Friday, April 30, 2010

Brain Jogging


Oh the weekend has begun!

I am so happy.


Last night I jogged a 1.5 mile loop in my neighborhood. I left my iPod at work by accident, so upon this realization I feared my only escort would be boredom. I was wrong! It actually allowed me, at this beginning stage of running, to be as present as possible. I could hear my breath, and my feet, and the nice part was that I didn't think about ... anything! It was awesome.


When I ran a few years ago, I ran for fitness and stress release and mileage and all that, and I got really into it. This time around, I'm hoping to get really into it again, but I'm coming from a different place. Since my running days 7 years ago, I've gone through some stuff. It was soul-searching kind of stuff, and some really intense, spectacular personal growth has occured as a result. I am so lucky! Now, I look at the world just a little differently than I did then. There's a little more depth to it all. So we'll see where running takes me in 2010, one day at a time.


I ordered a couple of running books on Amazon to keep me motivated and fuel my interest. The first is The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life and the second is The Quotable Runner. I'll let you know how they go :)


Right now it's bedtime. Tomorrow is Saturday, my favorite day of the week! This one is blessed with my nephew's First Communion.


Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Energy!

I get to run tonight!

I was reading another blog and the author spoke of their attempts to change 'I have to' into 'I get to'. Certainly puts a spin on our daily activities! So when you're thinking 'Ugh, I have to do 7,000 loads of laundry tonight', try saying 'I get to do 7,000 loads of laundry tonight.'
It reminds me to be grateful for the things I'm able to do.

Next week is the last week of the semester; I have a final in my substance abuse class and a student readiness evaluation to go over (I'll talk with my pre-practicum professor about my readiness to enter the world of clinical training). I'm taking a long weekend following my last night of class and I'd love to do...nothing. Literally. I'm so....tired.
I'm certainly excited about taking the next step (I get to! I get to!) but I feel like I can't even wrap my head around that energy yet. Just need to decompress from this semester. My work schedule is going to be changing and I'll be adding clinical work and graduate assistant hours to my afternoons as of May-June, so things are going to look a little different in my day starting ! I've been arranging these pieces for the last few months so that's been an additional stress on top of meeting my class requirements, etc.

Back to work!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Happy Reading Little Ones!

Want to hear what I did last night?
I donated a book to a local school system. Great, right? However, the book was $17.99!
Here's what happened: I went to Border's to pick out a gift for my nephew who's First Communion is this weekend. At the checkout, the cashier asked if I'd like to donate a book to that town's school. I'm so used to the donation opportunity I often receive at the grocery store checkout, where you add $1.00 onto your purchase and it goes to a Children's Cancer fund, etc. So out of habit, I said 'Sure!' So then I find myself paying $17.99 for this book!
It's totally two sided in my head, because of course I want to support young readers...however, I didn't realize I would be paying another $20 for a book.
To get right-sized again, I have to remember that I just spent a fortune on shoes for myself this past weekend! Maybe it's God's way of reminding me not to spend so much on myself and spend it on others?

I left the bookstore glad to have donated but not glad to have spent another $20! LOL.

PS: Bookstores for me are like candy shops for kids.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Reward of Suffering is Experience


Do you ever have one of those weeks you're pretty sure is never going to really...get off the ground? I'm thinking this is one of those weeks.


In honor of it, I'm going to take a good long look at the little things that brighten my day.


1. Aura Cacia lavender body lotion. Totally awesome. Free sample at the Earth Day celebration...might turn into a full size resident of my bathroom.


2. Cream cheese, walnut, and chopped date wrap for breakfast. Self magazine sends me email recipes a million times a day and this one is actually one that I looked at...and made.


3. Parenthood, the TV show. It's the one show I look forward to each week. The rest of the time my TV collects dust, mostly.


4. Jogging. I plan on getting a couple jogs in this week. It's been raining the past two days. I'm contemplating a rainy-run and wondering just how miserable it is? Only one way to find out!


Happy Tuesday!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday Blah

Well look at that! I have two readers!
Ha ha. Thanks guys!

I'm having one of THOSE days. I couldn't sleep last night, and when it was time to get up it was Monday AND rainy. Therefore, I am craving carbs, fat, and salt, as I always do when I'm working but really need to be sleeping. Therefore, my lunch consisted of turkey and swiss on a bagel with mayo (got the carbs and fat in!) and Baked Lay's (go, salt!)
Pfft.
I know it's not the healthiest lunch you've ever heard of, but considering I was like, falling asleep at my desk earlier, it's definitely helping me stay alive.
If I drank soda I'd probably be going for a Coke right now. Nothing like the feeling of your teeth rotting out of your head to keep you awake!

This past weekend was great! Friday I had dinner with a friend who was in town. She mentioned the possibility of moving back this way, which would be awesome. I didn't want to say anything (ie beg) but I would love if she did. She's my TV-watching, movie-going, sushi-eating friend and I need more of those things in my life (okay well, not TV but enjoying a good show with a friend sometimes is great). Saturday was the annual Earth Day celebration at a local natural food market; boyfriend and I had a field day in the free sample tent. I don't take samples of things I won't use, but somehow I still ended up with a ton! I guess I'll use a lot of that stuff.
Kiss my Face has a new mouthwash that they had samples of; I'm excited to try it. So far I've tried some face wash, shampoo, toothpaste, and body lotion that I picked up. I've also had some cookies and Valerian root supplements :)

Saturday night my family gathered for dinner to send my Dad off on a business trip to Prague. He'll be gone for two weeks so we used it as an excuse to get together. I love that we still do that as a family, even though the three of us girls (my stepbrother couldn't make it this time) are paired off (well, two are married; I'm still dating) and there are 6 kids between my two sisters! Lots of laughter and noise; never a dull moment! I hope they grow up enjoying the presence of family and appreciating our closeness.

Sunday we slept in later than usual, which was random but lovely. I did homework (finals next week) and then we went off to the mall for some shoe shopping. We left as proud owners of Sperry and Frye footwear. The Classics!

I went for a jog after shopping, and it started to rain while I was out. I'm just starting to get back to jogging, so yesterdays was probably about a mile and a half. Nothing crazy at this point, but I'm enjoying it as therapy and felt like I could have run a long time yesterday. It was cool outside; that seems to help.

Have a meeting to run into - just wanted to say hello.
Happy Monday!!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Today I went running in a skirt.

I admit that yesterday's purchase of an Energy skirt from Lululemon may have had something to do with the jog I went on today. Hey, if new clothes inspire me to exercise, I'm all for it. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, the skirt has tight shorts underneath it, so you have the comfort of the skirt but coverage of shorts.

I lost track but I think I have four things due on Wednesday between my two classes. I was stressing out about the presentation I have to give in my subtance abuse class: not the actual presenting part or the research paper that I'm presenting on, but the format of my actual Powerpoint. Mind you, this is what I do for a living and have done for the past 8 years: create Powerpoint presentations for a marketing research company (in short). Oh, the irony.

I'm exhausted. I can't wait until the 3 weeks or so that I have off between the end of the semester and when I begin my graduate assistantship. I plan on doing yoga, jogging, watching movies, reading books, and just sitting in the beautiful land of no-homework.
There are a couple of books I would like to read during that time, and I'm sure the list will grow:
Shadow Princess by Indu Sundaresan
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

Any book suggestions?
Does anyone even read this blog? LOL.

I'm starting to blur these words together which either means I'm having some brain dysfunction (wouldn't be surprised) or it's time for bed.
Goodnight!