Whoo's in my kitchen

Ah Thursday! This week has been really mellow for me, that's a great thing since I haven't felt so great. After my post yesterday I have to follow through with my "variety" idea. One of the things I have wanted to show you is my owl obsession. I thought about doing a tour of my apartment so you could see the full extent of my owl crap but then I realized no one wants to see an apartment that's probably as big/small to me as their bedroom. Instead, I will take pictures of my favorite home/owl items and post them. My kitchen accessories are probably my favorite because I have so many of them that are owl themed. 

This is the view of the entire kitchen

Owl light and decoration

Antique owl cookie jar from my mother-in-law

Owl wine and bottle opener

Owl decor, salt and pepper, and measuring cups

My favorite accessory ever, a PINK kitchen aid and another antique cookie jar

Anthropologie owl jar from my mom for my bridal shower

Hand embroidered kitchen towels, also a shower gift

Owl measuring spoons

There you have it! Some of my favorite accessories! What do you love in your kitchen? I think I am starting to love cookie jars hahah! These are just my kitchen owls, but I'll probably show you all the rest of my owl things later on here. Happy Thursday!!

A piece of me

It's Wednesday people, the week is almost done! Unfortunately for me, I've got ANOTHER freakin cold! I've been getting terrible sinus colds where my eyes water and I can't breathe and sneeze constantly. I went up until January without getting sick and I've been sick 3 times since then. WTF?!! The worst part is that it has me feeling so tired, after my 9 mile run Sunday I just haven't had any energy. I went for an uphill hike on Monday, but yesterday I didn't workout at all. I have been eating pretty well though.
 I've been thinking about this blog recently and I started it right after I ran my first half marathon, when I was just getting into running. I wanted to blog because I had gotten really into reading other blogs. I still am really into other blogs but being a writer I thought I should start my own. My journey at that time was about running, weight loss, etc but as time goes on I am finding that I want to expand what I write about on here. Running has become a part of my identity, it's part of what allows me "me" time where I am just me. When I run I am not a wife, daughter, friend, etc. I am just me alone with my thoughts. Running makes me feel empowered because even though I am not the fastest or a skinny runner, I alone am keeping my body going through a half and eventually a full marathon. I need something to keep a piece of myself just mine. Running accomplishes that, but so does writing and blogging. That being said, running is only a piece of who I am. Why should I devote a whole blog to one piece of me? I will be starting to include a bigger variety of topics, so that you can get to know me and so that I can document who I am throughout my life. Of course I will still blog about running but probably less often. I hope that eventually this blog will follow me into motherhood when we decide to take that step. 
I feel like often times my posts, especially those about running come off really positive, like its easy. It most certainly isn't though, and I don't typically post my times, etc on here because I am proud no matter what the number is. I am proud of running a 12 minute mile and I don't care if that doesn't improve because I know that I am giving it all that I have. I do want to lose a few lbs but I will tell you that it doesn't control my life. Being a good wife and family/friend member plus taking care of myself emotionally are more important. I want to share my humanity with all of you readers more frequently. I want to share with you that it took me 3 hours 40 minutes to finish my first half and that the time doesn't matter. Finishing a fucking half marathon at all is a huge accomplishment. I apologize for the rambling but I just really felt like sharing my thoughts with you all.  I truly love each and very comment and all of your support, I hope that you will all continue to follow me on my journey! 

Now for a few pictures...

Doin my thing at work with this little cutie and my no make-up face

A lot of pictures like this have been taken because I have been snuggling this guy while I am sick

Leaving the gym after KILLIN leg day!

Do you all have any questions/ ideas of something you want me to address on the blog?? I would love to do a Q & A!

Have a fab Wednesday!!

A winner & weekend update!

Happy Monday! Warning this is a longer post!
First, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway! I am so happy to have found so many new friends and followers from this. I do plan on responding to all your sweet comments soon, things have just been crazy here. I had a blast doing this giveaway, I am definitely going to do this more often. I think my new goal is to do one per month so be sure to come back! That way it will give me time to think of themes and such so I'm not always giving just gift cards. I've already gotten a lot of ideas that I think you all would love!

And the winner of my first giveaway is... Melissa! Congratulations Melissa!

Now I had a pretty busy weekend that I need to recap. Friday we laid low for the most part. We went out to dinner and then home and watched TV. We were supposed to see a band at this bar we like but the band we were hoping to see had to reschedule which worked out well since I had to be up early Saturday. I got up bright and early Saturday pepped up for my 10 mile run, but looked outside to find ice! Boo. 2 inches of snow and frozen rain which isn't safe for running uphill and on trails. So I still got to hear an amazing, inspirational guest speaker at the coaching session but wasn't able to do the group run. Our running group brought in a runner who is 66 and has run all 35 of the Robie Creek races so he Gave us running advice and told his amazing running journey I might do a post on his speech later. I am a secret Nerd and hope i can snap a picture with him on race day this year. Instead of running saturday I headed out after the crap melted on Sunday morning and hit 9 miles. I've got a lot of work ahead of me but I can't wait to see what kind of improvements I can make in the next 7 weeks. Running uphill really does impact your time and on top of that the race day weather will be around 80-85 degrees so that's another monster I have to be ready for. I averaged around a 12:30 mile, I'm usually around an 11 minute mile. Not too bad. I am working on slow and steady and letting the route lead me when I run and walk. Really practicing and feeling out the course for when to push it hard and when to walk it out. I know I can finish the race but I hope my training will show me some improvements on race day too. I even got my hubby out for the run too! He will probably train with me sometimes, since he is racing too but he has been a natural runner and his baseline is still really fast without training. The hubs and I hit a few happy hours Saturday evening and then watched movies. 
Sunday after our run we watched Argo in preparation for the oscars. I'm glad we watched it I really liked that story it was a good movie. I was really happy with the Oscar results this year, my pick django unchained won a few awards and Argo (my second choice) won some too! I felt like all of the winners were the right ones for that category. Now I am ready to crash but its only Monday!! Ugh. I've got a lot of work ahead of me this week but I can't wait to get to it! I'm looking into a "runners diet" and what the options are so I think me and the hubs might try a more training oriented diet. Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!!



What did you think of the oscars? How was your weekend?

Training and Throwback Thursday!

Hello Everyone!
It's Thursday, thank goodness it is almost the weekend again! I have a 10 mile training run to complete, some errands to do and hopefully some fun thrown in too! I haven't talked about my plan as far as training/running goes in a while, I have been keeping up on running but I have just had a lot of other things I wanted to talk about too! Since I joined the running group, they plan your training schedule out. I mentioned before that I had wanted to try the Advocare cleanse, and I still do but realistically I don't think it would be a good idea until I finish all these races/training. Recently, I have really been having trouble fueling myself properly before runs or strength training. I do eat a lot of lean meat and healthy foods, but if I workout in the morning then I have only eaten about 1-2 of my daily meals and then I get shakey and feel like passing out because I am burning way more than I have in me. This is something I am trying to get better about, but since I am extra sensitive to eating and healthy carbs are what tend to help me have energy I just can't do that strict of a meal plan on the cleanse while training. Am I the only one with this problem?? I hate eating in the morning so I eat really light then work hard but I end up not working my hardest because I am so low on fuel. So this is my number one focus right now is getting on track with fueling during training. I am researching it and am thinking of trying a more runner specific diet plan and seeing how that helps. I have a half in April, May, AND June that I am registered for and then a marathon to train for in October. So its pretty much a given that running will be my focus for a while. 
Now for my training schedule... This is what my Saturday long runs will look like:
2/23- 10 miles
3/2- 8 miles
3/9- 11 miles
3/16- 8 miles
3/23- 12 miles
3/30- 8 miles
4/6- 13 miles
4/13- 6 miles
4/20 HALF MARATHON!
The biggest challenge will be the hills in this half. They are intense. I'm nervous, but I know I can do it. I'll be doing varied short runs 2-3 times during the week and strength training 3 days a week too. I am REALLY focusing on legs and core to help my running.


Here's a couple Throwback Thursday pictures to send you off with! Have a great day!!

The hubby and I when we were dating. Fall 2010

Our wedding day! June 2012

I'm the girl who...

Happy Hump Day!
Welcome to all my new followers here from the giveaway! Thanks for the support on my first official giveaway! There is still time to enter, since I will post the winner on Monday morning. For those of you who are newer here I thought I would do a little about me post 
today. I typically write about running, and normal life happenings but today (a day late) I am linking up with Running in Stilettos! 

- Watches every crappy reality TV show made. (Yes I am addicted to all shows Kardashian) I may have also watched some Honey Boo Boo for the sake of laughing. 

- Also looks forward to my US weekly magazine every Saturday afternoon.

- Takes a bath every day, its my "me" time and helps me zone out.

-Refuses to use hair conditioner even though my hair is ratty because I hate how it feels greasy.

- Can never get on a sleep schedule, hello up all night and sleeping in as often as possible.

- Makes up crazy songs and nicknames about my dog (Fenix the chihuahua)

- Is still a diehard Justin Timberlake fan even though its not the 90s anymore. 

- Sings out loud all the time, everywhere unless there is someone around. I lipsync when I run. 

- Has crazy baby fever. I love love love babies. 

- Takes terrible care of cleaning out my car. It has been on my to-do list for MONTHS and I am just too lazy so I push it off. 

- Still watches Friends re-runs pretty much nightly. BEST SHOW EVER. 

- Loves themes/holidays, though I usually don't do anything for a lot of them I still think they are fun. 

Just a few random fun facts about me, a good break from the normal routine posts. I will be back tomorrow with an update about my new training program. I have GOT to get better at taking pictures for this blog, I am the worst and always forget! Have a great Wednesday! 

My first giveaway!

Hey everyone!
You probably read yesterday that I was trying to get an entry into a race that is VERY competitive. It usually sells out in about 10 minutes. I was on the computer at 11:55 sharp, and with some good luck I was able to get my entry! My hubby is also most likely going to run with me, but we had some issues with his registration so hopefully we can figure that out today. I am SO excited to get to run this race! Now for 2 months of training! I will do another post on my training later this week... But first as promised, I am doing my first giveaway today since I hit 30 followers! I am giving away a $25 Target gift card, because everyone has one in their location and Target is amazing. Now, go enter and share this giveaway! Good luck! Winner will be announced Monday the 24th in the morning on the blog, but I'll also email the winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Hope you are having a fabulous week so far!

Weekend update

Happy Monday all my awesome followers!

Man this weekend was so much fun but so busy. As I mentioned before , Friday was the hubby and my valentines day celebration. He had a surprised planned and when I got home he had completely cleaned and rearranged our apartment. We live in a small-ish 2 bedroom apartment and since the wedding and all the gifts/stuff it brought to us we ran out of room. We had a "spare" bedroom that you literally couldn't step into. It had become this storage room where we would through anything we didn't want cluttering the living area or our room. We also had a storage unit that came with the apartment but given that my husband moved from Kentucky that little thing got pretty damn bad too. My hubby cleaned and organized our storage unit, emptied out and boxed up our spare bedroom then added those organized boxes to the storage unit, then he made me a pantry meaning a shelving system put in the spare bedroom and now I have 3 free cupboards in my kitchen! Yay for finally being organized and getting rid of the "Tetris" that we called our cupboards. He also cleaned the kitchen and set up one of my old mini TVs in there so I can watch DVDs while I cook. He also fixed our bathroom and made me an organized bath station since I take a bath every day. I have my own bath mat and towel just for me. Finally, I got flowers from our wedding florist. The best thing about it was that I would NEVER ask him to do that for me, I always assumed someday when we both had a full day off we'd do it together. He also showed me that he listened to my little complaints and changed it for me. It was a really thoughtful idea and I am finally loving our apartment. We went out to dinner that night, then caught up on TV shows. It was a great valentines day, I just feel bad because I only got him something small. I got him the James Bond sky fall DVD, and tickets to the band fun. Concert in August. I'm also planning on getting him some bourbon but haven't gotten time to hit the store when it was open. I am thinking about planning a surprise night out for him too.

Saturday we got up, I worked for a couple hours then we ran errands and came home to watch two movies. We rented "flight" and also watched the "skyfall" movie. "Flight" was good but not the ending I wanted. Then Sunday we hit brunch and then went and saw the movie "silver lining playbook" which was cute and funny. I'm getting ready for the oscars next weekend by seeing all these movies. My vote is still on django but I am excited to watch!

Today I am back at work which is why I typically post later in the morning or day. I'm anxious for noon here because Robie Creek registration opens and the race will be on to see if I can get in. We'll see. There are a couple other options if I don't make it but cross your fingers! I'm back on the clean eating again and am considering doing the advocare cleanse. Ugh just don't know if I can give all that up for 10 days hahaha.

Finally, be ready for tomorrow because I am giving away a $25 Target gift card. I would've done it today but I'm going to use rafflecopter and haven't set up my account yet. So please come back tomorrow and pass the word along!

My new pantry area

 



My pink roses

Bath area

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday

It's Friday! Finally, this week has been so long. Well they all seem to be long as of lately. I've had a pretty average week as far as eating and working out goes. I don't think I lost but I think I'm maintaining and that's ok for now. I haven't had a cheat day this week, i am saving it for tonight. My hubby and I are celebrating valentines today! I know a lot of people hate valentines day, but I love it. I always have even when I was a kid. I am obsessed with pink, hearts, and cute crap so you can see it would be a perfect fit for me. My mom always had a tradition for me as a kid where the "valentine queen" would come and bring me a valentine gift kinda like the Easter bunny. It was so fun and it was always cute stuff like candy and cookies or maybe new pjs. Last year was my first valentines day with a date and my first valentines day that my husband and I could share in person (we were long distance for 2 years) so it was pretty awesome. He handmade me a bunch of owl stuff, have me a Justin timeberlake DVD (yummy) and we went to dinner and stayed in a hotel. This year, we both had work in the evening so we pushed off the celebration until today. He has a surprise planned and we will hit dinner out tonight. I will let you all know on Monday what we gave each other! Also, something pretty awesome happened yesterday. I won a giveaway for the first time ever! This time it was from a local restaurant. On Facebook they were giving away dinner for two for the best love story. I didn't think I even had a shot but what do you know I won! We love going out so it was the perfect win too! I was pretty thrilled to win and on valentines day too! Il be getting in a workout before we go out tonight and tomorrow I have a 9 mile run with the group I joined. Il have to post about that training schedule on Monday!

Finally, I wasn't able to get a picture but wanted to link up with my favorite blogger Holly for the what's in my fridge linkup. I have some staple items you will always find in there.
-leftovers ( we ALWAYS have leftovers of some kind in there. Right now it's dip and whole wheat pasta. We are horrible about eating leftovers because there's only two of us a recipe lasts 3-4 days)
-fat free vanilla yogurt ( I like yoplait)
- water! (We have a Brita filter and also a few bottles)
- beer (for the hubs, I hate it)
-ketchup, and other condiments (my husband eats way to many hot dogs! Yuck!!)
-hot dogs (ew again)
-wheat tortillas ( we have skinny taco night once a week)
- cheese
- lettuce
-salad dressing (the only kind I like is a bolthouse brand ceasar Parmesan yogurt. It's skinny in calories and fat too!)
- sometimes chicken

Our fridge is pretty barren. We don't have butter or some of the usual staples because if its not there I won't be able to use it! We eat a lot of meat so it typically doesn't stay in the fridge. The only thing we keep in our freezer is ice and frozen meat. I don't have much time or patience for trying new recipes, so I make the same 4-5 meals every week. I'm sure it's boring for my husband but hey it works! I am so picky so our fridge is extremely boring. Il try to add a photo after work today! Happy Friday everyone! I've got a lot of great posts planned for next week so come back!



How was your week? Are you a valentines fan? What'd you do to celebrate or not?

An overall update

Hey everyone!
Welcome to my new followers! So excited to have you here, and since I passed 30 followers I am going to be doing a giveaway! I know the items I am going to giveaway but I have to purchase them so it will probably be up here on Monday! I will be heading out doing some shopping tomorrow. Yay!
Now for a running update last weekend I went out and tried a local running group in my area, I REALLY needed a training plan and I have been having the hardest time training hills in my area because I don't feel comfortable going alone. If I get in to registration on Monday, I will be running the Robie Creek half marathon- which is noted as one of the hardest races in the Northwest. The running group I tried was hitting 8 miles up the route that will be in the half so I went out with them. Since I was a newbie the coaches wanted to talk to me, which meant I was walking quite a bit (I SUCK at multitasking while running) so I did 5 miles not 8. I really loved the group and ended up joining. The great thing about it is that they have 4 seasoned runners who are coaches and can help you train and answer questions. You can go at your own pace but it is also great because you can meet people and it allows me to train and be safe! No going into the mountains alone anymore! I am anxious and really hope I am able to get registered for that half- last year it sold out in 7 minutes!

In other news I have still been insanely busy, I worked tons last week and have quite a bit of work this week. I am also working on my resume and all that fun stuff now that I have my degree. I haven't really taken many pictures for the blog lately, probably because I have been working 80 percent of the time and sleeping/running around the other left over time. I am going to try my best to keep on top of the updates this week! I am actually looking forward to Friday because I do not have to work this weekend yay! I apologize to you all for being sort of boring lately I have zero energy. Ok, I am out to head to work!




How is everyone's week going? What do you want me to put in the giveaway? 

I'm still here, and back with a leg workout!

Hey everyone!
So I have been horrible about writing this week, I have been working and crazy busy every day! I am happy though because its good to be busy and I have worked out everyday this week too. Monday I did arms and cardio, Tuesday I did a super intense leg day, Wednesday I ran outside (hooray for warmer weather! I saw the sun!) and yesterday I did the stairs and some chest exercises. Today is my off day because I work 9-330 and again at 530. So the gym will be closed. Saturday I am trying a new group to run with. I really hope I like it, they are training for Robie Creek a half marathon in boise and if it goes well I will join them. It's a little tough to train for that half right now alone because it requires working with hills and to access those areas they are a little remote. I just feel uneasy venturing off that far on my own. Plus, it would be awesome to meet some running friends!
I also wanted to share my leg workout from Tuesday with you all! It worked me super hard and I was sore the next day. I changed it up this week and tried a few new moves. They were really fun! If you want a killer leg workout try this routine!

Here is the hip exercise I stole from Mama Laughlin, and Here is SkinnyMeg's leg/back exercise. Yes, I really write this down BEFORE I go to the gym. I have heard of people talking about all women's gyms or gyms that have women's only areas but I am not that fortunate. I am lucky enough to have a gym membership because I am on a family plan so it is only 15/month for me. I felt that was affordable especially since they offer a lot of group classes. I don't know anyone at my gym and always go alone and I found myself stumbling and feeling intimidated when I didn't write my exercises down. I felt like all the big buff guys who were showing off were hogging all the machines and judging me. They probably aren't BUT I still felt stupid. I always choose an area of my body to work and then google exercises or steal them from you guys! Il watch a video of how to do it and then plan out my exercises so I can be confident with what I'm going to do. This helps tremendously and allows me to get through a workout in about 45 minutes. If there's a move I'm still unsure of, il keep the video up on my phone and refer to it while I'm doing the exercise so I don't just give up or not attempt it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt intimidated at the gym so I just wanted to show you what I do to help me with that! I hope you all are having a fabulous Friday!

Any big weekend plans? What are your favorite leg moves? Anyone else get intimidated at the gym?

Weekend? What weekend?

Hey everyone!
I usually have a weekend update to post for you all, but I worked so much this weekend that it doesn't feel like I even got a weekend. It's Monday and I need a weekend to recover from working the whole time. On Friday I worked from 10 am to 10 pm, which wasn't too late so it wasn't terrible but of course I came down with some kind of sinus cold/possible allergies and I could hardly breathe plus felt more run down than usual. Saturday we got up and laid low for the afternoon before heading to my uncles to celebrate his birthday. I helped make chicken artichoke fettuccine and I only had a small taste. I had to leave the party early to go to work at 9 pm and was there until after 3 am! Omg! I am so old lady style now I honestly can't even believe there are people who enjoy being out that late. I couldn't even hold my eyes open and while I tried to get some sleep being there, I just couldn't get totally relaxed. I finally got to my house at 3:30 or so and that is just way too late to be going to sleep! Ugh. So Sunday morning I couldn't lay in bed all day like I wanted because we had to go get our taxes done. Luckily it was pretty simple and didn't take too long. We made some guacamole for the Super Bowl, and we went to my brothers to watch the game. My niece and nephew were there so I played with them and watched hotel Transylvania the kids movie instead of the game. I'm fairly certain I am the only person who doesn't care about the Super Bowl or even the half time show. I could really pass on beyonce I have never been a huge fan, I am waiting for Justin Timberlake at the Grammys! I am back at work already again today and while the good news about being busy is that I didn't eat horribly this weekend. I didn't do as good as I'd like but I didn't go all out crazy. The only time I even had my champagne was during the Super Bowl. The schedule this weekend wasn't allowing for the gym or running, but I am going back to it today. I'm planning on hitting some arms and cardio! Hope you all had a great weekend!

What did you do for the Super Bowl? Is anyone else ready for the weekend again already?