Secret Exercise

So I’ve been keeping a little secret from you guys, I’ve been training for a half marathon!  I haven’t really done much running in the past few years and I’ve been slacking on cardio.  I kept thinking that I really needed to get to the gym and stop wasting money on my membership that I wasn’t using, but I just couldn’t get my butt there.  Then one day at work I was talking to a client and she told me she was training for this half-marathon that was on the Ashuwilticook rail trail.  I love this trail!  I roller blade it every summer.  The trail used to be an old railroad line and brings you through the woods and around a small lake.  It’s really beautiful.  So this half-marathon starts at the Berkshire Mall and then goes the entire length of the rail trail and ends in Adams at the Visitor’s Center.

For some reason I couldn’t get this race out of my head.  The longest distance I’ve ever run is 4 miles, not anywhere near 13.1 miles, but I kept getting this feeling that I could do this.  I kept telling myself that I had the time to train and that this would be the easiest course I would ever come across, the trail is a slight downhill from Lanesborough to Adams.  I started looking up training plans and found one that looked doable for me. This race was the motivation to get back to running that I needed.  I was in the gym the next day running a 5k.  I was terrified but then completely surprised when I was able to run it at, for me, a decent pace.  It felt so good!  I think my Zumba classes have really helped me maintain some endurance.

I was really hesitant to tell anyone that I was training for a half but I was also so excited about it!  I told a few co-workers and Matt knew, who is my biggest cheerleader, and then I told my sister.  I was expecting her to be excited for me but she immediately told me a couldn’t do it.  The day of the race was the day she was having my bridal shower.  Womp, womp, womp.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty disappointed.  I really felt like this race was one that I could do.  I took to the internets and did a quick search of possible halfs in the area.  I found a few options.  They are all a lot more difficult though.  I haven’t signed up for one, yet.  I think I will though and I’ve been keeping up with my training plan.

So that’s what I’ve been keeping from you.  Last week I really slacked on my training plan and fitness in general.  I basically only made it to my Zumba classes.  This coming week I’m ready to get back at it.

Monday~ Early Morning Kickboxing Class

Tuesday~ 4 mile run

Wednesday~ rest

Thursday~kickboxing

Friday~4.5 mile run

Saturday~rest

Sunday~8 mile long run

Did you notice that Zumba is no where in my plan.  My work schedule is all off this week making me miss any chance of going to my Zumba.  I might have to do a video at home or something so I don’t suffer from with drawls.

 

 

I snowshoe now

My amazing man bought me snowshoes two years ago and they’ve sat in their wrapping for those entire two years, until last Sunday. Nemo brought us about 8 inches of snow Friday evening. The sun was out bright and shiny on Sunday afternoon. We finally had the day to ourselves and decided to give it a go.

This was my first time ever trying to snowshoe and Matt really talked me through it. It was a lot of fun. And it was such a beautiful day.

We didn’t stay out for too long. I think we did about 2ish miles.

We had a great time together trying something new and enjoying the beautiful winter weather.

I can’t wait until we can go again!

What I prepped Wednesday

I had to skip my regular wednesday morning Zumba this week. Thank god there’s a night class! I took the opportunity to prep some food for the week.

Last night I roasted a butternut squash so I made some soup with it. The last time I made butternut squash soup I was pretty underwhelmed with it so this time I spiced it up with some smoked chipotle pepper and sweetened it with a red delicious apple. It tastes amazing! I can’t wait for my lunch tomorrow.

I also whipped up this quinoa salad.

Here it is with the vegetables and dried figs and apricots before I added the quinoa and dressing. I had some for my lunch today and its delicious. I’m also looking forward to eating from it all week.

I made garbanzo beans from scratch for the first time!

It’s a magical thing those beans. They can turn from inedible hard little balls to creamy hummus.

I’m pumped to have all my lunches for the week all set. Yay me!
I’ve been pretty unfocused lately and I think this was just what I needed to get back on track.

Ask and you shall receive

So the other day I posted this on my Facebook wall.

The next day when I got to work my schedule had unexpectedly opened up, which is never good. I’ve really been trying to make the most of my time at work and create the most beautiful hair on every single person. It’s a complete buzz kill to not have anyone to work on.

I gave myself a mental talking to. I still had clients coming in that day and it just meant that I had more time to devote to each one of them.

My first client was one of my very favorite people in the world, my Zumba instructor. She gets this really fun short haircut. We don’t usually color her hair because her best friend is a stylist as well so she does it for her. Anyways we were talking about her desire to color her whole head bright purple and it somehow lead to adding some pink ombré extensions. It was a blast and I was so happy to do something a little out of the box. It had been awhile since I’ve done any extensions and I got work with a new color.

This lead to an entire day of beautiful and fun colors! I’ve been talking with one of my older clients,whose hair is a beautiful silver, about doing a pop of purple in the front. I don’t know what made her decide to try it today but she did! It looks awesome on her! I sadly was so excited that I forgot to take any more pictures.

I had another client come in to touch up her foils. She’s been having problems with her water at home. There’s a lot of copper and mineral buildup in her hair which over time makes her hair darker. (It used to end up green so this is much better.) We just got this amazing new color line that has microlight technology. It encapsulates the copper that’s attached to the hair and removes it. It leaves the hair soooo shiny and makes it feel almost as good as virgin hair. It’s truly amazing! I could not believe how much lighter her ends looked after just using the new Illimunia color as a toner.

I really think that because I put out the intention of wanting be more creative at work and because I was willing to remain positive during set backs, I was given the opportunities that I was.

At the end of the night my co-worker wasn’t feeling well. She’s very pregnant and I could tell that she just needed to go home. I offered to finish her last so she could get some rest. It felt wonderful to be able to do something to help out. In a way I felt like I was sending the universe a little thank you.

Have you ever experienced your intentions being realized?

Silly monkey

Want to hear a sad story with a happy ending about my dog?

We keep Punky, our Cairn Terrier, gated in the kitchen when we’re gone for the day. On Mondays Matt gets home before I do. Punky is always very excited when we come home and greets us jumping up and down and barking her little head off.

When Matt arrived home this past Monday Ms. Punky was barking and wiggling around but did not run over to greet him. Instead she was lying down on the heating vent. We have forced hot air and she loves to lay on it.

Poor Matt had no idea what the heck was happening to her that would prevent her from walking. So he walks over to her and tries to pick her up, but he can’t. She’s stuck! She somehow got her dog tag stuck in between the slats in the vents. We have no idea how long the poor thing was stuck there!

She’s safe and sound. I was really worried that she might have gotten burned from laying on the hot metal but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. Thank god!

We’ve since removed her collar completely when we’re gone to prevent this from ever happening again.

I kind of thought that she might start to be afraid of the vents and stay away from them but no such luck. It’s still her favorite place to nap, after the couch that it is.

Progress in the Dining Room

Hey guys! How are you doing? I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I had a pretty hectic holiday season but I really enjoyed all the time I got to spend celebrating with my family and friends.

We hosted Christmas dinner for my family this year like we did last year. Matt and I vowed last year that we would have our dining room finished so we could eat Christmas dinner in a nice space.

When we moved in the whole room was covered in paneling. It was the middle of June and I kept getting this sickeningly sweet smell from the room. I thought maybe it was the nasty dirty carpet but my nose lead me to the walls. Against Matt’s better judgement I ripped the paneling off the walls.

Which resulted in this electrical socket dangling from the wall. Whoopsie! It also left clumps of glue over really ugly wallpaper. But it smelled better.

The room stayed this way for about four years. Are you wondering how we could leave a room in that state for four years? Simple, you shut the door and don’t go anywhere near it.

Anyways we had heard really great things about this thicker paintable wallpaper that helps to smooth walls making it look better once painted. We worked our fingers off smoothing the glue down, sometimes chiseling it off. Matt got to do some patching with drywall. We had an electrician come in and replace the socket.

There was one wall that was very spongey feeling because the plaster was detached from the wall. Matt found a great tutorial about how to repair it by drilling holes and filling them with adhesive and then screwing anchors with big washers in the wall while the adhesive was drying. Then he plastered over everything to make a smoother wall. The walls he worked on ended up being the smoothest and nicest walls in the room.

We finally got to the point where we could hang the wallpaper.

We got really excited by this point because you actually see the walls becoming walls! Then it was time to paint. I should mention that painting day was the day before Christmas Eve.

We choose a mint green color that is called Sensual Pear. I wonder if sensual pears taste like Asian pears? Anyways, we love it! The paper absorbs a lot paint so we ended up going through about one and a half gallons of paint.

We put our small bar in there and our kitchen table that was a hand-me-down from my aunt. We also have a dresser that’s in the middle of her own DIY.
It was a tight squeeze with all 11 of us but it was a great dinner. Everyone was reminiscing and enjoying the food.

We still have a long way to go before we declare this room done but getting this far has motivated us to keep at it. Also it’s inspiring other projects in the house. We have a mile long list now.

I did paint the ceiling so it’s a nice crisp white now. The trim is looking pretty dingy, so that’s next. Then we finally get to tear that nasty carpet out!!! Fingers crossed that the hard wood underneath is still in good condition.

What have you guys been up to? Any home improvements or cool New Year’s resolutions?

Eye on the Prize

Now that Christmas has come and gone is time to focus on the new year.  It’s time to decide what resolutions you want to make.  It’s the time to reflect on the past year and take inventory on what goals you reached and reasons for not achieving some goals.  These were my goals for last year.

1. Make some home improvements.  LOTS of home improvements, in every.single.room.

2. Plan our wedding, most importantly book a location.

3. Spend more time with my friends and family, especially Matt.

4. Work-out consistently.  Especially work on increasing my running distance and speed.

5. Get organized.  De-clutter the house and give everything a designated spot.

6. Reign in my spending.  Make quality purchases.

7. Continue to save and decrease existing debt.

8. Give my pets more attention and better care.

9. Take Yoga

10. Eat clean (90 % of the time)

Here’s how I think  I did.

1. Making home improvements:  We actually just recently started working on our dining room!  I’m excited to say that the walls are finished and painted.  There’s still a lot left to do but we’ve gained so much momentum.  I also wallpapered the upstairs hallway and painted.  We’re not liking the color so we’ll be re-painting them plus the trim and ceiling.  It’s amazing how one project creates 10 more projects.  So I’m saying goal #1=Accomplished!

2.Plan our wedding: We have our location and absolutely love it!  I also have my dress!!!  So much left to do though so I’m saying goal #3 = still working on it.

3. Spend more time with family and friends.  I definitely did better at this.  I am such a homebody but I’m learning to be more social.  Matt and I started eating dinner at the kitchen table a few months ago and it’s made such a difference.  We actually spend our meal talking about our day and planning what we want to do on the house and many other things.  It’s amazing how changing something so simple as where we sit when we eat can turn our meal into quality time.  Goal #3 = Accomplished!

4. Work out consistently.  I’ve fallen in love with Zumba and kickboxing this year.  My running has been put on the back burner though.  I can say I did exercise consistently every week although I believe I could do much more.  Goal #4= Accomplished!

5. Get organized.  I have made a lot of improvements in this area.  I spent an entire week of vacation going through the whole house and purging.  At the end of the week we had a tag sale.  It was marvelous!  But there is still so.much.stuff!   Goal #5= work in progress!

6.Reign in my spending.  I’ve done much better with this.  It’s amazing how working on de-cluttering prevents you from wanting to buy needless stuff!  I still splurge occasionally though.  Goal #6= Work in progress.

7. Continue to save and pay off debt.  I am so proud to say that we’re right on track with saving.  We have a lofty goal of not owing any money for our wedding.  I think we might be able to accomplish it!  I’ve also paid off one credit card and will have two more cards paid off in a few months.  Once those are paid off I’ll be able to tackle my last card quicker and put more money into my saving account.  Goal #7= Accomplished!

8. Give my pets more attention and better care.  This was any easy goal because I love to spoil my babies.  I go in waves of consistently walking Punky.  I could do a lot better at this.  She loves going on even small walks and especially likes when she meets new friends that tell her she’s cute.  Goal #8= Work in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Take yoga.  I totally bombed on this one!  I did start taking Zumba and kickboxing though.   Goal #9= Fail!

10.   Eat clean.  This goal was accomplished in waves.  I would do really well and then blow it.  I love sugar so much!  I think this will be something that I’ll be working on for the rest of my life!  I also love vegetables.  It’s too bad that I don’t binge on vegetables instead of chocolate.  Goal #10= work in progress.

After reflecting on these goals I’m feeling pretty good about what I accomplished this past year.  I still have lots of room for improvement, which is a good thing.  It will make it easier to figure out my resolutions for next year, but that’s for another post.

Have you done any reflecting on the past year?  Did you make your resolutions for next year?