UGH. Darn internet connection!

I was almost done with my post and our donkey internet went down while I was saving it in draft form.

Bleah.  I’m going to bed.  😦   I’ll regroup and write up the week tomorrow.

See ya later!

Cathy

 

 

Daylight savings. I guess it makes sense.

I was born and raised in Hawaii and we don’t have daylight savings time there.  It’s just Hawaiian time all the time, HA!  What that usually means is people just roll on in when ever they get to it.  I didn’t really follow that rule – even though I’m half Hawaiian….must have been the Dutch side of me.  🙂

Back to the topic.  Last night I did what I’ve been reminded to do from all sources, which was move the clocks in the house forward an hour so that when we woke up this morning we would be on time.  I need to do 13yo and 11yo’s alarm clocks, the clock in the office and the clock on the coffee machine.  I’m trusting HunBun can move his own alarm clock forward, I guess I’ll see when I go back and check.

I think daylight savings makes more sense the further into the “savings” we go.  Right now it’s still dark in the am and dark in the pm – but I know how quickly that will switch.  One morning I’ll wake up and be like “dang did I oversleep?” and at night I’ll say “dang, is it 9 o’clock already?”.

This week I’m prepping to be running around like a nutter.  I’m headed off to So. Cal this week for work.  For someone who didn’t plan any meetings I’ve sure booked up my calendar.  It was my good friend Ann’s birthday last week so we are celebrating Tuesday night when I come in.  I’ll be taking her to Natural Café for a celebratory dinner – see we’ll eat a healthy dinner so we can go find us a not so healthy treat for dessert.  We’re smart like that.

Today I was very productive.  I hit the treadmill for an iFit run through Solvang, CA.  I tried the Beta version of the map feature – it worked fine for the first half mile then got hung up on the rest.  So I just stared at my route without seeing the street view as I would have liked.  Bleah.  I hope iFit get’s its technical issues fixed soon.  It’s been a real pooter.

Solvang is a bit hillier than I thought.  I was able to maintain the 6.0 at 6% incline – but when that sucker kept scooting up to 10% incline I had to punch my speed down to 4.0.  Every now and again I have a fear of flying off the edge of the treadmill – usually when my thoughts start wandering and I forget I’m on a moving belt.  Whoops.  That would be no bueno for sure.

After getting my healthy on I decided to get my spring cleaning  on – by tackling the office.  We have one of those 5×5 shelves from Ikea.  I love the clean lines but also the volume of space it has for us to fill.  I went through and put a bunch of stuff into 2 shred piles – a personal shred for our home shredder and a business shred for the shred bins at the office.  I also tossed a bunch of stuff into the recycle bin – you know magazines that I had been saving for years (oh, yes the date was from 2009) and some Dummy books for Visio & Excel that I had bought for work.  Those?  Oh, those were from 2008.  Good Gravy!

I also have a lot of books which I rarely part with.  I did a double shelf on some of those just to not spread them through the entire 5×5.  I found some old photos of HunBun and I when we first started dating.  Man I dressed like a schlub – Gee Whiz!  I mean I’m no fashion plate but Yikers.  We have a lot of new photos from our many Disney vacations (hee hee – planning for another this Summer, if I can get him to agree – which I will, Bwahahahahaha) and in those I think I’m looking ok.  Sometimes clothes just don’t fit like you think they fit while you’re wearing them – it’s only when you see a photo you say “is that how that shirt hangs…eeps”.

My plan was to clean the whole office – desk and file folder and stuff on the walls.  I was only able to get through the 5×5.  It seriously is a lot of work to go through all these boxes and see all the stuff that I’ve been hoarding for no reason.  HunBun was pleased.  Whee.  He’s the clean freak of the couple – so for him to be happy about how much I threw away was a gold star for me.

 

 

Oh and my weekend started with a great success – I finished the hardest (worst) puzzle we have ever done.  HunBun gave up weeks ago.  Yes, you read that right – WEEKS AGO!  We started this puzzle before our trip to Florida and I just finished it Saturday night.  UGH!  It was one of those puzzles that is a picture made up of teeny tiny pictures.  So each piece was made up of 4 individual pictures.  Geesh!   I made it my mission to finish it this weekend.  We had not eaten on the dining table for so long that I had had enough.   See that piece of paper at the top?  That was my best friend during this puzzle-palooza.  It was a picture of the completed puzzle and I literally folded and unfolded that thing so often to find where these darn pieces would fit.  The easiest were the pieces with people on them…then after that it was a bunch of rockets and shuttles…then I had to deal with just splotches of blue, green, yellows, pinks, purples and black/whites.  Oh my!  So glad I finished it.  This is NOT one that I will redo.  It’s going into the “To Donate” pile.

Van Gogh’s Starry Night….  Now it’s off to bed – to start a week with more daylight in it!

See ya later!

Cathy

 

 

 

 

 

Running faster. That’s my goal

So I really want to run faster and as usually happens, I just read this itty bitty article on exactly what I want to do.

Running Makeover: How Do I Get Faster For My Next Race

Then I read it and it’s like “to run faster, train harder”… Uh, I’m pretty sure I could have figured that bit out.    I’ve read a bunch of articles in magazines, emagazines, blogs, books and this and that.  I have ripped out 8 or 9 different Half Marathon training plans where one is pinned up on my cork board, another framed in the garage next to the treadmill, another on a clip on the magnetic white board, one in the suitcase I use for business travel and the rest in a folder in my desk drawer.  They all pretty much say the same thing.  I just have to get my head in the game and stop jerking around.  As inspiration for myself…and any of you readers – here’s some motivational images – sayings – whatever’s to get me to my goal.

This one’s just because HunBun thinks I’m becoming “one of those ladies” because I wore yoga pants on the plane to and from Florida for our recent vacation.

I ask you “does this really look bad?”.  My arms are actually not long enough for once – this photo angle is super awkward…and not just because I was in the middle of the Vegas airport during our lay over.

Are you inspired?  I am pretty sure I am….actually I KNOW I am.  HA!!

See ya later

Cathy

 

Spring Cleaning, Body edition

So not only is my plan to clean the house from North to South to East to West before Easter (which this year is March 31st!  I know right!!!)  But I am also re-re-committing myself to healthy living.  *I probably should add a couple more re-re’s on there since I’ve committed many times already.  Like I’ve said before I’m not completely unhealthy – but I do like to snack and my snacks are usually in triangular salty form…  Hee hee.

My nemesis…

I mean I can’t help myself…I say they are for HunBun but do you think that HunBun actually eats those Hint of Lime Tostitos?  Heck no…that’s all me!

Anyway.  I’ve renewed my quest for a balance of living healthy and healthy living.  I am really motivated this year to get my 2:00 goal time at my next half marathon (Disneyland in September).  I’ve been working on speed intervals on the treadmill combined with weighted & body weight exercises.  This morning I did 8 sprints at 7.0mph with 5.0mph rests between with a 7.7mph on that last one.  I did each sprint/rest at 1 min each.  My plan is to do that for a week then increase those sprint/rest times to 1.5 min and up and up until I’m running at 7.0mph for long stretches of time.  I think that gradual approach will get me used to turning my feet over faster and keeping that speed consistent.

To support my running/toning plan I’ve returned to my blended approach to eating.  I use the Tone It Up plan for both eating and exercise.  I also refer to a great book I read, S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim by Cynthia Sass, which helps with balancing each meal with healthy elements.  Both are super easy plans and don’t ask you to give up anything – which I like a lot.  Here’s what I’ve been eating the last 2 days (Oh, I didn’t take photos of the 2 handfuls of peanut M&Ms I shoved in my piehole after dinner, HA!).

Protein pancake and fresh fruit

Yesterday’s snack – blueberries & coffee

Bought something new for quick lunches…and Gluten Free to boot!

Rice & Bean Veggie bowl for Lunch

Tuesday’s breakfast. Oh yeah, that is a green pancake.

So I’m doing pretty good and feeling pretty good too.

Later today after work I’ll be doing a crafty project to get all my race bibs out of the drawer and on display.  I’ll post the finished product when it’s all done(hopefully this week  🙂  ).

Crafty project for later

See ya later!

Cathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney World’s 2013 Princess Half Marathon recap

I should have just saved this until tomorrow then it would have been a 7 day anniversary of completing the race.  I didn’t get a PR…didn’t even stay close to my existing PR.  I even gained a minute from my pooty performance at the Tinkerbell Half this January.  BLEAH!  Guess I need some motivation –

You gotta love the creativity behind those eCards.  Not sure if I totally need to have the bloody knife – the clown alone would freak me enough to make my legs keep moving while my brain kept telling them to slow down.  I did get my Coast to Coast medal at the end, pretty dang cool.

I promised you all a photo montage of the race and our family trip to Florida – so here it is.  Enjoy – we sure did.  🙂

This was the first trip to Disneyworld for 13yo and 11yo.  Sometimes it was hard to figure out if they were having a good time or not.  Teen & Pre-teen boys are on their own communication wave length.  HunBun gets more out of 13yo than I can…11yo likes to talk about randomness all the time so I have the patience to figure my way through and out of conversations with him.  😀

13yo’s favorite park was Epcot.  He loved the countries and Living with the Land.  He wants to be a scientist of some sort when he grows up.  I keep reminding him that Disney has really cool intern opportunities, so maybe when he’s old enough he’ll get into Disney (so I can reap all the benefits of 13yo being a future employee – WHEEE!)

11yo’s favorite park was Animal Kingdom and Epcot too.  They both loved visiting all the countries – although we didn’t get to all of them even with being at the parks for 5 days.  Weird.

We spent a day and a half at the Magic Kingdom.  There is a lot of similarity between Disneyland in California and the MK in Florida.  We do like the Haunted Mansion better in MK – the entrance is super cool and we totally loved the Escher-esque stairwells.  We took the boys to the Hall of Presidents – HunBun and I think that’s a great “ride” that has a great place to wait when you’re trying to escape the parade crowds.

Yes.  That’s me and the 13yo at MK.  Sometimes I can’t even believe how tall he is.  I have to remind myself he’s still my baby.  🙂

It was a great mini-vacation for us.  If you go to Disney World be sure to download the Disney My Experience app for your phone or iPad (although I think lugging an iPad around would be annoying after a while).  It’s like a lot of apps where you can see ride wait times and places to eat – the bonus is that if you sign in you can make dining reservations.  It was really helpful since the first time we tried to eat in France (Epcot) we were told we needed a reservation – DOH!  So I used the app and got us a reservation for the next night, much to 13yo’s great satisfaction.

Anyhoo…that’s about it for our trip and my race.

See ya later…

Cathy