HHM Block Party

the backs of Rider Strong & Alex Barreto / staying dry / I only have eyes for you

three things.

one. Welcome to readers! Hopefully some are stopping by from LA's latest and last post of Reader Appreciation. If you haven't checked out all the blogs who submitted, do so. There were nearly 200 people. 

And now she's designing widgets all day! I can't wait to see the different designs. She's a pretty good widget designer. :)

two.

{last edit : don't mind the video it was actually the least obnoxious i could find. seriously}
Do you watch The Good Wife? You may recognize this song from the season finale. <3 nbsp="" p="">

three. Yesterday, after an amazing breakfast, Matt and I headed down to the River Roar. And drank some, ahem, delicious, Bud Lights and watched some very windy races. One had to be restarted three times. It does get kind of scary, but everyone was okay.

 

train4change

Meet most of my Train4Change Team. 

Train4Change is a group of eleven Delta College women preparing to run a the Seahorse Sprint Triathlon in Climax, MI (between Kzoo and Battle Creek) Memorial Day weekend. It’s a .5 mi swim, 12 mi bike, and 5k run. We have the honor and pleasure of training with Carla Murphy. She is a Delta College Lifelong Wellness Professor and ran the Louisville Ironman Triathlon last August.

We’re making Our Miles Mean More We by training and collecting change for the Delta College MyAlert fund for students in crisis. People can pledge miles or give a straight donation to the Train4Change fund. Many of us were not doing any or much physical activities before training started and have now completed almost or over 100 miles and ran the Bay City St Pat’s 5k. I like to think we’re not only collecting change but changing our lives.

Activity is not my default setting (can you tell, I barely pick my feet up off the ground ;). I always knew that I would need a real motivator to get myself into a workout routine that would last for the rest of my life.  I've tried joining gyms and taking classes, but I fell short on consistency. The last time I ran was at 14 for basketball. That was 11 years ago. So when I overheard there was a group starting to train for a triathlon I knew it was time to take the opportunity right in front of me and start changing my life. Now, I've jogged/walked/meandered a 5k, and in 47 days I'll be participating in a TRIATHLON. 


The team has kept me honest about my motivation, by no means am in the gym every day yet. I am there at least three-four times a week, and I'm learning to understand my goals and motivations more. I'm also learning to appreciate my body. I got on the treadmill last week, and it seemed to know what it was supposed to do - my body, not the treadmill. It still wasn't easy, but it wasn't so hard. 

47 days from now I'll be swimming, biking and running my way through a triathlon. Wow.

really Being Human?

 now you.

1.   The best deal I've ever gotten is  oh, I'm not even sure. I deal shop but I guess I've never gotten anything truly memorable...

2.  If I were hosting a dinner party and could invite people from my fantasy guest list it would include people who could keep the conversation going, because I'd be super nervous. I'm enjoying this question though, usually I avoid it. Here we go. Kelly Rae Roberts, Leigh of Curly Girl, Elsie & LA (especially as a pair) because these women have all followed their dreams in a creative world. I'd love to soak up their passion and joy and learn all I could from them. So that's one dinner party I would love to host, I'm sure there are others. Lauren's list was great, be sure to check it out.

3.  Something that inspires me are the women above, the women in my family, a clear blue sky, sunshine, clouds, thunderstorms, my love, really the list is probably endless. I need to grab that inspiration more often.

4.  If I could only choose to eat one flavor of food for the rest of eternity (sweet, salty, spicy, bitter....) I would have to go with well there are fourfive recognized flavors by the chef community, thank you Top Chef (hootie hoo forever!) sweet, bitter, sour, salty, umami. I thought my answer was going to be umami, but as I read about it apparently it only works when on of the four other flavors are present. I'll go with salt then, not that I really should have questioned this. I'm a salt fiend. rambling.

5.  I dream about so much. I've been having whack-o dreams at night, about random stuff. They always involve the people in my life in odd situations. Or I'm trying to think of a name of a Teen Mom and I can't figure out if I had the conversation in real life or my dreams. It was Chelsea. Currently during the waking hours I'm dreaming about the warm weather that's right outside the door or at least right around the corner, future plans with Matt, a weekend in Chicago, what I want to be when I grow up (today it's a nutritionist/food activist, a mom, bed and breakfast owner, or maybe this, this is ok.)

6.  My weekend will be spent, well I'm so glad you asked. On Sunday, I will be running (please think of this term loosely, more walking bits of jogging) my first organized race, the Bay City, St. Pat's 5k. I'm excited. I'm more excited for the Oatmeal Party/Power Breakfast I'm hosting at my house for my train4change mates. And then there's the beer after the race. But first, Saturday, will be spent with my love, I think we'll walk downtown and do some window shopping. I'm in a shopping mood. I don't even want to look at my budget. A bit of mall shopping too, it's the Gap corps Give & Get weekend, a perfect opportunity for my annual flipflop purchase. I'd like to cook something yummy and grocery shop. My Google reader needs some serious attention. Of course, house cleaning's got to happen pre-oatmeal party. I'm looking forward to this busy weekend. I'm sure we'll work some downtime in there too.

7.  If I could only  watch one movie or TV show for the rest of my life, it would be something dramatic but that makes me laugh like, this is really out there, Being Human. 

marching into march

so welcome to a new month. we're going to go a little random today, because that's the best.

this morning i made a list. my first of many this month hopefully. i need to keep myself on track and lists will help! what's on this list you ask, well i was just about to tell you. CHANGE CAT LITTER, PICK UP MAIN FLOOR AND SWIFFER, FINISH LAUNDRY. it's not a very exciting list, but you see we cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned) the house on saturday. it feels great and it needs to stay that way! so lists must be made and tasks must be completed. do you call these chores? i'm 25 and have chores.

did you know there's probably (hopefully, omg i hope with every fiber of me) going to be a 70 degree day in the next 31 days. and then it's april. and april showers bring may flowers!

who wouldn't that?

planting, green, growth, fresh, thunderstorms, skirts, bare legs, flip flops, freckles. sunkissed.  it's all right around the corner. this is probably the most optimistic i've ever felt going in to march. i'm just pretending there isn't also a chance of a giant snow storm as well.

check out these beautiful jeans from Nine in the Morning. i particularly love the image in the upper left hand corner.

do you Bright Side? great companies, special giveaways. you should.

SimpleShoes

$30 for a pair of flips, even if made of recycled is a bit steep for me.

i'm an old navy two pair for $5 girl.

this could be color for the season.

or at least the rest of the post, but probably the season too.

last night i had a lesson in gluttony. we went out to dinner at local Harvey's and i proceeded to gorge myself on their delicious seasonal menu. potato wedges with blue cheese and bacon, tomato soup, brushetta burger. and here's the stupid thing, i knew before i even started my burger i was overfull, but proceeded to eat half of it, and thought i was going to burst. no good. lesson learned. 

then i bought goggles so i can swim straighter and get more exercise. i have reached a new chapter in my life. oh! i totally registered for the st pats 5k RUN yesterday in Bay City. my tri team is doing it as a group. i'm hosting an oatmeal smorgasbord. do you think they'll want bloody mary's?! no, probably not. that's ok, i never need an excuse to enjoy a bloody mary.

i think i will leave you with, three things for March, the three things i most want to accomplish for the month.

ONE. KEEP IT TIDY/FINISH ORGANIZING. TWO. MORE SPECIAL DATE NIGHTS. THREE. WORK ON/REEVALUATE/PRIORITIZE MY LISTS (25before26, 11before2012, etc.).

Are you?

Miss Elsie included this reminder on her BEAUTIFUL blog this week.

I'm not sure I'll be shopping today, and if I do I'll definitely be 

staying away from the mall side of town.

Bay City has the SWEETEST little downtown with some really 

FABULOUS shops.

Maybe I'll take you on a tour

or at least share some of my favorite purchases.

thankful for my cozy home.