Training and make up problems..

So I think I've figured out why I tend to have one bad run a week. It's because of the Body Pump class. Every week since I've started I've only made one class a week. (Yeah I'm a slacker, judge me later, I've got a story to finish. ) anyways, I've noticed that the bad runs are always after the day I do body pump. Not because it's a bad class or doesn't go well with running. The problem is that the body pump class is from 6-7 PM and I run at 5:30 AM. Those means my body has less than 12 hours to recover. Now, it's possible I'm just a wimp, or being dramatic. But I don't think I can tire my legs out with weights and then go running after that. So now I don't know what to do. I need those Body Pump classes, but I can't let my runs suffer. And I hate running at night. I will ponder this problem, anyone have any suggestions?

My second problem is that I'm like a 5 year old when trying to put on make up. Don't believe me?

That's both hands. 6 fingers covered in eyeliner. I'm a mess. Maybe one day I'll grow up, get over my PB&J sandwich obsession and become a real functioning adult...

Off to bed for an early morning work out. Good night everyone. Hope you had a happy Thursday.

I stole this idea from my favorite blogger..

So my favorite blogger Macie does this really cool thing on Wednesdays called On Repeat. She posts a song that she's really loving and gives background or explains why she loves it. 

Having said that here's my On Repeat Wednesday song:

My other favorite friend Chelsea (ok I have lots of really good friends) showed my Taylor Swift's new song yesterday. and by show I mean emailed the link because she's lame and lives far away. Now although I absolutely adore Taylor Swift, it's not in the common obsessed with her life and trying to figure out who every song is about. I simply don't care about that. I love Taylor's gift of pinning a song that every girl (and I suspect guy) can relate to. And I'll admit she seems really cool and I'd love to be her BFFs with her. 

so take some time to listen to Begin Again, it's pretty awesome.

Fighting off Laziness

Lately I've been really lazy about workouts that aren't running. I've been loving the miles spent running. But I find that when I'm not running I usually want to sleep or do nothing. The gym doesn't sound appealing and neither does anything else. While I had a great (fairly busy) weekend. The weeks just get me.

I'm usually go, go, go on the weekends. And there week comes around and I find myself recovering from the weekend. Don't think that's how it's supposed to go. I really need to learn to go to bed at a decent hot during the week.

But I'm super excited about this weekend, I'm headed to San Marcos (aka is San Marvelous) and seeing my best friend Chelsea for her birthday :) So excited. Won't get any sleep this weekend either, but my social life is more important right?

So, I'm debating buying another pair of Pro Compression socks. Not because I think they're the most amazing thing ever like every other tuning out there. While I like them and feel no soreness after my runs when I do wear them, I just have found them to be more of a mental help. I haven't have a bad run while wearing the socks. Maybe that is them helping, but I think it's because I feel like more of a runner with them on? I believe they are originally designed for much longer runs than what I am doing. Which might account for the lack of amazement from them, but I love wearing them regardless. How's that for not making sense?

How do you fight off laziness?

Should I get the socks?

Thanks for sticking through this very boring post...

Morning runs are my favorite

Today's run was a 5-miler. And while in this training session it has been the farthest I've run, I don't fl quite yet like I've accomplished much distance. All in all, I'm proud of myself and what I've accomplished. It has been hard and there's been days I didn't want to run or didn't really care about my goals. But I pushed through knowing I've wanted this for years. I'm nowhere near done, and I've got quite a bit more to accomplish, but today after a 5 mile run in 58 minutes (I've finally admitted how slow of a runner I am) I feel good and happy. Here's a great weekend with plenty of food my mom sent home with my sister and i after our family dinner last night! 

Yay for amazing family and friends! Have a good one!

Acting like an adult..

I've always been jealous of those girls who are always so put together and look really cute in the latest trends. My sister is one of those girls. And I swear she always looks like she's coming from a photo shoot.Whatever she's wearing, she wears it well. I, on the other hand, am the awkward girl who would rather wear sweats at all times, except we live in Texas and I would melt. I always feel like I missed some huge assembly where girls were taught how to dress, do their make up, and hair. 

It's like somebody was editing that guest list, saw my name and was like "she's gonna be a train wreck anyways, skip her invite". I'm not exaggerating, I don't even know how to do my hair other than down or in a ponytail. Let's not even start on make up. And while I can sometimes fake the whole cute outfit thing, usually I'm just a jeans and random t-shirt girl. I wish I know how to dress up, how to put outfits together, and how to shop. 

Seems like it would help at work too. I hate walking into meetings and finding out I am the only girl with my hair up and no make up. Like everyone else looks professional and I look like I rolled out of bed (it's probably exactly hat happened) and stumbled into this job. It might even help me feel grown up? 

I'd say that's pushing it, but I'd love to learn how to do hair (doesn't help that my hair is short, not much i can do with it). So anyone have any tips on clothes or hair for me? Macie, this is for you and Val. Y'all are always so adorable, I wanna be like y'all. Let's see each other this weekend and go shopping :)

How to salvage a failed museum day

This weekend was pretty successful. I cooked two of the three nights. Anyone who knows me knows this is a miracle. I also baked a pumpkin bread loaf. It's fall, I had to. Now I have to bake Val's banana bread that I promised her 2 years ago...she hasn't forgotten yet apparently. So let's look for a recipe to make her the best banana bread ever. As usual recipes are welcome :)

I had a 4 mile run as part of my half marathon training, and normally I wouldn't have been fearful of just 4 little miles. On Friday I had quite a terrible 3 mile run. I couldn't even finish that run. I felt so defeated. But after half of a meltdown, a pep talk from Sam, and a little courage I went out there Saturday and rocked my 4 mile run. It felt great, I didn't feel like giving up and I was very steady with my snail pace.

The rest of Saturday didn't go as planned. Sam and I were going to hit up the museums for Museum District Day which meant free general admission, but parking was impossible. It was packed and after trying to find a spot for 15 minutes (I actually have no idea how long we looked but it was over 10 minutes) we decided it wasn't worth it. Not wanting to throw away an afternoon, Sam suggested we go to the Flying Saucer. So instead of going to educational museums all day, we're not headed for a bar at 1 PM...sounds like my kind of afternoon.  for anyone who doesn't know what the Flying Saucer is, it's a restaurant/bar that has a bunch of beers available. We're talking over 200. 

There happens to be a UFO club (corny I know) where if you drink over 200 different beers you get a golden or silver plate on the wall. We have a few friends doing it and thought it would be fun to join them. This is not a 'if everyone jumped off a bridge' scenario. You also get a T-shirt with the card, so I was pretty much sold. If you give me a shirt, I'll pretty much do anything.

And lastly, Sam taught me how to drive his car (he drives a manual). And I did pretty decent in the parking lot, I was almost proud of myself (the first time we tried, it went horribly). Then he told me I was driving home. Jerk. I stalled the car a few times on my way home, that was tons of fun. Especially when other cars honk at you. Apparently practice lessons are in my future...joy.
I kid, I actually really want to learn how to drive a manual, but it scares me. It will also save me a lot of money when I need a new car. Major bonus right there. So if you're in the Houston area, I'll warn you when my next practice session is so you can stay indoors and safe.

Happy Monday Everyone!

And the verdict is..

That might car is fixable! Good news for today. No car payments for me! Just a huge deductible. And two weeks of rocking my Chrysler 200 (car rental) because that's how long the repairs will take.

In other slacker news, I overslept this morning and didn't make it out to run. So I'll have to go tonight an cut my time with Sam short. This is one of the main reasons I (try to) go running in the AM, it leaves my evenings free to spend how I want (read: mainly sitting on my bed on pinterest). Now not only did I oversleep and feel like crap, I have to make uptime run tonight; causing me to have to change the plans I already had. Bummer. One day I'll learn the snooze button is nothing but trouble. Or you know, that the 'turning your alarm off before you get out of bed' thing is also no good. This is the reason I have 4 alarms set every monring. Not kidding.

In amazing news, my dad got tickets to go to the Texans game on Sept. 30th! You can bet your most prized possesion that I'm super excited, and acting like a 5 year old at Christmas! This is the best news this month :)

And lastly, on this incredibly riveting post, my Pro compression socks came in. I'll try them out Friday and see how I feel. I'm kinda ready for disappointment and kinda expecting magic, from all the reviews I've read on every single fitness blog ever. Now the challenge will be getting those socks over my calves.....

Have you ever tried compression socks? Did you like them? How excited are you about the Houston Texans this season?

That last question is silly, I know everyone is so excited excited that the Houston Texans are playing again (and the rest of the NFL too)

This is how I felt this morning:

I have a confession..

I have yet to go grocery shopping this month. And I ran out of food a week ago. What I mean by food, is that I ran out of anything that makes sense as a meal a week ago. For the past week, I've eaten random stuff like just an egg for breakfast, turkey on a corn tortilla for dinner, or plain yogurt for lunch. I've also gotten to the point whereI'm out of eggs, bread, and oatmeal. The three staples in my diet.

also, popcorn has become a favorite for dinner. I'm getting used to bigger lunches so I'll make a big batch of popcorn since I'm not hungry and I want to go to bed early without the really full feeling. It's not so much that I can't afford groceries (I'm not swimming in money like Donald Duck's uncle) but I have enough to feed myself.

If you don't know who this, you've been deprived of your childhood. This is also how I hope my future goes:

 I'm just really lazy, especially when it comes to going grocery shopping. And when we visited my mom yesterday she sent my sister and I off with enough food for the week. And yes, you guessed it, I will probably not go get any food until that stuff runs out.

Am I weird for doing this? Or does anyone else prefer semi-starvation to going to the store?

In better news, today was the first day of my half marathon training and it went really well. I mean I only ran 3 miles, which is what I've been doing but I ran it in 34 minutes. That's a good time for me, I'm slow. I don't care though, I've learned that as long as I'm running and improving it's no ones business how fast I go.

I also need new running shoes. Anyone have a favorite brand or specific shoe? 

Happy monday! :) 

Car troubles continued..

So remember when I told y'all I was so excited that the fuel pump was covered under warranty and I got out of paying 1237932 gazillion dollars for car crap? Well the day after I got my car out of the shop, I got into a car wreck. Awesome, right? 

This is also the reason I haven't updated in a while. I picked my car up Wednesday, crashed it Thursday (didn't step foot in my apt until 10:30 that night, and picked up a car rental Saturday until we figure out the damages and see if it's reparable or totaled. 

This means I may have to be a real grown up (you know as opposed to the fake kind I usually like to impersonate) and go car shopping. Start praying for me that all I owe is my deductible, because this slacker is not ready for a car payment.

Other than the car issues my weekend went pretty smoothly. I bought  Texans Blanket (as in the team, not the citizens of the state) and Sunday I went to visit my parents and we made (and ate) homemade pasta. It was a blast. I've been to my parents house three times since Thursday, I think my mom secretly instigated this to happen so she could see me more. I've been pretty busy and hadn't made it home in a while. 

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope everyone has a good week and enjoy the pictures below :)

If anyone wants to buy me this little piggy, it's the last one needed to complete the set.

This is my car after the wreck :(

My sister's insanely cute cat:

My awesome new blanket (we won our first game for anyone NOT paying attention):

My even cuter cat who seems to love Shakespeare:

And Sam's incredibly cute cats sleeping on his backpack, because it's clearly comfortable?. Am i coming off as crazy cat lady? Only one cat is mine, the others happen to be on my phone as well, I don't think this helps my 'I'm not a cat lady argument'

Pieces of Paradise

I have a love/hate relationship with holidays, especially holiday weekends. You know, those holidays that are set up to give you a 3-day weekend every year. I'd like to clarify that I LOVE my days off as much as the next person. However, I feel like big holidays are always loaded with expectations, that year after year are impossible to meet.

Take New Year's Eve, for example, you're either expected to have a huge party full of crazy adventures or do something totally unexpected and unique. Why does life have to be one big competition? Why can't my quiet little evening of popcorn and movies count as fun and charming?

Well, bitterness aside for a moment, this pas Labor Day weekend delivered big time. Sam and I headed to Austin/San Marcos to visit some friends and family. While the planning was chaotic, it turned out to be planned beautifully. We saw 18 people in 3 days (it was technically 5 stops, but 18 people sounds more impressive).

It was a weekend full of relaxation, alcohol fun, crazy kids, and book shopping (Half Price Books was having a sale, how could we not?) It really was the perfect weekend, I'm still fully convinced that the lack of expectations made this weekend so amazing. We weren't worried about meeting a certain standard; so we just relaxed and let all the pieces fall into place.

The sad news in all this is that every high has to be offset by a low. Or so the universe seems to want to teach me. I took my car to the shop yesterday and found out my fuel pump is leaking...awesome. After a few hours and a few thousand phone calls, I found out it should be covered by the guarantee (this is only after a threat to get the fire department to clear my car for safety, that's a fun story for another day). They had to keep my car overnight, which sucks. Being carless in a commuter city that has no public transport is very frustrating, but I have the most amazing coworker who drove me home.

Another downside is that I have gone 4 days now without working out (travels kill my work outs every time) so I gotta get a few three mile runs before the 10th (yes I realize that today is the 5th, don't judge me).

Check back for updates on my (hopefully) successful crawl back to fitness. Again.