High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Actually this was last Thursday, not last Friday but since I was off on Halloween I baked a fun treat to share at the office. I think this is the third year in a row that I've made this cake, so this year I added green to it. It's always such a hit and no one seems bored with it yet :)

Fun on the outside...

...and on the inside!

2) Friday was Halloween! I took the day off and tried to make this year special for Grant with some good trick-or-treating and fun dinner too. (You can read more about the day HERE)

Ready to trick-or-treat at a local park!

With the spooky scarecrow at one of our neighbor's houses!
(He loved these decorations!)

3) Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese (a first for me and Grant) to celebrate the birthday of one of Grant's school friends. Grant's BFF was there and two of them were stuck together like glue. Its so fun to watch them play together!

4) At some point last weekend (Sunday?) I got out for a run. I wasn't really feeling it but I still managed 3 miles. Sometimes I consider it an accomplishment to just make it home without having to call for a ride.

5) I got to make two birthday cakes this week! My friend & co-worker Janis got a fun little chocolate peanut butter cake for one that I've been wanting try. And Husband requested a Red Sox cake for his friend & co-worker Barry who turned 50 this week. I was really excited about how they both turned out (though as a Yankees fan, that Red Sox cake hurt my soul!)!

Fun little cake for Janis!

Red Sox cake for Barry!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week. 

1) After surviving my first Fair of the year (with my sanity mostly intact), I got to enjoy my first day off in over two weeks. We really made the most of this weekend and had so much fun! Saturday I fixed us some really yummy ham & cheese omelets for breakfast and then enjoyed some coffee and games with Grant. Later on we took him to his first movie -Planes Fire & Rescue (finally able to convince him that movie theaters are not horrible scary places filled with evil). Now, he can't wait to go again! Had to run to Target after that so Grant & I had some fun embarrassing Husband in the Halloween section and since we were all still full from our movie food...we had ice cream for dinner :)

Yummy cup of Green Mountain coffee and some Busy Busy Airport

Waiting patiently for our cheese fries at Raleighwood Cinema & Grill
(I think this was a really neat place for his first movie!)

Enjoying Target's new Halloween items!

2) Sunday was a little more relaxing. We had an early lunch with my Mother-in-law to celebrate her birthday. Later I took Grant out for a bike ride (I was walking and he left me in his dust!) followed by some good ol' sandbox play. And we made some fun marshmallow treats for Grant and his classmates the next day.

It was such a gorgeous day!

Mama's kitchen helper!

3) Since I work downtown next to the Science Museum, I see a lot of what goes on there. This past weekend was Bugfest, which we didn't go to, but they always do a sand sculpture for it and I always look forward to seeing what it is. Monday on my way into the office I got to check out this year's sculpture.

4) I made some really yummy baked potato soup to celebrate the arrival of Fall :) 
{recipe here}

5) I surprised my little Ninja Turtle lover with a fun hoodie I thought he might like. With it being a little chilly this week, he's been able to wear it every day and couldn't be happier about it!

This was taken when he first tried it on. I promise he
does wear pants when he leaves the house.

6) After about a month of no desire to exercise from my crazy schedule, I'm going to try to get back into some running and walking. It sure felt great out there this week!

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Friday, the 4th of July, was the last day of my running challenge. The two previous days I had gone for walks instead of running but I really wanted to finish with a run. Knowing we were going to watch the fireworks that night, I decided to run while Husband & Grant took their mid-day naps. Bad idea. It was so incredibly hot. But I did finish my challenge - yay!

2) Friday night we found a decent spot away from downtown to watch the fireworks. It was obvious that we missed some of the good stuff because of our location but we still got a good show without having to go downtown. Seeing Grant's reaction was totally worth letting him stay up far too late past his bedtime.

Waiting patiently for the fireworks to start!

Grant really liked all the shapes they made with the fireworks.

3) Husband's aunt was in town for the 4th so Saturday night we all went out to dinner. We followed that up with snow cones and some time on the playground nearby  

So happy :)

That static hair was cracking us up when he came down the slide!

4) We once again tried the ice cream in a baggie thing - I think we're a bit obsessed with this. This time I tried to make it chocolate. It didn't turn out as chocolatey as we would have liked but it was still really good.

5) I went for my first post-challenge run this week and felt surprisingly good. It was also my longest run this summer. I didn't even mind so much how hot it was because there was a relatively decent breeze. I've been a little lazy this week with my running and all the rain we're getting is really helping me justify staying inside. But hopefully this weekend I'll feel a little more motivated.

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

A Chubby Girl's Thoughts On Running

Let's be clear about two things:

1. Running is not a weight loss tactic for me. If, by chance, I shed a few pounds then I'll count it as a bonus but it is not my goal. I run because I have to take medicine that makes me feel like crap. It makes me dizzy, it makes me more tired than I can ever remember being (even in the early weeks of new parenthood), and for some reason it makes my joint pain flare up. Last year when I embarked upon a semi-commitment to getting in better shape, I found that running alleviated almost all of those side effects - the dizziness was gone, my joint pain flare ups were few and far between, and the fatigue was still there but not nearly as bad. Having gotten out of that routine, they've all started creeping back in. I can handle the dizziness but the fatigue hits me as soon as I wake up (then hit snooze) and the joint pain just flat out sucks.
2. That title is not meant to garner comments such as "OMG you're not fat!" or anything of that nature. I do know that I'm not huge but I also know that I'm not a small girl. I am overweight BUT I'm also perfectly fine with that. I'm comfortable. I'm happy. And I like the person who is looking back at me when I stand in front of a mirror. I've been through a lot and come out stronger in the end so I'm not about to let a few extra pounds make me crazy. 

So, running.

It sucks.

I could pretty much end this post right there. It doesn't put me in a good mood (though I'm told it should). If I recorded my runs and played them back for you, you'd hear me telling myself - out loud - "I can do this...I can do this" but more often it's "I'm going to die...I'm going to die...right here...on the side of the road...no one will find me...until it's too late". I really do talk to myself. Usually when I leave the house Husband tells me not to over do it. I tell him I won't and then I chuckle to myself. Not because his concern is funny but because I'm not an athletic person and so I always over do it when I run. A half mile is over doing it for me. Running - period - is over doing it for me. But when I get home - and the pain in my lower legs recedes - I really feel great. If it wasn't for the after I'm pretty sure I'd never run again (unless my life depended on it).

The day after Memorial Day, I joined a running challenge. The challenge itself started on Memorial Day but I needed a day to consider it. I'm not sure what made me do it. The challenge was to run at least one mile every day starting on Memorial Day and ending on July 4th. It's just a mile, right? That's what I think I was thinking. One mile...but in the summer in NC...and I'm not the biggest fan of the NC summer heat. After day two or three of the challenge, I knew I was going to quit. And then I didn't. I didn't run every day and on the days that I did run, sometimes I didn't do much more than a mile. But I finished the challenge having recorded 37 miles in that time period and I have to say, I'm pretty damn proud of that. 

The green dots are days I ran, the red are days I didn't (or
didn't do a live record so it didn't count).

It was a personal challenge rather than an actual competition with the other participants. The top person ended with over 800 miles more than I had (and I'm not exaggerating). So I really just wanted to see if I could do it. It's really helped get me back into running and working out at a time when I really needed a kick in the butt. I realize it's probably not much...but for someone like me (who has never liked to participate in sports or anything remotely similar to that) its kind of a big deal. And, although it's not helping my medicine's side effects as quickly as I'd hoped, I do feel a whole lot better than I did a few weeks ago.

What I've learned:

• A mile is way longer in reality than it is in your head. Especially when it's 90 degrees outside, sunny, and no breeze is blowing.
• Running actually works for me. I'm not a go-to-the-gym type of person. I don't hate gyms but I don't want to go somewhere to work out. I like running around my neighborhood and/or up and down our road. But unless it's to a local park for a walk or run, I'm not likely to drive somewhere just to work out.
• Walking counted in my challenge so there were a few days that I had to do that because my legs hurt too bad to run. Also, I can really haul ass when I'm out for a walk.
• While exercising isn't super fun...dieting is awful. And I'm a terrible terrible person when I'm on a diet. Over the past few years I've changed the way I eat and cook in small ways, it's a process for me because I refuse to diet now. So no drastic changes came with this running challenge. But even with that and not setting out to really lose weight, I'm noticing some small changes in my shape (that might not be obvious to anyone but me).
• Compression pants & capris are GREAT. I maybe fall under that old joke how you should have to have a license to wear spandex but I don't care. I tried running in clothes that aren't made for running and it was too annoying for me to keep going. I really love my running clothes.
• Running in the summer has made me more tolerant of the heat here. I might even venture to say I'm starting to like it. I sort of wish I done this sooner. Lets see if I'm still saying that in August.
• Over the past few weeks I've gradually been able to run longer. Last night I went for my first post-challenge run and managed 2 miles...my longest of the summer so far. I felt decent and was able to push myself more. I was pretty excited about that and it maybe sucks less now.

If you want to know what got me started on this, a friend started this exercise plan HERE last year and I joined it with her. There are two more levels after you finish that first one. I thought once I got to the running part of the plan I'd probably end up quitting but I did finish it (breaking up the last day - a one hour run - into two parts). I did have to change some of the exercises to fit my needs because of my joint issues but it was a great jump start into exercising!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) After seeing something similar on Pinterest, Friday morning I decided to try something new with my hair. I have a thingy that makes a "perfect bun" so I used that and tied it with a scarf I've had for a few months but never really used. It didn't turn out pinterest-worthy but considering I'm generally terrible at styling hair (specifically mine), I think it turned out pretty well. Husband called it "cute".

2) On Friday, Grant ended up at the doctor and was put on breathing treaments and a steroid for a nasty cough so we got to do a lot of hanging out with him over the weekend. It's never fun when he's sick, obviously, but spending some down-time with him is always nice (especially when he's feeling cuddly).

Chowing down on some shaved ice I made him.

3) I tried a new recipe for our Sunday dinner. I LOVE the Pioneer Woman and I've always had good results with her recipes. When I saw her recipe for Slice-Baked Potatoes, I knew they were going on my menu soon. SO good!

Mmmmmm...

4) Monday came and I felt like Grant wasn't ready to go back to school. So we had a restful  and cuddly day at home.

Cuddling in my lap :)

5) I've managed to keep up relatively well with the running challenge I joined in May. I'm not running every day but I am going pretty often. I pretty much curse running the entire time I'm doing it and I can't seem to do more than 1.5 miles when I go but when I'm done I feel great. And if I'm being honest, I'm pretty proud of logging 26 miles in the last month.

Happy Friday!
Have a great weekend!