Bye Bye Junebug

This is a picture of Cliff - he is one of my garden gnomes.  Norm is on the other side of the walkway leading up to my front door, in case you were wondering.

I'm kinda glad to see June go.  I'm going to welcome July with open arms and a flirty wink! So, let's talk about why I wasn't a raving fan of June's.

1.  My mileage sucked.
2.  My anxiety/stress levels were sky high.
3.  Didn't get my friend fix
4.  Allergies
5.  Heat & Humidity
6.  Didn't blog as much as I would have liked.

The anxiety and stress are work related.  I have been working longer hours.  The work has been draining which leaves me burnt out - mentally.  I used to get together with friends a couple times a week for dinners or tv shows, but there doesn't seem to be time to do that right now.  The heat and humidity are huge energy suckers, too.  Really, if you look at my list it is quite obvious that they are all interconnected.

As soon as midnight hits tonight, June is gone for good and I get a fresh start with July.  What a way to begin a month - a 3-day weekend and a 9 day retreat at my parent's house!  I am going to focus on that list I created on Monday to help me find some balance in this cRaZy life.

Guess what I totally forgot to celebrate?  My 10 year anniversary in my house!  When I decided to work for my dad, we both decided I needed to move out of his house (I had moved in after graduating from Texas A&M in May '99).  I moved into my very own apartment on July 31, 1999.  On Easter Sunday of 2000, my parents and I were looking at houses.  We found what was to be my home...it was a new build, but it was all locked up.  My mom said we would just have to come back another day.  My dad noticed there was a broken window and insisted on climbing through it to open the door for my mom and I.  My mother was disgusted with our "breaking and entering" but was eventually persuaded to partake in our "criminal activities."  We walked through the house and I knew it was perfect.  The next day, I made some phone calls.   I closed on Reuben (yes, I name everything) on June 23, 2000.  I was 23 years old.  My home is my sanctuary - it is beautiful, it is peaceful, and I'm so thankful to have it to come home to.

So, saddle up my little ponies...let's get ready to charge into July with some big cheesy grins and nothin' but good times ahead!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Lately, I've been feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, beastly...insert a few more adjectives in here if you have had the *pleasure* of dealing with me over the past few weeks.

Yep, it's summertime in the moving business (my work) and it has decided to destroy me.  Oh...have I mentioned my tendency to be a bit melodramatic?  =/

How do I cope?  Well apparently not very well...but I'm determined to turn this all around somehow, someway, TODAY?! 

It's time to dig deep and remember all things that bring me joy.  In seeking out happiness, I can alleviate my stress and feel refreshed (um...in theory cuz the practice of it will be the true test).

I decided to come up with a list of 10 things that make me happy:

1.  bubble baths
2.  music
3.  reading
4.  chocolate
5.  clean sheets
6.  candles
7.  vacations
8.  hummus
9.  sleeping in
10.  holidays

Yeah, yeah...I know 2 of the 10 items are food and that is sooooo horrible, but raspberries on you for judging me!  =P 

Now the plan is to look and see if there is anyway possible to incorporate any of these delights into my day.  Obviously vacations, holidays, and sleeping in are going to be a bit more challenging and not as frequent to apply, but maybe I can make the most of them when I have them.  For example, the parentals are going to be flying out of the country and I will be staying at their house for 9 days.  Their home is a vacation from my own - they have a pool and movie channels!  haha!  Oh and the 4th of July is the next holiday which happens to be right around the corner - let's hear it for a 3-day weekend!  I bet some sleeping in is gonna happen - well maybe if the dogs let me. 

Other than that, I know that bubble baths help to calm me and there is no reason why most nights I can't find 30 minutes or so to relax in one while listening to some Jason Mraz with a couple of candles lit nearby.  I could even squeeze in a few chapters of my latest novel.

The point is that if I want to lessen my anxiety and my stress, I have to find a better way of coping with it.  At the very least, I have to check it at the door (despite the after-hour phone calls and text messages from my employees) once I exit the building.   It's all about taking deep breaths, not taking anything too seriously, and being thankful for the little things that make you happy.  Speaking of which...what makes you happy?

Don't Worry, Be Happy

-Bobby McFerrin

Here is a little song I wrote

You might want to sing it note for note

Don't worry be happy

In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double

Don't worry, be happy......

Ain't got no place to lay your head

Somebody came and took your bed

Don't worry, be happy

The land lord say your rent is late

He may have to litigate

Don't worry, be happy

Look at me I am happy

Don't worry, be happy

Here I give you my phone number

When you worry call me

I make you happy

Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style

Ain't got not girl to make you smile

But don't worry be happy

Cause when you worry

Your face will frown

And that will bring everybody down

So don't worry, be happy (now).....

There is this little song I wrote

I hope you learn it note for note

Like good little children

Don't worry, be happy

Listen to what I say

In your life expect some trouble

But when you worry

You make it double

Don't worry, be happy......

Don't worry don't do it, be happy

Put a smile on your face

Don't bring everybody down like this

Don't worry, it will soon past

Whatever it is

Don't worry, be happy

Procrastination Pays Off...right?

I don't want to embarrass myself by telling you how long there has been a problem with my home security system.  Let's just say it's been a while and carry on from there.  There has been a red angry light staring me down from the key pad.  There has been a beeping sound that starts at a specific time and then continues every so many seconds until I press the "cancel" button.  It reoccurs every 24 hours.  At first, it was no big thing because it was happening at like 6pm, so I would be eating dinner and I would just have to press "cancel" and all would be well again (minus the angry red light) until 24 hours later.  Then, something would happen...like maybe I wouldn't be home at 6pm because I went home at lunch time to let my dogs go potty so that I could meet a friend for dinner.  This meant I got home around 8pm or so.  No big deal...I would just turn off the awful beeping sound then.  BUT then something would happen like I'd be out late on a weekend and next thing you know, I have the alarm sounding off at 3am.  Do you have any idea how obnoxious it is to have to drag yourself out of bed every night at 3am to press "cancel" and then go back to bed WITH 2 DOGS, no less?!  Apparently not obnoxious enough that I ever called to get the problem fixed.  ;P

This brings us to Wednesday night...er...Thursday morning.  I have been soooo stressed out from work.  I have been just drained like the life has been sucked out of me.  Normally I'm a super light sleeper.  Not lately.  I sleep like the dead, y'all.    So, apparently, I slept through 45 minutes of beeping or something dramatic like that and finally got up at 4:17am to shut up the beeps.  I then went back to bed.  On Thursday night...er....Friday morning, around the same time, my dogs decided they had to go potty.  I looked at my cell phone (cuz I don't have a clock in my room - it would ruin my decor) and noticed that any minute now the evil beeps would be starting, so I couldn't even get mad at the dogs because I would have had to get up anyway.  I got them both outside and went into the laundry room in preparation of cancellation when I took note that the red angry light was magically green serene.  WHAT?!  Whatever, dude, I'm going back to bed.  I collected my pups and we headed back to bed.  When I woke up for real to my designated wake-up song (Brad Paisley's She's Everything), I checked out the key pad again and sure enough...green serene.  I don't get it.  Did the alarm system magically fix itself?  Was I in a chicken fight with Broadview and they wimped out?  This is soooo reminiscent of my trickster hipster and how it decided to mend itself.

Lesson learned:  If you hold out long enough, a problem will fix itself (I think).   Yeah right.

oh a little bit of this and that...

I lowered my goal weight by 25 lbs.  No worries, my little lovebugs, this 25 lbs by no means will make me too skinny.  The thing is, I have been over-weight since I've been 9, so I was trying to be fair to myself when I set my initial goal weight.  I wasn't looking to be super skinny...I was just looking to be normal...to be healthy.  I actually know that my initial goal weight would put me in a healthy category, but I realize now that I won't be happy with myself there because I know that I am capable of going further and becoming even healthier.  It's also really difficult to set something like this without really knowing what will look right / be right, you know?!  It would be one thing if I had once been a normal size, then gained weight and was just trying to get back to my fighting weight.  At this point, I'm 44.4 lbs lighter than I've ever been since high school even.  Weird, huh?! 

The scale does some super weird things.  I will go 2 or 3 weeks without any loss and then BAM! I will have a nice loss to make up for it.  I recorded my weight loss on 5/31 to be at 102.6 lbs down.  I lost absolutely nothing 6/7 and had the same problem on 6/14.  I went to weigh in on Monday, 6/21, and BAM! I had lost 3.8 lbs for a total of 106.4 lbs down.  What makes it especially odd is the fact that I felt I was a total chow hound last week (and I'm not referring to my Father's Day feast or the slice of my brother-in-law's birthday cake I ate) and I hardly got any exercise in at all as a result of a VERY stressful week at work.  I think sometimes the scale doesn't give you what you deserve when you deserve it, but eventually it comes around.  =)

For the record, although I felt I was a chow hound, I still ate within my diet plan.  I truly do feel that is the secret to my success.  No matter what the situation whether it be boredom, sadness, joy, stress, hunger, or whatever that initiates the ravenous beast within, I stick to the general guidelines.  I've recently discovered some new products (well not necessarily new to the world, but new to me) and thought I would share.  Though these might not be South Beach stamped, I read labels like nobody's business and determine whether or not things are acceptable based on other things that I know are acceptable, if that makes any sense.  Basically, not everything is black and white, so I call the gray area my interpretation of the diet.  Here are some examples:

We all know I love my Guittard extra dark chocolate chips.  They have 6 grams of sugar in them for 30 chocolate chips.   They are simply devine, but since they don't come in single servings, I have to rely on my CONTROL to stick to the 30.  Let's face it...I'm not always in control, so I don't always have these tasty little morsels in my home.  BUT, alas...a girl needs a chocolate fix from time to time.  Older sister Cathy suggested the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar.  They are only 150 calories with 11 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of sugar.  It's a party in my mouth and has some nice nutritional info to boot.

Additionally, I discovered Bobo's Oat Bars at H.E.B.  Now H.E.B. sells them for $2.50 a piece, but if you buy them on Amazon.com, they are a little over $2.00 a piece.  There are 10 different flavors to choose from, too (apricot is my fave).  These are good for breakfast with maybe a glass of ice cold skim milk.  They are 180 calories, 3 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of sugar.  I would liken it to a cross between a muffin and a really soft oatmeal cookie.  ***UPDATE:  apparently I need to learn to read a label correctly - the nutritional information I listed is for 1/2 the bar, not the whole bar...I apologize for the mis-information.  Let this be a lesson to us all about making sure we fully read/understand what we are putting in our mouths at all times***

The Laughing Cow came out with their new flavors recently.  I picked up the Light Queso Fresco & Chipotle and had it for lunch today spread on whole wheat sandwich thins.  It was creamy, spicy, smoky...I'd even go so far as to call it zippy.  For only 35 calories per wedge, it's a great spread on some sort of bread or even celery.  I know some people put it on potatoes (not allowed on South Beach, though), too.  The Hungry Girl also uses The Laughing Cow cheese wedges in several of her recipes.


Okay, that's all I have for you for now other than to tell you that I also seem to have a HUGE hummus problem lately.  I can't get enough of that stuff.  You know what?  If I just happened to run out of whole wheat pita, I'm pretty sure I could just grab a spoon and start digging in.  Don't judge me!  =P

Family Fun!

I felt really guilty missing Mother's Day.  I was in Playa del Carmen for my vacation...ooops!  When I got back from the trip, I still had a few days off, so my mom and I celebrated our own special way - we went to lunch at Los Cucos and to see Disney's Oceans.

Now, it's Father's Day!  My dad picked out Perry's Steakhouse for lunch.  The funny thing is that there is one like 3 minutes away from my house, but it has a reputation for bad service, so whenever we go to Perry's, we caravan up to the one in The Woodlands.  I was glad he chose lunch because I don't like a heavy meal sitting in my stomach late at night.   I decided to start with the tomato mozzarella salad and to finish with the pork roast.  Well, to be fair...they call it a pork chop, but it's ridiculously huge - I should have taken a picture to prove it to you.  Oh...and in case you were wondering, I practically licked my plate clean.  I also had one forkful of mashed potatoes that younger sister Linda and her hubby Craig had ordered.  I haven't had mashed potatoes in 11 1/2 months.  They were creamy dreamy buttery wonderfulness, but alas...it was just a bite.

Friday was my other brother-in-law's birthday (Jay).  We always do a combo celebration for Father's  Day and Jay's bday, so my mom had Jay pick out the cake.  For the past few years, my mom has ordered all of our cakes from Rao's Bakery.  They have amazing cakes, y'all!  Jay picked out The Original Dobasche.  Here is the description:  This scrumptious cake is crafted of six layers of chocolate fudge cake and old fashion butter cake. Each layer filled with a special creamy rich custard and chocolate pudding. Then iced with a fudge icing and covered with walnuts. To top it off we add a poured on fudge iceing.A New Orleans Original.  Now, I had decided to partake in the dessert - just a small slice.  This is a big deal for me, though, because this is the first family dessert I have since I started South Beach.  I declined on the ice cream, though.  Let me just say...my slice of cake was a slice of heaven.  It was rich and sweet and just plain AWESOME!

After lunch, we went back to my parent's house to give Jay and my dad their gifts.  We hung out for a while and then we all parted ways. 

I just love hanging out with my family!  How was your weekend?

Eager Beaver

I learned about The Houston Half back in February when I got the cRaZy notion in my head to do the full marathon in Houston in January 2011.  You see, I knew I wanted to do a half before I did a whole, so I naturally looked for an area race I could participate in.  Back then, their website reflected the 2009 race info, but did specify the date of the 2010 race, so I always knew I was going to run this race on Sunday, October 24th.  What I didn't know at that time is that in March I would get side-tracked with the cRaZy notion of running a half before this half.  Ahhhh...the power of suggestion courtesy of Bobbi Jo.

A couple of months ago, The Houston Half's website skinnied down to just their logo, the registration date (June 15th), and a message on the bottom providing the viewer with a contact email address for information/inqueries.  Meanwhile, I've been trying to gather up some friends to run the race with me.  I think there is a certain comfort in knowing you have friends in the masses - even if you never see them past the start line and the after party - it's just nice to know they are experiencing the journey with you.

Do you know I've run all three of my 5Ks and my one 10K with Lauren?  It's going to be so weird to run the Chicago Rock n' Roll Half without her.  Thankfully, I will still have a friend with me -  Bobbi Jo, not to mention an aunt (who is amazingly fast) and an uncle.

I also miss my Meliska.  She was my inspiration in getting into running.  We did two races together and then she had to step down temporarily due to pregnancy, but you better believe we will be hitting the pavement together again as soon as she is ready!

Okay, okay...in typical Kim fashion, I have digressed...so my point in all of this is that last night I went onto the Houston Half's website just to see if they had added any additional info since the registration was to be opened up today.  Imagine my surprise to see that there was a registration tab and that it was allowing me to register.  Additionally, they had a Facebook link, so I clicked over to "like" Houston Half-Marathon and Relay and then I added the following comment which received the response below:

Kimberly Marx just signed up!!! yay!

Yesterday at 8:24pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · Flag

Houston Half-Marathon & Relay Congratulations! You're the first registrant for the 2010 race. Thank you!!!
11 hours ago · Flag





Yes, I realize I made the pictures and text ridiculously large...please, allow me to explain.  I tried to just copy and paste, but of course that would only copy and paste the text.  I wanted you, my loyal and faithful readers to have the full experience, so the pictures were a must, but they showed up larger than life, so I changed the text size to compliment the picture size.  I'm kinda thoughtful like that...didn't want anyone to feel fat.  ;)

Anywho...so I'm all walking around with this big ego thinking how cool, yet dorky I am to have been first when I checked my email this morning and saw that the director of the race emailed me that there was a glitch in the system and my payment and address information somehow got lost.  He made a point of saying it wasn't my error and he was very sorry and could I please go back into the system and re-register and he would send me a confirmation email once he received my registration and/or I could call him directly.  It hurt my feelings, y'all.  =(  So, I tried to re-register, but the system told me I was duplicating my registration, so I called him instead - super nice guy, by the way.  He told me there were 9 of us that it had happened to.  I had asked if my friend Melissa B. was one of them and he said yes (sorry, Melissa!).  He said he was keeping track of us and the order we registered in when I told him it just sucked because I knew I had been first since the Facebook peeps told me so.  He laughed and told me it was true and that he couldn't guarantee me the #1 on my bib because the lowest numbers are reserved for the elite runners, but he was going to make sure that the 9 of us were next in line.  So, that turned my frown upside down.  =)  

Well that's all I have for you today....quite a mouthful as usual!  Peace out and have a happy day!

not so elusive 9

Put myself to bed around 9:30pm, just to be awakened around 10:15pm by a thorn in my side.  No worries...got rid of "it".  One can only hope I got rid of "it" for good.  It wasn't pleasant, so I took some of my Melatonin to ensure the rest of the night would be smooth sailing sleepy time.  Of course this meant I did not get my early start (what is it with me and this whole early rise thing anyway?).  Oh well...a girl's gotta do with a girl's gotta do.

So, I got up later than I wanted, took my thyroid pill, took a bubble bath to unwind some more, played a little Mafia Wars on Facebook  (I'm on level 510, you know), ate my Better Oats Oat Fit oatmeal, got my grape Powerade Zero ready and made a really weird decision....I decided to run in the ol' neighborhood instead of at the park.  I've been running in the park since February with the exception of my night time running, so this was pretty wild and crazy for me.  Lately, I've been getting kinda annoyed with the soccer watchers - they are supposed to stay clear of the jogging path, but I find myself weaving in and out of them as if I were on an obstacle course.  Furthermore, I have noticed my pace gets a little wacky when I approach them because I get a rush of anxiety.  I know soccer season is coming to an end, so I won't be dealing with it much longer anyway, but I also thought that maybe a change from my routine would be good for me.

I ran my first 2 miles when I realized I left my heart monitor at home, so I ran into the house to get it, slammed a cup of water, and ran back out (leaving one bewildered blind dog howling and another angry crated dog whining).  I ran the next 3 miles when I realized that if I didn't find a bathroom stat there was gonna be a problem, so I made it back home, ran into the house, handled my business, downed my Powerade zero (yeah....all 32 oz - probably not the best plan cuz it felt very heavy in my stomach for quite a while), and then had the *pleasure* of hearing the agonizing stereo sound of my beasts as I ran down the street.  Then I finished the remaining 4 miles.  I'm not gonna lie...I thought about quitting at mile 7 and calling it a disappointing day...my thighs already felt it and I was a sweaty stinky mess.  Up until that moment, I had stayed clear of looking at my pace...I just concentrated on listening to the beeps of my watch which is programmed for 4 minute run / 1 minute walk intervals and so graciously lets me knows when it is time to do that 1 minute walk and when it is time to kick it back into gear.  I occasionally glanced at the mileage just so I would know how far I'd gone and how much further I still had to go, but other than that...I paid absolutely no attention to my pace because my intention was just to get the 9 miles done.   So, when I did see that I was averaging slightly above 14 minutes/mile, I was uber annoyed with myself.  I mean why didn't I just have someone push me in a shopping cart while sipping on a margarita?  I was, apparently, taking my dear sweet time.  Then I reeled my mean girl back in and remembered that it was like 90+ degrees with the heat index, still humid (though not as bad as it has been, thankfully) and that 9 miles is 2 1/2 more miles than I did the Saturday before and 2 miles more than I've done in a very, very long time.  In fact, it's the most I've done yet. The cool thing about having my very first half marathon on August 1st is that it is my very first half marathon...this is the one where I set my time and then I get a chance to beat it at the next one which will be over 2 1/2 months later when I'm all that much more experienced and trained.

I swear, sometimes I think I am my own worst enemy.

So, the elusive 9 miles no longer eludes me.  The plan is to do 9 miles for my long run next Saturday, as well, and to just keep trying to build my weekly mileage.