Randoms

Whoops.. apparently it has been like a month. Nice to see you again ;)

Quick Recap in pictures:

It snowed on Christmas Eve!

 We had the traditional Christmas breakfast of egg casserole/strada, and I made John cinnamon sugar pull apart bread.

 Lucy got a giant Kong!

 We had naptime.. quite similar to Christmas two years ago when we had just gotten Lucy. It did not LOOK the same though. 2010 on the left and 2012 on the right. Yeah..

 Addition plans are moving along! John and his dad finished surveying the yard so that we can figure out the foundation/retaining walls and locate the driveway! Most weekends are now spent in front of the computer finalizing window locations, dimensions, etc.

  And on the same note as the addition... we are in super savings mode now and really working out our budget. As such...we have gotten rid of cable. We are back to bunny ears (with aluminum foil on them!) and the digital converter box. Woo hoo! $2 a day.. it all counts, right? RIGHT!?

 We have been doing a LOT of this while we can.

We had our 4th anniversary on January 10th. I had an awesome morning run, redeemed my birthday massage Groupon, napped, made enchiladas and then we went to see Jim Gaffigan! I have always wanted to see him but could never get tickets!

For our anniversary John got me a the new ipod (since you know, with the tight budget there is really no way in heck we are getting a data plan/smart phones now)! The new ipod has a camera and I am able to get new apps! Yeah.. the excitement in my life. I signed up for instagram finally with it.... let me know who you are so I can see your pictures!

We ended the night at Sweet Frog's for some delicious yogurt. I had birthday cake yogurt with peanut butter, hot fudge, cookie dough, marshmallow and reese's cups! 

I have also been doing a lot of this. I am in a half marathon training group and really pushing myself to increase speed and train well. I have 4 half marathons coming up this spring. I get up at 4:50ish for my am coffee, bike, go to work and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a cross-training workout class after work. Wednesdays I meet the running group at a track for speedwork and Saturday mornings (at 7:30!) are our long runs. Fridays and Sundays are off! I can't wait until it is light out before work so I can switch from biking on Mondays and Thursdays in the morning to running outside. Sometimes I hop on the treadmill, but it just isn't the same.

I've found I really like getting up early. I feel so much more refreshed throughout the day and less tired. So even though it is probably not necessary to have that half hour- 45 minute bike in the morning, I do it anyway to push myself to get up. The weight loss aspect isn't terrible either. :)

And speaking of running... it has been SO COLD here the last week. Last Wednesday's track speed training had us running 4 miles in LESS THAN 10 DEGREES! BUT... I ran my fastest 4 miles yet (races included!) and knocked at least 3 minutes off of my 4 mile time. Crazy.

 LESS THAN A MONTH TO GO!!! Plus I get to go see my favorite cousin after ;)

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Randoms..

(Or Snippets in the words of Meredith.)

After we took our pizza out of the oven on Sunday night, when it was placed on top of the stove it looked like the Santa spoon holder was holding the pizza. We giggled.

I have gotten super busy the last few weeks. I take that back. It seems like this whole fall has been super busy. I just got a huge project at work that is super faced paced, so that definitely makes everything move quickly too. Add in Christmas preparations, Christmas get-togethers and various crafts I want to do and time is flying!

I have a few items that have been on my brain, but none warrant its own post. Some are just random stupid things about me.

-I LOVE where we live. Seriously. Almost daily on the drive home I think it to myself as I look around. I get super annoyed while driving home, but turning down our roads just calms me down. It makes living the 1+ hours away from work so worth it.

-My conditioner always runs out before my shampoo. I hate starting a new bottle of conditioner before a bottle of shampoo- I like them to start at the same time. I keep a bottle of conditioner in the closet whose sole purpose to to bridge the end of the matching conditioner to the end of the shampoo. Conditioner dies--> break out the closet conditioner--> shampoo dies--> start new bottles of shampoo and conditioner at the same time and put the safety conditioner back in the closet.

-On another personal care note: I take gummy vitamins. I eat all of the yellows first since they are gross. Then I eat all of the orange, then pinks and THEN reds. Reds are the best of everything so they are always saved for last (M&Ms, Skittles, etc.)

-On Thanksgiving we ran a Drumstick Dash 5k. It is a family tradition to run in a Turkey Trot/Dash on Thanksgiving and this year we did it in honor/remembrance of our neighbor growing up (her kids were our age too and in all the same sports, etc.- saw her a lot) who was a big runner and she passed away suddenly this year. Funds were raised for scholarships for her special ed students. The main event/team was in NY where we grew up, but we went to VA this year, so we represented Team Donna in Roanoke.

-A few weeks ago I made a whole month of supper menues. It has been awesome not having to struggle every Saturday night/Sunday morning to figure out what the menu will be so I can make the grocery list.

-When I had bronchitis a month or so ago I strained my neck from coughing. It was almost worse than the actual coughing.

-I cannot figure out how to use coffee creamer. Everyone was loving on the International Delight flavors so I got some, but gave up. Am I supposed to put Stevia/sweetener in TOO? Is the creamer sweetened already? I don't know.. It tasted gross whatever combo I did.. I even tried using my regular milk WITH the creamer to "water" it down.

-I have always connected way more to animals than people.. I cannot watch animal movies (um, Homeward Bound? UGH) and just feel way more empathy towards animals. People's attitude and manner toward animals really affect my views of the person. In one of my previous positions, the boss horrified me with the way their animals were treated. After that it was super hard to respect them. It is a very hard thing to work for someone who you don't respect.

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A Summer in Photos

And a few words..

My parents bought a house on a lake a few hours away from here, outside of Roanoke, Virginia, for retirement. We spent a couple of weekends down there.

View across the lake.

This miss loves swimming and can't get enough.

We traveled to NY for a family thing, and Lucy got to meet her cousin Cooper. They were such a perfect match and Cooper even came down to MD later in the summer again! They will meet up in Florida in February and she can't wait.

Lucy did a lot of this:

We had a family party at our house as a chance to get all of the dogs together to run around and for humans to have birthday cake.

John made me this potted garden irrigation system for my birthday.

I made my own birthday cake- chocolate with peanut butter buttercream filling with chunks of peanut butter cup, and a fudgey chocolate buttercream, topped off with peanut butter cups.

Yummm.

The dogs & their people.

Dog whisperer.

We traveled to Vermont for a high school friend's awesome wedding on Lake Champlain.

The groom made this! Isn't it awesome!?

And then we traveled to Cape Cod for my cousin's wedding.

I've had enough traveling to last me awhile. Until we go to Hershey for the race in a couple of weeks I guess..

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Randoms

..or as Meredith would say "Snippets."

-I cannot stop thinking about my next tattoo. Really I have been thinking about it since I got the last one at 19. Basically since that time though I was waiting to lose a certain amount of weight/reach a certain number.

-I signed up for Weight Watchers online due to the raves of Katie and Susan, and I can actually see myself reaching my magical tattoo number. In 2 weeks I have lost 2.5 pounds. After probably 5-6 years of counting calories and then getting frustrated, counting points is such a huge difference and so refreshing.

-Lucy came to work today. I have a "dog friendly" (but not kid friendly) office. I have a fold up crate that I keep next to my cube for her. She is pretty dang good there. I have some treats, her favorite toys, etc and she keeps herself pretty busy playing around my feet. In fact, usually 2-3 times a day I have to force her into the crate so that she will nap. She is used to sleeping 7 or so hours a day at home, so she starts to get crazy tired. We came home and I mowed for a couple of hours after work. She trotted around the yard over and over with me about 10 ft away. She is currently passed out on the sofa. I like sleepy puppies.

-The co-worker that I work closest with and have the most fun with is getting married June 11 in Ocean City, MD. We are going and staying in a pet-friendly hotel which kind of skeeves me out, but we will see what it is like. Her shower is this weekend and I can't go, but I am so excited about her presents that another co-worker will bring up for me.

-I am going to Blacksburg this weekend for my sister's undergrad graduation. We are going to Homeplace on Saturday. I am pumped.

-My mom's birthday is also while we are down there. Pretty convenient. I am pretty excited about her present too. It could go either way, but if she likes it I will be proud. :-D

-Jaq is being a brat w/John gone. He doesn't take me seriously and keeps climbing on the counters, kitchen table, etc. I will look over and he is just sprawled out on the table.. Clearly he wants attention, which I don't understand because he is currently getting more attention than when John is home. He sleeps right on me every night, cuddles on the sofa, etc.

-John is gone for 3 weeks. Yeah. On the plus side I get to eat lots of veggies and things he doesn't like. Exhibit A: Monday- SW Turkey Meatballs w/Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce, Exhibit B: Today- Baked Jalapeno Poppers w/the Cilantro Dipping Sauce and Broccoli w/homemade cheesy bechemel sauce. Yum-o.

-We are in the midst of some landscaping in the front. I will have to take pictures.

-Apparently I need to update y'all more often. The prob is that none of these are really worthy of a full post.

For reaching the end:

That's right.. a whole stack. That's how much I appreciate you. :-D

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Randoms

-I AM DOING C25K!! I am on week 3 and still going at it. I am so proud that I have stuck with it and completed each session so far. I've even stopped having to use my inhaler!

-As I mentioned in the previous meal plan post, I was in Atlanta/Pine Mountain, GA for last weekend. It was an awesome trip. 3 of us from my office and one of our carpet rep's flew down, courtesy of the carpet company.

Have you heard of Interface/Flor? They sell carpet tiles for residential use, as well as commercial. We use the commercial tiles a LOT in my work, so they try to schmooze us to get us to spec their products.

We left DC on Saturday at noon and made the flight down. Once we got there, we stopped at a Target on the way to the company's guest house. Both the rep and I had forgotten to pack our bathing suits! :-/ Once we had suits in hand, we headed on to the house. Let me tell you- this house was AWESOME. It is very midcentury with tons of classic/iconic furniture in it. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom too. Sweet. There was a full height, fully stocked beer fridge. There were many varieties. I am not really a beer person, but it was impressive. In addition to the beer fridge, there was a cabinet fully stocked with liquor. The kitchen counter featured a basket FILLED with snacks- chips, candy, etc. And it was the good stuff (Snickers, M&Ms, Fritos, etc.).

One of the bedrooms.

After exploring the house, we sat down to a dinner cooked by the private chef! It was awesome- he was so good. We spent the night drinking margaritas (me)/beer (them) and watched Dodgeball.

The dining room.

Living room #1.

Game room.

Entryway.

Dining area in living room #2.

Outdoor patio.

Living room #2- a serious game of Cranium was played here.

See? Very serious.

Exterior.

Entryway- other direction.

Sunday was the best day I've had in a long time- super relaxing. We woke up for breakfast (grits!, banana pancakes! biscuits! bacon!) at 8 or 8:30 and then looked at each other and went back to bed for a nap/reading. Ahhh. I woke back up around 11 and showered/got dressed. Then we headed to.... MASSAGES. Paid for by the company of course! :) It felt SO GOOD. I loved it. After my massage I spent a little time in the steam room before showering again. After leaving the spa, we stopped for lunch at a cute little country store. I had a fabulous fried green tomato sandwich. (I really think I was meant to be born in the south.)

Back at the house, we spent the rest of the day at the sweet pool.

Poooool.

Check out the sweet view from the pool!

The sun was perfect. We dragged ourselves away from the pool for our chefly dinner again and then spent the night playing Cranium. (I'd never played- not too bad!)


Monday was the educational part of the trip. We went and toured the mill/plants.

It was pretty cool to see how everything works and how much Interface does for sustainability/recycling. It was a really awesome experience and I am so glad we were able to go (finally! we were snowed out in February during Snowpacolypse!). Oh and I was also glad that we were able to get home... we changed to the earlier flight when we got to the airport early and then the flight we were originally supposed to be on got canceled!

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