Inspiration today

Pinterest inspiration of the day...

Just get Up and GO!

Mornings (or in my case, evenings) are hard waking up when you wake up automatically feeling on edge and slightly worried. I hate that. Today I kind of expected it to be that way, but even so it didn't make it any easier. I planned a little bit ahead though and forced myself to get out of bed a little early instead of lying there for hours trying to pretend that I wouldn't have to actually start my day...but then still knowing I do have to start it at some point. Got myself up, made me some iced coffee, laced up my running shoes and hit the gym before I could tell myself "no". Pumped out a hard three miles on the treadmill and a mile walk uphill to cool down. MUST get into shape for this race!

I'm anticipating a long night ahead of me, who knows what is in store for me. I'm charge tonight along with everyone dealing with the burden of a new computer system. Really not looking forward to whatever 'fires' I have to put out. Wish me luck.

Life list

On the plane ride back from Florida to Salt Lake City, Dan and I were in separate rows-- Lame! Since it was early in the evening I wasn't tired at all so I entertained myself by journalling, resituating my 1/2 marathon training plan, making playlists from the free music provided on the mini-tv on the back of the seat in front of me and.. making, yet another life list. How did I ever live without lists? :)

1. Go on a Roadtrip
2. Grow my own garden
3. Write a book
4. Visit a therapist/counsellor
5. Learn to play a musical Instrument
6. Get Married to the love of my life
7. Run a Marathon
8. Run a Half Marathon
9. Run for charity
10. Keep up with a successful blog
11. Travel to Europe! London, Spain, Italy, Greece, France..all those too!
12. Go to a nutritionist
13. Meet someone famous-- An author, an actor/actress, singer
14. Live in another state besides WA & OR
15. Own a dog & take the time to train it
16. Learn how to snowboard
17. Bake & Decorate a cake
18. Visit Rockefeller Center & ice skate
19. Visit Manhattan
20. Visit Cincinatti
21. See the Grand Canyon
22. Go on a Hot air balloon ride
23. Meet Taylor Swift
24. Learn to dance beautifully
25. Skinny dip in the ocean
26. Be debt free
27. Fly First class
28. Ride/fly in a double decker plane
29. Sleep under the stars
30. Go on a weekend camping trip
31. Swim under a waterfall
32. Zip line in the San Juan Islands
33. Go paintballing
34. Get my Concealed weapons permit
35. Go Rock Climbing
36. Learn to drive a motorcycle
37. Learn to drive a standard
38. visit WA DC
39. Go on a cruise
40. See a musical on Broadway
41. Be a mom
42. Take a cooking class
43. Drive Route 66
44. See the Hollywood sign
45. Try snow-shoeing
46. Own a house
47. Go white water rafting
48. Go to the top of the space needle
49. See Mount Rushmore
50. Watch all of the Friends Episodes
51. Drive Across the Golden Gate Bridge
52. Complete a Scrapbook
53. Make an Inspiration Wall
54. Go to the top of the Empire State Building
55. Climb the Effiel Tower
56. Visit the White House
57. Create my own website
58. Open a coffee shop
59. Go whale watching
60. Swim with dolphins
61. Be on a movie set
62. Vote in a presidental election
63. Go to a baseball game at Fenway Park
64. Experience a Key west sunset
65. Swim in the ocean at night
66. Take a digital photography class
67. Visit Chicago
68. Ski at whistler
69. Get a bikini wax
70. Learn caligraphy
71. Learn another language.. or two.
72. Learn the art of origami
73. Fondue!
74. Visit Ground Zero

Reminiscing the Good Stuff

Reminiscing is one of my favorite things. As long as its about good things of course. :) Of course now that I am back with the real life thing, I am missing my vacation in Sunny Florida.. but I'm happy because I had the time with my super good friends and spend a week away with my guy. They say pictures are worth a thousand words right... :) I think the pictures here give a little insight to how things went. Love em thru & thru!! I'll let the photos do the talking for now..

Pictures to Inspire

Hot Yoga

I remember when I started this blog I was just starting Hot yoga. Funny I'm coming back around to it. I decided to add a little yoga time in with my cardio because not only do I want to be ready for the 1/2 marathon in May... I also want to be continuing on with my exercise and health trend. Mostly because, I like the way I feel these days. Anyway. I was curious today how many calories Hot yoga helps you burn... apparently if you weigh approximately 150 pounds, you burn up to 700 per hour. That seems a little crazy to me! (http://www.livestrong.com/article/115471-calories-burned-during-bikram-yoga/) but I'll take it!
The thing about hot yoga that is hard for me, is that I have to prepare myself for it every time that I go. Not just mentally because lets face it---there is no getting out of it, it is going to be HOTT-- but also because I have to be hydrated, I have to eat a good meal at least two hours before. And I can expect that I'm going to want to fall on the couch for the rest of the day because I'm so exhausted. How do I still find this activity fun? When I figure it out... I'll let you know. Maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment! Hot yoga, here I come.. (in 2 1/2 hours!)

Cardio Jam

My roomie and I went for a 3 mile run outside today--it was SO nice. Its nice to have a buddy in this whole thing. She's awesome. Then I convinced her to go to a random class at our gym called "Cardio Jam". Wh-hooo. taught by a 60 or 70 year old lady... way more fit than me... who liked to sing to the 80s-90s music she was blasting. Lol. It was fun though. Sad that I broke a sweat in the stretching/warm up part right? :) Good times.

Travel Day

Depressing to wake up and realize that todays the day we have to go back. We have had a good time though. Very laid back and relaxing. And amazing to hang out with my besties. I guess its time to get back to real life. I do hate this feeling though. Got to see some florida rain, and then yep, back to sunshine :). Everythings packed, ready to go. Ate my last fresh orange. Now just doing the last minute things and waiting for time to pass.

Junebug is sleeping away.

Next to Daniel, who's playing video games.

While I'm searching the 'interweb',  and Anna is packing for her quick trip to atlanta.
Time to go. So Long Florida. Hope to see you again too. Hope to see my besties sooner and I hope I can hang on to relaxing de-stressing feeling that comes with being here. xo

Breakfast and laziness

I made breakfast for my guy this morning. Anna and Zane are at work so he and I are just enjoying the sunshine and hanging out around the house. It's been really nice. I made him some bacon, an egg and PANCAKES!! :) They actually turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I found Anna's stash of Body & Soul magazines so I have been reading through a few of them while enjoying my iced coffee on the back patio. Loving my time. xo

Sunshine I love you

Yesterday I got to say a long-waited Hello to Florida. As Always its taking some time to get into the vacation-relaxing mode. But I feel the tension slowly easing up slowly. It was so good to see that familiar silver Chevy drive up at the airport terminal. Just what I have needed for so, so long. I miss her. I miss the presence of a friend that knows me completely and still continues to love me everyday. I miss the person that I am when I am with her. I miss the ease of conversation, the comfortable silence.

View from my kitchen table this morning.

Thankful is what I am. That this worked so well, that things fell into place, that Daniel got to come with me. I feel a little removed from my life, from work (thank goodness). Its still there, there are still soo many things to work through in my head. Letting go is my main goal for the next 5 days. That and enjoying time with my best girl & her amazing hubby, and time away from reality with my love. 

Exercise it up-
Yep. I'm still at it. I love that now I crave the exercise. I WANT to move! Yesterday while Anna was at work and Zane went to meeting..Dan and I walked 2.5 miles to Publix to grab a few groceries and enjoy the outdoors. That's 2.5 miles there...annnd back. With extra weight on the way back. Lol. We did it last time, so why not? It was a nice evening.
Today consisted of a whole lot of sleep, B&E for breakfast, and soaking up some sunshine. Fit a few sit ups in, flat plank and side plank, jumping jacks.
I always kind of laughed at the magazines when they say to combine activities and make them fun... But somehow it sounded good today... possibly because the other option of enjoying the sun was sitting, reading my magazine and sweating! I combined my magazine reading, sun-soaking and exercise by taking a walk around the house... on one side of the house I did 10-15 lunges, easy walk, 50-100 jump squats, easy walk-- repeat. :) Feels good!

Baked Oatmeal

Kicking around on Pinterest, I found a recipe for baked oatmeal... in muffin form!! Cool idea! So I decided to give it a whirl, since I can't seem to sleep today. Omg, they turned out Awesome! Best part is, they are half-healthy. I mean besides the 23 carbs thing...they are healthy. Not that carbs are a bad thing, they have their place. But I tend to go overboard on them and they don't fill me up as much so I have to eat a lot more of them to feel satisfied which then just makes me feel guilty.

They've got some good ingredients though that I thought would make them taste like health food. Surprisingly, they don't.
* Flax meal
* Stevia for sweetener ( I love brown sugar so instead of chocolate chips and other additives, I just put brown sugar on top)
* Applesauce
* Mashed bananas
* Cinnamon
* Milk ( I used a mixture of light Vanilla Soy milk and nonfat milk)
* Oatmeal ( 5 cups.. because it makes 18+)
and some other misc spices/baking powder etc...
all combined... I think its a WIN! It totally kills my craving for oatmeal and its so easy to eat because its in a muffin! love love love.
you can find the recipe here... http://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/personal-sized-baked-oatmeal-with-individual-toppings-gluten-free-diabetic-friendly/

Cross train and fitness magazine

I've been seriously hooked on magazines lately. It makes me look forward to cross train days. Mostly because, I can't seem to read while running.. lol.. something about bouncing up and down and trying to go faster... it just doesn't work. On the elliptical however.. I can totally do it. I'm pushing myself to go outdoors more for my runs most days. Some days it doesn't work out.. but I have been getting better. Today was elliptical day. Hello LA fitness. It was good. I did 45 minutes of intervals at level 8 on the minimum and 11 on the max. Kept my heart rate up around 135 before heading to the treadmill for short intervals. My heart rate ended up at 170...yikes!! Good thing I don't sustain that, my heart would be giving out right about now. I was reading in fitness magazine about increasing metabolism. I like the idea. I'm not sure if half of what the magazine says is just media hype, but its fun to read anyway and it gets me thinking about foods I'm eating, how I can be switching up my exercise routine to maximize weight loss (at a healthy rate), and theres the added bonus of getting to look at all the random fitness attire/accessories that they find. :) I should probably not jump on that bandwagon, or I'm going to go broke. Good thing I'm not like a shopper-extraordinare! According to myfitnesspal (I'm hooked, I can't help it...) I expended 610 calories through my workout! That always makes me feel good. Is it weird that I feel accomplished because I left the gym sweating like crazy? ha..

Many the mile

How close do I have to go... to get to you... Many the mile... :) That song just popped into my head (Sara Bareilles), and it fit for my topic of conversation today. I ran a 5 miler this week! Wh-hooooo! I know that isn't all that much considering that I have to run 3 times that... (minus a little) for the half marathon coming up but I felt accomplished. It was a tough run for me. Starting out I wasn't feeling it, but it was good to continue to push myself to keep going and just to keep on running. I took 3 rest days this week... Oops... I try to max out at 2 rest days even if I'm not running the other 5 days, I want to be out there doing something active. Whether that means 20 minutes of swimming or some time on the ellipticals or even just on my living room floor stretching. I just want to be in the habit of doing a little something everyday (almost..:)). That said, I love me some relaxing and kicking back on the couch or curled up in my bed watching some tv or logging in some much needed sleep time. 

Mantra of the week: Sweat plus sacrifice equals success.
Song that keeps me running: off of the Act of Valor soundtrack---  For You By Keith Urban

Running Outside

Lets start this off by saying--I am so proud of myself for running my long run outside this week! My amazing boyfriend Daniel, decided he wanted to slow his pace a little bit (He is a much more experienced runner than I am, in better shape and able to run upwards of ten miles on a normal day..) and would be okay running a few miles with me. So we ran 4 miles at about a 1030 pace which actually is pretty dang good for me. Well he ran 9 miles I think... because he ran to my house, picked me up, ran 4 with me, then continued on after that. Anyway. Now that we are under the 80 day countdown mark for the Half marathon coming up, its a goal of mine (and a very necessary one) to run more outside than I do inside. However, with the weather being so freakishly cold (okay its low 40s..but still) I am not motivated to get outside and do it. The other thing is, it is just hard! Does anyone else find running outside difficult? I find that I have a mental block when it comes to running distance. Running the first mile is alright, second mile is okay...but then I start counting...and I start looking at how far I have gone, how many calories I'm burning, what pace I'm running at, and how much further I have to go. I start playing the numbers game in my head...calculating how many minutes are left for how far I want to go, trying to push myself to up my calorie expenditure and go just a little bit further and just a little bit faster. In some ways I suppose this is a good thing--to push myself I mean. But actually it really doesn't make it that much fun. I find my runs are much more enjoyable when I get lost in them. I just haven't figured out how to just lose myself everytime. Dan says that he gets up to eight miles and he's like, woah where did the last six miles go. :) Oh, that would be nice.

Ways to Inspire myself to hit the Road and not the gym...

* Make an appointment---maybe I should name the road... hmm, then I would be letting someone down if I didn't go out with it!
* Motivate someone else to do it with me--Aka, my roommate Danielle...or Dan :) or Tamara
* Dont think, just lace up my shoes and go
* Reward myself? a 15 minute massage if I run outside? hmm double reward because my shoulder needs it!

Its a working list. Regardless, I have to get myself out there somehow--because the half marathon isn't going to be on a treadmill!