What am I doing?

I’m not sure how to use wordpress very well. Especially uploading/inserting pictures. But I’m gonna try. I miss blogging and I want to participate in #shereadstruth and having a blog will keep me more accountable. Now to figure out how to out a #shereadstruth button on my sidebar! hah! First things first…need to read for today. Feel free to check out the site and join along. Everyone can use more truth in their lives! Plus, I might be on the lookout for a travel buddy for the influence conference!

Hi!

A few weekends ago I was lounging with/on Brent and reading blogs, when he asked me “How is your blog doing?” I laughed and replied “Haha, how do you think? I don’t post anymore!” He asked me why I don’t post and encouraged me to get back at it.

I thought about it and have come up with some reasons I don’t post:

– My pictures aren’t awesome like some of my favorite bloggers

– I don’t get 50+ comments

– No $$ making for my lowly blog

– Time

– Trying to mimic other bloggers was exhausting

– I’m boring

– Jealousy over popular bloggers’ perks and blog generated swag. If I don’t have a blog I don’t feel bad about not getting the perks.

– WordPress confuses me

– COMPARISON made me feel like CRAP

But his encouraging words and memories of my first blog (way back from 2004 – 2009, before blogs were even that common!) have pushed me to give it a go….again….

No promises or guarantees on frequency or that I’ll be funny or even mildly entertaining.

But you’ll be getting ME!

 

 

 

New Years Eve 2011

This year we celebrated New Years Eve with friends at a masquerade ball! It was a fun time but slightly dampened due to colds Brent and I are both battling 😦

Our hotel room was modern and big and the food was pretty good. No lobster tail (like on the cruise) but I coped and the desserts were really good!

We danced and laughed for most of the evening. The band was decent, but the lead singer’s lame jokes overshadowed the talent of other musicians and singers.

Here are some pictures of our evening. I got my dress at Salvation Army for $15 and bought Brent’s shirt and tie on Black Friday for crazy cheap.

 

Who is that mysteriously masked couple??Katie+Brent all done up and looking good!Cheers!I love him!

Top 3 Past & Future

Let me be honest. I SUCK AT BLOGGING! I have at least one blog post in my brain each day and I just don’t prioritize blogging. I also don’t prioritize putting away clean laundry.

I did 3 things I never thought I’d do in 2011 and barely touched on them on the blog. Maybe a recap of each will be in my future. But don’t hold your breath. In chronological order:

– Ran across the Mackinaw Bridge! My fear of heights was kicked to the curb to accomplish this feat and it was awesome! Even more spectacular was the rainbow we saw.

– Went to watch the Detroit Tiger’s play the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series! The Tiger’s won the game we attended but lost the series 😦

 

– Went on a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise! It was an awesome vacation!!

In 2012 there are a few things I hope to accomplish, but I’m not really ready to go public with 2 of them (and no, babies are not on the list!).

#1 is related to my professional (haha)/career

#2 is related to my relationship with Brent

and the third I am making public in hopes that I’ll stick with it…

#3 Run a 2 hour (or less!) half-marathon!!!!! This seems crazy far-fetched right now and I’ll have to shave about 12 minutes off my time. I’ll need to actually complete speed work  (gag!) and push myself to keep my pace up. But I’m looking forward to completing a half-marathon with a goal beyond simply finishing.

Bake it up!

I’m an infrequent poster. Sorry. I like blogging, but I really like snuggling, hanging out with friends and family, baking, running, going to the gym, playing with my cats and sleeping.

Lately I’ve been baking. A lot. For work, for friends, for birthdays and for parties. Check out some of the favorites:

Mocha Fudge Brownies based on Fully Loaded Brownies from Heather’s Dish

I stop the ingredients after espresso powder (I use instant coffee) and top with buttercream with instant coffee granules mixed in. These have been a hit at various work and family functions.

Breeseos from Heather’s Dish

I’ve made these twice and have used snickers, mini PB cups, full sized PB cups and peppermint patties. Brent and I liked them best with fulled sized PB cups and the peppermint patties. They were a hit at a costume party and I’m crossing my fingers they go over well for my sister’s birthday.

Compost/Snack Time Cookies

My most recent batch included sandwich cookies, PB cups, snickers, tortilla chips and butter crackers.

Sweet Potato Swirl Loaf

 

I just took this out of the oven, so I have no verdict. I sure hope it tastes great! I liked the twist on sweet potato, no cinnamon but cocoa instead.

 

Feel free to try one or all of these yummy reasons why reaching my goal weight isn’t in my near future!

 

 

Extra!

I have more to post about, but thought I’d share about something I’m currently a smidge obsessed with: Extra Dessert Delights!

I go in phases with chewing gum and currently I’m hitting the gum chewing HARD as evidenced by the 4 open packs floating around my purse. I’ve tried each Dessert Delights flavor and have a hard time picking a favorite. Below are some of my “expert” tasting notes.
 
*Mint Chocolate Chip – Very good, but no surprise there, it is basically mint gum with some chocolate flavor

 Key Lime Pie – Very enjoyable, especially on a run. I like the lime flavor but it does seem to lack a “pie” flavor (no crust or whipped cream detected)

 
*Orange Cream Pop – Perhaps the most disappointing. It tastes fine, but is nothing special or creamy about it

 
Strawberry Shortcake – YUM! I do like this one a lot, but it is missing that short cake punch

 *Apple Pie – Probably my surprise favorite! It tastes like apple, cinnamon and had the hard to nail down crust flavor! Brent liked it so much, he accidentally swallowed the first piece within seconds, mistaking it for real food!

 I typically chew gum to curb a craving, especially after meals. This gum does the trick! A spicy meal leaves me craving something chocolaty, pop in Mint Chocolate Chip gum and I’d be good to go without dessert. I also ALWAYS chew gum while working out and these are fun flavors to chomp on when I’m drowning in my own sweat.
 
Plus, when I chew this gum (especially Apple Pie), I feel like I’m chewing one of Wonka’s experimental “meal gums”…I’m not turning into an apple am I???
 
*Flavor currently open, also working on a pack of Extra Fruit Sensations Sweet Tropical

Extra did not sponsor this post or compensate me for it, but I wish they had!

Running Errands

Lately, I’ve taken to literally running errands. I’m fortunate to live in a SMALL town and running errands is a fun way to sneak in some running.

Running and hitting the ATM with Hannah

A couple of weeks ago I had mil.es that I wanted to complete and the heat was BRUTAL! After 3 miles I was SPENT and had gone through 10 oz of fluid. I felt terrible. I cut the run short. While stretching and berating myself for being weak, I was thinking of the errands I had to get done. I needed to hit the ATM, get the mail and an iced coffee sounded great. Then it dawned on me…

I stuck the debit card in my pocket and ran another 3 miles, with the ATM my end point. I got cash, crossed the road for an iced coffee and enjoyed a cool down walk home after hitting the post office.

Yeah, I go into public places looking like that!

Today I ran 1 mile after a quick change in the work bathroom and before picking up Brent at work. Once home, I did another quick mile, to and from the post office. Running home with a curled up magazine in hand, I imagined it as a relay baton and me dashing to hand it off to my team mate.

I’ve run through town clutching an envelope in my hand and deposited a sweaty city bill through the drop slot as the sun sets. I’ve stood in line at the bank drive-thru, waiting to deposit a check. I’ve been asked if I was running or simply having a major hot flash, as I paid for an iced coffee. I’ve been stared at and probably smelled too.

But its okay, I love getting quick, fast runs in. I love not driving to do errands. I love fitting running into my life, not trying to squeeze my life around running.

Bats Again

I’ve written before about my fear and hate of bats. I am utterly and completely helpless when I see one and am reduced to a screaming, shaking mess.

Tuesday night I was packing lunches when Brent came out of the shower. I heard him yell “Don’t come in the dining room” but I thought he was being funny, so I went in there. THERE WAS A BAT!!!! I coward in a corner in the kitchen and screamed whenever it came swooping by. Eventually (probably like 1 minute tops), Brent made contact with the tennis racket and it was dead!

Wednesday night Brent got home before me, so imagine my panic when he called to say a bat had AGAIN been sighted, but flew into the bathroom and couldn’t be found. I was crying and threatening to spend the night elsewhere unless the bat was killed.

Thanks to Baby and Red, the bat was flushed out of the bathroom and killed. But that was enough!

As I write this, Josh and Robin from Environmental Pest Control are on my roof, inserting 1 way tubes to get the bats out. They’ll return later to seal all the cracks and holes. Does it cost an arm and a leg? Yes! Is peace of mind a bat a free house worth an arm and a leg? YES!!!!

This afternoon Baby and Red get to go to the vet for a rabies vaccination, since they helped bring the bat down. Shhh….they don’t know yet!

Beautiful Night

The minute I got out the door tonight, I knew it was the perfect weather run.

Sunny, but not blistering. Breezy but not windy. Warm but not hot. Shady but not cool. The kind of night that I’ll long for come the dead of winter, when it is dark by 6 pm, the wind roars at 20 mph, snow is blowing and it is 7 degrees out. When I’ll lovingly recall wearing my running skirt and hot pink tank top instead of 2 pairs of pants, wool socks, 3 tops, scarf, gloves and hat. When I my eyes sting from the snow and wind and my breath creates an icy layer on my scarf.

So instead of the 3 miles I had planned I did 4.35 miles. Just to take in the perfect night a little longer.

I averaged a 9:29 pace, which I’m more than pleased about, given that music keeps my pace up and I didn’t listen to music. Just the sounds of water, my foot steps,  snippets of conversation and my thoughts to keep me company.

The Half-Marathon that wasn’t

I’ve wanted to do a fall half marathon for a couple months now. I’ve weighed my options and this is what I came up with:

Grand Rapids Half-Marathon: Nope, I run the Riverbank Run 25k in the spring and it covers a similar course, too boring to run the similar course twice a year.

Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon: Nope, too far to travel and too big to handle.

Capital City River Run: A great half-marathon but the date is too soon (Sept 18)  for me to SLOWLY build my mileage and not anger my shin.

Capital City River Run finishers!

Betsie Vally Half-Marathon: Very small, rough mentally due to lack of other runners and crowd support, morning after  a wedding.

So when a girl in my TRX class, who is a local news anchor, said that the station was partnering with the Traverse City Visitor’s Bureau for a half-marathon at the end of the October it sounded perfect.

I hopped on-line, scooped out the website and decided that the Grand Traverse half-marathon would be the perfect fall half-marathon. Close enough to home (no hotel!) and in a beautiful location.

A few days later,  I was looking to register for this race and the website was gone. I googled and searched and nothing.**  I was thinking I was going crazy, when I finally found the link on active.com for the race. Scrolling down I read warnings to not register as the race director was a fraud. I quickly googled his name and the results confirmed the warnings: multiple lawsuits are pending against this man, who partners with visitor’s bureaus to hold these races and then takes the registration fees and doesn’t hold the races! I was almost had!

So currently there is no half-marathon in the books for me, but I’m still working on upping my mileage VERY slowly. Saturday was 6.5 miles in 1:01, which is pretty quick for me.

**So the half-marathon website is back up!!! Is the race on? What the heck??