City of Foodie Love

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The post formerly known as “All of the places I plan to eat during my <12 hours in Philadelphia.”

High Street on Market

I was perusing a copy of Bon Appetit this afternoon in the pool, and this was voted the #2 restaurant in the country. They are known for amazing bread and perfect brunch. I am pumped.

Shake Shack

I know it’s a chain, but seriously, Katie raved about this place. And B can eat everything but the milkshakes, which is sometimes rare for cult burger places! (For newbies: he’s allergic to peanuts.) Luckily, there’s a Philly location for this NYC-originated burger spot.

Cheesesteak

DUH. No picture required.

Someone please save us (us not-college kids)

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It’s extremely odd that I can now say “when I was in college” before I tell a story about a food truck or a theme party or a football game. Saying that phrase makes me feel about 35 years old. I always wish the person I was speaking to would call my bluff and be like “Um, wasn’t that like 3 months ago?”. Then we could all laugh and I wouldn’t feel so weird. Maybe.

Everyone keeps asking me if its strange not to be going back to school, and it honestly is. Made more strange by the fact that many of my fellow class-of-2014-ers are back in school (graduate school) or not clockin’ in 9-5 like me (summer internships, service programs, the Peace Corps (HOLLA EMILY!)). I’ve been struggling with this for a while, and it never seems to get easier. I always thought the point of college was to graduate eventually and get a good job. Which I did. I love my work and the people I work with. Best possible situation right there. But now I feel like I’ve missed the memo.

I feel like I was supposed to have a group of people who would be on this same graduation-first-job-first-apartment-first-everything adventure with me.  Instead, I just feel left behind. I feel bad about taking the road most traveled even though that’s the road I planned for, asked for, dreamed of. I feel guilty for getting everything I wanted and then looking at someone else’s life and shouting “GIMME!”. There are so many paths to take, and what if I picked the wrong one? Alternately, I feel like a graduate degree is the new bachelor’s degree and the bachelor’s degree is the new high school degree, soooo here I am with the equivalent of a high school degree, hoping that I have enough in me to be successful.

I often feel guilty for my choices, and this is just another case of that. I have always been the girl who does what is expected of her, and when I have the opportunity to make my own choices, I feel like I have to justify them to everyone. I am the queen of the qualifying statement!

But really, besides this overly dramatic post, I really really really love my life. Why is it so hard to stop pining for an experience I never wanted in the first place?!

 

Let’s just skip ahead to the good part, shall we?

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Whew. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? And we seem to be in a different place, don’t we, dear readers?

Thanks to a former professor who forced everyone in class to purchase a domain, this blog now lives at blog.sydneymeryn.com and is happily trucking away on the WordPress platform (like basically every other blog in the universe).

I won’t bore you with excuses about why I haven’t blogged in so long, because no one cares. Let’s just skip to the good part: my life after college! new foods! decorating tips! small business creations (you’ll have to wait for that one)! road trips! new exercises!

If you’re a loyal Cuppy reader, I’m so glad you’re back.

If you’re a new friend who is now going to spend the next 4 hours reading about the last three years of my life, I’m so glad you’re here. Enjoy all of the pictures of my food.

You probably thought Cuppycakes was dead. But after over 600 posts, how could I ever leave for good?

Sniffles, Wind, and Other Training Woes

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Check out this dreary weather from the Route 66 Half Marathon! It’s really hard to get motivated to run in less than perfect conditions.

This girl is back in the training saddle again! I’m training for my second Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon, and I am surprisingly not having that hard of a time with it. I can definitely tell that I have lost less fitness between this half and the Rt. 66 half than I did between last year’s OKC and Rt. 66. Taking an entire summer off of long distance running really takes a toll on the mileage base I had built up, but I really don’t have the motivation to run outside in 90 degree weather.

Which leads us to today’s topic… running in less than ideal conditions.

Two weeks ago, the wind was really proving why it was featured so prominently in the song “Oklahoma”. It was not only sweeping down the plain, but was also sweeping up the leaves, rustling up the dirt, and knocking over several skinny bicyclists.

I did not want to go run in 25 mile per hour winds. Already dressed in my running clothes, I spent 15 minutes Googling “skip windy run” to see if someone on the Internet could justify my laziness. Alas, every blogger told me to suck it up and run. So I did. While I was a bit slower than usual due to the extra effort it took to run into the wind for half the run, I was really glad that I sucked it up and ran.

But let’s consider another, more challenging situation…

Currently, I have some kind of allergy/cold mess hanging out in my nostril area. Last week, I really did not want to go hit the pavement for 7 miles with the sniffles. The sun was shining, however, and there was scarcely any wind. So, I compromised with myself and did 4 miles at a pretty quick clip. I know it was definitely better than nothing, but a teeny part of me feels guilty that I didn’t finish the run (even though I really did feel like poop).

What do you guys do in less-than-perfect running conditions? Do you reschedule your training run for a different day? Skip it altogether? Compromise and do less mileage for the day? Help me out (and also console my guilt).

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Just found a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card in my childhood bedroom! What should I spend this precious bookstore money on? Hyperbole and a Half is definitely on the list….comment with your suggestions!

College Costume Parties

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My costume for a recent neon/blacklight date party.

I know that I have a lot of readers who are currently livin’ up their college days. One of my favorite aspects of being in college is the theme party. I am all about getting that one great idea that you think no one else has thought of, hitting up Goodwill and Hobby Lobby to make it happen, and then relishing everyone exclaiming “OMG I looooove your costume!”. (Wait, that only happens at sorority parties? Oh…)

Some of you may not be as…creatively insane inclined as I am? That’s okay! Here are some tips for making the most of your Disney/stoplight/Halloween party costume.

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My DIY Katniss Everdeen costume.

1. Check Pinterest for cute ideas. College ladies know all about this treasure trove of party ideas. Usually, you can just enter the theme of the party in the search bar, like “stoplight party” or “Oscar party costumes”, and lots of ideas will pop up.

2. Don’t be afraid to DIY! Do-it-yourself costumes are usually pretty cheap and not terribly time consuming. It took me about $7 to make my DIY Katniss costume, and people told me I really did look straight out of the Hunger Games.

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My and B’s first ever date party costumes! We look like little babies.

3. Think out of the box. I guarantee you that everyone at that Halloween party you’re going to has already seen 8 people dressed as a sexy referee. Think of creative costumes, like Miley Cyrus and her wrecking ball (no lie, I have seen this executed so well), or word play costumes, like a “cereal killer” (tape tiny boxes all over you and carry a toy gun).

4. Have fun with it. I know, I know, cheesiest ending EVER, but there’s no point in finding that perfect lace-up corset to make you the perfect “naughty” angel if you can’t breathe and you have a weird muffin-top all night. If you aren’t having your neon glitter bow fly off your head while you joyfully execute a dance move, you’re doing costumes wrong. (And that actually happened to me multiple times a few weeks ago.)

Me and B at a mathletes and athletes party. We were the athletes.

EatOKC: Cheever’s Cafe

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For our third anniversary, B took me to a place I’d been pining for for months: Cheever’s Cafe in the Uptown 23rd district.

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That’s my excited face. See Cheever’s in the background?

Cheever’s is located in basically the most adorable building ever. In it’s previous life, it was a flower shop. The cold storage for the flowers is now the most excellent wine room. But we did not order any wine…

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…we got cocktails instead! For the life of me, I can’t remember what this one was called, but it had so many different fruit tastes. It also wasn’t sickly sweet like most “fruity” drinks are. It was on point.

Now, on to the good stuff: food!

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When we arrived to the restaurant, it took the staff a hot minute to get to our table and bring us water to drink and such. To make up for their delay, they kindly comped us this delicious plate of calamari. I loved the addition of the peppers!

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This was my meal: pork tenderloin with an onion jam, butternut squash risotto, and a kale salad. It was all very rich and delicious. The risotto was some of the best I’ve ever had; it was more like mac and cheese than risotto and I ate it up. The kale salad had a great dressing as well, and the pork was flavorful and tender.

But even after all of that goodness, I did wish I got what B got…

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…the CHICKEN FRIED STEAK. Good lord, Cheever’s. This should be illegal, it was so rich. Yes, readers, that is TWO FRIED STEAKS leaning on one another to make a little mountain over the piles of mashed potatoes. B could hardly finish it. It was FAB.

Obviously, I am drinking the Cheever’s Cafe kool-aid. I really want to go back for brunch like ASAP. Well, as soon as I save some money up…because good dining like this is not easy on the wallet. Worth it, though!

Runners Tell All Linkup: My Running Story in 250 Words

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I’m so excited to participate in my first ever blogger linkup! Here’s the story of how I began running in 250 words.

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I totally bandit-ed my first race.

Oops.

I now know that’s an incredible runner sin, and I am super sorry.

My best friend invited me to run in a 5k with her and her family a week before Christmas 2011. I had never entertained the idea of running, but I wanted to hang out with Nikki, so I said I would be there.

I ran a mile and a half the night before, just to see if I could.

It took me 39 minutes to jog/ run/ walk my way through the Dallas Design District. But I was hooked.

Cut to New Year’s Eve 2011. I decided to really take the plunge. I made it my New Year’s Resolution to run a mile every day during 2012 (or an equivalent number of miles). 365 miles in one year.

That was the first resolution I’ve ever kept.

In 2012, I made the 5k my race. My first real, I-paid-money-for-this 5k took place in approximately 19 degree temperatures. I made a dorky tutu and tromped all over OU’s campus gleefully, knocking 3 minutes off my first race’s time.

I can now run a 5k in less than 30 minutes without killing myself.  I’m two half marathons into what I hope will be a lifelong love affair with running.

Like I’ve said before, running makes me feel strong. I am so blessed to have a hobby that lets me do things I never thought I was capable of.

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Where Tank Tops go to Hibernate in the Winter: Storing Clothes Seasonally

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Fellow fashionistas/ people who can’t pass up a J. Crew sale (looking at you, boyfriend), we share a problem.

Having too much stuff and not enough closet space.

Not even a chest of drawers for non-fancy clothes can contain my love for polka dots/ soft crew necks/ colored jeans.

Here’s how I handle this tragic issue.

I keep all of the clothes for the “wrong” season in the SKUBB, a fabric storage bin made by my Swedish overlords at Ikea. It was cheap and FAR more effective than the SAMLA Ikea clear plastic tote box (NEVER buy one, the lid does not lock).

Whenever it gets too cold to wear my shorts and tank tops, I fold them all carefully and stash them in the SKUBB. That’s where they will live during the winter, when I solely subsist on J. Crew Tippi sweaters and jeans.

Here’s a photograph of my SKUBB. As you can see, there’s a little fabric divider inside that I use to separate tops from bottoms.

Also, there is a tutu in there. I was in my sorority’s homecoming performance and I didn’t have anywhere to store this part of my costume.  SKUBB to the rescue!

How do you store clothes that you’re not wearing? It used to make me angry that they took up so much space, but I couldn’t even wear them! Thoughts?

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This is my perfect meal. 

Salty, peppery, crispy sweet fries. Approximately one pound of bacon. Crusty bread smeared with just the right amount of mayo. A sprinkling of lettuce and slices of tomato, for vegetable reasons. 

This last-meal-worthy delicacy can be found at Kaiser’s in Midtown OKC. I also recommend a hot fudge sundae for dessert. And their onion rings are bomb as well.