Activity Schedule

With my half marathon training starting on September 10th, I made a work out schedule.

It's mainly a basic running schedule I got from the Internet but I tweaked it to my liking (and added in my cross training and yoga classes). For example, most training schedules have you running every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And then either a Friday or Wednesday. I personally hate that. I want to run Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. It's four days a week. And I alternate enough to recover. No 3 days in a row like others schedules. And I couldn't do just 3 days a week. Clearly, I'm the outcast on this because the majority of trainings I've found prefer the Tuesday/Thursday runs. I can't say I care much, I I've learned one thing about exercise it is to listen to your body and preferences. Ive always done cardio Mon/Wed/Fri and cross training Tues/Thurs and I'm not changing that now.

Not when I'm so scared of this training/challenge. I don't know why, but it's scaring me like crazy. I've run up to 8 miles before, so I know it's possible. But the possibility of failure is feeling so overwhelming, it feels like Mount Everest.

This is how I feel right now:

I'm hoping it's just pre-training anxiety. I've just started using runkeeper on my runs to measure how far I go. So far, I love it. Eventually I'd like to get a Garmin watch. But I need to be sure I'm willing to keep up my running up before spending 130 dollars on a watch. Regardless of how cool it is.

I also fond out last night that potatoes that have started growing roots really freak me out. like really freak me out. Sam thinks I'm crazy because I made him clean them up and cook them. Apparently you can cook potatoes in the microwave, I was not aware of this. He thinks it's common knowledge. Either, I'm behind the times on kitchen possibilities or he's a genius. I'd argue the former, he would go for the latter.

Shocking, I know.

We ended up making a nice meal of turkey burgers with cheese and avocado (no bun) and mashed potatoes, with skins of course. Not real mashed potatoes, just potatoes that you mash and put salt on, without all the goodness of cheese, milk, whipping cream or whatever your choice of mashed potato recipe. I just like that texture better.

I've got pump class tonight, and then a walk at the park. I really want to just skip right on home to play with my new laptop that Sam gave me for my birthday but apparently fitness is important...or something.

My laptop's name is R2-D2:

Birthday Weekend

It has been quite a hectic weekend.

First on Thursday night I baked a PB M&M brownie for a co worker's birthday on Friday. I'm really only bringing this up because I actually took pictures. Witness the gloriousness of homemade brownies below:

brownie batter goodness:

The finished brownie (with poke holes to make sure it was cooked thoroughly)

And my wonderful oven safety (I actually still use kitchen towels and always forget I own this, thanks to my wonderful mother who knows me quite well)

This weekend my family headed to Dallas to celebrate our birthday (I'm a triplet) with my brother who just moved there.  It was a wonderful weekend with lots of food (some might argue too much) and lots of family time. There might also have been drooling in the car. And a stop at Buccee's (those were unrelated to each other, amazingly).

If you don't know what Buccee's is, I feel bad for you. Do some research and go visit one. It should be on everyone's bucket list.

I did make it back Sunday after wonderful brunch of chocolate chip and peanut butter cup pancakes. Yes, it was outrageous. And tasted like a piece of heaven. Birthdays only come once a year. So stop judging. I played softball in the evening. We won the first game, lost the second. I played like a 6 year old at a T-ball game. It was terrible. I'm blaming the pancakes.

Yesterday was my birthday! Yay! I'm finally 24...actually I don't care much other than Sam tookg me out to sushi and my mom took me out to the Cheesecake Factory. And you thought my food gorging was over...

The dinner was great! Best sushi I've had in a while. And Sam got me a laptop! I can't believe it! He has been in an open war with my current computer. It is a little sad, I can't unplug it from the wall because the battery doesn't work. And it's slow, we're not talking 'take an extra second to load an Internet page' impatience slow; I'm talking about '5 minutes to open a program and refusal to stream videos properly' slow. Also, it doesn't shut down, only restarts itself...

Needless to say it was time to replace, but I never thought he'd get it for me! I've got a keeper :)

Speaking of this keeper, he's got me obsessed with freshly popped popcorn. It's so good. I even bought a bag so we could pop them at my place. And by 'we' I mean 'he', I'm too busy eating the popcorn to actually pop it. He always does two batches, and is lucky if he gets his half of the second one.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Popcorn counts as dinner, right?

I may have finally started to settle in an adult gym routine..maybe.

Tuesday, I went to Body Pump and Wednesday I attended a Yoga class. Both kicked my butt. My legs feel like they will give out any moment. I've also managed to run at least a mile or more on all three days.

That's right I'm kicking butt this week. And my eating is pretty in control. As long as you don't count the Chik-fil-a breakfast tacos that someone brought into the office Tuesday, or the kolaches someone else brought Wednesday. Work makes you fat.

Although, I only had one of each said breakfast items so it kept the damage under 300 calories both days. If you also include the fact that dinner has been oatmeal then popcorn the past two nights, I think I'll survive these small setbacks. I know, there's no nutritional value in popcorn. I said my work out routines have been adult-like not my eating habits.

Or my car maintenance habits. I had to drop off my car this morning to get a way overdue oil change and get the car looked at for some other issue because it doesn't sound healthy. I guess if I'm getting healthy my car has to follow suit? Can cars even be described as healthy? Who knows. As long as it doesn't break down on me, I'll be happy.

On to a completely unrelated topic, my frustration with the term young professionals. What does it even mean? When attending events for 'young professionals', the people attending are anywhere from 22-35 years old. And really they are mainly from 27-35 years old. Where are all the recent college grads struggling to get adjusted to this adult world of full time jobs, bills, and responsibilities? Does everyone hibernate until they're 27 and just magically come out? I mean I have nothing against the 27-35 year old crowd, I'm only a couple years away from them. And I have had a lot of fun with them. I just feel like the only (almost) 24 year old year old in the world. I also feel like I'm just faking my way through being a grown up. Like I'm not old enough for some things, like one day I'll suddenly know that I'm a grown up.

I've never felt ready for anything that's happened before (high school graduation, college, college grad, internship, the list goes on) so I don't know why I would suddenly have a revelation.

Start praying I make it to Body Pump class tonight, and maybe follow it up with a run. Also, I got my car back (yes, that's how long it took me to write this post) and it was only 35 dollars. Shopping spree, here I come! Maybe...

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Chelsea and Cookies

This weekend was the BEST weekend ever.

Ok, I know I say this almost every weekend. I mean it every time, though.

Particularly this weekend my old roommate from college, Chelsea, came to visit. And she's my favorite person ever (well, she shares the spot with Sam, don't want him getting jealous).

She got in at about 3 PM, we talked through what she wanted to do. She realized she didn't bring clothes to go to church on Sunday. So we decided a trip to Target was necessary (I know shocking, right?)

I would like to formally announce that I went to Target and only bought one item. Yes, only one. I am super human. Feel free to worship me be impressed. We both got dresses, which was exciting. Not because we're girls and love dresses, well yes,  partly for that, but mainly because we both wanted to get something that was out of character for us. And we succeeded and looked really cute doing so.

Our international dinner fell through, which was upsetting. So we decided to have some Cuban food instead. It was delicious.

It was also raining, so we decided it was a good night to bake cookies.

This means we made a mess (see pictures below)

Apparently spilling cocoa powder was not enough and cornstarch had to be involved as well.

Both spills were Chelsea's fault. But that is my beer sitting by her mess. (Go Texans!)

And of course I forgot to take pictures of the cookies when they were done because we ate them that quickly. Yeah we're fatties sometimes. This just means I'll have to make them again.

What a difficult life I have.

Sunday was quite relaxing with church, lunch, and an end of weekend Starbucks date. And of course going to visit the kittens at Sam's place. I love the kittens (and the boy too).

Those are the kittens, freaking adorable. 

This weekend left me exhausted and I went to bed at 8:30 (don't judge) and woke up at 5:15 for a run this morning. Yay for that. Will keep it going this week. And get back to my healthy eating.

Here's a sweet picture of Chelsea bonding with a kitten named Oreo

Chelsea bonding with a kitten

Home is where the Heart is

My very wise friend Chelsea (the one coming to visit) told me that to get back into my routine work outs, I should either go last night or this morning, then wrote a blog about how I felt and how it went.

Then I went to my parents house last night. And slept in this morning. Clearly that post is not happening today.

However, what I will write about is how utterly happy it makes me to spend time with my parents. I still refer to their house as home, and my apartment as 'the apartment'. I'm clearly an 8 year old trapped in a 24 year old body who is being forced to move out and be a productive member of society.

There's nothing better than having my mom spoiling me, making me food to take back to the apartment. And enjoying hanging out with the parents with no agenda.

While I couldn't wait to move out when I lived there, I love the feeling of going home. The feeling of being Home.

And that is my excuse for not working out. Hope it convinced you, it didn't really convince me. But I had a blast with my parents and wouldn't change it for anything.

Have a great weekend!

Why is my dad always right?

Before I started my job my dad warned me to be patient because it would be difficult. I thought "What is he talking about? I'm totally qualified for this (and I'm awesome)"

Once again, dad was right. It's not so much that the job is difficult. I learn a lot and have different duties than before, but nothing I can't handle. What's hard you ask? Change. I know, it's a stereotypical all encompassing answer. Sue me.

Let's put it another way, adjustment is hard. Happy? I left a job I worked at for almost 2 years. It was so familiar and easy. People trusted that I knew what I was doing and came to me for advice. Now, I'm the new girl that people assume doesn't know anything and is the SME (subject matter expert) on nothing.

Ok, let me clarify that I love my coworkers and my new place of work. It's by far my favorite of all the jobs I've ever hard. Yes, this includes my first job at 16 working at Cold Stone Creamery with all my best friends. That was a fun job. This is better. I just want to get to he point where I'm settled in and comfortable.

Enough with that.
 I bought my cat a 16.5 lbs bag of food. Because she eats that much. The kicker? She's bigger than the bag. Why do I have the gigantic diva cat?



Above is said bag. My cat is not rectanlge but she is 17lbs. You get the idea.

I'm also in a working out slump. Someone come kick my butt into shape, please.

And this weekend is shaping up to be awesome. Best friend coming to visit, yummy international dinner plans (details Monday), softball, and much more :)

Happy Friday Y'all!

This should have been posted yesterday....

I think I ate more this weekend than the entire state of Delaware did. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing. But now I feel like I could have rolled to work instead of driven. And I didn't work out at all except for playing softball (more on that amazingness later).

Friday, I got free tickets to watch the Astros play. And went to Flying Saucer for some pre-drinking, baseball and beer, match made in heaven. Except it's too expensive at the actual stadium. So drinking early is acceptable. We left the game early, which was the worst decision ever since they came back in the 9th inning. But it's the Astros, who could have known thus win a game?

I swear I love Houston sports, but there's a limit to how much losing one can handle.

Saturday was glorious. Not because I was widely productive or because anything actually happened. Saturday was amazing due to it being named a Lazy Day. This made it an acceptable reason to watch a million back to back episodes of Castle (don't judge me, it's a hilarious show) and then watch a movie later that night. Yes, you read that right. I graduated from tv show to movie. That was the extent of my accomplishments on Saturday. Oh right, I went grocery shopping. And Sam was the most amazing person ever and made me chicken fajitas. Yummy.

See? Food and tv. I believe I maxed out my useless quota for about 5 months.

Now Sunday was the highlight of my weekend. I started with lunch with a friend from high school/college. We caught up and talked wedding plans (for her wedding in which I'm a bridesmaid, yay)

Then came softball. Let's for a little recap for rules and participation. Our team consists of 15 people. To be able to play we must have at least 8, with a minimum of two girls. Now 8 people doesn't fill up a field. And two girls is not enough for rotation purposes (for batting purposes we alternate a guy and a girl).

Having said this, we pulled through and win both games! We were lucky and were able to recruit one guy and one girl for the first game. But they had to leave before our second game. And we got a free pitcher of beer for showing up. Which was obviously the ultimate highlight of the weekend.

Moral of this post: I love beer and food (too much for my own good). I'm lazy and need to get back to working out, regularly. I may have a hidden softball talent.

Love makes the world go round...

You know how in every group of friends there's that annoyingly happy person that you just want to slap? Ok well anyone who hates happiness skip the next two paragraphs.

 Now that those pessimists are no longer reading, this week I am that friend (no shame). I started my new job on Monday and I think it's impossible to love a job more than I've loved the past three days. Now, I fully realize that most people will say it's the newness and infatuation of something new. 

It's not. My first day they had a welcome lunch for me. Today there was a bridal shower (not for me) and champagne was had by all (except the pregnant ladies..again not me) Keep in mind this bridal shower started at 3 PM. And I left work at 7, no one forced me to stay late. I just haven't looked at the clock hoping the day would end. The day flies by and I don't even notice it. 

(You thought the title meant romantic love, didn't you? Nope, while I love Sam, this week, I'm happy about my life).

Ok that's over, sorry for the disgusting happiness. I'll keep that in check...maybe. Anyways, I've been obsessed with the song "That's what you get" by Paramore. Don't know why, doesn't actually relate to my life in anyway. But any of my old roommates can testify to the fact that I'll get obsessed with songs and play them on repeat for entirely too long. For this week, this is the song. 

I have made it to the gym this week (except today, too much champagne) and feel like a complete grown up. This job fits more of the ideal of what I thought a grown up job looked like. I'm getting involved in new activities (softball is also a lot harder than I remember as a high schooler) and people around me are now all getting engaged, married, and having babies. Which still scares me, I wonder if I'll ever feel old enough. 

I always feel like a kid playing dress up, like I somehow am an impostor in that world and I should go back to running through the sprinklers during summer time (don't lie, we've all done it..if not, well you should re-examine the quality of your childhood). I don't have any interesting stories to post today. Just boring stuff drom work, I know no one wants to hear that, I WILL spare you from that (Sam didn't get that luxury).

Back to running tomorrow and pump. I've loved going to pump class again. I'll assume all this exercise has also helped my mood. Whatever it is, I want to keep it going. I haven't felt in such good spirits in over two years. So excuse my absence from the blogging world while I enjoy this.

Have a wonderful Hump day!

Find a job you love and...

So it's late and I must get to bed for my second day of work tomorrow (and first Tuesday of work in a year and half). Before I do here's an overview of this weekend:

I went to the Brothers of the Sun Tour, aka: Tim McGraw and Kenny Cheney. Most amazing concert ever!

Sunday was my first softball game. We lost both games but I got on base 5 out of 7 times. Pretty much a win after 6 years of not playing. I did get a bruise from a second base collision but we'll call it a battle scar. Overall, I had an awesome time.

Today was my first day at the new job. And it was everything I wanted it to be. Nice coworkers, interesting workload, more intellectually challenging than the previous job. I actually enjoyed work for the first time in 2 years. Major win.

So I'm still learning to take pictures, because pictures are worth a thousand words and no one wants me to write that much. So here's the only two I managed to get. A pic of the concert at the end and my glove (that I'm working on breaking in because I waited last minute to buy it).

Hope everyone had a good Monday!

Why are we doing push-ups during yoga?

As promised I went to my yoga class yesterday. And it went pretty well. I was a little scared of being the worst one there, but there was a wide range of people. Including a girl in front of me who didn't care at all. So I looked like a yogi master next to her. place choice win.

In all reality I look more like this during yoga:



Actually, I liked it. It's different than previous classes I've taken. And I thought the instructor was going a bit fast; so it lacked the relaxation I've previously enjoyed. And we did a bunch of push-ups, what's up with that? I've never done push-ups in a yoga class. Planks, yes. Down dog, yes. Actual push-ups, no. And my arms were not ready for that kind of pressure, so I wimped out and did the girly  modified push-up version.  It was still a good work out though, so I can't complain.

I'll be going back and trying to incorporate some yoga into my routines to help with flexibility and toning. Flexibility is not my strength. At all. My sister has always made fun of my for my awkwardness while stretching. It's not my fault she's like Gumby and I'm more like a plank of wood. Life is not fair.

Good news: Today is my last day of work and I start my new job Monday! So clearly I'm updating this blog instead of working, like I should.

Have a Happy Friday!

Lily tries to talk me out of working out..

So tonight I'm my first yoga class at the new gym.Will let y'all know how that goes.

As I'm getting ready, Lily (my cat) attempts to talk me out of going by showing how cute she is and that I should play with her. It almost worked but then I remembered that the toning and flexibility thing won't get done by itself. So off to the gym I go.

My mom calls Lily a baby bear...wonder why :)

And I still need to get my softball glove for Sunday's game. Yes, I know I'm cutting it close. Whatevs. 

Alright leaving before Lily wins this staying home argument.

And I already suck at this...

Yeah it's been what two weeks since I posted anything? Great start. But really I'll try and get on more. I could give all the normal excuses about being really busy, but let's face it: who doesn't think they're busy? That's the all encompassing reason why we all procrastinate or just plain don't do things.


So I'll jump right into today's topic: what should I focus my time on?


My main problem is I want to do too many things. First off are the things I've already officially committed to (meaning I've paid something to participate): running (half marathon in sight), softball on Sundays, and I just bought a gym membership. So I have to run four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) in the morning, luckily I'm a morning person, mostly, and can do this. Every Sunday evening is softball. Every Sunday morning is Church. And apparently I'm supposed to show up to this thing called a job Monday-Friday to be able to pay my bills (who knew?). 


Here comes my problem. I want to include biking, rock climbing, yoga, and hanging out with friends and the boyfriend (he's probably appreciate it) sometimes too. And I can make most things fit in but biking. Rock climbing can be one of those things that's a treat, not every week but about every month or so. Biking is one of my favorite things in the world. But I go used to biking around my parents place and now that I've moved, I don't have a comfort zone anymore. And I have only taken my bike out once. But I don't want to give that up I just don't know when I could fit it in. Maybe Saturday afternoons, but this means I spend literally all my time working out. I figured I'd be exhausted and give it up, which I really don't want to do. I'll figure something out, hopefully it'll be a happy compromise. I'll let y'all know when I figure this out.


In happy news, I've only got two days of work left. Then it's on to the new job. Yay. I've been waiting for this moment for 6 months. I also may have missed my going away potluck at my current job. Oops, my bad. In my defense I didn't know it was that Friday and my brother was in town. Family first, right?


Alright, I've gone on long enough. If anyone's got suggestions for balancing my time, I welcome them. If not just wait and witness the hot mess I'll turn into, minus the hot. I'll just be a mess. 


Good night!