Yet Another Meme

The Streaking ended after 42 days. I took my first rest day in almost a month and a half on Sunday..... probably mostly due to feeling like crap after this. I am fine with being done with streaking... time to really focus on something else.

Yesterday I planned for a nice swim/bike brick as the weather was going to be pleasant. My swim was short and sweet. I was consistent with my breathing and strokes. Once finished I hurried home, changed into my cycling clothes, applied "sweatproof" sunscreen and got on the road before it was too hot. When I left my apartment it was 85 with UV Rays at a level 8 (high) and winds around 14 mph. There was 12mph winds when I rode last with the group so I figured I could handle this. I was only out for a little less than an hour and by the time I was home it was 89 degrees with SSW winds at 25 mph! I was dying but, I figured it would only make me stronger on the bike.

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This meme couldn't come at a better time... I am still struggling with post topics. I think I was tagged by Brooke.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was getting ready for my Senior year of high school. If I remember correctly I would already have had my senior pictures taken! I was working part time and enjoying my summer... looking forward to graduating in less than a year and getting the heck out of the Biz...

Five snacks I would enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:
1. French Fries
2. any form of chips, with a side of salsa or cheese dip
3. movie popcorn
4. any form of chocolate
5. chocolate cake

Five snacks I do enjoy in the real world:
1. strawberries, grapes, bananas
2. cheese and crackers
3. cereal (Cinnamon Pecan Special K)
4. fruit smoothies
5. oatmeal ... I know weird, but sometimes I crave it now.

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Travel the world.
2. Buy a home with cash.
3. Repay my parents for all they have done for me!
4. Do a race (run or triathlon) in every state.
5. Put money into different organizations ... St. Judes, Cystic Fibrosis

Five jobs I've had:
1. Assistant to a Marketing Director at a Music Store
2. "Ticket Nazi"... data entry/filing for the Parking Ticket Office on the campus of UND
3. Hostess at Applebee's... my least favorite job evah!
4. Server at Bucks Bar and Grill
5. Sales Associate/Assistant "manager" at Bath and Body Works for 5 years

Five habits
1. Addicted to Blogging
2. having a fresh glass of water at my bedside... every night.
3. play with my hair when nervous or anxious
4. I sleep on one side of the bed.
5. I have a hard time leaving dirty dishes in the sink, I usually wash them as soon as they have been used.

Five places I've lived:
1. Bismarck, ND
2. Grand Forks, ND
3. Fargo, ND
4. ...
5. .... wow. that's rediculous. Does it count that I lived in like 5 different apartment buildings in GF?

People I'd like to learn more about
1. you
2. you
3. you
4. you
5. and... you!

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MONDAY:
BRICK
OSN: 1000M, 22:00, avg. 2:12/100M
OCN: 10.7 miles, 50:15, avg 12.7mph
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Weekend in the Cities

A cousin of mine from the the Biz came through Friday afternoon and we drove together to the cities. When we left Fargo around 5pm, the weather was nice. About an hour and a half into the drive we came upon the worst weather EVER. We drove through rain, wind gusts from 65-85mph, and listened to multiple tornado warnings around us for about an hour. Total white nuckles on the steering wheel. I was afraid we were never going to get through the storm. It was awful. Supposedly a handful of twisters touched down that evening.

After we arrived safely in Chanhassen, we headed out for a bite to eat at B'dubs.Saturday morning Steph and I went for a nice long walk with Deja (puppy), grabbed coffee, got ready for the day and met up with a friend for lunch. It was great to catch up with her, even if it was for a short time.

Afterwards we headed back to Steph's and got ready for an awesome bachelorette party! In short, it was a super fun time! There were 7 of us total, 3 sets of sisters (my sister and I, and 4 of our cousins), and the bachelorette's step-sister. Here are a handful of pics from our night out.

sisters

sisters (bachelorette on left)Steph & I
The whole group

I can't wait to see everyone again in 6 weeks for the wedding!

Blogging Block, Updated

Do you ever sit down to write your post and have no idea what you are really going to write about, struggling with how you want to gather your thoughts and put them in cohesive order that makes sense?

Yeah, that was me today... and yesterday for sure. Thus, I haven't posted since Tuesday. I sometimes feel like my recurring posts about working out can be quite boring for y'all after a while. Maybe, I will find something interesting to blog about in the next few days... I will be heading to the Twin Cities tomorrow for my cousin's bachelorette party!

***

Last night I met up with a cousin of mine; the sister of the bachelorette. I was kindly reminded that I agreed to be the bachelorette's Personal Attendant.

What?

Supposedly, the night I was partially in charge of putting together a smashin' beer-pong playin' - strip-n-go-naked drinkin' - karaoke singin' - going away party for a couple paras from our school.... I had talked with this lovely cousin of mine via telephone ...as her and her fiance have just been transferred for work from England to Boston. That, my friends, was when she had asked me to be her Personal Attendant.

It totally slipped my mind... Why might you ask?

Because I was clearly intoxicated and she was taking advantage of the situation! Ha. I guess I was such a good PA for her sister a year ago that people just can't get enough of me! LMAO.

Then, of course her sister had to call the bachelorette and inform her of my memory loss due to being taken' advantage of under the influence of a lot of alcohol. The bachelorette then texted me.... and I had to remind her that I am totally looking forward to bending-over-backwards for her and wiping her ass if need be necessary!

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Wednesday:
OSN: 2200M, 60:00 ---> using the kick board slows me down a bit.
50M w/u with breast-stroke
500M free, 100M kick
550M free, 150M kick
650M free, 100M kick
100M sprint

Thursday:
ORN: 3 miles, 33:09, avg. 11:03/mile
--> Did on treadmill, too hot and humid to do outside. Felt good and faster!

UPDATE --- Friday:
OSN: 800M, 20:00, worked on speed and took about 1 minute rests between every 100M
OCN: 12.13 miles, 40:00, avg. 18.19mph
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Have a great weekend y'all! Hopefully I will have some fun pics to post from my weekend in the cities!

Peace :)

Rekindling a love/hate Relationship

I was hoping to get on my bike today but knew the second I was leaving for work this morning that it was not going to happen. Yesterday it was very humid and warm. A storm system came through and totally whacked up our weather. This morning when I left for work it was only in the 60's but the breeze/wind was cold. When I left work, it was 68 degrees with winds gusting anywhere from 21-30mph.

A constant breeze, or wind less than 15mph is do-able. This I have done before. But when you get those nasty gusts more than 20mph and you are out on the open roads with nothing but fields for miles... there is nothing protecting you. It would be a matter of seconds before you fly off the road!

I am just not hardcore enough to attempt this kind of weather... yet.So, even though I didn't get on my bike this afternoon, and was very pissed, very pissed... I waited all afternoon and headed to spin class this evening.

*Gasp*

rekindle
Yep. I haven't been to spin in probably 2 months and I realized how much I missed it. Some cyclists believe that spin class is nothing like riding the open roads. I agree. There are definite differences. But, I don't agree when some argue that it isn't a good workout. That is a load of bull crap! Our instructor knows her shiznit and kicks us in the ars... We work every part of the body, arms, core, and legs (obviously). Two minutes in I was dripping wet (good sign I am drinking enough water). I was dying by the time I was done. I need to get to spin class at least once every couple of weeks. It was so freakin' awesome!

OCN: 17.43 miles, 50:13, avg. 20.82mph
10 minutes of abs afterwards

Peace and Love

While at the gym today, I caught a glimpse of a news channel that was interviewing Ringo. Supposedly, today is his 68th birthday. What was on his wish list for his birthday?

Peace and Love. He just wants people to spread more peace and love... not too hard is it? Now I can do this!

Now go ahead and spread some peace and love!

Do it!

ORN: 3 miles, 33:16, avg. 11:05 min/mile
OSN: 1200M, 25:00, avg. 2:05 min/100M
1st 10 min: 450M
2nd 10 min: 500M
last 5 min: 250M

Playing catch up....

I just got home from a very nice weekend with the family in the Biz. We usually have a decent amount of family from my Dad's side down for the 4th, but this year it was just a small number... somewhat quiet and relaxing.

Thursday was nothing more than a nice relaxing day. I slept in, read my book, spent some time at the Art Fair in the park with my Mom and sister, and then we finished off the day with a nice walk around the neighborhood before the sun set. Gorgeous.

Friday morning my parents and I got up for a run before it was too hot. I only wanted to do a short distance and thought we were going to just do the 2.5 mile loop around the neighborhood. So wrong. We ended up doing the out and back path from home, and I knew that once we got to the 1 mile marker it wasn't going to be just 2 or 3 miles. Dad suggested going to the 2 mile marker and Mom was all for it. I grunted under my breath and went on. I just didn't have it in me for 4 miles. Once we were back home I was glad we went the distance. Oddly enough, after that run I am craving to get back out there and do some longer distances...

Later that afternoon a handful of relatives showed up. We grilled and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Later that evening we put on the layers to protect from the mosquitoes and watched our neighbors put on what seemed like a 2 hour firework show. It was crazy. We had a handful of our own, but it was nothing compared to theirs!

Most of Saturday was spent working on wedding programs. We had made the programs last summer for my sister's wedding and my cousin asked me to do hers. I couldn't turn her down. She was pretty easy to work with! It just took a bit longer than I was thinking it would. We finished them up this morning with the final touches. The theme was western, and I struggled a bit with it, but my favorite part was the boot stamp I found and then the little rinestones to put on the spurs!

We grilled again on Saturday, kabobs. It was soo good. Steph and Blaine were able to join us, but were apparently worn out from the late nights and little one's at Blaine's parents house. Poor kids.

Both Saturday and today I was able to sneak in a short walk with the family. Nothing too exciting, but it worked considering this past week was a week of recovery for me. I am looking forward to getting back in the pool tomorrow and on the bike Tuesday. I need to get back out there and increase those workouts!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Thursday Tidbits

This will be a quick post here as I am at home with the family in the Bis...

Tuesday morning I was out for a short 2.5 mile run, just under a half hour, and the weather was beautiful. It was nice and cool, about 63 degrees with a slight breeze, but the sun was still warm on the skin.

Yesterday I was up and to the pool despite the numerous drinks I had tuesday night. The drinks were not part of the plan. However, I was able to get in a very nice swim workout, working on speed with some intervals. It was just a short swim, but I consider this week to be a recovery week as the last four weeks of streaking were kind of intense at times.

After my swim I made the effort to do my pushups, 40 minutes of Turbo sculpt, and 20 minutes of Turbo Abs. When I got home to the Bis last night the family went out of a nice long walk around the neighborhood. It was absolutely beautiful out there...

I will probably be peeking in and out of blogland over the weekend, but don't expect another post from me until I get back on Sunday!

Have a happy 4th of July, y'all! Stay safe!
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TUESDAY
ORN: 2.5 miles, 29:00, 11:36min/mile
63 degrees, cool, and sunny
WEDNESDAY
OSN: 1000M, (w/intervals), 30:00
Turbo Sculpt
Turbo Abs
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Property Virgin

Like I stated in my post yesterday, I am in the process of trying to find a home of my own. This is a lot of work and I knew that going into it. I am still learning the ropes and all the technical jargon involved and trying to take my time. I know what I want and I most definitely know what I don't want! I have been addicted to HGTV in the past few weeks. One of my favorite shows is Property Virgin, where first time home-buyers are helped with the adventures of finding their first home.

Buying a home on your own, for the first time can be quite overwhelmed, and that is probably the understatement of the year. I definitely felt the side-effects of that yesterday. Let's just say my frustrations got the best of me and I ended up forwarding an email from my realtor on to my parents and sister, adding my own comments and questions, possibly looking for any advice they had. I couldn't have a better support group! Haha! Dad shot back a quit email calming me down, Sistah sent me an excel spreadsheet of my budget that I can play around with (yes, she is an accountant), and Mom called me later that night asking if I was okay. Love it!

This is just the beginning! Hopefully it won't be as bad as some of the horror stories I have heard!