10 Week Challenge

Nine loves.

1. God - I know, I gotta start off with Him. Seriously, everything I have comes from Him and I am SO grateful for Him and His blessings.

*side note, as I'm typing with the capital "H" - I'm thinking of Easy A when Marianne says "His choice, capital 'H'" - anyone else? I swear I'm not like Marianne.

2. Christmas - Just wait until September, I start playing Christmas music. I love everything about Christmas, the music, the attitude most people have, the movies. It's ridiculous, and people wonder why I choice a Christmas wedding?

3. Cooking - My favorite past-times is to walk around grocery stores, look at cookbooks and recipes, I love everything about it. Mr. Skinny hates going to the store with me because I look at everything and he just wants to get out of there. Now that I'm working part-time I only cook a few days a week as opposed to every day and it really bums me out. I can't wait until I'm home with my kids and I can cook more and hopefully cook just about everything homemade.

4. Mr. Skinny - obvious, right?

5. Exercising. Well not completely, but I really am getting there. Except for the week before my period where I'm a lazy sloth, I look forward to exercising and seeing what my body can do.

6. Family. I don't have a ton of friends in real life, really I don't have any friends since we moved back to PA, and I am so thankful for my wonderful family, and my amazing in-laws because they truly are my friends.

7. Four seasons. I cannot pick a favorite season. Although I'd prefer Maryland's seasons to PA's seasons, I can't say no to snow in the winter - as long as I don't have to go out in it - and since I'm not a fan of the humidity in summer, PA's summers are better than Maryland's. Anyways, I truly love each season for what it brings.

8. Technology. I am completely not fully up on technology - I've steered clear of Pinterest and Twitter (although I technically have a Twitter account, anyone want to tell me how to use it??), but I have to say, I love my iPhone, my mac, my interest. I love being connected, although sometimes it gets in the way.

9. Children. If you don't know why then you haven't been reading my blog in the past few months.

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Tell me one of you loves, or link up, I know a few of you have started doing this!

Tempo Runs.

I run really slow, like really slow. Normally it doesn't bother me, but sometimes, like when I'm reading a blog of a multi-marathoner, it gets under my skin a bit that I run so slow. I know that tempo runs (I think?) can fix this. Yesterday, I decided I would attempt my version of a tempo run - run for a half mile, walk for a quarter. Sound good? Yeah, the first one was okay, then it turned into run for a quarter, walk for a quarter. Eventually I slowed down and just rotated walking and running. Oh well, I tried. That counts for something, right?

On Monday though, I found myself home alone. Mr. Skinny was working late, and my mom had to take my dad for some tests at the hospital. Since I didn't get my run in on Monday due to grocery shopping and going to the dentist, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to head out. I had a lot on my mind, and wanted some time to think. Well, time I had. I started out running for about 2 miles, took about a half mile break, ran another mile and walked another mile for a grand total of 4 1/2 miles! That's the longest run/walk I've been on and I am really proud of myself for it!

I was actually sore from this run. My hip flexors still hurt from it. I've been back into my yoga this week, too, to see if it helps with the soreness.

In case you were wondering, that's my running update. I was kind of on hiatus last week, but I definitely made up for it this week with my two long outings so far, with another short one tomorrow, and hopefully another medium-ish one on Saturday.

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How has your exercise been going?

Do you count your "outings" as runs, jogs, or walks when you tell people about them?

Hummus.

Guess what I did this weekend? Well besides throw up in a Walmart bathroom, thank-you-period-cramps. Yeah. Anyways, Mr. Skinny and I went to look at a truck for him, and the only way I would drive out to look at it would be if we went to the mall that's out there, too. I batted my eyelashes and persuaded Mr. Skinny to take me to the mall and let me buy something. Well, as you may or may not know, Borders is closing all its stores and they're having a super clearance on everything in the store. Being the bargain shopper I am, I decided to go and have a look see. I went right to the cooking section. I've been trying to find a good grilling cookbook and I've been wanting to cook some more vegetarian recipes, too. I did know that Mama Pea's cookbook came out and with all the wonderful reviews, I've been eyeing up a copy of this cookbook, too.

Needless to say, I found Mama Pea's cookbook. Well actually, I saw a woman reading Mama Pea's cookbook, on the floor, laughing out loud, and I was just eyeing her up, waiting for her to put it down so I could snatch it and buy it. Yeah, it wasn't my best attitude. Eventually I thought I would be kind enough to her and ask if there was another copy. Luckily, there was! I snatched that one up, along with a vegetarian cookbook, and a grilling cookbook and checked out, so excited!

I read Mama Pea's cookbook on the way home from the mall, by the light of my iPhone (don't you just love technology?), and I fell in love with it. It's funny, more than just recipes, there are stories, too. There is an intro in the beginning to introduce you to "weird foods" according to Mr. Skinny, and where you can find them in the stores. This could easily become my new favorite cookbook, no lie.

Well, on Monday, I went food shopping like I always do, and came home with some tahini and chickpeas just to make some homemade hummus to save myself $4 each week buying Sabra hummus. Let me tell you, it is phenomenal! I can't give away the recipe, because you gotta buy the book! It's definitely going to save me some money each week to make my own, and it's super simple, too!

Not my picture, but you get the idea.

If you're looking for a new cookbook, want to explore some vegetarian/vegan foods, give it a try, I bet you won't regret it!

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What's your favorite cookbook? Or do you inspire yourself and don't need one? Are you a hummus fan?

Weekends Go Too Fast.

... And I'm sure you'll all agree, right?

Did you miss the baby update?

Even though I don't work on Mondays, the one day that Mr. Skinny and I have together is never long enough to cram in some serious bonding time, and spending time with both our families. It gets hectic, and there are days were it's non-stop eating. Like yesterday for example, we planned a family dinner with my family, then went to visit Mr. Skinny's family and they invited us for dinner, too! I didn't eat anything at Mr. Skinny's family, but I did save room for dessert - brownies and ice cream!

Anyways, today I had my first dentist appt in nearly 2 years. I was worried about cavities, that's always the story you hear, right? Someone doesn't go to the dentist for "x" amount of years, and then they have 6 cavities, have to have a root canal and whatever else the dentist does. The dental hygienist goes to my church, so she was telling me about her son's engagement party and wedding and her only grandson, so far. I know that I know her, but how many different sounds can you make with your mouth open and her hands in there? Seriously, she was actually asking me questions and all I could do was answer "uh-huh" or "unh-uh" without an explanataion. It was driving me bonkers! Oh, and seriously, she was digging so hard she knew I'd be sore and told me to rinse with salt water. Um, no thanks!

But good news, I don't have any cavities! I went food shopping after the appointment and somehow spent over my budget. I really need to get ahold of that. If we're going to keep trying to have a baby (more on that later in the week, I think), then we need to start a serious budget and pay stuff off. This debt is killing us. It's slowly crushing our souls, and sucking the life out of us. We don't even have a mortgage, rent, or really any "house" bills other than our Dish. We'll get it under control, sorry for rambling.

Now I'm sitting here, getting ready to make some dinner and contemplating where we our in our lives and what we can do to make things better.

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Tell me something about your weekend.

Do you have bad teeth or good teeth?

Are you happy where you are in your life?

Definitely No Baby.

Just wanted to pop in this morning and let you know that my lovely friend decided to spring up on me this morning when I wasn't quite expecting it. Thanks. Along with the massive, awful cramps I haven't felt in 2 years. Seriously, birth control pills are worth it just to get rid of the cramps!

No huge deal, I didn't feel like there was a baby in there, like I said on Thursday, it's like stepping on the scale knowing that you gained, but secretly hoping that you lost 2 pounds. We have plenty of time, we're young, and we'll keep trying. Now that I know (about) how long my cycle is we are going to stop trying every other day and we'll just do it when we feel like it or when I'm ovulating. It was getting to be a chore, and Mr. Skinny agrees.

Sure, we're disappointed, but we know God has a plan for us.

So month 1 is a fail, but we'll keep trying.

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How do you handle disappointment?

10 Day (Week) You Challenge.

Since it's really hard for me to post regularly on Fridays, I found this 10 Day You Challenge on this blog, and just had to borrow it. It's the perfect short Friday post, so I'll be doing this weekly instead of daily. Hope you enjoy it!

Ten Secrets:

I'll just do ten things I don't think my readers know about it. I'm awful at keeping secrets.

1. My parents are hard of hearing, and being the oldest child, this put a lot of pressure on me sometimes. I know my parents didn't want me to, but I was their "ears" and I still am a lot of the time.

2. I was a cheerleader for 12 years. I quit my senior year due to coaching issues.

3. I still sleep with the blankie that I've had since childhood. Mr. Skinny makes fun of me, but whatevs.

4. Along the same lines, when I say goodnight to my mom, she says this little poem that she's said to me since childhood. "You're the best girl in the whole, wide world. Mommy loves you very much. God bless you and good night." I know that I'm 22 years old, but there's just something comforting in hearing that every day.

5. I might have mentioned this on here, but Mr. Skinny and I met in 5th grade. I used to annoy him because I had a crush on him (duh! That's what 10 year old girls do!), but we didn't start dating until sophomore year in HS.

Us in 5th grade. No lie.

6. My chapstick is ALWAYS with me. I'm not sure when this started, but it's with me all the time. At our wedding, I made Mr. Skinny put it in his pocket. At prom, it was down my dress, along with my phone and camera (having a big rack has it's pluses).

7. I pretend I know what I'm talking about, and I know what you're talking about in a lot of cases. It's kind of embarrassing sometimes. I don't know why I just don't ask a question if I don't know something.

8. I could live on a house boat. I was raised on the lake, and love it so much, although I do take it for granted sometimes.

9. I had a small obsession with Twilight for about a year. I am superbly embarrassed to admit this. I thought it was the best thing ever. Then I remembered. Harry Potter is :)

10. I've never plucked, waxed or changed my eyebrows. I don't think they need any help. Someone please tell me if they do!

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Did you know any of these secrets?

Tell me a secret about you!

Maybe, Baby.

It's been 4 weeks since we starting trying to start our family. I feel like I owe you guys an update on our life in that department. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, I want to be honest with this journey. I want to be honest not only for my readers, but for myself too, so that I have this "journal" to look back on and see how I was feeling while going through it. With that said, am I pregnant....??

We don't know yet.

I mentioned it before, but before starting birth control 2 years ago, my cycle was pretty irregular. I'd get my period every 5-6ish weeks, maybe longer, maybe shorter. Wasn't real accountable. It was a pain in the butt. I loved having a regular cycle for 2 years, knowing when it would be coming, and being able to explain my moodiness in that week before it came.

Now I'm off again. Since we didn't wait for a cycle before starting to trying, we've pretty much done it (and by it, I mean the 5th grade slang for sex), every other day for a month. It's kind of exhausting. I know that there are ovulation prediction things you can buy, but they're expensive! We figured we'd just take matters into our own hands and have a good time. Some days it is a good time, and some days it's an extra pain in the butt something we have to do. It all depends, but here we are, sitting at the end of the first 4 weeks of trying and we don't know if I'm pregnant.

On a 28 day cycle, my period is due this week, like the week that started with this past Sunday. If my body quickly goes back to it's pre-birth control cycle, I could have another 2 weeks yet.

How am I feeling? Well, on Friday I started cramping, I was super excited because that could be a sign of implantation, but it could also be a sign of my period coming. I get headaches a lot, but they don't last long, and my lower back hurts almost daily. My nose is a super sniffer now; either that or I've paid attention to what I'm smelling more than I ever have before. I'm tired, like super tired, meaning I sleep for 10 hours at night and could still take a nap. All this could just be me reading into certain things more because I could be and because I want to be pregnant.

Update: Remember my crazy weird dream on Tuesday? Well I had another one yesterday, and another one this morning. This morning it was the end of the world, so bizarre. Apparently, when I googled it, vivid dreams could be a sign of pregnancy, too. So maybe, baby??

I'm going to wait until Sunday morning to take a pregnancy test. Well, that was the plan, but should I? I mean those suckers are expensive, and I don't want to waste them. I don't really feel any different than my normal self. I keep hoping that I'm pregnant, but it's just hoping. It's like stepping on the scale. You think you gained, but you're hoping that by some magic power you've lost like 3 pounds.

My boobs don't hurt at. ALL. Which is SO weird because they always hurt when my period is coming. I'm not nauseous, although I keep hoping that I am because it's a different symptom that isn't attached to periods, at least mine anyway.

I keep trying to enjoy life with just Mr. Skinny and I, but it's hard when I know what I want and what we want the next step to be. I know God has a plan for us, but it's hard to not know what that plan is! I'm not stressed, truly I'm not, just curious as to how the next year or so is going to pan out.

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Any thoughts?

How do you handle the unknown?

Wordless Wednesday: Excavating Edition

Here are a ton of photos from our excavating last weekend. To refresh your minds, Mr. Skinny's grandparents are giving us a lot to build our house on and we've been slowly clearing it to get it ready for our eventual house.

Oh! And another good thing? I'm slowly figuring out how to take real, grown up pictures with my camera!

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What "stuff" would your dream house have?

Dreams.

Quick post this morning. I have to leave for work in 15 minutes!

I had such a strange dream last night, well actually this morning after I got up with Mr. Skinny. There were a lot of snakes, black snakes, and they were chasing me, but I would catch them when they would lunge at me. I knew it was a dream because I could catch them perfectly without getting bitten. Once I caught them around the neck, I would make them eat another one, but they would turn into a larger snake until it finally got as big as a basilisk and then it turned into a dinosaur. It was the long neck type dinosaur, the one that's an herbivore, except this one wasn't. It bit a kids hand off!! We were at a cottage around the lake that I live at, except I don't know whose it was, everyone there was strange. Mr. Skinny met me there and killed the basilisk one by jabbing a kitchen knife into its throat multiple times. Then it turned into the dinosaur. Strangely though, the dinosaur could talk, so we all kept trying to talk to it in hopes of holding it off from eating all of us while someone was trying to find something to kill it with.

Then I woke up. What. The. Heck.

I tried to look up meanings for dreams with snakes in them and one google source said it could show that you have a deep desire for having children. No crap Sherlock! Then it said something about a sexual something, but I don't think it was a sexual dream. It was so strange! It didn't really have an ending, I just woke up.

I'd like to believe that it had a deeper meaning in telling me I'm knocked up or something, but I don't really think so. I don't usually believe in dream meanings either. Well, I do, just not how if you had a dream where someone had a dimple it means happiness. I don't think there are generic meanings to certain dream subjects.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, off to work I go!

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Do you believe in the meanings behind dreams?

What was the last bizarre dream you had?

Relaxation.

This weekend was a perfectly relaxing weekend. Other than Mr. Skinny's alarm waking me up on Saturday morning at 4:45am, and not being able to fall back to sleep. At. All. But I'm glad we got DVR a few weeks ago, I watched a Sex & the City marathon that I had saved. I didn't roll out of bed until about 10am. I had plans for a run, but just wasn't in the mood. Sometimes you have to take those spontaneous rest days, right?

After I finally got out of bed and got dressed, Dad make some eggs for us, then my brother, Dad, and I went back to school shopping for my little brother. Well he's not so little, he TOWERS over me! He's starting his senior year in 2 weeks! I remember when he started kindergarten! Wow, time flies. I made burgers for dinner on Saturday, they're my new favorite thing to cook I think, and Mr. Skinny and I watched Grown-Ups and were in bed by 10pm. Exciting Saturday night for us!

Yesterday was even more relaxing. We slept in, we were going to go to church, but then decided to go to the movies instead, but my dad did something to his back, so no movies for us. Do you think God was telling we made the wrong decision? I think Dad pitched a nerve in his back, but Mom's taking him to the doctors today to see what's going on. We did some food shopping and had a spontaneous cookout at Mr. Skinny's grandma's house last night. Enjoyed family and hung out.

This morning, I slept in (again!), ate some pb toast, talked myself into a run/walk. Did 2.2 miles which was pretty refreshing, now I think I'll make a green monster and a veggie sandwich for lunch!

I finally found my camera cord, so I think I'll do a Wordless Wednesday post about the work done on our lot as of last weekend.

Oh, and still no news on the baby front. I'm waiting for some signs of something, and I'm feeling some cramping, but I don't know if that's period related, or baby related. I'm trying to be hopeful and thing of all money we can save for a few more months if we don't get pregnant right away, but at the same time. I want to be pregnant! God knows what he's doing and I just have to trust Him.

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How was your weekend?

ABC's of Food.

I was going to do the 7 links post that Jana tagged me in, and I started writing it, but I couldn't think of posts for any of the topics! I guess that means I need to get into some more topics!

A is for Avocado: How do you like yours prepared?
Blarg! I don't like avocado! I can do some guacamole if it's mixed in with something, but I can't enjoy the texture of an avocado. Same with most beans.

B is for Bread: Regardless of nutrition, what is your favorite type?
Oh man, so many to choose from! Can I just pick fresh bread? None of this pre-packaged stuff that I still eat because I'm too lazy to make my own. Garlic bread, French bread, Italian bread - oh my, it's all so delicious!

C is for Chocolate: What is your favorite kind currently?
Chocolate was never really my favorite dessert. Honestly, I've always been more of a second helping gal rather than digging in for dessert. But I have to say, I'm a sucker for a Reese's PB Cup.

D is for Donuts: You might not currently eat them, but what kind do you fancy?
Krispy Kreme. There's nothing better!

E is for Eggs: How would you like yours prepared?
I will take eggs just about any way you make them. But the yolk either has to be mixed in, or popped as you cook it, or dippy for easy over eggs. I hate cooked yolk!

F is for Falafel: Yay or nay?
I've never had falafel...

G is for Groceries: Where do you purchase yours?
Well, since the pickins are slim around my new-ish area, I just hit up Weis. Although I've recently discovered that there is a Health Food Store not too far away that I might have to pop into next week.

H: is for Hot Beverages: What is your favorite hot drink?
If we're not counting nutrition, I must say a raspberry-white-chocolate-mocha-skim-without-whipped. Yeah, it's delicious! But because it's 9848504839 calories, I normally stay away from it.

I is for Ice Cream: Pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.
I don't think I can pick a favorite. Vanilla bean, Ben&Jerry's PB Cup or Chubby Hubby, Strawberry Cheesecake. They're all delicious!

J is for Jams or Jellies: Do you eat them? If so, what kind and flavor?
I don't usually eat jam/jelly (what's the difference anyways?), unless I get a hankering for it. If I do, it has to be strawberry jelly please!

K is for Kashi: Name your favorite Kashi product?
Um, I don't normally buy Kashi, but a while ago I had the GoLean Crunch Honey Almond Flax and that was pretty delicious!

L is for Lunch: What was yours today?
My breakfast (cantaloupe, honeydew, strawbs, chobani) was a late breakfast, so my lunch/afternoon snack consisted of a green monster (spinach, strawbs, pb, skim milk, protein powder) and a crap ton of hummus and pita chips.

M is for microwave: What is your favorite microwave meal/snack?
Um, the only thing I cook in the microwave on a regular basis is probably broccoli.

N is for nutrients: Do you like carbs, fats, or proteins best?
Health-consciousness aside? Carbs all the way baby! Preferably white carbs, forget that whole wheat stuff. :)

O is for oil: What kind do you like to use?
I usually use either oil or canola.

P is for protein: How do you get yours?

Um, peanut butter, greek yogurt, hummus, meat usually with dinner. Oh, and I eat a TON of cheese.

Q is for Quaker: How do you like your oats?
I usually don't eat oats, because I'd rather have my pb toast in the morning, but I'll take it if we're going away. I usually put pb, nuts and a smidge of sugar in it.

R is for roasting: What is your favorite thing to roast?
I've been on a potato kick lately, but I love to roast just about everything. Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots. Mmm!

S is for sandwich: What’s your favorite kind?
Any kind with melty cheese. I love sandwiches, but I don't normally eat them because if I'm doing a sandwich, I'm doing a sinful sandwich.

T is for travel: How do you handle eating while traveling?
I don't really travel a lot, but if I do, I pack up on snacks.

U is for unique: What are some of the unique foods that you like?
Hmm. I mix ketchup and mayo, but I don't think that's too weird. My green monster's kinda scare people a lot, but on the health food scene they aren't weird at all. I don't know.

V is for vitamins: What kind do you take?
Well, right now I'm taking a prenatal vitamin and an extra iron pill.

W is for Wiener Schnitzel: Do you ever recreate this traditional Czech food?
I have no idea what that is.

X is X-RAY: If we xrayed your belly right now, what food would we see?
You just asked me what I had for lunch. So that's what you'd so.

Y is for Youth: What foods remind you of your childhood?
Everything that's bad for me. Mac&Cheese with hot dogs. Spaghetti-o's. Cream of chicken soup with rice and peas. Seriously, my mom fed us that. And chicken tetrazzini.

Z is for Zucchini: How do you prepare it?
I only like zucchini if it's mixed in. Skinnytaste.com's turkey zucchini burgers are amazing though!

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Pick a letter and tell me yours!

Life Update.

I feel like I have a lot to tell you my lovelies, well a ton of different topics to talk to you about. I might be breaking this up into smaller posts that I'll write today and then I won't have to worry about writing a post every day Monday - Friday. Sound good? Good.

This weekend was really good. I'll talk about that in another post when I can find my dumb camera cord so I can show you all the pictures. We were working on our lot, which will be given to us by Mr. Skinny's grandparents. It was Pop Pop Skinny's dream to have us home again and living out on our lot, so this weekend was a little bittersweet for us all. Knowing that Pop Pop would have loved seeing us home and working on out lot was hard, but it's exciting to be getting closer to actually having a lot for our house. It's getting there!

Second update? Running. Since I last blogged, I ran 3 times, all were pretty good runs. On Saturday I ran 2 miles straight! No walking breaks at all! I'm trying to trust my body and push myself, but not push myself too hard in case I am pregnant.

Speaking of that, I have a somewhat personal question for you ladies who have had kids. When do I take the pregnancy test? I have 3 of them under my sink. To be honest, I don't really feel any different than my normal self, but I've been googling "early pregnancy symptoms" like mad, hoping that I could come across one that I could say I was feeling. I know you're supposed to wait until after your missed period, but I have no idea when mine is supposed to come since going off the Pill! Before I started birth control, my cycle was around 5-6 weeks, ish. So should I play it safe and wait for like 7 weeks before taking it? Or go by how I feel?

I'm really trying not to stress, I know it doesn't help the whole process. Honestly, I don't even normally stress, and I really don't think I am. I'm just curious, and a little anxious about not knowing. It doesn't really help that for the first time ever my entire family wants to go on vacation next summer and we're already looking for a place to stay in VA Beach. Mr. Skinny and I want to go really bad, but we'll have to see when we get pregnant. My brother is graduating next year, so he gets to pick, and he wants everyone to go together. My family doesn't know we're TTC, so we can't really say anything. I just hope that we don't book the house before we know if we can go or not. I think I would be okay with taking a pretty small baby to the beach, but I wouldn't want it to be too soon.

Oh, and last by not least, we have our first Non-Scale Victory is quite some time! I was trying to think of something to wear to work last week and remembered these jean bermuda shorts that I had. I dug them out, and tried them on and look! They don't fit! It was a wonderful, wonderful feeling, for sure!

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When did you take a pregnancy test?

When was your last NSV?

Miss Me?

I didn't get killed by the big excavator that we rented this weekend. I have pictures! And running updates! Too bad I can't find my camera cord...

I'm still trying to balance working with blogging and running and everything. It's hard to figure out how to balance it all. Oh, right, it wouldn't be if I would get up earlier than 8am every morning. But that requires me to go to bed before 11 and I'm just not a fan of that any more. Who am I from the person who lived in Maryland. The one who was in bed by 9pm and up at 5:45am? I think she stayed in Maryland :)

I will be back tomorrow with a fabulous update, I hope.

Oh, and for an awesome chance to win a book AND a workout DVD, head over to Leah's blog to enter!

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Tell me something fun about your weekend!

Next Steps.

After I came home from work last night, I was feeling a run. I'm still trying to figure out exactly when to run during the week. I like to aim for at least 3 days, but then I don't like running in the morning when I have to work because I don't like to shower before work since my hair doesn't dry nice (such a vain reason, I know!). So that leaves my 2 days of the week I'm off - Monday and Wednesday - and maybe one day over the weekend? Most likely not because I love to be a lazy bum on the weekends. However, the past two weeks it's worked that I could run on Thursday night instead of Friday morning, and get my 3 runs in.

Also, after my awful run on Wednesday, I wanted to make sure that was just a fluke, and not a regular occurrence. With all that said, I come home yesterday, changed and headed out.

It was a pretty awesome run. I didn't warm up again, and my heart rate was a bit high, but didn't shoot up like it did on Wednesday. I took a few walking breaks, but ran a total of a smidge over 2 miles with a pretty rockin' pace - 11:24! I'm really proud of myself and proved to myself that I can do it.

After that wonderful run, I weighed myself this morning and did not like what I saw on the scale. But I'm not going to let it get to me. I know I had an off weekend last weekend, but I've been back on track this week. My body is going through some changes since I went off the pill, and it's taking a bit to even out. No big deal, I refuse to let this affect my mood. I just have to keep taking each day one at a time, and make it a masterpiece as my Grammy would say. I need to appreciate each day, and not keep hoping for the next step, because honestly, if we (meaning me) keep doing that, when are we going to appreciate what we have? Dreams are one thing, but holding off happiness until we get there isn't a smart way to live life.

Sorry about the tangent, but I've been thinking a lot about how wonderful it'll be when we get pregnant, but I need to appreciate the time I have with just Mr. Skinny, just the two of us. God will take care of the rest, I just need to enjoy my life each step of the way, and not be impatiently waiting for the next step.

Have a wonderful weekend! We'll be working on our lot this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to show you on Monday!

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Do you find yourself wanting that next step in your life now?

Does the scale affect your mood?

Warming Up.

Do you warm up? Normally, I walk for about 5 minutes before I start my run. This morning, though, I decided not to. I wanted to switch it up. Well, honestly, I wanted to try to start figuring out my pace just from running as opposed to walking/running. I thought I'd pause my Nike+ GPS when I took my walk breaks and start it when I ran. Makes sense, right? And with that, I decided to nix my 5 minute warm up walk. No big deal, right?

I was hoping that my "slowest" pace would be somewhere around 13ish minutes, so I could really see where I went faster and slower, but didn't work out so well today.

Yeah, try again. I don't know what happened today in all honesty, but I could not get a good take on my breathing. Normally, I can keep about a 170-175 heart rate for the first mile or so, then it starts to creep up, but never usually goes above 187ish. Today? It shot right up to the 180s and stayed there the whole time. Even when I was walking, and I was walking slowly, mind you, it still didn't go below 150, and I could feel my heavy breathing. Was that from not warming up? Or might there be something else going on...? Google is not always a trying-to-get-pregnant woman's friend. I'm still trying to be in touch with my body so I can figure things out and see if I can tell when I get pregnant, but I'm trying not to read into things too much. Especially because we just started trying.

I know that once I'm pregnant, I'll probably lay off the running, and just stick with walking. Yes, I'll talk to my doctor about it, but I feel like my heart rate gets too high to stick it out with running. No big deal, I've done Couch to 5K twice already, I can do it again when I can. Anyways, once I came back home, I had a giant headache and just felt SO exhausted. I don't know what exactly was going on today, but I think I'll quit trying to go farther in my runs, and just stick to what I know I can do.

Took a break afterwards, I just laid on the floor for a little.

I looked at the dog for an example.

I ended up burning about 600 calories with a run/walk a bit over a 5K, which is a lot, even for me. I'm just going to take it with a grain of salt and chalk it up to a not so great running day. I'll try again on Friday.

*Insert smooth transition here*

I've really started to learn to take pictures with my iPhone. There are so many cool apps to make your pictures look freakin' awesome! Instagram is one of these apps.

Camera+ is another one, you can change all this stuff that I have no idea what it is, but it makes your pictures look pretty awesome.

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Do you warm up/cool down/stretch?

When TTC, did you continue pushing yourself in your workouts, or did you back off a bit, just in case?

Fresh Day.

I think I can say I'm out of my funk. Thanks for the encouraging words, it always helps to know that I'm not the only one who goes through this sort of thing. I woke up and went for a bike ride, not a long bike ride, but long enough that it felt good. I also tracked my food, and it felt good to do that, too. I focused on real food, fruits and vegetables. Filled my day with colorful vegetables, I'm trying to eat as many colors eat day as I can. It feels good after a few days of not eating well to be eating well again. It's a good cleansing.

On the job front, I'm getting used to my job. I don't love it, but it's bearable. I'm getting used to it, getting used to what George wants me to do, and how to ask what questions I want answered. It's complicated, but I'll keep going.

Honestly, that's all I did today, bike ride, work, and focus on eating better.

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How was your day?

Stuffed.

Happy August! Ahh, the blank canvas that is a new month. It feels so good sometimes! But seriously, where did July go? Where is 2011 going??

Remember when I said I wasn't going to track for awhile? Yeah, I think I'm going to start tracking tomorrow again. Today's after dinner food included 2 pieces of zucchini bread with butter AND about half a container of strawberries dipped in white chocolate AND 3 mouthfuls of redi whip straight from the can.

Yesterday, after I posted, was a continuing spiral downward, including a yelling match with my dad when he snapped at me for putting the case of water under his sink in the garage when I didn't even put it there. Yeah, that was the final straw for me, and poor dad got the brunt of my bad mood all day. We both apologized when I got back from my walk, but my mood was still lousy. I went over Mr. Skinny's parent's house then, and put on a smile for there. Eventually "fake it until you make it" worked out and I was in a better mood. It was just a bad day yesterday.

This morning started out a bit better, went for a run. I just wanted to go for a slow run, and still ended up with an 11 minute mile. I ran 2.61, but honestly could have ran longer. I turned around too fast. I might hit up another run tomorrow morning though.

It's been an okay day today. I'm getting out of my funk, slowly. I think I just want to know where I'll be in a month, and where I'll be in a year. Will I be pregnant? Have my baby in a year? We're throwing around vacation ideas with my family, and since they don't know we're TTC, I can't really say much. I don't like my job anymore than I did when I first started. Sure, it's getting easier, but I hate not being able to cook for my family. I miss cooking every day. I know we need the money, but I think that's why I want to be pregnant so quickly, so I can count down to when I can quit my job.

Hopefully I'm in the upwards part of this funk. I just need to focus on each day one at a time and appreciate the time I have with Mr. Skinny. God is in charge and it's all up to Him. I just need to get myself in tip-top baby makin' condition and everything will work out.

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Do you have a problem with patience sometimes?

When was the last "funk" you were in?