5 down, 45 to go

Wednesday, I finally found the courage to walk into the running store and get fitted for some running shoes.

It wasn’t until tonight that I got a change to take them out for a spin…

at yet another beautiful county preserve.  I did a lap plus some around this beautiful lake…

 

and here is the view from the other side…

and before I knew it…not only was I crossing a goal (jog 1 mile!!!!), I found myself hitting a personal best at my 5k…by like 2-3 minutes!

I know it’s not the most fastest, but I am kicking butt!

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home…isn’t it great how exercising makes you want to eat healthy?  Seriously, at one point I looked down into the cart and e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g was green.  Seriously, everything – down to the key lime pie filling!  So I went back to the produce department and added a slew of berries – garnish for the individual key lime pies I’m making for tomorrow, of course.  Don’t mind all 4 loaves of bread – I am making tea sandwiches for tomorrow’s brunch and I couldn’t decide how big of bread I want.

 

Two things in that cart were for my immediate consumption.  As soon as I got into the car I treated myself to these two goodies…

 

6 WW points drank after earning 7 activity points…well worth it.  P.S. That Pink Guava Coconut Water -> Y.U.M!  Next time, I may not even reach for the chocolate milk and only go for this flavor coconut water for 2 points per serving.

Okay…time for me to turn off the computer and light and hit the sack.  I have my first official Initial Outfitter’s party tomorrow morning, and would love to wake up early for a quick run/walk before I have to start cooking…but I would also love being able to sleep in – decisions, decisions…

Laters!

xoxo

SAS

2, 3 & 4 down – 46 to go!

What a whirl-wind of a weekend.  I was lucky enough to have Sunday off, so I really got to have and enjoy the long weekend like everyone else – and boy did I pack in a lot of fun stuff!

I was woken at 5 Saturday morning by one of the loudest thunderstorms I’ve heard in a long while!  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning, unfortunately I had to be dressed, packed up and heading out a couple hours later to my first vendor event – which, I have to tell you was a major bust.  But afterwards I got to go to a party – reunion really, that my aunt, uncle and cousins came in town for.  What a blast!

Sunday, I spent half the day in my car, or so it felt!  Up early and off to meet my friend to open up our garage sale…then a race home to meet up with my family before they left town…and back to the sale.  After sitting in the sun selling our goods, we closed up shop in the late afternoon and headed to the gym
(#2 in my challenge) for 5 minutes on the stair mill followed by a 5k on the treadmill.  And I didn’t stop after that – even though I was physically exhausted – I went grocery shopping, came home made dinner, watered the flowers and finally took a shower and fell into bed.

It was beyond difficult waking up Monday morning – but I managed to crawl out of bed, pack a couple contingency bags for the afternoon, and head back to the sale.  After a few hours, zero customers and zero drive-byes we decided to call it a wrap for the day and head to the gym (#3) for a nice sweat session before heading to the pool.  We sure did sweat – thanks to the heat and humidity, but after a 1/2 hour on the bike we opted to hit the grocery sale to stock up on soda thanks to their great sale! And then headed to the pool for a few hours before the clouds began to roll in.  No rain, though, it did cool off, so we packed up our things and went our ways.  Is there anything better than being outside all day, laying poolside, playing in the water, then coming home and taking a refreshing shower, lathering on the lotion and putting on a flowy and comfy dress and laying down for an afternoon rest before putting together a great dinner?

The only downside to such a busy, productive, jam packed great weekend is that come Tuesday, when the alarm sounds and it’s time to get up and not only get out of bed, but to get dressed and head into work – it’s nearly physically impossible.  But once I get going, I’m off and running once again.

While my legs felt like lead all day, when I walked out of the building and got into my car at the end of the day, planning to make myself go to the gym…but the warm breeze and bright sun shine got me.  I grabbed my gym bag, ran back inside to change and stopped at one of the county preserves to hit the trail for a sweat session (#4).  It was my first time to this particular park and man-oh-man was it beautiful.  I was too in the moment to snap a few pictures, but I did manage to get in a 5k!

I’m really getting back into this work-out thing – and it’s feeling good!  Next up – I have got to use my livingsocial yoga deal – hot yoga has been calling my name for a while, and I think it’s time to start answering it.

Off to finish watching The Vow…hope it’s worth the $1.20 Redbox charge!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend – anything special about it you want to share?

xoxo

SAS

Weekend Update – final

I am sitting at my first vendor event for my new business, and thankfully I remembered to bring my laptop because there isn’t much traffic flow indoors today – it’s just too beautiful outside for people to want to wander inside.  Hopefully more will come in this afternoon, after the farmer’s market (that’s happening down the street) closes up.

How could I forget to give you all a final update on last weekend’s activity??

Check out all that I got accomplished!

150+ flowers planted in over 25 pots…plus a ton, seriously a TON of house cleaning and organizing for this weekend’s garage sale!

I’m continuing to cross off my big list – I brought the pile of magazines to catch up on today, but I find myself chatting with fellow vendors.  But I will bring the pile – an entire year’s worth of Fitness Magazine! – with me while I work my shifts at the garage sale tomorrow. And, maybe, one of these days I will get started on that vacation prep list, it will help get all these ideas out of my head.

What can I say – I’m a list girl!

How’s your holiday weekend going? As soon as 3:30 rolls around I am going to start packing my stuff up so I can zip out of here and head to a party where my aunt, uncle and cousins from out of town are at.  I can’t wait!

Until next time!

xoxo

SAS

 

 

1 down, 49 to go

Last night I re-introduced myself to the gym.  It had been a good month since I had been – thanks to so many things getting in the way.  But after challenging myself yesterday afternoon I new I had to get started on the right foot…and so I hopped on the treadmill.

I set the timer for 50 minutes.  Half way into it I decided I would make note of how long it takes me to complete 5k.  And I would challenge myself to better that number by June 30 (the date of a mud run I’m participating in).

Here’s what I accomplished:

walk 10 minutes; jog 3 minutes; walk 7 minutes; jog 3 minutes; walk 7 minutes; jog 3 minutes; walk 7 minutes; jog 3 minutes; walk 7 minutes + turning on the treadmill again for another 2 minutes to complete my 3.1 miles.

But do you see what I see…I see 40 minutes of walking and 12 minutes of jogging (at a 4.4 mph no less!).  That’s a lot for this big body!

And it’s just the beginning!

68 days…and counting

A couple weeks ago it was planned…my first real vacation in, I can’t tell you how long.

Not true – two years ago I went up to northern Wisconsin for a week for my cousin’s wedding…I thought that was going to be a vacation, but since I was the coordinator, it was more work than vacation.

Before that, I went to Vegas for a weekend a few years before that, and that was only a whirl wind weekend so does that really count?  Do weekend jaunts count as real vacations?

The most recent vacation I would consider real would have been 8 years ago.  So I’d say I’m due for another.  And by golly, this is going to be a great one!

2 week road trip with my friend M.  We are going to drive our other friend’s grandmother (a woman we both have adopted as our own grandmother as well) back home to Florida at the end of July…and then M and I will take our time driving the east coast north towards Virginia and then changing direction to the west to head back home…for now, I know we will have 2 definite stops: Savannah, GA (one of my favorite cities and where we both have friends to visit) and Charlottesville, VA – Blenheim Vineyards we’re coming to visit you!

Any suggestions of place we must stop and see – something fun and out of the ordinary?  Charleston SC, Wilmington NC and Norfolk VA are on my wish list…but the little towns and random stops in between are what intrigue me.

Also…with this count down begun, I am challenging myself to get back on the gym wagon – I am going to work out 50 of the next 68 days!  Starting now…off to the gym I go!

xoxo

SAS

ABCs of me

A.      Age: I turned 33 last month – yet I feel, and probably still act as though I’m 28.

B.      Bed size: Queen – if my room could handle it, I would love a king sized because I just love pillows!  The more room for pillows the better – it’s just me in my queen and I have 7 pillows + a body pillow!  And yes, I use them all, I love to be surrounded by pillows.

C.      Chore you hate: Taking out the garbage is the worst! I am so lucky that my dad has it in his routine to pull the garbage and recycling cans to the street every Monday night…because while he does that he also takes the garbage from the house out too! Even when I had my own apartment and only had to take the garbage to the big dumpster I’d pile it up until I couldn’t take it any longer – what is with that.

D.      Dogs: Love ‘em!  When I moved in with my dad, following his stroke, I knew this was the opportune time for me to bring home my very first and my very own puppy to join into the mix of his two dogs!  So two years ago this month I came across this little thing:

and look at how she’s grown and changed in two years:

And here are my dad’s two – Janie

and Bailey

E.       Essential start to your day: Work days – my alarm clock.  It seems on days I have to wake up for something I can’t wake up without being woken up.  Non-work days  it’s all about the sun shining into my windows, especially now that it’s spring/summer I feel guilty wasting a nice day away.

F.       Favorite color:  My favorite color changes often – but mostly I am attracted to various shades of blue and green, but often the right shade of pink, yellow and purple are mixed in too.

G.     Gold or silver: I have always been a silver gal – I think it looks best against my skin tone, especially when I have a tan…but I am trying to add more gold/bronze/brown into the mix.

H.     Height: 5’7” – your average gal.

I.        Instruments you play: I sang in the choir (church & school) from when I was about 8-17 years old, so there’s that.  One summer when I was about 13 I decided I wanted to play the flute – that lasted probably 6 months.  And I also play(ed) the handbells on and off at the church.

J.        Job title: Sunday School Superintendent (I put that first because it sounds so official – while there isn’t much official to it, thanks to working under a control freak), Family Faith Formation Assistant and Programs Assistant…and then on the side I am a consultant (or “Outfitter” as we call them) for Initial Outfitters.

K.      Kids: Love ‘em, don’t have ‘em, used to want ‘em, not so sure they’re in my future, anymore…but we’ll see.  I’m open to it, if I ever meet the right father for them.  In the mean time,  I have my two girls – my BFF’s two daughters…they’re children enough for me at the moment!

L.       Live: Spring Grove, IL

M.    Mom’s name: Susan is my biological mother, but I had a lot of ‘moms’ in my life including: my grandmothers: Helen & Alice, and family friends including Cheryl, Gail, and Susan.

N.     Nicknames:  I care not to repeat it…it’s a complete mispronouncing of my last name.

O.     Overnight hospital stay: Other than for visiting or being the birthing coach for a friend…I had two stints in the hospital – one when I was around 4-5 years old and had my tonsils & adenoids removed – there was some excessive swelling so they kept me for a couple days.  And then about 10 years ago I threw my back out so bad I couldn’t walk and ended up staying overnight because it took a powerful dose of IV muscle relaxers and pain killers to get me able to shuffle my way from the bed to the bathroom.

P.      Pet peeves: Bad table manners and poor grammar when texing/facebooking/tweeting.  Also rude drivers, and those people who either don’t use their turn signal, forget it’s on, or put it on about a mile before they’re going to turn.

Q.     Quote from a movie:  “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” Scarlett from Gone with the Wind

R.      Right or Left handed: Right – but I’ve always been attracted to left handed guys…isn’t that strange!

S.       Siblings: none – I’m a one-and-only…my parents divorced before they had the opportunity to conceive another child – thankfully.  No half or step-siblings either…though I came close to having a few step-siblings at one point, but that didn’t pan out.

T.       Time you wake up: Work mornings between 6-6:15am – 6:30 at the latest.  Non-work mornings – lately I’ve been waking around 7am – but sometimes, if I have nothing planned for the morning or if it’s yucky weather I’ll turn on the tv and fall back asleep until later.

U.     Underwear: I am a fan, although it’s fun going commando occasionally!

V.      Vegetables you dislike: I am getting more and more adventurous when it comes to vegetables!  I haven’t really met a vegetable I dislike – except for 1.  Cooked spinach.  I cannot stand the texture of cooked spinach – and I’ll throw in any cooked leafy vegetable because I just won’t even try them.

W.   What makes you run late: Everything and nothing at all.  But really, it’s my wanting to rest before needing to start getting ready for something + my commute (I am a minimum of 40 minutes from anything).

X.      X-rays you’ve had: Feet  and back – when I was 12 I had a bad case of tendonitis in the ball of my foot…and then about 15 years ago I had my bunions removed so there were a few x-rays done then too.  And that time I was hospitalized for my back – they x-rayed my lower back to be sure there wasn’t any fractures.

Y.      Yummy food you make: I love cooking – I love making a big fancy meal, I love making a simple comfort food meal, I love baking, I love all sort of types of cooking.  But last night’s dinner – roasted asparagus, baked potato, sautéed mushrooms and grilled steak – YUM…even better, using the left over asparagus and some steak in my salad for lunch today (paired with butter lettuce, pine nuts, goat cheese and a sprinkling of dried cranberries – mmm, making my mouth water).

Z.       Zoo – favorite animal: I like the cute, small cuddly things – what I wouldn’t give to snuggle with a Koala bear – aren’t they just the sweetest looking thing!  And, I have to admit after seeing Kristen Bell’s video of her getting to visit/pet a sloth bear – my heart melted seeing that, I had no idea how cute they are!  I can also spend hours watching fish and jellyfish – they are so graceful!

So!  There you go! Now it’s your turn:

Pick a letter (or two or twenty-six) for yourself and leave your answer in the comments!  Also, if you’ve posted your own ABC on your blog, let me know!  I’d love to learn more about you.

Have a great day!

Xoxo

SAS

Weekend Update

E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D.

I left my office at 5pm yesterday and have been crossing things off my lists ever since!

I got home and my dad had already pulled out the pots from last year.  One thing checked off my list of things to do – this was just the motivation I needed to keep going…

After taking notes on how many pots and their shapes and sizes, and a rough idea of how many flowers would fit in each one I moved onto plotting out the vegetable patches…

  Left side

Right side

And then my neighbors came over for cocktails on the deck and to help figure out what other vegetable to get – plotting out the space really opens it up for more goodies!

After a few hours of Pinterest viewing (for research and inspiration – more about that later), cocktails, laughing and hanging out I said my good nights – I had a date with my DVR!  But wouldn’t you know, after such a long week I fell asleep just before the ending.  But I woke up an hour before my alarm so that gave me the perfect time to catch up and get organized for the day.

Finally I was able to cross off everything on my “Friday to-do list”!

I was in the truck and heading towards the first nursery by 8am.

2 hours later, with 3 flats, 1 tray, and about 2 dozen other goodies packed into the truck:

I headed off to stop #2 – which was a bust.  But it was on my way home so it didn’t hurt the schedule.

Stop #3 added 4 bags of potting soil, 3 bags of top soil and a whole bunch of additional flowers into the mix…

 

Last year, I planted all my pots while sitting on the driveway.  Not a great set up.  This year, when I got home, my dad had a work table set up for me!  Here’s what it looked like when I took a break:

It was hot, sunny and beautiful and I got so much done!

5 bottle of water, 4 large bags of potting soil, 120 flowers, 21 pots, numerous trips up and down later…all I have left are the vegetables, 5 misc flowers that I couldn’t squeeze into anywhere (but I will after I buy a couple more pots tomorrow – adding to my list!), and 1 flat of Impatiens to be planted and I will be done…all that will be left is to water and watch the babies grow!!

I was hoping to take a group picture of all the pots, but my dad started putting them around before I could…so I took individual pictures and somehow made this collage…

 

So much done!  But still so much to do…

Oh, and about that burst of creativity…while showing my dad some creative planting ideas my neighbor and I were pinning on Pinterest, my dad came up with this idea – using our old Weber grill as a planter!  It’s been out of commission since I moved in with a newer version (I think his was circa 1970s) so instead of trashing it, this is what I did with it…

 

Must go rest…I have work in the morning and then date number 2 with some dirt in the afternoon – I hope the weather holds out for me to get the rest of my baby plants into their new homes – I hear some thunderstorms might be heading my way…

Stay tuned for update #2

xoxo

S