Healthy Update + Tulip Photos

This blog keeps me accountable to how I am doing with my health!

Exercise:

Running like crazy on the weekends! Last Saturday I ran 17 miles. I just about died, but I did it!

I ran Green lake yesterday (Monday) in 25 minutes! I ran the outside loop, which is 3.1 miles, a 5K exactly. That felt really good.

I keep up with Spin class/weights every Monday night. Mondays I am always super consistant, and I love that.

What I would like to work on:

Running more frequently during the week. Its not enough to just run a long run once a week!
Just like I did on Monday, Id like to run a few more times during the week, just some easy runs and at least one tempo run or some intervals. Need to work on my speed.
I'd like to also practice just running for fun. Not running a particular distance, just getting out of the house and running as far and as fast as I want. Sometimes training for a race really takes the "fun" out of running!
I have a goal to weight train at least 3x per week. So far its been about 2x lately. This week I plan to meet a friend at the gym on Wednesday, hopefully having a work out buddy will help!

Food:
This part is still really hard for me. I am great during the week. I eat a healthy breakfast, plan and eat a healthy lunch, and we have been eating at home more during the week. The weekends get difficult! Especially when I run a lot, I tend to eat unhealthy food. Here is an example from the weekend:
I asked for no bacon on the burger and also for coleslaw instead of fries. But the restaurant forgot, so I just ate this all anyway. It was absolutely delicious. :)

I am still plugging along and hoping to improve my diet this week.

Now for a few quick tulip photos from Skagit Valley this weekend! That's why I ate the hamburger, we stopped quickly in the town of La Conner before heading home from the Tulip fields.
Aren't they just fantastically gorgeous? Sorry for so many photos but I just loved so many shots from yesterday. Tulips are amazing. :)

Out of my creative rut

Thanks to Shimelle, this weekend I have been scrapbooking! I made three pages today and I also photographed a lot of older pages that have just been sitting around for the past few months. Now all I need is to buy a new album so there is somewhere to put them all.

Shimelle had a TON of challenges on her blog this weekend. I really didn't do very many of them, but she had one challenge in particular that really inspired me.

She had this brilliant idea to find a super old piece of paper that I LOVE and make a page kit with it, with all new products. I ended up making four page kits, and today I scrapbooked using two of them. I love that the papers are really old, yet I still love the pages.

None of the pages I made are particularly amazing, but I had a ton of fun.

(This page uses FOUR old papers that were all 12x12, most I got over two years ago.)(This page uses an older October Afternoon paper from the Road Map collection. Its one of those ones that I love too much and I hold onto forever. I matched it with some paper from a Studio Calico kit, as well as some new chipboard clouds, also by SC.)

This next page is for one of the challenges, which is to do an old challenge. So many times I get excited about a scrapbook sketch but never have the time to complete it. This page is an older sketch challenge from one of Shimelle's classes. I can't even remember which one.

(I used my white mr. huey for the first time!! I also used bright cardstock which I never do, and really mixed it up with random pattern paper)
Thanks for looking!

Super fun day. So glad I am finally inspired after six long weeks.

Project Life Week 13 and 14 (I think?)

Week 13:
Mercer Island Half marathon
Ultrasound (all normal!)
A pretty regular week, with some intense running on either end!
Race day Sunday, running adventure Saturday

Recorded some random stuff....Starbucks with Audra on Thursday, crazy messy break room at work, a Shimelle sketch that I loved (posted earlier!)
I kept the email sent about our running adventure and attached the map of the Olympic Peninsula on there. (that's what you see on the 8.5x11 insert)

I also placed a photo of a stump with pretty flowers arranged on it. Every time I run or walk or bike around green lake I see this beautiful display that commemorates an enormous tree that had to be cut down for health reasons. I was actually there the day they cut it down...sad day!!!
Week 14:
This week also includes an insert, a 12x6 page protector with three slots for 4x6 photos. On the front I placed some photos and a baby announcement. On the back I put the packaging and the card that I got from GERMANY from JOY!!! It contained chocolate. :)
Beautiful trees!
A little Froyo. :)
Me foam rolling with the cats all around. Whenever we do physical therapy in our living room, the kitties go CRAZY and always want to be all over us. :)

Post card from Joy
View of the city!
A couple of instagram photos!
Last week was a really good week. I could have added even more photos if I had the space! I guess most of them have already been posted to the blog.

I better get going, I am currently marinating chicken that we will be GRILLING tonight when Matty gets home! There is nothing more summery than BBQ! (Even when its raining)

Weekend highlights

It was a crazy, busy weekend!

Friday started out wonderfully with a sunny walk around Green lake, followed by a four mile jog. Good times! I also fell in love with Instagram. Good thing it came to Android, otherwise I was strongly considering getting an iPhone.
The next morning I ran 15 miles! This is the longest I have ever gone. I ran on a favorite route of mine, taking me from my place to Edmonds. I love running through the little town of Woodway, the tree smell reminds me of hiking. I also love all the hills! They are awful and also awesome. I took a quick picture with my phone at the top of the hill once I was nearing mile 14.
After my run I went to REI with these lovely folks and their adorable daughter:

We stopped for lunch at Whole Foods and I ate a fantastic panini! I would have taken a photo but apparently I was too hungry and ate it all up before the camera came out. :)

Our evening was spent at the Salmon House for Phil and Heather's birthday. We had a blast with them. Unfortunately the lighting was quite low and I had to use my FLASH. Ahh!

Here is a candid shot. I love how Matty is sitting in the middle between the couple while we sang them happy birthday. I also love that everyone is smiling. See, it doesn't matter that everyone is a little washed out!


Heather and I stepped out on the barge outside the restaurant and I got some pretty pictures of downtown.

On Sunday, our main highlight was using our BBQ! I loved being a little lazy all day. We watched a favorite show of mine, Crossing Jordan, and also watched a recap of the 2011 Ironman. In the afternoon we decided to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather, so we walked around green lake. No matter how often I walk there, I never get tired of it!


It was a wonderfully sunny, amazing weekend. I hope the sun never goes away.

Signs of Spring

Is it finally here???
Good bye beautiful tree! :(I thought this beautiful day deserved a little celebration with some Froyo!Please, God, send us more beautiful days like this one. We really need it here in Seattle.

Health update #2

I am still going strong with my healthy eating habits and exercising.

Exercise:
Last week, because of the half marathon, I took about three days if a row off from exercising. Now I am back to regular daily work outs. I like to walk on my days off. Walking is an awesome way to get a little fresh air and stretch your legs without much damage to your body.

Food:
I pretty much eat the same breakfast every day. I eat Greek yogurt + oatmeal + cinnamon + golden raisins. When we run out of yogurt, I will cook my oatmeal and eat it with a banana.
If I have fresh fruit, I eat that. (I don't have any right now)
I love eating raw oatmeal. Sometimes I feel like it fills me up for 6 hours.

(I may have posted this photo before...its old)
I stopped putting half and half in my coffee. I drink it black now. A couple times last week I made lattes at home with almond milk. I hope to do that more this week.

My lunches and dinners are quite varied. I still and striving to eat more veggies! Last night I made an egg omelet for dinner, and it had a tomato and broccoli inside! I also ate sliced cucumber with my lunch, which was whole wheat flatbread and hummus.

I am still moving forward. Matt says I have lost some weight, and I definitely feel much better. I guess I will just plod along on this journey and see where it takes me! :)

TIme for an Adventure!

Matt and I spent the entire day on Saturday on a running tour of the Olympic Peninsula!

Here is the website link, if interested!

I am pretty sure our day was a little more adventurous than usual...it rained the entire day! I am not talking about the typical "dripping from the sky" Seattle rain. It POURED.

I have a few photos I want to share, all taken from my cell phone:

One of our first stops was the beautiful Fort Ludlow, near Port Townsend. We ran about three miles and did a boot camp in the rain. Here we are on the beach overlooking Mount Baker. (Just pretend that you see a pretty mountain in the background.)
It was raining pretty hard the entire time and we got soaked. Our next stop was Crescent Lake and we were welcomed by some falling snow!
We ran about six miles in this area, visiting a waterfall and running on a really near trail that led us up into the hills around Crescent Lake. As we got higher and higher, the snow was sticking more, and pretty soon we were running through a couple inches of snow! We also crossed a bridge that was made from a fallen tree. Pretty cool!
Our last stop was at the beach! Even though the trail was a completely muddy mess, the sun came out and our little hike/run was quite beautiful!


My shoes have seen better days!
The photos aren't great, but we had SO MUCH FUN!

This little Matty-style video made me smile: