Did You Miss Me??

Hello, friends! You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't posted anything over here in nearly 4 months. It really just got kind of hard maintaining 3 blogs....so I've really only been posting in 1. I initially had this blog for my personal/family life and a separate blog for my triathlon/marathon training. The 3rd blog is just a bunch of silliness that my bestie and I do together, but even that one has suffered lately.

Anyway, my training blog has become more that just training and it also encompasses my personal life as well these days. SO, if you wanna catch me, pop over to JourneyToABetterMe sometime. I post there regularly and not just about my training, but also about my family, friends, and whatever other randomness pops into my head. ;)

I hope everyone is doing great and I hope to catch you over at my other blog!

Werd.

My Weekend Back Home

I had a pretty awesome weekend back home. I haven't been back since my dad's birthday in January, so a trip home was long overdue. We got there Friday a little before 8pm. My sister's boyfriend was in town too, so Randy and I watched "Yes Man" with them...except I fell asleep about half way through it. :( I really wanted to see it too, so I'll have to Netflix it or something. I'm just not used to staying up much later than 9:00, lol.

Anyway, Saturday was the John Blaufuss 5k. I registered for it WEEKS ago and was supposed to do it with my best friend...but she ended up hurting her knee, so Rylie ended up stepping in and running it with me. I can't believe how awesome she was!! I have an entire race report and photos at JourneyToABetterMe. Anyway, after the race, I went out and ran another 3 miles when we got home cuz I had a 6 mile run on tri schedule for that day. It was actually a pretty good run. Slow, but little pain...until later in the day.

After the run, I got cleaned up and then went to see my sister at work. She works at a tanning salon and Randy and I got to tan for free since we're "new customers." (Technically, I've tanned there before, but it was before I was married so I had a different name. I've never tanned there under my married name, so new name = new customer. LOL.)

After that, my mom and I went to the mall for a little bit. I needed some new work clothes, so I went to Maurice's and found a couple pairs of capris and a couple tops. Well, everything was buy 1, get one 1/2 off, so I paid for the pants together so I could get one of my higher priced items for 1/2 off, and I had my mom pay for the tops together. When I went to give her money for the tops after we left, she told me not to worry about it. So that was pretty cool. :)

After the shopping excursion, my best friend Melissa and her daughter Dylan came by to pick up Rylie & me so we could all go see the Hannah Montana movie. It was actually pretty cute. Rylie is obsessed with HM, so she's been begging to see this movie ever since the first preview aired. It was so cute too cuz there were a ton of Miley Cyrus songs in the movie and Rylie sat there and sang along with ALL of the songs during the movie, LOL!

When the movie was over, we went back to my mom & dad's and had dinner with the family and then Randy, Rylie, and I headed over Justin & Melissa's to hang for a bit. Melissa and I ended up going out and Randy and Rylie stayed over there to hang out with Justin and Dylan. We didn't really know where to go since the bar we used to always go to is now closed, so I basically just asked my sister where they were going to be. Yeah....totally all 21 and 22 year olds there (my sister is 22). I was literally THE oldest person at both bars we went to, LOL. Oh well, we still had fun. There were a lot of funny moments, but the best was when Melissa and I requested that the DJ play an Eazy E song and when he did, the entire dance floor cleared (cuz all the young kids were probably like who the f is this?!) and Melissa and I busted out into old school mode and then when the song was over and a "normal" song came back on, everyone resumed dancing. LOL, leave it to us.

Anyway, yesterday was a pretty lazy day. I had intentions of taking my sister's bike out for a ride, but never did. My grandma came into town, so I caught up with her for a bit. Oh, and Randy and I went to get a burrito from this Mexican place where no one speaks English, but they have some awesome authentic Mexican food. We didn't get back to KC until about 8pm last night. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

She's Her Mother's Daughter

Preface: This is a pic of Rylie with a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice on NYE....NOT wine! It was taken this year. The pic of me was taken on NYE 2 years ago. Uncanny, isn't it? She's definitely MY kid!


Anyway, Rylie (who is in kindergarten, mind you) came home from school on Monday and informed me that she ran a mile in PE. At first I didn't even believe her - I mean, a mile is a long ways for those little legs! I don't remember running the mile in PE until middle school and I was shocked that kg'ers were running a mile! But then she started telling me all the details, like how they had to run 7 laps around the playground, and how afterwards they got a stamp - "smile for the mile." After hearing all this, I knew she wasn't making it up!

She then proceeded to tell me and she and her friend Victoria were the first ones to finish. She said they beat everyone in her class of 23 students, even all the BOYS! Can I tell you that I was bursting with pride?? :) I think it may be time for her to start running with Mom. I mean, if she can bike 13 miles and run a mile, I this she can do more than I give her credit for! She told me awhile back that she wanted to start running with me, but at the time I really thought the only reason she was saying that was so I would buy her a running skirt like mine. *She's a girlie girl.* But it just may be time to take her out and see what she's made of! ;)

As a side note, she was sore yesterday. She came home saying her legs hurt really bad. So bad, in fact, that she was not able to go to dance last night. She must get that from me as well. :\ I gave her some Motrin and a banana. Hopefully she'll be good to go tonight.


In other news, I'm still trying to raise funds for my upcoming triathlon with proceeds going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If anyone is interested in donating, you can do so here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/HyveeTri09/arobbins

Weekend In St Louis

Randy and I left bright and early Saturday morning (6am) for our trip to St Louis. The reason for the trip was for my half marathon, but we had a little fun while we were there too.

As soon as we got into town, we checked into our hotel and then went over to the expo to pick up my race packet. They had all kinds of cool stuff at the expo - t-shirts, hats, visors, and all kinds of gear. I ended up getting a fuel belt, which I had looked for at Dick's Friday night and couldn't find. After that, we all went to lunch. "We" included the 2 of us and the 4 friends that went with us. After lunch, Randy and I went and toured Busch Stadium. That was a lot of fun and we got some really cool pics. Saturday night we all went to dinner and met up with our other 2 friends that were in town for the race too, so there was a total of 8 of us at dinner. We ate at a really yummy Italian place - had to get in some pasta before the race!

Saturday was the race. I'm just going to copy and paste my post from my running blog below:

I've been putting this off so that I could add race pics to my post...but the GO! St Louis site still doesn't have the pics up and I'm at work where I can't access my personal photos, so........you'll just have to wait for the pics. Sorry. ;)

Anyway, I DID IT!!!!! I RAN A HALF MARATHON!!!! WOOT!

I still have so much going through my mind, I don't even know if I can form complete sentences to describe the experience, so I think I'll just have to give the high(and low)lights:

**Standing at the starting line was one of the most overwhelming and exhilerating feelings I've ever felt in my life! There were 15,000 runners in this race and looking up and just seeing BLOCKS of mass people was just incredible. We were facing the Arch at the starting line and it was just such a surreal moment. Hearing the national anthem gave me goosebumbs and it is a moment I will never EVER forget!

**Right when the race started, they played Eye of the Tiger over the loud speakers, which totally made me LOL!

**I randomly saw a girl I went to high school with on my way to the starting line, which was odd since we were 6 hours away from our home town.

**It rained for the ENTIRE duration of the race. Luckily, it was in the 50's with no wind, so it wasn't cold...well, at least not until after the race was over. The 8 block walk back to the hotel afterwards was pretty miserable.

**The first few miles we were running near the interstate and all these cars and semis kept honking at us. That was really cool.

**There were porta potties at the starting line, but then not again until mile 4. We stopped to pee and since it was the first area along the race with bathrooms, the lines were HUGE. That added a good 10+ minutes to our time.

**The first 5 miles FLEW by! We saw our boys along the sidelines right around the 5th mile, so that made our day. They got some pics of us as we ran by.

**I saw a guy on my team at work in the crowd between mile 5 and 6.

**Mile 6 is where things started to get ugly. I had some power gel stuck in my throat that wanted to come up. I had to go behind a bush to make myself puke. We started to hit some hills that went on forever at this point.

**Between mile 9 and 10 we saw one of the Budweiser Clydesdales. It was so HUGE and pretty!**At mile 10 they were giving out free GU.

**The crowds of people cheering everyone on was so amazing! Everyone was just so positive and full of energy - truly amazing!

**Right after the 10th mile, we all decided it was time to pull out our MP3 players....but none of them would play since they were all wet from the rain. :(

**After the MP3 player incident, we started to split up. One of the girls ran ahead, leaving just 2 of us.

**At mile 11 I had to drop an emergency shadoobie. Damn power gel... LOL*

*At mile 12 I stopped and walked a bit with my girl friend as she was hurting really bad. That's when all the pain from my knees hit me - with full force! I gave her a pep talk and reminded her that we had only 1 mile to go and we needed to just power through.

**Just a few minutes later, we passed a guy on the side of the road with a boom box playing Eye of the Tiger - LOL again!

**At about 12 1/2 miles, there were 3 people along the course handing out cups of BEER - sa-weet!!! I grabbed me a beer and cracked up at the fact that I was running down the street in a damn marathon with a cup of beer! Hahahaha!!!!

**I spotted Randy in the crowd right before I crossed the finish line.

**I finished in under 3 hours, which I realize is a ridiculously slow time, but I did what I went there to do - FINISH! Official race time: 2:48:42.

**Did I mention that this was my first RACE ever?? Not just my first half marathon...but my first RACE! *unless you count "field day" in grade school* ;)

**I have a pretty medal that makes me feel like a bad ass.

So, there ya have it! In 5 weeks, I went from running 3 miles to running a half marathon. And I'm already thinking of what I want to run next.....BUT, I need to get back to my tri training first! I have just a little over 2 months until my tri and I've hardly swam at all lately.

Anyway, that's it for my first official race report. Pics to come soon!!! :)

I was glad to get back home Sunday night and see my girls! That was the longest I've EVER been away from Harper! I'm pretty sore today. I took yesterday off to go to PT, get a deep tissue massage, and see my chiropractor. I'm still having some trouble walking, but I'm still high on life from completing the half marathon. So it's all good. I'll post pics when I get the chance.

Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday was pretty uneventful. Randy and I went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that didn't serve margaritas - what kind of crap is that?? Don't think I'll be eating there again. We had a pitcher of beer insead though. We caught up on a few shows Friday night and I was in bed by 10:00. I know, crazy night right.

Saturday Rylie had gymnastics at 9am. She had stayed the night with Grandma Dorothy Friday night, so Randy had to go get her from grandma's and take her to the gym. We picked her up at 10:30 and headed to an Easter Egg Hunt at our friend's house. It was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of goodies for the kids and all kinds of snacks and lunch too.

Saturday was such a beautiful day out and I decided late in the afternoon to take a bike ride. Rylie asked if she could go too. Mind you, Rylie is 6 years old and just got her training wheels off about a month ago. I thought about it for a minute and figured it wouldn't be a rigorous ride for me, given the condition of my poor, aching muscles...so I figured why not? I loaded our bikes onto the bike rack and we headed for the downtown airport.

I have to tell you, I was soooo impressed with Ry! It was her first time to ride in an actual street with other vehicles (there's not that much traffic out there, and for the little traffic we did deal with, I explained how she needed to stay all the way over and let me get in front of her rather than beside her when cars were coming). She never crashed and she kept up and a pretty decent pace, considering she's only six and on a child's bike. Can you believe she rode 13 miles with me??!! And in fact, I finally had to call it a day when it was getting close to dinner time. SHE wanted to keep going! She's gonna grow up to be just like her mama, I tell you!

Here are some pics from the airport:

Here's a pic of the adorable Rylie - don't ya love the tassles on her bike? :) And a pic she took of me. Oh yeah, we have matching sunglasses. :)




Here's a pic of Rylie with the Broadway Bridge in the background and then a pic of downtown from the airport.



And here's a pic of the runway and a pic of some small planes. (The downtown airport is not a commercial airport, it's for small, private planes only. It's pretty teeny.)

Sunday, of course, was Easter. The girls got Easter baskets:

and Rylie got to find all of the eggs. Randy and I also got the girls matching outfits - this is difficult considering they are 6 years apart! But I found something *similar* so I bought them:

Randy made a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns and we all just hung around the house for another traditional lazy Sunday. :) Rylie and I watched Miley Cyrus's E! True Hollywood Story and Randy and I watched Seven Pounds. Last night we grilled steaks for dinner. Nothing too exciting.

Now it's Monday. I hope everyone has a great week! :)

Peep Show!!

This pic gave me a good LOL!!!

How is everyone out there in blogland? I've pretty much neglected this blog this week. But in all honestly, not much exciting has really happened in my life, other than training which I blog about at JourneyToABetterMe. But if you wanna skip reading through all of that, I can basically sum it up for you by letting you know that I ran 11.4 miles on Wednesday and have pretty much been barely able to walk ever since. The St Louis Half Marathon is 9 days away!! So...my last long run before the race is officially over. Now I'm just babying my muscles and trying to prepare them for the big day.

Things on the home front are pretty good other than the girls are both kind of sick. Randy is taking Harper to the doctor today cuz she's been sounding really hoarse lately. It's kind of hard to tell since she's not really talking yet....but you can hear it when she cries and when she babbles. She just doesn't sound like herself at all. I'm sure it's nothing major...but better safe than sorry. I think Rylie just has a cold or allergies. Oh by the way, she won first place in the Easter coloring contest at Randy's work. She won a $15 gift card to Target, which she is super excited about using this weekend. :)

Randy and I are supposed to go to dinner tonight, which I am very much looking forward to. Tomorrow we're taking the girls to an Easter Egg Hunt at a family friend's house. They live out in the country and go all out with this HUGE event. Should be fun!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and wonderful Easter!! :)

Weekend Recap:

First off, whoever invented 2 day weekends was crazy. 2 days is just not enough time off.... I hope everyone in blog land had a super weekend. Mine was pretty great. Nothing too exciting happened...but it was still enjoyable.

Friday night was my 10 mile run. For more details, check out JourneyToABetterMe. After the run, I pretty much didn't feel like doing anything else. I took a hot shower and then laid around on the couch, massaging icy hot and aspercreme into my tired muscles. I finally headed up to bed around 8:30 - I know, right - crazy night! I tossed and turned most of the night. I never do sleep that well after a long run. I was pretty sore the rest of the weekend...and even today.

Saturday we took the girls to an Easter Egg Hunt at Randy's work. Rylie got a lot of eggs and goodies and they both got their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.

That evening I ran some errands. I got the girls their Easter stuff at Target (mostly candy and spring clothes) and then I hit up Bath & Body Works and GNC at the mall. It's gold card week at GNC, so I went and loaded up on powerbars and GU.

Saturday night Randy and I watched Milk. What a powerful movie. I also created a new, tasty adult beverage: white grape smirnoff, sprite zero, and grape powerade. LOL, I know....powerade in a mixed drink doesn't sound that great. But it was actually pretty good.

Yesterday Randy was gone all day at the Wizards game, so it was just me and the girls. It was a pretty lazy day of just hanging out at home and catching up on the dvr.

Looks like I won't be going home for Easter this weekend. I have an 11 mile run on Friday and a 20 mile bike ride on Saturday that I can't miss. Plus, we're taking the girls to another Easter Egg Hunt at my friend's house on Saturday. It's going to be another busy week....but only 13 days left until the St Louis Half Marathon. I just need to get through the next 13 days!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Another Busy Week

I can't believe it's already Thursday! This week is just flying by!

Monday night we all went to the chiropractor again. Rylie is pretty much back to normal from the wreck. Randy and I are still being treated, but we're only going twice a week now. I also ran Monday night - 4 miles.

Tuesday was another chiro visit. Then Rylie had dance and I hit the pool after I dropped her off.

Last night I ran again and then we all headed to Kemper for the annual Disney on Ice show. This year just wasn't nearly as cool as last year. For one, last year's show was at the Sprint Center. This year they moved it back to Kemper. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that Britney Spears is in town tonight at the Sprint Center and Disney on Ice is here all weekend too. I dunno...just not as spectacular as last year. Last year's show had the most special effects of any of the shows we've seen (4 total). The skating last year was amazing with lots of stunts. I'm not saying this year was bad. It just wasn't amazing. But Rylie had fun and that's what's important. Oh, and did I mention that her snowcone cost $12?!?! Yeah....

Tonight my friend Kristen and I are going to a stride workshop in Olathe. I'm really excited to get some tips on how to improve my running - from posture to stride, arm placement, etc. I think it will be really beneficial. We have our first 10 mile run tomorrow, so it will be great to get those tips tonight and actually implement them tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm going to lunch with my old boss. I totally adore her and can't wait to get out of the office and actually be able to talk without other people around. I'm hoping to eventually transfer to her department and it will be great to sit down and pick her brain. Plus, she's just so much fun!

I hope everyone else is having a great week. It's almost Friday!! :)

There's Really No Such Thing As A Bad Weekend

I didn't even leave my house one time the entire weekend, spent the entire time inside, didn't ever get dressed, but got a lot done and enjoyed myself nonetheless.

Friday Randy went and got groceries since we were in for a major winter storm. I fixed chili for dinner and we hung out watching basketball. I got a call that tri practice was cancelled for Saturday due to the weather. This worked out since I still wasn't feeling too well.

I awoke Saturday morning expecting a massive amount of snow on the ground, but it didn't come until later. When it did finally begin to fall, it was pretty unreal - snowflakes as big as the palm of my 6-year-old's hand! They were huge and falling fast! I have pictures that I'll try to upload at home tonight.

I fixed a yummy breakfast of french toast, bacon, and fruit for the fam and then we dove into some major spring cleaning. It was a pretty productive day, followed by a relaxing evening by the fire with a bottle of wine and a movie. Oh yeah, Rylie and I also baked monster cookies together and they turned out to be quite delicious!

Yesterday I was up early with Harper since it was Randy's day to sleep in. I fixed breakfast again and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and some light cleaning. Rylie and I did a project together. Nothing spectacular, but time with the fam is always great.

I have to run tonight and it will be my first run since last Monday. I hope I don't cough up a lung...and I hope I'm not jumping in too fast and hard this week. I have a lot on my plate, training wise, this week. So I hope I am recovered and rested up enough to be able to do it all. St Louis is only 20 days away, so I can't afford to miss any more days.

Update

I have bronchitis and finally got on some antibiotics yesterday. Harper has a sinus infection, but is doing much better. She is just the sweetest little baby - despite not feeling well, she was still all smiles last night and was cracking us all up! She has learned to say "dada," although we're not really sure if she knows what it means. It's more or less just a new sound she has learned to make and she says it ALL the time! :)

Rylie had a boy call her last night! Mind you, she is just in kindergarten!!! This boy is in her class and also rides the bus with her and lives in our neighborhood. The boy's father actually called the night before to see if it would be okay if Rylie could come over to play one day after school. But then last night the boy called just to talk to Rylie. They were on the phone for a good 10 minutes, which is pretty long for kids that age. I'm not really worried about it being a "boyfriend" situation cuz Rylie has always played with boys. But it's just an early age to be calling your friends, period. I think I would feel this way even if it was a girl calling her just to talk. I'm just not ready for this...

We apparently have a winter storm heading our way. I'm sending Randy to the store tonight so that we don't have to leave the house the rest of the weekend if necessary. Strange how last weekend we were having a picnic in the park and this weekend we are preparing for 10 inches of snow. The midwest is stupid. It looks like a weekend of cleaning, movies, and March Madness at our house.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I Work With Too Many MU Fans

Seriously...

My friend Brandon and I are running the brackets here at work for the tournament. It amazes me how many people have MU winning the entire tournament! I'm a die hard KU fan, and I don't even have them winning today. It's just the reality of it. We all want our teams to win the championship, but is it really going to happen? MU has had a decent year and all, but they're no national champions - that's for sure!

ANYWAY, I like to play pranks at work and today was the perfect day. There's a guy here who is a die hard MU fan. In fact, pretty much everyone here today is either wearing KU or MU attire. Well, this particular guy is always talking $hit to the KU fans and what not. Well, I took my friend's stuffed MU Tiger and put it on his desk, laying on it's back with a plastic butter knife to his throat with red marker "blood" on the knife. I then stole his MU coffee mug and left a ransom note saying "If you would like to see your mug alive again, please leave 2 Hershey's bars under the water fountain on the 10th floor. Otherwise, your mug will end up like this tiger." Let's just say I'm enjoying some tasty chocolate right now. ;)

Down With The Sickness!

Our whole household is sick. :( Well, except for Randy. I stayed home from work yesterday and slept most of the day. I went to urgent care last night and waited around for 2 hours to be told that it was viral and they couldn't treat me. They also said to take it easy because all of my training is weakening my immune system. :\ Easy for them to say, they aren't running a half marathon in 3 1/2 weeks...

Randy stayed home from work today because poor little Harper was cranky and had a horrible runny nose. Her fever went up to 101.6, so he took her to the dr and it turns out she has a sinus infection. Poor baby. Plus, she's trying to cut another tooth. I hate when my kids are sick. Rylie is sick too, but she just toughs it out. It's like she constantly has a cough or a sniffle, but never complains.

As for taking it easy...I took yesterday off from working out. Today I did yoga, but I'm going to skip my swim tonight....again. I haven't swam in 2 weeks, which is NOT good!!! But I'm kinda focused on running right now, with the half marathon coming up and all. So I'll take tonight off....but tomorrow I have muscle conditioning and then our 9 mile run! But if I do the run tomorrow, that means I get to take Friday off from training, so that'll be a nice break before tri practice on Saturday. I really hope I can recover quickly because I'm starting to get nervous. Missing training days can really hurt me....but so can training when I'm sick.

The week is half over, at least. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Spring is Here!

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I had a pretty awesome weekend! And the weather was just the cherry on top!

Friday after work I did my very first 8 mile run. You can read more about it at JourneyToABetterMe. After my run, I went to meet my dad to get Rylie back. She's been at my mom & dad's (2 hours away) all week since she was on spring break. It's definitely good to have her back! But it kind of sucked to be sitting in a car for 2 hours after a long run. My muscles definitely cramped and I felt veeeery nauseaus.

Saturday I was up at 5am so I could get to tri practice. We cycled 22 miles. Then I headed home for a quick nap before heading out to the soccer field for the Wizards home opener. We tailgated most of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Wizards lost, but it was fun nonetheless.

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!!! Around 10am, I thought it would be great for the whole family to have a picnic at the park. I started cutting up fruits and veggies and making sandwiches and I packed us up a lovely lunch and we headed to the park. I walked Harper around for a bit in the stroller and Rylie rode her bike without training wheels for the very first time! It was so exciting because she just TOOK OFF and was flying by! I wish I wasn't at work right now so I could upload some pics. Anyway, it was just a great afternoon outside with the kids.

Last night I made a DELICIOUS dinner, courtesy of Megan at TheParaplegicChef. I have been dying to fix this meal since the first time I read about it! The only difference I had was that I cooked the chicken outside on the grill. I also grilled some peppers to have as a side dish. The black bean salsa was SOOO yummy, we even added it to our salads. This meal was a huge hit - Randy and Rylie loved it too!

The weekend was so beautiful, I hated to see it end. I also feel like I may be coming down with something. I've been fighting a sore throat for days. I really hope I'm not getting sick because I have way too much going on this week that I cannot miss out on - mostly training.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Is This Week Over Yet?

This week has just been one giant fail. I have been zapped of energy and for the first time EVER since I started training for my triathlon and half marathon, I've really slacked off with my workouts. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. Tuesday I had muscle conditioning, but went drinking that night instead of swimming or cycling (my schedule had swimming on it, but I was going to cycle instead since the weather was so nice....but ended up doing neither). Yesterday my yoga class was cancelled (rescheduled for tomorrow) and then last night I ended up not running because I was too tired and just not feeling great at all...so I didn't work out AT ALL yesterday. :\ Today I have muscle conditioning again, and weight training is the only thing on my schedule for today....but I really should swim since I didn't on Tuesday. But I have too much going on tonight, there just won't be any time. So......I have a feeling that after such a lazy week, tomorrow's 8 mile run is really going to suck.

Reality really set in last night. I drove up to Liberty to see my chiropractor and after the 20 minute drive there, I looked to see that the drive was right at about 13 miles. Um....I'm going to be running 13.1 miles in exactly 1 month from today!!! OMG - that is like running all the way from my house to my chiropractor's office in Liberty! WOW....am I nuts or what?!?! And if it takes me nearly 20 minutes to drive it, I can't even imagine how long it will take to RUN it! I just don't know. I've been having a lot of anxiety over it as of late....

In other news, March Madness has begun!!! Brandon and I are heading the bracket pool here at work. We've got quite a few people involved, which always makes it more exciting. I think our pot is going to be over $150 this year. It will be interesting to see how everything turns out.

The next few days are going to be insanely busy...so I'm pretty much looking forward to Sunday getting here so I can rest. I've been having a lot of anxiety lately and I think I'm just spreading myself too thin.

Have I also mentioned lately how much I love my husband?? Cuz that is definitely worth mentioning. There's really no one else in this world that could put up with my shit. He's so good to me and I really am lucky to have him. I've been struggling with some things lately and I just don't know what I would do without him. He truly holds me together without even realizing it.

The Tooth Fairy Finally Came!

No, not the kind that takes the lost teeth in the middle of the night. The kind that finally brought my 7-month-old nugget baby her first tooth! That's right, Miss Harper is 7 months old today and yesterday she finally cut her first tooth! Rylie cut her first tooth at 5 month, so I've been wondering when Harper would finally get hers. She's so cute - all smiles. I think she feels much better now that it finally came through. She's been pretty fussy the past few days and I think her little gums were just bothering her. I bet the next one isn't far behind, though.

In other news, I got my car back yesterday. They ended up fixing it and not totalling it out, which is good. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss my rental. It was a brand new Dodge Journey and I pretty much loved it. I wasn't thrilled to be driving my old Pathfinder this morning. Oh well.

Bobby took me to go get my car from the body shop yesterday since Randy couldn't get off work early to take me. On the way there, he asked me if I wanted to go get a margarita afterwards. He went and got us a table at Rancho Grande while I paid for my car and when I got there he had an entire pitcher of margs waiting for me. I really did not need an entire pitcher of margs on a Tuesday afternoon, but oh well. Then, just as we were finishing up our drinks and I was feeling a very strong buzz, Bobby proceeded to go ahead and order ANOTHER pitcher! Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty tired and dehydrated today. That was stupid. And I have to train 2 training classes here at work this morning. Great.... I also have to run 4 miles tonight. Double great. I really make poor decisions sometimes.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good day. It's hump day - woot!

Weekend Review

First off, I successfully completed my 7 mile run on Friday! You can read more about it at JourneyToABetterMe. So it's official everyone: I WILL be running in the St Louis half marathon! It's just 5 weeks away, so the next 5 weeks are gonna be crazy!

Friday evening began with Rylie going to her very first slumber party ever. She was so excited! After I dropped her off, I went to go buy running shorts since the weather is getting warmer and I only have running pants/capris. Well....I ended up buying a running skirt. They're so cute and it was comfy too, so I figured why not give it a shot. After my purchase, I was so excited to test it out that I decided to go ahead and do my 7 mile run. As I said, the details of the run are in my other blog, but it felt pretty darn good to accomplish it. Not much else happened Friday night other than I iced my shins and tried to go to bed but was too wound up.

Saturday morning Randy picked Rylie up from the slumber party and she and I headed out the door for the Snake Saturday parade. Well, after driving around for 30 minutes looking for a parking spot that was closer than a mile away, we finally gave up and I took her to Quick Trip to get a slush as a consolation.

Saturday was pretty much a day of errands and running around. Randy got the bike rack for his car finally. Then we all went up to the bike shop so I could have them fix the computer on my bike and so I could also purchase a pair of tri shorts. Yeah, $68 for a stinkin pair of spandex padded shorts! Um, that could have been a new pair of jeans! :\ Oh well...

We headed home after that so Harper could take a nap and then I went up to the mall. I *finally* exchanged the perfume Randy got me for my birthday. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. I went up a couple weeks ago and got several samples based on your suggestions. I did really like both the DKNY Delicious fragrances. I actually came close to purchasing Be Delicious a couple years ago. The only thing was that it seemed to wear off quickly and I wanted something stronger. I also really enjoyed Ralph Wild. I pretty much love all of the Ralph fragrances too. And I actually already own Lacoste Touch of Pink. After many, many, many, MANY sniffing & sampling, I finally decided on Viva La Juicy. It's a floral scent that is also pretty sweet and also strong enough to last all day. I REALLY like it! I find myself constantly smelling myself all day long, lol.

Saturday evening we all drove up to Liberty to have dinner at Uno. I had a gift card that I got from Randy's dad for my birthday and we also had a $5 off coupon, so it was a pretty cheap dinner. When we got home, Josh & Kristen came over and we all had a few drinks and watched Role Models.

Sunday was pretty laid back. I took my bike out for a ride since it was pretty nice out. My parents came up for a couple hours to see Harper and then they took Rylie back with them. She's on spring break this week, so she's staying at their house until Saturday. Randy and I grilled last night - steaks, baked potatoes, and asperagus - YUMMM!!! I so love this time of year!

All in all, my weekend was both productive and enjoyable. I hope everyone else had a great weekend too! :)

TGIF!

Josh & Kristen came over for dinner last night....and somehow we ended up polishing off 6 bottles of wine - wtf?! On a week night! That's crazy! Poor Kristen didn't even make it into work until about an hour ago. I only got about 5 hours of sleep. I feel fine today, but it's probably not a good idea to attempt my 7 mile run tonight. I'm thinking I'll have to put that off until tomorrow morning. Kristen said the reason she slept in was so she would be able to run tonight. If I can do this 7 miles, then I'm going to go for the St Louis half marathon. I really want to do it...so I just need to push myself.

I have a busy weekend ahead: 7 mile run, Snake Saturday parade, Josh & Kristen are coming back over Saturday night, and my parents are coming up on Sunday. I also have a lot of errands I need to run. I need to get a bike rack for Randy's car, some running shorts, biker shorts (ugly, I know, but so helpful for the tooshie!!), a tire pump for my bike. Who knew being a triathlete would end up being so expensive?! Thank goodness it's payday!

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I'm looking forward to that! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Training, Training, and more Training...

You can read all about it in my fitness blog: JourneyToABetterMe. Basically, my triathlon training is taking over my life. This is a good thing, it really is....it's just exhausting and I feel like I haven't spent much time with my family, especially Harper. She's been in bed or about to go to bed the last 2 nights when I got home. Factor in that she takes an evening nap as well, and I pretty much don't see her much on the week nights. :( But the good news is that I'm getting off work at noon today and will get the rest of the afternoon with that little nugget baby, so that's good!

Life has just been so busy lately! Saturday I had group practice. Then I showered and ran errands. Then I went out for dinner and drinks with the girls for Kristen's birthday. Sunday was a lazy day, and then Monday started another crazy week... Work, chiropractor visits every night all the way up in Liberty, training, running Rylie to this, that, and the other. Tuesday was her dance night and I had to cycle and swim. Yesterday she had gymnastics and I ran 6.3 miles. And tonight we are having Josh and Kristen over for dinner, which I'm totally excited about. I'm just ready for a day off!

I'm sore today, as can be expected. It's a good sore, don't get me wrong...but I'm just so TIRED. Not sleepy, but my body is just worn out. And the depressing part is that all this working out is making me soooo stinkin hungry all the time! With the way I'm eating, I'm never going to lose any weight! Here's what I ate yesterday:

apple
bowl of instant oatmeal
raw veggies (carrots, celery, green peppers, broccoli) with light ranch
salad (romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, green peppers, purple cabbage, green onion, raddishes) with homemade dressing: 1 part organic balsamic vinegar, 1 part organic olive oil, 1 part Bragg's liquid aminos
Smart Ones frozen entree - lasagna
Shot blocks & mona vie (electrolyte cubes & energy shot) before run - 100 calories each
raw almonds
tuna helper & asperagus for dinner
banana & peanutbutter after evening run

And I seriously think I ate more things that I just can't remember.... I feel like I'm just eating around the clock! I want to lose the rest of this baby weight and I really thought I would with all this training...but I'm coming to realize that my body now needs more fuel....so I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week! Sorry I've neglected this blog this week. The other 2 have been pretty up-to-date though. Thanks for stopping by! :)

And Now....A Birthday Shout Out To My BESTIE!!!

Does everyone know what today is?! Not only is it the 69th day of the year (true story!) and the 32nd anniversary of the day astronomers discovered rings around Uranus (also true - there's a lot of cool shit about March 10th!!!) but is also the 30th anniversary of the day The Militia was expulsed from her mother's uterus! That's right, folks - please join me in wishing a fan-fucking-tastic 30th birthday upon my homie, my partner-in-crime, co-author of The Bung Blog: THE MILITIA!

This chica and I go waaaaaay back! I'm talking back to when our age was displayed in single digits, back when Reagan was the prez, and back before internetting (even DIAL UP!!!). 1986 was the year, and had it not been for a horrific wardrobe malfunction (a theme in our lives) in Mrs. Cooper's 2nd grade class, we just might not be where we are today. What would the world be like without Ash-Hole & The Militia?? Well, there would certainly be fewer water gun drive-by's, The Bung Blog would not exist (nor would the OBB - Original Bung Book), and the 7th sense would be completely unknown to all.

What have we been through in our near-23 years of BEST friendship? What HAVEN'T we been through?! From jumping on trampolines together and playing with our imaginary friend "Jade" who lived in the drain of my parents' pool, to driving across the country together and being in each others' weddings, we've been through it all. We've been roommates, we've been houligans, we've been hungover (duh), we've been considered straight up insane by most, we've been drunk, we've been in fights, we've nearly been arrested, we've been kicked out of public places, we've been each other's life lines. The Militia has always been here for me - she pushed me on the tire swing, she shared my first beer and first cigarette with me (both of which we stole from her step-dad), she let me cry on her shoulder during my first broken heart, she's held my hair while I puked on MANY occasions, she helped me move across the country when my relationship fell apart, she gave me a place to live when I had no where else to go, she stood up with me at my wedding, she STILL lets me call her to cry when things aren't going well, and she will always ALWAYS be my asexual vanilla!

So here's to all the horrible karoke we've sung, all the dancing on bars we've done, and to what is known as BUNG! May the next decade of your life be as bad assed as the first 3!

HAPPY 30th HOLMES!!! I LOVE YER ASS!!!

Birthday Pics!

Okay, so there are over 90 pics from the night of my birthday...so instead of posting them all individually, I have broken them down into a few slideshows for your viewing pleasure. But first, I must post a couple pics of my WONDERFUL husband Randy who threw me an awesome surprise party and went to so much work to create a night I will never forget!

Okay, here is the first slideshow that includes many of my guests:

This next slide show is just a bunch of craziness, drinking, and (in)appropriate behavior:

And this last slide show is again, more craziness, drinking, and drunken debauchery:

It was definitely a crazy night...one I will never forget! To read about some of the funnies of the evening, please click here .