Holiday Happenings

Hi All hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was pretty great, very calm and bright :)  let's recap

 

• We got together with my Mom, TaTa, on Christmas Eve. I tried to get the whole fam together (brother and his brood, Dad and Stepmom) but it didn't quite work with everyone's schedule so we just did what we could.  Normally we open only one present this night, but we had something special for DQ that we didn't think could wait until morning. Also Grammie C and Bob stopped by to see the surprise.
  
  
  
  
  

• Welcome the newest addition to the family Dobby!!!  DQ has been asking begging and pleading for a dog ever since TaTa moved to Mom's and took her pup Em with her.  we have stayed strong and said no not until she was older.  But my Mom has has been fostering this little pup and his mama for the last 2 months (she works for the Humane Society)  and DQ just fell in love and after a while so did I, not gonna lie.  Everytime we went to Mom's she would spend hours with him... So the last time we were up there I came home and talked to the hubs.  He tried to be strong but I was no match  (I always knew we weren't going to last long and we both love dogs) so it was done.

• Christmas was a bit anti-climactic after that but it was quiet sort of Dobby whined a lot the first night so thank god we didn't try to hide him til morning.  Presents were opened and every one got what the wanted... win!  The rest of the day was spent cuddling Dobby and playing with DQ's new toys, making rubberband bracelets with the loom Santa brought and baking treats with the new Easy Bake Oven. The Hubs and I also put together the new desk for my office (my Christmas present).

• The Hubs came down with a nasty cold the day after Christmas so he only worked Thursday and ended up staying home Friday.  The good thing about that I was able to sneak out for a run in the morning :)  I haven't really ran a whole lot the last few weeks so it took a few minutes for my legs to warm up.  My breathing was rough and it wasn't the best run I've had, but it felt good to get out there.  I also got to use my new iPod Nano TaTa and Mom got me for Christmas.  I normally use my phone but I've been having issues with the speakers not working and I have to run with music!! I just can't see how people do it with out.  That is torture for me.  After my run I stopped by Starbucks got a Skinny Latte and walked home.  I went a total of 4.65 miles (ran 3 walked the rest enjoying my coffee).
  

• The weather here has been beautiful mid to upper 70's F so TaTa and I decided to go for a hike on Saturday.  We tried out a new trail.  I drive by it all the time on my way to work and have always wanted to check it out. It was really pretty but very short more of just a walking trail but it had a TON of stairs so we made the loop twice and ran the stairs two extra times.  My fitbit said I had done 48 flights of stairs!! I think I will take DQ later today to burn off some energy and because at the end of the trail there is a huge park!

• My appointment with the surgeon is today.  I'm a little nervous, but I will be glad to finally know what is going to happen and how soon.  I'm hopping to have the surgery as soon as possible. I'm also hoping it won't be a long recovery time.  I don't want to take too much time off from work and we really can afford for me to be on disability (this girl got bills to pay!) So we'll see what happens. 

Spoke to Soon

So I spoke to soon when I said I was feeling pretty healthy.... 

Damn if I didn't get hit with a massive cold uggg. 

Then Christmas just barged right in and took over.  so much has happened and I can't even begin to sort it all out, I'm going to "borrow" Leigh's (from Poonapalooza go check her out she is pretty awesome)  format of bullet points.  I've actually really enjoyed reading her bullet point format, so I figured I would give it a try.  Sometimes I feel like I have so much to say but it's just overwhelming try to put it all together, also If you've been reading for any length of time you know that I'm no Walt Whitman  hell I can barley spell and that's with spell check .  

So here we go....

• so yes I was sick and that has totally derailed any and all forms of exercise.  Yes I feel better now but my motivation sucks, and that goes for my eating as well.  Why do parents feel the need to bring teachers every form of pastry know to man during the holidays!  What's wrong with a little fresh fruit once in a while.

• I had my work Christmas party a few weeks ago and rocked this little number.  Must admit I felt great, and got lots of compliments on it. I'm gonna need to definitely wear this again SOON!
  
   

• and as far as Christmas goes I am all set I did most of my shopping on line and actually stayed under budget.  I think NOT stepping foot into an actual store helped a lot I'm a total impulse shopper kinda like my eating it never bodes well.  I have had to go out and get a few stocking stuffers but I chant to myself "they don't need anything else", "No don't pick up that stuffed pony" you get the idea.  We are trying to keep it simple and way under budget this year.  Besides DQ does not need any more toys I swear that kid has unopened presents from last year!! I kid well maybe not

• I got a terrible call from my mom last week my Aunt had a heart attack while doing aqua aerobics and ended up in the hospital.  She had a 90% blockage and they had to put in a stint.  She is doing much better and is actually going home today.  The scary thing is she is not that old only 64 and in seemingly good health Yikes!  Here we are visiting her at the hospital.
   

• Today was my first "non work" day of my two week winter break!!  I'm so happy to have a full two weeks with no plans really.  I want to do some fun things with DQ and hopefully get my house shaped up.  Also I  want to jump right back in and get moving and back on track with the eating now that all those pastries are gone.  So today we decided to visit Santa...ya that was a bust.  We got to the store 45 minutes before the Santa pictures were to start (9:15am) and they gave us the come back time of 1:00pm  uhhh I don't think so.... so instead we went and saw Frozen (very cute) and came home to decorate Gingerbread houses.  Oh and took this picture with Rudolph instead lol!

 
 

It's been a hell of a month and it's not over yet....

I know it's been about a month since my last post, sorry about that. But this month has been pretty much a shit storm. If you've been reading for a bit you might remember (back in July) when I talked about my lady lump.  No not those lumps... the lump I have near my left ovary and a slight pain if your into TMI you can read about it here... Oh and just so you now there's more of it to come.  

Any way I finally made an appointment with my actual Dr.  And she referred me to have an ultrasound.  Well went there and did that.  I swear they used very wand they had on me (see told you lots of TMI). So that turned into having to have a CT scan definitely less intrusive than the ultrasound  but a tad more scary and required me to during this nasty shizz that looked like chalk and tasted like lemon-lime milk...yup as gross as it sounds and to top it off needles too!   

So after a bit of telephone tag I finally got the results... Good news it's not an ovarian cyst, the bad news it's actually a small tumor in my abdominal wall.  So not what I was expecting to hear.  Now they have referred me to a surgeon to have it removed, then they will send it out for a biopsy to determined if it is just a mass or cancer.  

Needless to say I've gone through every emotion possible (which left me pretty drained and in no mood to blog, sorry). Right now I'm mostly positive seeing as I've had this pain for quite a while and it really hasn't got much worse and other than the random pain I've been pretty healthy and nothing else seems to be wrong.  Also I'm still keeping up with my exercising (running and lifting) and at least now I know why certain moves aka ab work hurt lol.  And eating has been ok.  I haven't really lost any weight, but on that note I haven't really gained either. I'm hovering around 170-173. 

So with all that being said this is why I've been MIA.  I can't promise that I'll have tons of posts but I WILL try to post more often and keep ya posted haha... See what I did there!

Race for the Rescues

This weekend me and the girls ran the Race for the Rescues 10k, for our friend Nell's So. Cal Bulldog Rescue.  It was a pretty small race ( probably one of the smallest I've done). But it was very well organized and put together.   

It was held at the Irvine Great Park which was on part of the old El Toro military base.  Though it was well done the course was pretty boring (we ran on the old Tarmac) and it was a gradual incline and decline... Not too bad but enough for my quads to hate me for it.  

This was actually my very first 10k.  I have done several 5ks and two half marathons, but I guess I just kinda skipped over the 10ks lol. I actually REALLY like this distance.  It was long enough to make me work for it, but not so long that I was cursing myself :)  

I will admit it wasn't my best run (Tom came for a surprise visit that morning, if you know what I mean) so I was off and crabby but I put on my big girl panties  (literally lol) and ran.  I finished in 1:13, so now I Offaly have a 10k PR and something to beat!  

Too sweet!

I truly have the greatest friends ever!!

Remember last post I said I wasn't going to be able to do my group training anymore... Damn car payment I'm still bitter can't ya tell... Well Monday I got a call from the girls telling me that I had to make sure I came on Wednesday to group for the free demo session.  I told them of course I would.  Then they asked if I was free for the month of nov on training days and I said yes but I couldn't do it for a while but I would surely  stop by and say hi.  Then they hit me with a big surprise..... T (one of the group girls and who I meet up to run with on T&TH mornings)  paid for me to do Group for Nov.  WHAT??? 

I didn't even know how to respond, I am still in such shock!  She said I inspire her and I help her get her butt to the gym... Oh wow still don't know how to respond.  It is truly one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.  So I better get with it and work my ass off no slacking this month!!

Love my girls!! They are the ones that help keep me going!

This Post is Brought to You By The Letter "C"

As in  "C"rappy "C"ar ... oh my god I am so sick of car troubles if I ever see another tow truck  again it will be too soon!!!  Not sure if I've given  you all, the run down on my car problems over the last year but believe me there have been too many to count from a broken A/C last summer then agian twice in 3 months this summer   to our failed attempt to go out to Arizona for Thanksgiving last year when the car died on the freeway.   But this was the last straw.

I went to the gym on Tuesday morning before work (read 3:30am)  car worked fine though the transmission has been "slipping" lately but no problems.  Jump forward to leaving and the effing thing wouldn't stay on.  It would start but then just die. Really, Really you have got to be kidding me!!  So called the hubs and then called AAA, to have them tow me home.  Luckily DQ didn't have school so one less thing to stress about there.  

The hubs called off to try and fix the car for the umpteenth time, but just couldn't get a code to come up.  As I was looking through my FB feed (I had posted a pic of me waiting for the tow truck). A friend's husband posted to just suck it up and buy a Prius and that the money I would save on gas would help cover the payment.  I told the hubs and we laughed a ya right laugh for a minute, then about an hour later we thought well why not just go look.  We still owed a bit on the Santa Fe and it wasn't running so we were not to hopeful but headed to the deal anyway.  We were honest and told them what was up (a POS car) and what we could afford (not much) and let them try to work some magic. 



DQ waiting so patiently...Thank god for iPads

Finally they came back with something doable.  So this is my new ride

Mind you I am not over joyed by the fact that my car payment more than doubled, but if all goes well the gas savings will cover most of it.  The only bummer was I have to give up my Group training sessions for pretty much forever at this point (that was an extra $250 a month), but getting to work in a safe and mostly stress free manner is pretty important too I guess. 

Pumpkins and Cages

Ahh recovery... that pretty much summed up last week for me.  I kinda took a week off from everything (well almost, I did make it to the gym for my much missed Aqua class)  I did no running but a lot of walking.  Just giving my legs and mostly my knee a break, it's been feeling off for a couple of weeks.

So I really just cleared out my DVR  recouped and spent a lot of time trying to reclaim my house (ie cleaning up this sty that god forbid anyone else should try to do ugg), and get some family time.  I didn't do a weigh in post last week and it's not that I forgot well sorta but my weight goes crazy after races and boy this time I about had a heart attack.  The day after the half I was at 178 holy crap and then it dropped to 176 and just hovered there for a few days but by this weekend it was all good and back to my range of 169-167.  I also spent this last week detoxing from the bad eats that plagued me the week leading up to the half.  I totally got it in my brain "hell I can eat this I'm running freaking 13.1 miles on Sunday"  yeah not a good place to go.

This week ok I know it's only Tuesday but so what   has started off good ok maybe not that bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch after dinner tonight but Tom came for a visit and is hungry  I'm actually taking the month off from my Group training just to give me some breathing room,  time and wallet wise so Monday was a rest day, today I was up and at em' running at the gym at 3:30am.  I started doing the early morning runs for training but I really have come to enjoy it *gasp WTF* so I'm going to go ahead and keep it up for now, and that also means  I get to go to my Wed. Aqua class which I had to give up due to conflicting schedules with Group Training.  Oh how I've missed my water friends. 


Well that's all for now (and sorry this was all over the place)  but no post is complete with out some awesome pics of my crazy and wild mom weekends.

Can you tell we are related??  Getting ready for a Disney day. p.s don't mind the crappy bathroom it was the one room we decided could wait until we moved in to redo Ya that was 4 years age whomp whomp..

Really horses and castle... a girls total dream as long as she doesn't have to clean either of them

My two monkeys... why didn't I think of putting them in a cage years ago.. I kid I kid not really

I'm Not Alone!! Race Recap

So on to my half... A few posts ago I had mentioned that I was going to run the Long Beach Half Marathon alone and was bummed.  It really wasn't that I was running alone, I ran my first half all by my lonesome it was just the fact that B and I had trained together and found a good rhythm and it would be cool to have the extra support, and the fact that she had to pull out like 5 days before sucked big time.  So like I said I was resigned to the fact that I would be running solo.  The plan was to still stay at CareBears's and do dinner and B decided that she still wanted to come and cheer me on (I know I have great friends)...

So half jokingly we told CB that she should do it and just run as B.  Mind you she does run but only 3-4 miles a few times a week and has never run more than 5 (and that was one time).  She laughed it off then on Friday morning she came back with "WHY NOT!"   What???  "Ya why not what's the worse that  could happen, I don't finish so what at least I tried."  Well ok then!  

So Saturday we all met up at Care's then went out to BJ's for some major carb loading
  Then it was off to bed early it was a 415 am wake up call.   We woke up got ready and had a decent but light breakfast of peanut butter toast.  We did grab a banana to eat along the way.  The race didn't start until 7:30 but the traffic and parking are a bitch on a regular day so we did not want to take any chances on race day.  The good thing, I was able to pre purchase parking so we had a guaranteed space and it was valet too!! Only $12 bucks heck yea.  After we parked we walked over to the starting line and watched the wheelchair racers take off, then we walked around a bit and took pictures.  It was really chilly, perfect for running but when your just standing around waiting not great.  I took the advice of a friend and stopped at the local goodwill and picked up a sweatshirt I could wear until race time then toss it. Paying only $3 I had no guilt tossing it and in the welcome packet it said that any items or clothing left behind or along the race course would be collected and given to charity win win.  

  

Here we are taking silly pictures waiting to start

We were in corral 3 I was really shooting for a finish somewhere in the 2:30's. Our plan was to stay together at least  until about mile 6 then just go with it after that, and I'm so glad we did. It also gave us some great pictures.

       On the bridge with the Queen Mary in the background 

The course was said to be flat, obviously they don't run where I do lol, the first 6 were pretty hilly and part of it was on a freeway on ramp so it curved and tilted funky which made my knee hurt a bit also I felt really tired early on but I think that was because my first 3 miles were at a 10:55 pace and that is faster than I normally run (so much adrenaline out the gate). Right  after we hit mile 6 I pulled ahead I tried looking around for Care but finally at mile 7 gave up and just did my own thing. 

Miles 8-10 were the longest miles EVER!! I just hit a wall then all this negative talk was in my head.  It went something like this..."what the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this again? I've already done it once I should have just crossed it off my list and be done with it.  That's it I'm never doing another one again eff this shit."   Ya longest miles ever (and about a 12:10-13:18 pace)!! and the shitty thing it was probably the easiest part super flat beach path along the water, but I just couldn't find my rhythm.  Finally about mile ten we headed back up to the street and I knew we where looping back to the finish. At that point I knew I only had 3 miles to go and was in a better frame of mind.  So I tried to make up some time and just go with it and just look for the finish line.

I just kept looking and finally turned a corner and saw it Thank Gawd it was downhill I saw Barbie near the finish line and just opened it up and ran like hell!!  My official time was 2:39:01 Holy Crap I shaved more that 12 minutes off my previous race.  And I stayed in the 2:30's.  After making my way through the chute I called B and was hoping to watch Care cross the finish line, but when I finally got a hold of here she told me C had already crossed!!   WHAT??  Yup about 7 minutes behind me... Holy hell.  I caouldnt believe it.  C always likes to say she is a "pretend" runner and that she can look the part but isn't a "real" runner... My answer to that is LIAR lol no pretend runner would take one for the team (as she put it) and run 13.1 miles in 2:46 with no training and on a whim.  You are a runner girl whether you like it or not! 

 

Whew sorry for such a long post but it was a cray cray day.  The rest was spent with a beer or two and some TV!   

Living on a Prayer!!

OMG I survived the weekend and I'm actually feeling pretty amazing (except for some super tight quad muscles, but I guess that's what you get when you dance all night to Bon Jovi then run a Half Marathon a day later haha.  So I don't overwhelm I'll tell you how the first part of the weekend went.

Friday was an early day I only worked 6:30 to 9:30 (and I made the hubs come with so i didn't have to double back and pick him up before heading to packet pick up.  So he got to see all my kiddos in action and of course they were on their best behavior, go figure.  So after that we stopped for breakfast then off to Long Beach for packet pick up. It was well organized and pretty painless.  I made the poor hubs walk around with me so I could get some shot blocks and body glide for race day.  I totally got some knarly scabs on my back from my bra on my last long run, so I wanted to make sure to lube up this time.  It was nice and bigger than the last expo I went to I even won a loaf of bread!! Haha can we say carb load.

Then it was off to L.A to see Jon and the guys.  We actually stayed at the Marriott which was so awesome it was literally across the quad form the Staples Center where they were playing.  

The view from our hotel.  It was a very nice hotel the only problem I had was we were already paying a pretty penny for the room, but then we had to pay $40 to valet park!!  Seriously and there was NO other option except the garage next door which was $50.  Talk about ripoff! 

Anyway we checked in then got ready and headed over to Yard House for dinner!

Yumm does Martinis count as carb loading??  

Then off to the show,  Bon Jovi was so awesome!!  They came out guns a blazing not even an opening act.  It was so fun and talk about an eclectic group of people.  The people watching was about as good as the show.  

We pretty much rocked out all night and I so sang and dance my heart out.  I just LOVE concerts, I used to go all the time but then kinda just stopped.  I think it was because I so unhappy about the way I looked and just left lazy in general, but now watch out I'm ready to party!! 

Part 2 of the never ending weekend....running edition next 😳!! 

 

Weigh-In Tday or Dday

I'm up Waayyy up like 175 up!  I'm sure it has some thing to do with the blue cheese burger and onion rings I had at Disneyland on Tuesday followed by the white chocolate chip Mickey cookie or the fantabulous potato cheddar soup I had yesterday (2 bowls) no lie.

 Ugh my fault, all my fault I think I'm drowning my sorrows about the half Mary in food.  Shit phifftt.  That is all. 

NOOOoooo!!!!

No, No, No this can't be happening!!   Life is so unfair!!

Looks like I'm running my half ALONE :(  

I know can you freaking believe it this totally sucks balls!  Barbie and I were so excited Monday, making plans on what we were going to eat to "carb" load on Saturday night and discussing our water stop plan.  Then Tuesday came and in comes B limping??  WTF ...  Look like our last long run did her in she can barley walk on her foot and when she does the arch of her foot hurts like hell. So that means running is out.  I keep trying to stay positive giving her some tips on icing and reminding her to rest it but it looks like she is not going to run.  She is worried that even if it feels better by Sunday that she's gonna get half way thru and it's going to start up, or she'll make it but then do more damage to it in the long run.  I totally get it and understand I don't want her to hurt herself or anything but it sucks BIG TIME.  

I even toyed for a minute of blowing it off and not do it.  I mean if it wasn't for B I wouldn't have signed up for this one.  It's been a crazy busy few weeks and this weekend is the kicker Friday the hubs and I are going to LA to see Bon Jovi and staying a night there, then Saturday is my recup and packing up for race day spending the night at CareBears (since she lives closer to Long Beach) then race day it's insane!  

But I can't do it I can't just NOT do it... I've been training, I'm prepared and hell  I paid 100 bucks for this damn race!!  So I'll do it but it certainly has lost some of its luster.  I have always hated running or the thought of running with someone, but in B I found my soul running mate.  It's like running with myself but way better.  We are the sameish pace we both have the same style and we push each other when we need it the most!!   So I will do it but I will miss her.....

 

5...10...13.1

Ok so I totally thought I hit publish on Monday night ya not so much... But here you go anyways :)

Ugh Monday really already!! I totes coulda used one more recovery day...

I guess that's what happens when your brain thinks it's 25 but your body says HELL NO lady!! You wish.

So Friday was the  Maroon 5 concert with TaTa and my girls it was so fun we had a blast oaf course way to many beers but at least the food was healthier (Flame Broiler if you don't know what that is think healthier chicken and rice bowl).

 

Yup waayyy to many beers!!

Needles to say I spent most of Saturday recupping and hydrating so that I didn't die on my 10 miler on Sunday.  My knees were a bit tender from standing on the crazy hill durning the concert (lawn seats) and dancing while trying not to fall down said hill.  Saturday night Barbie got to my place about 6 so we had dinner and just chilled,talked trash, and watched trash. We went to bed pretty early as we both are old farts and wanted to get the run over with as early as possible.  damn 6am comes earlier on a weekend it seems.  So up and at em and out the door we went.  The weather was perfect even maybe a bit chilly I LOVED IT...come on fall I'm so ready.  

We did our 10 miles around the park it's about a 3 mile loop so we ran it 3 times and it went really well. We were faster than we thought and averaged a 11:49 pace for the whole run which included about 4 walk breaks the last one being a bit longer cause B had a stich in her side.  We are so excited for next Sunday it's finally race day. Hello Long Beach Half,, !  I'm feeling so good going into this one I just hope I don't jinx it lol...

 

 

Weigh In

Well my streak is over...whomp whomp I'm up 0.4 this week to 169 but hey at least I stayed out of the 170's right??  Not that surprising really seeing as Friday was filled with too many Martinis and I have to come clean and admit to the 2:30am chili cheese fries and it's that time of month...

Also I didn't get my 9 mile training run in this weekend.  It's been pretty difficult and has required a lot of begging and deal making with Grammies and TaTa to get in my long runs since the hubs has been working EVERY weekend.

But this weekend I got TaTa to watch her so Barbie and I can run our last long 10 mile training run before our Half Marathon next weekend.  It doesn't hurt that I'm taking her to see Maroon 5 tomorrow night (so she totally owes me). 

And on a final note sooo HAPPY that it's finally fall (sort of it's still in the high 80's here in So Cal)  that means pumpkin everything!!  I made sure to stop at Trader Joes on the 1st to get my first batch of Pumpkin Butter... I LOVE this stuff and put it on everything, but my favorite is mixing it with steel cut oats.  It tastes like I'm having pumpkin pie for breakfast yummm!

What's your favorite fall must have?

Still Recovering

Talk about a weekend I know it already almost Wednesday but being gone for just one night and things pile up ...mainly laundry...ugh!

We'll Friday was a blast!  This old girl was actually able to hang with the youngins'.  CareBear and I got to San Deigo about 4ish and checked into the hotel.  Wow was it old (100 years to be exact) But it was very cool the elevators even had the old grate you had to pull open and close and you could see as you passed the other floors.  We called to find out the ETA of Barbie and Shell turns out they hadn't even left yet! So we decided to hit up Yard house and get a a head start at Happy Hour.

 

Yup that happened

And this was just the beginning! We split some apps and had a few (read 2 more Martinis) and got the call that the girls were here.  We walked back to the hotel and got ready to go.  

Gtting ready of consisted of....more drinks and She'll doing all our makeup topped off by taking (what we thought at the time) great selfies LOL!

As you can see the drinks we strong and flowing... We headed out about 10 and had a blast club hopping and literally dancing all night.  I survived with my monster heels and only wore my flip flops when we were walking from place to place... Thank Gand for big purses.  

I had to wake up early and head out to get DQ but I wasn't feeling to bad  just really tired seeing as we didn't get back to our rooms until 3am.  It was fun and I totally kept up with my under 30's.   

Can't wait for the next time!!!

 

Thursday Weigh-In

Lol doesn't have as nice of a ring to it as Wednesday Weigh In but hey gotta do what ya gotta do.

This week I'm so happy to say I

 actually  down again, wow two weeks in a row this may be a record for me seeing as I've been bouncing up and down for over 3 months.  So today was 167.8 whoop whoop!!! Down 0.8 not quite a pound but far enough away from 170 to make me smile and think I may have finally broken through that damn plateau! 

So tomorrow I'm going with a few girlfriends to San Diego's gas lamp district for some bar and dare I say club hopping... Yikes I haven't done that in years and I'm hoping I can hang with the youngins' in my life I have two sets of friends -  the under 30s and the over 50s- with the exception of 2, lol so it's either super mellow or loud and crazy!! So we'll see if I survive the night.  

I had to go shopping for a worthy outfit since most of my clothes don't fit (they are all falling off) so it was interesting and dare I say fun. I love to shop but it's always been hard finding cute styles when I was bigger.  It was so cool grabbing things to try on and realizing that I needed to go smaller, my brain still thinks I'm a size 16/18 sometimes and I actually bought a few things in the Juniors section WOW! I know a 38 year old woman shopping in the Jrs department, but don't worry it was tasteful and not overly trendy...(ok maybe just a little), but hey it's a club...dis gurl gotta fits in riiigghhtt!!   Oh and I got a killer pair of heels not sure how long I'll last in those 5 inch beauties so I'm gonna stash a pair of flip flops in my purse :) 

This is what I'm used to...one of my "exceptions" and my over 50  PJs, wine and TV 

Ahhhh Finally Some Rest...Sort Of...

It was finally a somewhat relaxing weekend!  There really were no major plans so that was nice, I feel like I've been go, go, go for what seems like forever and the next 3 weekends will be back to that.  Mind you it's all fun stuff like girls weekend and concerts but sometimes those are just as much work lol.

The Long Beach Half Marathon is coming up quick (like less that a month.)  I'm actually feeling pretty good about it this time around.  Now, I am nervous but I feel like I am prepared and know what to expect.  This half Mary though I won't be running alone.  One of my girls Barbie will be running with me it will be her first Half and I'm so excited for her.  She is a little nervous at the distance and has never run anything over 6 miles, and has admitted to me that she is having a hard time getting out on the weekends for her long runs.  So we made a plan for her to spend the night Friday and we would do our 8 mile run together.  Now it was my turn to be nervous as I've always said I prefer to run alone.  To me it's my quiet time, and I prefer to listen to music than try to chat god know it takes all I got to just breath and run at the same time and deep inside I'm nervous to run with others because I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up or I will slow them down.  So I told her my concerns and funny thing she had the same ones.  We decide to just take it as it came and neither of us liked chatting while running so that was good :).  

 Saturday at 6:30am we headed out is was finally a cool crisp day and overcast to boot. Perfect running weather.  All I can say is I would run every run with Barbie if I could.  We are actually pretty we'll matched and having someone else there pushed us to do better and not give up as easily as if we were alone.  I'm not gonna lie I probably take way to many walk breaks when I'm running on my own even though I know if I pushed through I could keep going.  With B there it was that little extra push I needed to keep going, and she said the same to me.  We ended up running 8.5 miles at about a 12:08 pace with only 3 quick walk breaks.  

Pretty much when we got home I had to get ready for DQ's soccer game.  I didn't even have time for a shower thank god I wasn't too sweaty.. ya right! 

And after that is was a quick ok not that quick stop at Sam's club for some fruit and nessecities. All that running and running around gave me over double my daily goal of 10000 steps and I was only half way through the day!

Fail!

Really I change my weigh in to Thursday because I'm always a day late a look what freaking happens I'm late!

Well this time was because yesterday was my back to school night. I'm  usually not nervous because I've done them for so long but this year it was a new age group a new team and a few new things we're doing this year, so it took a little more prep work.  Any way it's over, it went well I got a few laughs and everything was covered win-win.

So on to weigh -in.  I was down this week by quite a bit 168.6.  I really wasn't expecting it...I always hope lol but really with the whole baby weekend I ate like crap.  I was at the mercy of anyone who would bring us something.  I tried going to the cafeteria to try and find some healthy option but by the time I got out to look it was closed.  So it was pretty much trail mix diet coke and McDonalds  which I have to admit I was kinda stoked about I haven't had a full on McD's Value meal in a while, but when I actually ate it I was pretty disappointed.  I suppose that's a goos thing!

So due to the less than stellar eating this week I stayed on track I've been super hungry so I have been above my calories (only by 100-200 ) but it has been good healthy nutritious food like fruit, lean protein and tons of veggies.  I'm actually thinking of bumping up my calories from 1400 a day to more like 1600... I'm wondering if that why I've kinda been stuck for so long.  I've been doing killer workouts and training for the half Mary in less than a month (YIKES!) but still super slower if at all scale movement.  Hummm  def something to consider, and the fact that I'm hungry lol!!! 

Well I'll leave you with this awesome picture of my ripped arms (I'm kinda in love with them right now) but ignore the stupid face... Ya I don't know what I was thinking either ;)

Deliveries

This weekend was like no other... I'm actually still recovering!   But it was one of the best weekends of my LIFE!

My bestie Kyss finally had her BABY...  Actually she was about a week early but thank goodness she was, her little princess weighed in at 9lbs 7oz  and 21 inches long WOW.

The reason it was so awesome for me, besides my  best friend having her first baby, was I got to be apart of it all.  Early on in the pregnancy Kyss and her hubby T knew they wanted the birth to be private and not a lot of hupla (she has a bit of anxiety so the calmer the better for her) but she did want thanks to pinterest to capture the most special time of her life, and lucky for her, her bestie (me) is a photographer.  So they asked me to be apart of the birth.  Now don't go thinking eeeww  who would want and do vajay jay shots!  They were so not like that.  They just wanted some pics of the little moments the things you really don't think about or remember when all is said and done.  They are very tasteful and NO vag shots at all! 

So I've been on baby watch for the last two weeks so its been kinda nerve wracking making sure to always have my phone and a plan to get out to Palm Springs(about an hour away)  quick.  Also I needed to make sure to have someone at the ready to watch DQ too.  So when she called work on Friday to say it was go time it worked out perfectly.  DQ was at Grammies for school and it was Friday perfect.  I headed out to Palm Springs about 11:30am and everyone was in good spirits when I got there.  Things were mild until about 9pm that's when all the hard labor and pushing began.  Going into it my plan was to lay low and just take pics, but that didn't quite happen... I got some great pics but I also helped first hand! I was holding legs and hands saying things like breath and push harder, I even got  pain induced yelled at by the mommy to be lol.  

It was amazing to say the least.  I had both my girls C Section so I missed out on all the pushing stuff (though not the labor part, with TaTa I was in labor 19 hours before the Dr decided she wasn't coming out so emergency C it was) Then with DQ we just decided to schedule her C.   So it was amazing (can't say that enough) to see it all happen literally

CJ was born at 11:19pm on Friday the 13th... So cool and it's pretty awesome because DQ's birthday is on a 13 to so I've always thought a Friday the 13th birthday is pretty awesome!   Everything went well and mama and baby are doing great and daddy was so GREAT!   

It was a day...weekend I will never forget, and am so blessed that they even thought to ask me to be apart of such an incredible part of their lives.   Here are a few of the images I captured

 

 

Time for a Change

Ok so seeing as I'm always a day late for weigh-in I was thinking I will just change up my weigh in day to Thursday... Duh why didn't I do that sooner... and I will also be consistent and weigh in on my scale (because I'm now at Carebears on  Wednesday mornings so I was weighing in on hers.).

 

 

So I still haven't been consistently under the 170's. this week was 170.4 really again I'm really starting to hate that number.  But I'm trying to accept it.  The reason is I have a HUGE NSV!!  Showing that even though the number on the scale is not really moving I'm still losing and or at least changing my body (for the good).   Well what happened was I spent the usual night at CBs and packed all my stuff forgetting that we were to wear red white & blue for Patriots Day on Wednesday. I asked CB I she had a shirt I could borrow ( side note this is another NSV Being able to borrow my friends clothes) and this was all she had

Yup that's a freaking MEDIUM!! Holy shit I don't think I've worn a medium anything since junior high. How awesome is that, it made me realize a little more that the scale is just a number and things are changing but I would still really like to see that shit move down, not gonna lie!