Three Birthday Highlights + Goals for This Age

Hey, good morning and happy Monday!

Let me say this real quick (as though reading required a finite amount of time):  I do not usually make my birthday a big deal.  However, I've had a change of heart over it; nothing major, just pointing it out before the actual day happens is a huge leap for me.  I'm not even sure where this stems from, other than just not wanting a ton/an ounce of attention (?). 

At any rate, I'm talking about it now, lol.  Here are a few things that stuck out during what ended up being a pretty low-key birthday --

1.  Windy and I went for a 3.8 mile recovery run.  My legs felt fine, after having ran the half the day before.  It was warm -- ugh, 43*F.  Windy ran with her tongue dangling out of her mouth nearly the whole time.

After hitting my first 25-mile week in what *HAD TO BE* months last week, a 20-mile week (with only three runs) felt pretty good.  I'll bump it back up this week.

All of the snow and ice melting = Windy gets pretty dirty.  She cleans herself after we get done with our runs and walkies, but I seriously need to give her a bath this week.

While we were running, Harry ordered me some birthday breakfast! 

I had to get a ton of work done for school, and laundry.  I actually adult'd on my birthday ---- is this what "old" is?

2.  Harry and I took off to dinner around 5:30pm, and my Mom text me, right at the moment I was born.  Awwwww!

3.  Dinner at Kuma's.  Harry knows how to treat/feed/celebrate me.  We started off with fried pickles. 

And their mac n' cheese of the month -- THIS PLATE HAD TO HAVE WEIGHED FIVE POUNDS.  It had their house Mac & Cheese blend with Angus sirloin Philly steak, Caramelized onion, Sautéed mushrooms, Smoked Provolone, Giardiniera.

I ate maybe five bites and I was full.

We came home and I had more homework to finish *sad trombone*.  We had a rare brew to celebrate my day, and I mosey'd off to bed.  It was a solid day, and all I really needed.  All of the messages, calls, texts, and Facebook posts made my day!
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Let's talk about goals for this age.  Harry asked me about this while we were at dinner last night, and I figured that was *blogworthy*.  I wrote about my goals for 2018 (HERE); to me, even though my birthday is so close to the new year, I like to make goals for my age.  I only really have two for this year:

This year, I NEED TO GET MY SPEED BACK.

As I said in my 2018 post, THIS WILL TAKE A TON OF WORK.  A ton of GRADUAL work.  I know that by the middle of the year, I will have a solid base, upon which I can rock that speed. 

I also need to get my strength back!  As a former bodybuilder and heavy (not necessarily *POWER*, but close enough), I haven't rightly learned how to build strength as a runner.  I'm practically starting from scratch.  It'll be interesting.  It'll be tough.  Like me.  (lol)

So yeah, that's pretty much it.  I want to focus on getting back to where I was, pre-injury, and for the love of Pete, stay there.  I'll have to restrain myself at times; I won't get anywhere if I'm not being smart and get myself injured/sidelined again.

Thanks for reading!  I hope that you have a WONDERFUL day!:)
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Do you make new goals for your age?

Tell me about the last delicious thing you ate!

RANDOM:  What color are your running shoes?

Lunch at 10:30am, and IT IS MY BIRTHDAY.

Work husband brought me pre-birthday/last breaky at this age donuts and coffee yesterday.  I'm so grateful to have such a thoughtful friend that I get to work with!

Donuts and sushi ------> make me hungry almost directly after eating them.  My lunch break starts at 10:15am (I usually wait until about 11:00am to eat), but I was digging into my chicken-fried rice by 10:30am.

Fast-forward to Friday night:  Work party!  Since our holiday break began Christmas Eve Eve, we decided to have a holiday party after the New Year.  It rocked pretty hard, y'all.  For one thing, my blessing of a Boss catered the party with Honey Butter Fried Chicken.  Harry and I frequent this spot (Sophs loves it, too!), so I was STOKED to see so much of their food in one spot.

We celebrated Christmas and the New Year --

I was the Hype Girl for the Deejay...

My last day at this age wasn't too shabs.

Harry had the whole house to himself (sometimes we like to give each other that space for a night), and he ordered from Lou's.  Of course, he ordered me a personal pizza for when I got home.  A tiny pizza, just for me!  I inhaled the whole thing before getting the best night's sleep ever.

I'm serious, I've never made a big deal about my birthday.

But now I am -- haha -- hence my obnoxious reminders throughout the week, booYA!

So far, so good.;)

The real fun begins soon...picking up Sophs and a full day of awesome!

Random:  DID YOU SEE THIS?!

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HAVE AN AWESOME DAY --------- IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WISH FOR YOU!<3

Birthday things & nothing but the truth:

HEY!  Happy Monday, guys!  I'm going to recap mine and Harry's RnR AZ weekend tomorrow, so stay tuned.:)  Last Thursday was my birthday (what a weird day to have your birthday on -- it's not like you're even close to going out and about, and by the time the weekend comes, you've already forgotten about it!:)  I did get some amazing perks for my birthday, though.  Do you ever sign up for birthday treats?  These give you some!

If you're lucky enough to be in the Chicago area!

Work husband brought me some birthday donuts.  They went missing at a very alarming rate (side note:  I was a good work wife and shared).

Birthday tacos from another co-worker!  Yes, so far, my birthday presents have been food.  Keep going...

Some of my students totally stocked me up, as well.

And at one point, I began to wonder if my obsession with Nutella is too obvious...

One of my birthday presents from Harry -------> CHI CHI SHORTS!  Nothing better than sportin' the Chicago flag on your booty to show some city love!

And after a day of comically sugary, Harry honored my wishes of having an ice cream cake (it's all I really wanted!) for my day.  "It's What Happy Tastes Like" = nothing but the truth!

We picked up Sophs Saturday afternoon.  She decided on Red Robin for my birthday dinner, and you'll see why in a moment.  I haven't been to RR in forever and a day, and I didn't forget about my fave wrap.  And I <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 their fries!

This.  All of this.  Between Harry, Sophia and I, it didn't stand a chance.

And we split a Black Cow just for giggles.

This was something I wasn't used to.  I asked our server if his job was done at this point...joking, of course.;)  Sohps was really stoked to show us how it worked by ordering our food and even picking up the tab.

Sunday?  Harry's Chili and football...

AND THE X-FILES!  Finally!

Was your weekend this marvelous?!  Time for me to go burn off some of the calories from these past few days.  KWIM?:)


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Football fans:  CAROLINA OR DENVER?
-I'm all about Cam Newton getting a ring!


Do you get birthday perks?  TELL ME ABOUT THEM!


Are you an X-Files fan?  Did you watch last night?

Wordless Birthday [Yesterday]

Here's to my last year in this age group!  <):)

Also, I woke up to this this morning!  One more birthday present?!