On Wednesday, Derek and I met my parents at Citizen's Bank Park for the Phillie's game against the Cleveland Indians. It was all in all a fun night. It was sooo hot-- almost 100 degrees out and we were sweating like none other. I stood up at one point and realized that the back of my pants were SOAKED with sweat. ... I looked like I had pissed myself! :( But eventually it dried and the night cooled down as the sun set. The Phillie's did well and it was a delightfully close game, which made it worth watching. We snacked on soft pretzels and popcorn and my Mom even bought me a Phillie's P to go on the back of my car. Yay!
But, by far the most entertaining and bizarre moment of the night was the halftime mascot non-sense. Usually a team's mascot won't travel with it when they leave town but because they're "friends" the Indian's mascot "Slider" came to visit the Phanatic. Well.. at one point it got a little awkward. Luckily, someone caught it on video and uploaded it onto Youtube. So now I can share it with you! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWJs3OQwmEU
Tune in next time for a brand new... list! :O
Well, I've got 9 days left in my 30 in 30 challenge. I know I am going to fail one of them (the 5K one) since that's out of the question now. :( But instead that day I am going to fulfill another one that's not bolded yet... which is go to a Phillies game! My rents are coming up and we're going on a double date to the ball game. Should be fun.
This past weekend I bought patio furniture for the front porch... but also a cool picnic table for the backyard! I'm super excited! Today I came home from work and Derek had set the whole chairs and table set up on the porch. It looks so cute! I really want to hang some Christmas lights or something to give it a little glitter. Haha.
I also went swimming with the oh-so-lovely Little Miss Scatterbrained. I got burnt though. :(
Hopefully I'll get that bike ride in soon.
Also I've been going through some life changes and while I'm relieved in a way.. I am also nervous. Curious? Inquire within. :P
1. Run a 5K!
2. Give Derek a haircut
3. Do a puzzle
4. Go for a bike ride
5. Make jam with peeps
6. Buy patio furniture
7. Learn a new recipe
8. Try some of the recipes in the HG books
9. Eat some fondue
10. Plant flowers in the front garden
11. Go to the library
12. Get a library card
13. Find a new book series to read
14. Cook something over an open fire
15. See Sex and the City with Kara @ Lil Miss Wisecracker
16. Go to the Schwenksville carnival!
17. Go to the Greek festival in Audubon with Jason
18. See people from P-Bread
19. Get icecream at a local icecream shoppe
20. Go swimming!
21. Go to a Phillies game
22. Have a picnic
23. Make a fairie world in my garden, hehehe.
24. Throw a girl's night in party with healthy snacks-- yummmmm!
25. Go to a yard sale
26. Make a bird feeder
27. Make homemade icecream
28. Try a new restaurant
29. Take Derek to see Eastern's campus
30. Go geocaching!
It's been a crazy week. Last weekend was fun but didn't give me much time to "chill". I felt like I needed another weekend right after all the jam packed fun we had. But the week started non-the-less. I got a glorious night to myself on Tuesday when Derek went to NJ to visit his Mum. I came home from work, watched the Bachelorette (finally all caught up! haha), then ventured out to the library. The Schwenksville library people are soooooo much nicer. And I finally got a library card! The woman was so sweet and she was asking me what kind of books I like and we got to talking about how I'm going back to school soon and she was like "Well let me know if you need any books! This library is small (insert: friggin tiny) but I can always have books transferred over for you." She rocked. And I did pick up a couple of books to read. The one I'm reading now...
"The Boy Next Door" by Meg Cabot. She's cool and has a quirky sense of humor. And the whole book is a series of emails which is different and fun. I did find a few series I want to read (yay for checking off another thing from my 30 list!) but I couldn't find the books in the small ass S-ville library. Maybe someday next week I'll try looking in the E-ville library.
Starting on Wednesday my week got painfully insane. Work got crazy busy and we started coming in at 6am and sometimes not leaving until after 3. Generally I was working 9 hr days. One day I worked a 10.5 hr day. I could hardly walk when I got home. Blah! This in turn has meant that my running has suffered. It's hard to run when you feel like you can barely walk. Plus a couple of rainy days here and there made me miss a couple. So now I'm behind in training for my 5K and am really doubting that I'll be able to do it.
I went out running just now and my goal was to do 2 miles. Rather than concentrate on the time, I was trying to do mileage. Because a 5K isn't "run for 30 mins", it's "run for 3.1 miles". Well... I failed. Running mileage is so different than time because when you run for 20 mins it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go because you have to run the same amount of time. So I would usually just take it easy and go pretty slow. Well if I want to do this 5K without having to run for 45 mins straight I knew I needed to pick up my pace. And when running mileage it's tempting to go faster so that you're finished sooner. Well, I started out really good... but kinda fast. I was probably running a good 3 mins faster than normal. Well as you can imagine that didn't last too long. I did slow down after a while and then when I hit the 1.5 mile mark I just stopped. I had this awful pain in my side, I was bent over this railing trying not to puke or pass out. It sucked. :( I was hoping to just breathe for a minute and then keep going but I couldn't run anymore so I just walked the rest of the way home. It was so discouraging and now I really don't know if I can do the 5K. I can hardly run 1.5 miles... let alone doubling that. I dunno, it's frustrating. I could maybe do it if I just went slower but again...then I'd be running for like 45 mins. And the longest I've run so far has been 20. So...to double that time or to double that mileage... each way seems impossible. Ugh, depressing.
The good news is that I have been doing really well at accomplishing my list. I planted flowers in the front but most of them have died already. I don't think they get enough sun. And then downpour raining has ripped a lot of the flower heads off. It's a little frustrating since I put a lot of time and money into it. Oh well. At least I can check that off my list.
1. Run a 5K! (June 23rd baby)
2. Give Derek a haircut
3. Do a puzzle
4. Go for a bike ride
5. Make jam with peeps
6. Buy patio furniture
7. Learn a new recipe
8. Try some of the recipes in the HG books
9. Eat some fondue
10. Plant flowers in the front garden
11. Go to the library
12. Get a library card
13. Find a new book series to read
14. Cook something over an open fire
15. See Sex and the City with Kara @ Lil Miss Wisecracker
16. Go to the Schwenksville carnival!
17. Go to the Greek festival in Audubon with Jason
18. See people from P-Bread
19. Get icecream at a local icecream shoppe
20. Go swimming!
21. Go to a Phillies game
22. Have a picnic
23. Make a fairie world in my garden, hehehe.
24. Throw a girl's night in party with healthy snacks-- yummmmm!
25. Go to a yard sale
26. Make a bird feeder
27. Make homemade icecream
28. Try a new restaurant
29. Take Derek to see Eastern's campus
30. Go geocaching!
This weekend Derek and I are going to make homemade icecream and cook over our "new" firepit. So that will be two more! I am also hoping to go for a bike ride tomorrow morning on the Perk trail.
Oh, and, guess what? Today is mine and Derek's 7 month! :D
Sooo... out of 30... I've completed 8! And it's only the 6th! I think I'm doing pretty darn good. :)
I'll steal from Gen and highlight the ones I've done.
1. Run a 5K! (June 23rd baby)
2. Give Derek a haircut
3. Do a puzzle
4. Go for a bike ride
5. Make jam with peeps
6. Buy patio furniture
7. Learn a new recipe
8. Try some of the recipes in the HG books
9. Eat some fondue
10. Plant flowers in the front garden
11. Go to the library
12. Get a library card
13. Find a new book series to read
14. Cook something over an open fire
15. See Sex and the City with Kara @ Lil Miss Wisecracker
16. Go to the Schwenksville carnival!
17. Go to the Greek festival in Audubon with Jason
18. See people from P-Bread
19. Get icecream at a local icecream shoppe
20. Go swimming!
21. Go to a Phillies game
22. Have a picnic
23. Make a fairie world in my garden, hehehe.
24. Throw a girl's night in party with healthy snacks-- yummmmm!
25. Go to a yard sale
26. Make a bird feeder
27. Make homemade icecream
28. Try a new restaurant
29. Take Derek to see Eastern's campus
30. Go geocaching!
Friday night I went to the Greek festival with Jason, Brittany and Kara. We were hyper crazy and it was awesome. The fair itself was kinda blah but we had fun with the frog game and watching the Greek people dance. Opa!!
Then we decided to get icecream at a local icecream shop and it was yummmmm. Kara and I split a banana split (whoooo! Is that why it's called a banana split? lol!) J had to leave us to head to work so it left Britt, Kara and I to figure out if we should go home... or keep our random night going. We kept going! Off to Wawa for snacks and then to the movie theatre to see a late night showing of Sex and the City 2. Which was just barely okay. And then we ended the night with a shopping trip at 2am. It was awesome.
Saturday I slept like allll day and then D and I went to the Schwenksville carnival. It was about as exciting as the Greek one--- only this one had shaved ice and a ferris wheel.... which we both took part in. It wasn't bad. Then we got chinese and snuggled in for the night to watch some Firefly.
Now on this muggy Sunday, me and my three besties are going to pick strawberries and make jam! And I made an HG recipe to bring along to our canning party (jam session). Cold cuts + bean and cheese dip + sangria + besties = yay!
It's June now so there's only 30 days-- which is okay since I'm having a hard time coming up with 30 things anyhow. But I wanted to join in the fun! Here we goooo!
1. Run a 5K! (June 23rd baby)
2. Give Derek a haircut
3. Do a puzzle
4. Go for a bike ride
5. Make jam with peeps
6. Buy patio furniture
7. Learn a new recipe
8. Try some of the recipes in the HG books
9. Eat some fondue
10. Plant flowers in the front garden
11. Go to the library
12. Get a library card
13. Find a new book series to read
14. Cook something over an open fire
15. See Sex and the City with Kara @ Lil Miss Wisecracker
16. Go to the Schwenksville carnival!
17. Go to the Greek festival in Audubon with Jason
18. See people from P-Bread
19. Get icecream at a local icecream shoppe
20. Go swimming!
21. Go to a Phillies game
22. Have a picnic
23. Make a fairie world in my garden, hehehe.
24. Throw a girl's night in party with healthy snacks-- yummmmm!
25. Go to a yard sale
26. Make a bird feeder
27. Make homemade icecream
28. Try a new restaurant
29. Take Derek to see Eastern's campus
30. Go geocaching!
I tried to do numbero 12 today. That's get a library card. (Technically I did number 11-- I went to the library!) But they gave me a hard time about getting a library card because they needed proof of my residence but since my drivers license doesn't say that... nor does anything else I had on my person, I failed. Which was frustrating because I really want a book to read. Especially since it's supposed to be all rainy.
I'll probably try again tomorrow. Only this time I'll bring with me some mail. Muahaha!
The other day Derek and I were wandering around a Barnes and Noble (looove it!) and I stumbled across this fun looking book called "200 under 200" by Lisa Lillien... also known as Hungry Girl. This book has 200 recipes for meals, appetizers, desserts, dips and all types of snacky things.. all for under 200 calories. :O So naturally, I HAD to buy it. There are recipes in there for red velvet cupcakes(!), frozen coffee drinks, wraps, burritos, tacos and a whole section of faux-fried recipes... including one for MOZZ STICKS!!! For under 200 cals?! Can you believe it? I want to die. This is so fantastic!
What's even better than all this? Hungry-girl.com. Go there. Now. There are free recipes for all kinds of awesome stuff. Also, she does what she calls a "swap" where you see a fav restaurant recipe and it's nutritional information and then the HG version and the difference of nutrition. The one I almost peed my pants ate? CPK's BBQ chicken pizza. The HG version is only 340 calories... compared to the 1,136 in CPK's. Seriously freaking epic.
I hope changing my name didn't screw it up for any of you. I will try to get a hold of you in other ways, but it says you're still following me so that's good, I guess. Haha. So what do you think?
I love it! :D
So I started my new job today. It's been a strange process trying to get back to the normal 9-5 lifestyle. Last night I only got 2.5 hours of sleep (ugh!) but this is partly due to the fact that Derek and I just lied in bed talking on and on. It was kinda cute. But I digress...
New job today. Still hasn't set in that I'm done at Panera. Or that I'll be going back to work at Apple Spice tomorrow and the next day (and the next day....). I was super nervous this whole week about starting and yesterday I was a wreck with anxiety. But I had my coffee this morning and got to listen to the Elvis Durin Morning Show (yay!) on my way to work. All the stress was for nothing... Turns out, I'm awesome. I kicked butt at making salads today and they seemed very impressed at how fast I was picking it all up.
It was a little frustrating at times because they would say "Go get a six pan" or "Sanitize the drain sink and then grab a turkey and a ham and drain them"... and my brain would go "HUH?!" I didn't really get training per se. It was more like they told me really fast what I had to do and then I had to do it. And figure it out along the way. Had I not had the Panera experience I would've drowned. But thanks to P-bread, I'm fast and can generally comprehend kitchen speak. It got easier once I got down some key phrases they all like to use. I asked a lot of questions but no one minded and everyone was super nice. I was kinda losing patience at the end though because people started going home and I was still being told to do this and do that... and ended up staying and working for a total of 9 hours. (Oh, that includes a 15 minute lunch break-- which was the only time I sat all day)
I came home exhausted but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. 1) I'll have had more rest. 2) It won't be a crazy Monday. 3) We'll be more staffed (one girl called out sick today)... and 4) I won't feel so lost this time! Which is a big yay!
I feel pretty good about it. Still lots to learn but already I feel like I have a huge grasp on things and it's only day 1! All in all, good day. Once I finally got to go home at the end of the day. ;)
Last night on my night off I went on a cleaning frenzy. Starting with the bathroom.. I cleaned everywhere. The kitchen and the living room. Even the office and pantry got straightened up. I finally hung up the clothes I had been meaning too. And vacuumed! I was so proud. And the house looks so nice and clean. :) And the best part is that now I want to keep it clean. After breakfast instead of leaving the dishes around or in the sink they went right into the dishwasher. And I've noticed I've been picking up after myself. Or making sure not to throw clothes on the floor but in the hamper or hang them up. I'm psyched. It feels awesome. I hope it lasts, hahaha.
So I found this awesome website with funny/cool pictures. So if you're bored at work-- here you go! :)
http://myfoodlooksfunny.com
For anyone who doesn't know yet... I put in my two weeks notice at Panera and am starting a new job at a catering company called Apple Spice Junction. The hours (from 7am-3pm) are going to work perfect for when I go to grad school in the fall. It's also a Monday- Friday job so I'll have weekends free! And holidays off! And nights to hang out with friends! :D I'm super excited about starting and am counting down the days. (14!) Hehe.
Anyway, that's all that's really new. Adios!
Two days ago I had a sad running day. It was hot, I hadn't eaten much before we went... and I failed. I was pushing myself too hard, trying to do hills at the same time I was increasing my time. It just didn't work. At one point I was pushing and pushing to run fast up and over this hill and when I got to the top, even though I still had a minute to run to make my time, my body just stopped. I felt so discouraged that the rest of the 15 mins, I just walked. I felt like such a failure and it just became so apparent how much of running (or any exercise for the matter) is a mind game.
Today was better, I am glad to be able to say. First off-- it's nice and cool today and the wind felt good while running. I ate beforehand and I didn't try any hills-- just went my normal route and ran 3 mins, 2 walked, etc.
Also, my new secret weapon:
Aren't they sexy? :) Got them for 95 bucks and boy do they make a difference! My feet feel great! Takes a little getting used to but it was definitely worth the money... considering how many miles I'm going to get out of them. w00t!
At the beginning of my time running today I had been vocalizing my fears as far as possibly failing again today. Derek said, "Just do something for 30 mins and end on a good note" So that's what I did! I did my normal R3/W2 routine but at the end decided to push myself and I ran 5 mins! After that 3 min hump, it got easier and felt good. I ended on a good note for the day and the week and now I'm excited to start my 4 mins of running next week! :)
So my new favorite breakfast thing? Fruit smoothies. They're so yummy, refreshing and totally healthy! Plus, so easy to make.
The trick is to use frozen fruit. It's really great because there's no prep involved! No need to slice any fruit beforehand. And it's fairly cheap for a big bag at the grocery store. So last week I got a bag of mixed berries and a bag of mixed tropical fruit (mango, pineapple, kiwi, papaya...) and have been loving it.
Also, if you have any bananas that are getting too ripe you can throw them in your freezer to save for smoothies!
There's no need for ice if the fruit is frozen. From there on-- it's just some frozen fruit, half a cup of milk (I love it with the Vanilla Soy) and bleeeeeeeend! You can also use fruit juice, or yogurt or icecream (although that kills it's healthy factor).
Very yummy indeed!
For months I've been thinking and talking about running. I've read a lot about how running is the simplest way to get healthy, to get in shape and to lose weight. But running never seemed simple to me. I could never understand why anyone would ever want to just go.... run. I always thought it would be boring and figured running without a destination seemed silly. So instead I choose the elliptical or the stationery bikes at the gym. Talk about going nowhere!
I had tried running in high school. I knew a girl who dropped weight like CRAZY and when I asked how she did it-- she said she simply started running. Sounded simple enough so one morning I got up earlier before school-- drank a fruit smoothie and headed out in my neighborhood. Within minutes I was bent over gasping for air, feeling like a failure. My lungs couldn't handle this! I blamed it on "sports asthma" and gave up on the idea.
Come to find out.... six years later... I had taken the completely wrong approach. Of course I couldn't just start running out my front door full speed ahead! Our bodies can't go from sedentary to full motion; they need time to adjust. So, with the help of my boy (who is a runner), I did some research, read up a lot and started running two weeks ago.
Wow! The difference it makes when you pace yourself! Everything I read said to start a successful running program you had to start with a run/walk program. And that's what I did. Starting from scratch most people can run at least 30 seconds without stopping. Since I walk around for 8 hours at work-- I figured I could run for a minute straight. Let me tell you-- going from 30 seconds to 60 seconds seems like such a small addition of time. But at 40 seconds I was dying for 60 to come. Then I would walk for two minutes before running another minute.
But it always got easier. The first day my legs were sooooo sore and my heart felt like it was gonna beat right out of my chest! But the second and third and fourth day only got easier. And it's incredible how much more beneficial running is to any other exercise I've ever done! After running the muscles in my legs were sore... but also in my abs and arms and places I didn't even know I had muscles! Most specifically right behind my ankle. How weird!
What's even weirder is how much I love it! And how I still want to go every time. Today I was scheduled to run 1:30 then walk 2 mins... do this 8 times then at the end try to run for 2 mins. Derek was running alongside me at the end and I was distracted and when I looked down at the clock I realized I had run for 2:30 and the car was in sight so Derek said, "Just run to the car then you can stop". By the time I got to the car it was 2:40 and my curiousity got the best of me.... Could I run for 3 mins straight? 20 more seconds was all it would take. And I did it! When that 3 min mark hit I felt like dying but at the same time I was SO proud! Just earlier that day I had thought it impossible to run for 1.5 mins and then at the end had doubled my time! What a fantastic feeling! I almost cried, haha.
So much of running is a mind game. Now when I go back out to run, three minutes won't seem so impossible since I know I've done it at least once. And in a couple of weeks when I'm running for 10 mins straight (which seems CRAZY right now), it will be cool to look back to this day and remember how proud I was over 3 mins. How cool. :)
I've had this page open all weekend in hopes of posting but I never did get around to it. In fact, I didn't get around to much this weekend. It's been a gloomy last few days. I'm not sure why either, but I think others have been feeling it too-- despite the gorgeous weather. I think that might actually make it worse.
Friday I was invited out to a picnic and although I wanted to go very badly-- I only had about an hour of warning and had already been trying to do a million things that day. I was all set to cancel my current plans to attend when I realized I was just too stressed and on the verge of tears and really not wanting to leave the house. It was just too much in too little time and so I collapsed under my own depressed state. I also in the midst of all the craziness received some bad news.
For the past couple of days I had been attempting to train two new trainees at Panera. It was an experiment to see how possible it was since we are very short staffed and wanting to get people up and running as soon as possible. Well, I had put a lot of effort and time into getting everything ready and thinking up ways to make it all work. Then I had actually put in the four nights of working with two trainees at once. And I was very tired. As one of my trainees put it-- each night I was essentially thinking for three people at once. It was exhausting.
And right as I was trying to collect myself to rush out the door on Friday-- I get the news that one of my trainees quit. It was just heart breaking. And I almost feel stupid because it mattered so much to me but it did. I immediately burst into tears. I felt like a failure of a trainer and all the stress of training and being tired... it just seemed to have gone to waste. From then on it was just a waste of a day... burried in my own self-depricating pathetic state.
Saturday and Sunday were better although I, of course, regretted not going to the picnic on Friday since I knew I had missed the chance to see my friends. And I pretty much sat in front of the tv both days wasting away. I kept looking out the window-- I knew it was gorgeous outside and I knew that if I could just manage to get up I'd be happy but it just didn't happen. So I spent the weekend glued to the tv (although in the process I did discover a pretty cool movie called Under the Tuscan Sky). It's all this vicous cycle of "I'm tired, I want to rest" but then when you rest you just feel more tired and more in need of resting. I also ate a lot of junk which probably added to my inactivity.
But alas! The weekend is over and I did wake up positive this morning. Despite the storm and the rain squelching my plans to go running (I'll have to post about that one of these days...) I am looking forward to the rest of the night. I have plans to cook and clean and hopefully both of those will happen. And even if I do spend the night in front of the tv wasting away-- at least I don't have the added guilt of wasting a nice spring day with friends. Plus, I will get to see them on Wednesday so it all seems a little more bearable.
I'm stealing this idea from my BFF Kara over at LilMissWisecracker.com! She uses 6 words to sum up her day or her week or sometimes seasons of life. I love the idea because it's perfect for days like this one where I want to post but have nothing to say. So here we go! My 6 word memoir of today!
Heating pad induced sleep cures cramps! :)
Hi friends. I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this post. Or are dreading to read what it could be about, haha.
I have terrible luck. Especially in the medical sense. Almost all of my major sicknesses/surgeries have been a bought of bad luck. Appendicitis, cyst, and the most recent... abscess on my tonsils are all things that occur randomly without any real cause. And I always seem to get these things.
To make matters worse with the tonsil debacle... I'm apparently allergic to penicillin or something in that antibiotic because I broke out into hives about a week ago when I was nearly the end of taking it. But of course that can't be the end of my troubles... The antibiotics strike again and as a result I'm left with a yeast infection.
So.. angry vagina. On top of having my period. Go figures.
I've been thinking of joining the "Lil Miss movement" with my bffs Britt (Little Miss Scatterbrained) and Kara (Lil Miss Wisecracker). But I need to think of a name for mine! Got any ideas?
Here are some of mine:
Lil Miss Spazz Attack
Little Miss Bakerette
As you can see... I don't have a lot. Hahaha. So pleeeaaassssse help! :)
Look, I'm posting! :P And I changed my layout-- isn't it pretty? I'll probably do that a lot as I get bored with them quickly.
It's 8am on a Saturday morning and I can't sleep in. :( It might be the combination of going to bed too early (3am-- which is early for me) and the fact that I'm lying in bed thinking of all the things I still need to get done this week.
Snow + getting sick + having oral surgery and being knocked out for a couple of days really puts you behind in stuff. And this weekend is busy with parties which are fun but obviously time consuming. I still have a million scholarships to apply for and other various grad school stuff. I also (maybe foolishly) agreed to help a friend with a baby book she's making and told her I'd make a bunch of fish by March. On Monday I start a new trainee at Panera. His name is Josh and while I haven't met him yet, Derek tells me he's a talker. So that should be interesting. Training is fun but I have some things I need to do in preparation before Monday comes rolling around. Busy busy!
Is it time for a vacation yet? Derek and I have been thinking about where to go on vacation since we don't want to waste the time doing something boring like sitting at home all day. Any ideas? So far we've been throwing around the idea of going to Vegas or Florida. His g-ma lives in Florida but I think a lot of the appeal there would be Disney World (I've never been!) and I'm not sure how expensive the plane ticket and the Disney World stuff and all that could get. Also-- we might only be able to get four days off together. Could be complicated. We have some time to figure it out-- he doesn't get more vacation days until his work anniversary rolls around in April. Maybe we'll go somewhere cool for our 6 month anniversary. :)
Okay, I've rambled enough. And I just might be sufficiently tired enough to go back to bed. So we'll see. Thanks for reading and I proooooommmmmiiiiissssseeeee I'll try to keep up with this more!
Lots of love to you all!!
~Amy
