Monday, January 30, 2012

Motivate Yourself Mondays!

Link up and motivate yourself to finish your to-do list this week, or accomplish your #1 goal for the week.



(FYI- I did pretty good on last weeks goals. I ran FIVE times, took and edited all my pics, failed on the studying 1,2,3 Digital Photography book, but instead I revamped my entire blog! You like?)

This week, I'm really focusing on eating healthy. I haven't been doing so hot on the drinking more water thing, so to make it easy on myself, I went on a shopping spree at Target and bought this pretty purple filtered water jug! How can I resist using this, right? I'm hoping since cold, clean water will always be available to me, I'll stop with the constant purchasing of Vitamin Waters. Which are good, but get expensive and waste plastic (Even though we recycle).
As you might can tell, I need to work on drinking less Diet Mt. Dew/Diet Coke... I'll work on that another week. :)

I am also working on continuing to pack healthy lunches for work! Must make a visit to the grocery to stock up on more fresh fruits and veggies. 



I also really want to get into some sort of strength training... I will be doing more important Pinterest research on my days off to find/make the perfect one for my schedule, similar to this. 





You get the idea. 

And, because I love organization and schedules, I'm thinking about implementing an official cleaning schedule as well. Something similar to this:



I already try to clean a room a day, or do one cleaning chore a day (dust, sweep, etc.) but having it written down like this just makes me happy!




Grab the "Motivate Yourself Mondays" button for your post!
(Simply copy the code from the box and paste in your post where you want the image.)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

I Froze My Thorns Off For a 5k!

I had considered participating in the Nike Virtual Half-Marathon on January 14th, but I decided in the "brutal" winter weather we are having here in TN, settling for a 5k sounds much nicer. Naturally, I chose the Freeze Your Thorns Off 5k since it was free and I didn't have to travel anywhere in the cold weather.

Kelly and I headed out the door bright and early (especially for a Sunday) to run at 8am, since we both had to go to work later that morning. It was a brisk 35*  Anniston was really excited for her mommy and her Aunt Allie. You can tell from the glorious spit bubble.


 We ventured over to our favorite running spot for a run that was pretty much exactly like every other run we've done together recently, except this time we had these cool bibs on our shirts.



I'm pretty sure all the rich folks in the neighborhood thought we were nuts, casually jogging around with bibs on our shirts like we were in a race. Kelly and I are both getting over a nasty, nasal-y cold-and-cough-thing.

Brandon decided to be a bandit racer at the last minute. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in the official race rules that having frozen snot automatically earned you 1st place.  I looked over at him about half way through, and from the amount of glistening around his nasal area, I knew he had won (and I'm not talking about sweat). I only wish I had my camera.



Also, I got to wear my super awesome purple sunglasses for the second time, which, like I said they would, made me feel like a cool person and a fast runner. I am only one of those things, and it's not a fast runner.

Anyways, despite all the coughing, snot, and useless bibs, we had a lot of fun. Thanks, Adam, for hosting!



365: Week 4


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Cool Sunglasses Make You Cool, Too!

Or, at least, that's how I feel about my new sunglasses when I wear them.

Maybe it's shallow, vain, and a ridiculous result of over exposure to advertising, but I like to feel good about myself when I run. One of the ways I achieve a bit of confidence is by having cool running gear. Thankfully, I live very close to a Nike Factory Outlet, so I have collected an entire wardrobe of Nike running apparel for a fraction of the retail price.

Unfortunately, I have never found a pair of Nike sunglasses at the outlet, so I've been using a generic pair of sunglasses to run in for the past year or so. When we went to Chicago last summer, we visited a huge Nike Store on Michigan Ave, and I fell in love with a pair of Nike sunglasses. Having just graduated, I couldn't afford them at the time.

Out of the blue (or out of my strong desire for blue skies and a sunny day), I decided to splurge on them the other day. I placed my online order seconds before I headed off to work on Monday. I also live very near one of the Nike Warehouses, so my online orders always arrive very quickly. I waited on the UPS man (for the second day in a row. He totally thinks I'm crazy) to arrive on Wednesday to unwrap these babies.


And I fell in love all over again.

Then, it rained all day long on Thursday. Including during my sorry attempt at a run, so I couldn't even pretend like I needed to wear them. Boo.

But on Friday... I got to take the out for a test run... and our relationship is still going strong. Apparently, they have some sort of anti-fog technology, which sounds unnecessary, but is totally necessary. My generic ex-running-sunglasses fogged up quite a bit. Plus, my new Nike ones are purple and so pretty.



Friday, January 27, 2012

You Shouldn't Have, But I'm Glad You Did!

As a congratulations for my new job, and as a bit of a thanks for being the new, unofficial, family photographer, my parents and my sister gave me a card with a few goodies inside....


This was completely unexpected and totally unnecessary, but greatly appreciated! The goodies from inside the card are going into my "photography fund" and will help with my next expensive purchase- Adobe Photoshop. Now, if I can just find the time to learn the software.

So, I want to give a huge thanks to my wonderful parents, and my BFF sister for supporting my dreams, in both my real career and my fantasy career as a photographer.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Yurbuds Ironman Earphones

I've been on a bit of a quest lately for the perfect earphones. You see, I have them in my ear for a significant amount of time each day, so having the perfect pair is very important. I listen to music some, but mostly audiobooks (cough, *harry potter*, cough) and so some earphones can get uncomfortable after a few hours of listening. Also, as an attempt to learn to fall asleep without the TV on (a constant request from my dear, sweet husband), I have found myself listening to an audiobook while falling asleep.

*Anyways* I'll get to the point. I recently purchased Yurbuds Ironman Series Earphones from my local Target, mainly because I liked the picture of the super butt-kicking girl on the box.




After getting them home, I actually had to pull out the instructions and read how to insert them into my ear! I must be ridiculous, right? Well, they have this (slightly complicated) "Twist and Lock" technology which prevent them from falling out. And it works! One of my main problems with typical earbuds is that they tend to start slipping our of my ear when I'm running and sweaty. But these babies are locked in.

The sound quality is pretty exceptional, I must say. As far as comfort goes- they are very comfortable for the first few hours. Even longer than typical earbuds, due to the odd shape of them I assume. They aren't comfortable to fall asleep in, but I don't see how they could be, since I sleep on my side.

I also really like the "Kevlar Wires Tangle Free Cable", which helps with the general kinks that come along with regular earbuds. However, I'm not crazy about the red. Call me vain, but I don't have any red running gear, and it clashes with some of my shirts........ Yes, I'm being serious. The non Ironman Series version has a white cord, but it's not the tangle free version.  (Plus that version didn't have the awesome pictures on the box. I totally fall for that kind of advertising.)

My last observation and pretty much the only thing (besides the color) that keeps these from being perfect is they don't have a volume control/pause/play button. I have another pair that have those controls, and I have grown quite fond of not having to fumble with pulling up my shirt (while trying not to flash anyone) to get to my Nano, which I like to clip to the top of my pants.

To make a long story short, I haven't found the perfect pair yet (let me know if you have any suggestions), but I'm glad I purchased these and will make good use of them, for sure.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Oh, how Pinteresting Wednesday!

If you haven't discovered Pinterest, you are missing out on one of the best things in life. No joke. I love it almost as much as Harry Potter.


Here are my favorite finds for the week. 












t







What I'm Loving Wednesday!



Ziplock Snack Size Bags
I've been packing snacks in these at the beginning of each week to take to work. They are the perfect size for automatic portion control. Grapes, almonds, and Wheat Thins or Pop Chips. Yum.



Kate Spade via T.J.Maxx
Two bags cheaper than the price of one! Score!
(pictures coming soon)

JCrew 30-40% off sale 
I hate that it's final sale, but I only buy things that I've already tried on/know will fit/one size fits all.
Purchases:
I purchased the paisley print of the blouson dress in December, and I love the length and the fit so much, I was hoping to snag the polka dot one as well. 

J Crew dress

J Crew dress   (see more bodice dresses)


Hopefully warm days are coming soon, but I love these gloves! I already have the gray, but I purchased the white as well. They are so easy to wear while driving and texting. (But not at the same time, of course!) I think these are way cuter than the traditional fingerless gloves.

J Crew glove

J Crew glove   (see more cashmere gloves)


The Giants going to the Super Bowl. 
If my man (Peyton Manning) can't make it, my next choice is my other man, Eli Manning. I'm also excited to be off of work for the big game!


Monday, January 23, 2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Motivate Yourself Mondays!

Link up and motivate yourself to finish your to-do list this week, or accomplish your #1 goal for the week.





This week, I want to run 4 times... and I want them to be good runs! Because eventually, I want running 4-5 times per week to become a habit. Running makes me happy, and getting fit makes me happy, but somehow I always find reasons not to run. They say once you do something 23 times, it becomes a habit. So here is week 1 of week 23 of running 4x/week. It's going to be difficult, but I'm just going to take it one week at a time. Here are a few things I've found on Pinterest to motivate myself. 



Source: weheartit.com via Allie on Pinterest


I also, really really want to get started on my new book: 1,2,3 Digital Photography. It is a very comprehensive guide to photography, as well as Lightroom and Photoshop. Little Miss Anniston is my motivation for this... because I want her to someday be thankful to her Aunt Allie for taking such beautiful pictures of her!



Link Up and Motivate Yourself this Monday! 

Grab the "Motivate Yourself Mondays" button for your post!
(Simply copy the code from the box and paste in your post where you want the image.)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Fashion Friday!

Just a simple OOTD. I haven't been wearing anything except scrubs and workout clothes lately, so it was a nice change when I had to go into the office for my first meeting about my new job! I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard, but definitely had to look professional and put-together. When I wore this outfit on Thanksgiving, I paired it with heels, but since the office is very casual, I picked flats for my meeting. I also carried my beautiful Kate Spade Laptop Bag, which doubles as a super chic briefcase. 

Pants: JCrew Cafe Capri in Wool, navy. Top: JCrew Talia Blouse, evergreen. 
Necklaces: JCrew Shoes: JCrew

Can you tell where my favorite place to shop is?




Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday!


one

 I'm still loving the Keurig my grandmother bought us for Christmas... Brandon and Evan have been drinking coffee like crazy, and I've been downing the Apple Cider, and my new favorite... Dark Hot Chocolate! mmmm!



two 

Running! Something magic happened when Kelly and I started running together again- I started pushing myself to go faster. We've been improving on our times, and even Tuesday morning when I was running by myself I went faster! It has been really nice not training for a half marathon, not worrying about needing to increase mileage, and being perfectly happy with just running 3 or 4 miles. It gives me a chance to work on speed!

three

New running shoes! And the Nike Outlet. Hooray for Nike Frees, which sometimes hurt my feet, but are so lightweight and therefore make it so much easier to run!



four

Stem Connect... and sleep noise apps on my iPad. It just makes me happy to go to sleep to rain, thunder and a crackling fire every night. And wake up to Bella's Lullaby every morning.

five 

Getting organized! I've been working on this resolution, and have marked several more "areas" of the house off of my list of things to clean out/organize. I've done the bookshelf, my armoire, the kitchen junk drawer, the pantry, the dining room, my nightstand, and my desk recently. It feels so good!

six

Eating better. I finally made myself get out of holiday eating mode and get back to reality. I've been taking water in a re-usable container, making salads for lunch, and taking fruit and nuts for snacks. Now if only I could make all the candy in the pharmacy disappear. Sigh.... I guess I'll have to muster up some more will power to tackle that problem. 





Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...