That was a beast of a run

Good morning! Happy Monday morning and I hope yours is off to a great start! Sometimes it’s so easy to complain about a Monday morning…I mean you have to wake up to go to work and not relax, have fun and continue in the weekend fun. I saw this on Pinterest and I love it! It’s a great reminder to not complain but to thank God for waking you up to enjoy another day in his beauty and glorifying him in all that you do!

 

Just have an extra cup of coffee if you need a little more motivation!

My workout…my walk/run

So it was Week 3  Day 1 of my 5k running training. I had been feeling pretty good on all of my other trainings so far, but man the one I did yesterday was brutal! I kept putting my run off (blaming it first on wanting to sleep in on the weekend, then the higher temperature in the middle of the day–and finally at just after 7 I got my workout clothes on, my shoes laced up and I was ready to go! There is always a 5 minute walking warm-up and I kinda thought it could be a rough run based on how tired I felt, but I was hoping I just needed to stretch my muscles out a little bit…nope! I started the run and just tried to focus on my pace and my breathing and listening to my rocking playlist! I was able to zone in, which helped but this week was definitely a step-up in intensity compared to the last couple runs. The program had longer running intervals and it was overall 10 minutes longer. I know I need to increase time, mileage, and intensity to get better, but I thought it might come a little easier. I averaged my best minutes/mile so far…so I must be getting better!

 

 

 

Food Lately

Nate and I went to a tavern (italian/Irish pub) on Saturday night. We really just wanted to try their beer that we heard so much about! Check out this Guinness beer list! I love Guinness mixed with other beers so this beer list just looked awesome to me!

 

I was going back and forth between the Chocolate Covered Cherries, the Guinness Latte, Guinness Shandy or the Trojan Horse. I asked our waitress and she said her favorite by far was the Chocolate Covered Cherry…..so that’s what I went with! It was okay….I will probably try something different next time I go.

 

We had a modge-podge of a dinner that included a mushroom, Italian meat (similar to prosciutto) brick-oven cooked flat-bread pizza. I really wanted veggies so we ordered a side of steamed seasonal veggies and my favorite-sweet potato fries! 🙂

 

Since we had leftover pizza, we of course had Pizza Eggs the following morning!!!

Our Sunday–I’ll make it brief, because I know this post is getting long……

We took Telli to the dog park….and they had the coolest cattails in the fields!

 

We took Telli to get a bath because she hadn’t had one in awhile, and was kinda stinky! 😉 It’s always an adventure giving her a bath–because she hates it! We both got nice and wet and she gets lots of treats… 😉

 

We got home, made pizza eggs, watched some tv and then I got ready for my brutal run! 😉 When I got back I new something was going on with Nate–his face looked sad. He proceeded to tell me he lost his wedding ring and thinks it’s where we took Telli to get a bath-since he took it off his hand to wash her. They were already closed so we couldn’t go there, however he remembered handing me the car keys in the parking lot and thinks it could’ve fallen out at that point…so we drove to the parking lot, prayed that God would make it so pink and sparkly neither of us could miss it. Well at the same time, we spotted it! Sitting in the middle of the parking lot!

 

Crazy! But so glad we found it!

I’ll end this post with that…..because it’s Monday, and God woke me up to enjoy his beauty and to glorify him in all I do today! I hope you have a great day!

What do you do to get through tough runs? Have you ever lost anything and had to re-trace your steps to find it?

❤ God Bless

mmmm…delish!

Man, what a day! It went by so fast and I had so much fun–but I was tired! Telli felt the need to wake up at midnight to go to the bathroom.  play in the backyard. At midnight….really Telli? Well I met 5 of my co-workers at the Starbucks in REI downtown Denver. I love this Starbucks! It’s HUGE–but very cozy and great for meetings. I started with a grande skinny carmel latte, by the time I got down with the meeting I had another! I mean, when someone else is buying Starbucks-I’m going to say yes! I think my manager was a little concerned to be out visiting accounts with me today knowing I had 4 shots of espresso in my system! 🙂

We then stopped at King Soopers (a local grocery chain). I needed to pick up some gift cards and CANDY for my accounts. (Yes they prefer  candy over Starbucks or lunch!) I love shopping for candy! SO many options and I filled an entire carry basket!

After some accounts we stopped for lunch in Golden at restaurant that just opened! ModMarket was delish and I will definitely be going there again and again and again!

I enjoyed a chicken basil sandwich on ciabatta bread with an arugula salad on the side. Everything on their menu is made from scratch with the freshest ingredients! They change their menus as the seasons change to use the most local and fresh produce they can! How cool is that! And to drink; all their soda is made with cane sugar–and their creme soda is to die for!!!! I had 2!! 😉

 

 

 

 

The balsamic vinaigrette they used on the salad was SO good! It was sweet and paired perfectly with the sandwich to satisfy my hunger while never feeling full.

Nate took Telli for a walk tonight while I drove home from work, and we each saw a beautiful sight!

While Telli and Nate were on a walk they saw a herd of elk! It’s always fun to watch them interact, so Nate and Telli took in God’s beautiful creatures!

On my way home, I came up to where the Continental divide is gorgeous–and God had painted a beautiful sky beyond the mountains! (This picture doesn’t do it justice)

Great reminder to thank him for a wonderful, beautiful day!

What are you thankful for today?

❤ God Bless

 

 

My day off……

I love when I have a Monday off! It’s like having a normal weekend, but I think I get more satisfaction knowing most people went back to work today…sorry to those that did. 😉 But I did have to work Saturday so you can rub it in my face of the great Saturday you had.

I woke up to a snowy and cold morning which I wasn’t too enthused about because I had great intentions of taking Telli for a walk-run. But plan B didn’t sound too bad either. I made myself a nice little breakfast. Egg whites, blueberries, PB&J toast and a soy latte!!! Warm breakfast was the perfect way to relax just a little this morning!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I got pre-occupied putting the dishes away and forgot the latte machine was still steaming my milk…oops! 😉

I did my standard day-off-duties; you know…laundry….laundry….dishes…..laundry…clean…more laundry. (Can you tell I haven’t done laundry in over a week 😉 ) But in the process of all this cleaning and laundry I managed to make a huge pile of clothes I no longer wear and could send to goodwill! I’m so thrilled that I made more room in my closet! Go me! 🙂

I knew I needed to take Telli out and about to make sure she had some play time at the dog park! She was sick for a couple of weeks so we had to keep her away from other dogs. She’s much better now and has been itchin’ to see all of her friends. As much as I was dreading going outside I finally put on my down coat, snow boots and Yac-tracs–all for you Telli girl! I’m so glad we went out. It was absolutely beautiful! The snowflakes were huge, the ground and trees were still white from the last storm and Telli just ran around playing in all the snow. She had a ball! I also took the time to reflect and pray! I always love when there are no distractions (to Telli’s dismay we were the only ones at the dog park) and I can be in God’s beauty and praise him and thank him for the beautiful place I get to call home!

Telli is now passed out on the couch, Nate is on the way home from work and I need to figure out what to make for dinner! I hope you all enjoy your night!

❤ God Bless!

 

 

About Me

I am a Twenty-Something that lives in Evergreen, CO. I moved here almost 5 years ago and can’t believe how much I have been blessed! I’m a pretty simple girl. Give me some sugar, sunshine and shoes (both running and heels) and I’m on my way with a smile!

I believe there are 4 things at my core that make me who I am today and continue to strive and grow to reach my goals. The first and foremost is my faith.

Faith:

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Phil 4:13

I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. I believe that he sent his only son Jesus down to earth to save me from my sins. I try to live a life every day that serves and loves and gives glory to God in everything I do! It’s not always easy and many times challenging but knowing I have heaven forever is enough for me to try! My favorite time of day with Jesus is on my commute to work when I get to sing to k-love at the top of my lungs!!!

Family:

“Like branches on a tree we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one”

I am blessed to have the most perfect–or to anyone else imperfect family that I love dearly. I have an amazing husband whom I don’t deserve. He protects me, loves me, strengthens me and makes me laugh! My Telli girl is a beautiful dog that has so much personality and love! I have the most wonderful parents who have supported me and loved me through all my crazy endeavors. Two crazy brothers that have protected me (and at times tackled me and punched me) to show me what brotherly love really means! 😉 My family has continued to grow with nieces and nephews I adore and don’t see nearly enough, so I’m sure you will see them when I do!

Fitness:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”-1 Cor 6:19-20

I try so hard to be fit, or if I’m honest sometimes pretty lazy about it. But I love the feeling of being healthy and fit! To me its not always about the pounds, granted I do like when the numbers go down, but I like how I feel when I’m healthy. And I hate after 5 months of winter putting on a work skirt and the zipper hardly goes up….talk about MOTIVATION! I also keep a lot of variety in my fitness schedule. I tried P90x once and only lasted a month because I got bored doing it every morning and was too sore to do anything else after. I am more of an outdoors activity person (I think because I live in an outdoor playground!), but in the winter when it’s dark when I’m at home, I like my treadmill, work out videos, kettle bells and my own creative workouts from the college days!

Food:

“One should eat to live, not live to eat.” – Moliere

I love food! I love almost all kinds of food. I love trying new kinds of foods and flavors. I love sugary candy food. Candy is my weakness…it’s SO good but SO bad for me. But I do love finding new recipes and trying them out on my day off! Nate cooks most of the time in the house, because he doesn’t like to wait for me to get home from work to start cooking…he’d be starving. I don’t mind it, it gives me an excuse to not have to cook! 🙂

Well I think that is the quickest blurb about me…..but I’m sure you’ll get to know me more!

❤

My very first post

I have known many people to keep a blog, and after hesitating for awhile, I’ve decided to take the leap! I never wanted to start one because I didn’t think I could come up with enough topics to talk about…..but I think I have plenty to talk about. My goal right now is to post at least once a week, but hopefully people enjoy reading what I write as much as I love to write it, and will post more often!

I figured I would begin with an introduction to my life.

Here is a picture of the love of my life, Nate, since I am certain I will talk about him a lot in my blog (even though he won’t like it that I do!) 😉 We met about 3 years ago and have best friends since! I knew he was a great fit on our first date when we didn’t realize we were at the restaurant for 5 hours. We wanted to see each other again…soon! So we went skiing all day the following day and I didn’t ever want to leave! Granted I was having so much fun beating someone down the mountain too! (although he will not admit this.) 😉 And then I really knew I liked him when we decided to go to CHURCH together the following day and then went to grab some WINGS and BEER and watch the PACKERS play some football! And, well….the rest is history—no I know topics will come up over the many blogs I write to catch you up!

Telli is the second love of my life (sometimes Nate says that I love her more than him…well that’s only true….sometimes, when she’s snuggly and he’s stinky) 😉 She is an almost 1 year old, black lab that thinks she is the queen of the house. She knows all she has to do is bat her little puppy dog eyes and she will get whatever she wants-except on our bed and people food! Her mom was a FEMA certified search and rescue dog, so she has a nose that will sniff for days and days if we let her. Needless to say, she has been a difficult dog to train to run with because she likes to stop and “smell the roses”-or old dog poop, or the elk that is a mile away! She loves when we get dumped on with snow!! She will bound through it naturally like a deer! Here is her in our snowstorm from last week.

So beautiful…right?

LOVE ❤