YES! YES! YES! And Friday Randoms

Hey friends!! I can’t believe it’s been a week since we’ve last hung out!!  Life gets super crazy sometimes!!  Which is why you get a life update in bullet points… isn’t that your favorite?! ;)

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1.  Have you ever had someone you really look up to …. oh let’s say like the upbeat, optimistic person who always wins 1st overall in all the local 5ks… ask you to work out with them??!!  I have!!

At first (I was afraid I was petrified…) I was like:

Then I realized she was serious!

 

Of course I said:

She paid to have me come as a guest to her gym… I’ve never been to an actual gym gym before!  (My old college doesn’t count) So yesterday I met up with her and we did about 1 1/2 hours of arms and abs… IT. WAS. GREAT!!  She was fun to hang out with and it was so much fun to workout with someone other than myself! She kicked my butt!!  I am indeed sore today!

2. I got a couple fun packages in the mail last week… can’t wait to share them with you!! Look for a couple reviews and a giveaway in the next week or two!

 

3. Just in case it is ever in question, I do in fact work hard and earn my pay at work! ;) Yes that IS playdough… why do you ask?! ;)

4.  I made it on to the Top 100 Running Blogs list for 2014!! (I’m #83) Holy Guacamole!! I feel honored to be listed with so many other great bloggers that I look up to!  Who would be on your top 100?

5.  Some seniors at the school at work for came around and handed out these flowers.  The pot says they are Azaleas but one of the other teachers insisted that it was a Geranium… Do any of you have any opinions or know what it is?  I do not have a green thumb…

 

6.  I was invited to be a guest over on Alicia’s Blog, Never Ever Been Skinny.  Go check it out!! :) 

7.  I haven’t watched ANY of the Winter Olympics this year… not even a minute!! Does that make me a bad person?  Go USA! lol.. have you been watching?  What’s your favorite event?

8.  I have some exciting news!! Can’t wait to share an update with you all on my dream becoming a reality!! :)

What are some randoms from your week?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Back to Work I Go

Well, Working in the field of education, you get a well deserved 2 week Christmas Break!!  I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Especially since we got 2 snow days tacked on to our vacation yesterday and today!! ;)

The time was well spent… doing nothing but relaxing!!!  And having a Star Wars movie marathon!!

BUT… and you may think I’m crazy for saying this…. BUT… I’m ready to go back to work!! I’m ready to get my life back in to some sort of a routine!!

I always feel better when I’m semi busy doing things instead of lounging around the house like I have been for the past 2 weeks (and 2 days) lol!

I feel better, I sleep better, I eat better, I manage my time better, I exercise better…

I’m ready to get back to life!! :)

 

Do you do better with routine?

Christmas Card Swap Update

Hey guys! I’m writing this from my phone… I haven’t gotten on my computer since about mid-November…

Seeing how this happened…

it’s sucked out all of my time and energy!! (while working 3 jobs!)

SO… I’m a little behind on the Christmas Card Swap Updates!  I’m hoping to have you in groups and email out by Wednesday/Thursday night! Sorry for the delay but life is happening at “Full Speed Ahead” right now!! lol… Thanks for understanding!  I promise you that the Valentine Day Card Swap will be more organized!

Stay tuned for the whole moving story this weekend!!

Why I’ve Been Missing and Card Swap Reminder

Wow…

So I’ve been missing AGAIN from blogworld… but I’m not going to apologize…

I just wanted to check in real quick to let you all know that I’m doing ok…I’ve just been super busy!!

60+ hour work weeks, still working out 2-4 times a week, getting sick (thank you preschoolers), spending a couple hours a week with hubby, oh… and I happened to join 4… FOUR… yoga challenges on Instagram! lol… What was I thinking?!

I’ll share a couple pictures of some of the poses I did for the challenges so far (if you want to see all of them then you can go follow me on instagram here):

I really have grown fond of yoga! :)  I believe it’s a really important role in my overall fitness!!  I want to try to find some classes but I think the closest might be 45 minutes away…

How far have you driven to join a fitness class??

Well… there’s a quick excuse of why I’ve been missing… Keep an eye out for some reviews coming up (that are way past due) ..whoops! Also, a knee update and perhaps a blog giveaway hop!

ALSO… Go sign up for the 2013 Christmas Card Swap!!! Sign ups close December 5th, so signup before you forget about it!! :)

Have you ever taken fitness classes?
Do you practice yoga?
How far have you driven to take a fitness class?
When you’re busy do you try to make blogging a priority?

What Was I Thinking?!

Well hello there my friends!!  It’s so good to be able to spend a little bit of time with you all today!!  I’ve been catching up on all of your blogs and you all seem to be just as busy as I am!! 

If you remember a few weeks back… when I actually had a little bit of time to blog… I told you all that I would have 4 jobs starting this fall… Let me just recap for you:

1. Restaurant Job (Nights and Weekends) 
   [I asked for an old job back when I was jobless… read about it HERE]
2. ASL Interpreter (On Call 24/7) 
   [I signed up with one agency… hopefully more in the future!!]
3. Preschool Educational Aide (Monday through Thursdays) 
   [Job I was doing in May… now full-time tho!]
4. Substitute Teacher (Fridays) 
   [I can now sub for any interpreters in the area as well as teachers!!]

Well, since then I have signed up with one more interpreting agency.  I have not yet worked for them as my schedule is super busy!!  The past couple weeks I’ve been working 60+ hour weeks!  Having 40 hours by Wednesday night!  CRAZY!!  I’m just a tad tired … and now sick… BUT I’m still feeling super blessed as you can read in this post from back in July.

Let me recap a few things from these past couple of weeks:

3 weeks ago I had new employee training and beginning of the school year meetings all week long! We were emailed before our training and this is what it said:

Please dress comfortably with closed-toe shoes. There
will be a lot of physical movement required and close
contact with other participants.

Sure I’ll wear jeans and my Brooks Pure Flows to work… no problem!!! ;)  I also made sure I had plenty of deodorant on too!

I got to eat outside a couple days and the weather was gorgeous! (the minion on my banana made me smile!)

They even fed us lunch one day:

The next week we walked into the classroom and had boxes piled to above my head with no walking space and it took us that whole week to unpack and get everything situated and ready for the kids the following week!  Let me tell you… I prolly spent a whole day laminating and cutting things out! lol… it was a lot of work, but by Thursday it actually looked like a preschool classroom!

Then, this past Monday was the day I had been waiting for… the kiddos first day of school!!!  (Notice the difference in clothing from training to first day of school!) ;)

What?! Thanks for noticing!! I did indeed get my ratty birds nest hair chopped off! It had been a year since I got it cut and i figured it was about time because no amount of detangler would untangle that mess anymore!  I wanted it to be longer, but you know the deal.. you tell them an inch they take 6… am I right?!! :-P

Anyways… so working 14 hour days (8 at pre-k and 6 at DQ after that) kinda did me in and then getting hugs and snot wiped on you doesn’t help and now i’m sick… I’ve been downing the water and vitamin C hoping to get rid of it as soon as possible!! I didn’t get a whole lot of working out in, but once I get more accustomed to my crazy schedule I’m sure I’ll be able to get my workouts in!!

How was your week?

How long do you go between haircuts?

What do you do for a living? Work more than one job?

#WhatsUpWithThatAsana and Preview

Work work work! That’s what I feel like I’m doing 24/7!  Maybe because the past 2 weeks I’ve worked 60+ hour weeks!

Talk about exhausted! … and now sick too!

I’m heading to bed early tonight but be prepared for some blogging (hopefully) this weekend!

 

Here’s a sneak peak/preview of what’s to come:

     ~ Working and no sleep = catching cold

     ~ Knee update

     ~ Becoming an aspiring yogi (#whatsupwiththatasana)

     ~ Giveaways

     ~ Maybe a whole post on Nuun… we’ll see ;)

 

Happy almost Friday! ;)

Whoopsy Daisy, Sweat Pink Ambassador, and My Big 2-6! :)

Ok… a lot… A LOT has been going on in my life and I feel like I should share!! I think this is going to be done in list format… here we go!!!

NEW ADDITION TO THE BLOG

A couple days ago I got an exciting email!!  If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen this news… You’re looking at a new SPA sister!!  That’s right… I am now a Sweat Pink Ambassador!!  (Pink Shoelaces are on their way with pics to follow!!) ;) I’m excited to be a part of this awesome community! :)

 

WHOOPS!!  #RRRLINKUP

One of my readers messaged me and told me that that they were trying to add their Race Report and couldn’t because the #linkup was closed!! Whoops!  Sorry about that!  We are now open for business and you can linkup as many Race Recaps/Reports as you want from the month of July!! #nolimits I will also leave up your links for all of August too because I feel bad! ;)  Get to linking up!! :)

WORK WORK WORK…

I went from feeling like a bum with no jobs after graduation in May and like I could blog several times a day if I wanted to because I had nothing else to do… to feeling like I had no time again because I am now employed and have 4 separate different jobs!  I posted about it here in a blog post that you can read if you want.  Currently I am only working 2 jobs but starting mid-August I will be working all 4!! Here are my 4 jobs and my fall schedule:

1. Restaurant Job (Nights and Weekends)
   [I asked for an old job back when I was jobless… read about it HERE]
2. ASL Interpreter (On Call 24/7)
   [I signed up with one agency… hopefully more in the future!!]
3. Preschool Educational Aide (Monday through Thursdays)
   [Job I was doing in May… now full-time tho!]
4. Substitute Teacher (Fridays)
   [I can now sub for any interpreters in the area as well as teachers!!]

We’ll see how long I can keep this schedule up come fall, but I’d rather work as much as possible now while my family consists of two people instead of working and being gone all the time when we start having little additions join our family…
if you know what I mean! ;)

FROGFUEL PROTEIN SHOT GIVEAWAY (11 HRS LEFT)

You have 11 hours left to enter my FrogFuel giveaway!! Entries are really low so you have a really good chance of winning so ENTER NOW!!

DONE WITH REST… BRING ON THE WORKOUTS!

I have been really… I mean REALLY resting it up these days… the only working out I’ve done in July is being on my feet and walking back and forth really fast making food at work! lol… and bicep curls with the ice buckets when I fill the pop machines… does that count?? :-P
Really tho… I feel like I’ve given my knee a fair amount of rest time and it’s time to get legit and start working out again!  I’m not talking straight up running 10 miles tomorrow!! Calm down people… ;)  I want to be smart about this so my knee pain doesn’t come back…
which means I’ll start slow with walking for warmups and cooldowns and working on building up and balancing out the muscles that are heavily relied on while running… among other muscles too… and heavily foam rolling/sticking/ and stretching!  Also… making use of the elliptical and bike!
Hopefully after starting out slow, it won’t be long before I get back to running!! :)  I truly miss it and can’t wait to get back out there and hit the pavement pain free!!

MY 26th BIRTHDAY!

Last but not least… I turned 26 on July 14th!  Crazy how time flies!!  It was a great day filled with fun, laughter, and love! :)  My day started out with presents and then church:

After church… we went to my favorite restaurant… Red Lobster… of course my husband told them it was my birthday when we ordered dessert so they put a candle on top and a group of about 8 employees came out to sing to me… half way through the song, the whole room was singing to me and my face was bright red!! lol… people were paying their tabs and leaving and saying happy birthday when they walked by for the next 15 minutes! I felt like a celebrity!!

Then typically my mom makes me a hoho cake (recipe here) which is chocolate cake with vanilla cream filling and chocolate icing on top!!  Delicious!!  But alas, this year it was just my husband and I on my birthday and he decided to make me a ho ho cake… recipe pending! ;)

Gotta love him!! It was a fantastic birthday!!

 

 

Do you have any “Randoms” to share?

What kind of cake do you usually have on your birthday?

Are you recovering from an injury or still going strong?

Goals Update: May 2013

Alrighty… Happy June everyone!  Time for another goal update for the month of May!! But first, a couple reminders because I don’t want you to miss out!

- Don’t forget to enter my Bestowed box giveaway!  You have 1 day left to enter!

- Don’t forget to enter your race recaps on the Race Recap Roundup #linkup 

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GOAL #1:  Get rid of my knee pain and run at least 4 miles a month

                ~In the month of May I ran exactly 5 miles with a total of 74.57 miles for the year. 
                  Which means on average I ran 14.9 miles per month. My main goal is to rid
                  myself of my knee pain and I’ve been foamrolling, stretching, and using my stick
                  A LOT   - GOOD SO FAR

GOAL #2:  Graduate in May and land at least a part time interpreting job by June!

                ~I graduated May 10th!! :)  Working on the job part! ;) - IN PROGRESS

 

GOAL #3:  Finish all the WIPs (Works in Progress) I have on my knitting needles/crochet hooks (5 WIPS) and make something for myself this year! :)  - 4/6 COMPLETE

~Make something for myself this year “Honey Cowl” – COMPLETE 2/11/13

 

~ WIP #1:  “What a Hoot Scarf” – COMPLETE 1/5/13

~ WIP #2:  “Owl Vest for Bryce” – COMPLETE 3/8/13

~ WIP #3:  “Snowmen Ornaments” – COMPLETE 3/31/13

*These have been sitting around for a while (2008), they were my first crochet projects ever lol… since then I’ve crocheted at least 14 other things before finishing these lol… whoops!

~ WIP #4:  “Hannah’s Flower Power Rug” – IN PROGRESS

~WIP #5:  “Valentine Doily”

 

What are your goals for 2013?

What are your goals for this this month?

Goals Update: April 2013

Remember my very first post of the year?  WAYYY back in January?!  Of course you don’t … ok, for those of you who can’t even remember what you ate last night for dinner (including me)  Let’s recap.   I talked about how 2012 wasn’t the best of years especially running/staying in shape-wise and set 3 attainable goals for 2013. 

Goal #1:  Run at least 1 mile every month!
Goal #2:  Graduate in May and land at least a part time interpreting job by mid-June!
Goal #3:  Finish all the WIPs (works in progress) I have on my knitting needles/crochet hooks and make something for myself this year! :)  (currently sitting at 5 WIPs)

In my March Recap, I changed my first goal to :  Run at least 1 mile every week.

Well… I’m changing it again to “At the end of each month, average 1 mile per week AND get rid of knee pain”  This means that I don’t necessarily have to run 1 mile every week, as long as I average the 1 mile per week (or 4/5 miles a month) … certainly attainable right?  My first priority is my knee though and not mileage…

GOAL #1:  Run at least 1 mile every month week!  At the end of each month, average 1 mile per week AND get rid of knee pain

                ~By the end of April I had run at least 2 miles every week (Except the first week 
                  in January when I was sick) with a total of 69.57 miles for the year.  Which means 
                  on average I ran 4.09 miles per week.   - GOOD SO FAR

GOAL #2:  Graduate in May and land at least a part time interpreting job by mid-June!

                ~So far so good… I’m taking the last 2 classes I need and am at my last 
                  internship required.  Currently I have A’s in both classes (trying to keep it that 
                  way).  As far as the job part I am attending a job fair before graduation and have 
                  started networking through my internship.  - IN PROGRESS 

GOAL #3:  Finish all the WIPs (Works in Progress) I have on my knitting needles/crochet hooks (5 WIPS) and make something for myself this year! :)  - 4/6 COMPLETE

~Make something for myself this year “Honey Cowl” – COMPLETE 2/11/13

 

~ WIP #1:  “What a Hoot Scarf” – COMPLETE 1/5/13

~ WIP #2:  “Owl Vest for Bryce” – COMPLETE 3/8/13

~ WIP #3:  “Snowmen Ornaments” – COMPLETE 3/31/13

*These have been sitting around for a while (2008), they were my first crochet projects ever lol… since then I’ve crocheted at least 14 other things before finishing these lol… whoops!

~ WIP #4:  “Hannah’s Flower Power Rug” – IN PROGRESS

~WIP #5:  “Valentine Doily”

 

What are your goals for 2013?

What are your goals for this this month?