Good morning, friends!
I wasn’t in the mood for CrossFit or running yesterday, so I took Murphy for an extra long walk and counted that as my exercise for the day. The weather was a little cool, but bright and sunny, so we strolled along and enjoyed the afternoon. Murphy sniffed everything in his path while I listened to the most recent episode of the Balanced Bites podcast.
Snack
After our walk, I came home and snacked on a couple of Mini Babybel Mozzarellas.
Dinner
After that, I finished up some blogging/writing/emails and then started to make dinner, which was one of my favorite childhood meals.
When I was a kid, my mom used to make boxed macaroni and cheese mixed with ground beef for dinner. It was a quick and easy meal, and my sister and I loved it. I don’t remember how old I was when my mom taught me how to make it (maybe 12 or 13 years old?), but it’s been one of my favorite comfort food dishes for as long as I can remember. It was actually one of the first “grown up” meals that I could cook myself. Sure, I could make a sandwich, fix myself a bowl of cereal, or microwave a TV dinner, but this meal was one of the first that involved a few different steps and using the stove.
Last night, I used ground turkey and added some grated Parmesan cheese for some extra cheesiness to this meal. I also served it with some steamed spinach with sea salt and white vinegar on the side for some added nutrients. Yum! This meal totally hit the spot.
After dinner, I enjoyed a couple of Justin’s peanut butter cups.
And then Mal and I met a couple of friends at Barrett’s Haunted Mansion!
This year, Barrett’s added a new attraction called “The Cell,” which was a spooky maze with smoke/fog and scary-ass characters trying to scare you at every turn. I definitely jumped a few times. I even screamed once! Haha!
For $20 (there’s a $3 off coupon online), you get tickets for both The Cell and the Haunted Mansion, and it is totally worth the money!
The line at The Cell was fairly short. We maybe waited 15 minutes. The line for the Haunted House, however, was a lot longer. We waited for well over an hour, but it was definitely worth it in the end.
We were also “entertained” while we waited in line. A variety of monsters and creatures tried to sneak up and scare people while we waited in line. The costumes and makeup were quite incredible, so it was pretty creepy.
image credit: Instagram @jjfaddd
The Haunted Mansion was really freaky with all sorts of different rooms and scary scenes, like stuff you would see in a horror movie. I was pretty creeped-out at times, but I stayed close to Mal and our friends, and I made it through the mansion without any issues.
Being scared was actually kind of fun, which isn’t something I would normally say. I actually didn’t think I liked being scared at all, so I am really glad that I went last night. Good times!
Questions of the Day
Do you like being scared?
What’s the first “grown up” meal you learned to cook?