life

Happy Monday! Training Starts Today!

Welcome to all of my new followers! I am very excited to have you tag along on my crazy journey that is life, staying healthy, and training for my second marathon!

Today, training officially starts.  An easy 3, but it went from being 60 degrees on Saturday to a blizzard last night, but I am excited for the crisp run tonight.

I had a pretty amazing weekend, spending time with friends and family.  It was one of those weekends when you just sort of get a glimpse of life and what it is all about. 

Friday night we went out for a drink to celebrate the birthday of a close friend.  I was welcomed into a pretty close-knit group of people when I began dating Paul, and I am constantly reminded how lucky we are.  These people quickly went from being “my boyfriend’s friends” to my friends as well.  The women are intelligent, funny, beautiful inside and out, and supportive.  The men are just as wonderful.  I know they aren’t brothers to me, but they would do anything to help or protect any of us if we needed it. I don’t know how I got so blessed to have such amazing people in my life, but I am pretty happy that it has turned out that way.

Saturday, I went to a funeral for one of the dearest, most wonderful men I have ever known.  I didn’t know him very well, and often only saw him once a year, but he was just one of those people.  He was genuine, caring, and lived and loved life to the fullest.  I actually knew him through my aunt.  I have gotten to know her good friend over the years, Karen, who was in a 13 year, committed, loving relationship with Larry (the deceased).  Karen is one of those people who instantly became one of my favorite people upon meeting her.  She is spunky, hilarious, and just beams with energy and joy.  She and Larry were phenomenal together, just a wonderful example of how to love and enjoy life. 

I am not a crier, but I sobbed my way through the service.  It was honest, heart-felt, and beautiful, and Karen was a beacon of strength, smiling through tears, delivering a beautiful eulogy, but still beaming with love and positive energy.  I am so thankful that I was able to meet Larry and have people like Karen in my life as examples of “how it is done”.

Saturday concluded with drinks with a dear friend of mine, Krista, (before I took her to her surprise party 🙂 ).  It was her 30th birthday, so we had some girl time to properly send off her 20’s and kick off her 30’s.  Krista is another amazing person.  She is one of the most genuine, loyal, honest people I know.  She has no agenda, loves you for you, and will tell it to you like it is without any sharp edges at all. It is fun seeing a friend start a new “phase” in their life, not to mention it is  watching them stumble into their living room only to realize that 20 of their nearest and dearest are there ready to scare the shit out of them :).

All in all, a pretty great weekend.  I hope everyone has friends like I do, because at the end of the day, I can’t help but think that that is really what it is all about. 

I love the idea of the big life – the life that matters, the life that makes a difference. The life where stuff happens, where people take action. The opposite of the life where the girl can’t even speak to the boy she likes; the opposite of the life where the friends aren’t even good friends, and lots of days are wasted away feeling bored and kind of okay, like nothing matters much.

E. Lockhart, Fly on the Wall  (via bourbonandpearls)

I have been terrible lately!

I have haven’t been posting, I haven’t been lifting, at least I have been running and doing my squats every day (which really doesn’t sound like a lot).

In all honesty, I have kind of been freaking out about my new job that starts a week from Monday.  I have this terrible habit of over-thinking some things and this is one of them, just because so much about it is unknown. 

This is a huge opportunity for me and it will open so many doors but also challenge me on many levels I am sure.  I try to live my life never backing down from a challenge and have tried to make a point to not let fear steer my direction (which can be really hard), so I flip between SUPER excited to petrified.  Either way, I am going to make it great and run with this opportunity.

I am hoping this new routine will give me an opportunity to change up my schedule a bit and get my runs or workouts done in the morning.  It will be weird to not be part of the fitness community as a professional for the time being, because I LOVE being surrounded by so much knowledge.  I have been so blessed to be here at State of Fitness.  I am still studying for my personal training exam (which has also deterred me from updating) and still aim to get my masters in Sports and Health Psychology, but instead of now having my day job being in the health industry and my “side job” being a writer, it will be reversed.

Here’s to diving into the future!

If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough.

I am not meant to be around kids…

Like having them or being in charge of them.

Tonight I baby sat for one of my best friends, and she has 3 girls.  11, 10, and newly 6.

I am just terrible.. sure they love me, but that is because they can smell fear and know that I am not the “scary babysitter”, I am the fun one because I don’t know what else to do.

One had a carton of cherry tomatoes for dinner, another ate 3 sausage links, and the youngest had a PB and J bagel.  Oh, but they were all properly fed ice cream.  I let the youngest eat hers on the couch until the middle one yelled, “she’s not allowed to eat on the couch!” to which I glance over and notice that there is ice cream ALL OVER her face… we are talking eyebrow action here and all.

I guess, in the end, no one got sick, no one got injured, and the parents were happy to get a night away, so it wasn’t so bad.

Now I am just so so very ready for bed.