Fireflies and Last Minute Lunch

My favorite part of summer in West Virginia is fireflies. For real. We don't have fireflies in California. I was driving home from my friend's house tonight and the sides of the road were completely lit up with fireflies. It's like they're putting on a show. I can't even explain how much I love them. I gives me this deep down happy feeling and I feel like my heart is going to burst. I know, that's kind of lame, but I really can't help it. I just love fireflies.

I honestly don't have much to talk about today. I will tell you that my lunch consisted of a Think Thin bar, Pop Chips, and Amy's mac and cheese. When we're out of town, we avoid fast food by hitting the grocery store and grabbing any array of things we like. I'm a little bit addicted to Pop Chips, so those are pretty much always on the last minute menu.

What is your favorite part about summer where you live? What is on your last minute menu?

Winning

So sorry I've been neglecting you, dear readers. I have been insanely busy at work. Then, when I'm home I just feel too drained to do anything else. Mainly I've been watching movies and desperately trying to finish The Girl Who Played With Fire in time for the book club. The book club was yesterday and, luckily, I managed to finish the book on Thursday. It was very good. I highly recommend the trilogy, even though I haven't read the third one yet.

Today was a lot of fun, and exactly what I needed. I was on a quest to find a new swim suit to take to California. I've been looking for a while with not much luck. I happened to mention to Chad, "If we had a Target, this wouldn't happen." So he said "It's Saturday; let's just go to Charleston." In case you don't know, Charleston is an hour away from where we live and there is no closer Target. So, off we went. At Target, I found exactly what I was looking for. As I knew I would. We also found a very affordable espresso machine and purchased it since we've been wanting one.

Then we did a bunch of window shopping at Pier 1 and then headed downtown to eat at Capital Cafe. We love that place. When we got there we found out that there had been a jazz and wine festival going on and we just barely missed it. Fail. But, we still got our good coffee and light food from Capital Cafe and walked around downtown. As we were walking, we saw a restaurant called Ichi Ban, a Japanese place. There was a sign that said "appropriate dress required". We thought we wouldn't qualify, but could see people in the window who weren't dressed any fancier than we were. So we walked in and Chad asked, "Are we dressed appropriately?" to which they replied in the affirmative. So we took at a seat at the sushi bar (you all know we're obsessed with sushi) and ordered three rolls. Chad also ordered sea urchin. It did not look appetizing, but he ate it. His response did not give me any hope and I didn't try it.

After consuming three rolls of amazing sushi (the best I've had so far) and, of course, some sake we walked down to the mall. We continued our window shopping here and Chad spent a lot of time picking up clothing and saying "this would look good on you". Yes, my husband shops for me. And he's pretty much always right about what would look good on me. I ended up buying an amazing dress from Charlotte Russe. He didn't tell me to try it, but I did anyways. I still make my own clothing decisions (sometimes). We had taken so much time shopping, by the time I bought the dress the mall was closing. So we left and came home and made lots of espresso.

Here are some highlights from today's adventure:

Some bohemian people playing instruments.

 

AMAZING SHUSHI!!!

Sea urchins. You know that looks appalling.

Yep. That's a T Rex made out of balloons.

WINNING

 

 

So there you have it. I'm sorry I sound a little crazy right now. It is 12:30am. I don't do well after 10pm.

Did you do anything fun today? Are you winning?

Feeling Scatterbrained

Well, I'm on the second to last week of TurboFire. I haven't been posting any progress pics but I will when I'm done. I've really enjoyed this program and I've become a bit of a Chalene Johnson fan in the process. I've also decided to try for the new TurboFire DVD auditions. It's going to be interesting. While we're in California, I'm going to go to Irvine to work out with Chalene at 24 Hour Fitness. Maybe I'll sneakily slip it in that I'm trying out for the new DVDs if I get a chance to talk to her. ;-)

Speaking of California, I'm getting so anxious to go! I can't get it off my mind. It's pretty much all I think about now and probably will be until we get there. I think it's also making me a little scatter-brained. For instance, it's taken me about 15 minutes to write these two short paragraphs. I just have too much on my mind. I'm thinking about California, work, reading, training for the Tough Mudder and everything I'm not getting done at home. I haven't done any housework for a while. Luckily, my dear husband is home for the summer (being a teacher and all) so he's kept up with it pretty well. I'm blessed that he's home while I'm so busy at work for these few weeks. If he wasn't, this place would be a pig stye.

I have a confession to make. It's 9pm and I haven't worked out today. Yes, that's right, I haven't even done my Turbo. And I was really hoping to get to bed earlier than I have been. I might just use today as my rest day and work out tomorrow (which is supposed to be the rest day). I also have another confession to make. I ate two tiny cinnamon rolls that my boss brought in today. So, I've officially had way too much sugar. Guess I'll be working out extra hard tomorrow. :-P

I apologize for being boring today. Just wanted to give you a quick update.

How is your week going? Any confessions you'd like to make?

Wine Snobs

Yesterday was the wine festival at Daniel Vineyards. Chad and I have always enjoyed their wine but have never been able to make it to the festival. Luckily, we were able to go this year. For only $10 they gave everyone a wine glass with the Daniel Vineyards logo on it and all the wine you can drink!

Getting ready to start the fun!

There were representatives from several other wineries there also.

Lots of vendors.

What? Wine?

Awesome guy from Forks of Cheat. They make one of our favs, CocoVino.

Of course the Daniel Vineyards booth. I love love love their port!

The no-kill shelter was there. I wanted this puppy so bad!

Such a beautiful pond!

Being a goof. That's what a few glasses of wine does to me. ;-)

The beautiful main building!

We ended up buying from this vineyard. So good!
 

The guy from this vineyard taught me how to properly hold my glass and drink wine. He said "I'll make you a wine snob in one easy lesson." He said to hold the glass by the stem so the wine doesn't get warm. Then you swirl it around to air it out and then sip it and swirl it around in your mouth. I knew most of that, but it was fun having a lesson on being a wine snob!

All in all, it was a beautiful day! We came home and had a glass of our Fredonia that we purchased. It's sweet and fruity. Just the way I like my wine. Today has been quite a lazy day. We stayed up late watching movies last night, so we ended up sleeping until about 10:30 this morning. We went out long enough to exchange some new clothes and have been watching movies since. I really need this day to do nothing. I've been going non-stop all week and really needed a day to rest.

Did you do anything fun this weekend? Have you been getting enough rest?

The Agony of Running

I'm not really sure if I'm fully conscious right now or not. I just got home from my second day of running. But first, let me tell you about how wonderfully refreshing my day has been (before the running, of course). I didn't have as many appointments on the books today as I have all this week. I was actually very happy about that because I'm running on empty here. So when I had a two-hour break, I took off for some much-needed retail therapy. First, I hit up Healthsmart to pick up a meal bar and some other snackage. Then I went to Delightfully Yours where I ordered a Summer Berry salad to go. I took my salad to Starbucks where I ordered an iced soy latte, then sat down outside and drank my latte and ate my salad. It was delightful.

Then I had about an hour to kill before my next appointment so I went to my old job at LA East where I was bombarded by children. As much as I don't miss the chaos of that job, I do miss my kids. They're sweet little boogers (sometimes). Then, as I was about to leave I got a text that my next appointment cancelled and now I had two extra hours to kill. Since I still had some left over birthday money, I put it to good use at T.J. Maxx. Those few precious hours I spent alone shopping and with my friends and kids I haven't seen in a few weeks was just what I needed. I felt so refreshed and was able to finish my work day with ease. Also, the massage I got helped a lot. I even managed to sneak in some reading of The Girl who Played with Fire.

After I got home, Chad and I left for our run. Now, mind you, I haven't run since Monday and before that I didn't run at all. Chad wanted us to do some high intensity running. Meaning, we sprinted for 30 seconds, walked for 30 seconds, sprinted, walked, etc 10 times. All together it was only a 10 minute workout. However, at the end of it, I almost puked. And I'm pretty sure I cried a little. About half-way through, I started to see fuzzy rainbows in the bottom of my vision. I'm not sure, but I think I might have been about to pass out. Has anyone ever had that happen while running? I also ended up with side stitches in my right side from my hip up to my shoulder. Also, my head still hurts. There really are no words to describe exactly how I felt (and still feel), but it is a very intense feeling that I do not enjoy at all.

Ok, enough whining from me. Tomorrow, Chad and I are going to a wine festival at a local vineyard so expect some pretty pictures!

Do you enjoy running? Did you have a terrible time getting started?

Wearing Thin

"I feel thin...like butter scraped over too much bread." - Bilbo Baggins

Ok so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I do feel worn very thin. My days are getting shorter and shorter. I wake up in the morning, do my Turbo, go to work from 9am til 7pm, train for the Tough Mudder, then end up with only an hour or two to wind down before I have to go to bed. I don't feel like I get enough time to rest. Also, I realized that I've been forgetting to take my vitamins and I could possibly be low on iron.

I know I'm a little boring tonight, but I think I need to get some rest. I'll try to have a real blog for you tomorrow.

Tough Mudder? Hell yeah!

Well...I was going to blog about my birthday, but I think Chad has that pretty well covered. Instead, I would like to talk about something different. For instance, the fact that Chad and I have decided to participate in the Tough Mudder in Virginia this October. It's a 10-mile race with obstacles designed by the British Special Forces. Despite the fact that I will have to crawl through tubes full of muddy water, run through fire, and get shocked with 10,000 volts of electricity, the thing I'm dreading the most is running.

You may think I'm crazy for saying that, but it's the truth. I hate running. And when I say I hate it, I mean I despise it with every fiber of my being. It makes me feel terrible. I ran two (non-consecutive) miles with Chad today. When it was over, I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was about to cry and/or puke. Chad says that's normal. I'm sure it is. I do not relish that feeling. While we're running, Chad tries to tell me encouraging things and I end up hating him just because he can run faster than I can and even talk while he does it, while I'm over there wheezing and about to fall over dead. If I could punch him in the face while running, I would.

I have until October to achieve the minimum running requirement for the Tough Mudder. That requirement is to simply be able to run 5 miles in less than an hour. Right now I can't even fathom running five miles in a row without stopping. I'll get there. It'll be a long, hard road but I will get there. I need to get in good running shape by August so that I can do Insanity: The Asylum in conjunction with running. The reason I want to do The Asylum is to build my upper body strength so I can do the climbing obstacles and monkey bars and what-not.

So, the content of my blog is probably going to have a lot to do with my preparation for the Tough Mudder for a while. Sorry if you get sick of hearing it.

What are you training for? What do you want to eventually train for if you aren't right now?

Learning About Goal-Setting

I'm trying to set some clear, achievable goals in my life right now. I've learned that writing your goals down on paper and continually revising them and taking steps toward them is the only way to actually attain them. I haven't been very good at doing that lately. I think the reason I don't do it is because the only times I was taught to do it was when I was running direct marketing businesses (yes, I've tried more than one). I never thought to apply them to any area in my life besides business.

I've lately become a bit of a Chalene Johnson fan. In my last post I mentioned that I started her 30 Day Challenge. It's all about setting and achieving goals. I feel like maybe if I follow this I can learn to attain my goals faster than I have been. Most of these goals are financial. We're honestly doing pretty well at paying off our debt. I think we're going it faster than most people do. But I want to put it on a fast track. A student loan is a lot of money, but if I expect it to take a really long time then it's going to take a really long time. If I plan for it to not take a really long time, it might take a little less time than originally planned for. Right?

Chalene says to make a to do list every day and tackle it first thing. I haven't done that yet because I'm only on day 4 of the challenge and she hasn't taught about the to do list yet. I'd rather wait until I know exactly how to do it. I'm very good at learning things. I can do anything if you can just teach me how. I've always prided myself on that. There's virtually nothing I can't learn to do. This is just another thing that I need to be taught.

I'm a big believer in self improvement. I used to think all those self-help books were a sham...until I read one. Then I thought, "hey, I really could be better!". I've changed a lot over the past few years and a lot of it is thanks to the last business I was involved in. They encouraged self improvement and reading every day. Once I started that, I felt like I suddenly blossomed into the person I always wanted to be. Granted, I still have plenty of work left but I'm still better than I used to be. I'm healthy, I'm in good shape, and I'm more confident than I've ever been. Now all I have to do is apply what I learned to all other aspects of my life. Be gone, debt!

How do you set and achieve your goals? Have you read any good self improvement books lately?

Secrets of a Happy Home

Right now it's 12:00 in the afternoon. I've been up since 6:30am. I have no appointments at work until 1:30pm and haven't been called in early. For the past few days I've spent some time catching up on what I call my "Flylday chores". Click on the link there if you want to know more about Flylady. In general, she teaches people like me how to be organized and keep their home in order. So, each day I have less and less to do. So can you guess what I've been doing for the past six hours? If I had the camera at home, I would show you. But I suppose I can illustrate with words.

There weren't very many dishes to do and I finished them off. I ate breakfast, did my housework assigned for the day, ate some more while watching Medium on Netflix, and then I think I just spent the last two or so hours reading The Girl who Played with Fire. I honestly got through about a quarter of it. It's probably safe to say I'll have it done in time for the next book club. Oh yeah, and I also did Day 2 of Chalene Johnson's 30 Day Challenge. It's nice to feel so accomplished at only noon. The only thing I haven't done yet is my 15 minute declutter (another Flylady thing). Obviously, though, that only takes 15 minutes.

I'm beginning to relish these mornings alone. Yes, I admit, it's kind of boring but it's a nice time to get things done and reflect. Plus, my marriage reaps the benefit of all I get done in these mornings. When the apartment is in order, it feels peaceful. Chad can come home and not feel like he needs to clean the kitchen before he can cook, thus hampering his creativity. Then, when I get home from work, we can eat dinner together in our peaceful space and not feel guilty for watching a movie instead of cleaning. From there it becomes somewhat of a beautiful cycle. He feels happy that all this work is done and will do nice things for me (get your minds out of the gutter, readers, I'm talking about dinner, flowers, wine, etc). When I'm showered with affections, I'm more inclined to continue the work I've been doing. And on and on it goes.

As with any cycle, it's occasionally broken, but I always take care to get it going again. It's so worth it and it frustrates me that I ever let it slide. It's such an easy way to feel peace in my home and encourage growth in my marriage. Chad and I have a wonderful marriage anyway, but (as everyone knows) effort is required to keep it that way. You can't let a beautiful flower wither from lack of attention.

I suppose that's enough soul-baring from me today. I hope you found some encouragement here. If someone like me can learn to keep her home in order and her marriage flourishing, anyone can. :-)

A Lovely Walk

I promised you pretty pictures of our walk today. It took us three hours to walk to the end and back, for a total of 6 1/2 miles. I think my legs are going to be pretty sore. Here are some of the highlights:

Stairs to Nowhere

The roof of some building.

Whatever this is.

Yes! Made it to the end! (Or beginning.)

Mile 0

They smell soooo good!

Cool old building.

I have a thing for cool doors.

Well, that about sums up most of my day. We had a lovely dinner with a good friend and watched Megamind. Funny movie. Will Ferrel, love him or hate him, is pretty hilarious.

Did you get out in the sunshine today?

Clothes Hunting and HIIT

Well, remember how I went on a cleaning rampage and cleaned the entire apartment? Chad was so happy to come home to a clean apartment that when we went back out to the store he came home with flowers and champagne and coconut ice cream! He also made a delicious spicy black bean soup! It was so nice!

When I got off of work today, I went to a little consignment store on the search for a new skirt. I didn't find one that I liked but I bought two brand name shirts for a total of $8. Then I went to T.J. Max to continue my search for a skirt and struck out there too. But Chad found a dress that he thought would look good on me so I tried it on and ended up buying it. How do I manage to go to two stores looking for a new skirt and end up with two shirts and a dress? Oh well. The search will continue.

Tomorrow is the last day of recovery week for Turbo Fire and then it's back to HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts. I'm sort of excited about it and sort of not. HIIT workouts are great because they're so effective but they wear you out so fast! At least it will be a change of pace and I only have a month left before I'm done with Turbo Fire. This November there will be a Turbo Kick instructor training in Richmond, VA and I intend to go. It's more up my alley than Zumba and it's going to be a ton of fun!

I think we'll go for a nice long walk again tomorrow so I'll have some more pretty pictures for you!

Cleaning Rampage!

Sorry, my blog is going to be a little short tonight. I had a pretty short day at work, but I have a long one coming up tomorrow so I'm going to try to get to bed at a decent time tonight. I didn't have to go to work until 2:30, so I got a lot done around the house. Here is what I ate for breakfast:

mmmm oatmeal

And then the nasty part:

With a side of...vinegar?

Yup. I'm doing an experiment. I've been told that drinking vinegar every day can help burn core fat and balance PH levels. I need to do more research on it, but that's what I've been told. The person who told me this was a 50-year-old man who looked 30. So, I figured I'd take his word on it. Here's the nasty concoction up close:

Also my nasty fingernails.

After filling half a jigger with organic apple cider vinegar, I filled the other half with water to dilute it so I don't end up burning my esophagus or something. It's terrible. It makes my eyes water and I cough for about a minute. But, I'm dedicated to seeing how it works.

After my nasty vinegar and lovely breakfast, my friend came over and we did our Turbo Fire workout. Then I got to cleaning. I didn't document the whole process, but I got some pictures of the kitchen because that was the worst part. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I started, but here are some mid-cleaning and end results:

A shiny sink! Flylady would be so proud!

A somewhat tidy counter.

A clean table, but before sweeping and mopping.

Swept and mopped! So pretty!

After my cleaning rampage, I read a little, watched some Medium, and then went to work. I had a pretty nice day at work; worked on some good people. It's so nice to have a client at the very beginning of their problem and be able to see all the progress you make each session. It's so rewarding! I'm so glad I got back into my chosen field.

Do you love your work? Are you good at keeping your home clean and organized?

Lazy Blogging

Well, my work day was pretty lame today. I only had four appointments and they were so spread out I spent a lot of time being productive doing absolutely nothing. However, I did have some good snackage.

I promise there's yogurt under there!

See? Yogurt.

After work, we decided to visit a local eatery. It's located in an old Jr. High where Chad went to school. It was...ok. I think it's what they call "home style country cooking". It was good, but nothing better than I could make in my own kitchen. However, I did get some pictures anyway. I had lasagna.

It came with a side of mashed potatoes.

Also in the building is a coffee shop/book store called Coffee Beans and Books. It was pretty sweet.

Very cozy.

Yeah, I dunno what I was looking at.

I also found the next book for my book club. We're currently into the Stieg Larsson trilogy. Last month we read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and for June we're reading The Girl who Played with Fire. So excited for it!

I'm kind of lazy blogging right now. Modern Family came on and it's kind of irresistible. And can I just say that I'm really sick of seeing The Bachelorette? I don't watch it and I don't even want to see the commercials. Bah.

What TV show can make you lazy blog? What's your favorite book?