BAM!

5 miles. Done and done!

I did it! I'm so happy and my legs are so dead! :)

Full recap later this weekend. We're off to VT to for Thanksgiving #2 with the hubs' side of the family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! :D

Southern Hospitality

I'm posting tonight from the comfort of a giant Hampton Inn bed. I'm down south, just outside Atlanta, Georgia, where much to my dismay, it does not live up to it's nickname, Hotlanta. It was chilly and windy today!

I'm down here for work. My company has an office down here and I have some biz to take care of, so I'm down just until tomorrow. It will be a fast trip, but a good one, I hope! I started out pretty exhausted this morning, because I went to a Foo Fighters concert last night! A friend of mine couldn't go due to an impromptu business trip, so he offered me the ticket. I only took junky pictures with my phone, but it was at the Boston Garden and it was LOUD. My right ear is still ringing, but it was wonderful.

Needless to say, I was asleep before we even took off from Boston this morning (I had a 7am flight)!

This week has been a good one already though. On Monday, I took advantage of the warm weather and went for a run outside. It's hard to believe it was 60 degrees! I did 3 miles and was pretty happy with it.

Don't mind the booze in the background, the mirror just happens to be next to the bar.

And tonight I busted out four miles on the treadmill! It was a TERRIBLE UGLY SAD four miles. I almost quit after 2.5. I even stopped the janky hotel treadmill, but I knew I'd be disappointed with myself if I didn't finish what I set out to do. I haven't run on the treadmill in a while and I think I was just bored. I took a picture of the tiny hotel gym, but apparently I deleted it. Instead I have this awkward hotel lobby picture!

hey there crazy eyes. And yes, I am wearing the same t-shirt as Monday, but I had long sleeves under it before :)

After my terrible run/walk (at least it happened, right?) I needed dinner stat. There are quite a few places around my hotel, but I had something in mind.

I've heard so much about Publix and their awesome subs, when I passed it on the way into the hotel, I knew it would be my dinner (plus, it's less weird to have a sub to go for dinner than to sit at a restaurant by myself). I was only moderately impressed with the sub though. It was pretty generic, and they had no more wheat bread. But I did get an apple to go with it, which was good and crunchy!

I'm exhausted and very much enjoying this comfy bed. And, Overboard is on TV! I love this movie. But I'm quiet happy with the week and am really looking forward to the weekend! :)

Sunday, Plan Day

It's Sunday night, so that means it's time to get ready for the new week! I'm going to Atlanta Thursday and Friday for work, so it's short week planning, which is nice, but also annoying. I haven't fully unpacked from Pittsburgh last weekend (because I hate unpacking. And putting away laundry or dishes), so I am kind of just repacking. Luckily, Johnny was good enough to go to the grocery store so I could stay in my pjs and think about planning for the week. I came up with a new plan for myself too, which is exciting, but first...

This weekend was an at-home weekend for the first time in a while, which was really nice. The VT cousins came down with their adorable baby to spend the weekend with us, and we had a grand old time. Yesterday, we went to the aquarium!

I haven't been to the aquarium in a long time, so it was actually pretty fun to check it out again. I bought a LivingSocial deal a couple weeks ago, so admission was only $8 an adult instead of $23! We always talk about going when the VTers are in town, but we've never really been interested in spending $50 a couple to go. This deal popped up and I jumped right on it, and it was well worth it! I was most excited about the newly added shark and ray touch tank! I couldn't wait to get my hands in the tanks. No sharks came my way, but I touched a bunch of rays and it was SO cool. (Obviously I am a dork sometimes).

Much to our pleasure, the weather yesterday and today was absolutely wonderful. It's hard to believe that it's the middle of November right now. We walked a whole lot over the weekend, adding a few miles to my Pile on the Miles total for this week! (We did walk back and forth from a new fro-yo place, but it still counts!)

SO back to my new plan. Remember how I said I'm going to run 5 miles on Thanksgiving? Yup? Ok. Well I still absolutely plan on doing it. But I've one-upped myself. Not only will I be doing 5 miles on Thanksgiving, but I'll be going a 10k the first weekend in December! I know it might seem slightly crazy, but I KNOW I can do it, it's just a matter of making myself do it.

I got on this kick to do a 10k after I got an email from my dear friend who lives on the other other side of the world asking me if my 5 mile plans meant I had 10k plans. Well, at first it definitely didn't. But as soon as she mentioned it, I got it stuck in my head. So I decided to commit to it. First, I looked up a training plan through Runner's World.

I wanted to make sure it was even reasonable. I know it's going to be pushing myself, but that's definitely the point. Seeing what Runner's World spit out, I definitely feel confident. My pace is a bit faster than what they've got me training at, so I know it won't kill me. And, I recruited my sister to run with me. She's great about running at my pace with me and pushing me a little harder, so right after I looked up this plan I texted her to make sure I'd have a partner in crime.

So it's done! It's happening, and I just hope I'm ready in a few short weeks!

A New Month!

This post is so so long overdue. I actually started it a couple times already, but I've been so busy that I never got finished and never made it up.

First, I was going to post about how it snowed on Halloween and how I dressed up like Johnny.

Then I was going to post about how I got coupons in the mail for Target, and how I used the coupon to buy a large bag of apple, which I baked in the Crock Pot and how I used them for breakfast and dessert the next day.

AND THEN, I was going to post about how I went to Pittsburgh this weekend with my sister and my gma. And how was toured the city and my gma showed us all the places she used to live and told us wonderful stories about her life (which was not easy at all, by the way). We took her for her birthday present. We wanted to have a trip with my gma while she's healthy and able (and 81).

I was going to post about how my uncles joined us (as a surprise to my gma) and how we went to church on Sunday at St. Andrew's...the same church where my gma was married to my father's father 59 years ago). And I was going to post about how we went to Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house outside of the city.

But instead, I'll post about my gym efforts this week.

I signed up to take part in Pile on the Miles. It's headed up by Monica, over at Run Eat Repeat. The goal is to pile on the miles during the holiday season instead of the pounds. Since I've been doing a little bit of the pound piling myself, I figured this was a great way to stay on track. The first week was only three days, and probably the three busiest days of my life, so I didn't get my five miles in, but THIS WEEK. This week, I'm golden. It's only Tuesday (the week starts Friday at 8am), and I've already finished my required five miles!

I went to the gym in Pittsburgh with my sister (after attempting a run, but failing to find a good route and getting too cold), and last night I WENT FOR A RUN. This is a big deal because a) it's been a while. Like way too long. And 2) I did it after work and in the dark! I'm really not good at getting back out the door once I get home, but when the weather was still 60 degrees, I knew I had to take advantage! It actually wasn't terrible either.

Which leads me to my five miles goal...I'm definitely not any closer right now, so the goal is Thanksgiving. I thought I'd be able to do it before that, but I've got to be realistic. SO folks, you heard it here first. On Thanksgiving 2011, I will run 5 miles. (yikes!)

Whoa - It's Already November

Clearly my goal for November will be to post 2-3 times a week!! I'm sorry I haven't written in such a long while.

Here's what's been going on:

1) I did go visit the BFF and it was amazing! Seriously if we could do some rearranging of the states and put MA much closer to NM I would be one happy camper!! I felt so special all weekend and this really made me feel like my wedding is SO soon!!!!!

2) Jay and I celebrated our dating anniversary. We didn't actually do anything the day of our anniversary but that Thursday we enjoyed some Melting Pot. 3) Jay, Chaca and I went to Texas! We attended a tailgate with my family where the main entree was this delicious morsel of meat...Totally kidding. But my dad did hide that in the ice chest and asked me to go grab something from it. Here's the story on this family rat: When I was in high school my dad would hide this rat in the garage (and other parts of the house and my car) and while I was so sleepy and trying to get ready for school he'd ask me to go get something from the garage and then I'd find that thing and would always get scared because I was half-asleep but it always cracked me up. He's seriously such a funny guy!!

I made popcorn balls for the tailgate and was a bit nervous because I thought this would require some skill. Nope, it sure didn't. I melted sugar, marshmallows and some butter and drizzled it over fresh unsalted popcorn and viola! They were delish.

4) It was Halloween - my favorite holiday! Jay and I carved pumpkins, ate candy (the year we buy a lot of candy is the year we get very few trick-or-treaters) and of course dressed up!

Why yes, that is a poodle in a poodle skirt!! My sister bought this for her last year and I just knew I had to dress up with her! Jay even dressed up 50s style too!! Chaca typically hates wearing clothes but as soon as I brought this dress out she wouldn't stop jumping at me until I put her in it. She wouldn't lie down all night, she sat very nicely and was on excellent behavior when all of the trick-or-treaters came out - such a lady!

5) I haven't exercised in a while. While I was in the Dallas airport I noticed my shoe rubbing against my foot. I had checked my bag in so I didn't have another pair of shoes to change into so by the time I made it back to NM, I had a huge blister (gross I know, I'm sorry). For whatever reason I decided that it wouldn't be that bad to go run on Tuesday even though I could hardly put my foot in any shoe. I ran 3 quick miles and when I made it home that blister had become much, much worse. Oops. It was a great run. I knew that this wouldn't heal unless I gave it time. So I did and now that it's nice and healed I have been having long, intense days at work and haven't made time to go do anything. I need to make changes.

6) I have a fantastic visitor coming in tomorrow! My little sister!! I'm so excited and I know we'll have a great weekend visiting. I can't wait to update you on her visit!!

Have a great weekend!