Bridal Candy

I'm beginning to find that I'm not the typical bride. My mom and I went to a bridal show yesterday and it was insane.  There were millions of brides and hundreds of vendors.  Apparently getting married means that I should want to change every aspect of myself.  There were plastic surgeons at the bridal show for crying out loud!  I could hardly grab a piece of their free chocolate before they would ask what surgeries I was interested in for my big day.  Ridiculous.

The best part of the bridal show was the cake vendors.  I have now decided that the Edibles Incredibles have my vote for the cake.  The ones we tasted yesterday were very ordinary.  None of them even came close to the density and moistness of their cakes.  No, seriously!  You have to feel the heft of their cakes to believe it.  

Why am I not eating this right now??

After we made the rounds to all of the booths, my mom and I decided it was time to head home.  There was some fashion show going on and they were going to do some raffles afterwards but I couldn't sit there any longer.  The fashion show was awful.  I am pretty sure I hated everything in it.  Eff the free name change kit.  On the upside, something epic happened last night  when I returned home...  

Who wouldn't love that face?

Julia had pop rocks for the firs time!  I love that she completely did not trust me when I told her I had some candy for her.  I suppose that will work out well if she ever meets a creepy man in an pedi-van.  Or maybe not because I was definitely having a hard time offering her the candy through my giggles.  Anyway, she wasn't trying anything until I showed her it was safe so that ruined any chance of her thinking her head was going to explode because of the explosion in her mouth.  Boo.  Oh well, it was still fun sharing a little piece of my childhood nostalgia with her.

Would you have plastic surgery for your wedding?

Which thing from your childhood are you most excited to share with your offspring?

Now in Ecto-Cooler Green

On Wednesday I was feeling like life was pretty good.  Julia didn't have a fever anymore.  Alex trusted the couch to keep itself on the ground.  My leg felt a lot better.  Life was pretty good.

I teleworked that day and all the sickies went about their merry way.  It was pretty relaxing to get back into the normal swing of things without having to worry about our juice supply and making sure everyone was medicated.  On my lunch break I even took a quick run on the treadmill with my new shoes!

I have to admit that I love the color of these shoes!

My run felt pretty good.  My leg seemed to warm up quickly and wasn't giving me much trouble at all.  It felt so good to run that I felt like singing while I was on the treadmill.  Later that night we had dinner with Alex's parents.  Alex's cousin and her husband were in town so we ended up staying over there later than we had originally intended and by the end of things, I felt like I was falling apart.  I felt completely run down and my eyes were burning and I had the chills.  No bueno.  I thought that I was feeling tired earlier in the day because I had been sitting on the couch for the past couple days.  Apparently, it was my body asking me to give it some rest.  So Thursday I stayed home sick to nurse myself back to health.

Boo.  Unacceptable.  On the plus side, I made a pretty amazing pork chili in the crockpot :)  So simple.  You just put pork chops in the bottom of the crock pot and add one can of black beans, one can of kidney beans, one can of green chiles, 1/2 a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, and 1 cup salsa.  Turn it on high and let it cook for six hours.  Dinner is served!

Do you run when you get sick? 

Notes from the Infirmary

It's a pretty amazing thing to watch a grown man and a five year old go through a sickness together.  I'm not trying to take away from any one's experiences or sufferings but there is marked difference with the way people react.  

Last night when I took Julia out of the car, she told me that she felt like she needed to throw up.  As quickly as she mentioned it, she shot me her mischievous grin and seemed to be just fine.  It wasn't until this morning that I took her temperature and it was 103 that I realized that she was really being serious.   She hardly ate anything today besides crackers but other than that, she acted completely unaffected by her fever.

Alex is a completely different story....

He has been running a fever as well but can hardly muster the energy to get off the couch.  Poor thing.  On the bright side of things, Julia and I finally opened up one of our presents from Christmas.

She totally cheats.  Look at her all over the center line!  It was nice to be able to spend some time with my two favorite people but I hope they get feeling better soon.  I hope that I don't get it next either.....I'm an even bigger baby than Alex ;)

Are you a big baby when you are sick?

Are you my Sole Mate?

What a lovely weekend!  On Saturday, Alex and I went to Edibles Incredible in Reston, VA for a cake tasting.  The guy Alan was lovely and very confident in his product.  I have to admit the cake was pretty yummy but I still can't imagine paying $800 for a cake.  It better make me poop gold for that price!  The best part was the remainder of the cake slices that he sent home with us.  It was enough of each of the flavors to share with both Alex's parents and mine.....we STILL had some leftover to let Julia taste after she can home from her dad's house.

Sunday was spent entirely at home.  Alex has been sick so he's been making sure our couch doesn't fly away.  I cooked up some pot roast in the crockpot and tried to busy myself with chores while it cooked.  I have attempted pot roast before and it was a FAIL.  This time it was actually pretty good.  Even though Alex hasn't been able to stomach much food today, he asked to try some.  This really isn't too surprising as I have never known him to turn down meat ;) 

In other news, I decided my Brooks shoes were not meant for me.  I took them back and traded them in for some Asics.  Real runners will scoff at me but I picked them up at Dick's Sporting Goods and I was actually impressed with the guy working the shoes department.  Usually, I get some high school student more interested in texting that fetching me a pair of shoes.  This guy actually runs and actually tried to sell me a pair of shoes that had recently been clearanced out but were still a great running shoe.  Loves to run and save money?  That's me!

I'm pretty excited to try these bad boys out!  Tomorrow I will give them a try on the treadmill and if all goes well, I will be heading outside sometime soon!  Wondering how my miles for 2012 are going?  Terribly.  Please, let these be my sole mate.  I need to put a dent in the remaining 980 miles for 2012.

What's your go-to running shoe?

It is possible to go wrong with carameliscious wedding cake?

Not Just Saying but not writing either...

So I have been gone for a while.  A long while.  I haven't been doing much running because my leg is still being a cry baby.  I have been doing some cross training, woo!  As if my nether regions hadn't had enough abuse, I went to spinning yesterday morning.  This instructor was pretty crazy.  It was non-stop intervals at a "seven" in the saddle.  That's spinning speak for hard work!

That evening I went back to the gym with Alex and did some strength training.  Oh, how I have missed lifting things up and putting them down!

:)

I have been in love with the soreness in arms and chest today.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  Nothing says strength like not having full mobility of your arms. 

Tonight I tried out Zumba for the first time.  It's the new generation of Jazzercise with a Latin twist.  I didn't like it.  I hardly broke a sweat.  I'm not a crazy exerciser by any means but I almost came home and banged out a couple of miles on the treadmill....almost.  I realize that an instructor can make or break your experience so I will give it another try.

Don't worry folks, the night was not a complete let down.

I doubt the mole sauce has enough chocolate in it

I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures of the finished product.  This picture certainly doesn't sell it.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not selling anything but Imodium.  Despite the picture, dinner was a success and the mole was one hundred times tastier than it looked.

What's your favorite way to cross train?

Do you eat disgusting looking foods?

Spinning with Stacers

Today I took off from running since I had plans with my friend Stacy to take a spinning class.  I'm pretty annoyed with my leg because it's still giving me problems.  I was concerned with how spinning would affect my leg and hoped it wouldn't make it worse.  

Well, it was an awesome class.  This is only the third spin class that I have taken but it is always a great workout.  I love me some running but spin was great and didn't bother my leg!  Bonus!  Even though I loved the workout, I was not in love with the instructor.  She was spouting out random facts about the percentage of adults that are dehydrated, don't eat enough fruit, don't eat enough veggies, etc.  Shut up, lady!  

Unfortunately, he was not in my class

In other news, after we left the rec center, they had to evacuate the rec center due to a fire.

Something weird is going on in Woodbridge....Our Target closed due to a fire just last week....

Do you love spinning?

Have things been burning down in your town?

Technology Hates Me

Well, the weekend was an absolute fail in the way of running.  I didn't run a single mile.  I did however get some new running shoes and shirt.  Dick's is having a clearance sale so markdowns were another 25% off!  Woo!

Source

Just invert the colors

Even though I didn't run this weekend, I still got a lot of stuff done.  My house had become overrun with piles.  Piles of Christmas gifts not yet put away.  Piles of mail.  Piles of toys....piles, piles, piles.  So I cleaned, did laundry, organized stuff, and did other boring but necessary things.  I also came up with my most wanted birthday present: a maid!

Since I didn't run at all Saturday or Sunday, I thought the least I could do is try out my new running shoes before work today.  I don't own a watch or an alarm clock because I use my cellphone for all of these things.  It was mildly irritating to find that the touch screen on my phone wasn't working last night when I was attempting to set my alarm for my morning run.  Somehow I managed to set it (but it hasn't worked since) and I got up and ran a quick two miles on the treadmill.  The shoes felt pretty good but I was still overcompensating for my leg.  I didn't feel like I ever completely relaxed and loosened up.  Ugh. 

What made my short run even worse was Ipod has officially broken up with me.  I can't make out anything on the screen and couldn't get it to play a song, the radio, or anything.  Good thing my treadmill is in the basement where there is no TV and I can just stare at the display on the treadmill as I run. 

Can you fix my phone and Ipod?

Will you come clean my house for me?

Rx for Bum Leg

I'm still whining about my leg....

Here's my solution:

I also got new shoes last night!  I hope they are the real solution!!

It's my Pimp Walk

No, I'm not cool enough for a pimp walk.  Yes, I'm more white than the driven snow.  I'm already getting frustrated with my goal of 1000 miles for 2012.  I'm trying to stay positive but it's difficult to do when you've only increased your mileage slightly and already your body is being dumb.  My leg hurts, wah wah.  My leg has been giving me problems for about a week now and I have been easing up on the pace but still running through the discomfort.  Usually my leg warms up after about two miles and feels fine for the rest of the run but then I walk like a pimp for the rest of the day.

In case you want to be a pimp too

I ran a 10k on the treadmill yesterday and by the end of the run, my left butt cheek was so tight because I am clearly over-compensating for the pain in my right leg.  So now my right leg hurts and my left cheek is sore.  Boo.  I'm taking today off as a rest day so I will probably do some walking and a TON of stretching.  So far I have 12 miles completed and 8 left for the week.  I have no doubts that I can complete them but I just don't want to aggravate my issue.

I have been thinking about getting new running shoes for a while but from what I have read, I should still have some life in the ones that I own.  Generally, you should replace your running shoes every 300 to 400 miles.  In that case, I should only replace my shoes once a year?   I did a little research online and the wise Internet told me that you should rotate a new pair of shoes in with the old ones to determine when you need to replace the old ones.  Apparently, when the new ones start feeling better than the old ones then it's time to throw the old ones out.  There is a also a twist test to determine when the midsole of your shoe has lost its support?

I'm also a little confused on the weight issue.  They say that overweight runners will need to replace their shoes more often.  How do my shoes know if I am overweight?  If it's just heavier people that have to change their shoes more often?  Since men generally weigh more than their female counterparts, should men change their shoes more often?  Are men's shoes typically able to withstand more pavement pounding?  Maybe men's shoes are a better investment for the overweight female runner?

How do you know when you need to get new running shoes?

Do you wear men's running shoes?

Too much or too honest?

I love this ad.  It shocked me.  It made me think.  It did it's job.  Of course, I am saying this as a parent and not as a child, which is the only audience that I hope it is reaching. 

I was an overweight child and now an overweight adult.  I am the parent of an overweight child, who has the potential to follow in her mother's footsteps.  My heart aches to think that she will have to endure some of the feelings and comments that I experienced growing up. 

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in our country.

Is this ad too much?  Or does the truth hurt sometimes?

I'm Afraid of Commitment

For days now, I have been reading on Facebook and blogs about the New Year's Resolutions of others.  There is one goal that I most definitely want to accomplish this year but it's going to be a challenge for me so I'm afraid to officially declare it.  If I don't officially commit, then I can't officially fail, right?

When I first started blogging, part of the motivation behind it was to put my goals in writing and hold myself more accountable for my actions.  So here it goes:

• Run, walk, and/or crawl 1000 miles (approximately 20 miles a week)
• Walk 100 miles with Julia (approximately 2 miles a week)
• Get married!
• Run a half marathon under 2:22:00
• Bring my bowling average up to 120 (haha, baby steps)
• Prepare meatless dinners on Mondays
• Continue to decrease body fat (down to 22%)
• Stay positive by writing in five things I am thankful for every day

There you have it!  I hope you are as excited as I am for this new year!

(FYI:  6 miles on Sunday---994 to go!)

What are your goals?

Is there a goal you would like to suggest for me?