Reason VS Excuse

Good Afternoon :)  I just finished reading on another site about busy mothers making it a priority to workout and the difference between a reason for missing a workout and an excuse.  This weekend I was full of excuses.  I'm not surprised by this but it's definitely a reality check for me.  The only legitimate reason for not doing my run on Sunday afternoon was my daughter threw up all over the backseat of my car after an afternoon of picnicking and tire swinging.  It was pretty imperative that I steam clean the car immediately.  I am seriously considering selling my car due to the remaining throw up smell, however, I don't think that would be a selling point for others. 


It's all fun and games until someone throws up
a gallon of Hawaiian punch in the back of mommy's car


My general excuses for not getting in my workout has been "I'm tired."  What has happened to my 4:30am workouts?  I used to enjoy them and the quietness of the house at that time of the morning and felt hugely accomplished by breaking a good sweat before six.  Apparently it takes approximately 66 days to create a new habit so if I get up at 4:30am for the next 66 days then I should be golden.  66 days?!  Oh my.

Here's a quick list of things I am planning for this week:

1. Ten o'clock bedtime (I'm so thankful that I have a wonderful fianceé who will support me in this)
2. Four-thirty morning workouts (thank goodness for my treadmill!)
3. Run the Turkey Trot in under 1:08:21 :)  (I'm thankful for my running partner who completed the Richmond marathon this past weekend at under a 9 minute mile over all!  Way to go, Dad!)

I think all of these are completely attainable if I am willing to put out the effort.  Let's do it!

What are your goals for the week?

Things I shouldn't be thankful for...

It's a funny thing how at the moment when things are happening, you aren't necessarily happy at the situation.  Sometimes it takes distance and time to realize the benefit of it all.  For instance, when you set out for a four mile run to your ring-giver-boyfriend's house and plan to have him give you a ride home.  When you get to his house, he has decided to take a shower and is unable to open the door so you can ask him for a ride home and therefore has doubled your intended run.  I was not thankful for the 8.8 miles I ran yesterday, however today I am kind of proud of myself :) 

It's a good thing I had this!

It's also a good thing disguised as a crappy one when your phone wakes you up an hour early when it decided to adjust for daylight savings time AFTER you made your coffee and got ready to run with the Lake Ridge RidgeRunners.  I was totally irritated because I was loving my sleep after that long run yesterday!  But instead of trying to fit in a pathetic, tiny nap, I had some extra time to blog and I'm always thankful for that :)

Well, it's just about time to get ready for that run with the RidgeRunners!  Running in the cold is not my favorite and there is plenty of frost on the ground so it's a wonderful morning to try out my new Smart Wool socks.  I guess I'm thankful for that (but only if the socks do their job).

What lemons have you turned into lemonade?

Do you love or hate Daylight Savings Time?

Thankful Thursday

Julia sleeps with a night light that pretty much lights up her whole room and the hallway to my room.  She woke up at 2am because the beacon went out.  There was some crying and whimpering but eventually she went back to sleep even though the electricity was out.  Even though I was able to go right back to sleep, the quality of interrupted sleep is not nearly as good as as a solid night of sleep and that's why I am thankful for commuter buses (and the government subsidy that pays me to take it).  I love my hour nap to and from work.  LOVE.

It's pretty ridiculous that Alex has asked me questions about how I get to work, like road names etc, and I have no idea what to tell him.  I'm pretty sure that I would start out on 95N but then things get blurry and dark.  Thank goodness for GPS :)  What did we do before?  I don't even own a map.  It doesn't really matter though because me with a map is the same as me without a map.  I'm pretty useless at navigation.

One place I never need directions to is Dairy Queen, especially at this time of the year.  It's a small thing but I'm thankful for their pumpkin pie blizzards.  They are super delicious and if you haven't had one, I highly recommend you go out and try one immediately!

What's your favorite DQ Blizzard?









Hello, Reality...We meet again...

I wish I was still traversing the Arizona mountains or the hills of Blacksburg; but alas, I sit taking redundant calls from US citizens and international visitors all day.  Now that play time is over, it is necessary for me to get back to reality.  First on the agenda, get back to healthy eating and start exercising!

Yesterday started out much better than Monday.  I still hadn't put everything away from our beach trip so I spent Monday morning cleaning my house.  Yesterday morning I got on the treadmill :)  It has been way too long since I have done that!  It felt really, really good.  I still did some cleaning when I got up so I only did thirty-five minutes (3.3 miles).

This morning I let my alarm go off for a while before setting it for a later time.  NO exercise happened.  I don't know what the deal is but I am exhausted and have no motivation to workout.    I need to somehow "reset" my motivation.  Any ideas? 

Eating has been OK.  I did a really great job of eating well for breakfast and lunch on Monday but then I got home extra late and Alex came home with Thai food.  It wouldn't have been too bad except I was beyond tired and had the self-control of a two year old and ate everything in sight.  Yesterday was much better although I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my brother Sean's birthday.  We went to a buffet but I was able to keep myself under control :)  Of course, there was cake and I had a slice in support of Sean's twenty-two years on Earth.

I have to bowl tonight to make up for a day I missed last week...does that count for exercise?  Some would say yes...

Did you choose sleep or exercise today?

~Andrea

Boo Benjamin :(

Good Morning!  It's my last full day of vacation and it's bittersweet.  Vacation is always fun but there is a certain comfort that comes with going back to real world and your regular routines. 

The other day we woke up at five-in-the-freaking-morning to have pictures taken at the beach.   I was pretty excited about it because I have never had professional pictures taken of my daughter and I thought these would be beautiful.  Well, they were gorgeous but they took me out of commission for four hours in the afternoon.  Yay for vacation naps!

When I finally woke up (8 pm), we decided to grab some dinner.  We ended up at Benjamin's Calabash Seafood Buffet.  Never again.  We paid $22 per person and the most palatable things there were not seafood.  They really committed to the seafood buffet idea though; even Alex's beef tenderloin tasted like fish!  The only bonus to the buffet was getting to learn how to eat crab legs.

I'm pretty sure my college roommate Kelly would have laughed at my attempts to eat crab legs (she's from MD).  I have learned that crab is for the patient and that's not me. 

Last night, Alex and I hung out with my sister Jessica and her husband Kevin.  We started the night out at Bovine's Woodfire.  We had a great view of the marsh and the food was heaven compared to Benjamin's. 

After dinner, we headed out onto the MarshWalk, which is a boardwalk around the marsh (go figure).  There was one genius in our group that wore high heels and kept getting stuck in the cracks of the boardwalk...

Oh well, at least I looked cute while getting stuck.

It's been really great seeing my sister and her family!  I'm definitely sad to be leaving them.  Her daughter Audra is very slow to warm up to people and I felt like I was finally making progress with her.  Instead of her greeting me with "No.  Icky," she was actually saying "Hi" to me.  Oh well, back to square one.

What food tragedies have you had?

~Andrea

Impromptu Spirit Day?

...Hello...spiritful is not how I feel today.  Yesterday? Yes.  Today? No.  I want to crawl back into bed and not come out until my booty is on a beach towel down in Myrtle Beach.  I unconsciously decided to create my own spirit day at work....you know, old school, like homecoming week....

Dress like a Homeless Person Day

Let me back it up a bit.  I went to Busch Gardens yesterday with Mike, James, Julia and Alex and had a blast. 

This is what spirit looks like

It was a ton of fun, the weather was perfect, and the company was perfect!  It was such a perfect day that we decided to end it in the most perfect way:  fireworks!  It was a lovely display that ended around 9:45pm.  Add on time to catch a tram to the parking lot and get everyone packed in the car, we were on the road at 10:40pm. 

The ride from Williamsburg to Woodbridge was uneventful but still took the customary two hours.  By the time I got into bed, it was 1AM.  I don't think I have adequately informed you of my alter-ego (Super Granny) but I haven't gone to bed that late in at least a year!  My alarm clock went off this morning for work at five-thirty and I was angry.

I think it is a combination of the anger, tiredness, and haze of sleep that ultimately caused me to choose this outfit.  I regret this choice everytime I walk by a mirror.  And I'm not really sure what came first, my outfit or my attitude.  I think it was my attitude because I remember just wanting something comfy and warm to wear because I was tired, grumpy and wanted to sleep on the bus.

So yesterday at Bush Gardens, here is what my food looked like:  pork ribs, dill pickles, sour kraut, dinner roll, bratwursts, German potato salad, beef ribs, brisket, roasted chicken, waffle fries, ice cream (with hot fudge, whipped cream and sprinkles), and cotton candy.  After eating whole grains, high fiber, and fruits/veggies, all the fatty, yummy, and sugary foods were like crack to an addict!  I have been wanting sugar all day.  I haven't even had the desire for that stuff really but that is all I have wanted today.  My prescription for that is a run and a good night's sleep!  (Jersey Shore is on tonight so the good night's sleep might have to wait until tomorrow night....)

What's your prescription for getting back on track?

~Andrea

Sweet Slumber

Good Morning!  I hope you all had a wonderful night's sleep last night.  I felt like I really slept well last night despite the very excited four year old in my bed.  I fell asleep around ten and when I woke up this morning, I felt fantastic!

I have been having difficulty getting up in the morning for the past two weeks or so.  I have been a chronic abuser of the snooze button.  I was thinking that I was just getting burnt out on the 4am workouts, so I have been allowing myself to sleep in and workout in the evenings (or perhaps just taking more rest days than normal). 

After last night's beautiful sleep, I have come to the realization that I have not been getting enough sleep!  Throughout this getting healthy process, I have been having a lot of DUH moments and this is one of them.  So with that in mind, I am challenging myself to go to bed at ten o'clock all of next week.  This will be more than a challenge since Jersey Shore is back on TV :(  Oh well, that's what DVR is for...

What DUH moments have you had?

~Andrea