And We're Back!

The long weekend was really a beautiful thing!

Thanks Ty for the:

This award comes with 7 random facts about myself and then I tag 7 people.

Here goes:

1. I found I'm better at achieving my goals alone when it comes to physical activity.  So, when I go to the gym with John, I'm not as productive as when I go alone for whatever reason.  I hate that I do that, but I've just started to notice it lately.  If it's just me, I crank through stuff and get done.  At least I've recognized this and can try to move on.

2. I become a little sad about this time of year because it's been 5 long months since I've been able to watch a live game and I'm ready for it.

CAN COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON GET HERE ALREADY?!

Go Gators!

3. I have an irrational fear of squishing bugs.  I cannot stand the crunch and will do anything to not feel that under my shoe, or imagine I'm hearing or feeling it when I would potentially throw something to squish the said bug.  I would rather just put a cup on top of it and wait for someone else to crunch.

4. I never really understood the Harry Potter craze that started like 10 years ago.  But, the company I work with built The Wizarding World of Harry Potter so during construction I watched a few of the movies just to see what it was all about because of how cool the models looked.  I admit I'm slightly hooked and want to read the books.  I never thought I'd see the day, but I did catch quite a bit of the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family last weekend and I'm ready for the second part of the last movie to come out because the first part was kind of a bore to me.

5.  I haven't blow dried my hair in months now.  It dries perfectly straight anyway and it saves me time in the morning.  It's dry by the time I get to work since I have a 45 minute drive.  When you basically have spiderweb-thin strands, it doesn't take much time at all.

6. When I dream, I have dreams that are so life-like I wake up wondering if it really happened.  The other night I dreamt something that made me really mad at John and had to force myself to get over because it knew it was just a dream, but it felt so real.  He's been teasing me about it since.

7. I used to eat oatmeal for breakfast every day.  Now, I'm obsessed with plain vanilla non-fat yogurt with a little granola added in with strawberry halves and blueberries.  It's such a great summer breakfast--YUM!

TAG-You're it!

Melissa @ Nashville's Melrose

Ashley @ Life After the Aisle

Linds @ Linds Loves Miles

Elizabeth @ The Life of David, Elizabeth and Peyton

Megan @ Watch Mego Run

Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner

Becky @ How to train your husband

The Long Weekend Awaits...Almost...

It's Thursday before a holiday weekend, which means I have no motivation.  Boo.  Only another day+ at work and I'm free for 3 glorious days!!!

I figured today I would join up with Caroline with Thoughts on Thursday!

1.  Megan@ Watch Mego Run is having a giveaway from something awesome...especially if you're a runner!  Go check it out!!

2.  I just wanted to state that I have the best husband I could ever ask for.  He's perfect for me.  On my birthday, he surprised me with a birthday dinner after leading me to believe we were going to his softball game instead.  He even dressed in his uniform, knowing that he'd be sitting in it all through dinner.  He had friends there to meet us.  It was super awesome and he's the best!

The two who orchestrated it.

3.  My friends also rock my socks!  We had many of our friends join us for a Tuesday night dinner at Kobe Steakhouse and for fro-yo afterwards!  We haven't had a big group dinner in a while, so it was amazing!  I've been missing my friends!

4.  I'm SOOOO excited about the long weekend!!!  There will be a little of:

and a little of:

What could be better??

5.  My 27 at 27 got knocked off a little because of our rush to get to the softball game dinner, so I missed running on Tuesday, but I ran Monday 6.2 miles and Wednesday 5 miles in 46:55 during lunch!  Plus, and extra 1/2 mile last night.  So, I'm up to 11.7 miles right now leaving 15.3 to go by Sunday.  I can do it!

6.  Marathon training officially starts June 4, so one week from Saturday I start killing my body ha.  No, no, I kid...kind of.  The first month isn't bad, we're up to 10 miles every weekend and then it jumps from there.  I'm ready.  Let's do the darn thing!

7.  Here's an awesome deal for you runners out there:

June 1st is National Running Day and the Rock N Roll Marathon series is giving great discounts on races!  I'm a little sad I registered early now, but's what a girl to do besides pick another race??  Anyway, on June 1st you can register for a race and the discounts are as follows:

Save: $26 on any marathon

Save: $13 on any half

Save: $10 on any 10K

Save: $5 on any 5K

Awesome!  Now go do it!  I hear there's some awesome people running Savannah too, so that's a race to look into!

Happy Almost Weekend!!!

It's Funfetti Kind of Day!

Today, I turn 27. The good news is...I got cake!  Funfetti to be exact, which my mom made and brought to work for me. My parents, brother, friend and John all came to a lunch at the local Mexican joint for my birthday :).  I'm glad we got to celebrate at lunch, because there's lots of other things going on tonight and we weren't able to plan dinner.

Yay for birthdays!!

What's your favorite kind of cake?!

Happy

Ran 6.2 miles in 56:58 tonight. That's a 9:11/mile pace. That's probably the fastest flat 10k I've run, although I'm pretty sure I ran a faster 10k during a half marathon once. I'm happy. The happiest part is I ended and felt like I could go faster! I guess I will have to try and one up myself ha! Woohoo for PRs. (It totally counts if it's not in a race, right??)

I know it's Monday, but I'm sooo looking forward to the weekend! Me+long weekends=<3.

Goodnight bloggy friends!

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do

This week is my birth-week (tomorrow's the day).  Another year older, but that's ok.  It beats the alternative for sure!  I've decided to do 27 miles for turning 27 this week. Who's with me?! Starting tonight, I'm going to make 27 miles by Sunday.  Hopefully I'll finish by like...Friday, but you never know what the week might hold...

The weekend was good.  Friday, John and I actually got to ride our bikes around.  We looked for new running routes and then went to dinner at the little Italian place down the street.  Then we rode a little more before heading home for the night.  We caught up on the DVR and I decided that it would be a good idea to make smores in the oven.  Yum.  Not my best idea after a heavy Italian meal...we regretted that Saturday haha.  Saturday we celebrated my grandpa's 78th birthday and Sunday we celebrated my cousin's graduation from high school.  All in all a good weekend!  Oh yea, and got some fro-yo on...highlight!

Lily was super bratty this weekend, but ridiculously cute:

Last night, I started the rib cooking process.  I'm trying my hand at making beef short ribs in the slow cooker.  We will see how it turns out.  Here's the start:

Hopefully it will smell super yummy when I get home this afternoon!

The Bachelorette starts tonight!!!  I'm excited just because I get to enjoy my little guilty pleasure, but I'm not so sure about choosing Ashley...only time will tell.

Happy Monday!

FRIDAY!!! Oh how I've missed thee!

It's time for...

Go link up!

1. Do you and your spouse go to bed at the same time?

Yes, although we don't go to sleep at the same time.  I'm lucky if John makes it upstairs without me having to drag him up there, but if we get to bed, 99.9% of the time, he's sleeping within minutes...I don't stand a chance.

2. A question for the ladies...What kind of facial hair do you like on your man?

I love the scruffy look with 2-3 day old stubble...so hot.  But it hurts to kiss, so there's that down side...but sometimes, it's worth it!

3. What's the worst vacation you've ever taken?

Maybe I'm just having a blank, but no horrible vacation stands out ever.  Thankfully.  I guess I always figure vacation is better than work?

4. What's the first-ever blog you followed?

The very first was Ashley@Life After the Aisle, but we're friends in real life.  The first non-in-real-life-friend that turned bloggy-friend was Amber@Young Fabulous and Newlywed

5. Do you enjoy amusement parks?

I love amusement parks.  I grew up in Central Florida, so we went to all the theme parks growing up.  One of my bucket list items is to go to Cedar Point in Ohio some day to ride all of their wooden coasters.  One day...

I'm off!  Have a happy weekend friends!!!

Day Zero Updates

Self Improvement:
0


Financial:
2) Have my goal amount saved in my bank account before J & I marry.
I did this.  Yay!


Domestic/Home Projects1) Get Married!
As of March 26th, I've completed this one also!  You can see pictures here.


4) Decorate the house.

There's a couple shots of our progress.  We've gotten through the common areas where guests see :)

5) Host a holiday at our house.

We hosted Mother's Day with mine and John's parents and grandparents!  It was a success and everyone seemed to have a good time!

14) Change my last name.

Check!  Mrs. W now!!

15) Find a creative way to display a 'W' in the house.

I'm not sure how creative you'd think it is, but I painted a 'W' black and arranged it between some photos.  It looks good.

Professional

0

Travel
1) Take a cruise.

Yes, you can also read about that here.

2) Go to another country.

On our honeymoon, we went to Mexico and Belize.  You can read about that here too.

11) Go tent camping.

We actually did this last weekend.  I'll try and post pictures soon.  John used his new camera, so I haven't gotten my hands on the pictures yet.

For The Fun Of It

14) See a friend get married.

My friend, Melissa, got married two weeks before we did in Jacksonville.  Her wedding was beautiful and she was absolutely gorgeous! 

15) Take a pole dancing class.

Bachelorette Party!  And it was awesome.  I totally recommend getting a group of girlfriends together and going!

17) Do some spring cleaning on all the clothes I have.

Before I moved all my stuff to John's house, I got ride of TONS of clothes.  I still have TONS of clothes, but it's much better!

18) Give my old clothes to someone in need.

Any of the clothes I got rid of that were in good condition, I donated.

33) Write thank you cards within a month of our wedding to all of our guests.

Failed.  I suck.  I'm still working on them.

41) Join a team involving some type of athletic activity.

I'm playing softball this season.  Our team name=Scared of Balls.  Hahaha.

Last Post Today... Promise?

One last post should do it for today...unless my mind needs to release more stuff.  I'm telling you, this running in the morning thing has got me going :-)

I'm joining up with Crazy*Running*Legs for the June book club and you should too!  We are going to read: 

Here's what Amazon review has to say about the book:
In the Garden of Beasts is a vivid portrait of Berlin during the first years of Hitler’s reign, brought to life through the stories of two people: William E. Dodd, who in 1933 became America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s regime, and his scandalously carefree daughter, Martha. Ambassador Dodd, an unassuming and scholarly man, is an odd fit among the extravagance of the Nazi elite. His frugality annoys his fellow Americans in the State Department and Dodd’s growing misgivings about Hitler’s ambitions fall on deaf ears among his peers, who are content to “give Hitler everything he wants.” Martha, on the other hand, is mesmerized by the glamorous parties and the high-minded conversation of Berlin’s salon society—and flings herself headlong into numerous affairs with the city’s elite, most notably the head of the Gestapo and a Soviet spy. Both become players in the exhilarating (and terrifying) story of Hitler’s obsession for absolute power, which culminates in the events of one murderous night, later known as “the Night of Long Knives.” The rise of Nazi Germany is a well-chronicled time in history, which makes In the Garden of Beasts all the more remarkable. Erik Larson has crafted a gripping, deeply-intimate narrative with a climax that reads like the best political thriller, where we are stunned with each turn of the page, even though we already know the outcome. --Shane Hansanuwat


I can't wait to read this book.  I ordered it on Amazon today and am supposed to have it tomorrow :)  Yay Amazon Prime!

Are you going to join up on the book club??  You totally should!

Project 365: Day 32-38

Lily, look cute as ever...chewing her bone

Girls Night!

R2-D2 goes to Tampa.  Bahhaha

Yummy + Healthy=Chicken Pot Pie

You can find the recipe here.  I think I added up everything I put in there and the whole dish was less than 1200 calories.  Just sayin'...

This loaded out of order, but check out the huge marshmellows.  I thought they were awesome!!!

Lily...mid burp.  She burps all the time and it's hilarious...mainly because she's so small and girly.

Hello...65 in Florida.  Yay!

So sad :(  Growing up in Florida, the space program was a big deal here.  I'm not sure how it actually affected other parts of the nation directly, but I have friends parent's losing jobs and I really think it's a shame to just let it go altogether.  I mean, what are we going to do?  Borrow Russia's era 1960 rocket if we need to fix a satellite?  Not exactly...

We wouldn't have most of the technology we have right now if it wasn't for NASA programs.  How will we improve what we have??

And it begins...

Last night: 2.3 miles in 20:16.  8:49 pace.  Ran to the gym...John promised to drive me home.  Oh and by the way, last night was beautiful out.  We only hit around 80*F yesterday.  Amazing for Florida in May!
Biceps and abs at the gym.

This morning 4 miles in 37:02.  9:16 pace.
Mile 1: 9:58
Mile 2: 9:49
Mile 3: 9:04
Mile 4: 8:41.
I know the first and last are correct.  The middle two are within seconds.  Don't have the Garmin with me, but I glanced at it before heading to work.

This morning John and I actually got up and ran.  This morning.  Big deal.  We really haven't gone out just to run in the morning before work since training for the last marathon.  Hopefully we can keep this up.  I love the feeling I get when I run in the morning.  Sure, I'm tired by the end of the day because I was up earlier, but it gets me to bed earlier (yay!) and I feel so good and energized during my work day.  Awesome!

The One Where I've Made Some Changes...

As you probably noticed, I changed the name of my blog and a bit of the layout.  I hope to make a new one soon, but for now, this will do.  I'm going to start documenting more of my runs to keep myself accountable.  I mean, I can't look like a slacker to all of you and John too :-)  And Lou Lou comes from John...Lou is my middle name that I hated as a child but have embraced since it's been passed down for generations.  The End.

June 4th, is the technical start to MarathonFest here in Orlando with a local running club called Track Shack.  They do an awesome job, especially for the community.  I was an active participant in MarathonFest my last marathon, but driving 30 minutes one way in the morning to run, made me a mean person after a while because my sleep was stolen, so I'll train in spirit during the week this go-around.  I'm going to follow some of their training program, some of another one I found through Runner's World, and, I got the book Run Less, Run Faster, so hopefully between those 3 things, I'll find a good groove that'll help me kick Savannah's trash!

Hopefully you are all having a Happy Monday!  I'll update your on our weekend hopefully tomorrow if I can grab some pictures off the camera to share with you!

The One Where I'm Annoyed...

I'm in a quite annoyed mood this week, so maybe airing my grievances will make me feel less full of annoyance...maybe.   Feel free to skip this post...I'm just venting...

-I know I harp on this a lot, but school bus drivers in my area of town don't have any regard for the other people on the road.  They stop in front of high schools and let the other buses out, for 5 minutes!  I would be ok if they'd just let out one at a time, but blocking traffic for the bus that's a 1/4 mile away...really?!
The worst offense is allowing the kids that ride your bus to get on the bus AFTER the lights have gone off.  I see it all the time in our neighborhood, but the bus driver will turn the lights off and start to move and instantly put them on again because a kid is jumping out of their parents car.  And then another.  And another.  When I was younger and rode the bus, if you weren't there, you weren't getting a ride from the bus to school.  She did not care that she could see you walking to the bus stop, if you were not at the stop, you missed the bus.  We learned responsibility that way.  You didn't miss the bus twice.  I learned that lesson when I was 11.  These kids that are doing this are in high school.  They are rude.  And this gripe makes me sound old.  Whatever.

-I'm annoyed with our wedding photographers.  After a month and a half of promises many times for pictures to come on specific dates, we finally get them over a month after the first promised date.  We have some nice pictures, but a lot of them are not well done.  We honestly have better pictures from friends than our photographers for the most part.  They did not adjust the spacing with the bridal party, they cut people's head's off for 'art's sake', and they freaking read a "Photography For Dummies" book during the photo process are our wedding.

Like whoa.  You can't charge that much and read that book while you're doing our pictures.  They were unorganized, didn't take charge, didn't adjust anything to look better in pictures...they just let it all go.  Oh, and for our beach wedding, they had sunshades, but decided not to bring them out until we were basically done taking pictures, so there's a lot of squinting in there because we had to face the sun. all. the. time.  I don't have one good full on bridal portrait because I'm squinting too much.  Then, when I asked about all the heads being chopped off and if they kept other pictures with people's full faces in them, she looked at me like I was stupid, and said 'No, that's the style of the photograph'.  Who wants their dad and husband's head cut 1/2 off when he's handing you off during your wedding ceremony?  I understand that some can be artsy, but that wasn't the representation we got from the other pictures, nor the moment in a wedding to be artsy. You're artsy with the bridal party pictures, the couple pictures, shoes and rings.  Not the ceremony shots. And when I look, they have better pictures from most of their other weddings.  One of the photographers was even crying at the wedding in a corner after disappearing 15,000 times.  (I understand personal issues and all, but that was really just the icing on the cake)  The worst part is we had dinner and were clear about what we wanted...at least I thought we were after the two hour conversation we had.

-I'm annoyed by people that think their time is more valuable than mine...or that just have expectations from you because they want to do something, so automatically you have to want to do it.  No.  Not true.

-I'm annoyed by people who ask for money...and then are pushy about it.  I'm a Christian and grew up in church but religious groups are the worst.  I can definitely see why people get turned off to church and God when people are trying to shove their ideas down your throat while trying to get your money to fund their organization.  Why not just share with people what you are doing and give them a link if they decide they want to donate.  Do you really want to strong arm people into giving to God?  Because...I'm pretty sure that's not what He wants.

-I'm in a funk with work right now and have to force myself to stay motivated...which is hard sometimes.  I'm working on something that is usually my favorite project of the year right now and I can't seem to get into it.  I think I just have a lot of pressure and the fun stuff seems trivial (although it is necessary to our company's marketing) when we're trying to get more work because construction is still slow and sucks.

-I'm annoyed by mean girls...

You know...the ones in real life.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here...

If you actually made it through my bitchy little post...thanks for reading.  Some days, the annoyance just gets the best of me.

Pour Some Summer On Me!

Go sign up with Aly!

Project 365: Days 28-31

The movie screen at Thor after it melted and tore.




Beautiful day on the lake!




Tent in the house-oh yea!




Oh what a beautiful mooorrrrnnning, oh what a beautiful day...

Tidbits...

-Janae aka Hungry Runner Girl, is having a giveaway!  Check it out!!

Borrowed from Janae

-School buses are my nemesis.  Today, a school bus stopped to allow 10 buses to come out of a school and stop traffic for 5 minutes during morning rush hour.  We already have to wait on them on the road while picking up children, can't they just let us by and wait on us for once?!

-I wasn't feeling too well yesterday, exhaustion mixed with allergies I believe was the culprit.  I decided to run anyway, even though the couch was calling to me.  I ended up with a pretty decent easy run.  6 miles in 56:47.  I ran the first few really slow and started feeling a little more 'pick up the pace-ish'.  But by mile 6, my lungs started to constrict and I felt like the treadmill was pinned against my chest so I had to stop.  I wanted to get to 7, but when you start wheezing, it's no good.

-I wakeboarded for the first time this year on Saturday!  It was fantastic and once I got my footing again, I actually got decent air for myself :)  Yay summer!

-Right now, we've got a tent set up in our house.  We wanted to be sure that the tent didn't appear to have any holes before taking it camping.  I want to have a sleep over in it, but the cloud (my awesome bed's name) keeps calling me upstairs.  I can't wait to use it!  Hurry camping weekend :)

-Tonight, I'm going to see Something Borrowed with the ladies!

I can't wait!!!  Oh, and I'm having Chick-fil-A for dinner.  Life doesn't get much better for me than that :)

-Speaking of movies...we went and saw Thor this weekend.

I loved it!  I didn't have any expectation for the movie, I just knew that I like the Marvel movies and it did not disappoint.  It was a bit different just because the story line is a bit more mystical than a lot of their other movies, but I thought it was well worth it.  Minus the screen melting and ripping during the movie...oops.

-In about a month, serious marathon training starts.  Woo hoo!  I love having goals.

-Off to lunch.  I love lunchtime :)

Project 365: Days 24-27

Yummy chicken fried rice I cooked for dinner.

Not a picture, but a video of Lily rolling over.


Ride behind these stupid things almost everyday and they're so frustratingly slow.



One thing I love about being up early is the sunrise. They're always different but always beautiful.

I *heart* good runs!

Last night was a good night at the gym.  I love having nights like that.  I got through my shoulders and tri's workout rather quickly and felt the burn, baby!  Pushed out some leg press...and for the record, the weight I had on the leg press was the same as some of the annoying boys in the gym last week...small victory for me!  

Then, I had a good run.  Well...that was, of course, after I knocked my stupid phone off when I caught the cord with my arm swing.  The phone flew off the treadmill and almost hit a lady. You could see in her face that she felt bad for me looking ridiculous...I hurdle-jumped to avoid stepping on my phone and then almost fell off because I stepped wrong while the treadmill was slowing down all while trying to grab my phone from her...AND end scene.  That was only 1/2 mile into my run, so I jumped back on and cranked up the speed without my music because apparently, I flail my arms when I run like a maniac, and I finished out my 4 miles.  I lost some time with the slowing down, grabbing phone and speeding up and I finished in 36 minutes.  The run felt good.  I've had trouble with good runs lately, but I had one Sunday and yesterday, so hopefully we're on a roll!

Tail Wagging Tuesday!

Link up with CMae!

Today is all about the looks:

 "This is the life..."

 "Back off B!"

 The crazed, "I want people food" look.

Happy Lily

 Sad Lily

So tired...why am I awake?