Rambling....

Hey everyone!
Just a quick update here, I apologize for being so M.I.A. lately, I started my new job Wednesday and it is kind of kicking my butt! I really really like it so far, it feels so great to be working full time doing something I really like. It is a huge schedule change for me though, I work 10 hour days, 4 days a week. Then I go home, eat, shower and sleep. Hopefully my body will adjust to the new tiredness and I will get used to it and be able to get more done after work. This week, FAIL. I haven't really gotten anything done let alone make food. I need to get in a new routine, I'm sure it will just take some time. So I will be working on trying to blog more too- maybe on my breaks at work. Aside from that nothing much is really going on here. I feel totally lame not really having much to talk about today but it is what it is. 
I should update that next Saturday is my 3rd half marathon! I am excited but also nervous. I haven't gotten to give 100% to my training like I know I should have. I've done a couple long runs but at the same time getting sick twice has kicked my ass and really thrown me off. I know I will finish, but I will also be SORE and probably not in the best shape after. Thats OK. I am hitting my training hard after that, with lots of races coming up. I just really need a new routine. 
Alright, I am off to try and get stuff done! I am for sure gonna type up some fun posts this weekend and have them ready for next week. I hate to bore all of my newer readers. 


HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Any fun weekend plans?

Tuesday topics!

Happy Tuesday everyone!
First off, thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! The winner is....Sheree Hartung! Laura has contacted you! Congrats!!  I cant wait to talk with you all more and I am definitely doing another giveaway soon so stay tuned!
So I honestly don't have much to recap from my weekend, it really wasn't the best. There was good and bad moments but it was very busy and has left me in somewhat of a funk. Ugh hoping a run will pull me out of it- well see. In lieu of a weekend post, I'm linking up with Austin Family Diary for Tuesday topics for my 6 favorite things in my house!

We live in an apartment, it's small so I haven't had a ton of decorating options. So lets see...
1. Our tv. That sounds bad, we don't even use it that much but the husband bought one before he moved in here and it is one of the fancy new 3d smart TVs. It's just really fun to have to watch movies on. Our favorites are the 3d Disney Pixar ones.
2. My framed photos. They are all pretty much contained to the living room since the walls are white the photos really liven them up. I have a huge canvas print of me, the husband and our dog, as well as a canvas of me and my grandpa. We also have several sets of frames with wedding and other favorite photos. I'm very sentimental so this means a lot to me.

3. Going off of the sentimental thing, I would also have to say that I have a box of sentiments that is also pretty close to my heart. It has photos and heirloom jewelry pieces from my dad and mom. I also saved many memories from my husband and my relationship from start to now. Letters and gifts from our relationship. Eventually it would be cool to do a post just on the items in this box.
4. My owls. This probably sounds really silly but a lot of my owls were gifts from family and I think they will look really cool once we can actually display things and be organized. I cannot wait to have kitchen space, I have so many ideas! My kitchen items are truthfully my favorite but many of them have to be in storage and we don't have the room to use them :(

5. My blankets. I love a good soft cuddly blanket. I used to try and collect them, I am kind of laying off that but I really could ask for a new one each Christmas and be thrilled. Maybe I will get back into it. Again, i need places to put them. Costco seems to always have my favorite ones. I love being cold and curling up with my dog and a soft blanket.
6. I guess I would have to say the bathtub. It's crappy and it's tiny and I hate it but I love baths so much that it is still one of my favorite items based on the fact that I use it daily and a lot of apartments don't have them at all. Kitchen and bathroom are my top 2 things for a house. I can't wait to have a separate bath that I don't have to share. Someday someday, our lease ends in November so hopefully by then we have the means to rent a house. The tub I have now is good though, my husband organized it for me so that's awesome I have all my fav products and magazines right there.

Phew okay, there are my top house items. Sorry about the lack of photos- my house is a disaster area!! I have a couple ideas for posts later this week so I will try to post after work tomorrow! Have a great day!!

How was everyones weekend? What are your favorite house items?

GOOD news!

Happy Friday people! I am just stopping in for a quick post/thank you...
But first, I want to remind you that there is still time to enter the giveaway, you can do so here. There is a lot up for grabs, you don't want to miss out!!
I also wanted to tell you all a huge thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers on my post the other day about my job search. I was offered a JOB yesterday from a company that previously turned me down. It is really a life saver and will be opening a lot of doors for me. I really look forward to my future and to not feeling so desperate constantly. This will be a new change but I am excited for it and I hope I can still fit in all my running with a full time job and everything.
For all the bad luck I felt I had had with my being sick and everything, I feel like yesterday made up for. In addition to the new job, I won some free food! Well, actually I won a "ticket" to go to lunch at this amazing pizza restaurant for me and 5 friends. Hooray! This weekend I am working and waiting to hear on an exact date for next week that I start my new job! I probably won't have much of a weekend to update about so I will try to come up with a fun Monday post! Have a fab weekend!

What good luck have you had this week? Any awesome weekend plans?

Week/weekend update

Hey everyone! Welcome to all of my new readers! I am so happy to have you here and I can't wait to get to know more of you! If you haven't entered yet, there is still time to enter the huge giveaway here!
This week hasn't been the best for me. I got super sick Sunday night and I have been feeling pretty shitty ever since. Oh And to top it off I'm feeling pretty craptastic about the job search too. Another interview, another job I didn't get. I would really love it if someone would take a chance on me just once. I'm finding it really hard to not be negative and down on myself. I know that it takes time and that it's a terrible market to begin with, but then it's just making me wonder what the benefit of school was if I can't even land am entry level office job. It feels like it must be something personal. Sooo I'm trying to get over it or work through it/ not give up hope but it's hard not to have this all on my mind.
Now lemme recap my busy fricken weekend for you- Friday started with happy hour after work, we met up with some friends who were in town. It was fun we went to the arcade bar and ate yummy food. Saturday we watched out friends baby boy for a while and then went on a date night just us. My husband got me this hilarious game "cards against humanity" and it is SO much fun. You should check it out for sure. I couldn't stop laughing. It's the dirty apples to apples for screwed up minds.
Easter Sunday, ah another lovely holiday to split with families. All we ever seem to do on holidays is drive from one place to another. I guess we are prepared to expect it but still it can get annoying. So we did breakfast with the hubs family, coffee with my dad, and dinner with my mom. It all ended with me up all night sick, and I wasn't able to go to work yesterday. I am feeling a little better today, I have a horrendous cough and a sore throat but the flu symptoms are pretty much gone. I will leave you with some of the weekends pictures! 

Friday night- Dress is Kiki La Rue

Easter in my Mint Taber Top from Kiki La Rue

Baby D we watched saturday

A HUGE giveaway!

Happy Monday!!
I will be back tomorrow with a weekend racap, but I have caught the flu so today's post is going to be short but awesome! 
I am teaming up with Laura and a bunch of other amazing bloggers for Laura's 1000 follower giveaway!! We are giving away 300 dollars to J. Crew, 200 dollars to Target, and 200 dollars to Sephora!! That's 700 worth of gift cards for one very lucky reader!! Follow each of us bloggers below for chances to win!! Good luck, and Thank you all in advance for participating!!

This past week Laura from Walking in Memphis in High Heels reached 1,000 followers on her blog!  To celebrate and thank her readers, she has teamed up with some of her favorite bloggers to have a huge giveaway!  Please take a moment to show these women (and one man) some love!  One lucky reader will win a $300 gift card to J.Crew, a $200 gift card to Target and a $200 gift card to Sephora!  How amazing is that?!  You can check out each blog by clicking on the link below their name, and enter the giveaway by using the Rafflecopter below.

Abigail  ||  Ady  ||  Alicia

Andrea D  ||  Andrea M  ||  Angela

Alyssa  ||  Amy D  ||  Analisa

Ashlee  ||   Bekah  ||   Brianne

Chioma   ||   Colleen   ||   Dani

Emily  ||  Holly  ||  Jaclyn

Jaime  ||  Jason  ||  Jessica M

Jessica S  ||  Jessica T  ||  Jodi

Karri  ||  Keyona  ||  Kira 

Laura  ||  Lindsey  ||  Maria

Merchon  ||  Serena  ||  Taber 

Tasha  ||  Amanda

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My latest inspiration

Happy Wednesday!!
I normally would do my usual weekend update post, but being that I didn't do much other than work I wanted to do something different this week. I made use of my free time this weekend and read This book that Elle Noel recommended. I hadn't read in along time for fun and the only words I have to describe this book was life changing. 

Recently, I've been having trouble staying motivated with running, dieting, etc. yes these are still things that I want but I've found that I have been putting it aside a little bit. This book caused me to reevaluate what I want, why I run, and what my goals are. The author Dean talks about how, while physical capabilities help endurance running is literally mostly mental. Deans journey also started with grief, like mine. What made me a runner was my first half marathon where I fell in love with the mental challenge. I cried and smiled throughout this whole book and it forced me to look at my life as a whole. Would I give up running when we start a family? How will I make time for it? Will 26.2 be my farthest distance ever? In my reevaluation of my goals and dreams, I realized that losing weight is no longer a goal for myself for a vain reason. I want a better body for athletic purposes. I want that mental challenge. 
I want to push harder, better, continue to push the boundaries. This week I am going to be doing heavy research and developing a plan. I am going to do a runners diet and learning how to shape and tone my body to prepare for that. My new life goal is to complete one ultra marathon at some point. Maybe 50 miles, maybe 100 someday. I know I will get there, but I want to start the process now. I want to get a great athletic body for the sole purpose of running. Running is what I love and the mental challenge is part of what makes it worth it. I believe that it doesn't matter the distance, for almost All runners there is a mental strength involved. That feeling to me is better than the size pants I wear. I want to push my boundaries in hopes of the same eye opening experiences expressed in this book. Of course first and foremost I want to be a fabulous wife and mom and be able to provide for my family, but as I grow with running it is clear that my continuing this journey is a piece of that puzzle. I know I can do it. 
This book was the push I really needed to find a dream for myself. A dream that is simply for me and has nothing to do with work or family. I loved that this book spoke about how distance running is respected because you are keeping a dream alive. You are pushing yourself to extremes for the purpose of achieving a dream. I know that I like many others often get stuck in the daily grind and I know that I while I will love whatever job I end up doing permanently, I also know that that a successful career can never be enough. I hope that the start of this new journey for me will show me the passion of life that everyone has at one point or another. I believe that in finding passion in running and pushing my mental and physical boundaries will allow me to have passion in all aspects of life. 
My parents always told me to do what I love at all costs. I did that with college, getting a degree in writing and I do believe I can turn it into a job that I enjoy. What I didn't realize is that this applies to every thing in life. I love being a wife, and I know I will love being a mom, but I want a part of my journey where I can be passionate about something else. I want to feel that fiery passion about just simply living again, like really living as Dean talks about where you are truly awakened and aware of the process. I don't just want to be a person who runs only to lose weight. I want to be a badass who does it all. I finally have that feeling back where it feels as though anything is possible. Where I can have everything. What having "everything" means is different to each person. The ideas expressed in this book can apply to anything however, the biggest emphasis was to have a dream, a passion and keep it alive. Keep reaching higher, pushing harder to achieve things you want. 
Maybe I am alone on this but after reading this book I forgot what it felt like to feel that drive. I want another dream to pursue for myself, and I think I have finally found one. If you are lacking inspiration or motivation, I would highly encourage you to read Ultramarathon man. This book is applicable to anyone and has just an overall extremely empowering message. No matter what your interests/lifestyle is this is a book that will touch you. 

On a side/random note, I will tell you that I worked all weekend- literally. In my little off time, I read Dean's book and also caught up on shows and magazines. Woo-woo. Pretty exciting I know. 

This is 40, Friends, Trashy magazines and popcorn=my weekend!

Me and my niece Sunday Night

MY cuddle buddy in the absence of my husband!

Me, heading to Barnes and Noble

OOTD- in snow weather BOO

Has anyone else read UltraMarathon Man? What are your life goals and passions?

Linkup!

So I have a post ready to put out about my weekend, but I'm going to wait to post it and link up with some of the people I most want to meet, Holly and Jake again today!

1. If calories didn't count I would eat... French fries and Mac and cheese. Like gourmet Mac and cheese. And cheese fondue. Basically I would eat crap all the time.
2. On my prom night... I didn't go to prom! I am really shy and no one ever asked me. I've never been to a school dance.
3. When I go to the store I always buy... Probably chicken or eggs. I don't go to the store all that often though.
4. Family functions typically.... Don't function!! Hello dysfunction junction. We have too many family situations to even have one summary of what a family function is.
5. I think my blog readers... Are awesome and badass. I love getting to know new people and finding their blogs from them finding mine.
6. I'd much rather be... Rich! Haha or just not stressing about money all the time.
7. I have an obsession with... Justin timberlake duh! Also Dean Karnazes.
8. My work friends... I don't have any yet as I am not working a "real" job.
9. When I created my Facebook account... I used it to spy on people! Still do! I am nosey and like creepin on people's pictures and drama!
10. My least favorite word is... No. Just kidding. I don't have a word I hate.
11. I really don't remember... How to flirt!
12. Justin Bieber... Isn't the right justin! I only like the JT.

There you have it! A little more insight into me! Have a great Tuesday!