Tagged myself!

I saw a fun little blog post over on Taryn's blog, so I decided to tag myself and join in the fun.

Here are the rules:

1. Take a pic of yourself right now
2. No primping or preparing
3. Just snap a picture
4. Load the picture onto your blog
5. Tag some people to play along

So here's my crappy cell phone pic. I'm actually in a training class at work today, but I'm on my lunch break.



I wish I would have actually blow-dried my hair today. I'm not diggin' it, lol.

I'm not going to go around and tag people, so if you read this and want to participate, consider yourself tagged!!

The treadmill is better for me

So after last Monday's C25K run on the treadmill, I was proud of myself for finishing it relatively easy, and was excited to move on. Well the rest of the week sucked. Wednesday was when I ran into the dreaded side stitch, and then Saturday it was just so hot outside that I think I only made it 20 minutes.

Well today I ran again on the treadmill and had no problems. So I think that's the solution...run on the treadmill for now. I don't know what it is, but it feels like when I run outside, I'm not going anywhere. I know that sounds stupid since on a treadmill I'm running in place, but at least I can see the number of laps and the distance increase. Outside, I have no idea how far or how fast I'm going.

So I think for now I'm going to stick with the treadmill and then maybe once I'm able to run longer distances, I'll head back outside. But I really hate the heat. I mean really. I'm in Michigan so you'd think I would love the summers, but I don't really like being outside in the sun if it's over 80 degrees. Ridiculous right? lol, oh well.

Squirrels are pretty smart

So last weekend we decided to hang a bird feeder from our little tree outside our condo. We figured it would give the cats something else to look at to pass the time. So everything's all hunky dory and then Friday I notice that all of a sudden there's an extreme amount of bird seed missing...I just figured the birds got really hungry. So Jim goes out there to fill the feeder, but no such luck...

...the squirrels chewed on all the little plastic attachments until one broke loose and let out all the bird seed. That explained why the squirrel was hanging around a lot munching on bird seed. I just figured the birds were messy and dropping everything...lol...

So today at Lowe's I bought another one. It has copper attachments, but the tube is still plastic...lets hope the squirrels don't chew through this one.

Uncommon Goods

Jill brought in a catalog today and I'm totally loving some of the stuff from this website.

Bananagrams Game



Forget Me Not Ring



Tree Globes



Ticket Stub Diary



Recycled Candy Wrapper Clutch

C25K - Week 3 Day 2

FAIL.

I started out okay, but then came on the dreaded side stitch! I would go back to walking, think I was fine, start running again and it would come back even worse! So I gave up after like 15 minutes...and I was VERY frustrated with myself! I found this article which has some interesting information in it:

Up until recently there was no clear explanation for the cause of this annoying cramp, also called exercise related transient abdominal pain (ETAP). Now researchers believe that the side stitch is caused by stretching the ligaments that extend from the diaphragm to the internal organs, particularly the liver. The jarring motion of running while breathing in and out stretches these ligaments. Runners tend to exhale every two or four steps. Most people exhale as the left foot hits the ground, but some people exhale when the right foot hits the ground. It is the later group who seem more prone to get side stitches.

Exhaling when the right foot hits the ground causes greater forces on the liver (which is on the right side just below the rib cage). So just as the liver is dropping down the diaphragm raises for the exhalation. It is believed this repeated stretching leads to spasms in the diaphragm.

So I guess I'll try to inhale and exhale when my left foot hits the ground. Oh and it would probably be a good idea for me to drink some water during the day as opposed to just coffee in the morning and a little pop at lunch. I did have some water, but definitely not enough!

I'll be giving this another shot (hopefully) on Friday since tomorrow I have to bowl after work. We shall see how it goes.

Kayaking across the Pacific Ocean

Uh, what now? Well in an attempt to get directions from my work to the dentist the other day, I ended up with some very interesting directions. I used Google Maps and accidentally hit enter before I finished entering in the entire address...so it had me starting somewhere in Australia. I ended up with 124 steps of directions, a distance of 25,260 km (15,696 miles) and it would have taken 55 days and 21 hours. Oh and did I mention I would have had to kayak across the Pacific Ocean...three times? First from Australia to Japan, then from Japan to Hawaii and then Hawaii to Washington State.

Here's a little snippet of what came up:

24. Continue on Kahlin Ave 0.3 km
25. Turn right at Myilly Tce 0.4 km
26. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean Entering Japan 5,404 km
27. Continue straight 0.9 km
28. Turn right toward 国道384号線 0.4 km
29. Slight right at 国道384号線 4.2 km
30. Slight right at 県道164号線 8.0 km
31. Slight right at 県道31号線 0.7 km
32. Turn right at 県道27号線

Good stuff right?

I remember one time for shiggles we put in going from Detroit to Paris and it had you swimming across the Atlantic Ocean. So at least they've bumped it up to something safer like a kayak. A shark can't bite right through that or anything...lol.

C25K - Week 3 Day 1

So like I mentioned in my previous post, I'll be doing a 5K on June 6th. At least I'm pretty sure we're doing it. It was mentioned to me that a group of girls from work would be partaking in this event and that I should join in. But...I haven't officially signed up for it yet. I'm not too sure if anyone else has either. But anyway, for me this is kind of a big deal because I used to swear up and down that I'd never run as a form of exercise because I always hated it. I would look at people's faces as they ran by me and they'd always have this look of agony on it. I would say to myself, "are they crazy? that doesn't look fun at all". Well, well, well, how opinions changes. I realize it's probably the best form of cardio to do, but I'm still not a huge fan.

So since June 6th is right around the corner, I decided to jump back into the C25K program at week three. So today's run/walk looked like this:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:
Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)

I got through it pretty easily, but we'll have to see how the rest of the week goes.

Oh and I went to the dentist today for a cleaning and they told me that my last two remaining wisdom teeth (the ones on top) need to come out. Oh joy. AND I have to get a cavity filled next Tuesday. Yay.

So, what have I been up to?

- Well, work's been keeping me pretty busy - but I can't complain about that. I'm really liking the switch I made, so all is good there.

- I recently took a training class at work called Focus: Achieving Your Highest Priorities (Google it and you'll find a bunch of stuff on it). It was a class put on by Franklin Covey and it ended up being way better than I thought it would. Plus we got a free planner out of the deal and those things can get expensive! The class focused on deciding what is urgent, what is important, or what is both. You learn how to focus on the tasks and priorities that matter most in your life. What I really remember from the class is that by organizing properly, deciding what needs to be done and what can wait, can give us all back that extra hour a day to get the really important things done. And the best thing is that while this certainly applies to my professional life, it most definitely can be applied to my personal life.

- I bought another lens...yes another one. I bought the 50mm f/1.8 II. I was borrowing Rachel's for awhile, so when I gave it back to her, I decided I wanted one of my own. I got a good deal on a used one ($75 including shipping) from someone over on the Canon Digital Photography Forum. I figure it's just a fun little lens to have.

- Oh and apparently I have signed myself up to run a 5k with a few of the girls at work, including Jill. I guess I better get back to the C25K program since the 5k is on June 6th! Ahhhh, what have I done?!?! I'm not going to stress out about it though and am just going to do the best I can.

- Yesterday after running/walking outside for awhile, I decided to finally take the packaging off the 30 Day Shred DVD I bought. Let me tell you...I am SORE today! Jillian sure knows how to kick your butt! But if I want to look like her (is that even possible?) I better stick to it!

- Last night we went to a Euchre party. It was $5/person to play and every time you got euchred, you put a quarter in the pot. At the end of the night, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place get cash and the last place person gets the quarters. They also had a little mini competition for best/worst (however you want to look at it) Hawaiian shirt. So in the end, I tied for 1st place, Jim won for best/worst Hawaiian shirt (he won a bottle of Captain Morgan), AND he came in last place, so he won the quarters. So I'd say we did pretty good last night.

- Bowling...well, my average is now a 162 and I'm still holding strong for most improved woman player on the league. Two weeks ago I bowled a 176, 190 and 257!! The 257 game is the highest game I've ever bowled and the 623 series I bowled is my first 600 series ever! I was quite proud of myself that night :o) Our last week is May 7th, so only a few more weeks to go.

I think that's about all for me for now!

You know you want it - X

Here are the 34 best drugstore beauty finds, according to Women's Health magazine. I figure us ladies are always on the lookout for the best deals.

GET TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG - get your blog noticed with these tips

I totally just bought Wreck This Journal and I can't wait to get it and start wrecking it!! There's a blog that explains a little bit of how it works too.

How fun are these? - Whisky Stones - Add 2-3 stones to your next dram of single malt - they cool things down just a touch without diluting. Rinse, dry and store in freezer for next time (minimum of 4 hours).

We're big hockey fans, so I thought this was fun!

Face-off Frenzy PowerBand Hockey

I thought some of the earrings found at Manic Trout were so cute! Especially the ones pictured here which are found under the Sweetest Things Earrings

I'm still debating whether or not this would be worth it for us to participate in, but for anyone else looking for some fresh veggies this summer, check out http://www.localharvest.org/ - The best organic food is what's grown closest to you.