Five Things Friday

Time for another edition! Was going to do some updating on random life things this week but moving into our new place has consumed most of my week! It's absolutely drained me!!

Anyway, on to the good stuff.

1. Tough Mudder is TOMORROW!! I'm driving to Nashville this afternoon and meeting up with my cross fit box to FINALLY participate in my first Tough Mudder! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see how it compares to Spartan Race. I'm hoping I'm not too drained so I can drive the 3 hours north to Louisville to see my cousin's wrestling match! Either way, I'm stoked! Bring it on. 

2. Moving into a new and MUCH bigger place. No more tiny apartment with no storage! It's so nice living in a place where you don't have to travel through the bedroom to get to the kitchen and bathroom (oh yeah, it was THAT bad). We've already had our first cookout and are thoroughly enjoying our new furniture. I feel like such a grown-up! 

3. Homemade ice cream! I found this AWESOME recipe on Pinterest for low fat, homemade confetti cake ice cream and it was sooooo good. Like, straight up tasted like a DQ confetti cake blizzard (my fav!). And the best part? It's so stinkin' easy. Besides the cake baking part (15 min!), it took me 5 minutes to whip everything together. So worth it. Here's the recipe!

http://www.callmepmc.com/2014/02/skinny-cake-batter-no-churn-ice-cream/

Make this... STAT!

4. Starting class on Monday.... oh boy. I'm nervous, excited, terrified, and most of all pumped to finally start my new career path! I just wish it wasn't starting with organic chemistry. Yikes. 

5. Season 2 of Orange is the New Black is out! Ahh! If I wasn't heading to Tough Mudder tonight, I'd totally be binge watching it tonight. Anyone else watch? It's so good! 

Have a great weekend! Can't wait to update next week about Tough Mudder! 

Sarah

Five Things Friday

I'm back in the Five Things Friday groove! Wooooo!

There are so many Friday favorites this week that I'm not even entirely sure where to start! But I'll do my best. :)


1. MURPH!!! In honor of Memorial Day, my box did an all weekend long Murph event. For non-crossfitters, Murph is a hero WOD named after Lt. Michael Murphy who died in combat. It's a 1 mile run + 100 pull-ups + 200 pushups + 300 squats + 1 mile run--one of Murph's favorite workouts. Going into Murph, my legs and arms were both sore from some hard workouts the week before but when I started thinking about why I was doing it, it didn't matter anymore. I pushed myself and came in with a time 41:57--best female time in the box. I was proud of that accomplishment but more proud of our box came together and honored a true hero.
SN: I've been doing cross fit since October and my baby muscles are slowly growing into real muscles!!!

2. My new running shoes! Let's be honest, new running shoes for a runner is pretty much the equivalent to a new car. I waited and waited and WAITED for the new ASICS gel nimbus 16's to come out and finally ordered them a couple of weeks ago. This is my third pair of Nimbus' and I'm OBSESSED! Especially with these! They are beyond perfect. I should be an Asics sales rep at this point--I get so many people coming to me with shoe advice and that's the direction I always point them in. :) Not to mention that their first run out of the gate was a 5K overall female win. I normally take my shoes out for a test run but took a chance with these and they delivered big time. It wasn't my fastest 5k by any means--I had just done Murph a few hours before!--but wow (I think I came in around 22:20?). Considering my legs were TIGHT, it felt like I could do no wrong. If you're in the market for new running shoes, they're definitely worth a look.

3. P & I finally bought "grown up" furniture! So, confession. For the last 2 years, P & I have been shacking up in a full size bed. And it's miserable. ha. I love P but I need my SPACE! With all of the Memorial Day sales going on and the fact that we decided against buying a house, we figured it was about time to upgrade. And upgrade we did. We are now the proud owners of a King size bed. THANK. GOD. We also may or may not have bought a new couch too... the sales girl was good.

4. Wedding stuff! My save the dates are FINALLY out... well, almost. I still have a few left to address. I'm so behind on all things wedding but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm going in the right direction. I also went and picked up my dress a few weekends ago.... and it's safe to say, I still love it. I was worried I'd pick it up and realize I made a HUGE mistake but it's still amazing. And I can't wait to put it on for real! I'll do a Wedding Wednesday post soon with all of my updates!

5. Perhaps the biggest thing of all this week is that... it's official. I'M FINALLY GOING BACK TO SCHOOL! Guys, I've been stressing hardcore about this. I've been wanting to go back to school for quite some time but never really found the right program up until recently. I wanted to keep working at my current job and start working on becoming a dietitian and to be honest, there aren't many online programs out there. And then I found Kansas State. And they have been AWESOME to work with and have been helping me along every step of the way and... I'm just so excited! It's going to be HARD but.... that just means it's worth it. As someone who was once pretty obese (220lbs!), I want to help others become healthy. :)

There you go! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! I'll be attending a co-workers wedding tomorrow and P & I are moving into a new place on Sunday! Busy, busy, busy!

Happy Friday!

Sarah

Whoops.

Long time, no see! Life has been crazy, crazy, crazy so the little blogging I was actually doing fell to the wayside. That's life I suppose, right?

Luckily, school's out for the summer (cue the song?) and life is significantly less hectic. With some time on my hands, I thought I'd jump back into it.

I'll update on life later this week but since it's Memorial Day, I'm moving this weekend (blahhh!), and need to start getting ready for Crossfit, I'm stealing this "Would You Rather" thing from Clare at Fitting It All In (one of my favorite blogs! :)).


Speak another language or get higher degree?

Higher degree! I'm working on it... :) More on that later!

Have a beautiful singing voice or be a fantastic dancer?

Hmm... beautiful voice I think!

Be a CEO of a huge company or run your own small business?

Run my own small business. By far.

Fly like a bird or teleport?

This is a tough one. I think I'd like to teleport because I'd be too impatient to fly. 

Eat only sweet food or only salty food for the rest of your life?

SWEET!!! I love chocolate!

Do yoga or lift weights?

Lift weights. I can't focus long enough to do yoga. 

Be a SUPER fast runner be SUPER strong?

Super fast runner. :) 

Have 8 kids or no kids?

no kids!

Have a small, older home with character or design a big brand new home?

Small, older home with character. I hate big brand new homes that are all the same. Blah. Too boring.

Watch the Today Show or Good Morning America?

Today Show! I <3 Willie Geist. 

Watch only sports or watch only BRAVO?

Bravo. 

Cook a romantic dinner at home or go to the nicest restaurant in town?

Romantic dinner at home. :)

Drink beer or wine?

Neither. But if I had to choose, probably wine. 

Eat cookies or eat cake?

CAKE!

Have only brothers or have only sisters?

Well, I have one of both. ha. I guess only brothers?! 

Go to Africa or Asia?

Africa.

Eat sweet potato fries or regular fries?

I don't discriminate against any fry but.... I'd have to go for sweet potato. 

Own an SUV or a sports car?

SUV. I miss mine. :(

Have a personal chef or a personal trainer?

Chef. Definitely. I don't have a problem working hard in the gym. I DO have a problem being lazy and not wanting to cook though. ;)

Sleep for 9 hours every night but no coffee, or sleep for 6 hours a night and have coffee?

9 hours and no coffee. I don't drink it anyway. :)

Read a book or watch a movie?

Terrible but watch a movie. I love reading but more often than not lately I start a book and never finish. Whoops.

Live on the east coast or west coast?

East coast. 

Have your toenails painted or your fingernails painted?

Neither. Is it weird that I've never painted my fingernails or toenails???? I think it might be. 

Go to the beach or the mountains?

BEACH!! I live in the mountains. I'm already counting down to my trip to Hilton Head in July! :)

---

Be back later this week with pictures and an update on life! Lots of fun/interesting/crazy things to discuss!

Happy Memorial Day! Enjoy your day off if you get it and remember why we celebrate.

Sarah

Five Things Friday

HAPPY FRIDAY! 

It's spring break in our neck of the woods so I took Wednesday, Thursday, and today off of work! Let me tell you, it was much, much MUCH needed!

Five Things Making Me Happy:

1. Getting to spend time with my fiancé! Sounds crazy but our schedules (well, mine) is so incredibly hectic so it's been nice to get a few days just to relax with P! I love it! We went to the bank, looked at a house (that we LOVED!), went shopping, out to dinner... you know, all of the things "normal" couples do. ;) Probably won't get to do this kind of stuff again until the semester is over in May. Crazy, I know.

2. GIRLS WEEKEND! I alluded to it a bit yesterday but.. I'm so incredibly excited for a weekend with my best friends! My two best friends and I haven't all been together since Christmas! And then my old college roommate will be joining us and I haven't seen her in over a year! I feel so thankful to have met such wonderful people in college. No matter how far we are from each other, we always try and make time to see each other every few months. Who knows, next time might be my bachelorette party..... ;) I'm super excited about that!

3. Finding a wedding photographer! This has been stressing me out for quite some time but after doing lots of research, I finally found an awesome photographer who luckily still by some miracle had October 4th open! Although I haven't met her in person yet, her pictures do all of the talking. I'm obsessed... which I suppose is a good thing, right? ;)

4. New Asics Gel Nimbus 16's coming out SOON! I have a gift card burning a hole in my pocket just for a new pair of Asics and I've been waiting for this announcement since Christmas! I'm a die hard Asics girl and the Nimbus 16's are my jam. This will be my fourth pair! I've heard great things about Brooks but..... unless they discontinue my Nimbus', I'm sticking with Asics. :) With racing season coming up (I'm missing out on two GREAT ones this weekend), they can't get here soon enough!

5. Nike Support! Seriously--they are THE best and I don't say this lightly. I've had a few issues with my Fuel band this week because of the time change/my battery dying and they have been incredible. On Monday, I forgot to charge my Fuel band for the week and it died on me during my morning walk and I ended up missing out on around 1200 fuel points. I just figured I'd lost those points but after simply writing a tweet  (not even tagging Nike), they swooped in to help me out. :)

And not only that, after my epic 8 mile run on Tuesday in which I logged well over 7,000 fuel points, my phone didn't record them and it caused me to lose my 345 day streak!! :( After calling support, they had it fixed within minutes and even informed me that I only had 19 days left on my warranty. They are AWESOME! (And for the record, over a year later I still absolutely love my fuel band and am in the best shape of my life... just in case you were wondering... ;))

Thinking Out Loud

Linking up today with Running with Spoons today for Thinking Out Loud Thursday! :)

1. Being a grown up is hard. Like, really hard. Making big decisions suck. P & I went and started the process of looking for/buying a house and I can already tell it's going to be a struggle. Luckily, we both have a house in mind that we like (which is an accomplishment in itself, trust me). Granted, it's a long shot that we'll actually get it but either way, it's a start. Does anyone have any home buying advice? We could seriously use some.

One of my favorite parts of the house... so cozy!

2. Speaking of living situations, a new couple moved above us in our apartment complex and they have a kid. Now, before I get yelled at, I love kids and cannot WAIT to have one of my own one day. But let me tell you--this girl must have some energy because from 9am-10pm all we hear is her running back and forth across their apartment. (Maybe I just need to start thinking about this whenever I get frustrated with point #1 of this post) All I can think about is June. And we'll be OUT (hopefully!).

3. Tuesday I decided to be adventurous and meet up with a running group (which happened to be all men?) the next town over and... it was awesome in the "I'm a crazy runner" kind of way. I'll put it this way--I'm glad I didn't know what I was getting myself into before we started. I knew we were going for 6-8 miles but what was failed to mention is that half of those miles were up a mountain. Seriously. But I have to be honest, when we got to the top and I had beat a majority of the other guys, I felt like a certified badass. And when we were done? The runner's high was incredible. There's nothing quite like being a runner.

8:27 pace--I'll take it! 

4. Figuring out life plans sucks almost as bad as buying a house. I know WHAT I want to do but figuring out how to get there is becoming a struggle. More than anything I want to become a dietitian. I've never wanted anything more in my life. The problem? I can't move. P & I are pretty much stuck where we are for a few years (which is the middle of nowhere more or less). I found a few online programs that could POTENTIALLY work out but I'm still in the research process. I can't even begin to explain how ready I am to LEARN again. I'm ready to get back in school! I'm trying to be patient and I know that whatever is meant to be, will be, but..... it's definitely hard.

5. IT'S ALMOST GIRLS WEEKEND! Hello, much needed break from the real world! I'm so excited to meet up with my best friends in Richmond tomorrow! It's been a stressful semester and I'm so looking forward to getting out of town and just being.. young again. Sometimes growing up I get so caught up in making decisions and working and getting into a routine that I forget I'm only 27! Although there's no way I could keep up with "college Sarah", I'm allowed to kick up my heels and have fun every now and then, ya know?! So here's to being youthful and *gasp* crazy this weekend (but not too crazy :)).

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Five Things Friday

Life has been insane and work has been crazy and thus, I've been a terrible blogger. I promise once summer hits, I'll actually post content instead of a bunch of link-ups every week. ;) Any motivation to do "real" writing has been lost this semester but come May, hopefully I can really get my blog up and running.

Until then, here's another Five Things Friday. :)

Favorite Things...

1. COLORADO! Oh. My. Gosh. Can we talk about how amazing Colorado was? I think I mentioned it a few times on the blog but I traveled to Colorado Springs for a fitness conference and if I wasn't sure fitness/wellness was the right path for me to take before, I sure as heck know that it is now. I was in heaven. I was soaking up information left and right and could have listened to the presenters talk for hours (well, I guess I did). Not to mention we did 10 kick ass workouts in two days. Yep, heaven.

2. The Broadmoor Resort. Uhh, there are no words. This is where we stayed throughout the duration of the conference and I was going to add it in with my Colorado post but.... this one deserved one of it's own. I can't even begin to describe how awesome this hotel was. First of all, they had chocolate waiting for us in the airport with the shuttle so to me, that's already a win-win situation. But beyond that, I've never stayed any place as luxurious and amazing as the Broadmoor and let's be honest, I'll probably never stay anywhere like it again, haha. I mean, hello, there was a chandelier IN OUR ROOM. Turn down service every night, AMAZING gym/spa, great food (albeit expensive!), and you can't beat the view...

3. My workouts this week! They have been some of the best I've had in a long time. I'll be honest, I've worked my BUTT off this winter in the gym and I can tell a huge, HUGE difference in my endurance and strength in comparison to this time last year. Beyond the 10 workouts I did over the weekend (crazy, I know) after a couple much needed rest days, I had an awesome crossfit workout (I'm getting strong!) and have logged right around 18 miles over the last 3 days. Next week I plan on working in some tabata type workouts and trying out T25 (my mom rocks!). As we all know, I'm a HUGE believer in Insanity so I'm looking forward to trying out T25 for those days I don't quite have an hour to dedicate to working out. :)

4. Spaghetti Squash!!!! I'm so obsessed! We made buffalo chicken spaghetti squash a few weeks ago and Tuesday we tried out an awesome recipe from Skinny Taste. It's so good and healthy and EASY! I've already planned my next Spaghetti Squash dish and can't wait to try it out. :)

5.  Quest Nutrition Bars. I jumped on the Quest bandwagon last fall and have been riding shotgun ever since. They are incredible! And totally DON'T taste like a protein bar (which I generally HATE!). My favorite flavor is Double Chocolate Chunk with Cookies & Cream and Cookie Dough in a close tie for second. They are a little pricey but so totally worth it. I'm so possessive over my Quest bars that P asked if he could try one the other day and I was going to make him pay for it or buy me a new one to replace it with...... whoops. ;) They were doing a promotion of Facebook the other day and I scored two free bars and was STOKED! Seriously--if you're looking for a new protein bar, check them out.

Have a great weekend! I'm off to Louisville for a family thing! :)

Sarah

How/Why I Started Running

First of all, any linkup dedicated to running, I'm totally up for. I usually do my favorite things about the week on Friday but... let's be honest, running is one of my favorite things period so of course I'm going to participate in this awesome new link-up. :)



How and Why You Started Running in 250 words or less

So, I’ll be honest. I originally started running because I HAD to. Believe it or not, my first two years in college, I played collegiate softball so our summer workouts revolved a LOT around running… and I HATED it at first! Running a mile was a STRUGGLE! In fact, I hated it so much that my mom paid a girl I went to high school with to go running with me a couple of times a week (she was a state cross country champ so in essence, she was my running coach). Looking back, it’s funny how my hatred towards running has now turned into a complete and total love/obsession! I think more than anything now, running is my form of competing since I no longer play competitive sports.

That’s the reason I started running—but the reason I decided to stick with it? Well, that’s because of one run in particular. It was the summer after I graduated high school and a good friend/classmate of mine had just recently passed away from a car accident. I was devastated like everyone else and decided to lace up my shoes and take them for a spin. It was on this run that I realized how much I needed running not only for my health, but for my SOUL. It helped me work through my emotions and really put me at peace with everything that had happened. And I’ve been hooked ever since.