Moving, Projects and New Adventures.

Short update! We are in the process of moving apartments, and doing a couple home improvement projects that I'm taking plenty of pictures of! Going to put up posts including a homemade fountain for our patio, a stenciled accent wall in our bedroom and a couple serving trays topped with pennies/bottlecaps! We will be fully moved in by next weekend so hopefully I can update then!
And in new adventures news, I got a job at PNC! I start my teller training tomorrow and get to have super fun professional adventures taking the DC metro around.
That's it for now- Cheers!

Last weekend > This weekend

So last weekend my awesome scientist friend from Georgia flew up here so we could go to a friend's wedding up near Philly! She got in around 11:30 am on Friday and we left around 2 for what should have been a 2.5 hour trip.
We hit ALL of the traffic. Like anywhere there could be traffic, we hit it.
Arrived at the hotel at 6:30 (for anyone counting, approximately 2 hours longer than it should have taken) with the wedding at a location 15 minutes away and starting at 7. After applying makeup in the car and almost eating it in the hotel lobby cause of the rain/wet floor, we got ready in record time and got to the venue with no time to spare. Literally running in in the pouring rain right before the bridal party got out of the limo. Had to duck under the photographer.

It's always an adventure with us.

Despite our almost lateness, the wedding was great! Saw some old friends we hadn't seen in a while and had a super fun time at the wedding. Thanks for a great time friends!!

Also props for coolest/most useful favor ever.

Then Saturday after having breakfast with the friends who stayed at the hotel, we drove into Philly for a little bit. Boyfriend went to college there and has a huge man crush on the city. He'll deny it but, everyone knows it's true. Walked around, saw some stuff and ate a cheesesteak each. Sooo good.

He miiiight love me more than Philly, but it's a close one honestly.

We then spent the rest of our time pool sitting, antique shopping and wine drinking. Pretty much an extremely pleasant, relaxing weekend. I miss my Georgia Peach, so it was nice to hang out with her.

This weekend on the flip side is extremely non planned. Boyfriend's parents should be arriving shortly to stay the night on their way to the beach, but after they leave tomorrow we have no plans. Which isn't always bad, but I get bored easily and like to have activities.

Oh and before I forget, even though I'm pretty sure no one reads this besides boyfriend, I opened an Etsy store for some of my photographs! Just a way to keep up with my art, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up working at a bank or in food service again at this point. Don't want to fall of the creative wagon too much this time.
So check it out!: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MouseTrapGraphics?ref=si_shop 

That's it for now. Cheers!

I'm so bad at blogging.

This is why I don't want to get a twitter. I feel like I wouldn't give it the attention it deserves. On here I don't have anyone reading it to yell at me when I don't post.

So I survived the Warrior Dash! It was a great day and I pretty much accomplished my goal of doing all the obstacles. There was one obstacle that was four different types of climbing walls to get over, and I only made it over two, but I attempted all four. Just completely lacking the strength and grip necessary to pull myself up at that point in the run. We got completely muddy and smelly. I couldn't move for two days and I still have bruises and scabs two weeks later, but it was such a good feeling to try something out of my comfort range. Definitely going to sign up again next year. And boyfriend said he might too, so yay! Just have to remember to actually do some strength training, because it is a lot more about that than running. But I learned a lot, and I'm excited to set new goals for myself.

Our 'team' celebrating our finish. You'll notice I was not climbing anything else that day.

My warrior medal! I like getting medals.

So now the hunt is on for a new 5k. I need to have that goal to work towards, or I don't think I'll keep up the work I've been doing. And that would be bad. My good friend just mentioned that she wants to start training for a 5k, so I think we'll find one to sign up for together this fall. I think if I keep up the hard work, I can maybe run a full one at some point. Accomplishing one goal furthers me to try another. Can't get stagnant!

Speaking of that good friend/future running buddy, she and her husband came to visit for a day this weekend! We were super grown-ups and went to a couple winerys near us for wine tastings! It was a beautiful day and a super fun time.

Like I said...super grown-up.

It's a busy busy summer with a lot of fun things to do, so I'd like to try to post about it all, as well as my further running/clean eating adventures. (I CANNOT make coconut flour pancakes. I fail and fail and fail every time.) I don't want to make any blog promises, but I really will try to make time for it. Have to document my adventures somewhere, right?

Cheers!

Ermahgerd I herve a blergh!

So I fell of the blog bandwagon. Granted it was a bandwagon I was driving. But the point stands. And I'm trying to get back on!

I can't believe it's May already. The Warrior Dash is almost 2 weeks out and I am Not. Ready. Still going for runs but I just have a bad bad feeling about it. Stay tuned. O_o

I'm in Pittsburgh till Wednesday sans boyfriend to watch my puppy. She's not a good running partner cause she likes to stop and smell EVERYTHING. But she's fuzzy and I love her so she's forgiven.

Boyfriend and I are moving in July when our current lease is up. Still in the same area (right behind our current complex actually), we found a bit of a smaller/cheaper  apartment. I'm going to miss our townhouse a lot, especially since it's finally starting to feel 'lived in' but it's the smartest move for us in the long run. Especially if we want to save up for a house in the next few years. Despite knowing how logical a move is, packing up all my stuff again is daunting.

That's pretty much all I've got for now. I promise I'll try to catch up here more. :) Here is a sleepy puppy for my apology.

Why you wake me up??

Cheers!

 Update: Ran into my mortal enemy while on my jog today. A guy mowing his lawn. To which my throat said "You don't really need me right now, right? Cause I'm just gonna stop working for a bit." And that's when I remembered my inhaler is in Virginia. -_-  Wah wah waaahhhhh.

You might be turning into a runner when...

You use the dead cat you saw on yesterday's run as a mile marker.

It was pretty gross and sad, and I wish someone would get rid of it because it's right on my path. With the heat we've been having I can't imagine it remaining odorless for much longer and inhaling dead animal is not exactly good for my exercise mantra of "Just keep breathing...don't die."

Also it makes me want to cry cause I like kitties. :'(

In other/happier news this weekend went pretty awesomely. Yes, I know it's Wednesday, but since I didn't fill you in before now this is what you get.

Saturday we went to see Book of Mormon. My sister and I always seem to get each other tickets to the same shows for Christmas, so this year we organized and just got them for ourselves. So Merry Christmas to us!
The show was freaking hilarious, we were dying through most of it. I knew the music already, but there were so many little jokes that are brought to life by the stage. Go see it. Immediately.
I bought an apron that they were selling as part of the Broadway Cares organization. Basically shows that participate in it ask you for your money and often give you incentives and it goes towards a bunch of charities and AIDS research. So you get something cool and get to give to charity!

My awesome apron. Be jealous.

After the shows, we hit up a place called Church Brew Works, which is an awesome church turned brewery. The brewing equipment is on the altar. I see this as proof that God loves beer, or they probably would have been Smited by now. Smote? Smitten.

So after a lovely weekend of doing nothing resembling exercise I started to get my butt back in gear this week. As the race is 6 weeks out now and I'd been running two miles pretty consistently I decided to increase my run yesterday. Turns out running in 86 degree weather is WAAAY different than running in the 50s. So, I kept it to the 2 miles and stepped backwards to about 27 minutes. Today,  I sucked it up and ran early before it got balls hot. I often lack motivation in the morning, but with the heat I had no choice. With the extra length added on I hit 3 miles (just over!) and finished the whole circuit in 38 minutes. Just a little proud. :)

So that's where we are now. I'm feeling pretty good on the runs, even though I rotate between walking and running. I figure if it's what I have to do to finish, then it's better than giving up!

This update brought to you by the beautiful weather outside, sitting on my deck and Woodchuck Spring Cider.
See ya tomorrow!

Cheers for crappy backwards webcam pictures! Wee!

 

I feel like poop.

Woke up with a cough and feeling just super blah today.

Old me would have used this as an excuse to sleep all day and eat that Easter candy. Instead I sent boyfriend off to work with the 2 dozen cupcakes I made yesterday.

Trust me..hard to part with.

And then I sucked it up and went for a run. Fake it till you make it.
I thought I'd try extending my run since I've been handling the 2 miles pretty well, but I took a wrong turn and it still evened out to 2 miles..so I'll have to map out a better route I guess.
Still feel like crap. Pittsburgh tomorrow. Need sleep.
Cheers, or whatever.

Easter is my favorite.

Because I am the Easter Bunny!

And Pepper is my bunny helper!

However, I was surprisingly good this weekend! Being that it is usually the fattest weekend ever in my house I think that I controlled it pretty well.
Boyfriend and I headed home on Friday and spent the weekend like we do every holiday. Clean the house, cook the dinner, eat the dinner, watch a movie and try to stay awake to finish the movie. This year it was Wreck it Ralph which is one of our new favorites. :)
I ran on Saturday morning (just under 2 miles in 23 minutes) and had a big bowl of roasted veggies for dinner. So I didn't feel as bad eating ham, cheesy potatoes and green beans on Sunday. It's tradition, okay?
I took it easy on my own Easter basket this year, and I have major plans to make that chocolate last. Just got my favorite things and I super duper promise not to eat it all right away! (pinky swear!)

Me and my basket of evil. Delicious evil.

Anyway, we are back in VA now, just relaxing and getting ready for the week. I'm going to start the Couch to 5k routine either this week or next week. Figure a good set schedule of workouts will help me reach my goals.
Next weekend we are back to the 'Burgh to see The Book of Mormon on Saturday! I'm so stoked. Do people still say stoked? Cause that's what I am.
I'm also scheduled to shoot some engagement pictures for my friend and her fiance at Hartwood Acres on Sunday. It's a beautiful park, and the weather is supposed to be good so I'm looking forward to it!
Not much else to report right now, just a short weekend update!
Cheers!

I'm like freaking Betty Crocker up in here.

I've been gone for a while!
My trip to GA was super fun and successful, despite crappy weather (in the 30s and rain Georgia? really??) and flight delays on the trip back. We went to the Terrapin brewery and watched a bunch of Downton Abbey! I had so much fun hanging out with my buddy and her puppy.

He did not like my camera one bit. I think it hurt our puppy-human relationship a little.

Anyway, it's good to be back with boyfriend in VA. Of course hanging out with a puppy for 3 days makes me want a furry companion even more (no, boyfriend is not furry enough to count). For now, I will have to be content with the birds who hang out at our new bird feeder! We have filled it up twice now and they keep going through it. I think we're really popular with the birds in our neighborhood now.

Fattest. Birds. Ever.

Yes that is snow in that picture. Because it snowed on Monday. It's all melted now, but remember how I said it was supposed to get warmer? Well it's not.
I bundled up and went for a snow run on Monday. About 10 minutes in (a little over half a mile away from my house) I realized I had to pee really really badly. I forgot how cold air can do that sometimes. So I booked it home and even with cutting my circuit short I ran about 1. 4 miles in 16 minutes. Guess I need that kind of panicked motivation to move fast.
Yesterday I ran the whole 2 miles (it was much nicer, although WINDY) and finished in about 24 minutes. I ran past the same guy twice in the loop and he cheered me along. Which was good for me, cause it was like I had a personal cheer squad or something. It helps.

Look what I made us for dinner last night!

Can you guess what that 'pizza crust' is made of? Bet you can't. Cause it's freaking cauliflower. It was delicious and boyfriend is mad that I'm making him like vegetables. Of course the cheese isn't that good for us, but there was not too much and I figure all the veggies we had along with it (with salad as a starter!) balance it out. And I can't do pizza without cheese. I'm Italian!

I've been feeling really down lately. I miss Pittsburgh a lot and even with frequent trips home I'm just not feeling great down here. I think once I get some employment that will help, but trying to keep busy is draining sometimes. So I run, listen to musicals, hang with boyfriend and take pictures. And I bake. I even bake things I can't eat.

Okay...I ate one.

Those are chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese vanilla icing. The piping is supposed to look like hydrangeas and I think I did a pretty good job! I figured they would be good for Easter and to give away to people. Got the recipe about a year ago and have been waiting to try it again (after a failed attempt the first time). You can find it over at Glorious Treats. Hers look better than mine I think, but I'm still learning when it coming to cake decorating, so I'm pretty happy.

Okay this post is long enough. I'm ready for Pittsburgh and my puppy tomorrow. And Easter. It's my favorite holiday. But for now I'm going to go for a run. (Edit: did my usual 2 miles in just over 23 minutes! Weee!)

Cheers.

Addicted to renovation television.

I love DIY network and HGTV. As an unemployed 20-something I am obviously not anywhere close to being ready to purchase a home. However, watching House Hunters and other various shows, has me yelling at the TV like it's a horror movie. "Don't pick that one! The yard sucks! DON'T GO IN THE ATTIC! THE FLOORS ARE UNSTABLE!" Some girls dream of their wedding. I dream of my future kitchen. Don't judge my dreams.

Anyway...

Sad to report that I did not work out today. Woke up feeling less than stellar and it was freezing outside. So I decided to skip it, drink a lot of juice and rest so I don't get sick this weekend. I'd rather be 100% in Georgia (where the pollen makes my allergies go batshit) than push myself too far today. I did walk to the grocery store, so I wasn't completely sedentary. Weeee!

Dinner was a deconstructed burger (no bun) and baked sweet potato chips. Tasty tasty. Boyfriend approved. I cannot bake sweet potatoes without them turning black. I have tried like 5 different ways and they always turn black. However they don't taste burnt, so whatever. Stupid oven.

Also did you know that there are chocolate cigars? Not chocolate flavored ones that you smoke..cigars that are chocolate. That you eat. Magic.

 

I have yet to pack for this weekend. I bought those tiny ass bottles to put my liquids in and that's as far as I got. Boyfriend is panicking a little, cause he doesn't understand how I work. If I give myself too much time to pack, I end up needing the things I already packed and the process starts all over again. Also I over think it. So I figure waiting till last minute makes it an easier experience on everyone. And  if I forget pants, I'm sure I can buy some in Georgia. Are pants required in Georgia? Psh whatever, my flight doesn't leave for 12 hours, right??

Blogomerating will resume Sunday night/Monday. Or whenever I get my schtuff together from the weekend. So excited!

Cheers!

P.S. Currently forcing boyfriend to read my blog. Hi boyfriend!!

I am feeling all kinds of awesome today.

Have you ever used Pandora? I kind of love it and hate it at the same time. Boyfriend can tell it that I like Queen, so it plays more Queen and other bands like Queen. Awesome. Generally a great playlist that we can just let roll. But then it starts to play Bohemian Rhapsody...and it's not Queen singing. Like really Pandora? Why would I want to hear anybody BUT Queen sing Bohemian Rhapsody? And I can't thumb it down for the fear of never getting Bohemian Rhapsody again! Get it together. I expect my free services to totally cater to my needs. Duh. (Boyfriend has issues with the ads, but they don't bug me as much. There's like one an hour dude, chill.)

So anyway, it's officially spring, which doesn't mean much except I can expect it to get warmer and stay light out longer which I love. It's 10 times easier to be active when it's nice. I swear my body wants to hibernate in the winter. But as it's warmer out now I have no excuses.

Speaking of warmer weather! I am headed to see my amazing scientist/artist/kindred-spirit friend in Georgia this weekend! She has lived there for about a year and a half now and this will be my 3rd trip down there (including helping her move, quite the adventure). I had some extra spending money from my tax return (yay adulthood!) and bought plane tickets on a whim. I'm super excited. She has a puppy, so I'm sure we'll do a good bit of walking and I'll count that as my weekend exercise. :)

Mr. Mayday looking adorable last March.

And speaking of exercise! (Segues are hard, okay??) I ran again today cause I was actually feeling pretty great after yesterday. Keeping to the same route I made it in 25 minutes! According to my math-y boyfriend that is almost 10% faster than my first run. Yay! And according to mapmyrun, I'm just under a 13 minute mile. Which if you know me at all is pretty huge. I am much less sore than before and I feel great. Big smiles.

Dinner was another gem from PaleOMG, a "creamy" chicken casserole. It was my first time cooking with coconut milk and it worked pretty good. Just a little too liquid-y. But delicious liquid! It was weird to have a casserole with no cheese, but I didn't miss it, and I put bacon on mine. Sometimes I can't wait to eat leftovers.

I wanted to go get free Rita's for dessert today, cause I've never done that in all the springs I've seen. Boyfriend told me he doesn't really like Rita's to which I replied he must not really like happiness.
Some people are so weird.

That's all for today,
Cheers!

Zonking will occur in 3...2...

Quick post before I fall asleep!

Ran the same route I did the other day, just took me a couple minutes less, as I finished the 2 miles in 26 minutes. So...yay improvement? It's not much and it doesn't feel exciting yet, but I didn't die as much this time (Took my inhaler with me...clever girl.). So baby steps. I can and will do this!

Skipped the beef stew, as it was super nice out today and that just felt too heavy for weather in the high 50s. So I whipped up a couple baked salmon fillets and served them on a bed of zucchini 'fettuccine'. Turning vegetables into things I love is so much fun. Had a small glass of wine as well, since boyfriend and I like to get fancy sometimes.

Found a paleo-friendly dessert that has sunbutter in it, so I can used up some of my new stock. You can find the sunbutter 'fudge' over on Preppy Paleo. It was so super easy, I already had all of the ingredients in my cabinets. Plus I made it into small portions, so I won't be as tempted to eat all of it immediately. (it's pretty rich as well, so less of a danger there!) I have a major sweet tooth, so I know to completely deprive myself will lead to failure later. So this is a slightly healthier way to get my fix without completely wrecking my diet changes so far.

Quick phone picture I snapped of it in progress. :)

 Okay, sleep now. I hope this is coherent when I read it tomorrow. Sometimes my thoughts turn into run-on sentences.
Cheers!

Catchup!

This weekend was pretty darn fun.

We drove home on Friday as you know, and had a lovely night catching up with old friends at our local watering hole.

Saturday was Pittsburgh's St. Patrick's Parade. This is always a blast and even though I was DD for the day, it was so much fun I didn't care! I have no other words for the day. I spent it with amazing friends, family and food. That's all an Irish girl can really ask for!

	Some of the shenanigans from our tailgate!

Sunday was my adorable puppy's 10th birthday (and officially St. Patrick's Day)! I got her a new tag with her name on it and a new leash, cause we never replaced the one she chewed up as a puppy. I figured since she's "over the hill" now it's about time.

Boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law just had their first baby last week and asked me to take some nice shots of him, so we did that on Sunday as well before heading back down to Virginia. I haven't finished editing them yet, so expect a couple of those as I get to them.

Speaking of racecars... boyfriend was giving me a bunch of shit for taking so long to go through the 400 some pictures I took at the AutoX event. So I finally did. Even if it was just to shut him up. 

This was my favorite!

So pretty.

So anyway, besides a butt-ton of walking, I did not get much exercise in this weekend. Fortunately my Dad is totally Paleo right now, so I managed to eat pretty healthy, even with all the temptations around me. (He also loaded me up with a bunch of sunbutter to bring back-which I can't find in my local HT, so yay for paleo-daddy!)

We dropped in at our local bar for a pint of Guinness and some grub to wrap up Sunday night. Unfortunately it was filled with drunken people and an acoustic guitar player who was doing bad Dave Matthews covers.

And they served my Guinness in a solo cup. Unacceptable. Excuse the crappy phone picture.

So we came home after we ate, drank Bailey's in milk and listened to Great Big Sea and the Dubliners.

It's good to be back, with more of a routine in place. Did some toning inside today, cause the sky was pretty leaky. Hopefully it will be less wet tomorrow and I can get a run in!

Dinner was a paleo quiche (with sausage, spinach and sweet potatoes) that was so good, I forgot to get a picture. (You can find the recipe and more amazing ones like it over on PaleOMG-one of my favorite paleo sites!) I'm eyeing up a tasty beef stew that I found a couple of weeks ago for tomorrow. We'll see how ambitious I get!

That's it for now. Tried to keep it short since I missed a few days, sorry it was all over the maps. See you tomorrow little bloggy-blog!

Cheers!

Why I can never have children.

I can't play this "drag the sleepy person out of bed" game.

Here is how last night went:
"Hey boyfriend, I'm going to set the alarm for 7 so we can get up and try to get on the road at 8."
Boyfriend: "Sounds good."

This morning was a different story. I wake up at 7, go shower, finish packing and am ready to bounce at 7:30. Boyfriend is still asleep. This is amidst all of my packing noise and shakes and plain old ripping off the bed covers when 7:45 hit. Now it's 8:00 exactly as I write this sentence. So you can guess where I am. Argh.

I guess I can't be too mad at him. Not everyone had family vacations where our day started at 4:30 in the morning. I remember one time we got there so early, the place we were staying wasn't even ready for us yet. My dad was a big believer in "having the whole day" and I guess that transferred to me. Boyfriend is lucky my internal clock is set later than my dad's is.

Here's hoping he get's his ass up for the parade and festivities tomorrow or so help me, I will leave him behind!

In other news we obviously didn't go to Pittsburgh yesterday as planned. That trip should be happening shortly. Yesterday was spent cleaning around the house (i.e.: dancing and singing while moving things around) and baking these little pretties for Saturday:

These are my favorite cupcakes and unfortunately (or fortunately I guess for my waistline!) only appropriate one time a year. Their name is known to cause internet comment explosions and that's not how I want to get readers so...I'll call them Guinness, Jameson,  and Baileys cupcakes of amazing goodness! Too long? Oh well. You can find this amazing recipe and many others over on Brown Eyed Baker. She's an awesome cook (and she's from Pittsburgh too! Double Points!)

Hope everyone has a happy St. Paddy's day weekend! Boyfriend and I haven't decided who's driving tomorrow, so maybe there will be drunken blogging! Bwahahaha.

Cheers!

Like a baby giraffe.

My legs are not having it today.

Even though I spend some time stretching them out yesterday, the muscles in my thighs randomly seize up when I walk. Which gives me a peculiar gait.

Anyway, boyfriend and I are headed home to Pittsburgh tomorrow when he's off work. It's St. Paddy's day and we have to get our Irish on! So today was spent cleaning up and doing laundry so I can pack.

We took a walk this afternoon (same length as my run yesterday), so at least I kept moving. I'm going to stretch out again tonight and hopefully can run another circuit tomorrow. If not I'll definitely do some toning around the house!

Dinner was baked chicken fingers (with almond meal instead of breadcrumbs) and roasted veggies. I forgot to take any pictures before we ate it all, so you'll just have to be content with our dessert cups. A new frozen yogurt shop just opened across the street, so we couldn't help buy try it! Yum yum.

That's it for today. Pittsburgh tomorrow night! :)
Cheers!

Ratpatootie!

Day one:
I went for a jog today. It was about 50 something degrees outside and I have new running shoes (Asics GEL-Noosa Tri 8 Running Shoes), so there was no reason not to.

Tell me these aren't the coolest shoes you've ever seen.

Using my handy-dandy MapMyRun App (which I'm not sharing on Facebook as it's too embarrassing with all my marathon running friends) I logged my course.

It's a solid 2 mile course (2.04 precisely) and I finished it in 28 minutes. Considering I had to walk about 1/2 of that I don't hate my time. Unfortunately I hate my body. Specifically my lungs.
Let's just say it's a good thing my friend gave me her extra inhaler last weekend, cause I sounded like an accordion by the end of it.

I am resolved to do better.

Dinner is homemade paleo meatballs and ratatouille. I feel so fancy!

Om nom nom nom. If I could tell my 10 year old self that vegetables could taste this good!

Caught boyfriend going back for seconds. I'll stick to the serving size!

Tried to convince boyfriend to then watch Ratatouille, but he's not having it. Expendables 2 it is.
Oh well!

Cheers!

So, I'm a crazy person.

I've never been what you might call a 'runner'. I used to do the Race for the Cure and The Great Race 5ks with my dad, but I jogged/walked them. Not to mention, I was 10, so the energy levels were much higher. But I did work out quite a bit. I did zumba and toning exercises regularly and was pretty happy with my overall figure. Hell I was a size 8 for the first time ever, so yay for me. I even tried to run a 5k last August, with minor success. I only had to walk twice and even though I finished well behind my teammates, I finished and that was the important thing.
I was on a healthy high point. I could do anything. In a fit of "Why the Hell not?"-ness I signed up to do an obstacle course 5k called The Warrior Dash in May of this year.

Then I moved to Virginia.

Away from routine, with everything changing around me, my health has gone up in smoke. I've put on weight, and I can't stick with a fitness regime for the life of me.

Now the Warrior Dash is in 2 months and I've got to get it together, or I will die.

Thanks to a super supportive boyfriend and my amazing fitness instructor sister, I'm eating healthier and trying to do the work out thing. I figure if I can take control of anything in my life, it had better be my health.

So that's what this blog is for. Accountability and routine. Even if no one ever reads this blog, it is a step towards regaining my health and happiness.

Time to stop making excuses.

Cheers!