Monday, January 9, 2012

Art, art, I cry for more art!

Today was a late start day at school. I took advantage of this free time to paint. Here are the girls painting.

Here is something I painted really quickly. It took maybe 20 minutes, if that. The finished piece has a sad purple owl the girls wanted on it. It was fun to paint again, makes me want to pick up the brush again. 

 Here is a Denim and Frills skirt I picked up for $2.99 and greyish top at D&F for $2.59. Teal tank from Target. Like my little Avery modeling?
Close up of the cute boots I found at Goodwill yesterday for $6.99. 

A necklace one of my daughters bought me for Christmas. 

I managed to get a 6 miler on Saturday. Then ran 7.75 miles yesterday because it was sunny. 


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Peacock!

Check out this cool necklace I managed to get as a free gift when I purchased my red dress at Charlotte Russe store. 
It was the perfect match to a dress I found at Goodwill last week for $3.49. I paired it with a tank and black leggings. Cuteness!

I managed my run last night. Eight miles at 8:54 pace. I was supposed to run 8 at 9:10 pace so that was close enough. Ran with my good friend Ed, he pops into town about once a month and we run and catch up on what the kids have been up to. It's an on going joke in our house that Ed is one of my many running boyfriends. It's great to have such a solid marriage you can joke about such things. I think one of the reasons that is the case is because I take such good care of my husband and he in returns takes such good care of me. So do you take care of your spouse? 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Another cute outfit...

Goodwill black silk shirt $3.99, Goodwill polka dot dress $2.99. Going for 8 miles tonight on a run. Making  grilled chicken and tortellini con pesto with broccoli for the family for dinner. That's is.
I set my bike back up on a trainer. I have only used it once this week. Must remedy that on Friday. 


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Getting it up...

my miles that it. I'm ramping my miles back up and am getting my grove back on. Tuesday's will be my only night to run once Aric is better so it will be my track/speed work. Tonight I would not say it was speed work as I have lost the very little speed I gained. I concentrated on negative splits.

1 mile warm up -9:42 
2-8:03 
1/4 mile jog 2:26 
3-7:52 
1/4 mile jog 2:36 
4-7:48 
1/4 mile jog 2:39 
5-7:46 
1/4 mile jog 2:05 
cool down 6-8:16 this last mile was really easy because a few new friends were at the track and we chatted so the last mile felt like a breeze. Funny how running with someone can make a run so much easier.
My dinner tonight. Carrots, Broccoli, red cabbage, peach, blueberry, and banana. 

Served in one of my favorite glasses. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

It's a new year.




The ankle has been bugging me on my runs making me take December easy and not logging many miles. Total of 79 miles for the month. Here is what my 2011 looked like for miles.

  1. 73
    Jan '11
  2. 63
    Feb '11
  3. 137
    Mar '11
  4. 131
    Apr '11
  5. 111
    May '11
  6.  110
    Jun '11
  7. 168
    Jul '11
  8. 108
    Aug '11
  9.  108
    Sep '11
  10. 84
    Oct '11
  11.  92
    Nov '11
  12. 79
    Dec '11
  13. 11
    Jan '12







Now onto the fashion and family life part. 

My mother and I purchased tickets to the Nutcracker put on by the Oregon Ballet Company. I love this perticular ballet and enjoy taking my girls to watch. The choreography was wonderful, costumes were stunning, but one part of the 'dance of the snowflakes' was a let down as each ballerina had on different colored panties, it was tacky. It would have been cute if they all had red and green maybe but to have zebra print was tacky. Other than that it was lovely. I will be taking my mother to another production later in the year. We love it. Here is the dress that Lexi helped me shop for. $15 and I had the earrings and necklace that I purchased earlier in the year for $4.59 and $2.59 respectively. Cute I think, I did not wear those socks with it. :) Ingnore the very messy girls room as I pick my battles with them. They do clean it two times a day and mess it up within three seconds. 


 
Saturday I went on a short 3 mile run with my friend Christina and Marty. After the short and slow run (8:20 pace) we stopped at Starbucks and BS'd for a good half hour talking about everything from Archer (funny freaking weird show) to what new job Christina is searching for. We had fun.

 After the run, I came home to grab the kids and we headed to Powell's Bookstore (my favorite book store that is an ENTIRE city block and 3 stories high). My sister went with us and the kids picked out their Christmas book from Auntie Peggy Ann (thank you). We quickly looked through the running section and found my friends book. Run with me, in which I will be doing a book review this month on Run Oregon about it.

We stayed out of the house for awhile so Aric could record vocals. So off to Goodwill and I found this shirt/dress for $3.49. 

 Yesterday, Sunday January 1st, I ran in the morning with my friend Christina and her husband Brian for a quick 4.54 miles, from their house to the track 1.27 miles (10:41 minutes) then two miles on the track (7:18 and 7:48, wow I've slowed down with this extra weight) then ran back to their house 1.27 miles (10:14) Total pace was average of 7:56 and felt too hard for those miles on the track but it was a great start to my training for this year. After that run I came home and walked with the kids to the park and we played for about an hour (including the walk there and back)


They didn't want to go, so they were blocking me from leaving, silly kids.

Then home and more fun and lunch. This is a typical lunch for me. I am eating more veggies and trying to eat less meat. Mostly for weight loss and control. Because the less I have to lug around on a run the faster my pace is. I think that is the healthy reason to lose weight. I was doing great down from 155lbs to 138lbs. However, with all the Christmas pudding and prime rib I was back up to 146lbs. Back on the watch what I eat (other than watching it go in my mouth).


For the new year I will be lugging Zander in the stroller more for runs on Wednesday and Thursday's for a few miles, where I hope he will fall asleep snug and warm. If he is not asleep it makes for fun conversations and a few stops to look at any life we see out on the run. I have to remind myself that it's more important to stop and smell the roses with him and not always be on the go. Not easy for my personality.
Here is part of our trail we will be on during the week. I have Vancouver BC Marathon to get ready for. I picked an aggressive program and hope to break 3:30. That's only an 8:00 minute pace. Should be doable. Laugh and run on, my friends.


Friday, December 23, 2011

The mall is like being in a half marathon.

We took the kids to get their picture taken with Santa. Then one of my girls and I went to go find a dress for the nutcracker ballet we are attending tomorrow. While my hubby and three other children went to the pet store to get crickets for our frogs.

While we waited to see Santa we played the A,B,C game. We go around in a circle and have to name an animal (or whatever the category we are doing) that starts with that letter. It's more fun to play it when my husband joins he finds the most unique animal for his letter. For Q he said Quetzal Bird and for E he picked Echidna. I love being married to a walking dictionary. 

I did manage a quick 3 miles yesterday in the sunshine, sure it was cold but so pretty. Today I am hoping for a run. We shall see. 

Monday, December 12, 2011

At least I look cute if I can't run.

In this outfit I went crazy and paid $6.99 for the shirt at Goodwill because I had the teal tank to put under it. Pink ribbon is from another shirt, leggings from FM $8.99, Black socks from FM $2.99, and black boots Target $15.99 (spendy for me) Hair in french twist with cute hair pin. (photo taken by one of my seven year olds.) 
 With my free grey sweater from a friend. (Thanks Christina) 
  My five year old was the photographer on this one. 
 My other seven year old took this one. 
My three year old took this one. 

No run today. My ankle is still swollen and hurts. Insert big old sad face here. Instead I spent the day at the school helping with the holiday's around the world in both of my girls class. Then I took the boys to grocery shop, had lunch with hubby and boys (this involved a few grapes and a few jo jo's because I was not hungry today). Back to the school to do more work for the 2nd grade cluster. Home to clean and cook a yummy chicken teriyaki dinner with lots of broccoli and grilled chicken. Now it's off to read books to the boys.