Admin Pro Day

First a shout out to Kat whose birthday is today. Happy Birthday, my dear! Hope it's a great one!

So sometimes you just forget how great you have it. I think a lot of people I work with forget just how great things are where we are. We have a good job, a steady job, with great hours, great benefits and awesome people to work with and for. But we've been doing it so long, we forget all that.

This week is Administrative Professionals Week (or day - yesterday, I think or is it really today?). I thought about this briefly last week when I heard an ad for flowers and I remembered how my dad would always buy mom flowers this week because she took care of all the bills and shopping and stuff at home.

Well, today Boss1 came into my office with an envelope and said, "Happy Admin Pro day!" I was shocked, "That's today?" I was amazed. He gave me a really nice card and an iTunes gift card with the note, "Find some motivating music for your marathon training." Ahhh...a guy who gets me. Despite the fact he doesn't understand it, at least he's supporting my love of marathoning. :) Yay!

Then before I left for lunch, Boss2 gave me his gift - a 6-pack of Guinness! Another man who understands me! His concern, "I don't know when you can drink it" since I'm on this FXB program. I said, "Sundays!" He laughed and said, "There you go, you can make up for lost time this Sunday!" Not that I'll drink all at once, but it's nice anyway.

It's so great to have bosses who appreciate you. And really I am blessed. These two men are fabulous to work with/for. We laugh, we joke, we are serious when need be, and we work really well together. I hope we can continue this for a long time to come.

Easter 2011

So I realized that I haven't posted pictures of anything in awhile, so here you go.

Easter 2011 was held at our house. We had invited my mom and YOB as well, but they ended up having other plans. So we had a lot of food for three people. MS's mom came over so that was nice.

Below is a pic of me and MS's mom.


MS and his mom. Check out that table! Wow, I'm good. :)


My first ham! The things floating are raisins. The recipe was okay but it didn't really do much for me, so I probably won't be doing that one again.


And then the culmination of the entire meal: My homemade pumpkin pie! Crust from scratch and pumpkin from the garden. Nothing from a can here. :)


Happy Easter everyone!

SUAR

Shut Up and Run! Hello! Those are words of wisdom.

And SUARis offering up a giveaway! Check it out! Click on the link! :)

By the way, Sporty Girl Jewelry is awesome. :)

Back to back

My back has been tweaked beyond belief (well, maybe not beyond belief, but it hurts and I'm a wimp) since Sunday. I can't for the life of me figure out what I did (wow, I exaggerate a lot here, don't I?). MS keeps telling me I "overdid" it last week with my workouts. I don't know why 9 workouts in 7 days would be "overdoing" it but he seems to think so. I especially don't know why it would be that way when I felt GREAT during every single one of them.

So what caused this? I don't know, but I'm annoyed. I haven't ran since Saturday and I'm getting antsy. Not only am I antsy because I haven't ran, but I have a half marathon coming and I haven't been doing a lot of running, only FXB. (Yes, I decided to switch to the half.)

But I'm also antsy because when I can't workout I get somewhat bored. And when I'm bored, I eat. And I track my food so my caloric intake this week has been outragous. Well, it's been about 1700 calories the last two days which probably isn't bad, but when I'm supposed to only eat 1300 (to drop some pounds) and I had been averaging around 1700 WITH exercise, I'm not a happy camper. I feel heavy. I feel flabby. I feel ick.

So I'm trying to up my protein today to "fill me up". But that only works so well because I can't eat the entire can of Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Cinnamon Brown Sugar Almonds because there's too much fat in them. I bought some jerky this afternoon, but when I bit down on the first piece I about knocked my jaw loose (it hurts now too). And then I bought gum to distract me from being hungry by keeping my jaw busy, but that just gets annoying and also makes my jaw tired.

Wow, I'm a whiner today. But Man, I'm annoyed. And hungry. And really wanting popcorn right now, but "no popcorn, eat cheese" keeps echoing in my head.

My other problem (I might as well lay it all out here since I'm already whining) is that 3 1/2 weeks ago when I started FXB they encouraged us to drink 80oz of water a day. I'm up to over a gallon (plus tea if I have that for lunch and milk for dinner). My new hobby is peeing and, while 3 weeks ago it did this, it doesn't keep me full anymore. I used to be full because I was drinking so much water, but now I'm still hungry.

I hate being hungry. I hate not being able to work out (especially when I want to because I don't always want to). I'm crabby. Can you tell?

Multiple thoughts

I have had 6 or 7 posts running through my head today, and for the life of me I can't really remember them now...as usual. It's sad because I know at the time they were really good.

I've been reading Kristin Armstrong's book Mile Markers. It's been eye-opening and motivating. She had a chapter about peace and passion (or maybe they were two chapters...I need to do some re-reading). But finding your passion can bring you peace and often what you do for a job isn't necessarily what brings you peace. For her, she knits and bakes and runs.

I'm very similar in that aspect. I haven't baked in a very long time and I do miss it. I know for my honey I can't bake during the winter, or at least unless he's working out on a regular basis (which really isn't during the winter). But I do miss it. I miss baking...it was often where I'd find my peace.

So I'm working to restructure my life a little. I miss writing. I need to work on that more and make a point to write more. I have a couple different blogs (4) so I should be able to find something to write somewhere. But I also wonder if I shouldn't work on a book of some sort.

I just have to find my story.

Just about

Up until yesterday I was having a great weekend. Friday night I had the best kickboxing class yet. Dave pushed us on a circuit-like training. I paired up with a FIT member and she said I was pushing her. Ha! It was great. When she was on the bag, I was at the mirror doing squats or crunches or mountain climbers. Then on the bag I was just kickin' it hard. It was great.

My back started to feel a little tweaked but not bad the next morning. I went to resistance training - upper body - at a class that was so packed I could barely find room to do what was required. But I made it through. Then I headed to our running store for a great 5K with a friend from DM. That basically killed the morning.

Then MS and I went to see "The King's Speech" which was awesome. I wasn't sure MS would like it but he seemed to enjoy it. It probably wouldn't have been his first choice (or any choice) but I'm glad he agreed to see it. It was great.

Sunday, though, is when my back really started to hurt. We went to church and came home in the rain. Our road is ripped up to hell because of the recent onslaught of precipitation, so I opted to take a rest day and not run. In some ways that was a good idea, in others not so much since my back really started to hurt and I didn't get a run in today either.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon, I met up with Jake & Ava and YOB to paint ceramic eggs like we did last year. The kids seemed pretty hyper and YOB looked really tired. We had a good time, though. The bad thing is the eggs won't be ready until Monday, which kind of defeats the purpose. Last year they pushed to have them done at least by the day before Easter, but not this year (I might check anyway). At one point though, I was getting up from my chair to get Ava a paper towel and I could barely walk. Oh, not good.

MS and I went out to eat at the fancy Italian restaurant last night. I had a Groupon, so at least it wasn't too bad in cost. The food was okay, but I don't know that we'd go back again. It was nice to go out though. When we got home, MS drew me an Epsom salt bath, which was sweet. I got to have a hot bath and read my book. Awesomeness.

Today my back has not gotten much better. I really wanted to go in and run on the treadmill (though the weather wasn't too bad, so I could have run outside), but I didn't want to risk it. Heating pad, extra pillows on the couch so I'm sitting upright instead of the relaxed state we normally are in, and laundry - that was my day. I took another bubble bath tonight just for some heat on the bath. And I read again (I miss reading).

I'm hoping tomorrow my back will feel better. I missed kickboxing tonight because of it. Tomorrow is resistance bands, but maybe if it feels okay I can get on the treadmill at some point.

I'm mildly crabby. I don't like feeling like this. Hopefully it's temporary.

Great weekend!

Finally! A weekend where I got to do fun things! It has been great!!!

Friday night I had a great night of kickboxing, which led me to be very tired and I overslept my class Saturday AM. I didn't mind. I was going to hang out with Emily all day, so it was worth it.

Emily and I were busy! We ran a couple errands, got some yummy cupcakes (which I couldn't eat until Sunday), went to the Butterfly House and saw the new exhibit of fish, looked at oodles of toys, painted pottery, saw a cake decorating contest, ate fish at Applebees (she likes shrimp and I love their Cajun tilapia), and then to B&N to look at books (my favorite!). I had thought we could go to a movie and see Gnomeo & Juliet since I hadn't seen it yet, and she hadn't either, but she wanted to hang with her parents while they ran errands instead. Of course I think when she realized they weren't going to be buying her toys (like I didn't) that maybe the movie would have been a better idea. But by then I was moving on to my next set of plans. :) It was still a great day though. I love spending time with her and luckily she likes to spend time with me too.

Sunday after church (Yes, E, I went to church - with MS even) I went for a 5.5 mile run while MS studied. It was such a great morning - grey and cool - perfect for running. We cleaned up when I got back and went to Em's for her birthday party. She turns 11 today but since it's a Monday we celebrated yesterday. Such a fun time! YOB was there with his kids, Doreen (one of Em's aunts) brought her grandson Noah who is super cute, and Kristi (Em's cousin) had her daughter there. So many kids - and then adults too. :) I'm glad her party was on Funday Sunday so I could enjoy the food. My sis makes a good spread for parties - pork sandwiches (and pork is not my favorite, but her's is pretty good), salad, and of course, Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake. :) Mmmm. Doreen and I get along really well too. It's funny how I get along with older adults so well. But that's another blog for another time.

MS and I came home after the party and I had a great bonus. I got to READ! Seriously, straight up reading for fun! MS wanted to finish one of his chapters he was studying so I read my book. I'm currently reading Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong. I haven't had much time lately to just relax and indulge in one of my favorite hobbies, so I was really thankful for this time. Then MS and I had a pizza (Funday Sunday tradition, it seems) and watched a movie.

Today has been great. I slept in until 7:30! Craziness! I'm sure part of that is from the insult of sugar to my body yesterday, but I didn't care. I vegged for awhile then went for a short 3.5 mile run. MS called to see if I'd come see the AL place in our town. We checked it out and, in my opinion, it's a great option for his Mom. We'll just have to get in. She's on a waiting list now, but hopefully in the next month or so. And now I'm just finishing watching Hairspray (a former Monday tradition resurfacing), washing clothes and cleaning. I love these days. It's restoring faith in humanity - or at least restoring some resemblance of the woman I am in myself. :)

Now I'm debating if I should watch Six Feet Under or Friends or something else. :) I do love that we have a DVD player that's working again. And with MS out running his errands I can do what I need to do. :) Now if only I could bake...

Week 2 begins

I completed week 1 of the FXB challenge and it went pretty well, I'd say. I made it to 4 of the 6 classes (one being sick and the other work conflict), so that made me glad. I do enjoy the kickboxing - it's a nice way to work off some aggravation. The resistance bands are good too, and while I hate them, I know they'll be beneficial in time too.

So now we're into April. It will be a good month. I just need to keep my head up and my feet moving. If I slow I start to think too much and that's just a set up for dysfunction. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get some good runs in soon. I'm missing it.