Saturday is my new favorite day....

So I was up WAY too late last night watching "Criminal Minds" reruns. Part of me was also waiting for Ethan to get home from his extra job which he works from 11 PM - 3 AM. He got home, we talked, and then I think we fell asleep at 4 AM. It was like the old days when we both worked later shifts and would stay up ridiculously late and then sleep in....

This morning we were up at 11. It was cold and rainy outside so we just stayed in bed for a little while snuggling before we got up to have breakfast. It's so nice to be home together on a day where we don't have to work... well, I don't have to work until later (Greek kids gig). Ethan has CPA homework anyway, and he likes to have some alone time to play video games with his brother and friends so it works out pretty perfectly.

I hit the gym earlier and finished week 4 of Couch to 5K. Yay me! Ethan surprised me by researching my treadmill and figuring out what the problem was...he ordered the part that needs to be replaced, and he is currently fixing it. The part was only $10, so I'm excited to have my treadmill back! I have decided that I will only be walking on it though and will save the running for the gym treadmills since I want it to last as long as possible...it's already so old to begin with, it's a miracle it's even still working. I have no doubt in my husband's ability to fix ANYTHING. He's just that kind of guy. Nothing fazes him, and he's super scary smart but without acting like a know-it-all brainiac. I got the total package.

Tomorrow is brunch with my friend Lauren...I call her L.D. to differentiate and avoid confusion, and then coffee later with my friend Lindsay. I'm looking forward to seeing them both and catching up! Brunch is at this place that I've always wanted to check out called "Sun in my Belly", so I can't wait to taste the food there. It's one of L.D.'s favorite places, so it's highly recommended. I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow to update on how it was!

The one where the treadmill bites the dust...

So, today I did week 1, day 2 of C25K and actually ran at 7 mph during the running segments. Whew, it was tough, but I felt so accomplished when I was done! I need to work on my breathing while running though.... if I can master that I'll be good to go. Anyway, towards the end of the workout, my treadmill decided to stop working. I knew this day was coming since it's over 5 years old.... I jumped off the treadmill and ran to our building gym and finished the workout. Ethan suggested we fix it, but I don't think it's worth the money. I paid $899 for it five years ago, and it's pretty old as far as treadmills go. I will miss being able to watch my DVR'ed shows while using the treadmill, but I am just going to have to use our building's gym and the YMCA for now. I did tell Ethan that if we have kids, I'm getting a new treadmill... I am not putting our children in YMCA childcare so that they can get the latest cold, and I can't count on being able to get to the buildings' gym as a stay at home mom. He agreed to that of course. Anyway....

Emily and I started on our cupcakes for the teacher's luncheon dessert! It was our first time working with fondant and we had SO much fun... pictures will be up sometime this weekend. We're finishing the cupcakes up tomorrow night, but we spent 4 hours total today - and that was making the actual cupcakes, making and dyeing the buttercream icing, dyeing the fondant, rolling out and forming the fondant decorations, and cleaning it all up....it went by so fast with Emily. I'm lucky to have her as one of my friends. We're both into cupcakes and photography... my talent is with the cupcakes, and hers is with photography. So, we're teaching each other. We're thinking about calling our little experiment NannyCakes. Haha... as a joke, of course - there is no way we would ever want to do this as a business. Takes the fun out of it! After this round of cupcakes, we're going to do some of the cupcakes from "Hello, Cupcake"... check the book out if you haven't already seen it. It's so cool and so creative! It's a good thing that most people are willing and grateful recipients of cupcakes since there is no way that we'll be eating them.

I can't wait for the weekend.... I am so looking forward to sleeping in!

C25K round three...

So, I decided I needed to ramp up my exercise now that the gyms have emptied from all the people who gave up on their New Year's Resolutions to lose weight. I usually kickstart my exercise routine around this time of year anyway since it gives me plenty of time to be happy with myself by May when the pools open. Running has been something that I've done on and off, and I honestly don't think I can really claim that I "run" because it's more of a forced jog. So I have decided to attempt to change that and am starting Couch to 5 K (henceforth known as C25k) again but I have set a goal to run at least 6 mph with the ultimate goal of 8 mph for the entire 25 minutes. It doesn't scare me like it used to because I've completed it twice and am fully capable of running for 25 minutes. But it's obvious to me that I don't push myself to reach past my limits, and that needs to change. No more of this putting forth the minimal required effort...that's my goal. Push myself!

I went through my closet and drawers today and filled up a big trash bag of Goodwill donations. I still have a LOT of clothes left, but it's so nice to have everything neatly organized again... I was putting away laundry and thought to myself, "Hm, it's looking kind of messy in here." An hour later, voila! I can't wait to welcome my new clothes (previous post) to their new home...haha.

This week, I started reading "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp....I recommend picking it up and reading it yourself. I won't really get into it in this post because I want to finish it before I post about it, but one of the things I have read that struck me was the following:

"Wherever you are, be all there."

Slow down. Be there in the moment. Stop hurrying. Savor life for what it is instead of constantly straining to see ahead.

Clothes for tall people and other stuff....

So, I am enjoying a rare quiet moment with my hot cup of Earl Grey Twinings tea. I know I have never been a tea person, but I have a cough and the tea helps. So maybe I'm converting...we'll see if I still want to drink it once the cold/cough passes.

F is in school, and both little ones are napping...this hardly ever happens. I usually have at least one child that is awake the entire time I am here until around 7:30 PM if I stay later than that. This week I'm going home at 5:30 every day because our second nanny isn't in school so she has a more flexible schedule. It's definitely been a nice thing!

Anyway, the temperatures are getting warmer and I decided I "needed" some new summer and spring clothes. When you're a governess or a mom, you want clothes that (a) are comfortable, (b) don't ride up when you're chasing your munchkins, and (c) don't cost an arm and a leg because by the time summer is over they will most likely be worn out from the multiple washings due to baby spit-up, spilled juice, you fill in the blank. Oh, and (d) they must be cute. My biggest issue with clothing is finding clothes that are long enough for me! Jeans aren't such a problem anymore because even though I'm six feet tall without shoes, my inseam is just under 33 inches and they tend to make the leg length of jeans super long these days. My length is from my extremely long torso...which makes finding shirts quite the challenge! Well... no more! I was looking on Old Navy's website and noticed that they had tall sizes! I never knew this before because they don't carry the tall sizes in the stores. I immediately ordered a bunch of stuff and waited patiently for it to arrive.... and it came last night at 6:45 PM. I tried everything on and much to my delight, everything worked except one dress that literally looked like I had put on a paper bag. Can't win them all.... I will be stylin' this summer.... and I have declared this summer "the summer of the skirt". See sample outfit below and just imagine me in it with a pair of flip flops, dangly earrings, and some sort of bracelet. (the skirt is right above the knee, and I have it in three different colors: the color shown, black, and dark brown)

So voila, my summer wardrobe is finito! Oh, and here's a tip... if you want 20% off your online order, be sure to sign up on the mailing list and they'll email you a coupon code for 20% off. Can't really beat that, especially if they have a sale going on!

Couch to 5 K is still going well... I completed day one of week 4 yesterday. My legs and feet felt like lead by the end... but I gritted my teeth and refused to slow down to a walk and made it through. It probably didn't help that I'm not feeling so great with the cough/cold thing but it's not making me feel bad enough to cop out of exercising. I can't believe that after tomorrow I'll be past the halfway point to finishing the 9 weeks! I still have no idea how I am going to run for thirty minutes without stopping but I think I need to stop worrying about it and just trust the process.

And there's my update for now....

Yes, I really did wake up this morning...

I ended up making a tweak and setting my alarm for 6:20 so that I could be on the treadmill at 6:30. Since I knew I only needed 45 minutes total, I didn't want to be twiddling my thumbs waiting to leave for work when I was finished. Oh, and yes... I wanted that extra 20 minutes. I admit it.

So, the alarm went off at 6:20 and my husband decided to "help" by flipping all the lights on. He had been up since before 6 getting ready to head to work since his day begins at 6:30. I groaned with my arm flung over my eyes but then remembered that people would want to know if I did what I said I would... so I wearily got out of the bed, got dressed, laced up the Mizunos, and got started. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I decided to use the time to catch up on "The Office", since I hadn't watched the baby episode yet. I actually managed to run for three minutes! I'm sure watching "The Office" helped distract me from feeling like I was dying...whatever works! After I finished 45 minutes (I ended up walking after finishing the 25 minutes that C25K took) I jumped in the shower, dressed, and then headed to work.

The burst of energy I was hoping for? Yep, definitely got it. I have been unbelievably productive at work today. I am always super productive, but I usually don't get this much done before 10 AM!

So, will I be doing this again tomorrow morning? You betcha. I'm going to try it for a full week and decide if I benefit enough to make it a habit!