St. Joe's 5k Fun Run

Yesterday I finally did a real race again, and I totally remember WHY I love races.

Lately I've kind of been thinking, why do I sign up for these things and pay money to run when I can just go out and run for free?

ADRENALINE.

Yes, yes I believe I'm an adrenaline junkie.

It starts the night before when I'm getting all my stuff ready so that in the early morning I can just get ready and make sure I don't forget anything.

Getting up early, getting ready in the dark, eating something so I'm fueled up. Driving to the event and picking up the packet, hitting the port a potty and standing around in anticipation of the start.

AND WE'RE OFF!!

Trying to run fast and yet also trying to pace myself. Pushing myself to do the best I can. Sprinting into the finish line.

It's awesome I tell you! Even though while I'm running sometimes it doesn't feel all that awesome I ALWAYS love how it feels when I'm done.

Yesterday we ran the St. Joe's Fun Run.

We all gathered in front of  the hospital (which just happens to be where my step dad  works) and then they walked us all down and across the street to run around this area that I think is the mental health buildings. We did two laps around the course, which was actually pretty nice! I started off too fast and I was super thirsty so I ended up doing a tiny bit of walking and stopping for a drink of water on the 2nd lap. Oh and taking off my pink shirt towards the end because I had warmed up and felt like I was suffocating.

I managed to kick it back up for the last quarter mile into the finish line and finished at 28:49, which MAY be a PR (fastest recorded anyways). When I did the UOP run I came in at 28 something but I don't know what the something was and they didn't post the times anywhere.

Scott did a run/walk and came in under 40 minutes. Which is fantastic for him since he has barely done any running and  has just started re-doing the couch to 5k program after being sick. I love that he still gets out there and goes for it!

There were a lot of walkers at this event and a lot of little kids! Check out this little one that came in not too long after me. It always amazes me to see little ones running a 5k. She had a little button on that said it was her birthday too.

and these little future runners in the strollers were chanting GO GO GO! I was like "who's going to win!?!?" lol they were so cute!

I finished 7th in my age group and 23rd of women. Not too shabby! I'm pretty sure that after I do my half marathon I'm just going to start focusing on getting a faster 5k time. 

Before I really enjoyed the challenge of running the longer distances but I think I'm over that for now. I'm really enjoying the faster shorter distances. 

Cracking Some Books

I've been on a reading binge lately!

I'm currently reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. I kind of think maybe I read this before but I'm not sure. If I did it was pre-Goodreads because I didn't have it marked on there. I've still got a bit to go before I'm done but it's a pretty good book. I decided to read that after it being mentioned in the last book I read.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Awhile back I had accidentally marked that as read (I think I was thinking it was The Memory Keeper's Daughter) on Goodreads. It showed up in my Facebook feed and a lot of people commented on it is I figured I'd read it!

Oh MY! What a story! I'm pretty sure I'm going to pick this as my book club selection when it's my turn to pick.

via Goodreads-Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever. 

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. 

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms. 

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.



I think I've read three books in a row now that deal with children being hungry. Weird how things like that happen.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I saw the preview for the movie they made for this book and it looked interesting. I was trying to find something interesting to read so thought I'd give it a try.

The story is about Liesel. She's sent to live with a new foster family in Germany during WWII. On the journey there her brother dies and her mother is sent somewhere, but she's not sure where. When she arrives at the foster family she is greeted by her foster mother who is anything but nice and her new foster father who becomes the light of her light.

While she is there the war is breaking out, kids are sent to Hitler's youth camp, every day school drama happens, and one day a Jew shows up at their house.

This was such a great book! Of course it is sad and I shed a lot of tears while reading it (as to be expected when reading anything about Nazi Germany).  I did say after reading this one that I thought maybe I was ready to read a chick flick about nothing too deep!

Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon I think I originally put this book on my to read list after reading a review by my friend Sara. 

What an interesting book. It's quite the mystery. It starts off with this girl Rhonda sitting in her car. While she's sitting there this person in a white bunny suit comes up and steals a kid!

She's just kind of like WTF just happened? And then she realizes that she was the only person to just witness this child abduction.

Cue the small town drama!

Then the story weaves in and out of Rhonda's life. A life full of Peter's, Peter Pan and a Peter The Rabbit.

I thought the whole Peter thing was quite interesting and I couldn't wait to see how it was all going to turn out. What a fantastic story! 

The Pilot's Wife by Anita  Shreve

I've read quite a few of Anita Shreve's book's now. They always have a lot of layers to them. 

The Pilot's Wife is about Kathryn, who of course is a Pilot's Wife. The story begins with her finding out that her husband has died in a plane crash. 

The rest of the story is about her life before the plane crash which is much like any other long relationship where they have grown accustom to having grown apart.

The life revolving around the plane crash, who was at fault, why did it happen, dealing with the death etc.

And the the hidden life she finds out about.

I'm not going to lie I spent a lot of time crying while I was reading this book. It's really sad. Don't read it if you are feeling depressed.

The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah

You know I love me some good Kristin Hannah. This one was pretty good but not quite my favorite (I don't think anything is ever going to beat Winter Garden)

This is another book with someone that's going hungry because her mother is a loser. Wow so many I have read lately that have that in there. So Lauren's mother is a drunk and Lauren is a great student who is trying to get good grades so she can get a scholarship and get away from her mother and make something of herself. She also has a serious boyfriend who is rich and is working on a scholarship. They are hoping to go somewhere together or at least the same general area after high school.

The main character in the book is actually Angie. Angie and her husband are calling it quits after all these years because the struggle for a baby is just killing their relationship. It's not clear exactly what happened in the beginning of the book but it's revealed over time. Something that's devastating that was kind of the last straw. After her and her husband break up she ends up moving back to her family's cabin and helping in her family's failing restaurant.

Eventually the two characters cross paths and the rest is history.

I thought this was a pretty good book. I thought it was a tad predictable and I was a little bit sad about how it ended even though it was a "happy ending".

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

When I first started this book I thought it was going to be related to Very Valentine, but it's not. It's just another book that has shoe making in it. I thought that was a little strange for one author to have two books with shoe making in it but maybe that's just me.

So this story starts way back in Italy. Enza is just a young girl, the oldest of the children. She is like a little mother always taking care of everyone.

Ciro's life starts off very rough. His father has just passed away and his mother cannot make it on her own so she takes him and his brother to a nunnery and just kind of drops them off with a promise to come for them some day.

Tragedy happens and their paths cross, but only for a short time.

Years later they both come to America and have a chance meeting. Every so often they come across each other as they are growing up but things never seem to work out. Until the last time.

Overall I enjoyed this story but it was so sad. Sad big crying tears sad. It has so much heart ache in it. A good book on a beach day but maybe not on a cold winter day when you need something a little lighter.

Uncharted (On The Island 1.5) by Tracey Garvis Graves

A sequel to "On The Island", I couldn't wait to crack this one open (funny saying that when I'm reading it on a Kindle now) and see what it was going to be about!

This story is about Bones. If you read the first book you know about Bones. Bones is a skeleton that was on the island.

In this book we learn the story of how Bones got on the island and who he was.

I read this awhile back but I remember that it took me a bit to get into it to understand who this person was that came to visit Anna and TJ and what it was he was up to. Once the story started coming out it got much better.

The story within the story is about Owen who charters a plane to drop him off at the Island. At the last minute before he leaves he meets Calia and on a whim, invites her to come with him. She actually shows up on the morning when he's going to leave! She's got her bags and another man. Lucky for Owen the other man is her brother. They have a great time on the island until tragedy strikes.

I'd recommend both of these books. Very interesting and you can't wait to find out what's going to happen.


AND I'm finally caught up on my books. Have you read a good book lately?

Weekend Happenings

Friday night was so nice!

Melissa went to a friend's house after school. Jessica was recovering from her trip and Trevor was just doing his own thing.

I ate Lucky Charms and a bag of chips for dinner and then we went down to the little store to meet up with my friend for a drink. We stayed there until they closed (9:00) and then went over to our little bar here in the club.

When I first started going down to the bar I used to be so nervous to talk to people. We have lived here for twenty years and I have really just started to know more people in the last four or so. I think a lot of it is that now I'm not as self conscience about myself so I'm a little bit more outgoing. Plus I've kind of developed the philosophy that if someone doesn't like me that is their own problem.

So when we went into the bar I actually know just about everyone in there now (and that's not JUST from going in the bar, these are all neighbors too) and I had a great time visiting with everyone. We stayed until about midnight. Well actually I stayed and I had to take Scott home about an hour earlier because he was exhausted and starting to fall asleep sitting up while I was walking around talking to everyone haha.

Poor guy, getting up at 3:30 am is not for me that's for sure.

Saturday I got up early because I couldn't sleep and did some cleaning and decided what we were going to have for dinner that night when my dad and step mom came over for dinner.

I ended up making stuffed shells, a big salad and cinnamon roll cake. I didn't take any pictures. What kind of blogger is that?

Scott got up and made us breakfast and then I went to the store, picked up Melissa, made up all the food and cleaned.

We had a really nice visit!

The highlight of the night though was when the girls were sitting on the couch and all of a sudden one of them said "omg what was that" and next thing I know everyone is screaming and this little gray mouse went FLYING through the air and then ran under the couch.

That story is going to be one that gets told over and over. Still makes me laugh my ass off. Totally gross and but yes, we live in the country and sometimes we get mice. The traps have been set lol. But really why do these kinds of things only happen when you have company?

Freaking hilarious though!

Apparently we aren't going for a bike ride today (Sunday) which is fine with me. I'm still wearing my night gown and think I'll go finish up my book.

Kids Growing Up

Jessica has been gone for most of winter break to North Carolina. She FINALLY came back on Thursday. Scott picked her up from the airport since he works in that general area (being on the other side of the hill but still about an hour away) and we all met up at our favorite restaurant for dinner.

So great to know your kids are all in the same area code. She's talking about transferring schools and moving to North Carolina which breaks my heart a bit because it's far away. I'm pretty sure we will hardly ever see her again if that happens. Airline tickets are not cheap and it's on the total opposite side of the United States. 

Who knows what will actually happen but it's crazy that she is almost twenty and ready to be a grown up.

But then twenty now is not quite the twenty it was when I was twenty. To me twenty seems so young looking at her but Scott and I were married, had bought our house and brought home a little Jessica when I was twenty. 

Crazy to think about it.

Anyhow that was another busy day. I had squeezed in my run and 30 day shred video before dinner. I was so full when we got home I went to bed and was asleep before nine. I'm pretty sure that pure exhaustion was taking me over!

I like to feel my lips

Well last Wednesday was exciting. I got off work and just drove straight to the dentist. I got there a bit early and to my horror they actually called me right back. I was kind of hoping I could just sit there for awhile and decompress from the day and maybe they would forget about me and I wouldn't have to get five fillings.

Yes, five fillings. That's what you get when you don't go to the dentist much. Last time I went and got my root canal I was supposed to come back for more stuff to get done but I was like "nah, I'm good" after 6 hours of torture. 

So two years later I dragged myself in there because I'm pretty sure your mouth isn't just supposed to have a dull ache all the time right?

When I first sat down the girl that was going to numb me was like so you are getting one on the upper left, two on the lower left and two on the upper right.

I'm like your right or my right?

She had them backwards a bit and I was like oh hell no, let's make sure you get that all figured out before you start sticking me with needles and grinding the wrong teeth.

The dentist came in and said some kind of combo that was also not correct and when I corrected him he said he was just making sure I was paying attention.

Not feeling me with a lot of confidence here!

(they did pull up the x ray chart thing to confirm that no-I was not crazy)

Before they started the dentist asked me "so how did you do it?" I was like what? I only eat candy occasionally... I brush my teeth and floss...

But no he was asking me how I lost weight. I had forgot that when I first started going to that dentist they took a picture of me for my file. Apparently he had come across the picture which was taken in 2011.

I told him the usual, counting calories, running, lifting weights and riding my bike. I got the usual "I'm afraid to run because of my knees" from him, and the hygienist girl told me I looked like a swimmer. Hey maybe I don't hate the dentist office quite so much?

Oh wait, Yes I do.

My face didn't become un-numb until about nine that night and I had had the work done around four.

Talk about suck fest.

What made it even better is that my husband is so not tuned into what's going on in my life that even though I had been texting him about maybe picking us up dinner, how I was about half way done, and general I'm going to die messages he didn't even realize that I had went to the dentist until hours later after he had been home.

Makes me wonder if I'm really just not that communicative or is he just really not paying attention?

I'm guessing it's more of the latter. Gee honey I don't know why I don't bother telling you any anything.

Five days later and my mouth is feeling a bit better but still a tiny bit of just aching. I'm really hoping that goes away and we don't have to go investigate that "little shadow" down somewhere near the bottom of my root canal tooth. Let's all pray.

Mom's Birthday!

Tuesday was my Mom's birthday.

Work
Pick up Trevor at School after band (4)
Go to town to get food for dinner to cook and decide to get my hair trimmed
Come home and cook dinner
Burn the skin off the roof of my mouth trying to hurry up and eat dinner
Drive to Stockton and relax and have a nice time hanging out (wine may have helped)
Come home (Scott drove)  and go bust out a mile and the shred.

No excuses right?

It's so funny how my nieces love Melissa. I took these pictures which are all similar but just different enough to want to have them all.

and then my mom's cake, which was hilarious. She was totally laughing her ass off. 62 candles make a lot of flame!

and my after shred photo ;)

Kids Have It Easy

Monday night I helped Trevor get his explorer report finished up. I now know way more than I ever wanted to about Ponce de Leon. Can I just say how easy kids have it today though? Whenever I had to do a report I had to go to the library (and get my mom to drop me off) and spend a ton of time first trying to figure out where all the information was (card catalog, microfiche, etc) and then spend hours combing through it to find the information I needed. Now all we have to do is type

Ponce de Leon

into the search bar and BAM! There you go.

Easy easy I tell ya!

Speaking of libraries does anyone else have this weird thing about libraries and book stores? Every time I go in one I have to um go to the bathroom. It's the weirdest thing!

I don't know if it's because you are kind of relaxed or the smell of the books or what. But it's EVERY TIME.

Probably qualifies for TMI but I think it's kind of funny!

Anyhow, back the report. The report was due on Friday (TODAY!) and I knew we were going to be busy all week so we sat down and got it finished up on Monday. Can I just say how glad I am that we did that? No huge stress staying up late at night trying to get it done at the last minute.

It's the weirdest thing because I am the worst procrastinator usually. My kids definitely take after me in that department too.

Here's one for getting shit done early!

Sunday's Bike Ride

Last Sunday Scott and I went out for our bike ride of 20ish miles.
37 miles later we were on our way back home.

This time we drove to the Patterson Pass exit and left the truck there and then rode our bikes over Midway to Altamont Pass into Livermore. You can't tell here but I just climbed a big hill. This road has long slow hills on the way over.

This picture was taken after we got onto Altamont Pass Rd. Sundays are nice days to ride because there aren't very many cars. These roads have pretty paved shoulder sections too so you have enough room to ride without actually being in the car lanes.

After we got to Livermore we ended up riding a bit farther to find something to eat besides Subway. I swear there is a doughnut factory somewhere around that area because I always smell donuts when we ride over there. Maybe it's all in my head lol.

We ended up going to Baja Fresh. I've only been there once before but I pretty much inhaled this huge burrito. It was so good! I may have been a little hungry too.



Scott had realized on the way to Livermore that he forgot his bike pump and was worried that one of us would get a flat and get stranded so we also ended up stopping at a Big 5 to get a little bike pump.

Since this was our first more hilly ride in awhile Scott said we would take the aqueduct back. We rode back down Altamont Pass and then instead of Midway we got on the trail along the aqueduct. It was pretty flat so that part was nice since I was already pretty tired. It was a bit rocky though so my arms were a bit tired!

Amazingly my battery on my phone made it through the whole trip. It died right when we got to the truck after I stopped my Runkeeper. I need to get some kind of back up battery system for when we go on these longer bike rides (or figure out why my battery goes down so quick-I'm sure there is something I should turn off).

If you look at the green part of the map you can see the last part is the aqueduct part. I love these little graphs to play around with. That first part on the left is when we first start off. I was telling Scott how that one hill from the gas station up over the freeway always seems so hard! Apparently it's quite the little climb for when you first start off. No wonder it gets my heart going!

I'm thinking about skipping the bike ride this weekend. I would kind of like a day to just lay on the couch and be lazy. But then sometimes going out on the bike is kind of therapeutic too. Maybe if we get an early start and don't go too far it won't be too bad. It took me about four days to not be sore after this ride last week.

Filling Up The Race Calendar

For some reason this has been a rough week for me. I feel like I'm a roller coaster of emotions all day and I don't even have a reason why. So weird. It's not a full moon or PMS time so I don't even have an excuse. Must just be a touch of seasonal depression or something. Which is silly since our weather has been a lot like spring. Weird. It sucks when you can feel yourself sliding that way and you're like WTF buck up little ranger, there's nothing to be sad about!

So it's 10 in the morning on Saturday and EVERYONE is still sleeping. Scott is probably going to be pissed when he wakes up and realizes he slept all day. He's funny like that. I was up around eight and got the bills paid and the computer desk un-buried. What a mess that was.

Last night we went down to the bar and met our friends Allen and Carolyn. We had a few drinks and I just chatted with Carolyn the whole time. It was great! She was sad when they had to go but the bar called last call not too long after so she didn't miss much. (our little bar closes at 12).

Yesterday I got a free entry for the Chinese New Year race in San Francisco the day after my 40th birthday.

I decided to just sign up for the 10k since it was free. I'm probably going to die because of the hills but eh, it will give me something to talk about later :) I'm pretty excited about that because 1) it was free and 2) now I have an excuse to spend the day in SF! I can take BART there and back. Should be fun!

I just now signed up for my January race, so now I've got my races booked through March! For January I'm going to do the St. Joe's Fun Run 5k. I finally decided on this one since I haven't got my mileage up much yet and it's close by. Scott said he'd do it with me too so there is that added bonus! Races are always more fun when he is with me.



So today's plans are to go out and do a 4 mile run, the first day of level 2 of my shred video and I should probably wash some clothes and clean the house up a bit.

Since Scott is sleeping the day away I guess that means we are doing our bike ride tomorrow. I think he has 20 ish miles on the plan and he was talking about driving over to Patterson Pass area to get in some hills. My butt hurts already just thinking about it.

Sleep Does Wonders

So I must have just needed to eat and sleep yesterday.

Today I feel AMAZING. Well actually I was pretty stressed for a big portion of the day. I had booked our flights to Las Vegas for the Zion Half and then I sent an email to Scott with the details. He then points out to me that I had booked our return flight a week later than it was supposed to be. F'ME! Really?

So I go online to try and see if I can fix it and this rinky dink airline that flies out of our little rinky dink airport with their nice cheap flights to Vegas has NO WAY TO CHANGE IT ONLINE. So I call the number it says to call and ti says they are too busy to take phone calls now try again later. REALLY?

So I notice there is an online chat thing so I click on that. Oh ok 25 minute wait you're number 50 in line. Eventually the heavens part and it's my turn and guess what? They say I have to call the number.

I call the number a couple more times and finally get through. Through to the WAITING GAME. Press 3 and tether yourself to the phone because 62 minutes later you are still on f'ing hold wondering why in the world you didn't call on your cell phone so you could take them to the bathroom with you.  At this point I gave up because my neck was starting to cramp up and I really had to pee.

On the way home I called it again on my cell and put it on speaker. One hour eighteen minutes later they finally picked up and easy peasy changed my dates to the correct date.

For the love of God hire some more willing American workers! Millions of people looking for jobs!!

After all that was done I had already got most of dinner together and just had to pop it in the oven.

30 day shred I was on FIRE! I kicked Jill's ass today! Trevor was sitting on the couch working his homework and he was cracking me up. He always makes little comments. Today he says "Dad should call you muscle legs". Silly kid!

After dinner I went out to do my 3 mile run. (42 days streaking!) Scott is starting over the couch to 5k so I did the first 2 miles with him and the dog (run walk run walk) and then he took Rusty and I did the last mile on my own. That was kind of nice. I've missed having him to run with. Even though I bitched about it before when we did run together, you never know how much you enjoy something until it's gone.

When we got home Scott decided to sign up for the Zion Half also. They give you four hours to complete it so he is pretty sure he can do it. Rock on! I'm sure he will. I'm excited he wants to do it too.

Now to just find 2 cheap nights in Vegas on either end of our Utah time. Apparently that's spring break time and the prices are reflecting that. I got an email tonight for Luxor and Excalibur so I'll check those out later.

Bedtime!

Today I felt like I hit a little bit of a burn out. I've been doing so much lately and I've just felt like I'm STARVING for like 3 days.

So today I ate a foot long sub for lunch. The sad part is that I wasn't even stuffed!  Apparently I was hungry.

I feel so much better now.

Probably because I followed that up with a slice of cake and then when I got home my neighbor had left us a loaf of zucchini bread. Oh darn I've got to try that.

So my being really good kind of skid to a halt this afternoon but I kind of felt like I needed the extra food so I'm not going to stress about it.

I've still been running a mile a day, mostly just because Rusty loves going out.

This week I've started some low mileage half marathon training. I'm going to try using a lower mileage plan this time (Hal Higdon Novice 1) and see how that works out. Last time I felt like I wore myself out before I got to the race and I looked back and wondered what the point of that was. I feel like for a half marathon for me, it's more about just making it through. I'm not going to be setting any records or winning any awards. Just running 13 miles for me is enough.

I've also been doing the 30 day shred every day.

Today I actually got it done early (and my run done early) and I'm so going to go to bed early too! If Scott wants to go to the gym he can go by himself.

Sunday Scott and I went for a bike ride to Manteca and back. He has a plan to ride every weekend, adding more mileage until he we gets up to 100 miles (in one trip). So for the month of January we are going to ride around 20-30 miles once every weekend (or so the plan is).

When we went Sunday it was colder than we thought it was when we left so we were both a little frozen by the time we got to town. We decided to go into Starbucks and have a coffee and thaw out. That was nice and the ride back was actually faster than the ride there. Weird how that happens.

So that's been my crazy life all week. Run. Shred. Bike. Kids to the bus. Work. Dinner. Repeat.

I'm so looking forward to going to bed early tonight. I'm kicking my own ass!

New Year's Day 2014!

Man I remember when the year 2000 seemed so freaking far away you couldn't even imagine. Now we are in 2014 already? Cra-zy!

Scott and I got up, had some breakfast (no bread, no potatoes-gotta be good now!) and then he rode his bike and I ran and did my virtual 5k for my Facebook support group and to do the last day of the RUNSTREAK!

Rocking it!

So after we got back Scott kept talking about how he wanted to go on a bike ride. I'm like um I'm kind of tired... but I guess we can go. So I changed my running shoes and pants for bicycle shoes and pants and we rode to town. And then we rode through town. And then we rode past town. And then we rode home from town.

30 miles later my ass hurts a bit.

And I still have to do my 31 days of Jillian day 1! Whose idea was this anyways??

I took a nap and some Advil and took a shower and had Scott take some before pics of me.

I wasn't really planning on doing any before pictures of myself. My never leaving stomach makes me depressed so I just decided to not bare the middle.

Good enough!

I've gained 12 pounds from my lowest. I'm not too worried about it though, I've actually only gained a couple INCHES over all so not too bad. I'll get it back!

When I went to put in my video I learned that the DVD player we have needs a remote to be able to chose the program you are going to do. AND that you have to listen to the first 10 minutes of the DVD before you find that out. And then if you hit stop on the DVD player you have to start ALL OVER and listen to the 10 minute talk all over again.

Scott was getting stabby. 

After four rounds we opted for putting it in the PlayStation like I used to. There we go!!

Can I just say that I have totally been "phoning it in" at the gym lately because that Day 1 kicked my ass! After I could breathe again I ended up taking Rusty for a walk around the block because he just could not understand why I put my shoes on and we weren't going for a run. He seemed to be ok with just walking around the block though 

I mean, how can you resist that face?

So I finished my first day of 2014 with crazy calories stats.

Amazingly I didn't go to bed hungry.

New Year's Eve

Well New Year's Eve ended up being a tiny bit different than we were thinking. I took Trevor out to shoot his bow and arrow (we lost another arrow darnnit!). While he was doing that I ran up and down the little road but not too far away from him.

34 days of running a mile a day!

We came out from the boonies to this view of the sun setting on the lake. Beautiful! I can have a totally crappy day and see a good sunset and life is suddenly that much better.

And one more goal achieved, logging every day of 2013 on Lose It.

While we were out in the boonies my friend sent me a text saying that her husband was too tired to have people over so our plan changed from maybe going to the bar for a bit to going to the bar for the night.

I got to see all my book club ladies who were just finishing up with their dinner. They went over to one gal's house but we opted to stay at the bar.

We had a pretty good time, although I was missing my friend Lupe. We spend New Years Eve together a lot so it was kind of weird just hanging out at the bar with out her.

 I don't remember taking this picture. That's probably not a good thing but it cracks me up!

We totally slept in til 7 the next morning! Go us!