Friday Notes

This week has been exhausting, and I am even more grateful than normal that Friday has finally rolled around with a little reprieve. I have so much to get done this weekend, but I'm determined to squeeze in some time to relax a little too. Since I haven't found much time to blog this week, here's a little recap of what we've been up to:

 -- We saw Admission last Friday night and loved it! Tina Fey is adorable and fantastic (as always) and the storyline was just the right balance of sweet and hysterical. Definitely recommended!  
-- I'm hanging in there on the "lift heavy things" addition to my workouts. My soreness is finally gone, and I'm starting to find that some of the  are getting easier. Surprisingly, my biggest challenge in the past few weeks has been running -- I'm not sure if it's the strength training or just a typical wane in my endurance, but for a while there I was clocking only a mile or two a day, and even that required a serious self-pep talk. Last weekend I headed out for a run on a beautiful day and it turned out to be one of the most pathetic few miles I think I have ever covered. But yesterday and today I got through a 5k without too much mental anguish, so hopefully I'm getting back into the swing of things.
 -- We had a quiet but lovely Easter last weekend (last weekend? seems like forever ago!) My sweet hubby filled my Easter basket with a few of my favorite things -- pretty colors and lots of chocolate:

(with only the slightest of hints when it came to the nail polish). I've been wearing the mint this week, and while it's definitely a change from my typical pick-a-shade-of-pink, I think it's perfect for spring.
 -- The weather was overcast but relatively warm on Easter, so we took the pup for a long walk and stopped at a nearby creek to play a bit. We brought Dan's nice DSLR along and snapped some adorable pictures of Teddy splashing around and following his daring dad across fallen trees. He had a blast and we did too -- it's so much fun to watch him play and explore. Once I get the pictures loaded, I'll share a few.

we've been letting him sleep in bed about one night a week -- he loves it, and I usually wake a up with a paw or three invading my space

 -- Speaking of the pup, he has made it halfway through his first session of puppy classes and is impressing both us and his trainer with how quickly he picks up on things. He's got sit down (although he has known that for months) and he's a pro at "loose-leash walking" (essentially heel). This week we are working on down and "leave it," and he's catching on so fast. I joke with people that he's smarter than Dan and I, but sometimes I wonder if it really might be true. The best part, though, is how much he loves going to class each week. He gets so excited when we get in the car and he can barely contain himself when he sees the trainer. He plays with the other pups really well (thankfully he hasn't dragged any of them around lately) and loves to get attention from the other owners. We are seeing a difference at home too: he has always been well-behaved but his hyperactive energy seems to be settling down a bit, thank goodness.

a rare quiet moment

 -- Our other poor furball has been sick this week. He's been sneezing like crazy for a few days, and this morning his congestion seemed better but one of his eyes was running. He hasn't been too lethargic and his appetite is normal, so we've just been keeping an eye on him for now. Hopefully he starts feeling better this weekend, because his poor little sneezes are breaking his mother's heart!

 -- I've been dying to try Starbucks' new hazelnut macchiato to see if it lives up to all the recent hype, but I'm always a little nervous ordering something different there... I know that even if it's terrible I'll still have to drink it, because who throws away $5 coffee? I've been getting tired of chai, though, so I braved it this morning on my weekly Starbucks run and I'm so glad I did. Definitely worthy of all the hype and more. It was wet and chilly this morning so I opted for the hot version, but I can't wait to try it iced this summer!
Just a few highlights from an exceptionally busy week -- I'll be kind and won't bore you with work, laundry, cold rain, and similarly exciting occurrences. Thankfully, this weekend is supposed to be warm and beautiful. Hope that you have a wonderful one!

   Love,

    Meg

Friday Favorites

Didn't I mention last week that my picks were a little all over the place? Well... you ain't seen nothin' yet. Today, we make last week's choices look positively coherent.

 -- First, a Friday Favorites dream-come-true: look what arrived on my doorstep yesterday...

Even cuter in real life!

 

decked out for St. Patrick's day

 -- The hubs and I are on a working-out-together kick -- he has come with me to the gym every day except one this week, and we've been doing stuff together while we're there. This means that for the first time in forever (forever) I've been doing strength training, core work, and all those other things you're supposed to add to the cardio for a well-balanced workout... yuck. I'm lucky to have my very own personal personal trainer to make me feel like a wimp encourage me to keep pushing, but I'm going to be very ungrateful here for a minute: this strength stuff is for the birds. I have been so incredibly sore all week, words truly can't describe it. Sitting down hurts. Standing up hurts. Breathing hurts. I can't even begin to get comfortable at night, so I've been sleeping horribly. And let. me. tell. you. I sneezed on Wednesday, and I swear my life flashed before my eyes. I was absolutely positive that my head was going to pop off in that instant. Dan keeps telling me that it will get better, and today I am finally slightly less achy (until I try to move, at least). All I can say is that this had better be worth it.
The "favorite" part of this little topic (I bet you didn't think there was one!) was that I've been able to spend lots of quality time with Dan. Because of his funky work schedule, sometimes I feel like we barely see each other during the week. But even when I was yelling at him to get out of bed already and we were glaring at each other as we got dressed for the gym before the crack of dawn, it was nice to get to see his face a little more this week. He hits just the right balance of encouragement and making me laugh like crazy... which would be wonderful if it didn't hurt so damn much.


 -- After our gym date last night, we headed to check out a new local grocery store and grab a few last minute ingredients for dinner. This place has a ton of bulk nuts, snack mixes, and candy (dangerous), and as we browsed I spotted these beauties.

I have not eaten or even thought about mustard pretzels in YEARS, but I used to love these things when I was little. I bought a little container, and oh my goodness, they took me right back to childhood. They are super salty but incredibly good.

 -- Speaking of childhood food, I whipped up another kid favorite for dessert last night. When we were grocery shopping last week, I pointed out the pre-made Jello version of the "dirt" dessert, and Dan's eyes got all wide. I sent him back for chocolate pudding mix, grabbed a container of cool whip, and even tracked down a bag of gummi worms. Last night, we indulged:

  -- On Wednesday, we took Teddy for his first real puppy class. We signed him up a month ago, but our class didn't fill up and eventually got canceled, so we're starting again now. Our new class includes a sweet Doberman, an adorable German Shepherd, and a teeny-tiny terrier mix. Teddy did pretty well and made it clear that he's going to be a teacher's pet: while the other puppies played after class, Teddy stuck close to the trainer and did his best to look cute. The trainer even picked him up (not exactly an easy feat, since he's grown so much) to give him some love, and Teddy was clearly in heaven. We definitely have a mooch on our hands. 

The best part, though? During a "puppy recess," Teddy meandered over to the other pups, picked up the leash of the little bitty terrier in his mouth, and dragged both it and the attached dog halfway across the room to us. He sat down right in front of Dan, leash still in his mouth and terrier still struggling to get back on his feet, and looked at us like "I brought you something, can we keep it??" Everyone (including the terrier's mama, thank goodness) got a good laugh.

 -- And in the interest of equal air-time for all furballs (no one likes a furry mutiny), we'll end with this little graphic that I whipped up the other day:

Truer than you can imagine... he is not a morning cat.
Happy weekend, everyone!

   Love,

    Meg

Ho Ho Ho and... Stuff...

(2:10)

I keep starting to write, getting frustrated, and deleting it all, only to start the cycle over. That's how the past few days have been: at times I've been super-productive, getting things done that have been wasting away on my to-do list for weeks, but then suddenly a fog bank moves in and I'm sleepy, unmotivated, and crabby. I haven't slept well at night, but I'm pretty sure if I lay down to take a nap I might snooze for days. I've accomplished so much in little short spurts, but then I show up at the gym and after 10 minutes on the treadmill I'm ready to call it a day. I'm trying to indulge myself a little, reasoning that it's better to have an off week this week instead of the week before Christmas, but I'm also eager to snap out of it. In the meantime, here are a few non-life-altering tidbits:

For the first time in forever, I have now skipped two morning workouts in a row. I used to have such a tough time getting up and getting my butt to the gym in the mornings, but lately I've been so good about getting there pretty much every morning. Occasionally (once or maybe twice a month) I'll skip a day, so I wasn't overly concerned when I woke up not feeling great yesterday and decided to roll over and go back to sleep. I didn't even feel too terribly guilty during the day yesterday... and that's clearly where I made a mistake. This morning, all I could think was "skipping one day didn't kill me... skipping two wouldn't be so bad... maybe I'll just stay in bed again... I could just declare it a stepback week... Zzzzzz......" I actually did feel guilty and get up at one point, but when I looked at the time I knew that I'd never have time to get there for a decent workout before I'd have to get ready for work... so of course I went back to sleep. Tonight I'm planning to wear my mizunos to bed.

(another terrible food picture for your pleasure)

 It only took me two tries to figure out the easiest and most delicious cookie ever. My first batch was an awful mess, but with a little bit of tweaking (which made the simple recipe even easier), the second try worked like a charm. Try this on for size:
    1. melt one bag of chocolate chips in a double boiler (or the microwave, if you're brave)
    2. stir in a can of chow mein noodles
    3. as best you can, transfer in clumps onto a piece of parchment paper
    4. let sit for an hour or two (or pop in the fridge) to cool and harden... legitimately the hardest part of the whole process
(I can't for the life of me remember where I found this recipe first, but there are so many different versions all over the internet. Most include shortening, peanuts, butterscotch chips, etc., but after the first disaster I decided to try it with just these two ingredients and was pretty darn happy with how it turned out.)

Someone must have heard my cries when Panera made the terrible decision to serve their lemon chicken orzo soup only seasonally. Thanks, Progresso!

In one of my bursts of energy last night, I busted out a fork and tried this tutorial that has been floating around the internet. Even though my sweet husband said he kind of liked the result, I wasn't thrilled -- the finished product was not quite round/symmetrical and just didn't look like the pictures. I may string them on a garland, but wouldn't tie them to a gift or display them where someone could take a good hard look at one.

Although I'm rocking (and loving) the seasonal Pandora stations, I can't make the jump to all Christmas music all the time, because I'd miss this guy too much. Time for a holiday album, Peter?

There are so many books on my bedside table, movies in my netflix queue, and tv shows that I'd like to catch up on. How does one work full time, squeeze in a workout, cook meals, maintain a clean house, keep two furry creatures alive, and still find time to stay up to date with these things? I'm a little concerned that when I add a college class to the mix in January, I'll have to give up sleeping at night completely...

And what's a blog post without a picture of one of the furballs that we love so much?

   Love,

    Meg

Phasing Out

I haven't run in several weeks thanks to some persistent leg pain. I've been spending an insane amount of time cross-training (just ask my husband), but I've limited myself to shooting longing glances at the treadmill from my perch on the elliptical, and my Nike+ notifications have gone from "More miles this week than last! Great job!" to "Are you still breathing? Is there someone we can call?" It's been rough, but yesterday marked a breakthrough. I've discovered that every time I take a break from running for a weird pain (which has happened more often that I'd like), I go through three very distinct phases:

Phase 1: Denial

("It's just a little tiny pain, probably nothing... I'll just keep running and I'm sure it will go away... it's only getting worse because my legs are getting tired... I'm not a very strong runner if I let the pain stop me, I've just got to push through it... the only way I'm going stop this workout is if my leg actually falls off... I'll just take two Advil so that I'll be able to walk for the rest of the day")

Phase 2: Acceptance 

("Actually, this elliptical isn't so bad after all... At least I'm not outside running in the heat... That sucker on the treadmill looks pretty miserable, glad I'm not doing that... Why on earth would I ever think 10 miles was fun?... I'm not sure I ever want to run again")
 

Phase 3: Hesitant Rebound 

("I sort of wish I could be running right now... That treadmill looks kind of nice... I'd really like to try just a short run, but what if it's still painful?... I am actually dying to get back out there again, but I'm too scared of reversing any progress in the pain department... Just a few miles can't hurt, right?")

 

This time around, my denial phase was serious -- for weeks, I pushed myself to do a couple miles a day, ignoring the physical discomfort I knew would follow just for the mental comfort of continuing to run. I supplemented with cross training, stretching, icing, and lots of foam rolling, and honestly felt ok for a while, so I was hopeful that cutting back on mileage for a bit would fix the problem. Eventually, though, things got worse again and I knew I needed to stop completely.

After just a few days of mourning (and more than a little guilt), I plunged headlong into phase 2 -- thanks in no small part to the awful heat wave that hit around this time, I was actually thrilled not to be suffering through mile after mile of 100+ degree temps. Waking up each morning, I was relieved to head down to the air conditioned gym and a workout that, while still intense and seriously sweat-inducing (I have honestly never met anyone who works out faster, harder, or longer on an elliptical machine than yours truly), was less mentally challenging than pushing myself through yet another run. I stopped stressing about the miles I wasn't logging, the long runs I wasn't taking, and the races I had coming up. I was, frankly, quite happy to hit the gym once or twice a day and work out hard, but not have to run a mile.

Recently, though, as the weather has cooled off a tiny bit and I've been attempting to get used to a new gym, I'm feeling myself sliding towards the next part of my little running vacation -- the one that usually gets me back out on the road in a mentally and physically healthy place. Over the past week or so, I've felt a little less resistant to the thought of stretching my legs over a few miles outside. The treadmills have looked less torturous and more inviting (especially considering the new gym's lack of decent ellipticals and wealth of lovely looking treadmills). The itch has been building for days, but by yesterday, I was sure of it: I was dying to run again, even if it was just for 10 minutes. The only little problem with this part of the process is the nerves -- when I get to this point, I'm actually a little frightened to get started again. What if it hasn't been long enough, and the pain is still there? What if I aggravate whatever injury I had to begin with? What if, after a few weeks off, I just can't do it anymore? Lots of little nagging fears pop up every time I consider giving it a try, warning me to be careful and take things sloooowly. So as badly as I wanted to give one of the new treadmills a test run last night, I forced myself back onto my elliptical. Tonight, I'm going back to the old apartment for some more cleaning, and taking advantage of some time in the gym that feels more like home still. I think it might be the perfect time to test my legs with a mile or two -- on the treadmill where I've logged hundreds of miles in rain, snow, cold, and dark over the past two years. I'm nervous, but hopeful that this time around, phase 3 will ease me into a wonderful fall running season.

   Love,

    Meg