FMM on Friday

 

I am not consistent in blogging the “right” post on the “right”day. I never remember to do the Monday one on Monday.  I say I’ll get to it next week but that rarely happens.  Kenlie’s Friend Makin’ Monday is one I wish I made more of a consistent effort to participate. Oh, I’ve done a few but never with much regularity. I happened to catch on that my girl Sarah was taking over for Kenlie and this week was her first post. Even though its Friday and obviously not Monday, I am jumping in with my girls.

 

1. Introduce yourself in under 10 words. mother, wife, teacher, student, reader, sensitive, hugger, oversharer, lover, sorta-crazy

2. How did you find Friend Makin Mondays? I’ve been friends with Kenlie for a long time. We shared our first hug at Fitbloggin many moons ago.  When I specifically found FMM, I am not exactly sure. I don’t always participate but I do read.

3. Have you ever met any of your blog readers? I have met a ton of bloggy friends. I am not sure if we met before or after we followed each other through our blogs. I attended the first Fitbloggin and that was my first experience meeting so many wonderful bloggy friends.

4. How many states have you visited? Do all the states between NJ and Florida count?!? If so, I have driven between the two many, many times. I have also spent time in Louisiana, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Texas (if you count the Houston airport). When I was a kid we roadtripped to Ohio and to New England. I have visited a bunch of states but not all of them!

5. What did you have for lunch yesterday? Rice & Chicken

6. How many different places have you lived in? Too many to count. As a kid we moved apartments almost every year. I had a place with my mom and one with my dad. Then when I left home, I bounced around a lot. I spent winters in Florida and summers in NJ. I’ve been back in NJ for 13 years and lived in 4 houses. Q and I have lived in the same house for over 10 years now.

7. What’s your favorite color? purples and blues, black and white

8. Do you have any pets? Lucy is my almost 4-year old black Lab, two kitties names Charlie and Whiskey, and two red-eared sliders named Bonnie and Clyde

9. What would your ideal job be? I would run an at-risk residential school/working farm in the middle of nowhere.

10. Do you have any tattoos? 4 – left calf, right ankle, right hip and neck.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.losingweightandhavingfun.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

Now it’s your turn!

yesterday was my birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I am now 36 years young! My wonderful husband and amazing daughter treated me like a princess.

You see, AJ and I have been talking about planning a trip up to Lancaster and the outlets. We figured we would go sometime in March when we both could spare a day off and away. We were discussing this with Q on Saturday and she said, “mom, why don’t you go tomorrow? You already took Monday off for your birthday? It’s perfect, you should go.”  I have such a SMART kid!

Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind. Q had physical therapy and softball/hitting practice added on top of the normal Saturday chores.  AJ just went back to work (Saturday was his second day since Thanksgiving) so that left me on my own to do chores during the day. However, AJ did accompany me to the grocery store later that night.

Sunday after packing up the car we hit the road. Our first stop was  our local bagel shop for a breakfast sandwich to eat on the road. I LOVE our local bagels!! The picture above was taken while we were driving through Philly, specifically this is Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River. Traffic was light and we cruised through Philly and were in Lancaster a few hours after we left home. We checked out the layout of the outlets and did a bit of shopping before heading to Ruby Tuesday for some lunch and a beer before we got to shopping.

After some shopping, we headed towards the hotel in a cute little town called Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania. On the way to the hotel we passed many horse & buggies. I love the sound of clippety clopping. When we got checked in ad settled into our room, I found a birthday card from the staff at the hotel.  How awesome is that?!? A birthday card and chocolates waiting for me. It was such a  nice personal touch! If you are ever in the Lancaster area and want a hotel with an indoor pool, I would highly recommend the Bird in Hand Family Inn! We were very close to the pools and we took advantage of said pools. There is nothing better than a very warm pool in the middle of winter. Especially when you don’t normally have access to a pool 9 months out of the year.

Waking up in a hotel on your birthday is absolutely luxurious. Waking up in a hotel, going out to breakfast and then shopping til you drop on your birthday is beyond amazeballs luxurious.

I don’t usually have a lot of extra money so there is not a lot of shopping except grocery shopping that happens around here. But it being my birthday and our taxes being deposited, my husband made sure I splurged on myself.

We shopped for clothes and shoes and kitchen stuff. Then we went in search of Amish goodies. We found our way to Stoltzfus Meats and purchases homemade dried beef and smoked sausage and a sausage pie.

And then we headed home. Q made me an awesome birthday cake: cookies & cream!! Cookies and cream anything is my favorite and Q made me the most delicious cake!

I feel so loved.

 

36 is going to be a great year!

It has to be….it started off so absolutely awesome!!!

January Walks and Medals

Do you see that happy face?!?
I am super stoked!!
I set a goal of 48.6 miles walked in January.
I did it! I did it!!
I so super proud of myself. I haven’t been the best goal achiever lately and I needed this win.

JostRunning has been great for me. Walking and blogging and earning medals was just the motivation I needed to get back in the game. The get healthy, get fit, get back to living game.
January started much the way December started and ended. With me very sick and loaded up with more meds. Plus going back to school and the exhaustion of being sick and teaching all day. Naps were better for me than walking. I didn’t log my first mile until January 10th. At that point I worried I would not hit my goal.
48.6 miles
Or one of each:
5k
10k
Half marathon
Full marathon

With JostRunning Virtual Races each month they set one of the above races each week. You register for your race and complete your miles in the course of that week. The best part, you do your miles your way. All at once or a little bit at a time. Walk, run, ride, roller skate, hop, skip or jump. JR encourages you to do your race your way.
I walked. I walked outside only three times this month. I don’t know about your neck of the woods but in south jersey, we are having an actual winter complete with snow. We’ve had two snow days in January. We didn’t even have two snow days all last year, just for comparison. I walked inside a lot more than outside. Leslie Sansone is quite the genius and has created an empire on walking at home.

I used the runkeeper app on my phone to log my miles. And since I also used this app to set my 500 mile goal, all miles are applied to my goal. Makes it easier for me to keep track. I’m not good at running numbers. 😉 I did, however, take the time to add up just how many hours and minutes I walked this month. Over 7 hours of walking.
I am going to continue my goal of 48.6 miles walked for at least the next two months. At that point I will reevaluate my goals for the year and determine I want more or less miles for April. Maybe by April I might be ready to train for an event. Half marathon in one session. We shall see. Right now, I am enjoying walking in the moment, walking for health.
I want to continue enjoying walking inside but I do look forward to more walks outside as we get ever-closer to spring but for right now I am finding my happy place in my Leslie walks in my bedroom. I watch Leslie on one screen and I watch some random TV shows on another. Mindless TV helps the miles go by but I’m using more muscles than I would if I was walking outside or on a treadmill. And I’m for damn sure using more muscles than if I was just watching the mindless TV.

 

 

 

 

disclaimer: JostRunning has  waived registration fees and provided me with free medals in exchange for a blog of my experiences. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are all mine.