Victories and Losses

This weekend it was supposed to be my 10 mile long run for my March 10th half marathon.  We woke up yesterday and it was snowing, hailing and raining. fun fun.  We decided to skip it and try again today.  Between prior plans and stuff we needed to get done, no one was able to meet today either.

I decided to head out today anyway for a shorter run.  Well, it ended up being only a mile.

I really wanted to try out my wireless headphones that Dave got me for Christmas.  I typically don't run with music - I ran with my Zune for several of my shorter runs when I first got into running, but I could never figure out a good system for my earbuds not falling our getting tangled.  When we decided to exchange stocking-only presents, of course Dave went out and spoiled me like crazy - this was one of my gifts.  I intially opened them and put them on and thought they were pretty uncomfortable, to be honest.  They do have several sizes of ear covers, so I played around with them to find the one that felt the best (though it certainly didn't feel good).  I talked to Dave about it today and he said if they don't end up working out for me, he'll just use them.

Once I started running, the discomfort really went away - it was barely noticeable.  It was really really nice being able to have my phone in my pocket, and not have to worry about cords and such.  I have a Windows Phone, but I'm pretty sure any smart phone that's bluetooth enabled with a radio/music player on it would work.  Dave put together a playlist for me, and off I went!  It was really nice!  I don't think I would use it on my long runs or during my half just because I typically run with friends.  Especially for this half marathon coming up - I haven't trained at all (except for my long runs) so it will be a leisurely half.

So, back to why I only ran a mile.  I have become pretty dependent on my Garmin, and unfortunately it really let me down today, and this is not the first time this has happened.  I do really like Garmin and haven't read many negative reviews, so I'm not quite sure what the problem is.  My watch will be fully charged, I will take it off the charger and it will die within 30-60 seconds.  This happened last year and we sent it in for repair and it worked great since.  I am going to be calling tomorrow to see if they can do anything for me.  If not, I may just switch to the Nike+ system because it's really expensive to have to replace a watch that's less than 2 years old!  Anyway, I was reeeeally bad at monitoring my pace and pretty sure I set a record for my fastest mile in the last 5 years (but I wouldn't know since I didn't have a timer.. haha).

We are having a new patio installed tomorrow and Tuesday and I can't wait to see how it comes out!

Meet our new addition!

Well, the surprise I referenced yesterday came to fruition.  We got a new puppy!  i've been wanting another dog for a very long time and Dave has not been on board at all.  We finally had a heart to heart after coming across the perfect little guy this weekend and we decided to get him.

The breeder had named him Tuxedo, and after chatting about it on the drive home we decided to keep it and call him Tux for short.  When I got Riley, I was a bad dog mom and didn't do my research.  i got her from a backyard breeder and then took off on vacation and left her with a friend.  My friend did the best she could, but she had a 10 month old lab of her own.  It took us until Riley was 10 months old to fully potty train her.

Tux is 12 weeks old (born right around the same time of year as Riley, ironically enough) and is currently a touch over 7 lbs. He can already sit, he's only had one accident, and he slept last night with minimal problems (a full 7 hours I might add!)

I think he's the perfect little thing to round out our happy family!

Praying for Daylight....(savings time) and lots of surprises!

So I continue to be absolutely worthless on my weekly runs... but I've been consistent about meeting friends for long runs.  Did 90 minutes this morning (about 7 miles... lots of walking and intervals).  My legs are feeling pretty good.

We have had an insanely busy weekend.  I work as a recruiter, so my company routinely puts candidates in hotels.  It just so happened this week that we had a few candidates cancel rooms at the last minute so we were able to get a free room for the weekend.  It is only about 20 minutes from home, but our friend offered to watch our dog, so it worked out extremely well. 

I got a second job (more on that in another post) so I had to buy a new laptop for that, so I was able to get a fabulous deal due to President's Day. 

Fingers crossed but we are going this afternoon to look at adding to our family!

Closet Renovation

So I'm finally home from Toronto and I'm sick :(  I've been trying to lay low all weekend but being gone for 10 days of course there's so much to do at home! One of the things on our to-do list was to put most of the finishing touches on the closet.  We still have to hang the mirror, paint and cover the steel track with the plastic track cover and (eventually) add crown molding to the top of the unit.  I've got some more fancy hangers being delivered this week and it will be nice to have everything match!

Here's the before:

I had an old jewelry box that was mostly empty, a dresser from my childhood givin gme more drawer space, and tons of wasted space above the wire racks.

enter: new closet! :

In the photo above, my favorite part of the closet is in the very lower right hand corner: a built in hamper that's tucked away!

The mirror will be hung up on the wall. the earring holder is nicely hidden when the door is open

So we ended up ordering from Easyclosets.com.  They made everything pretty simple for us -we measured (multiple times! they only give you 3/8" wiggle room), placed the order on a Thursday afternoon and it shipped out on Friday.  It arrived a week later (well, all but one box, but that was UPS's fault, not Easyclosets).  24 boxes!

Honestly, the hardest part was hanging the steel track.  That took us maybe a few hours (keep in mind, we added closet to 3 of the 4 closet walls - the closet is about 7 ft  x 8 ft).  Once we got that done, it went fairly quickly.  We would've had the whole project done in a day if all the parts had been there and we'd had paint that matched the wall to paint the steel track cover.

Overall, very happy with the value and the product we got.  In my opinion, it was more versatile than any other option we priced out (including teknik closets, the container store, ikea). 

We also bought a patio set this weekend, so our next home improvement project? Building/contracting out a patio because right now that table is going on the grass... haha.

Notes to self...

1. chocolate gu is not nearly as disgusting as I would've guessed
2. Running along the side of the road in the midwest is not as scary as in Seattle - drivers actually get out of your way
3. When seeing beauitful girls that you went to high school with in Starbucks halfway through your run, avoid eye contact and head for the door.  Said girls are still beautiful and you look like a hot mess.
4. Dress appropriately for the damn weather!

4.2 miles.  I thought since I'd be in Michigan I'd pack allll my cold weather gear.  and wear it all.  bad choice.

What I wore: 
new balance running socks
brooks running tights
nike running pants
Under Armour cold gear mock neck
under armour wicking sweatshirt
columbia lightweight water resistant jacket
Nike running gloves
cheap target loves
Nike running hat
wicking running headband
brooks ghost running shoes

What I SHOULD'VE worn:
new balance socks
brooks running tights
underarmour cold gear mock neck
cheap running gloves
wicking running headband
brooks ghost shoes

fail.