My Stash. My Rut. My New Year.

Hiiiii!  Long time, no see.  My school year started up, and I seriously haven't had time to think about anything.  I don't mean to sound like a jerk about that -- You all get that we have busy lives, and there's no need to really point it out or talk about it.

*le shrug*

I can't even explain how or why this school year has demolished me.  I'm working at a new school, so I believe all of the changes of students, staff, support, etc. have really wrecked me.  Somehow, that's really messed with me on every level -- emotionally, physically, mentally.  What's weird is that I have so many Teacher friends, ones who have stayed at the same schools and with no major changes happening for them, and they're tanked, as well.  I'm not sure what it is, but we're moving right along, and that's all that matters.

Speaking of which, Halloween was kind of fun!  It took me ehhhhhhhh about 14 pictures to get the right one of Windy in her Halloween costume.  She didn't mind -- she got SO.MANY.COOKIES.

We got the right one (and this legit was the last picture I took of her), and she was a happy pup with all of those cookies in her tummy.

After a long day at school, I was able to break out with a nice stash!  Have I just met all of my students as of nine weeks ago?  Yes.  Have they already figured out that I <3 candy and Nutella?  You betcha. 

It helped that my neighbor, who's a Kindergarten Teacher, brought home her own enormous stash, and she shared with me.:)

Eating half of the candy seen above didn't make me feel great.  To be honest, I'm in some sort of rut for a long, long while.  I'm willing to go into further detail soon, as soon as I feel more organized with my thoughts.  The short version from what I've figured out about my fitness at the moment:  I keep getting injured.  I can't tell if these injuries are all in my head (I certainly don't want to be out for months again!), and I'm in such a rut over it, I'm not allowing myself to consistently work with it (i.e. strength training, Yoga, foam rolling, etc.).  There's something going on with my left hip, left IT band, and left foot (yup...still).  I'm not sleeping well due to the inconsistency.  It's such a mess, y'all.  I haven't been this inactive in years (prior to my injury).

I think that by coming back to blogging, I can keep myself much more accountable with workouts.  That's why some people blog, right?  We used to, anyway.  So I'm bringing it back! 

About ten days ago, Harry told me to make a decision about how I needed to proceed.  Setting a time limit or start date always seems to help me, and he somehow knows that.  So November 1st is my new year -- I don't have to wait until January 1st, dangit.  I have a lot of goals, even though the condition of a few things are questionable.  I'll go into those goals when I know more, and can actually acknowledge goals as realistic. 

In other news, I can't pull off certain attire.

Happy, happy new month, and I hope you have a wonderful day!<3
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Please tell me a motivating story!  I need some inspo!


Do you remember your last rut?  How did you get out of it?


Tell me about a new show you've been watching!
-Sabrina on Netflix!  Dig it!

There's a burrito under that salad.

I might as well come back to blogging with a random post, right?

And random things definitely need to happen on Thursdays, right?

:)

1.  I'm going to open with something that's not-so-random:  Meet our new fam member, Windy!

We adopted Windy (aka "Fuli") from a local Siberian Husky rescue (Raven's Husky Haven and Rescue), and she has fit right in to our home.  She's so sweet, curious, chill, fun, very athletic, easy going, and loves everyone.

Everyone, and especially Sophia.

It was love at first sight for them!

So now Sophia has a new partner-in-crime.

And I have a new running buddy.  Don't worry:  I'm very cognizant of weather/heat of the sidewalk, and would never put her or her paws in danger.  We've had mild mornings here in Chicago, and she has done very well with three-milers with me.  I'm not sure that I'll ask her to come with me much further than that, but we know she can definitely hit the 5K mark!:)  She handles perfectly on the leash -- I'm REALLY impressed!

2.  Second most important thing to me right now:  School's out for summer.<3<3<3

3.   Which means that many wonderful/hilarious things happened over the past two days.  Field Day being a coordinator for our district's sports administration, and the end of our Jump Rope for Heart event kept me very, very busy.  That included getting pied int he face by our top donator (the top six individual donators got to choose myself, work husband, our Principal or Assistant Principal, our Technology Coordinator, or our Dean of Students -- I was so happy that everyone was on board!).

She's lucky that she's one of my favorite students.:P

4.  I have to "trick myself" to eat salads.  I don't really appreciate the texture of leaves, so I'll mix salad stuffs in with whatever I'm having for lunch.  Case in point:  There's a burrito under that salad.  I'm one of those people that can mix food together, so every bite included a bit of a Southwest Amy's Burrito, and a bite of salad.  I get what I want, and what I need.

Side note:  Windy crosses her paws like a lady. 😂

5.   First #NetflixBinge of the summer break for me = The Biggest Loser on Hulu.  Talk about a throwback!  I started with season six; it was one of my faves back in the day.

P.S. I love Jillian.  I have always loved her, and will always love her.  She can do no wrong.

Have an awesome Thursday, y'all!  I'm off to stalk all of you like a mad woman.

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Tell me what you're workout is today!
-MUAY THAI for me!  Yaaaay!

RANDOM:  What's your fave breakfast item?
-Eggs ---> sunny side-up for me, kthnx.


Do you run with your pup?  If so, how far do y'all go together?

FOCUS, I CAN do it, and travel goals

Hey, friend!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and that you're ready to rock out a brand new week --- I SURE AM.  I was completely distracted and unfocused last week; it seems to have been a tough week for a lot of people (are we supposed to blame Mercury in retrograde, or something like that?).  Whatever the deal, I feel like I got some good R&R over the weekend.  Some things that happened last week that kept making me question my sanity:

Running out of cashew butter = tough times.  And apparently during tough times, I make awkward faces and pretend the empty jar is a monocular -- yarrrrrr.

My right IT band has been kind of ornery as of late.  I haven't been the biggest fan of foam rolling in the past...like, ever.  When I have tried to stay on top of myofascial release, my legs get heavy and weak.  Not sure what's going on with that, so I've just avoided it.

I'm always willing to give something another shot, though.

Running, otherwise, has been going very well.  I got up to 14 miles last week ----> SLOW AND LOW, that is the tempo!

A wonderful distraction last week:  "Hamilton".:D :D :D I have been a huge fan of theater my entire life; the fact that Harry was, as well, was a huge bonus for our relationship.  Friday night, we hit the town for some yummy dinner, and one of the best musicals I've ever seen.<3 If you've been thinking about going to see it (whether the price or hype were any question):  Go.

Sunday was a lot of downtime for me.  I was sick (achy from head to toe!), and barely moved from the couch.  I needed some things from the store, so after dropping off Sophia, Harry and I hit up Costco and TJ's.  I figured Costco's nonfat yogurt would make me feel better.  

I was kind of right.

Ignore my nasty, dry skin.

Tradition:  Harry and I split a PB&J bar every single time we go to Trader Joe's.  Though we're leaving on Saturday for Colorado, we really did need food.  My goal for this week is to demolish the two pound bag of organic broccoli before we leave.  I know I can do it!

Dinner ------->  I'm already off to a good start with my broccoli!  I added about a cup to my portion of chicken pot pie.

Other than that, last week was kind of a buzzkill.  I stayed at the school every single day until about 5:30pm, getting home around 6:30-7:00pm.  Exhausted!  I'm so glad I got to relax a bit (though I seemed to have been forced to on Sunday) over the weekend, and I feel organized and prep'd for a new week.
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Speaking of distractions, a couple of things have come to my attention.  I need to update my passport (it's definitely older than 10 years now) and pack my bags for Italy


then off to the Philippines!


Pack your bags, guys.  We're GOING.

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What was the last musical you saw?


True or false:  Foam rolling is for the birds.


Wanna go with me on either trip to Italy or the Philippines?!  SAY YES YES YES!:)
(It's totally okay if you can't go -- I'll still be your friend!)

When My New Year REALLY Starts!

Coming back to school after a three-day weekend, after one week of being back from winter break (lol I know, cue the violins), meant double the amount of caffeine.  Also?  I found all of the filters on my Macbook and went for it.  Watch out, World.

I'm all-organic in the morning, man.  Somehow, everything I get that are breakfast items always end up being organic.



Including these little bits of glory...

Our first and second graders got a real workout yesterday.  They're going to be so buff for summer.:) I had to make work husband demonstrate all of the exercises, since I got my injection the day before = no jumping, no stretching *too much* (which translates to ZERO stretching for me).

I was stuck in the Health classroom with my middle school girls + another class.  We had a TON of teachers out for the day, and so some of us had to absorb other classes.   Sooooooo, I had to eat my lunch in the dark (the girls were watching a documentary), which is sad, because I was really proud of that salad and wanted you to see all of it.

As far as a workout, I decided to take the day off.  I didn't want to disrupt the healing process of the treatment I got on Monday.

Harry had gone out with a friend for dinner, so I was on my own for the evening.  Some blogging, some of The Office, and some leftover Pho made my night complete.  I'm kind of easy to please.

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I was listening to Jillian Michaels' latest podcast yesterday morning, and I found a refreshing message in her show.  A LOT of people are already falling off the wagon, in just under three weeks into the new year.  (That's not the refreshing message -- just bear with me.)

2016 was a really, really tough year, for many people.  I wasn't particularly happy with 2016, myself, and I feel some of us are having the residual hangover from the yucky year.  Jillian stated that there's something about everyone starting on 1/1, implying that there's something magically motivating about it.  That's totally true most of the time for me.  Except for this year.

SIDE NOTE:  IN CASE YOU FORGOT OR DIDN'T KNOW ;) My birthday is on Saturday.

Truth be told:  I didn't want to make any training/running goals for this year.  How could I?  With so many questions, beginning in May or June of last year, and continuing on into the new year, I had NO idea what I'd be capable of for 2017 races.  Now that I have a better idea of what's going on with my injuries, and how I'm much closer to taking that first step of a run, I feel more motivated to make those goals.

And I might be starting from square one, but I don't care.  I want to PR everything this year, and while that might not be the most realistic goal ever, it's the hope I need to get back on the road.  It's the push I want.  It's the tiny thing that'll give me all of the happy feelings, and something to set my sights on, OTHER than starting to run again.

I figure that my new year can totally start on my birthday, because when it comes down to it, that's MY year.  I can do anything I want in MY year.  I may or may not have some pretty awesome specifics on Saturday, so be sure to stop by, wish me a happy b-day, enjoy some ice cream cake with me, and read my silly thoughts.  That's when my new year really starts, so even more reason to celebrate!

P.S. Did you register?:)

Thanks to our gracious hostesses for the Coaches' Corner Linkup ----> 

Running on Happy, Suzlyfe, Crazy Running Girl, and Coach Debbie Runs

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WELL?!  Did you register for the NYCM?!

Do you believe in/like making a goal for the New Year *ON 1/1*?

What's your workout for today?
-I'm jumping on Lola for a spin!  Woooo!

Friday the 13th.

Man.  Take a look at this picture, taken today, at 12:42pm  And allow me to tell you how Friday the 13th got to me.

- It was FREEZING in my gym.  I would always, always, always rather put on MORE clothes than be completely overheated in that gym (please believe me), so today, I snuggled myself into my enormous coat that reminds me of a sleeping bag.  

- Today was the very first day, potentially of my life, where I forgot to put on mascara.  Yes, I consider that a small inconvenience.  #firstworldprobs There was no point in eyeliner and shadow without the lashes darkened and longer!

- Because of the cold (and probably some germs), I took this picture when I had the sniffles and a sore throat.  I'm really hoping that doesn't bite me in the booty over the three-day weekend.

- I look slightly perturbed because my 7th grade girls were being absolutely nuts today.  That's what usually happens before a little break, especially when you just got back from another break.

- It's Friday.  Friday the 13th.  That's a good picture for today.  As you can see, it kind of sums everything up.;)

Have an awesome weekend, friends!  Cheers to happy running and training! 

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Are you doing anything fun, exciting, or educational this weekend?

(One of my Kindergarten students informed me that she's going to "celebrate the King's birthday this weekend".  That's kind of presh...)

If you had to choose:  HOT OR COLD?

- Why do you think I moved to Chicago from Texas?:D

RANDOM:  What brand running shoes do you wear?

That's One Way to Use $1100...

Hey, hey, hey!  Good morning, and HEY!  

1.  I was just sitting here and thinking about my breakfast yesterday.  I wasn't in a sweet mood, but more of a savory mood.  One sunny-side up egg in my oatmeal sounded SUPER tasty!

 2.  And then I started thinking about my yummy lunch.  Thank you for all that you do, Costco.

3.  Now I'm thinking about how gosh damn cold it got yesterday -- 

4.  And due to that -- now that I think about it -- it was so cold in my apartment, I decided to warm myself up by taking a ride.  With a long-sleeved tech shirt on.  Yup.  I warmed up quickly.


Also?  I matched my bike.<3



5.  I think that my set-up is pretty solid now.  I'm not facing the TV because A.) I have to rearrange the furniture every single time I set up my bike on the trainer to face it; and B.) I don't feel like doing that; so C.) I have it set up in the corner of the living room, with a mountain of $1100 worth of textbooks from college to give my laptop some elevation.



I did read them all, promise.  See how smart I am?

6.  One hour, done and done!  As I recall, I had to give myself quite a few pep talks to get through it.  I was watching Game of Thrones (yes, still...I'm working my way through the entire series [again] during the break!), and that kept me very entertained.  However, I'm half-lazy.  The half that isn't lazy has to boost the other half; and thankfully, the lazy half listens.

7.  Pondering forward ----> post-ride, post-bath (omg it was amazing) meal.  I clearly just love the snot out of eggs.  And putting jelly on your egg sammich makes you a rock star.  I only ate half of that gross-looking banana; I had to open the bottom end for once.

8.  Two weeks off from work is a long time, but it's completely and utterly necessary for Teachers, I THINK.  PLEASE BELIEVE ME.  Come to think of it, this will be me on Monday

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9.   And then I'm considering dinners.  It's back to a busy schedule, and then getting home to make some grub.  Harry and I made a "home wish for 2017" to add more veggies to dinner.

10.  I'm REALLY stoked because some really awesome things are happening tomrrow!  Is Live-Blogging a thing?  That'd be Tweeting or Status Updates, right?  Hm.  I'll think of somethings.

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Tell me about your workout for today!  Run?  Walk?  Yoga?  Spin?  Boot Camp?  

A place in this World.

FROM NOW ON until September something (I think we go back to school the day after Labor day...I guess I'll check on that sooner or later), you can expect posts later in the day from me.  I'm sleeping in every day!  EVERY DAY.

I'm so kidding.  I'm still going to get up with the sun (4:45am-5:00am-ish), but I'll get to take more naps.:)

Running + taking a picture of your shadow = best way to confuse others around you.

Work husband brought me this, and for the first time in my life, I fell in love with ice coffee!

I know what you're thinking, and really, I have no idea what took me so long, either.

All of those balloons yesterday for the Field Day had to be transported half a mile away from the school.  It only made sense to pack our friend's van to get them over there.

One Popsicle from my Principal, and another from one of my fave students.

The third was from another teacher who was buying for his class.  This was the right thing to do.

We all got back to the school, put equipment away, and cleaned up our office, about 45 minutes before the final bell rang for summer break.  When it did, my Boss threw this over the PA system:

I wanted to try something, and I'm so happy that I did.  I'm not a sugary drink type of person; I gave up Coca-Cola a LONG time ago, and mostly drink water and coffee.

But Frozen Hot Chocolate?  After spending all day outside in the sun, with only three Popsicles for relief (not nearly enough), it sounded like a great idea to me.  And after one sip, that great idea was confirmed.:D

Thanks to GrubHub, Harry and I were able to make a good choice for dinner.

***LIVE UPDATE*** Harry is currently watching the USA vs. Argentina soccer game as I'm typing to you guys.  He's cussing a little.
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True story: Deb makes me think and reflect on way more than I ever thought I would in one post.

Another true story:  Every once in a while (like once a year), I will feel as though I don't have a spot.  I know that that's a very vague, quite dramatic statement, but it's the best way to express how I feel at those times.  I don't feel sad, mad, or upset.  I'm not depressed or anxious.
I just feel like I don't have a place in this World.

Lost.

(Side-true story:  This part in "Lilo & Stitch" makes me cry.  Every.single.time.  I wonder if it's because it such a sad scene [it's simple, but it's pretty intense for a Disney movie], or if it's because I can relate.)

At any rate, those moments usually last for about half a day, where I just feel lost on this planet.  My focus is still okay; it's not like I'm unresponsive or in a daze.  Things just don't feel right.  I don't want to say that this is a pit of any sort -- I don't feel like it's something I have to crawl out of, and I don't feel helpless.

Often when things like this come over me (an emotion or feeling that is anything other than happy), I feel like I should embrace it.  I'm feeling it for a reason.  Facing this feeling makes me convinced that I'm more in control of the situation.  I might do some things to help me recognize who I am, why I'm here (it involves a lot of scripture and some blog posts, maybe one of my favorite movies ["Pride & Prejudice", "Sabrina" {Audrey version, tyvm}, etc.]), and I eat something yummy (yeah, are you shocked by that?).

I know this sounds so grim, but it's something about myself that I'm actually kind of proud of; years ago, I was dealing with this feeling of Lost in an entirely different way.  (Not drugs, not alcohol, but not healthy.)  Feeling like you don't belong is kind of terrible, no matter the intensity.  For that matter, feeling anything other than happy is often terrible.  Gaining more control, facing that yucky feeling, and telling it who's boss may help!  Recognize that you're feeling a certain way, look it up and down, and let it happen.  It's not bad.  It's not scary.  It's you getting a hold of yourself, and feeling something you were apparently meant to experience.  Honor it, but don't let it take over.  You may not know why you needed to feel that way, at least at that moment.  But I believe this is part of any learning process.

Maybe this has happened to me just for me to write this blog post.  *le shrug*

But really?  It's so I can learn more about myself.  I've learned that I like control (DUHHHHH!), but even over myself.  I've also learned that I'll give something a chance (like a yucky, lost feeling), and let it take over, just because I'm positive that I need to face it.  That tells me that sometimes I'm brave and curious (a dangerous mix sometimes -- you won't find me near any of those really hot peppers you see on "Man Vs. Food"!).  So really?  Feeling lost, if even for a short amount of time, has really helped me feel more found in the long run (figuratively and literally:)
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Iced coffee ====> Yay or nay?

What is your Wednesday workout?

Do you sometimes feel like you don't have a place here?

Newsflash:  You do.:)