Happy Fourth!

Is this summer flying by or what?!


Columbus had their big 4th of July Red White and Boom fireworks on Friday night - and you bet your buns me and my friends were there:

Have an Awesome Day!

Marathon Training

I've been pretty low-key on the running/marathon training aspect of my life on this blog, so I decided to get with it and share my training plan for the fall marathon I'm running - Columbus Marathon in October, to be specific. 


Since things have been crazy this past month, my first two week of training have been kind of all over the place. I started with a training plan from my old running group in Cincinnati, but have now switched over to a plan that two other girls from my Columbus running group are also doing. 
Our goal is under 4 hours, so we've worked in some tempo runs and speed work. Long runs are going to be more frequent - with the longer ones on Saturday and one long during the week (>10) during our high milage peak. 
I'm really excited about the training plan and the race. I'm looking forward to training the girls from my running group, as well as getting into a running routine and pushing myself to accomplish goals. 


I figure I'll do a post either Saturday afternoons or Sundays about my training week in review. Since I just got the bright idea yesterday to start this, I'll post the last 2 weeks of my training plans and what I actually did. (sorry for the lack of clarity, haha, I'll work on that one)

Like I said before  As my excuse highlighted before, the first two weeks were crazy with weddings, friends visiting and birthdays, so things were a little hectic when it came time to finding time to run and sticking to the schedule. 
I'll also post about any ankle problems I'm dealing with, chaffing problems - ya know, fun runner stuff that all of you probably have already experienced :)


Happy Running!

July 1 and Another Smoothie

Yep. I did it again. I made another smoothie. That's 2 smoothies within like 13 hours. And ya know what?? I love it!!

I got up, threw some oatmeal, yogurt, water (I'm out of milk!) banana, rando raspberries and some flax then set out for a 4 mile training run, came back, showered, and pressed the blend button and

VOILA:

Breakfast with some Great Grains cereal on top!

So besides starting July with a totally awesome breakfast, I'm also starting July with a whole new attitude towards all things that are out of my comfort zone. And as a jumpstart, I've already hit some milestones in my life in the past few weeks...

• I can't remember the last time I went to bed with an exact calorie count for the day.
• I've kept millions and gazillions of opened sweets and ice cream in my freezer and have not had an emotional binge on them or thrown them away.
• I began living my life for me and not for others
• I've been going with the flow and not freaking out about huge events that take over my apartment and my title as co-owner, ha!

AND on top of all my self-improvements, I have my sister's 21st birthday as well as my roommate's sister's wedding...July should be a good one, and hopefully a great start to being 25.

YAY 3-Day Weekends!

Little Did She Know...

....that I was going to use that blender she got me to make this:

Haha.... thank you Kath, Megan and Caitlin for showing me how to get the nutrients out of spinach without the digestive disturbances I get from chewing it!

Go ahead guys (Annie, Mom and Kelsey) make alllll the faces you want... :)

Dinner was a green smoothie in a bowl with rice krispies on top and a pizza bagel. 

 Smoothie contained spinach, mango and raspberries, and it was good.

Happy Blending!

Whatcha Readin' Now??

I completely left out about some other birthday presents that I received over the weekend - just goes to show how exciting my life it... blogging about birthday presents, haha.

But anyway, my best friend (as you all have read about for plenty of posts) gave me my present on Sunday. I give her huge props for remembering a birthday gift when she had other things to worry about... like catching her flights and making sure she had no liquids over 3 oz. My gift included a headband that I've been dying for... it may or may not have been purchased when I was present and, um, it also may or may not have been picked out by me 2 minutes earlier, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?!
And the other part of the gift was the first book of the "Hunger Games" series!

I have been in such a huge rut with books... I finished up the Something Borrowed books a few months ago and have yet to find a book I want to read, so I am very excited that I now have a book to get me back on the reading wagon.

Has anyone read the Hunger Games series? I've heard they're good... I'll let you know how it goes :)

6.28 in Review

Like I said in my previous post, yesterday was my birthday. Ever since turning 21, I haven't looked forward to birthdays... they just seem like a huge let down. However, contrary to my usual attitude, yesterday was a really good day!

Probably because I woke up to this in my kitchen:

that contained this:

(as well as butternut squash soup and Winterfresh Lifesaver Mints... aka my favorite car-ride guilty pleasure)

oh, and this note snuck up on me in the kitchen also:

It was a great start to my birthday... and all of the above alone, would have made it a great birthday... but no, my roommate - my over-acheiver twin - just couldn't stop there...

After a long, boring day at work I walked into my apartment and quickly noticed that it was not how I left it...
There were balloons....

and a picture frame with the best saying ever...

and another balloon...

which led me to ice cream in the freezer!!!!

and waiting for me in the family room was this awesome display:

and guess what was in the box???

A BLENDER!!!!

words cannot describe my amount of excitement to use this baby.

So after discovering all my birthday surprises, I headed out for a quick 5 mile run before my mom and sister go to my apartment for my birthday dinner.

After running I was in a million mile an hour rush to get ready and dressed... but was slowed down a bit by a few more surprises....
this on the bathroom mirror:

and this on my computer:

Once my mom and sister arrived from Cincinnati, we jumped in the car and headed over to Grandview, and ate at Matt the Miller Tavern, where I had a declicious Goose Island summer beer:

and an amazing Yellow-fin Tuna melt sandwich with swiss cheese with a ginger orange jam -which is not pictured because I ate it all up before I even remembered to snap a photo-

After dinner, we took 5 steps and jumped into Orange Leaf frozen yogurt. This was the first time for my sister and she was more than overwhelmed. In fact, she is already planning her next trip to spend quality time with me to get frozen yogurt.

Per usual, my sister and I went gung-ho on flavors and toppings while my mom got "coconut and chocolate chips"....yeah, we called her lame.

Here is my african american mom and my 6 foot tall, model skinny sister:

So, as you can see, my birthday was awesome!!! I've never been one for big parties or big hooplas that have me in the center of attention. It's the little things I love and that was exactly what yesterday brought me.

I realized yesterday through all my text messages and facebook messages and all the extra effort and work my roommate put into making my day awesome and of course my mom and sister driving 1.5 hours for a simple dinner, that I am truely loved and appreciated. I think yesterday was the start of a new attitude and a new outlook on my life... now I can't promise days of bad attitudes, but overall, I have a good feeling about being 25.

Cheers,

Part One

I'm sticking to my promise and posting pictures of this past weekend. However, due to me waking up late and putzing around this morning, I only had time to load pictures from Thursday and Friday... but since the best part of the weekend was my friend's wedding... I'm allowed to use the excuse I saved the best for last :)

Oh, and before I begin, since this is a blog, and I mainly use this to get my thoughts and creative energy out (ha) I'm going to be that girl and say that today is my birthday! YAY!

I woke up to wonderful birthday surprises from my roommate, texts from friends and lots of appreciated facebook  messages.... which you all will ready about tomorrow... er, or Thursday :)

So moving on... to Thursday afternoon when I picked up best friend Jamie **Minn from the airport:

haha.... she looks like a chameleon.... not the best picture in the world!

The afternoon proceeded then on into the night, where we, along with roommate Annie and college friend Lauren, walked down to the Short North. We ended up at Bodega where we enjoyed happy hour (and pre-birthday) beers:

and Smoked Salmon bruchetta. AKA... my new favorite food.

(not pictured it where I was dared to eat a jalapeno. I did. And I almost died. Never again.)Once dinner and beers were over, we took our alcohol buzz back to our apartment where we had a lightening bug catching contenst.

Oh, and I almost forgot! We capped the night off with Orange Leaf frozen yogurt....but not before doing cartwheels and round-offs in the senior citizen rehab home's front lawn before. Pictures were not taken, I apologize.
After a sound sleep and a Friday morning/afternoon of Victorian Village walks, a haircut (oh, btw, my growing my hair out experiement is off, haha) and lunch, me, Minn and Annie headed down to Comfest for roommate's birthday.
If you are very sheltered and not aware of the many unique people that make up the world... visit Columbus, OH in June and go to Comfest.
You will see lots of topless paintd chests.
You will take lots of pictures:

 

You will drink some beer:

And if you are celebrating a 25th birthday... you might stop by the local Giant Eagle store and get beer and hot dogs for a late birthday cookout...

and most likely take crazy, too-close pictures of you and your best friends:

**My best friend's real name is Jamie, but since she is from Minnesota we call her Minn.

Have a great 6.28!