I was catching up on my most favorite blog after dinner and Katie, the author over at runsforcookies, dedicated her blog post tonight to all of her favorite things. At the end she asked fellow readers to post their favorite things so that is what I am doing tonight. Below you will find a wide variety of all the things I love.

So I don't have a lot of time to blog tonight since I am starting this post a little late, but I thought I would say a couple of things. First off... I whipped together a wonderful dinner last night and took a picture to share with you all. Mark always makes dinner for us so I wanted to return the favor. I knew I needed something quick because I get home at 6:00 and did not want to eat really late.

I finally had a doctor appointment today. My sister had recommended her doctor to me since I needed to establish a primary care physician; I really like her. She is doing blood tests and depending on the results she will probably be ordering a CT scan. I had one about 7 years ago but she said a lot can change in that amount of time. The doctor I had seen after my visit to the ER said that it was a tension headache but my new doctor does not necessarily agree, she said that my head shouldn't be swelling all over from a headache. It still wakes me up at least 2 times per night and the pain meds don't do much so I'm hoping she can find a resolution.


I took a couple of days off from the C25k program. Tomorrow after work it will either be a trip to the gym or a trip to the track. I think I want to hit the elliptical. I dread driving the 10 minutes up to the gym but never regret going once I get there. I am looking into heart rate monitors and a new scale. Any suggestions from you all?

Well this post was short and sweet, and now it's time to hit the sheets. Good night y'all!

Oh my goodness, when I said I wanted to sleep in this morning I thought I would be up around 9:00 or so... not 11:45. Amelia and I must have needed the sleep because she was right there next to me when I woke up. Mark and I both wanted a laid back Sunday so we decided we would take Amelia to see Brave early in the afternoon and then putz around home the rest of the day. We had coupons so we got two tickets at $1.50 each, much nicer than the normal $8.00 price. Amelia liked the movie a lot but gripped my arm tight during the "scary" part. It was cute. After the movie I planted a few more plants in the garden while Mark pulled weeds. My little sister Grace stopped by for a visit with her boyfriend Chis and we all decided to head up the road to Chang's Mongolian Grill for dinner. Our friend/co-worker Ben was working and we lucked out having him as our waiter. Dinner was tasty, I had noodles with chicken, shrimp, carrots, broccoli, sprouts and pineapple. Afterwards we stopped by the grocery store for lunch supplies and then headed home. I decided that I needed to change and go straight to the track before I sat down and refused to budge it got too dark. I went to my normal track at the high school but there were several games going on at the fields there so I moved on to the college track, which was incredibly busy. Finally I decided to try the middle school track that was right up the road from our house. How did I not know that track was there? It cuts my drive time in half to and from the track. I was the only one there and was quite anxious to see how I handled running after eating a heavy meal. I started up the C25k app on my phone and when the first running interval came around I was feeling good, but I didn't realize how fast I was actually running. When the lady got on and told me to switch to a brisk walk she said my interval time was 6:54.... I couldn't believe it. I ran the first two intervals at a pace under a 7:00 minute mile, then the wind hit me on the third and I was up at 11:02 and at 12:09 my second to last interval. My average running interval pace ended up at 9:38 and my walking pace was 14:27. I feel pretty good after that but my legs are pretty tired. Mark's nephew might be coming over tomorrow and if he is here when I get home I will probably take the night off, but if he isn't here I will head up to the gym around 7:30 and hit the elliptical hard.

We had quite the busy week last week; I don't think I was in bed before 11:00 once. It was fun visiting with Mark's family and I was sad to see them go today... but our nephew decided to stay until Thursday! I think he is going to help Mark brew up his first batch of beer!!!

Yesterday Amelia and I tagged along with the boys to the rock gym. They all had a blast and Amelia enjoyed climbing around the bouldering section.

So this evening I completed week one of the C25K! I am so excited that I've got the first week out of the way. I don't think I've actually ran since high school, and that was 9 years ago. Even in high school while playing sports I was never good at running. I remember one trimester my freshman year where I absolutely loved running, but that was a short lived love affair. Again tonight, as with the other times I've run this week, I was surprised that I am still enjoying this whole running attempt thing. My interval time was 12:18 tonight and I was quite pleased. Now don't get me wrong, I know that 12:18 is a really slow time for running, but given the fact that I've been out of the game for over 9 years and have gained about a billion pounds since then, 12:18 is great for me. I know I said I didn't want to take Amelia with me anymore but she begged me and promised to be a good girl (she took her stick pony to ride). I can take Amelia ANYWHERE, anytime of the day and she behaves very well. I frequently get compliments in restaurants and stores on how well behaved she is, but she has officially been banned from my track visits. She lasted the first three intervals before she started crying and yelling that she wanted to go home. My interval time slowed down a bit since I had to sit her down and run back and forth on the straight stretch instead of going around. I think I will do a couple more days on week one even though I have technically finished. I will start with week two on my Monday weigh in day.


This weekend is another busy one, and I'm not too happy about that. While I will enjoy most of the things on the agenda... I really just want to wake up, exercise and spend the rest of the days lounging about watching TV and playing with Amelia. I am pretty sure it will be retirement before I get a weekend like that. I always feel like I'm catching up on things or spending time with people since I don't have a lot of extra hours during the week. Tomorrow we are going to a Jack&Jill wedding shower and I am SO EXCITED to celebrate the wonderful couple. Tara has been a great friend for years and years, and while we don't always get to see one another I always enjoy the times we get to catch up. Her wonderful fiance is such a nice guy and they make one amazing couple. The love just radiates from them. Mark's brother Gerwai and his family are in town from Florida for a couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to spending time with them. I wish it was any other time during the year so I could take some vacation time. Typically, unless you are getting married or are in a wedding (and I used this last year) we aren't generally allowed to take days off in the summer. In the past I might have been able to take a day here or there but with all of the changes and short staffing going on I just can't be away from the office. I believe I have Mark talked into a trip over their way next summer!. One of my Grandmas lives over there as well so we could make an extended trip and spend a good amount of time with everyone.

My baby sister Grace turned 20 this week. She is growing up to be quite a wonderful young lady. For some reason I had a hard time shopping for her, which is a total first. She ended up with clothes from Romy and MAC make up.

Well this Saturday has turned out to be quite a wonderful day! 

Okay, so tonight I'm going to take a break from talking about myself and focus on a certain individual who always likes being talked about. There is a guy I've known for many many years now; I met him at church when we were younger and now I have the privilege of working with him during the summer months. This morning, as I was in our warehouse he popped in to say "hi" and to let me know he follows my blog. I was quite shocked that he spends his free time so engulfed in my life... but hey, to each their own. As I was leaving the warehouse he made a joke about how I should feature him in a blog post... why hadn't I thought of that sooner??? Therefore, tonight's blog post in all about BLAKE!