playlist?

Lady Gaga. I know that's not a song, but almost any of her songs will do. Except Papparazzi I really hated that one. I love jamming to Bad Romance though. Some other favorites that are kicking around on my iPod:
Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus (don't judge)
How Far Do You Wanna Go - Gloriana
Runaway - Love and Theft
Toes - Zac Brown Band
Big Green Tractor - Jason Aldean
Tik Tok - Ke$ha
I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas

I also love running to the Wicked soundtrack as well as both Glee soundtracks. I listen to a really strange mix of music.

Well that's a wrap with all the questions. I hope I answered them well enough!