Adventure, Crazy Weather and Cops

Life got super busy for me last week, but on the plus side busy is good because it means less time to be bored or wish I was back home around my family and good friends.

I did try going to the singles church again, I didn't see the girl who gave me something to roll my eyes about. LOL

I sat alone this week, and a kind of cute guy came and sat next to me. Which means, I think I'm going to go with the sit alone thing more often and just see what or who happens!

Of course and I'm just saying, I'm not here to meet anyone or get into any serious relationships. I have every intention of moving back up north in a couple of years.

However, I am totally open to meeting cute guys who enjoy the outdoors! Because frankly hiking partners are always welcome!

CLASS PROJECTS

Seriously, I had one of those I couldn't be more annoyed moments in one of the groups I am in a class project with.
I really dislike people who think they can just piggy back off everyone else's hard work.

On the plus side, after walking across campus and back from a meeting with one of the guys in my group my thoughts are not alone. We both think it's high time the others start pulling their weight in this, that or just drop out.

Which is why later this week in class I have every intention of suggesting the get your act together or just drop out of the class to one of our group members. I'm a nice person, but sometimes some people just need the hard truth!

CRAZY WEATHER

We had some crazy weather here in Utah. Most of it was up north, my sisters had tornado's go through their cities. Which is odd because we don't usually get weather like that here in Utah.

We had some flooding down south here, in fact the road I live on was washed out by mud and rocks coming off of the mountain. I sat in my apartment and watched the awesome storm out the windows. But I thought it was funny when my neighbors truck bed filled up with water in a matter of seconds, LOL

My only regret is not getting out and taking a drive right after the storm to see what awesome waterfalls appeared up on the red cliffs... next time!

PICTURE FUN

Okay, so I am on Snapchat. But unlike all of my other social media things which I have synced with my blog. I have kept Snapchat a strict family only thing and put in the higher private settings.

My sisters and my nieces and nephews have so much fun sending pic snaps all day long. If my niece or nephew send me one, I'll even send one back (semi) unnoticeable in my classes LOL

That and Facetime have become my favorite ways to keep in touch and try to keep my fun aunt stuff going:)


GETTING PULLED OVER

I live in a small town and am surrounded by nearly a dozen other small towns. If you've never been to a small town let me tell ya, the cops just love to give tickets.
I wasn't paying attention coming out of this little mountainside town I drove up to over the weekend and when I saw the cop pull behind me I was just like NOOOOOO...

Normally in the past, I try to do everything I can to plea, beg or fake cry and get out of the ticket LOL. I have a very good track record of talking my way out of them. I also have no shame, LOL

However, this time I had a headache and didn't have the energy. So I just went with the truth. An odd concept I know, LOL.


Me: I put both hands on the wheel because with a concealed weapons permit I didn't want him to get any wrong ideas.
Officer: Did you know you were going 25 over the speed limit?
Me: Yes, and I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention until you pulled behind me and I noticed the speed.
Officer: Can I get your license, insurance and registration?
Me: Yes, but apparently I don't have my current registration.
Officer: That's okay, I'll take what you have.

The wait.....A little prayer asking for only a warning...

Me: Watching him get out of the car looking for the pink slip and not seeing it as he walks up I get very hopeful and happy.
Officer: I decided to give you a warning for 5 over the speed limit, just watch it going forward okay.
Me: Thank you so much, you are awesome! Hope you have a great rest of your weekend!
Officer: Thanks, you too!

I couldn't of afforded a $300+ ticket which is what it would have cost me, so yes I consider myself very blessed and prayer answered!!!

ADVENTURE

Did a little hiking, got up out of the heat and into the pine forests for a day. I wanted to see some of the fall leaves I figured down south here maybe they might be starting to change.

That's the part I miss about not being up around Salt Lake. Fall leaves have been changed for a while and the snow storm they got over the weekend likely took most the leaves.
I'll be visit there in a few weeks, but all the colorful leaves in the mountains will be on the ground by the time I get there, bummer....

The leaves were just starting to change in the mountain range I visited over the weekend. I think this weekend I should take a trip back and see them, they'll likely be gorgeous!

That was a few bits of my weekend.
On a side note, my knee is healing nicely. I almost think it's healed completely, I am just easing back into it all just in case.

ST GEORGE MARATHON

On a completely different side note, I may be participating in the St. George Marathon this weekend, not how I paid to do it. But one of my classes they want us to volunteer to hand out the medals at the finish.
I'm going to be honest, even though this will make me sound terrible. I am not really sure how I feel about it. Mostly because I know me, and I know how bummed I will be to be at the race I was supposed to be running, but helping celebrate everyone else's finish.
In other words, I need to get my act together and get into volunteer spirit or something!

I normally wait to post these types of things, but since I have several blogger friends who are running the marathon this weekend, I wanted to say if you spot me at the finish I would be honored to give you your medal!

Tell me something you did over the weekend.


I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

 

  

A Little Explanation...

I didn't want another week of blogging to escape me. I've missed the interaction part of it, I really have!  Although, I've caught many of your posts, but they were at work and I am unable to comment on them there.

Let me explain what has happened.

I've been working in the healthcare industry about 2 months now, I will have to tell you it was definitely NOT my brightest of ideas to go back into it.

While I work in dermatology, it's a large building that shares space with a children's hospital clinic, family medicine, Instacare and several other offices. And apparently people like to come to my place of work sick??? Ha ha... It also doesn't help that I fill in once a week in family medicine.

You may have remembered earlier in June and back in May I kept mentioning I was catching colds and getting sick.

Well that hasn't changed, its just gotten worse. I've had 3 colds and 1 flu in the past 8 weeks and I will be honest it sucks! I swear my co-workers cringe when they see me coming, but fortunately for them no one has caught anything I have had. Lucky them!

I've been working long hours, and each week I kept wondering why it wasn't getting easier to work on a schedule again. Seriously, it sounds kinda childish but I have struggled and still can't get my body used to being on a schedule without naps or sleeping in when my body needs it.

A lot of the problem is it seems my Epstein Barr has come back. Which basically means, I am exhausted all the time, highly susceptible to catching anything in the air and I need lots and lots of sleep.
I'm a hand sanitizer junkie and I never touch my face so yeah I claim it's all in the air. haha.

Most days, I go to work, get home and go to bed. Even if I do stay up a few hours before crashing, I've had terrible colds and well everyone knows how miserable of a nights sleep it is when your not feeling well or coughing on top of exhaustion.

So that gives you a little mini peek into my lack of blogging.  I literally haven't had the energy to do it. I know that sounds really pathetic. But it's true, catching cold after cold has wiped me out.
When I have a few minutes throughout my work day I hop online to see what my blogger friends have been up to, but that's been it with me and blogging these past 3 weeks.

I don't want you to think I haven't fit anything fun in. I like to think I am the queen of forcing myself to get out and do a few things even when I feel like crap or am sicker than sick.

I even took a trip and scared the maid with my complete loss of voice one morning from a bad chest cold I had, haha. I'll share more on my travels another post another day,

I am currently on the downward end of a bad chest cold so over the weekend I made the decision to go hiking with a friend and we climbed to the summit around 10,500 ft. of a new peak that I had never been to before.

I felt bad, my friend had to listen to my hard breathing and coughing the entire way, but she didn't appear to mind. It was a killer climb, literally about as straight up walking as you can get and still remain upright for.

Yeah, I took a lot of breaks, at times I'm not even kidding about every 10-20 feet, haha. But I made it, and even better I think it may have forced a lot out of my chest because today as I am writing this my chest is far far less congested and I am feeling much better.
I mean, my legs are more sore than they have been in years, but that's the good kind of pain!

The last update I will share, or I guess it would be better called a confession. How's my running coming, how is marathon training coming?
Well it's not, I'm not even sure I have run a single day this month so far. Ughhh that has got to change! I won't even think about the fall marathon topic right now.

I'll share the bits of fun I've had in a few upcoming Travel Tuesday posts. If you follow my Instagram, you may have already seen a few pics here and there of what I have been doing between naps and good and bad cold days. I even caught a little Vitamin D even if it was to rest the day away.

To leave you on a positive note, I am in pretty good spirits now. I am going to work a little less this week (if I can) and hop on the blogging world a little more and do more than just read.

Plus before I allow myself to crash into slumber each night. Even though it's a 100 degree's each day give or take I fully plan on getting out there every afternoon in the heat and getting back into running. Sweating out the last of this last bug and hopefully beginning to get my active life back a little. Because let me tell ya, 2 months of being sick has made me way too out of shape!

What fun things have you been up to this summer?  Do you have some fun plans coming up for the upcoming Holiday weekend?

Pillowcases and Goals

How's getting back into shape and the running coming for me? 

Well I'll talk more about this below, but in short I am slowly getting back into it.
It's a tad more difficult right now since it's been so long since I have been able to do it. But mostly I am enjoying it.  I know it will get easier in the coming weeks. It will also get easier to wake up earlier, I won't lie right now it's not easy!

But I think we are starting to get into the spring type temps, 20's in the mornings and 50's in the afternoons. Meaning less chances of freezing temps and right now that may make it a tad easier for me!

How's work going?
Well I had an epic fail as a business owner. I hadn't had a voicemail message left in over a month, I am an idiot and didn't think much of it.
Then after 2 people told me they left a message and I saw no notification from it, I called my own number.
Ya, apparently 23 messages I never got. Why? Well I am the idiot who just assumed all old voicemails just auto deleted (They did with my old Blackberry) apparently not with my Galaxy. It only notifies you the first 150. I was over my limit.
I have missed out on so many wedding/event calls. I am kinda embarrassed by it.  Yup, like I said, EPIC fail as a small business owner!

Funny story this week about this guy who came up to me one day at work. (I am still occasionally working at now 1 library.)

HIM: "So someone puked all over the bathroom, it's everywhere and smells terrible.  Do you want to go clean it up?"
ME: "Gross, nope cleaning up vomit is far above my pay grade."
HIM: "Um, okay. Well then how much would you have to make to clean it up?"
ME: "To clean up someone else's vomit? Not enough money in the world, I don't do vomit!"
HIM: *Just stares at me.*
ME: "I'll go find someone who will do vomit though, meanwhile I'd just suggest not going in there."
HIM: "What if I need to use the bathroom?"
ME: "Well unless you can be quick and hold your breath, I'd suggest going somewhere else."

I mean I know he wasn't thrilled with me. But seriously, vomit and not my own, some strangers who decided to make a mess and not clean it up? Yuck, not gonna happen. I don't do vomit!

But on that note, allow me to just say, I give complete credit to janitors, as they do a job I could never do and they don't get far enough recognition for it!  As for the public who do things in bathrooms and leave messes and just leave before anyone notices it was them. Seriously people??? Ewe!!

My niece wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. She's always creating designs. I've been promising for a few months to come teach her how to sew.
When she got home from school I picked her up. Took her to the fabric store, let her pick out the material she liked the best.
Then we went back and we started with making one of the first things I ever made. Which was a pillow case.
She likes to add flare, so I suggested we add a ruffle to the ends, so it wasn't just a normal pillowcase.
I let her do all the sewing herself, I just pushed the pedal on the machine for her, and occasionally stopped or re-guided the fabric to get her back on track.
She did pretty good!  I told her next time we could try a nightgown or an apron, as those are both easy new to sewing projects. I had a fun time teaching her too!

This week's reads. Well to be honest, I didn't get much reading time in, in fact I didn't have a chance to pick up a book until Thursday night. But The Golden Lily was so good I seriously couldn't put it down.  Dang that made for one late night, I finished it around 2AM.  We won't even talk about how fun it was to wake up the next morning, LOL
Then the weather was so beautiful Saturday it just felt like a great day to read another book in the sun, so I grabbed the next book in Richelle Mead's Series The Indigo Spell and read it.  I am seriously loving this series much more than I ever thought I would!

Okay, so this is something I've been struggling with for a while, but I need to work much harder at it. Last fall when I had to quit working out to deal with a worse than normal flare up on my foot injury. Then this winter dealing with my back pain and having to take it easy. Let's just say, I had some pounds to loose before all of that, and then well I am not proud because I gained quite a bit more during those lazy months.

So, I bought a selfie stick. Why? Well, you may or may not have noticed I don't post a lot of pictures of myself on my blog.

Truthfully, I hate to admit this, but it's because I've put on some weight and I just don't like pictures taken of myself right now.  Yes, yes I know I should be more confident. blah blah blah..
Well I should, but I'm not and the good thing about it all, is it's something I can do something about.

So that is where the selfie stick comes in. I am going to share my weight loss journey on my blog. I took a picture (you can see it above) with it just a few days ago. I'd like to share one with each 10 pounds that I loose to show off the progress.

No, you're not getting a fully body picture, but I did take one. Maybe I will share it later after I have dropped some weight, but for now it's just for myself. So I can see where I am, where I want to go, and use it to motivate me to work on improving with eating healthier and exercising more.

The great news is, right now I can get back into exercise, it's just something that will hurt a bit more because of my back issues. But I am choosing to tell myself even that may all be in my head. (Hey, it's worth a shot, mind control ha ha..)

It's going to take a few weeks before I can do a full great 60 minute workout and keep my heart rate up the entire time. But it will eventually come. I'm not going to push anything right now too much, I've dealt with way too many injury blows and I'm skirting the lines already with a couple that may never heal and I want to see how I can work around them for now, especially with my foot work injury. That one's just gone on way too long.

So my first goal, is drop 10 pounds.  But I have a few other goals, my other is to drop 40 pounds by June 1st. That may or may not be realistic, but I like to have goals like that, that skirt the lines of possible and impossible. But I definitely thing I can.

I am going to go at this a bit more drastic to start with. Since I can't burn as many workout calories just yet each day as I ease back into it. I need to compensate for the calories in other ways. So I am going to drop down to my intake of only  1,000 calories a day. Once the workouts can increase I'll bump up the calories a few hundred daily as needed until I am back where I'd like to be on a calorie/workout plan that I can actually do as a lifestyle change.

I'm hoping the significant calorie drop will help me drop the first 10 a little faster, and build up my motivation for it so I can get excited about less weight and improvements in the way I look and feel.

My reward, well besides better health. If I can drop 40 pounds by June 1st, I am going to reward myself with a brand new Stand Up Paddle Board. They are not cheap and the one I want costs around $1,200 on sale, so the money I save from not going out to lunch or dinner and stuff, well that is going to go into the paddle board fund.

Last, I am hosting a Spring into March Giveaway Hop, you have about 1 week to decide if you want to join up with us on it. I am leaving the sign up open through March 9th.
But the hop itself runs March 14th - 25th.  I decide to not go with a theme this time around, so bloggers can choose any giveaway item they would like.
You can find all the details and the sign up HERE.

That's a few little bits of my week and what I have going on right now.  With the Grow Your Blog hop, I have been a little off my normal blogging routine, and I am looking forward to getting back on track. We had 3 great hops, a few worked better than others.  I'll have to share a little more on those after I have all the analytics pulled together on them.

So tell me, what is a goal your working on right now?

I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

Sometimes Decision Making Can Be the Worst!

Hope everyone had a great past week! I had a great time, super busy but got together with so many different friends and family members throughout the week, it was a lot of fun.

Participating in the 3 blog hops I am hosting this month is seriously taking up a lot of my time. Don't get me wrong I love it. But being the host and participating, equals 1-2 hours of blogging
each day to stay caught up.

 (Yes, it's hard to find those hours, which means lots of multi-tasking and late nights.)

But I am enjoying the new friends I am meeting through it, and several others have commented on how much they are enjoying it which makes it all worth it.

One thing I love about the friends I have in my life, sometimes we don't even have to do anything. We can just sit and chat and have more fun discussing random thoughts that pop through our minds. It can go on for hours like that, we have such fun times together.
Do you have friends like that in your life? I hope so!

My sister and I even headed out to a midnight movie showing on Thursday, we haven't done that in years.
We went and saw The Choice, which was a really cute romantic comedy.
Have you seen it?
I think it may go down as my favorite Nicholas Sparks book/movie remake so far.

We each grabbed a large popcorn, so we'd have some for the movie and then the best part, take the rest home and have it for breakfast.  Yes, I know that is not very healthy, but morning after movie popcorn is just the best!

This week, I didn't get much reading in, but in-between projects I did pick up a couple of books. I did read The Revolution of Ivy. It wasn't as good as the first book, but the first book was so good I think I just had my hopes set too high.

I also finished Aprilyn Pikes Earthrise, the final book in the Earthbound series. Loved the series, but something was different about this book and the writing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Other than I did catch a few editing mistakes, which is uncommon in her books.

The air has finally cleared out here, and it is beautiful outside. I can see my beautiful mountains out all my windows again, YAY
We had several storms move through last week quickly, that pushed all the junk out. Not sure how long it will last, but hopefully we keep getting mini storms to keep it out!

This week I am going to make attempts to get out each morning and get myself back into a normal running routine again and begin the slow build back up in mileage, since running outdoors is pretty much the only way I like to do it!

As for the new career search.
The problem is, I feel like I am 20 again. I seriously can't decide on anything. That and I've been my own boss for so many years that I kinda cringe at having a boss, I know terrible... (Note to self, delete that line before I let any new potential employer see it, LOL)

One day I am thinking okay, maybe I will go this direction. As soon as the idea set's in, I have already talked myself out of it, and I am back to square one.
I am incredibly picky, I want a job I will enjoy that won't feel like work, but pays well.

So at this point, your guess on what I decide is as good as mine, LOL
I've also been dabbling with the idea of looking into affording to go back to school and get another degree in something else???
I'll figure it all out eventually, maybe being picky and waiting is good too, maybe the perfect career just hasn't opened up just yet... We shall see!

Those a few tidbits of my past week. 
I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

So tell me, how has your week gone?
Any fun news to share?

My Least Favorite Time Of The Year

Hope everyone had a fabulous past week, and weekend!  Did anyone watch the U.S. Olympic Trials? Wasn't it an awesome race!!

Totally have to shout out to the Utah runners in the men's who took 3rd, 4th and 8th. We also had three women from Utah running as well, who did quite amazing too.

I pretty much guessed the first two spots in the men's race, by mile 15 and I guessed the women's top three correctly sooner around mile 8. I like to be right, but the great thing about the marathon is its a race that can always bring the unexpected. Truthfully, that is the best part about the distance!


This week I became active again, with both PT and aerobic and it was hard. My back pains are not being kind, not having cartilage to cushion my movements is tough. But I am, getting it used to movement again. Learning what I can and can't to.

I'd be lying if I said it isn't driving me crazy.
I can right now only run about 1/2 mile before the pain kicks in. Walking hurts worse than running, which I guess is good. I'd rather just run anyway. But right now I am getting back into shape, so walking is inevitable.
I'll get through it, I am just going through the part where my body has to learn the type of pain I may have the rest of my life and its a process.

Since I am only running such short distance, it's easy to just use the good ol' treadmill.

This is the last time I will talk about my back pain for a while I promise, I don't like sounding like a broken record. So until I've made great progress or figured things out, I'll quit chatting about it.

On the plus side, I am going to start a more aggressive diet of natural foods with anti-inflammatory in them, I don't know if it will really help. But it's definitely worth trying!  Good news is, aside from fish, I like most all other foods that have them in it.

DO YOU TEXT TOO MUCH TOO?

My sisters and I realized just how much we text, and how we may actually be able to outdo even teenagers.
One night, one of my sisters left to change her babies diaper and when she came back all she could say was.
"52 texts people, 52..." "I was only gone a few minutes, 52 people....."
LOL

It wasn't until after I went to bed that night and looked back, between 10pm and 1am, we had sent/received over 800 texts.
Yup, apparently we have a problem, but a good  one since we are having fun!

I did chill with my sister and my niece and nephew one day. Helped her hold things while she painted and created her cute Ladybug Valentines box.
Then we relaxed the night away in the hot tub.

When I left that night, we'd been in a long time I was hot, and my dry clothes got wet. So just climbed in the my car in a towel and as I was driving home I realized I was the only one in 28 degree weather driving in a swimsuit, LOL I got a funny look at one of the lights I stopped at. Ha ha.

MY LEAST FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR

This is my least favorite time of the year.  Normally, I love living in Utah, and believe it's one of the most beautiful states, except for a few weeks in the winter, like now.

In Utah especially down in the valleys, we have this thing that happens in the winter called an Inversion.
In short, it's when cold air gets trapped beneath warm air and it becomes gross, very yucky air to breath. In other words, all the pollutants get trapped down in the air we breath.

I hear different stories of how bad it is, some say walking out in it for a few minutes is the equivalent of smoking a cigarette.
It gets hard to breath at times, and its very unsafe to workout outdoors.

I know a few still do it, but you can seriously cause health problems if your out breathing it too long so most of us are smart and stay indoors or go up in the mountains away from it and into the fresh air to work out.

I personally don't need anyone telling me how bad it is. I can see how bad it is.
See the above picture I took last week with the mountains?  Right below it is the exact same picture, and where are the mountains? Hidden by the hazy inversion air, that is where.

No it wasn't a cloudy day. In fact just the opposite , despite how it looks. It was a completely clear, not a cloud in the sky day.
I consider myself slightly more lucky, I live on the higher end of the valley, than those who live lower down in the worst part of it.

We actually need a big storm or some good winds to come through, until it does we are stuck with yuck air. It warmed up a little Sunday we got a little rain, so it might help it a little for a day or two, but the yucky air will be trapped in again until a big storm comes through. Yucky huh!

Had lunch with a good friend, it's always great to sit around and have some fun girl chat. As I was driving to her house, I noticed her neighbor, they designed the UP house to live in from Disney's movie Up. Too funny. It's cute though, kinda! It would be cuter if there wasn't an inversion going on. Believe it or not behind the house are gorgeous huge mountains, which obviously can't be seen.

This week I got a little reading in, not quite as much as the past few weeks. Thanks to being able to get out a bit more and begin getting active again.
I read Bloodlines by Richelle Mead which I guess she's famous for Vampire Academy (which I have not read.) But I actually really liked this book.
Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini was one of those books that hooked me at the beginning, almost lost me in the middle, but made me glad I kept reading because it brought me back by the end that I couldn't wait to read what happens next.

So well, that is a few little bits of my past week.

I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

Tell me something you did last week? 
Do you text way too much at times too?
Or do you have neighbors who build crazy fun homes based on Disney movies too?

Stat's, Updates and Total Randomness

Life was a little slower this past week, I was finally able to catch up on a few things.  As for blogging, I was able to knock off the first 10 things on my to-do list and even though my list still has several more dozen on it, its definitely a start!  Additionally, I have the rest of my October posts (minus my Monday update posts) all created and ready to run for the month!

Which is awesome because it means, more time I can spend visiting other blogs!  I have a goal, to get most of November's posts created by Mid October... we shall see if that happens:)

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to take care of a couple of nephews and a niece while their parents are out of town.  We had ton's of fun, I love playing with those kids it always makes me feel young again:)  We had a slumber party and watched old Disney movies from my childhood, they loved them just as much as I hoped.  Apple Dumpling Gang, Blackbeards Ghost... Great times!
Ya, we are totally stretched out and relaxing in our camping trailer and maybe ate too many goodies!


A sweet friend returned from a spur of the moment trip to Paris, and brought me these beautiful coasters.  Aren't they pretty!  I think this is the first thing I own from Paris:)

OCTOBER GOALS & NUMBERS

So this is the first Monday of the month with my new series where I share my September goals, and how I did as well as my revenue numbers.  So here it goes:

Compared to my August numbers, my page views are back on their climb to pre-summer, which I think has helped me achieve a few things this month.  You can read about my September stats HERE.

Income earned: $159. Since my goal was $150, I did make it, just barely:)  I haven't been working on a whole lot of campaigns, but I do plan to increase this in the coming months.
My October goal: $200.

Twitter: Ended the month with 6,483 followers.  My goal was to hit 6,500, so yes I did miss this goal a little.  However, I did start the month with barely over 6,000 so overall I find this to be highly successful!  Why am I working on twitter?  Well Twitter is my #2 source of traffic second to Google. Because of this, it's a no brainier that I should work on growing this!
My October goal: 7,000 followers.

Instagram: I ended the month with 1,461 followers. Since I started the month with 1,306 followers this was a pretty good growth! Even though I did have a goal to hit 1,600.  So no, I didn't hit the goal, not even close.
Instagram is something I want to build to obtain some higher revenue advertising opportunities.
For me Instagram is the hardest to grow, but I have been discovering some new things that help so hopefully implementing them more, it will help it's growth.
My October goal: 1,550 followers.

My 3 Top Posts (per page views) in September

Fall into Fitness Giveaway Hop
Runners Etiquette, How to Not Ruin a Race For Others
Funny Questions Runners Ask

_______________________

Random About Me

It's been a while since I have done one of those, total random facts about me.  So today I decided to share a little.  I am always completely honest, so ya laugh on some if you have to!  I am usually the first to admit, I am occasionally weird and have my "dork" moments.

* I love the 2015 Disney Cinderella movie, I finally got my copy and ya I have watched it twice, it's just so cute!

* I have a goal this month to not spend more than $200 on myself, this includes eating out, clothing, movies, stuff with friends, spend on nieces and nephews.  Why? Because lately, I have been spending 5X's that, and lets face it, money would be better spent on trips and vacations!

* I collect key chains from everywhere I visit (I have several hundred displayed.)
But I oddly don't have an actual key chain with my keys, LOL  I have a rock climbing hook holding them together instead:)

* I am trying to cut down on how many times I wash my hair.  I know dumb, but I was washing it 1-2 times a day before.  I can now go 2-3 days thanks to dry shampoo:)  I wouldn't be going 3 days if I was working out, LOL promise!  On the plus side, as someone who has fine straight hair, after a few days with the dry shampoo, my hair looks super thick and luscious:)  LOL

* I went shopping the other day and bought 2 complete outfits for $97.  It was the first time I used all those mobile coupons that companies keep sending me in their weekly email blasts.  I need to take advantage of those more often!

* I will never leave my home or business if I have to pee, even a little.  I once was in a car accident, just before my friends and I left I decided I had to go to the bathroom, but I would just go when I got to the restaurant. After the accident, I had to be strapped down for hours while they determined if my neck was broke, and I had to pee the entire time.  It was awful, I don't even remember the pain from the accident, just having to pee, LOL  So ya now I never make that mistake before I leave anywhere:)

* If it is, "that time of the month" with the lovely painful "cramps" my girlfriends and I know, it's sort of an unwritten rule, that any of us can cancel plans at the last minute to lay around at home with a heating pad, Pepsi and painkillers instead:) and no one takes any offense to it, because we all, get it!

* I am enjoying Fear The Walking Dead, almost as much as I like The Walking Dead:)

* I no longer have the purple in my hair, I went back to my natural dark brown:)  But it was a fun month while it lasted!

* I want to go hang gliding or para gliding.  I was watching them fly off the mountain nearby me the other day, and it got me to wondering why I haven't done it yet!  It might be too late in the year, but I am really thinking if not this year, next spring!

*  I am itching to take a road trip!  Sure gas prices here are nowhere near as low as most of the rest of you get.  We are still around $2.69, but regardless I want to take a road trip.  Now all I have to do is find a way to fit one in:)

* I'm trying to cut out how much Pepsi I am drinking.  (I know I go through phases and have said this in the past.) But I have gotten up to 2 a day again, and this is not good!  I'd like to get back down to 1 a week!

* At work if people ask me if I watch any reality shows, I will lie and say I don't even if I do:)

* I wear running shoes with dress pants.  I know, the shame!  My sisters won't be seen around me when I do.  But because of the Achilles work injury I have had, it's has been a necessary thing to do.  But the oddest thing, it no longer bothers me to do it.  (I did buy an all black pair of Asics, not that it makes it any better.)

* I have never ran in one of those cute running skirts yet.  But I really want to get one!

* I would love it if someone called me up to go drive race cars around a track or out on the salt flats.  I would LOVE to go as fast as they'd let me!  That would be an awesome date!

* If I am not in the mood, I will put my phone on silent and leave it that way for an entire day, not bothering to look at it until the next day.  I know, not very business great, but that is what voicemail is for right! I should say I don't do this often, but maybe once or twice a month.
However, I am also known for not looking at my phone for 4-6 hours at a time, if I get busy!  My friends and family hate that I do that when they want to get a hold of me:)

* I am going harness my sewing skills and attempt a DIY project and make a Mermaid tail for my niece for her birthday in November.  It will be one that you can really swim in.  So many kids have them, but they are like $120+, and I have discovered I can get the Monofin, and the wetsuit fabric I need for it all for under $35 and I found the pattern/project details on Pinterest, and it looks only moderately hard.
The only problem, I am going to be jealous, and it's going to be hard not to make myself one, LOL They look way fun!

* I had fun watching the Supermoon and Eclipse last Sunday.  Here are a few pictures I took, while I was playing around with my camera while watching.

Okay, that is probably enough from me right now.


Tell me something random about you.
Do you set monthly blogging goals for yourself?

I am linking up with HoHo Runs and Mississippididdlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

Step Goals, Beyond Rude, Running and Weight loss Updates

Life has certainly been busy, with weddings and summer and of course making sure to fit in a little "me" time, I feel like I am barely keeping on top of things:)
I feel bad I haven't had as much time as normal to get around to visit all my favorite bloggers as much as I would have liked.  I have a few more weeks of craziness to get through, and I am looking forward to getting back into blogging as I normally like to.


RUNNING

I am on target for where I wanted to be coming back after taking those 2 months off when I was really sick (5-6 miles 5 days a week).
On a good note, If you remember about 3 months or so back I went to take a step and something happened to my right foot and it literally could not take the pressure.  It healed after a week or so, mostly.  But every time for months I would run about 2-5 minutes into it I would get this cramp in the side of my foot and up into my calf and it was a stop go, stop go process as I would try to get the cramp worked out.  I never could figure out what was wrong.  But based on the fact that I have not had it happen since I took the 2 months off.  My guess is I must have pulled something maybe an inner calf tear??
Either way, no matter what it was.  I guess I should thank the 2 month sickness because sometimes even when you feel it's something bad happening, sometimes things happen to help fix other things and I think the illness was a little miracle in disguise.
As for the 2 1/2 year long (as of now) tendon work injury, it's been doing okay.  The swelling this week was light to moderate and I have been able to keep the pain down to minimal.  I am still determined it will actually heal, but until I have gone a couple of months without problems, I still air on the cautious side.

Although, one of the houses I run past once a week in a nearby city, when I run along a canal the owner is back at it with their "dummy stage designs".
If you ignore the fact that whomever they are, they obviously have a hoarder problem.  Hence the piles of junk under the porch.  They stage this dummy, and change out the costume or look each week or two.  Last year when I discovered it it made me smile as sometimes it is creative.  I was happy to see the dummy back and looks like this week he's a guitar player:)

5 DAY GOAL to 100,000 STEPS

My sisters and I were having a contest this week to see if we could hit 100,000 steps in 5 days.
I am happy to admit, I did it YAY and neither of my other two sisters hit the goal.  Of course I was still working on it with a late night Friday workout and finally hit my 100k in 5 days by 11:15pm...

With life so busy, the only way to do it is for me to be at 60-75% of my goal by 8am each day and then when I am finally home and life calms, around 10-11pm at night I have added another 30-40 minute 2nd workout to get to the last part of the day's goal.
This week's going to be out of my control busy, so I am not setting a main step goal plan, but I would love to hit that again if life allows the time!

BEYOND RUDE

I actually wasn't going to talk about this, but I am going to share just to show how some people are beyond clueless and have no idea or care at how rude they are.

I had a crazy experience this last week, with an insane woman who was beyond the boarder of complete rudeness!
I was out on a morning run, and it was during morning rush hour traffic.  This woman pulls into the middle median lane (in traffic) and starts yelling at me to wait.
So mid run I stop, thinking she needs directions and has a odd way to go about it.
She dodges two lanes of traffic, I just see this woman with a crazy huge afro running at me trying not to get hit as she crosses 2 more lanes of traffic.

She gets to me, I am guarded (I am on the sidewalk next to the road) not sure what she wants.
She hands me this small piece of paper and says to me, "you look like this might be something you would be interested in.)
I look at the paper, reading it: It's an ad for a weight loss Herbalife product, and a Biggest Loser weight loss competition....

I look back at her, more stunned than anything.  Watching her cross the busy lanes again to get back to her car.  I am not even embarrassed to admit as I watched her try to avoid getting hit.  I was thinking that if she did get hit, I wouldn't of felt all that bad for her.

First of all, yes I have a few pound to lose.  But I am not so overweight that everyone who looks at me hopes I can drop a few.  Second, she wasn't all that much smaller than me, in fact you add her afro hair and the weight of that alone might have brought her near my own weight....

I was offended for a few minutes, but then got over it.  I only pocketed the paper, because I am pretty much against littering streets, but the next garbage can I passed, it went in it!

LAST TIDBITS

I did take a break from my busy week on Thursday and visited Lagoon a Beach (a local water park.)
I will say, if you need to feel better about yourself and how you look in your own swim suit, just visit a water park!  I will never understand how some people can be so comfortable in their skin to bare it (almost to) all no matter how it may look.
I wish I was more comfortable in my own skin, but in some ways I am glad I am not:)
The phrase, less is more, doesn't always apply to swimwear in my opinion:)
However, you also have to be careful and force yourself to keep your mouth shut.  Because in my mind if my boob was literally hanging out of the side of my top for the world to see, I would definitely want someone to tell me.  But apparently some get more annoyed at you telling them about a problem that they don't consider a problem in the first place...

On another note, I am down 7.5 pounds, and I consider that success!  Due to the things I have coming up this week, there is a pretty good chance I might be able to drop a few more.
That and we are in the triple digit temps each day and have a full week of 100+ days coming up.  I find that even though I actually enjoy the heat, I don't eat quite as much when it's hot and I drink a lot more water which I think is going to help with dropping more weight!

Talk about hot, my new car with the black leather interior, well let's just say.  It may look nice and pretty, but oh is it HOT!  I had one of those thicker hard plastic water bottles sitting in the cup holder of my car on Saturday.  Well when I went to get into it, I notice the lid had popped off, a closer look the entire thing melted down and shrunk...  Ya, now that is crazy hot! Although, I hate touching the inside of the car in the summer, the inside of the car should be great in the winter!

So that is a little brief on my week.  How did you week go? 

About Me Monday's

I don't think I ever really noticed until this summer, but summers are super busy for me. First there is weddings and work, and truthfully I work to play, because the term live to work tastes sour in my mouth:)
Second there is getting outdoors and doing things, it only takes one person to say, "Hey let's go...." and I am packed and out the door about the same time they finish telling me what we should do.
You throw blogging into that, and I am having a hard time coming up with a spare few hours, I haven't even been reading as much as I normally do.
But it's all good, I enjoy being busy and I enjoy living life to it's fullest!


Running has been going pretty good for me too, I am miles behind where I would like to be, but that's okay!  
However, now that the temps now at or around triple digits it has me forced to wake up before 7am to get out, and truthfully since it's already around 80 by 7am, I really should be getting up at 5 if I want a cooler run, LOL  call me lazy, but I need to work up to that:)


So I have discovered the fake lotion tanners.  I will be honest my arms and legs are turning a nice shade of natural brown from the sun.
But I refuse to let me face and neck see the sun, because I kind of like people mistaking me for 10 years younger than I am:) ha ha
I have tried them in the past, but they always went patchy and orange.  But I have been using the Jergens Natural Glow brand, (the body one) on my face and after about a week the color has really come out quite evenly.  It almost matches my arms, but a shade lighter which is good:)  The best part is it has a 20 SPF in it, so I'm like double covered! (No I am not getting paid in any way to promote or mention them:)
When people come up to me at work and tell me how nice the tan is, I don't even mind telling them that it's from a bottle and it's totally safe and best of all, going to keep the wrinkles and sun damage away:)


I know, not the most interesting news.  But I next week, I promise to be more interesting!  I did get my picture's back from my river trip.  Waterproof camera's are not the best, and I don't love the picture quality, but if I can get time tomorrow, I hope to show them off for tomorrow's Travel Tuesday post!


Hope you all had a great past week.  Anyone done anything fabulous lately you'd like to share?

The Almost Race and Weekly News

This has been one of those crazy busy weeks. But I am totally okay with that, because after being so sick for so many months it just feels great to be able to get out and do stuff that I want again!

THE ALMOST RACE

So lets get straight to the Almost Race.... I mentioned a while back I wanted to get into being a race director.  I had picked a 2016 Half Marathon course, but I knew there were a lot of unknowns and I wasn't sure even last week if this was going to be able to happen.
Why?  Well I had to wait until June 1st to be able to get up into the canyon. (Because that is when they open it for the summer.) Sure I have been there before, but it had been years since I was up at the top, so I couldn't remember what the road was like up there.
I knew what the last 8 miles of the course would be like, but no idea if the other 7 would actually work.

Above is a look at the elevation chart, to give you an idea of what I was looking at.  Obviously a fabulous PR course, and some pretty crazy downhill the first three miles.
Truthfully, it would have been great and gorgeous.  But it's not going to happen.
When I finally got up to the top, you can see how gorgeous the view at the starting line would have been, below.

View from the start, and would of ended in the valley you see below.

See although I could drive a bus up on the higher narrow one lane road the last few miles at the top. There is no way I could expect or assume a random bus drivers have the skill to do it.  All it would take is one not paying attention, and although I wouldn't worry about anyone falling down the mountain, I do worry about buses coming out unscratched.

If you visited my blog last Tuesday, I showed you a beautiful canyon.  Well that would have been the actual race course.  You can see the pictures HERE if you'd like to see my race that may never be:)

I did contemplate having runners go up first and then back down and getting rid of the bus ride all together.  But unfortunately, way to many runners these days are attracted to downhill and flat, and there are far fewer like myself who love some good uphill challenges.  I could still do it, but getting the amount of people to enter that would be needed would be hard.

So yes in short, this particular exact race will not be happening.  Which is why I am actually sharing the location.  However, I am not giving up.  I have a few other idea's and places I am considering, they are just going to take a bit more time to look into.

Yes, I do ride the kids rides too:)  This Carousel was actually
built in 1893 and has been at Lagoon since 1906.  Cool huh!

AMUSEMENT PARK FUN

So I let my sister talk me into getting a season passport to our local amusement park Lagoon. They like me to get season passports each year so I can help them take care of their kids when they go:)  Its for adults and kids, but to be honest I have had season passports for 3 years in a row, and I have yet to go on the adult rides. LOL

But the good news is, one of my nieces grew over the winter and she is tall enough to ride all of the roller coasters and fun rides now.  She's only 5, so it's going to take some time to convince her they are fun and not scary, LOL.
My other niece grew enough to get to ride the medium like teen rides, so ya that little 4 year old and myself have been having a lot of fun.
Although I did make my sisters promise that we will have sisters days, where we just go and ride all the thrillers and leave the kids at home once in a while, LOL.

We don't spend the entire day, mostly just a few hours in the evenings.  Its nicer that way, then making it a full exhausting day.  A few hours here and there, keep it fun, and it' a blast to watch the cute kiddo's.

They have a new ride this year opening Cannibal and it's a roller coaster that looks super wicked, I am beyond excited to give it a try.  It's not open yet, the dummy runs keep ejecting the would be people in the seats when they are upside down on a vertical decent (per what I hear) LOL...  I am sure they will get the issues worked out soon, and when they do, I will so be one of the first in line:)

Oh, and when my niece and I ride this carousel, we always try to get on the horses, and we pretend we are on Mary Poppins, and we are in a carousel horse race.  I am sure I make lots of adults around smile as I indulge and pretend to buck my horse to speeding up.  My sweet little niece is good at making sure she is singing SuperCalaFragalisticExpyAlaDocious as we ride:)  Reason number 2001 of why I am the favorite aunt:)

RUNNING

So after having been out for so long, it's like starting over again.  Ya, I get tired after a mile:) So I am just enjoying it and taking it slow, I'll build the mileage up slowly, but I think it will happen much faster than over the winter.
So I may only run a mile here or there, and then I walk a few more miles.  Gotta keep those Fitbit numbers up:)  Especially with the competitions:)
Although, I saw this very busy mamma duck and her what looks like 14 small little baby ducklings on my run this past week. She is the winner, I haven't seen any other ducks with this many babies this year so far.


ADVENTURE

I am an after the fact blogger, and have decided that I probably always will be.  I will keep the "what" on the hush, but I will be heading out for some thrill seeking soon.  It's something I have wanted to do for years.  A co-worker of mine happened to mention she's never done anything adventurous in her entire life, and never really been anywhere.  I decided to take that as an invitation to invite her for a thrill of a lifetime!  The only problem is, I hate to plan things out in advance, I hate having to wait a while to do things.  It's much more fun to just up and decide on something and leave to do it immediately!  Ya I am all about spontaneous.   But oh well I will just have to wait.
I look forward to sharing about it all in the near future.

FUN STUFF & WEIGHTLOSS

I made my first attempt at tie dye nails, I saw the how too on one of those Facebook video's and figured it looked easy enough.  Of course they made it look easier than it really was, and it took a little trial and error.  But for my first time ever, I think they turned out kinda cute!

I also have lost 5 pounds.  Not a huge amount, but it's a great start.  I have made some daily diet changes the past few weeks.  I am eating more whole foods, far less calories and more fruits and veggies.

One mistake I find I have been making is eating too much fruit, its too easy to just keep eating fresh fruit, when I should stop at just 2-3 strawberries or a handful of grapes:)

One of the biggest things I am noticing, although working out daily (and sometimes 2-3 times a day) is helpful, and eating under 1,200 calories a day (which is my goal.)  One of the biggest things is getting my daily water.  I find the more I pound down the water, that is what is actually making the pounds drop.  I am getting better and better at it!  Not perfect, but progress is all that matters!

I could go on and share a bit more about the past week, but this post is probably long enough, and I'd hate to bore you all to death!

Here is to a great upcoming week, and I hope you all have a great week as well!

So tell me, what was your favorite part of last week?  Or do you have something fun coming up, you're looking forward to as well?



Also, if you haven't already, visit the GIVEAWAY going on right now, you have one week left to enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card, not to mention 17 other amazing giveaways going on you can enter too.

Up's, Down's and Plans

This week, like any normal week for me was full of it's ups and downs.
On a good note, the bruising on my neck and soreness from the biopsy are about completely gone.  In other words no more scarfs, YAY!
On a bad note, I came down with another cold on Tuesday.  But luckily I didn't have a huge busy work week, so it allowed for a lot of needed sleeping time.  (I may or may not have slept until 1pm twice this past week, terrible I know.... But I needed it!)

I did get out and go for a very short run last Monday, and even though I woke up sick Tuesday I attempted what was even a shorter run, okay more walking than running:)  I thought maybe it would push the cold out of me before it settled in, I thought wrong.  It was a worth a try though!

But between all the crazy lifting at the wedding the past Saturday, or just being sick for a month unable to get out much on my feet.  Apparently my Achilles tendinitis didn't like it much, and decided to flare up again. *arghhh*
I no longer take a day of tendon pain and wish it away.  Instead I took immediate action and put the lovely boot back on.  As of Sunday night the pain was almost gone, I think another 5-7 days of it will be needed before I start gradually working back into running again.  I am pretty confident I can nip this in the bud before it has time to get out of control again!

I would love to share with you hiking exploits and other fun things.  But with everything, you can see I haven't been able to get out much.  I am hoping this week, has a little bit more adventure to it, as I am more than ready for some!
But since we have been getting a lot of well needed rain and snow here lately and that doesn't look to be changing anytime soon.  It's not really been bothering me too much that I can't get out and play:)

RACE PLANNING NEWS

So a few weeks back I mentioned that I was going to try my hand at becoming a race director.  With that comes with a lot of education and research.
I learned that 3 of the top races in our state for the first time in almost ever, they did not sell out this year.  What does that mean?  Well it's not for a lack of runners as Utah has many.  But one thing Utah also has, is a lot of races.  I have discovered we have over 760+ races each year (that I know of.)
About 98% of races in Utah are all on Saturday's, which mean that is about 14-15 every single Saturday.
Yup, a lot for runners to choose from!
I still want to go through with this, but based on my recent findings, I am realizing I need to schedule them as perfectly as I can, to be able to attract as many runners as possible.
So now that I have bored you with all of those numbers:)

I will share, what I am working on for 2016 is a Half Marathon, with a 5k.  (If I can get the permits.) I may be trying my hand at a 5k this fall and possibly another next spring as testers to get myself ready to pull of a bigger event.  But I am not going to decide on those until until I find out about the permits for the Half.

Originally, I was just planning on organizing a normal, but great race.  Because that is what I like. I enjoy beautiful scenery, great course, challenging but still a chance to PR and great race support and a entry cost that doesn't break the bank.
I am not really much into all the new hype about races with costumes, themed runs, or crazy events that go along with the race.  Although I have discovered, its not as easy as one would think to keep the entry costs low, when cities/counties are constantly raising the rates they charge for events to be held!

But realizing I want this to be successful, and I want to attract all kinds of runners.  I find myself re-thinking a few things, and I am now in the process of considering a few other ideas.  Because I completely understand my thoughts on picking a race are likely not what the majority considers anymore, I may need more to attract more.
Anyhow, late June or early July I hope to have the permit process about finished and at that time I will share with all of you my plans. (Which I can't help but be excited about, even if they are a work in process!)

_______________________________

Well that along with a few weddings is what I am working on right now.  I promise my life will get more interesting soon!  I have told all illnesses and injuries where to go, and how fast to get there so I am hoping they listen this time!  I think they will!!!!

If you haven't already, join us for the next Giveaway Hop that starts June 1st.  Sign-up going on right now.  You can CLICK HERE to add your blog to the list today!

Hope you all had a great week.  Share with me what you have going on.

Also, if you do have any great idea's to add to a race that you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear.  I am all about unique and different right now!