Three Things Thursday

1. Umm... it's a holiday weekend?!? I totally forgot it was 4th of July weekend until a few days ago. That being said, I have 0 plans. RoomieQ is going to her parents for the weekend so it's just gonna be me and Dinah. Looks like I'll get some reading done??

2. Last week I posted about kale. I'm in an all out love affair. It's so good. I think I could probably eat it with every meal. Bad thing, I think not! I've taken my original plan and added some balsamic vinegar to it. Holy crap is that good. Tonight, I'm going to try a splash of lemon instead. It should go great with that buffalo-style chicken I'm making...errr.

3. I've been thinking a lot lately about my life "dreams." They are, very likely, attainable. But going after them scares the crap out of me. I've definitely got some decisions to make about how I'm going to proceed. Scared and nervous. I really hope I don't wuss out. We'll see!

What the heck did I do in my sleep last night?

Lately, in case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly been keen on motivation, and I've been a grump in general.

I've also been sleeping like a sick person (but I'm not, no worries). In bed, every night this week, before 9pm. And it's not like I've been working out a ton with which I could justify this.

I will blame the humidity, mostly just because I hate it. You will find I complain much more about the weather in the summer than I do in the winter, even in the North East, even if I still lived in the snowbelt (Albany's snow is minuscule compared to Syracuse's). Whatever, wah wah wah, it's hot. Enough already.

I'm not exactly complaining about my intense sleep sessions - I mean, they must be needed, right? Or else I wouldn't be so tired...? However, last night - weird things happened. I apparently knocked my water bottle over, the top popped off and I woke up to water all over the floor. How did I not hear that? IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO MY HEAD. weird. Then, post-TM run hand-washing I noticed a newly formed blister on the inside of my right pinky finger. How did that even happen? Yesterday was a vigorous day of hand usage. I messed around with MS Access all day at work (grr), I vacuumed for like 2 seconds, and cleaned up cat puke. None of these things are exactly blister inducing. Something strange is going on in those sleep hours!

Besides phantom blisters and water bottle vandalism, sleep got me to ROCK some mile repeats today. A while back I was struggling with the 10 min/mile barrier. I've broken through it - at least when it comes to speed work. Which is the first step, right? I am not training for anything right this second (new plan starts in 2.5 weeks!!!) but in motivating myself to actually do workouts in the interim I've found I need to plan on doing some workouts that I actually like. Turns out mile repeats is one of them.

Last set of mile repeats (I do 1mi x 3 right now) clocked in with an average pace of 9:40. Today's average pace 9:24. BOOM. And.. AND, I probably could've done more (damn putzing around in the morning!)

Mile 1: 9:35

Mile 2: 9:22

Mile 3: 9:14

AWESOME! This feels so good. I'm getting really excited for my next training cycle and all the improvements that are bound to come with it. Crazy!! :)

omg, I hate summer

I really fell off the wagon this past weekend. I barely exercised, I ate like crap, drank too much wine, whined too much in general. Blech. I'm not really sure what the problem was, but I think I'm over it now.

Sunday night I got myself back together by grocery shopping the rainbow, and then eating it. Overall, I've been doing really well in the eating department since then (which is surprising because I've been super grumpy). I also had a good tempo run yesterday, so that was uplifting.

I gotta tell ya, folks. I honestly think it might have been easier to get up and out of bed and my arse to the gym when it was dark out and negative 500 degrees than it is when its muggy and stuffy when I wake up. It just makes me so MISERABLE. I have, apparently, a very difficult time getting motivated to get my sweat on when it's already on upon waking. Gross.

It's proceeded to be a muggy gross day here which means I'm still grumpy. But, I've been having an unexpectedly productive day at work, and my lunchtime salad was thebomb.com. So, I'm trying to keep myself looking on the bright, comfortably cool side of things.

October, anyone?? ;)

Relaxin’ and Bloggy Buddies

Thursday’s leg/run workout put me in quite a tizzy here. I knew this would happen. I’m incapable of easing back into weight lifting when I’ve not done it in a while. I heart weightlifting, and I like doing it “dude” style – lift heavy. Makes me feel so hardcore. I’ve had to take some recovery time from running. But, don’t worry, I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

My darling sister graduated high school today. It was a LOOOONG ceremony. All three of us (me, my brother, and my sister) graduated in classes with about 700 kids in them. And our last name is at the beginning of the alphabet. zzzzzzz.  But, I’m super proud of her! She’s moving on to the next, awesome chapter! woo hoo! Congrats, K!

Due to going back home for the weekend, I’ve been a bit behind on reading blogs. But, I came back to find the most adorable Lindsey @ Yogi Bear nominated me for my very first blogger award! I’m so honored!

Recipients are to share seven random facts about themselves and then recognize 5 other bloggers with the award. So… here goes.

1. I’ve mentioned this once before on the blog, but I’m a huge anglophile. I took a few British history courses in college and absolutely fell in love. British history is full of the stuff romance and drama is made of! I often dream of moving there and fulfilling my Anglo-obsession; however, I’m afraid I’d be disappointed – I’m more “pride and prejudice” English-obsessed than “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Oh well.

2. I am, or was, quite musical. Growing up I played piano, viola, and mallet percussion. I loved every bit of it (well, some bits I didn’t love). I have recently gotten back into playing piano quite a bit lately. I’m enjoying it a great deal. I’d forgotten the magic of Mozart.

3. When I was small I used to wish on every wishing thing for a little sister. first star at night, wishing wells, necklace clasp moving around front, every thing I  could think of. I wanted a little sister soooo bad. But never in all my wishes and dreams could I have imagined she’d end up being SO FREAKING COOL.

4. I really would love to go to Alaska for an extended vacation (read: forever). It seems so absolutely beautiful up there! I don’t mind the cold – I think Alaska and I could be friends.

5. My dream (and just a dream at this point) is to get my PhD in history and teach at the college level. I’m a huge history nerd and I own it! JC = NERD

6. I love tea. I’ve recently become quite the tea buff – with my cutesy cast iron tea pot. I fully enjoy loose leaf teas and plan to post on my tea-dventures in the future.

7. Mr. Darcy over Mr. Big, any day. They’re both a bit of a jerk, but at least Mr. Darcy comes to his senses. The British accent doesn’t hurt

 

This was HARD!  I didn’t think it would be quite so difficult to come up with 7 random things about me! haha.

Now- those wonderful bloggers that I also will recognize with this award:

Vanessa @ GourmetRunner

Kari @ RunningRicig

Christine @ Bun&Borough

Victoria @ FindingHappinessInHealth

Keri@ TheBlueEyedRunner

 

I hope everyone is fully enjoying their respective weekend’s!!! 

Kale

Kale has been all over bloggy-land since I entered it. Apparently it's super good for you. According to 8 million different internet websites that I'll let you google on you're own (come on, it's not that hard), it has anti oxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, helps fight cancer, high cholesterol, heart disease, etc. Its chock full of nutrients, and really, you should be eating it.

Well, I've never had it. Sorry. My mom never used it growing up, I didn't even know it existed until a few years ago and I had 0 idea what to do with it - like bok choy. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT?!?!?

My co-worker is like super Italian, you know, the type that eats that greens and beans dish? Greens = kale (and like some other stuff, I guess, I don't know, I've never had that either.)

SO! the whole point is, last night while she was boiling up some kale for herself, she text me and asked me if I wanted a small dish to try out. UM YES! I like healthy things!

I brought home the small tupperware of kale on my lunch. She had just boiled it and not seasoned it any way, so that I could do with it what I like. I pulled out a leaf and munched. hmm, tasted like plant. perfect. I rummaged through the fridge and cupboards.

FOUND IT!

I tossed some olive oil and a heap of garlic into a frying pan and warmed it. Then I threw in the boiled kale and some chick peas. warmed it through - into a bowl with salt and pepper. VIOLA! delish.

There's an intro to Kale folks. MM MM, good. If you are reading this and have a recipe for kale chips I will love your forever if you share it with me.

PS and BTW - happy Friday :D

3 Things Thursday

Happy Rainy Thursday, ya'll!

1. Today I did a booty kicking work out. My new training plan (that starts July 18!!) calls for strength and three mile runs on thursdays. In anticipation (or lack of patience) for the new plan, I decided to try out some of this thursday nonsense today. I read a workout in RW a while back, where you run - do a leg weights workout and then run some more. Well, I kind of did that - I did all the leg lifting first, then the 3 miles. Lets see if I can walk tomorrow.

2. My roomie, Q, got a new job! SUPER fancy! Today was her first day. they have valet parking there! So jealous! I asked my boss if we could get valet parking in our next contract cycle. He said "maybe once we can start hiring interns again." PFT! priorities! Also, since Q's last day at her old job was y'day, our fridge is full of delicious desserts leftover from her going away party. I. am. excited. hahaha.

3. On Saturday my little sister graduates from high school! Holy S, man! There's a huge age difference between us - 11 years. I remember her being born, and falling asleep on my chest as a teensy baby. And now shes GOING TO COLLEGE! omg. I still can't believe it. I also can't believe I haven't talked more about her on here, because she's the coolest e.v.e.r. Maybe i'll do a post on her birthday. It probably won't top the Dinah post from yesterday though. :-[

Happy Birthday, DINAH!!!

Today is my darling kitten’s 4th birthday!! I can’t even believe it’s been 4 years already.

I found Dinah on craigslist. This is hugely hypocritical to my current rescue an animal philosophy. However, not only am I new to the plight of poor shelter cats, but to having a pet in general – Dinah’s my first. We did not have pets growing up.
So, as I left a toxic relationship to venture out on my own, I decided a kitten would be a nice idea to keep me company. A woman in Holyoke, MA (uhh, yes, an hour and a half drive from Albany – bc people’s cat’s don’t get knocked up here??) posted that by the end of August, her cat’s litter would be ready to be adopted. I was ON IT. I think I responded to her ad within hours of her posting it. Whatever, I was a cat lady in training. Now I’m dedicating an entire blog post to my cat. sad sad sad.

I brought Dinah home, and it took nearly two days for me to get her out from under the dresser. I coaxed her with treats and food.

I quickly noticed that she was a bit uncomfortable. It turned out my poor kitten had fleas poor precious. I had to beg the vet to give me frontline kitten-style, without having seen her, I broke 2 vacuums getting rid of them and flea powder, and had to comb little gross fleas out of Dinah’s coat over the sink. Needless to say, her first few days were very traumatic. However, that frontline is the BOMB.com, and within 48 hours we were flea free.
It was shortly after that Dinah joined me on the bed, to lay on my pillow while I read books for school.

She played with toys.

“helped” me study and kept me entertained

Snuggled in the covers

Folded laundry

Makes funny faces (ps apparently I never make my bed)

And lets me take glamour shots

She snuggles me when I’m sick, and pounces on my face when the snooze alarm has gone off too many times. she meets me at the door when I come home from work, and follows me around on the weekend. She tolerates the dog and is even learning to share the window.
She is the prettiest, sweetest cat in the whole world.
So here’s to you, Dinah. Thanks for the headbutts, the meows, the slow kittie blinks letting me know you’re happy. Thanks for booping me in the nose with your cold little paws. And taking up the ENITRE bed with your 8.5lbs self. Thanks for breaking my wine glasses, stealing my ice cream, chewing on my spider plants (and subsequently, throwing them up all over the house), and scratching my face when I take the teasing to an “intolerable” level.
But mostly, just thanks for being a “purrfect” snuggle muffin Happy Birthday!


(and you all thought I was joking with the “why I’m still single” comment in the last post…yea…..)