Celebrating Two Lives

I was up nice and early this morning to get my run done. I was really hoping to go outside, but I was greeted with this.

It's was exceptionally windy as well. It's our first true storm of the season, which made me want to crawl into bed with Netflix and some tea, but I made it to the gym.

The run actually went by pretty fast. I couldn't believe it when an hour hit! My ritual after running so long is to sit on the floor in the middle of the gym for an inappropriate amount of time pretending to stretch.

I had to hurry to shower and get fancy because today my sister and I threw my best friend a baby shower. Everyone in my life is having a baby girl and she is due at the very beginning of November. Zoë helped out a lot by being adorable.

It was a potluck and the spread was awesome! One woman even made a baby out of a watermelon.

We played the usual games, like guess the candy in the diaper. My mom obviously loved this game.

We also played guess how far around her belly is with ribbon. My mom was super close, but another person was just a little bit closer. One woman's guess was about 2 feet off....

Of course there was the gift opening.

But there was a surprise at the end of the gift session. Today is also her 26th birthday, so we had a cake and candles for her to blow out to celebrate her life, since she's pretty important too.

We didn't forget to get a picture with the watermelon baby, which is probably the most delicious baby ever.

And then she wanted a picture with the hostesses. We love our pictures.

After everything was cleaned up and put away, my sister and her husband stopped for an adorable photo op. This picture pretty much sums up how much I adore my family.

Now I am laying in bed like I've been wanting to all day listening to the rain. I'm about to out on Netflix and do some knitting. I'm so wild.

My Best Friend's Birthday

Yesterday was Boyfriend's birthday. Unfortunately, it happened to also be a Thursday which is one of the days I am gone for 12 hours. Of course, I was out of bed nice and early, even after being awake for a half an hour at 2:30am due to some person racing their extremely loud motorcycle up and down the street.

I have a slight addiction to Snapchat, so between sets to kill time, I Snapchat good morning sweaty selfies. I will spare you the one I sent and show you the best response I received.

I always come home from the gym to put on make up and eat breakfast and read blogs before going to work. I left the massive amounts of candy for Boyfriend on our desk before I left with a note that he Instagrammed.

It's true. I date everything these days. After 12 grueling hours (okay, I really enjoy those 12 hours because they are spent doing things I really enjoy), I made it to the resturaunt where we had to add an extra table because more people showed up than we had planned for, which was a really nice surprise.

We spent the time conversing the only way we know how... Over Snapchat.

Boyfriend ordered garlic fries and the beer sampler, which I guess is okay because it was his birthday and he can do what he wants.

I apparently was the only one eating and not using their phone at the table.

He had a really great time at dinner and felt so grateful that most of his friends were there to celebrate.

He went out with a few friends afterward, but my granny butt went home and fell fast asleep. It was 10:15 by the time I was asleep. It was way too late. It didn't stop me from getting out of bed this morning before school.

Another reason why my boyfriend is the best ever. Yesterday was his birthday and in my world, my birthday lasts all month, but I came home to this little gift.

That's right. He bought me froyo for his birthday weekend! He really is the best. Now we are having some quality family time.

He goes back to work tomorrow, which I am always sad about, but at least we got to celebrate his life this week!

My First and a Date

Since I run by myself, I stick to my neighborhood. I feel very safe running by myself, especially in the daylight. I run up and down several culdesacs and there are usually at least 12 people outside working in their yards. I'm never really by myself. And there are very few cars.

Today, however, I was very close to home and I got my first creepy man yelling at me. I'm so used to eons left alone. I never get honks or catcalls. The man was driving a beat up old hatch back and I watched him physically roll down his window to yell very loudly, "YOU'RE REALLY MOVING FAST!!!" All I thought was thank you kind sir, but I do have a Garmin. And I was moving fast.

The run felt incredibly good today. I don't know what it is about Wednesdays, but I always seem to be a little speedier. Today's awesome run may have been due to the fact that I was fast asleep by 8:57 last night, giving me a full 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

I took boyfriend on a date tonight because his birthday is tomorrow. He had to schedule his birthday for my longest day of the week (besides Tuesdays). It was really quite rude. So tomorrow we are having a late dinner with his whole family, but tonight it was just us and Mongolian BBQ.

And then I had the best idea to get froyo.

I never regret that decision. After our froyo date, we headed to the Finnish hot tub place for a half an hour of hot tub time. The place is seriously straight out of a fairy tale.

We really enjoyed each other's company. We haven't gotten to see much of each other lately because of his work schedule and my school schedule, so it was nice that it was just us for 2 hours. Now I am fully planning on falling asleep before 9 again.

That Vitamin D

The weather forecast from last Friday until tomorrow called for rain. A huge storm was supposed to make its way to us, but it only stormer briefly on Friday and there have been small moments of rain on and off. The rest of the time has been absolutely beautiful. So I've been running outside to take full advantage of it.

I kept getting comments on how I look so tan. I kept saying that I have no idea why I look tan because I spend the majority of my week inside learning to be a good teacher. Well, yesterday as I was hoofing it around the 'hood in the blazing hot sun, I realized that I am earning a runner's tan. And not just of the sock variety.

I finished my workout inside, but then returned outside to pick peas from our garden. That lasted 7.2 seconds before screaming and running back inside because my hand brushes a ginormous Pumpkin Spider.

My two best friends came right as I was finished to kidnap me an force me to go to Target. I mean, spending time with my best friends and my beautiful little niece. They really had to twist my arm. She totally passed out after a good meal. She takes after her aunt.

Thursday is Boyfriend's birthday, so I picked him up some candy to go along with his gifts. Then we noticed that Ben and Jerry's was on sale for extremely heap and my mom would have disowned me if I didn't pick her up a pint or two. Needless to say, it was very obvious to the people at Target that I am a healthy living blogger.

I came home to the best gluten free Mac and cheese on the planet. I seriously have no idea when the last time I ate macaroni and cheese was. I definitely went into a food coma afterward.

This morning was an early one. I actually got to te gym 5 minutes before they unlocked the doors. The treadmill was wonky and stopped at 1.75 miles, so I had I restart.

Please notice the hour. That's am. This is what I look like when my morning workout is complete.

The rest of my day was filled with students and then being a student. It started pouring again right as school was getting out and the drive home was gorgeous.

Tomorrow I just have student teaching and then I have a few tricks up my sleeve for boyfriend for his birthday.

Do you like spiders?

Morning, afternoon, or evening workout?

Happy Fall!

I'm positive I have mentioned this before, but fall is my very favorite season. It just feels like home. And I love storms. The kind that make you want to curl up under blankets and watch movies by the fire. That's exactly the type of storm that started on Friday. After school, I climbed into bed, watched TV, and didn't ever really leave.

On Saturday, I let myself sleep in before getting up and doing another 1,000 calorie workout from Fitnessblender. Then boyfriend, my sister, the baby, and I headed to the college town for the annual fall solstice festival. It's my favorite fair of the entire year. On Saturday at 1, they have the Samba parade.

It's pretty fantastic to watch the people dance in flashy clothes down the street to loud drums.

Also, Bigfoot was in attendance. Everyone can stop looking for him now. I found him.

This morning I woke up at 7:30, thought about running but fell back fast asleep until 10. It was storming again, after a break on Sturday, so I chose the treadmill. At .40 mile, my magazine (yes, magazine) stopped the treadmill and put me in cool down mode. Then at 7.3 miles, the power shut off so I had to switch treadmills. I kept going for 2.2 because 7+2=9. Except I had totally forgotten about the .4 in my mind, but added it in on the calculator and was at 9.9. I couldn't let that go, so I finished the tenth of a mile. I ran 10 miles accidentally because I'm bad at math, and REALLY bad at math after running for over an hour.

I sped home to meet my mom to head back to the fair. Today was the All Species parade. Yep. This is my home, and I love it.

There were more huge puppets. His hat says, "Gone Squatchin'"

It started raining again, so we went home and I did homework (for the first time all weekend) until I went to dinner at my dad's and finished the night with this.

And a whole lot of this.

A great start to fall!

What's In My Bag?

In my Foundations of Teaching class, we have been talking a lot about community building and how important it is in a classroom.  Our professor has given us a lot of ideas and games to play the first weeks of school to get the students to know each other and the teacher.  One of these fun activities is called "What's In My Bag?"  It's like show-and-tell, only you have the students bring in items that represent them.  Our professor demonstrated on the first day of class and ever since then, two people bring in their "bag" and show off things that are important to them.  Today was my turn.

I don't have a lot of tangible things that are important to me.  The things that are me are definitely not things I could bring in a bag to school.  So, I made collages.  I got a lot of really great compliments on my presentation and it made me feel really good.  Here is what my "bag" consisted of.

1.  My Family

My family is super important to me.  I have been blessed with the best family in the entire world.  My mom is my best friend, my brother and I have never gotten in a fight, and my dad is pretty much who I look up to and inspires me to be the best.  My big sister is amazing and obviously my step sister is my very best friend in the entire world.  And my new niece is perfect in every way.  I feel so very, very lucky.

2.  My Boyfriend

Once again, I feel so blessed to have him.  He treats me like a princess and is constantly calming me down and making me feel like everything is okay in life, because it is.  I have a tendency to freak out over small things, but he brings me back down to earth.  He tells me I'm beautiful at least once a day.  Today, he came home.  I am in my sweats, a baggy sweatshirt, and have my hair pulled back in a messy bun because it's raining for the first time in months and I felt the need to take full advantage of it.  He told me I look beautiful.  That's the kind of person everyone needs in their life.  Someone who thinks the sun shines out of their butt.  He's amazing.

3.  My Dogs

As I have said many times before, my dogs are like my children.  I love them with my whole heart.  They are always there beside me when I have a bad day.  Milo has the personality of a grumpy old man and that makes me love him even more.  Moe can tell when I am upset and will come and lay with me until I am done being sad.  They're the best.

4.  Fitness

Fitness is my passion.  It's my way of staying sane.  I am obviously obsessed with blogs, but I am also obsessed with finding out every possible thing I can about correct form, best routines, ect.  If I thought I was smart enough to get my PT certificate, I would, but science is hard for me.  

5.  Nature

Going right along with fitness, being active outdoors makes me feel alive.  We don't go outside enough these days with all of the technology and TV.  I love to breathe fresh mountain air, feel the burning in my thighs from climbing hills, and feel the saltwater on my skin at the beach.  I grew up going camping, rafting, and climbing steep hills.  Now those things are just a part of me.

6.  Friends

I know I don't mention them much on here, but I do have them, I swear!  I am a major introvert, but that doesn't stop me from getting crazy from time to time with the besties.  My friends are the most beautiful human beings on the planet.  Each one makes me want to be a better person.  They are always there for me when I need them, and they are always willing to dance like a fool with me.  We also never take ourselves seriously, which is the best part.

7.  Theater

I'm not sure if I've mention the fact that I am a theater junkie much, because that's not what my blog is focused on, but I am.  My mom watched kids after school while I was growing up and she had us do Reader's Theater in the basement for all of our neighborhood to come enjoy.  That grew into me auditioning for local plays.  I took a couple of years off in high school and the beginning of college, but then my relationship ended and I needed something to pull me out of the dark pits of depression I was in.  Theater was the one thing I could think of that had no memories of the relationship, so I went and auditioned.  I didn't get a part, but I was asked to Stage Manage the next musical which happened to be Man of La Mancha.  I fell madly in love.  That led to two seasons of back to back Stage Managing.  Theater and running is really what saved me from myself.  It's how I met the majority of my very good friends.  It's how I met Boyfriend.  

And that's what's in my bag!  

What's in your bag?