I love presents ... Even when I buy them for myself :)

I JUST ordered these amazing compression socks from Zensah on Tuesday (?) and they got here today! And at half price, thanks to an AMAZING deal from Schwaggle. Woo to the hoo! And a HUGE *THANK YOU* to Jess for posting about the deal on Facebook! I've been eyeing these babies for a while now but have been holding off because of the price. Anyway, almost all my workout clothes are either black, grey. purple, blue, or green (can you tell I'm more comfortable wearing cool colors?) so I thought I'd SHAKE THINGS UP and order PINK! I was a little worried when the website told me I should order a size small (helloooo huge calves) and getting them on the first time was a little interesting, but I'm LOVING them already. These bad boys showed up at my door JUST as I was getting off the treadmill so OF COURSE I had to throw them on the second I got out of the shower. :) I kind of wish I had ordered the green pair too now that I have them on. Hmm, Christmas list? Oh, moooooom! :D How much they help is yet to be seen. I've been told these will help with my shin splints AND my cruddy circulation, so we'll see.

I did my Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred dvd again today, level 1 still. I don't want to move on until I can keep up with the moves on the dvd with the hand weight I WANT to use. I tried some of the moves the other night with my set of 2 pound weights and it felt useless so I guess I'm going to tough it out with the 5 pound weights and just keep working at it. I got on the treadmill after my JM butt-whooping since it had been raining when I went down into the basement (still can't bring myself to run in the rain, especially when it's cold). As much as I completely enjoy and adore the extended soundtrack to Nightmare Before Christmas (ADORE Tim Burton!), it only kept my mind off my cranky stomach for about 20 minutes and then I needed to call it an afternoon.

My nutrition has been kinda OFF the past couple days and I've been feeling it today. All I can do if work at getting better and continue to have the conversations with my mom about WHY I can't eat some of the stuff she makes. You would think someone with as many dietary issues as SHE has would be more understanding of the things I can't and just plain won't eat. Well, to be completely honest, dad makes a bigger deal of it all than mom or I do.

Alrighty. Time to throw on the sweat pants and crawl in bed for my Thursday evening shows. Take care everyone. If I don't have time to post again before the weekend, have a safe and awesome Halloween weekend.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

They're Here! :)

Look what came in the mail today! Bring on the cold weather (just not too quick, pretty please), I have a treadmill and a couple kick-butt workout dvds. And I'll hopefully be signing up for races as soon as I know where I'll be next summer.

Nothing definite on my Halloween costume yet. I found something piratey that I kinda liked today but I wanted to check a couple more places tomorrow. One thing that DIDN'T find was a set of holsters and toy guns. Really? Oh well. We'll see what tomorrow has to offer.

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Homecoming, Lazy Sunday, and Whatever Today Was

Sarah and her daughter, Elliot

U of Toledo's Homecoming was this Saturday. Being a good alumni, I went up to the UY alumni tent and hung out during the parade, cheering on my brother and the rest of the UY members walking in the parade with their cow-spotted and 10-gallon-topped short bus. Probably the best part of the parade was seeing one of my former mentees and her stinkin' adorable daughter, Ellie. Sarah kept her pregnancy a secret from all of us so I was a little surprised and hurt when I had to find out from facebook that she'd had a baby, but that emotion is long gone and I enjoyed getting to spend an hour with them. Sarah and I really haven't seen much of each other since Ellie was born, but that's just as much my fault as it is hers. The couple of us standing there enjoyed helping Ellie fill up her Dora The Explorer bag FULL of candy. We MAY have stolen a couple pieces of our favorites out of the bag for ourselves, but I don't think Sarah would ever mind. I made a joke of telling Ellie while I was holding her, "Now, remember to eat 5 or 6 pieces right before bedtime so you and mommy can have LOTS of fun all night long." Sarah laughed and told me that Mitch (Sarah's fiancee [finally] and Ellie's dad)'s mom wanted to take her for the night, so Ellie could eat as much candy as she wanted before Sarah dropped her off that afternoon. Ellie is WAY too young to understand why we all thought that was so funny.

Here they come!

Instead of tailgating or going over to the volleyball game, I decided to head down into my basement lab to get some work done. Well, I ended up curled up on the one semi-comfortable chair in the lab and watching movies all afternoon. Had I known that more of my friends were going to be up tailgating, I might have wandered over to Rocket Hall. Oh well. I know it was a cop-out for me. I have this thing now about not wanting to go places unless I'm invited because I've had too many experiences where I've over-stayed my welcome and wasn't aware of it. Sometimes it's just easier to be alone when I'm not with my closest friends.

The only reason I stayed on campus all day was for the football game. That's all I was really interested in (other than possibly running into a certain guy ... but that wasn't to be, apparently). Toledo stomped on Miami (GREAT football game, GO ROCKETS!) and I got to spend some time with Dan and Annie, which was nice. Actually, I think that was the first time I ever got to have a conversation with JUST Dan, except for when he was showing me the new house first time I was there.

I had planned on getting in a workout Sunday, but it turned into the ultimate lazy day. I slept in late and then laid in bed all day watching football or movies and playing games on my computer. Mom and I made bubble pizza for dinner (Yummy!) and I retreated back to my bed to read the rest of the evening. I couldn't fall asleep until around 3am when the thunder and lightening started, so I didn't hold high expectations for today either.

Today I managed to get myself up at a decent time, despite the lack of sleep, and get some work done. I knew I would be staying home as soon as I woke up. I'm just more productive from home on Mondays when I can go do OTHER productive things away from my computer when I burn out on my paper and schoolwork.

I went through my Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred workout this afternoon. I still wasn't able to keep up with the people on the dvd, but it was better than the last time I did it. I'm wondering if I should use lighter handweights for a while or keep toughing out as much as I can with the 5-pounders. I guess I'll give it a couple more times and just not move on to Level 2 until I feel I have mastered Level 1. You wouldn't think you'd get much of a workout in 20 minutes, but Jillian KICKS YOUR BOOTY. Seriously.

After JM, I decided I needed a run too. I felt so weak and so slow. The first mile wasn't bad, just slow, but my right lower shin decided to tense up the SECOND I passed the 1st mile marker. I toughed it out for another half mile or so until I gave up and stopped to stretch it out and walk for another half mile before trying running again. That seemed to help and I ran most of the way back home. It was a 3.25 mile "run", not including my warm up or cool down, so I guess it was worth it. It was a lesson in humility and injury management, at least.

I guess all I can do now is relax for the night, watch "Castle" (I seriously have a thing for Nathan Fillion), and try to figure out what I'm going to dress up as for Halloween. I was invited to a party Saturday night where I won't know anyone but the one hostess, so I guess I need to find something cute to wear and a guy to flirt with. lol. It'll be good for me, at least. I need a night out and I need to push my confort zone a bit. The other party I was invited to on Monday night would have at least a couple more people I would know, but I thought about staying home to see the trick-or-treaters.

runner ... maybe's Planet Gear Giveaway

Jen over @ Runner ... Maybe is giving away a $25 credit to www.planetgear.com! Planet Gear is wear I got my amazing new sunglasses (that I finally got to try out today ... more on that in the next post)

Go check out her post and enter!

http://runnermaybe.blogspot.com/2011/10/planetgearcom-pledges-and-giveaway.html

Short and Random

So, I came home early purposely so I'd have time to workout and shower before heading to dinner with the family for mom's birthday (more on that in a minute), but my plans were thwarted. I sat down on my bed to put my socks on, decided to lay back for 2 seconds ... and fell asleep. Um, yea. I woke up when dad got home. I had just enough time to shower before we had to leave. And there is NO WAY I can run now. It is impossible for me to eat a reasonable-sized portion when it comes to barbeque ribs, especially from Damon's or Outback Steakhouse. I am now stretched back out on my bed, in my sweatpants, with a glass of wine, waiting for my Thursday night tv shows to start. lol. Oh well.

We have a tradition in our family of trying to out-do each other with silly/goofy birthday cards. We aren't sure if dad or I won this year ... I say me since my card got a dig in on dad as well. :D

Dad's card. He says it reminds him of a dog we used
to have and an incident involving one of MY birthday cakes. lol

Front of my card.

Inside my card.

When we got home from dinner, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. The sunglasses I ordered from planetgear.com got here! Iron Girl "Victorious C"s. Yippee! I'm so happy with them (I have issues finding athletic sunglasses that aren't too tight on the sides of my head) and I can't wait to wear them on a run! :)

Holy sore muscles, Batman!

I wasn't feeling the Jillian Michael's a$$-kicking yesterday, but holy guacamole were my muscles screaming at me when I woke up this morning. Since I'm a wimp, I chose to delay day #2 until tomorrow and went for a run instead. Since I'll be running the Cupcake Classic virtual race at some point this week, I figured I'd take my first shot at that distance today despite not having run that far in a couple weeks. It went well, I think. But, I think I'll give the distance another try in a couple days. Maybe. We'll see how I feel TOMORROW. lol.

http://www.dailymile.com/people/JessLK721/entries/10493807

Cupcake Classic

Good or bad, I'm going for it. Just need to figure out when I can run outside with decent weather.

Happy Birthday (week) Jess!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Amazon Addiction, Jillian Michaels, and new clothes!

I guess I need to set up my story first ... For those of you who don't know me, and those who don't know me as well as they think they do, I don't have a regular income right now. I'm a masters student TYRING DESPERATELY to finish up her paper and graduate at the end of this fall semester. But, even though I don't have a job (and that may soon change, though only part-time and seasonal), I do have a tiny income of sorts. I take surveys and write product reviews for companies. With most of the sites I use, the incentive isn't amazing, but your points build over time. Some let you cash out at $5, others make you wait until you reach $50 (I'm 3.75 way from my first check there!). One, and the one I get the most surveys for, lets you turn all your points into Amazon gift codes. Needless to say (if you know me), I have taken full advantage of this. I can't help but cruise Amazon for amazing deals on things I want. As soon as I build up some credit with my gift codes, I'm looking for what I want to order next. I've gotten quite a bit of stuff over the last couple years this way. Heck, it's how I got all my non-clothing running gear so far!

So, I've been thinking for a while about how I'm going to keep in decent shape this winter. I'm NOT a fan of running outside in the cold and slushy/snowy crap, but I don't want to be confined to the treadmill all winter (notice how my shin splints magically disappeared this spring once I started running outside full-time?). So, when I saw a major deal on some Jillian Michaels dvds, I jumped on it. And I got them all for free with my Amazon gift codes. I ordered "30-Day Shred", "Killer Buns & Thighs", and "No More Trouble Zones". What I didn't know until AFTER I ordered was that 30-Day Shred also came with a free digital version! So, while I haven't gotten my dvds yet (come on, now, I just ordered them yesterday and went for the free 5-8 day shipping), I pulled up the digital version this morning and went for it.

Holy Cow. Either running and lifting haven't gotten me in as good of shape as I thought or I've REALLY dropped the ball the last couple weeks. 30-Day Shred's Level 1 is only 25ish minutes of actual work, but I found myself cursing at Jillian quite a bit. lol. She. Kicked. My. Booty. The aerobic and ab stuff were great, but DANG did my arms and shoulders kill. Maybe it'll be better now that I've done it once and know what to expect. Or maybe I should have started with a smaller weight (I was using 5lbs). I haven't decided if it's going to be an every-day thing or an every-other-day thing yet. I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

After 30DS, I didn't have much time for a run, but I got in 20 minutes on the treadmill just to shake my legs out. Maybe I'll give it another go tonight. It all depends on what's going on around the house.

I also made a stop over at Old Navy today since they had all their compression clothing on sale. Just about everything was $15. Now, I'm used to ON's sizes being a little funky and had myself completely ready to need a L pant, but I was actually more comfortable in a M compression pant! I'm not going to lie, I did a bit of a happy dance in the dressing room. lol. I got a pair of tights, compression capris, straight-leg running pants, a compression tank (in an awesome neon yellow color, and I don't need a sports bra with it!), and a hooded running jacket. Typical me, I bought everything but the tank in black. I'm still so self-conscious of how I look in tight clothing that I think I can hide a bit with dark colors. It's habit by now. Oh well. If I run when it's still dark, I'll just have to wear my Runner's World Reflective vest that I picked up with my gift codes last month. lol. Anyway, I can't wait to wear my new gear and check it out. I've hear rave reviews and crappy reviews, so I guess we'll see.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Weird Food Cravings ..

It doesn't matter how much I eat throughout the day, and when. I almost always get crazy cravings for breakfast food, mostly cereal of some kind, late at night (usually around midnight). Thank goodness mom and I always keep the house stocked with Frosted Mini Wheats or Special K Red Berry (or Special K Yogurt Bites) and 1% milk (dad can't stand skim, but I can't stand 2% anymore, so we compromise if both of us are going to be home).

Am I the only one? Any insight? Anyone else have a weird late-night food fixation?

Gotta start somewhere, I guess.

Time to get back in the saddle. Or, more accurately, lace the running shoes back up. I was on campus all morning and early afternoon, but I knew I had to get outside for a run before the weather closed in on me. We're expecting icky rain for the next couple day and I knew I'd never be able to motivate myself for the dreamill if I didn't run outside today. So, as soon as I saw the sky started to darken, I abandoned my basement lab and made like a bunny for Wildwood Metropark. Since its been a while and my legs have been bothering me off-and-on the past couple days, I stuck to the Corey Road loop. At first, it was weird to me to be running the loop clockwise. I'm not sure WHY it felt so weird. I didn't want to push myself too much so I alternated running a loop and walking a loop. Each lap is just under 1/2 mile. The running felt great, but my right foot began bothering me during the walking laps (I know, go figure, right?). I wanted to run a few more laps, but the dark clouds were closing in quick and my foot was really starting to bother me that last walking lap (that turned into my cool-down). So, I guess I take tomorrow off and then try again. I would really like to be able to run the Cupcake Classic Virtual Race next weekend (on top of everything else going on that weekend)! :)

Annie & Dan are MARRIED!

Yesterday was the day I've been looking forward to for a while now. One of my closest (and oldest) friends got married! And to a REALLY great guy too! It was an amazingly beautiful day and I'm so thankful I got to share in their special day.

Michelle, myself, and Bethany (Dan's sister) in the limo

my flowers

Annie and Dan ...
probably one of my favorite pictures from the
entire night on my camera

this one is right at the top of my "favorites" list too

Annie and I

Congratulations Dan and Annie!

Love you!