I'm still ticking!

Apparently I've just turned into a bad blogger.  I can't say for sure I will get back to my regular blogging self anytime in the next century, but what I can do is blog when it's feasible and not blog when it isn't.  Sounds fair to me!

Since we last parted ways...

I've suffered the loss of a friend.  My friend was Friday Night Lights.  I watched all 5 seasons on Netflix and then...felt empty.  For 5 seasons I lived in Dillon,TX.  For 5 seasons I "cared" about football and the lives of my many "friends".  For 5 seasons, I got all caught up in the drama and then....nothing.  Empty.  I'm trying to replace my friend, but so far nothing has hooked me yet.  I will let you know if/when that changes.

Since we last parted ways...

I've traveled to Huntington Beach, CA to visit my brother and sister-in-law.  I arrived on Friday, 2/3.  Eddie took me to our Surf City Marathon Expo where I stocked up on all sorts of goodies.  Have you ever tried the Halo brand sweat bands?  OMG!  I have never in my life worn a sweat band that truly did not allow sweat to drip in my eyes.  Best. Sweat Band. Ever.  I also purchased a visor with a built in sweat band, but I've yet to try it out.  I then purchased a pair of Experia Cool Max PINK socks which are awesome!  We all know how much I enjoy NUUN, so I bought a few cylinders of various flavors to tide me over.  Wouldn't you know I would forget my SPIbelt?  No worries...I bought a bigger one at this Expo which totally holds everything I need - including my cell phone!  =)  Yes, I totally dropped a small fortune, but it was well worth it!

After the Expo, we headed to Slater's 50/50 - Burgers by Design.  Eddie had been telling me about this place for quite some time.  He wanted us to be bold and daring and try the Peanut Butter and Jellousy.  We had amazing service and we were even encouraged to each pick out a burger and then they would split both burgers for us so we could each have half of the other's burger.  We decided on the PB&J burger (pb, strawberry jelly, bacon, burger on a honey wheat bun) and the special of the month, the Pizza Burger (1/2 beef 1/2 Italian sausage burger, fried cheese sticks, red pepper pizza sauce, and pepperoni on a Ciabatta roll).  Though we both enjoyed the pizza burger, we agreed the PB&J burger was the MOST AMAZING BURGER EVER!  I might have convinced him we needed to go again to experience it in all of it's glory once more before I left. 

Saturday was more or less a chill day with plenty o' carbo-loading.

Sunday was race day.  Eddie and April had never done a half before.  This was my 8th.  I was, of course, walking the race since I have not been running for almost a  year now.  I have to say that it was probably the most boring course I've ever been on.  You may recall that I did the OC Half back last May and the course, though VERY hilly, was fantastic taking us along the beach, cliffside, and through some beautiful neighborhoods.  The Surf Side City Half was a different ballgame all together.  We started on the Pacific Coast Highway (or the PCH as the cool kids call it) and with the exception of a 2 mile detour off a side road which looped back to the highway, we remained on the PCH through the finish line.  Although I did appreciate the beach scene, it wore out its welcome at the 8 mile turn around.  I will say that the runners and walkers in the race were incredibly friendly and supportive.  The staff members working the race were helpful and sweet dispositioned.

A few cool / mentionable moments.  Around mile 3, I met an older couple.  We were chatting as we walked and they told me the best experience they have ever had was walking the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer two years in a row and that they looked forward to walking it again this year.  What you don't know is that I've been listening to the advertisements for the Houston Walk on 96.5 thinking that this may be something I want to participate in.  More on this subject in another post, but needless to say, I took this as a sign I needed to walk the walk!  Near mile 4, I hit up a hydration station and disappointingly noticed they didn't have any Vitalyte available.  I knew I needed electrolytes to help stave off the calf cramps, so I asked oned of the volunteers and he said he would look for some.  I told him thanks, but not to worry about it and kept marching along.  He apparently found some and ran it over to me.  What a great guy!  Then, around mile 6, I was traipsing along and some really awesome girl who was on the other side of the highway about 4 miles ahead of me came running across the median to give me a bracelet and some words of encouragement.

Overall, I was okay with my performance.  I maintained a decent consistent pace through mile 8 and then it went completely downhill when the calf cramps blasted me around mile 9.  I had a hydration plan of only drinking the Vitalyte at all stations, but the first one didn't have any and then I was only able to find it at the second and third.  By the time I hit the 4th station, they were out.  I hit up a medic tent around mile 10.5 and got a cup of Gatorade that took me to the finish line, cramps and all. I didn't end my race listening to music, so there is no finishing song on this one.

I think it's time I buy some salt pills to take with me on my journies.  =/  Any suggestions of brands?

We pigged out on pizza Sunday evening.  I think I was trying to replenish the 2260 calories I burned during the race. 

April and I got foot massages on  Monday.  Then I headed back to Houston on Tuesday.

Wednesday was a pamper-me day.  I got a MUCH needed haircut in the morning followed by a 70 minute hot stone massage that I purchased via Living Social a long time ago.  Although the massage was relaxing, I have to say that I still prefer my deep tissue torture sessions.  ;)

Thursday, I had eye surgery...AGAIN.  6 years ago, I jumped on the lasik bandwagon.  Right before I was to have standard lasik surgery, the doctor decided he would prefer to do a procedure on me called Epilasik.  This was as a result of my astygmatism and it meant a longer recovery period.  I remember being totally miserable for about 5 days or so.  Well several months ago I noticed that my vision had changed and since I had paid for a "warrantly" of sorts on my surgery, I was entitled to free touch-ups as necessary.  I went through the whole process with Lasik Plus before they determined the procedure would be beneficial to me.  This time they decided to do PRK surgery - slightly different than Epilasik and a longer recovery period.  I wasn't able to return to work until the next Tuesday and even then...my eyes were not as they should be.  My left eye was slightly over-corrected and my right eye was lagging behind.  It made for a very unbalanced vision causing me eyestrain and glaring issues.  It has since improved, but is still not perfect.  My doctor basically told me to have patience.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.  Not only am I bad blogger, but I'm a terrible picture taker, as well.  =/

I have so much more to catch you up on, so hopefully I will get to writing another post ASAP so you can share in my family's excitement!

Three Things (x 2) Thursday

Totally random.  No pictures.  So sorry....

#1 - If a medication warns "may cause drowsiness" or *insert side-effect here*,  my body is all up on it.  In other words, I'm the worst kind of mcwimpy.

#2 - I have never ever never in my entire life pressed the infamous "snooze" button on any alarm.  I just flat out reset it for another time if it is inconvenient for me to wake up at the time of the unwelcomed interruption of my sleep.

#3 - I REFUSE to eat clam chowder.  No, I've never tried it...or even clams all by their lonesome...but the very idea grosses me out.

#4 - With the exception of Target, Z-Gallerie, and Hobby Lobby, I prefer to avoid stores and shop on-line.

#5 - I appear to be a Groupon junkie.  In under 2 weeks, I have purchased 6 Groupons.  Um...all purchases were made with the intention of pampering myself or providing me with entertainment.  I'm selfish like that...

#6 - I have an obsession with the show Gossip Girl.  I feel like a cougar for being ridiculously intrigued by one of the actors who is *only* 10 years my junior.  In 3 weeks time, I have watched all 4 1/2 seasons.  Don't judge...

Okay, that's all I can come up with.

Where in the World is KIMpossible?

I know, I know...I've pulled a disappearing act.  I'm back, though.  So that's what matters, right?

This is gonna be a hodgepodge of stuff.  Bear with me.

I know I owe y'all (and me) a checkpoint, but well...big shocker here...I haven't been quite as dedicated and diligent as I planned.  Back on the wagon, though, so I guess it can be said that at least I don't give up.  =/

My brother and sister-in-law planned a vacation to Jamaica.  A flight from Los Angeles (where they live) means a necessary lay-over.  They were able to manage an overnight one on Friday, 9/30, which allowed for my entire family to celebrate older sister Cathy's birthday.  We went to Perry's Steakhouse and had a most wonderful meal followed by this:

and maybe a little bit of:

Afterwards, Cathy opened up her presents.  My siblings went in on the gift thing with me, so we were able to get her some Brighton jewelry that she wanted and perfume.  Here is my cute packaging:

Oh and in other news, I chopped off all my hair.

I decided this hairstyle looks better straight than curly, so I've been straightening it daily.  There is the fast way - round brush - and then there is the slow way - Chi.  Nine times out of 10, I do it the fast way.

Oh...and I'm embarrassed to say I blew off my first race.  I did not end up doing the Beach Palooza 5K obstacle course on 9/24.  I woke up that morning and was just not feeling it....the drive all the way to Galveston by myself...the fact that the only friend I knew who was racing it had a time slot a couple of hours before mine...and finally that I want to be able to run a 5K outright again before I sign up for another. 

I have my See Jane Run half coming up on Sunday.  My training has, of course, not been as I had hoped for, but I am still excited.  I will be leaving on Friday after work to enjoy a nice leisurely Saturday meeting up with friends from days gone by (college) and perhaps even a blogger meet-up later that day.  My father's birthday is also on Sunday, so I will high tail it home after my race to celebrate with my family.

I had some Chinese food at family lunch and this was my fortune:

Can I substitute "dogs" in place of "children" since I don't have kiddos yet?  No?  That's okay cuz I don't think I would ever call my dogs the most wonderful - haha!  I do love them dearly, though.

This past Saturday, we all ended up hanging out at my parent's house - swimming, eating, and watching the dogs play.  On Sunday, my dogs were both dead to the world.  Besides breakfast at 6am and a prompt return to bed, Penelope didn't join the world of the living until 3:30pm.  Yikes! 

I have a slight obessesion with Tai Pei's wonton soup.  I eat it almost every day for lunch and I buy it in the frozen section at Walmart.  Don't judge me.

Another slight obsession I have is with dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic novels.  I just can't get enough!

We are planning young sister Linda's baby shower.  It's going to be so fun.  My mom has made a motorcycle "diaper cake".  Wait until you see it!  I've been commissioned to make a watermelon carriage like I did for Melissa's baby shower and I'm also making fruit salsa to be eaten with cinnamon & sugar pita chips.  I love party planning/preparation!  So fun!

I've been watching Medium on my Netflix.  Oh my goodness, it's so very good.  I'm half way thru with season 6 (out of 7 seasons).  I've picked out my next show once I finish.  It's gonna be Friday Night Lights cuz my parent's swear by it.  Have you seen it?

Okay, that's all I have for you for now.  I better start catching up on reading all the blogs I've been neglecting!

Day 21: Favorite TV Show

Did you think I forgot all about my 30-day Challenge?  Nope...just went on hiatus.  2/3 of the way done.  No worries...it's only taking me 5 months+ to get through these!  Oye!

We are on Day 21 - A favorite TV show

I have to go with my favorite show of all time.

Do you know what it is?

Do you know me at all?

source here

I remember watching the very first episode all by myself at home.  I really wasn't sure what to think.  I mean I guessed I liked it.  I was intrigued enough to keep watching.  Sometime during Season 1, I started watching the show with some friends (who I'm no longer friends with for a very good reason).  We would get together each week either at their apartment or at my house and watch our beloved show and then discuss it afterwards.  We did this for Season 2 and part of Season 3, as well.  Then our friendship ended and I believe I watched the remainder of Season 3 by myself, but I knew I needed to find some other friends to get LoSt with.

See how my Meliska is always there when I need her?  So true!  Meliska and Greggy-D opened up their home each week for friends to get Lost together.  It became one of my weekly rituals that I cherished!

I watched Season 4 through Season 6 with my buddies.  We theorized all kinds of crazy ideas (mirror matter moon theory) we found in our research (obsession what?).  We would get together at the season finale each year and sort of make a party of it.

I would discuss the show with my brother-in-law the day after it aired, as well.

I remember Meliska's parents inviting us over to their house for the series finale (Mellie's dad was a HUGE fan, too).

I know a lot of people weren't down with the conclusion of this epic adventure, but I was satisfied, for the most part.  Really there is sort of a mourning you have to go through when a beloved television show comes to an end.  I know our parent's generation might have felt that way about MASH, for example.

Never before has a television show made me just think and wonder and theorize and research before.  Never has one intrigued me.  Never have I eagerly awaited each and every episode of a program before.  Never have I gotten so enraptured in the characterizations and I kind of wonder if I ever will again.

What is/was your favorite TV show of all time?

3-day weekend

Watched 6 movies.  Must have been Red Box's best customer this weekend.

Morning Glory - cute/sweet
Vanishing on 7th Street - ugh/don't waste your time
The Last Exorcist - okay
Battle:  Los Angeles - not my kind of movie
Conviction - pretty good
Devil - decent

Went swimming twice.  Starring...THE DOGS!

Ollie wears a kerchief so his head doesn't get sunburned and then he floats in his "boat".

Ate WAY too much food.
 
homemade suchi - Craig made most of them and they turned out beautifully.  I tried my hand at forming the California rolls and failed miserably.  See if you can figure out which ones are mine.  =/

HB Steakhouse - yum!

and other unmentionables...

There was some bone-hoarding coveting going on...

Delilah looking innocent despite her stash.

Coco on "her" ottoman

Some just plain cuteness...

Sweet Penelli

Oliver with his new toy named "Chef guy"

Might have watched most of the entire Teen Mom marathon on MTV.  Yes, Meliska...I'm all ready for the new season.  =P

Had to rescue Craig and Linda when Linda's battery died and they got stranded at Babies R Us.

It was just the kind of weekend to refresh/recharge me.  Now I just need to make it to Labor Day weekend.

Hope your weekend was everything you needed it to be and more! 

happiness

There are some things that are making me happy this summer.  I thought I would share.

The Voice
Have you seen it?  It's a new singing competition / reality show on NBC this season.  I find the celebrity judges/coaches to be particularly amusing, of course, but some of the talent on the show are truly incredible.  I can't wait to watch the rest of the season!

So You Think You Can Dance
Do you watch it too?  Oh you so should!  My parents got me hooked on this dancing competition / reality show on Fox a few seasons ago and I've been obsessed ever since.  I never realized you could get so caught up in the story line of a dance and that you could be moved to such emotion by the brilliance of choreography.

Movies, in general
Every weekend so far, I have managed to sneak in a movie at the movie theater with my family.  Seeing movies has always been one of my favorite activities anyway, but over the past few years I just haven't made it a priority.  Times have changed!  It's a way to escape this awful summer heat and my cRaZy life for a couple of hours - count me in!  I like to go to the Santikos Silverado theater because it's clean and nice and they have an amazing drink station.  You can get Coke Zero, for example, in 6 different flavors.  sooo cool.

Oatmeal
I want it.  I love it.  Every morning I take my half cup of oats and add in a tablespoon of Splenda brown sugar blend, loads of cinnamon and a cup of water.  I zap it in the microwave for 2 minutes and let my mouth go to its happy place.

Chicken salad
I want it.  I love it.  I bought the pre-seasoned sweet chili chicken breasts from H.E.B.  I boiled them, chopped them up, and added Mayo made with olive oil and then some dill pickle relish.  I found myself some nice multi-grain hearty bread, toasted it up, and piled on my chicken salad.


Crystal Light iced tea
If I'm not drinking water, I'm drinking this delightfulness.  It's refreshing and lovely.

Relax and Sleep
application on my phone.  There are many options to choose to listen to, but I only listen to one - monks chanting - I set the timer for 40 minutes each night and it helps me fall asleep.



C.O. Bigelow Mentha Body Vitamin Body Wash
That Pink Girl mentioned this product in a blog post a couple of months ago.  It sounded like something that would do a hot and sweaty body good.  You see, it's a cool and refreshing body wash that leaves you feeling all tingly and happy.  It definitely helps beat the heat and that puts a smile on my face.  That's all I ask.

I'm gonna be an aunt
Just before Easter weekend, when  our whole immediate family was in town and gathered at my parent's house for dinner, younger sister Linda and brother-in-law Craig announced they are expecting their first child.  This will be my first niece or nephew and our parent's first grandchild.  Our family is on cloud 9.  Linda *finally* lifted the gag order on Tuesday AFTER she informed our grandmother herself, so now we don't have to keep our excitement a secret any longer.  The baby is due December 27th which means for the first time in all of my years, our family will not be traveling to Chicago for Christmas as we want to make sure we are in town for the birth of the newest addition to our family.  I've been wondering what happens in Houston while we are away...


What is making you happy?  Please share!  =)

Second day SUCCESS!

I promise you that my intention was never really to go day by day to report to you my successes and/or failures. not really anyway.  I prolly won't.  maybe.

We know Monday was a fail.  kinda.  I mean I ended up getting a really yummy quiche and great asparagus soup out of the night, so that's something.  I just didn't nail my list.

Tuesday, on the other hand...well that was a success!  Redemption is mine (um...at least for the moment).

Tuesday's goals were as follows:  up at 5:45am, play my games for 1 hour, clean the floors and guest bathroom, watch two TV shows from my DVR, do kettlebell DVD, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 9:30

Since I went to bed at 10:15 last night and woke up at 5:45 this morning, I actually got 7 1/2 hours of sleep.  This is a rarity!  After work, I came home and dealt with my beasts dogs.  I then reheated some quiche.  I didn't end up eating my soup because I ate half a bag of steamed brussell sprouts for a late lunch so I was kind of all green-veggied out.  I then played my games for an hour and watched one more episode of Modern Family from my DVR.  Oh then guess what?  It was time for Glee - yay!  So I watched that and then changed into my running gear and headed out the door after taking some glamour pics.  There was to be no kettle bell workout for me since I had a make-up run to take care of.  The plan was 3, but secretly I knew my route would give me about 3.5 miles.  I was not feeling intervals for whatever reason, so I decided to just run my mileage outright and see what happened.  Up until this run, the most I had run outright since my injury was 2 miles.  I did 3.5 last night - no intervals - no walk breaks!  Can I get a "whoa"?  I consider that to be a win!  The best part was that I maintained the same pace I had been running at the 2 mile mark without intervals and the 5 mile mark with intervals.  weird.  So...I don't know what I'm going to do with regard to my 5K coming up in a week and a half.  I guess I will wing it for the time being.  Either way it doesn't look like a PR is possible, but then again...my game face hasn't been on either.  A race + spectators + competitive Kim = all kinds of crazy!

I came home from my run and cooled off.  I then cleaned my floors.  Didn't get to the guest bathroom, but I'm not gonna beat myself up over that one.  Next up was my Epsom salt bath.  It was awfully nice to soak in that puppy while catching up on my book - I managed 3 whole chapters in my book - "Such a Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster.  I may or may not have gone to bed a bit on the late side, but hey...I ain't perfect....I'm me.

This morning I registered for The Woodlands Half Marathon which isn't until NEXT March 3rd (you know...2012).  I'm sure you must be thinking I'm a little premature (which is better than immature,  so I'll take it).  I'm just sure they will fill up their 7500 slots fast, so I'm not taking any chances.  Part of me soooo badly wanted to sign up for the full, BUT without running my first full until January 2012 (Houston Chevron), I just can't commit to another one. 

In other news, I've been working on coming up with my outfit for my brother-in-law's 80s-themed birthday party at the end of this month.  I finalized my masterpiece, y'all.  Wait until you see.  It's gonna be RAD!  That will be such a fun blog post!!!

That's all I have for you for now.  Have a good day, party peeps!

First day FAIL and some recipes

First day FAIL!

You know that path I walk on - the one paved with fantastic intentions?  Yeah...that's what happened yesterday.  I bit off more than I could chew.  See, Monday is my cooking day.  I go to the grocery store during my lunch break and buy all the ingredients to make my "big meal for the week".  This means I have to go home and make said meal and then clean up the kitchen after the making of said meal.  Some meals are messier than others.  This meal was one of those (South Beach friendly, of course).

What did I make?  Asparagus soup and Greek yogurt chicken quiche was on the menu.  I got my basic recipe ideas from ol' faithful known as allrecipes.com.  The links to the originals are below.

Asparagus soup
Sour cream chicken quiche

Kim's Asparagus Soup (Phase 1, 2, 3)
1 lb asparagus spears, chopped
1 small white onion, diced
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP pesto
1 TSP minced garlic
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
white pepper to taste
salt to taste
cholula to taste

In a microwaveable bowl, heat the onion, garlic, olive oil, and pesto for 2 minutes.  Add in the broth and asparagus and resume heating in the microwave for 10 minutes, covered.

Puree in the blender.  Put the soup back into the microwaveable dish and add in the milk and your seasonings.  You may need to heat it up some more in the microwave.

Kim's Crustless Greek Yogurt  Quiche (Phase *1, 2, 3)
1 cup shredded chicken
1 TBSP  olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 TSP minced garlic
10 oz. package sliced mushrooms
*1 TBSP whole wheat flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup Greek yogurt (plain)
3/4 cup skim milk
1 3/4 cup 2% cheese (I used cheddar-jack)
nutmeg
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Saute garlic, onion, and mushrooms, then add in 1 TBSP of whole wheat flour (this knocks out Phase 1, so to maintain Phase 1, don't do this step).

Boil and shred your chicken.  Combine the two components adding your seasonings - nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  In a separate dish, beat the eggs.  Add in the yogurt, beating thoroughly.  Add in the milk, beating thoroughly.  Using a deep dish pie dish (or a casserole dish), put the chicken/onion/mushroom component in the dish.  Add the cheese.  Pour the egg component over the top.  Cook on 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Without opening the oven, lower the temperature to 350 degrees for another 30 to 35 minutes.  Let cool before eating.

Of course the cool thing about quiche is you can add whatever ingredients you like to it.  Next go around, I will add broccoli or spinach.  I just forgot to buy some while at the store.  I saved calories/carbs by not using crust, but I don't judge if you choose the crust route because quiche is even tastier that way!  =)

Okay, but back to business...

The plan was:

Monday - make/prep my meal for the week, clean the kitchen, play my games for 1 hour, watch one TV show from my DVR, run 3 miles, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 10:45pm


With all that cooking and all that mess (cuz two dishes made a whole lot of mess TRUST ME), I got finished way late in the evening.  What did this mean for my plan?  It meant that I got in my 1 hour game time (God forbid I were to give that up).  I got in my one DVD tv show (Modern Family from 1/5 - hilarious, by the way).  I went to bed around 10:15pm.
 Since I didn't get my run in, though, I should have gone to bed at 9:30 to wake up this morning at 4:30 to do it this morning, but I didn't.  I figured I needed the sleep since I've been at such a deficit lately. I WILL RUN TONIGHT!!! Do you see the domino effect, though?  Oye!


No run.
No bath.
No book.
Only positive thing is that I actually got 7 1/2 hours of sleep.


Day 2 and I'm already on a modified schedule!  Welcome to Kim's world.  =/

bye bye bag ladies

I know I've mentioned before how undisciplined and unruly I am.  It's true.  I'm not proud of this, mind you.  I think it has something to do with my hair.  What chance did I have?  There must be a direct correlation!  If you too suffer from frizzy, crazy mop-top syndrome AND you lead a well-balanced/managed life then please keep it to yourself.  I'd rather live in my la-la land of denial than face the facts that I'm just lazy and disturbed!  ;)

Now that we got that out of the way...

I don't sleep anymore.  It's not that I can't sleep, it's just that I don't.  I stay up to ridiculous hours and then I wake up at the crack of dawn.  I only get around 5 hours of sleep per night.  This is not healthy.  This is not conducive to being productive.

What am I doing up so late?  I'm hesitant to even tell you.  It's so ridiculous.  I'm not watching TV or movies. Oh no.  My DVR is getting ridiculously full!  I have Season 3 of Big Love and Season 4 of Dexter all brand new in their packages fresh from Christmas just waiting to be watched. I'm not cleaning or working out.  I'm not reading or taking a nice leisurely bath.  Nope.  I'm playing games.  Mostly Zuma Blitz and Rummikub.  See...pathetic.  I play Zuma because I'm really good at it.  I typically walk away from the week with the #2 score.  The #1 score always goes to a girl who went to high school with me.  I have threatened to drop her as a FB friend so that I can be #1.  She thinks I'm kidding.  I'm kinda kidding.  =D  I play Rummikub because it's mostly a game of strategy (there is a bit o' luck involved).  The really stupid thing is that I find myself getting really really intense playing Zuma and getting really really angry playing Rummikub.  Aren't games supposed to be fun?  I think the work-up of my emotions so late at night prevents me from feeling tired which leads me to staying up so late which leads me to playing later and...I think you get the idea.  It's only after one of the dogs puts herself to bed and the other one whines incessantly for hours that I finally give in and go to bed. 

My eyes have bag ladies under them.  Yes, that's right.  Bag ladies. 

So, what to do?  I could, of course, just not play the games.  This isn't likely considering my total lack of discipline.  I could, say, limit the amount of time I spend playing the games.  I could incorporate other activities in my life - a, dare I say, balanced life of sorts - tv, reading, cleaning, SLEEPING, etc like I used to have.  I could give myself a bed time.

Anyway, I've decided the best thing to do is to give myself weekly goals established on Sunday or Monday (depending on when I get the post out) and then to follow up on them the next week.   These goals will not be just about exercise, but all walks of life since apparently I need lots and lots of help.

This week's goals:

Monday - make/prep my meal for the week, clean the kitchen, play my games for 1 hour, watch one TV show from my DVR, run 3 miles, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 10:45pm

Tuesday - up at 5:45am, play my games for 1 hour, clean the floors and guest bathroom, watch two TV shows from my DVR, do kettlebell DVD, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 9:30

Wednesday - up at 4:30am, run 3 miles, clean master bath, play my games for 2 hours, watch one TV shows from my DVR, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 10:45pm

Thursday - up at 5:45am, play my games for 1 hour, watch one TV show from my DVR, run 3 miles, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 10:30pm

Friday - up at 5:30am, play my games for 2 hours, watch two TV shows from my DVR, x-train for 30 min to an hour, in bed between 11pm and 12am.

Saturday - up between 6am and 7am, run 6 miles, do as I please so long as I'm in bed between 11pm and 12am.

Okay, fingers crossed I can stick with the plan to sing "Bye, Bye, Bye" to these bag ladies beneath my eyes.  Ready, set, GO!

something to think about

I'm finally sitting down to catch up on some of my DVR.  Practically every day this week my father has asked me if I've watched the Thanksgiving episode of Parenthood.  I told him I'm never going to watch it if he keeps asking me.  Yes, I'm a terrible brat.  I'm also a liar because I totally watched it tonight.  It was, of course, good.  I love that show.  I love the family dynamics - in a way, it reminds me of my family - a loud, chaotic family that has its issues, but clearly loves each other.

The other day I was having a conversation with younger sister Linda about my struggle regarding my injury and this upcoming RunGirl 13.1.  I registered for this race to have yet another opportunity to prove something to myself.  In the end, I will fall short.  I always do.  Even if my doctor allows me to power walk it, I won't be completing it in the fashion I would have liked to, you see.  I won't truly have the glory I so long for.  Truth be told, even in the Aramco Half I am now going to be participating in on January 30th (in lieu of the Chevron full marathon), I still won't have the glory I long for as I'm not doing the race I planned on doing and I'm not even going to be able to do this race as well as I want given that it is now 7 weeks out and I have not run in 5 weeks.  I'm my own worst enemy, I know.  I'm seemingly never happy with me.  Someday, I will start being my own best friend.  It's just not today, but alas...in typical me fashion, I digress.  My point is that I'm bound and determined to complete this sucker even knowing I will be doing so with disappointment.  First of all, I signed up for it.  Second of all, I paid money for it.  Thirdly, I want that really cute medal.

Linda did encourage me to watch The Biggest Loser:  Where are They Now episode that aired Thanksgiving week.  She said there was a former contestant named Holly who was disappointed with the outcome of a race and said something that reminded her of my struggles as of late, particularly my last half marathon.  I watched the episode tonight and cried along with Holly.  I knew her pain, her heartbreak.  I then went back and watched her again and typed up what she shared.

"You can get through anything.

You're gonna fall down.

Things are not gonna go perfect.

You're gonna have a bad day.

You're gonna have a bad race.

All this bad stuff can happen,

but it's like...it's what you do with that

that determines how you live your life"

You know what I realized?  I have fallen down a lot this year.  You know what else I realized?  I conquered a lot, too.  You won't fall down, if you don't get up/out and try, BUT you can't ever succeed if you don't try either.  Maybe it really is about the journey...the experiences and not necessarily the end result.  It's kind of something to think about.

negative split, yeah baby (and some randomness)

We have customers this week named Austin Powers and Mike Myers.  Weird, right?  My brother, Eddie, would like to add that we also have a customer named George Jung, but my brother-in-law Jay and I had no idea who that is/was, so Jay looked it up on IMDB.com and found out it was Johnny Depp's character in the movie Blow.  Um...okay Eddie...thanks for adding that one to the list.  Who would know that?!

Okay, back to business....

I set out to do a 3 mile run on Monday night.  My usual time of 7:15pm was not the wisest choice considering the obvious change in lighting these days.   Ooops.  I'm not used to running in the darkishness.  It's weird.  Ah well...I guess I need to start getting some appropriate gear for such things.  I'll consult That Pink Girl since she's an expert on darkishness running!  So, my plan was to try to speed things up a bit considering lately I've been averaging around 14 minute miles and I need to average 13:45 in order to hit (not exceed) the 6 hour deadline for the Chevron Houston Marathon.  As I have mentioned before, I was faster while doing my interval method, but somehow running my mileage outright has caused me to be even slower (who knew that was possible?).   Turtle, Turtle, Turtle...

It wasn't hot outside.  That was a bonus.  It was HUMID though.  Are y'all sick of hearing me complain about the humidity?  Yeah, well I'm sick of experiencing it.  One of my cousins up in Chicago Facebooked the other day how if she knew it was going to be Winterish outside, she would have dressed differently for the day.  Winterish?  Are you freakin' kidding me?!  We will settle for Autumnish?!  Can we just have a taste of that, please?!

Oh yes, but I digress (again).

So, the funny thing is that I don't think I've ever had a negative split in my entire running "career" until now.  No, no, my little lamb chops, it has eluded me for 8 months.  Not only did I get a negative split, but according to my Garmin, I also hit 7:22 (briefly).  Turns out ol' Kim couldn't make it 3 miles cuz she had to use the bathroom STAT.  Yes, I'm speaking of myself in the 3rd person for some weird reason.  Anyway, I ran my heart out home which meant cutting my run a half a mile short.  I ended up averaging 13:22, though for the evening.  I don't know if that's fair considering the...uh...extenuating circumstances, though.  =P

The parentals are leaving me again.  Yes, this means dog duty at their house.  I'll be getting my run on in their neighborhood starting tonight.  Maybe some different scenery will do a girl good?  Time will tell.

Oh...if you have not yet had the pleasure of tasting Laughing Cow's Mozzarella, Sundried Tomato, and Basil wedges, I recommend them.  They were one of the new flavors supposedly released a few months ago, though I just now found them at Kroger on Sunday.  Hmmmm....  They remind me of the sundried tomato cream cheese from Panera. 

And then one last thing...I watched that new show on NBC last night called The Event.  Loved it!  Thoughts?

On that note...peace out!

ease up there, tiger

I woke up at 5:30am on Saturday for my run.  Our start time was changed to 7:00am starting this week because it is not getting lighter until later.  I felt...weird...and then realized I was still sick if you catch my drift.  I thought about still going, but then I knocked some sense into myself, took some Imodium, and went back to bed.  I ended up sleeping another 3 hours and 45 minutes for a grand total of almost 11 hours of sleep.  Whoa!  That's cRaZy for me.  I must have needed it.

My family had decided to meet earlier for our lunch since one of older sister Cathy's high school buddies was in town and Cathy, her husband Jay, and I were going to a movie and early dinner with him.  So, the fam went to BJs.  Younger sister Linda and her husband Craig didn't join us as they were still feeling blah.  After lunch, I wanted to head to the library to return some books and to check out a couple of new ones, but Cathy insisted we go to JC Penny so that she could find me a dress to wear to our cousin Rachel's wedding coming up in October.  I begrudgingly went along with her plan and then was quite thankful I did when she picked out a dress for me that ended up being $70 regular price...on sale for $35...with a 15% off coupon which meant with tax it rang up for $32 and some change.  Now that is a deal for a nice black dress that I can definitely wear again (though I had hoped for a different color)!

I still had time to go to the library and exchange my books - yay!  Then I went to the movie theater.  We saw The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Marky Mark.  I hadn't even seen a preview, so I had zero expectation. I definitely laughed several times, but I'd say it's more of a renter than a "must see" in the theater.

After the movie, we headed over to Pappadeaux's.  I haven't been there in ages.  In the past, I always ordered the shrimp brochette which are bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with jack cheese and jalapeño slivers all served over a big bed of dirty rice and a side of lemon butter which I would have poured over the top of the shrimp and dirty rice.  I also would have indulged in several slices of the french bread and butter served before the meal.  I won't lie to you and tell you I was a perfect angel during the meal...there were some healthier options, but I ordered the stuffed shrimp montage which were crab stuffed shrimp served with a bit of parmesan cheese sauce on each shrimp (not swimming in it, thankfully) and a side of green beans which I ordered without butter/oil.  I, of course, did not partake in the bread.

I then went home and watched the series premiere of Outlaw on my DVR - it's a new show on NBC starring Jimmy Smits.  Love him (especially since his performance in Dexter Season 3)!  My dad had recommended the show to me, so I decided to record it when they re-aired it.  It was a great show and I look forward to more episodes.  I also watched the season premiere of Parenthood.  This was one of my favorite shows last season - so glad to see its return!  Then I headed to bed in hopes of getting some good sleep so that I could maybe get in some mileage on Sunday.

On Sunday, I was mostly a lazy bum.  I did manage a couple of miles.  At first I was disappointed with myself having hoped for more, but then I was like "ease up there, tiger" since I hadn't run in over a week.  I kinda think I'm my own worst critic/enemy/nightmare lately.

Late afternoon, I headed over to the parental's house for another fashion show of sorts.  This meant I tried on my $32 dress for my parents.  They ooohed and ahhhed over it.  Then Cathy tried on 3 different dresses for us and we had to choose which 2 we liked best.  I threw back some leftover taco salad my mom had in the fridge, so I wasn't hungry when she suggested that we all go to Sweet Tomatoes, so I went Krogering instead and then to home sweet home.

As usual, there were so many things I should have done....could have done....but alas....there's always next weekend, now isn't there?!

How might your weekend have been?  Was it raindrops and roses?

Lazy

I was really really gonna try soooo hard to get 8 to 9 miles in during the week.  Monday night, as I mentioned in my last blog, I did 3.1 humidified miles.  Then, on Tuesday, I made it 2.1 miles.  I should have kept going, but I was seriously worried about drowning in my own sweat.  I might have had a few sips of it accidentally.  Ewww....gross!

I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but it is really terribly humid right now.  I mean I can handle normal humidity...this is above and beyond.  It is also so hard to run in the evenings after working all day.  I have such appreciation for my Saturday MORNING runs now.  I am so much lighter on my feet.  I have so much more energy.  I have such fewer aches and pains.  What a difference the day makes, y'all.

I knew I was taking last night off...I had plans to meet my friend Kim for dinner.  We had not seen each other in 3 months!  I also had plans for dinner tonight, so I figured I should get up and run on the treadmill this morning.  The goal was 3 miles despite the fact that I have never run more than 1 at a time.  While at dinner with Kim last night, my dinner plans for tonight got postponed.  That meant I would not have to wake up early this morning and that I could get in my run tonight.  Yeah right.  After putting in 10 1/2 stressful hours at the office, dealing with some water retention issues (swollen ankles...um...cankles, if you will), and a very bad attitude towards this humidity, I just can't make myself leave my couch.  I, my friends, am lazy.  I suppose So You Think You Can Dance being on isn't helping.  I mean I have DVR, but I'm in instant gratification kinda girl.

Now I will most likely struggle once again to reach my goal mileage on Saturday because I'm not going to hit my weakly mileage goal.  I'm disappointed in myself.  This is what I get for training for a half during a Houston summer while working in the moving business.  Oye.

Vacation Kharma

I had a vacation buddy for several years. I think I took her for granted and now she is gone (married). My vacation buddy and I had several adventures. We went on a tour of Spain and a tour of Italy. We went twice to Mexico - once to Cancun and once to Playa del Carmen. We went to Chicago, we went to Charleston...*sigh*...I miss my vacation buddy.

Ever since our last jaunt to Mexico, I've been wanting to go back. We stayed at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya and had a wonderful time! It was a beautiful resort.

The next year, I did my research and found another resort I wanted to vacation at the next time I went to Playa del Carmen. It's called Valentin Imperial Maya. All I needed was a new travel buddy to make it happen.

Flash forward to Amy. Do y'all know how I met her? It's kinda funny. I posted a Craig's List ad looking for a workout buddy in July '08. I didn't get a single response for the longest time until one day, over a week after I posted it, Amy answered the ad. The first time we were actually supposed to meet at the gym, she stood me up. If memory serves me correctly, I got there and just headed to the elliptical and started working out expecting her to show up at any moment. She apparently got there and sat in her car waiting for me, only I was already inside. I think she tried texting me, but I didn't bring my phone in with me, so I didn't get it until after I finished my workout, long after Amy gave up and went home. Throughout the months, we did workout some, but we became much more famous for our Tuesday night get-togethers. Amy would come over to watch The Biggest Loser and I would make us some kind of healthy meal. She moved to the other side of town several months ago, so we haven't been able to do our Tuesdays due to horrid, wretched Houston traffic, but we still do meet up for meals at least twice a month!

Amy and I have been talking about doing the whole all inclusive thing down in Mexico for many many months. She loved the resort I picked out and we decided to do a 5 day / 4 night stay. We just had to pick out the dates - a bit tricky of a task considering I have to work around my dad's schedule since we can't really be gone at the same time. I finally got clearance from him for some specific dates and so Amy had to go to her boss to get the okay and then we were set.

Two weeks ago this was all going down...until out of the blue I got an email from Amy's boss asking me to call her cell phone and that it was very important and that I needed to keep it a secret. This made me very nervous and very uncomfortable. I knew that they had done some lay-offs recently at Amy's work, so I irrationally feared that they were not done and her boss was going to tell me not to book the trip because Amy shouldn't be spending the money because she was being lopped off next. Um...yeah...I have a crazy imagination sometimes. It turns out that Amy was to be named the Admin of the Year for her company! This would be impressive under any circumstances for anyone to receive such honors, but it's especially impressive considering Amy has only been working at her company for one year! Turns out the award recipient gets an all expense paid trip for two to the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen for 3 nights! What are the chances?! Her boss told me Amy would not be receiving the award for almost 2 weeks and that she figured Amy would probably not want to go to Playa del Carmen twice in the same year, so she asked if I could hold off booking our trip until after Amy won the award. Well of course! =)

So, here we are two weeks later and Amy has accepted her award and has informed me she is taking me as her vacation buddy (I was hoping, but I didn't want to assume)! We have decided to add an extra day, so our only expense will be the extra day.

It looks like my Valentin Imperial Maya will be shelved for another year or two, but that's okay because vacation planning is ONLY one of my favorite things to do!

**Update: The extra day is costing us a grand total of $191.50 per person AND a shuttle to and fro the airport is included, so we have decided we owe ourselves a pampering at the spa while we are there! My Amy is awesome! =)