Friday, February 26, 2010

I Have an Addiction...

Plain and simple, I am an addict.  I am addicted to Easter candy.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love candy all of the time, but Easter candy belongs in its own additction category. 

You know you have a problem when one of your best girlfriends emails you to tell you that she saw a Reese's commercial and instantly thought of you.  Two of my other girlfriends have asked me how much candy I have purchased and consumed already.

Um last year, I ate well over 12 bags of Easter candy all by myself.  I lost count after the 12th bag when we were still only in March...yikes!

Here are my favorites!  And yes, I did buy a bag of each at Target yesterday! 

Hands down, the best Easter candy ever! 


I am already on my second bag of these babies!


I buy these for my husband who does not like candy.  Really Ken, you help me eat them without issue!


Plain and simple, Reese's Cups taste better shaped as eggs!


These are new to my line up, but they are oh so good! 

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Back at it!

Wow, being under the weather is not fun!  I ended up getting a nasty cold over the weekend.  How terrible is it to spend your days off sick?  Not fun.  I did not run at all.  I stayed in my pj's all day on Sunday.  Ken knew I felt terrible when I was lying around all day.  I am back though, not 100% but feeling much better!

I am moving my long runs around a bit and running 18 this weekend instead of the 20 I had thought.  Maybe I just need a break and that is why I got sick? 

Nothing too exciting to report.  This weekend is Kya's adoption anniversary.  We are not certain of her birthday since she was about since month's old when we got her, so we celebrate adoption day at our house.  We have a weekend of Kya events planned this weekend, including a trip to the dog park, some walks, and a run or two.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Popping Your Gum in Public....

I will admit, if I chew gum in the right situation I will pop it in my mouth.  That situation typically includes being my car by myself or in my own home where I can only annoy my husband.  Popping my gum while running on the treadmill at the gym, not so much.

There is this lady at my gym that I have seen a few times.  Typically, it is when I am either running a tempo run or some type of intervals.  I am sure she is nice, but I cannot I repeat, CANNOT handle her popping her gum while she is running on the treadmill.  I can hear it over my Ipod when she is a few treadmills over.  She is lucky that she is never on the treadmill next to me or I might shove her.  I give her dirty looks in the treadmill mirror when she is popping it, but she must not be intimidated by my 4'10 petite frame or she cannot put two and two together.  I was hoping that she would finish her run around the same time I did so I could politely let her know that popping her gum like that when others are working out is really annoying.  I am sure there is no nice way to say that, but I was going to try.  I was pretty irritated. 

I went home and told Ken about the gum popping incident.  He told me that I am a gym snob.  Me, a gym snob?  I do not think so.  I just get annoyed when people do not take into consideration that they are in public and could be annoying others.  Seriously, get some common courtesy people.  Now breathing hard is an exception, I breathe hard doing my sprints, but that is why you are at the gym.   

Anyway, I ran six miles on the treadmill at the gym on Tuesday including 4 x 800 intervals.  I was shooting for five but wimped out on the first one and only did .30.  How do you wimp out on the first one?  Don't know, but I did.

Last night I was able to run outside.  It was wonderful.  I took Kya for 2.25 miles and then finished up by myself for 10 miles total.  I was a little underdressed and ended up freezing my booty off, but it felt good!  I warmed up with some hot chocolate made by my new BFF Hazel, aka the Keurig coffee maker.  She is magical.

I did watch Dear John over the weekend with my girlfriends.  I liked it, up until the ending.  There may have been a moment where I cried too.  Overall, it was a pretty good movie.  I want to go see Shutter Island this weekend.  Who does not love Leonardo and his Boston Accent??

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Ken!

I cannot believe that this is the sixth year that we are celebrating Ken's birthday together!  We have made so many wonderful memories together!  I cannot wait for many, many more!  Happy Birthday Ken!  Here are just a handleful of great memories!



This is one of our first pictures together.  We look like children!

Ken used to send me pictures like this via email so I would see it first thing in the morning.  We used to live over two hours away from each other, so it was the only way to see each other during the week.

At a wedding reception

In Destin, FL

In New Orleans

Dinner on our wedding night

Kayaking on our honeymoon in Jamaica

A night out in Memphis

After I ran the Memphis Marathon.  It was so cold that day!

At our favorite winery in Sonoma

After staying up all night in Vegas.  Some drunk stranger took this pictures...

Being silly

No explanation needed...

Another one of our first photos together

In Vegas on New Years

At a concert

Drinking in Puerto Vallarta

On the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta

First married kiss


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tempo Time!

In an effort to increase my speed, I ran a tempo run on the treadmill at the gym last night.  I warmed up for two miles and then ran three tempo miles.  The first and second miles were 8:00 minute miles and the last one was 7:56.  After that, I cooled down for two more miles.  I ran seven total miles in 60:42.

Honestly, I think I could run the tempo pace a little faster.  It was hard, but I did not have that I am going to die feeling.  The 200's I ran last week were way harder.  I know I probably would have run faster outside, but it was icy and I did not want to chance falling.  I am afraid of trying to go too fast on the treadmill in fear of falling and being the girl that fell on the treadmill.  I go to a very small gym and everyone recognizes me as the girl that runs all of the time and I do not need a new nickname!

Overall, I was super excited about this run.  When I did mile repeats a few weeks ago, I ran them at this same pace and cool down breaks in between.  Obviously my mile repeats could probably be a little faster.  I am thinking about my goal for the St. Louis Marathon and wondering what it should be.  My main goal is to break four hours.  I am feeling a lot stronger these past few weeks.  I guess I will see how things go, because I know that for every great running day, a bad one is just around the corner!

In other new, Survivor starts tonight!  We are big Survivor fans at our house.  I think it reminds me of when Ken and I first started dating almost six years ago.  We did the long distance thing for eight months and it was always a treat when we could watch it together.  Now we get to watch it together most Thursdays unless Ken is traveling.  We will still DVR it so we can watch it together.  We like to pick a guy and a girl on the first episode as our players and see who wins.  We have both actually picked the winners before.  Hmm...we really need to get out more. 

Does anyone have Valentines Day plans?  Ken's birthday is on Valentines Day so we always celebrate his birthday instead of Valentines Day.  I always use that to my advantage to get my way throughout the year.  :)

Oh, speaking for Valentines Day, I made Red Velvet Cupcakes Tuesday night.  Apparently they were delicious because my office and Ken's office gobbled them up!  Ken even had one and he does not eat sweets.  I wish I had taken a picture because they were so pretty!  They had red and pink sprinkles!  Next time, next time...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

16...On the Treadmill...

I have a new treadmill record!  16 baby! 

On Sunday it was snowing and a little windy for me, so I decided to run at the gym instead.  I knew it would be tough to knock out 16 on the treadmill, but I was determined.  I got off at mile 13 to eat a few gummies and hopped back on to finish the remaining three.  Wow, I was drenched. 

I left the gym feeling super proud and went home to tell Ken about my run.  I told him that I am considering 16 on the treadmill a huge mental victory. 

My booty was a little sore yesterday, so I took the day off instead of a recovery run.  And, it is snowing here again!  I know we are not getting anything like the East Coast though, so I should not complain.  :)

Monday, February 8, 2010

My New BFF....

My sweet husband was kind enough to buy me the coffee maker I have had my eye on.  I just love this thing!  It makes individual cups and you use coffee pods.  This works so well at our house because Ken likes a different blend of coffee than I do.  He likes rich, bold flavors and I like flavors like vanilla and hazelnut. 

I woke up Sunday morning super excited to try it out!  Ken and I each tried two different kinds.  I am going to Target today to buy some more pods since the coffee maker came with a few samples.  Did I mention how fast this sucker brews?  Wow, it takes less than one minute to brew a cup!  My favorite part is that I cannot mess up coffee anymore by adding too much water and not enough beans. 

Oh, I almost forgot, you can buy hot chocolate pods and tea pods!  Yummy!  I had some hot chocolate last night and it was so good!  I highly recommend this coffee maker for any coffee lover.  :)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

January Totals and Other Stuff...

Happy Hump Day!
Thank you all for your comments are my coyote slaying. They made me giggle. My husband along with my friend Scott gave me such a hard time about the coyote. Scott is my coworker and likes to tease me like I am his little sister. I am expecting a stuffed coyote from him on my birthday in November. I am glad that I am able to laugh about it now. It was just the shock of hitting something and it is never fun to kill another living thing. I would not be a good hunter. Good thing my husband only fishes and normally catches and releases what he catches. My car was not damaged at all. I am thankful that I drive an SUV, if I were in a car, I am sure it would have had a nice coyote indention.

Anyways, some girlfriends and I went and had facials on Saturday and enjoyed a day at the spa and some lunch. It was such a great day! I do not get to see these girls too often since most of them are new mamas, so it was so good to get to see them. Plus, who does not love a facial and some wine! I wish I had taken pictures, but Ken had our camera for the day.

I cannot believe that January is already in the books. I added up my runs and I logged 156 miles. I was pretty excited, considering I ran 53 miles in January 2009.

I did stay in my pajamas until 6:00 pm on Sunday. I never, never do this. By the time I decided to run, it was dark and I was needing to do a long run. To the gym I went. I ran 12 miles. That is all I can handle on the treadmill, period. Hopefully, I will be motivated to do my long run outside this weekend. I do kind of have an excuse, Ken had to leave to go out of town on Sunday and I felt bad running while he was at home because I wanted to spend time with him before he left.

Kya, the cats, and I have been slumber partying all week since Ken is gone. I had cereal and M&M's for dinner last night!