Three posts in one! Yeah, this is going to be a long one...

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days.

Let's start off with the weekend recap:

Friday I headed to my aunt's house and stayed the night. Early Saturday morning we piled in the cars and headed to Louisville for The Color Run. This is the second year my aunts and cousins and mom have done this and I'm sure it won't be the last.

If you've never done a Color Run before, let me just tell you, DON'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! If you are an avid runner or training for a 5K or trying to beat a record or something, you are totally missing out if you just put in your headphones and run. Am I a runner? Yes. Can I run a 5k? Sure. Did I run any part of The Color Run? Absolutely not. AND I HAD A BLAST. 3 of my cousins and I stuck together and walked the whole way. We were people watching and snapping pictures after each color station. I even got down and rolled on the ground a couple of times to get more color on me. We had so much fun and that's what it's all about.

After The Color Run, we had time to kill before we could check into our hotel. The original plan was to pack a lunch, we'd bring a cooler, and after the race, we'd just hang out in the park and have a picnic. Well some people decided to just get Subway instead of bringing something... and by some people, I mean everyone except for me. Long story short, Subway wasn't allowing any color runners in and we had to find another option.

We ended up walking to a deli type restaurant, but damn it, I had my salad and I was going to eat it!

So I did.

Everyone else ordered food and I busted my salad out, right there at the table. I didn't care. I had already counted these calories AND I didn't want to spend the money. Double bonus! Topped it off with some yogurt and granola. Not too bad if I do say so myself.

We did end up hanging out in the park until we could check into the hotel. After washing my hair twice and getting dressed, we went to a comedy show (hilarious) and then out to dinner.

It was a great time, except for being sick. Started with a scratchy throat on Friday, then turned into allergies and sinus crap all day Saturday (pretty sure I had a fever by the end of the day) and Sunday it settled in my chest. Oh well! Nothing a little good ol' medicine can't fix.

Side note... I'm a big advocate of before and after (or in progress) pictures, so I thought I'd share this with you all...

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Next...

Last week's goals:

1. Get all of my runs in.

Did better this week about that, but still didn't get all of them in. I missed Sunday's because I got home and just laid on the couch. I was still feeling achy and sick and all that crap. (Excuses excuses)

2. Stay under my calorie goal every day.

I did this except for Saturday. However, for the whole week, I was WAY under my calories by the time I added in working out and stuff. Sad part is I only lost .2 pounds. I'm thinking I might need to up my minimum calorie goa.

3. Go to BodyPump at least twice this week.

CHECK! Plus I checked out kickboxing and almost died.

This week's goals:

1. Lose weight while in Gatlinburg.

Going on family vacation this week Wednesday-Sunday and I've got my whole entire meal plan figured out. I have packed a cooler with my own food and snacks and all that. I'll do another post on that later.

2. Get all of my runs in.

Seriously going to happen. Even while on vacation. Shoes are packed.

3. Water Water Water.

Been slacking so picking it back up. Downloaded an app to help me with this. Again, I'll do another post on it later!

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Finally...

Tonight was week 4 of speed training. My friend Allie told me that we would be doing stadiums once a month. I was excited.

Until I walked in and actually saw it... close up...

The plan was to do a 1 mile warm up, 1 set of stadiums, 800 meter recover, another set of stadiums, 800 meter cool down.

When I say a "set of stadiums" that means running up from the bottom to the top, walk over a section, and run back down, the entire length of the stadium, which equals out to going up and down 4 times each.

Yall...

THE ONLY REASON I DIDN'T HURL WAS BECAUSE THE FOOTBALL TEAM WAS THERE!

Seriously.

I thought I could at least RUN up one time.

No. That didn't happen. I took 5 steps and my ass was walking up the rest of the way... definitely NOT running.

I got to the top and wanted to die. But I wasn't anywhere CLOSE to being finished.

THREE DIFFERENT TIMES I had to close my eyes, breathe deep, and tell myself not to puke right then and there. Thank JESUS I did not. Can you just imagine how embarrassing that would have been!?!

I got done with my first set of stadiums walked a couple of laps, and I was done.

I told myself there was no way I could do another set.

Now that I'm home, I'm totally pissed off. I didn't even TRY to do a second set. Not going to lie, I am really disappointed in myself. You might be thinking, "You're nuts! You should be proud you did what you did!" and I am... but more than that I'm disappointed that I didn't try. So what if I had hurled my guts up? So what if I could have only done part of it? Ugh...

Saw this on Pinterest this morning and saving it as my background on my phone until I do that second set of stadiums... I will be making that stadium me B%&$#.

I think running has ruined my life of TV watching and couch potatoing

It's true.

I think I'm "outdoorsy" and it's all running's fault.

When I started running, I did it because I wanted to burn some extra calories. However, I think it has changed me in more ways than just my pants size. I actually WANT to be outside DOING things now! This weekend was seriously the best weekend I've had in a LONG TIME.

Saturday, I ran a 5K, went to Zumba, and stopped by the farmers market, ALL BEFORE NOON. I don't even know what was going on with me. The 5K was awesome. My goal was to finish in 39 minutes, and I did it in 37:58. Big shout out to my gym buddies who did it with me. One of them even texted me the next day and said, "I've got the bug. When's the next one?!"

Saturday night my neighbors invited me over for a cookout that consisted of lot of food, lots of people, lots of cornhole, lots of laughs, and lots of drinks for those over the age of 21. It was fabulous.

Sunday, I went to TOWN on my closets. Guys. It's ridiculous. I've got 3 closets FULL of my clothes and there was no rhyme or reason to any of them. At one point while going through all of them, I looked around and I was literally surrounded! Check out this mess...

Sunday afternoon, my friends Scott and Robin (or Scobin as I like to call them) had a bunch of us over to cookout and just enjoy each others company. I seriously want to move in with them. They have the best place out in the country, surrounded by fields. SO PEACEFUL. The "boys" got there early to shoot their guns on Scott's course that he made. This thing is intense. The boys were having a hay day.

Scott even set up a shaded area for us women-folk to hang out, complete with a couple of couches and a shade tent. Some might say the word "redneck" comes to mind, but for realz, it was the best afternoon ever.

After grilling out, we ate dinner and then busted out the dessert. I brought a peanut butter pie that I thought was going to be wonderful.

I was wrong.

VERY WRONG.

The recipe was peanut butter and greek yogurt in a oreo cookie crust.

Yall...

It was the worst thing I've ever tasted. My friend Drew took a bite and spit it out it was so bad.

So I had an idea.

Blow it up.

And that's what we did.

After all of that excitement, we started a bonfire, watched some hilarious ultimate frisbee played by guys who are definitely not teenagers anymore, and sat around the fire drinking wine until about 10:00 at night.

Perfect. Day.

Got home and realized that my room was still a mess, so I said screw it, and slept in the guest room on the air mattress. Please tell me I'm not the only one to have ever done this.

Monday morning, back to work on my bedroom. Ended up with the guest room closet full of winter clothes, and a bin of clothes that are too small but I don't want to get rid of (they WILL fit one day). Another closet holds shoes, purses and bags, jackets, and dresses. Finally, my third closet holds jeans, dress pants, shirts, and I even made two bins designated for workout shirts and workout pants so I don't have to dig around for them when getting my bag together. Folded the MILLION tshirts I have and put them away. Stocked my winter boots up on the top shelf. And got rid of everything that's too big, out of style, or I just haven't worn in ages.

One of the best parts about living in Western Kentucky, is an area called Land Between the Lakes (LBL). My friend Shawna and I went on a little adventure and took a hike around Lake Hematite. Here are a few pics of the area...

 

There is also an area in LBL called the Elk and Bison Prairie. Paid 5 bucks to drive around in this Jurassic Park like area and at one point, the Bison were about 10 feet from the car.

We finished our adventure with a trip to Belews Dairy Bar. I may or may not have had a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake with a grilled cheese and onion rings. (Okay, who's kidding... of course I did. It was amazing.)

Got home, showered, and went (yet again) over to the neighbors for another grill out and more cornhole.

All in all, this weekend has made me realize that I really do like to be active and outdoors. 

Can't wait to do it again next weekend!

Call me a hippie, but get outside and enjoy nature!

Weekly Goals 5/20

Yall... I can't even tell you how much I sucked at life last week. Fortunately this is a NEW week and I'm hitting the reset button.

Let's recap last week's goals:

1. Set up the night before.

I did better about this one this week, but not great.

2. In bed with the light out and phone put away by 10:30pm every night. 

HA! That's funny. EPIC FAIL.

3. Drink 120oz of water a day.

Not the greatest of weeks for this, but OH WELL.

4. Try a new recipe.

Yay! I did do this. I made stuffed bell peppers. Check out the recipe HERE.

5. Clean my bedroom.

Yeah that didn't happen.

So as you can see, this past week wasn't the greatest, but this week WILL be better.

This week's goals:

1. Clean my bedroom. 

I'm going to do it this week. No excuses.

2. Actually stick to my plan.

Last week I think I rewrote my eating plan about a million times, but I've already posted my new on one on my new fridge (!!!)  so I have no excuses to not follow it.

3. Work out this weekend.

A lot of times when I go home to Huntsville I half-ass my workouts but I will NOT do that this weekend. Hold me to that, please. (decided not to go home, so have to come up with something else!)

4. Get all of my runs in.

As I was typing this, my friend Allie sent me my speed training workout for Thursday! I'm so excited! She said that I might end up puking by the end of it, but that's okay with me! LAST CHANCE WORKOUT! (I'll just picture Dolvett screaming at me with his pretty white teeth). I've got 3 miles today, 3 miles Thurdsay, 3 miles Saturday (I'm actually doing a 5k!) and 3 miles on Sunday.

Just because I don't want to type anymore, here is my weekend excitement in pictures:

Yeah, that's me on the left. No make up. Getting the hair colored. Obviously make up is my friend. Not 100% sold on the coloring yet, but I'm going to give it a couple more days.

Sign of adulthood #362: You are more excited about a new fridge than you are about Christmas

Dog sitting this weekend. Look at that FACE!

As I said, I sucked at life this week, so much of my weekend consisted of lounging around on the couch, surrounded by dogs.

I've had this patio furniture for almost 2 years now, and suddenly Mr. Bentley likes to dance on the tabletop. 

Ended the weekend with a Sunday night run. As I posted on Facebook, lots of walking, a sore back, and heartburn, but a bad run is better than no run at all.

Weekend Recap 5/3 - 5/3

Alright people. Let's recap the fabulous weekend I had.

Started off by rolling south to my Sweet Home Alabama Friday after work. Usually takes me 3.5 hours, but stand still traffic (the kind where everyone just shuts down their car and sits there) took me 4.5 hours. Oh well.

Saturday was seriously the perfect day. It was pouring down rain so instead of running, I did 30 minutes of a workout video at home. THEN I got to hang out with one of my best friends, Christy. Usually when I am home, we spend MAYBE an hour together because she's got 5 crazy kids at home. But this time, we got our nails done, went to Hobby Lobby, Lane Bryant, Old Navy, and got lunch. It was seriously the perfect morning.

A couple weekends ago I went to Lane Bryant to find some jeans. I tried on a size 20 and they were just too big. Unfortunately they didn't have any 18's so I thought I'd look around some more then order them online if I couldn't find some anywhere else. A couple days later I got a flier in the mail that they were going to have a BOGO free this weekend. PERFECT TIMING! Christy and I went to LB and I thought, "I'll try on the 20's and the 16's just to make sure the 18's are what I need." LOW AND BEHOLD THE 16'S FIT!!! I was shocked. I seriously almost cried. So flippin happy. The jeans I had gotten there about a year ago were a size 22 and I think some were even a 24. Check out my new outfit, rockin my sexy jeans (shirt from Old Navy with their 30% off sale!)...

Saturday night consisted of a wedding for some of our family friends. Kellie looked amazing and I'm telling you, when I get married, that's how I'm going to do it. The venue was this awesome rustic barn type of place, simple easy centerpieces, it was great. However, a high of 50 something degrees in the month of May is just NUTS in Alabama. Good thing I had a winter coat stuck away in my parents' guest room closet.

My beautiful mom and I

Sunday, I went to church and a couple of truths really stuck out to me.

1) I've always heard that "ultimately everything works together for God's glory." That is something I'm really trying hard to hold onto right now. It's so much more comforting than thinking of all the negative possibilities in any given circumstance. Try it. When you accept that even bad things happen for God's good, then it's easier to accept.

2) John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friend." I always looked at this verse as though Jesus laid his life down for US, not the other way around. Then we sang a song and the lyrics go, "I lay me down. I'm not my own. I belong to you alone. Lay me down. Lay me down. Hand on my heart this much is true. There's no life apart from you. Lay me down." I never thought of this verse applying to US as well. We have to lay down OUR lives to show God the greatest love we can.

I'm definitely not one to get sappy or very "deep" but for some reason, these two ideas have stuck with me for the last 24 hours. Maybe God is trying to tell me something?

Church was over, went to lunch with some friends and my parents and I ordered something new at Casa Blanca. If you ever go out to eat with me, you know I am a creature of habit. I get what I like and I don't try anything new. Before going to lunch, I had looked up healthy options for Mexican restaurants. I got a Tostaguac. Corn tortilla with chicken and cheese, lettuce, guacamole, and salsa. Not as good tasty as my nachos, but definitely a better choice. I love chips. It's a problem. I've found though that if I wait until the end of my meal to have a few, it's a lot easier to stop myself. So that's what I did. I ate my meal then had a few chips and I was done and I didn't feel like I had deprived myself. Go me.

Headed back north to Murray after lunch and sat on the couch and watched tv the rest of the night. Oh sorry, that's what I normally do on Sundays so it was just a habit to type. HA... Instead of chillin in front of the tv, I CLEANED MY KITCHEN. It was one of my weekly goals and I thought, "I have to do it." So I did. Check out my Weekly Goal recap entry to see the before and afters. It was rough, but now it's so clean! and organized! and snazzy!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!