my first 10k!

today was a big day. it was a good day. an accomplished day. today i did my first 10k. ...one of the biggest most popular 10k's in the country, attendance for this race averages 50,000+. today i did the BolderBoulder! woot woot!!!
i first heard about this race in the spring of 2003 when i heard some people talking about it. it immediately peaked my interest, and at that point i told myself i would do this race at some point in time. eight years later, i finally did it! honestly, this race has been in the back of my mind for the past two years. i knew i was on this journey to lose weight, and i knew this race would be a great goal for me. it's been a big focus of mine, to actually feel like i could do this race. this year was that year!
unfortunately i didn't get hardly any "training" in to feel like i would feel fully prepared for this race, but as everyone told me i would do fine. and you know what? i did great! i had hoped to do some more outdoor runs to prepare for this race, but the last time i ran outside was for the mother's day 5k, and i have spent some more time on the treadmill and increasing my running time. but, that's about it.
this race is huge, and consists of many many waves. i registered for a jogging/walking wave with a predicted end time of 90 - 100 minutes. my own personal goal was 85 minutes. i knew that i could do a 5k in 39 minutes, and i also knew that i would slow down greatly for the second half, so i gave myself 2 extra minutes per mile, which is where i got 85minutes. well i did not slow down! my official end time: 1:19:40, which i'm rounding up to 80 minutes (but really it is technically 79!), which is a whole 5 minutes off of my goal!!!
i only took a few photos, all with my camera phone. i did meet up with my friend julie whose sister took a picture of us, but i don't have it. and the event does have a sponsored photograph team, once i get those pictures i do plan to purchase and share those with you.
for all things BolderBoulder click here.

walking to the start line

getting closer

this race is very entertaining. bands, and dancers, and performers throughout the whole thing, and water stations every mile! one house was throwing out marshmallows, another gave you dorito's, one had a keg stand, and one had a slip 'n slide. the people were also entertaining. i saw a group of college guys in green sequins leotards, and another group of people all painted purple. 6.2 miles around Boulder and you are bound to see a little bit of everything!

finish line @ folsom field

i expected to be emotional at the end of this race. but i wasn't. i think i'm coming to the understanding that this is my life. that yes it is a big deal, but that it is now what is to be expected of me. that i'm this healthy, active, person who does 10k's!
i would say that i jogged about 75% and walked 25%. the second half wasn't nearly as difficult as i thought it would be, i could feel my endurance and feel that it was doing fine. that i could keep on going. if i told myself i needed to be jogging, i didn't really think about it, i just did it.

bolderboulder 10k 80min

come one come all

something freaky happened to me last night. i was upstairs watching TV when my doorbell rang a little bit after 10:30pm. at first i didn't hear it, but then it rang again and it freaked me out. i looked out my bedroom window to see a white truck in the drive-way. i tried to think of anyone i know with a white truck, but was coming up blank. the door continued to ring, followed by rocks being thrown at my window. i was seriously freaking out. i kept thinking it would be great if it was some sort of romantic gesture, but thought if that were the case and someone was ringing my doorbell and i wasn't answering it, i would get a phone call or text of someone telling me that they were outside of my house. but i received no suck phone call or text.
needless to say, i didn't sleep too good last night because of this, and i'm frustrated because i really needed a good nights sleep, because i know tonight i won't sleep very well with pre-race jitters.
then this morning when i came home from working out i saw a note sticking out of this little mailbox i have right next to my front door that read this:
"Hey sorry it's late. I was coming home from my cousin's house in Firestone and thought of you. I just felt bad how things went down and just wanted to say I was sorry. I'm such a stupid man...you don't even know. If you want to call me 720-6*^-1234. I pray all is well and you met a great guy and again I'm sorry. Z."
as i've stated i've been dating quite a bit since october, and there are a handful of guys that i've gone out with that haven't even been mentioned on the blog. Z is one of them. we went out back in december. had a good first date downtown before i went to the parade of lights, then we met a second time at my house the next day before i went to a gingerbread making party. he was literally over at my house for like 5 minutes. after that meeting he told me he was getting back together with his ex. so it was done.
he obviously doesn't have my phone number, and i think it i safe to say that he doesn't even remember my name. but he remembers where i live?! now those of you that know where i live, know that my house isn't easy to find. so the fact that this guy found my house 6 months after a very short visit, is crazy. the fact that he showed up out of nowhere is crazy, left me a note, crazy. all of it crazy. why does it seem like out of nowhere all of these guys are reappearing?! i suppose this is the cycle, but geesh.
no, i have no plans of contacting Z, just making an observation by telling you.
plus his words in his little note. it's interesting, because i feel that i'm special, and i feel that most guys feel that as well, when they meet me. and of course it feels good to know that this dude thought of me. it's just so interesting that in the moment, nothing happens.
as my friend april would say: "these are the days of april and her life!"...or something like that. such drama. but not really. but it is entertaining.
what have i learned from this? go out with a guy at least a handful of times before bringing him home.

50/50 60min

this new thing

warning long post ahead
***

I want to chronicle my time spent with eHarmony AKA eh, AKA e-ha. I told myself that once I was at my goal weight I would sign up for said paid dating site in hopes of having better luck compared to the free sites. The week prior to Easter I just had a feeling. A feeling that if I didn’t join now, I just might be passing something great up. Maybe it was to meet J, maybe because I just feel like it is my time. I mean c’mon now I get that dating is a numbers game. You have to put yourself out there in order for something to happen, especially at my age. It seems as though the odds have to be in my favor as over the past 7-8 months I’ve been doing lots of dating. Something quality has to happen eventually, right?!...RIGHT?! And I truly do feel that something big is about to happen in my life, even if it is just a feeling of overpowering want. I can’t be single forever, right? So why not. (ok, so yes I do realize that I could be single forever, I just don’t want to be single forever.) So I said screw the “wait until you are at your goal weight” idea and just did it. Once I arrived at the site eh already had my email address. I got logged in and was pretty shocked by what I found. I had forgotten that I had joined eh during one of their free weekends back in 2007. They had my original profile back from four years ago!, including old pictures. Wow. Obviously a huge change. I am SO not the person I was in 2007. So after spending time cleaning everything up, and posting new pics, I was off.

I immediately got a few “nudges” of guys requesting to see my pics. I was completely thrown off by this, because when I viewed my profile my pics were there to be seen, and I had received the appropriate “approved” emails from eh telling me that my pics were up and running. As stated previously J was my very first match. In the world of eh you do no searching. About once a day eh sends you an email of all your new and compatible matches. This gets to be very overwhelming. You get about 5 or 6 matches a day. Example, right now I have about 90 matches…mind you this includes guys that I have “archived”, and this is what I have since joining on Easter four weeks ago. “Archived” is basically closing a guy..either I just wasn’t attracted to him, or didn’t like things he wrote in his profile etc… So basically right now I have 90 guys I could be interested in, if they would communicate with me. Out of those 90 right now I’m actually communicating with about four. The communication is very back and forth. The first move is the guy sends you five questions. These questions are e-ha questions. You select five out of like 30. Like on a Saturday night what do you like to do? Or your dream vacation would be…? Those types of generic questions, but at the same time the questions are good because they could eventually lead to full on conversations. Know that I can communicate first with a guy, I just think that the guy should make the first move. Now if a guy ever catches my fancy to have me communicate with him first, that my friends will be a big deal.

J immediately caught my eye. Super good looking, tall enough, witty in his profile, and things in common. By Monday I got my first communication with J. I honestly can’t remember the questions he sent me, but I responded and I sent him my questions. By this time I was navigating eh trying to figure out why these guys were asking to see my pictures. On my settings I had it so that you had to communicate with me first, and then you could see my pics. Mind you, J wasn’t one of the guys asking to see my pics. He had requested my communication without even knowing what I look like! Major points for J once I figured that out. I then updated my settings so that the guys could see my pics once we were matched, since I figured that was truly only fair.

By Tuesday I received back my answers from J. One of the questions I sent him was something like this: “What would you do for me if I came home from a bad day at work?” Now with these questions you have a choice of four options, or a fill in your own answer option. J went for the latter, and responded: “I would bring you take out, and let you tell me about all of the horrible women you work with.” This response immediately made me laugh out loud because it was funny, and I work with mostly men. I thought “wow this guy is funny, and he’s showing me his personality with this writing, which isn’t really an easy thing to do.” I immediately decided to skip steps 2 and 3 in the e-ha communication world, and go straight for the messaging. I wrote him a message stating that he made me laugh and that I wanted to tell him so. Now if things were still going strong with J I would invest in writing down the rest, but we all know how that ended.

I will say that eh definitely does offer me some more quality guys. And I think it is safe to say that majority of these guys are looking to settle down, which is good because ideally that is what I’m looking for. And because of the “match” process you do meet guys that you would get along with. Although lately I haven’t really put in a lot of my own personality with guys communicating with me. Mainly because of J. I have met someone else. And he’s ok. We met Saturday, went out again Sunday, and most recently Wednesday. He’s good on paper, but really so are a lot of these guys. But no really strong feelings toward this guy. I’m just not excited about this guy like I was J, but I’m putting in a good effort. I know I’ve said this before but for me what is so weird about dating right now is that these guys want to see me again. You could tell this new guy wanted to see me prior to Wednesday, but I have workouts, and as of right now I don’t deem him worthy enough to miss a workout, or to change my workout schedule to see him. I’ve also learned to not close a door completely because just when you do, something happens. I heard from M last night, which was out of nowhere, considering last I heard from him was almost three weeks ago. He had randomly called me twice during one of my initial dates with J, but didn’t leave a message. Followed by a text a few days after said missed calls that stated “I tried calling a few times so I won’t bother you anymore.” Now if you don’t give me anything to respond to, I’m not going to respond. You didn’t leave a message telling me to call you back, and who knows what I’m so suppose to say in reply to a text like that. Especially if I don’t really like you all that much to begin with. Why put forth the effort? Plus the past two times we saw one another he didn’t really show that much interest in me. He basically came over to hang out at my place just to leave. It was pointless really. So then the other night I get this out of nowhere “What happened?” I explain to him he didn’t give me anything to respond to. It eventually ended with an “I can see where this is headed. I wish you the best.” In which I replied “You too!” He then followed that up with “Just for the record, I did really like you.” I responded “Ok.” I knew that this dude liked me, my problem was that he never really showed that he liked me. Then more recently I heard from R. I mean c’mon…come one come all?! These guys are seriously coming out of nowhere. But honestly it gives me hope, that maybe just maybe, I’ll randomly hear from J, because that is really who I want to hear from.

In all honesty I can’t get this crazy gut feeling out of my system about J. The feeling of something is meant to happen with this dude. I totally feel like he didn’t give “us” a chance. I KNOW that this guy liked (likes) me. Now knowing a little bit more about him, he had some pretty strong feelings for me early on. Now as to what triggered his change of heart and when his doubts came into play, I have an idea, but truly have no clue. I wish that we could just start over, and right now I’m trying to decide if I want to fight for that. On Sunday I stopped by his work, and dropped off his eye-contact solution and toothbrush that he left over at my place on what was our fourth date. He wasn’t working, but he got the items Monday morning, and sent me a text “Thank you for my stuff!” in which I sent “You’re welcome. I want you to know I think about you.” His reply: “I think about you too.” I was very much so surprised that he responded at all, because I didn’t think that he would. Of course that response has given me this small glimmer of hope, that I have no idea what to do with. And as of right now I have done nothing with. Is it bad to hope that he has an experience like what I’m having right now? Where he meets another girl goes out a few times, but keeps thinking about me?! Because truly that is where I am at. Then hope that he’ll do some magical grand gesture to win me back?! …hey, a girl CAN dream, can’t she?! It is taking everything in me to not DO anything. Give it a few days, maybe a few weeks. And maybe by then I’ll be more rational about this experience. But I’m a doer, if I want to DO something, I DO it. Right now I want to CALL J and say to him “I really think we could be awesome. Can’t we just start over?” I also know that J is a doer. And that if he wants to do something, he too will do it. Which tells me I need to do nothing. But that’s so hard to DO!!!

Overall this week on e-ha has been a slow one, no new communication with any of my new matches. Sometimes I wonder if I’m trying to hard?! But then I tell myself the game that I’m in is a numbers game. And unless I keep dating, then my “one” might just pass me by.

elliptical 35min/treadmill 25min

~all kinds of crazy~

i love dance. like really really love.
but for some reason, i just can't get into
"so you think you can dance".
believe me,
i have tried.

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i'm not feeling
all that random.

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thank you emily,
for introducing me to this blog.
l o v e it!

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i'm not really digging ashley
as the new "bacholorette".
but that doesn't mean i won't watch.
because
i will.

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i can't decide if i should record
the last episode of
"oprah".

********

as anyone ever done
this?

how'd it go?

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random thought from emily:
did you know that in paris
the movie "the hangover 2"
is called
"very bad trip 2"?
the proof is here.

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super long post coming up about
e-ha.

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i did a new class tonight.
it always amazes me how something new
always hurts and is challenging.

********

hip hip hooray
for a 3 day
weekend!!

********

fit 60min

a force of nature?

I recently had a conversation with someone new in my life. We were talking about some of the hardest things we’ve had to do in our lives. With this subject I honestly feel blessed, because I haven’t really had all that horrible things happen to me for me to work through in my life. I’ve dealt with depression twice in my life and had one true horrible heartbreak. But really that’s it. And really those things aren’t that bad, compared to what some people have to go through and get through. I do have other struggles in my life, but those are things I deal with everyday, things that will always be a work in progress throughout the rest of my life. And I’m ok with that. I think part of dealing with life’s struggles is knowing that some just won’t ever go away. That they are there to be part of your life, not just to get through. Does that make sense?

Anyways, while my mother was here I was telling her about this conversation, and I had a moment of clarity. I realized that the path of my life back in 2007 and 2008 wasn’t a good one. Now granted I’ve always known this but I realized that it was me who put a stop to it. I found myself walking in a maze with only one way out. Only one road to one very destructive ending. My road lead to an unhappy, obese, depressed, lonely, fat lady. That’s what I was on many levels during that time, and the road carved ahead me solidified that. That was what I had made of my life since 2006. Growing more depressed and more overweight. Having no real direction except for the one in front of me. Why try and change, when this was so clearly my future? Why go against what seems to be so natural? But somewhere along the road in front of me, I decided to carve a different path. Make my own way other than the one in front of me. I literally beat down the walls around me in my life to make a change. To have my road lead to a different ending. Become a different person, create a different road. Everything in me was going against what I was doing…I was changing what was “suppose” to happen. Not only did I change where my road was to lead me, but I also gained everything in between. I kept digging until I was so far away from that road that there would never be an option of going back. Never. To this day I am still digging, and I know that I always will be...digging, fighting, working, for a better me.

Making my own way has easily been one of the hardest things I have ever done. Changing the entire course of my life hasn’t been an easy thing to do. But realizing that where my life goes is up to me has been a huge power. At the time I didn’t realize it, and it saddens me that for so long I was ok with the road I was on of being a unhappy, obese, depressed, lonely, fat lady. But it is amazing to me that I can tell my story to someone new and that person can recognize the hard work it takes to make a decision to change your life so fully. Because this person too has changed their life.

We make decisions every single day. Most decisions are small, but some are big, and stand out for the rest of our life. Most decisions are also somewhat easy to make, because we know what we want. Granted my decision to lose weight was an easy one to make, but to actually do it. That’s completely different, especially when I’m going against what was “suppose” to happen. Doing the opposite of what nature had intended. It's not easy, but I am proof that it can be done.

treadmill 15min/barbell strength 60min

finally a new number!

talk about perfect timing. i needed some happy news in the world of april and yesterday i got just that! i stepped on the scale to new all time low! 174! you got that?! finally...it only took me 7 months to lose one pound!!! now of course when i state it like that, i feel like crap. so rather than focus on the negative, i'm going to focus on the fact that i'm a new number! a number i have never been.
i recently came to the conclusion that it is so much easier to lose weight in the summer month's. you eat lighter, you eat better, you are more active. plus if you are me, you are dating. and c'mon while i'm on a date, very rarely do i clean my plate. so i have better portion control.
now i just need to keep on going. so many people have told me i have lost weight, when truly i haven't. my mom told me that i do look smaller compared to when i was home for christmas. i like to think it is because i'm getting more tone, but who knows.
so for right now, i like this path that i am on. now i need to keep looking for those smaller numbers, because i know that they are out there. i just need to find them!

treadmill 45min
elliptical 20min

raining T-nuts

yesterday was a big day! it was my friend Sarah's baby shower! Sarah is one of my closest friends and this day was long over due!, but baby Zook is all about him and making his time known. it was such a fun celebration for Sarah and her bundle of joy and BOY that is coming Summer 2011! watch out world, things are about to get that much cooler with this little dude around!

never a shortage of food and drink!

how about some desserts!!! check out THOSE cupcakes!

this child is SOooo loved! so many presents for one special baby.

this group of friends all chipped in and bought sarah pictures of her new baby over the course of his first 12 months! such a blessing!
justine, kim, tina, april, sarah, sara, denise, and diane

sarah and i

this girl means the world to me. throughout the past two years she has been my motivator, communicator, and friend. she has seen me completely raw, and all freaked out. i'm so excited for her and her new family! Mr. T is one lucky little dude, as he has some pretty kick a$$ parents. not only was her shower yesterday, but today is her birthday. so...

happy birthday Sarah!
have a beautiful day. ENJOY!!!

master step 60min

oops...i did it again!

my tuesday evening workout was interrupted when i arrived home, opened my garage door, to only have it open a couple of inches. i immediately knew i had no way inside of my house. i'm not too sure why, but i seem to have a talent of locking myself out of my house.
my first phone call was to my parents. i'm not too sure why, as they are 450 miles away. i guess maybe just to talk out the situation out loud. once i spoke to them i called my friend sarah whose brother works on garage doors. next call was to bobby, because i knew the only real way into my house was to jump my backyard fence, and go through my backdoor. thankfully bobby was able to come to my rescue, jump the fence like the buff spider monkey that he is, and get into my house.
here's how i successfully looked myself out of my house.
i have two front doors. a plastic door, and the main front wooden door. the plastic door i keep locked with a latch from the inside. see below.

view from the inside of my house

last summer when my parents came to visit my dad suggested and bought a combination lock to secure and put on the inside of my backyard gate. see below.

view from inside of my backyard

both of these locks were in place when i arrived home tuesday. now i'm trying to get in the habit of keeping the latch unlocked when i leave my house, so i have away to get in if this ever happens again.
thankfully on wednesday my friend's brother was able to come out and replace the springs on my garage that had broken.
just a day in the life!

triple cardio 60min

just kidding

I spoke too soon. You would think I would learn my lesson, listen to my cousin Kari. J and I are no longer. Last night we were suppose to go to dinner and see my friends Aerial show, but yesterday afternoon he called me left me a message requesting I call him. Now I had a specific conversation lined up for when we saw each other. A conversation to probe what “this” is, talk openly about where we are going, and to hopefully come to the conclusion that we are indeed on the same page. When I called him back and was headed over to his place he basically said the same thing, that he wanted to make sure that were on the same page and that he was having some doubts. I told him I was relived he brought up the conversation, and that I want to talk about it, but that I’m driving and if we could talk about it once I got to his place. He agreed. Once I arrived at his place we spoke about the past few days. I hadn’t heard from him Tuesday or Wednesday so we just got caught up, and expressed my disappointment in not hearing from him. I asked him what his doubts were, and he basically told me that he has gut feeling that I’m not “the one”. And that he doesn’t want to ignore what his gut is telling him, and that if I am having the same doubts that yes we can continue to see one another, but he doesn’t want to lead me on. Basically what ended up happening is my doubts are with me, and not with us. Which determined we aren’t on the same page. At one point in time we discussed slowing things down and agreed to give it a try, but determined that wasn’t a good idea. We both like each other a lot, and what he does know about me he does like, but he doesn’t see marriage in our future. This hurts a lot. I obviously can’t change his mind, and make him feel something that he doesn’t feel. But now I’m questioning everything and doubting everything and replaying everything in my head. I get so wrapped up in wanting something. And the fact that I truly like this guy is a big deal. He’s the first guy in a long time that I thought I could actually start a real relationship with.

At one point in time I left his house, only to return for some more closure. I hate the end of things, because I don’t want to regret anything. There’s a lot of pressure to try and say everything that you want to say when you know you aren’t going to see someone again. He’s such a great guy, and he told me that things are great when we are together, but his doubts arise when we are apart, which is why I hadn’t heard from him the past two days.

Now I have to start all over. Which is so emotionally draining to think about. On Easter Sunday I joined eHarmony. Which is how I met J. This site is very overwhelming. You don’t do any searching, they send you your matches. J was my very first match, and the first guy to communicate with me. The first week was intense, with telling each other our life stories. Which for me included dealing with my depression, weight issues, and weight loss. Telling him about making that decision to create a healthier life for myself. Going through that isn’t easy. And the idea of starting brand new again, meeting someone else, going through the initial stages just seems so draining. But I don’t want to give up, so I will continue. I think I go so wrapped up in the whole eHarmony thing, and thinking how amazing it would be if my very first match turned out to be The One. I told everybody about him…before we had even met. He even met my mom when she was here. Stupid! Because now four weeks later I have to tell everyone that I’m not going to see him again. I need to really learn to old back. Not be so open. But really that’s part of who I am. I’m an open book. I’ve known this about myself, but at the same time I need to protect myself, my feelings, my emotions. When I first told my cousin Kari about J she told me not to share him on my blog, until I knew something serious was happening. I really wish I would have listened to her. Because look what happened. Three days after telling you all about him, I’m now telling you he is out of the picture. When in reality had I not told you about him, I wouldn’t had to tell you he left. Writing this is hard. I don’t want to write this.

Now I realize that this is for the best. I am thankful that he was honest with me about his doubts, that he didn’t just string me along because everything else was good. I give him credit for that I do, but that doesn’t mean the process doesn’t hurt. Believe me, I know that I’m better off, that I deserve better, and heck, even J pointed that out.

I hate how one person can make you so elated and happy, and then just so depressed and sad. I know that I’ll be fine, I always am, but my goodness I am not cut out for this. This roller coaster of emotions and dating. Honestly I wonder if I am even relationship material. The first week is so amazing, always every time. The guy is so into me. Then someone changes. Who knows what that is, but I can’t help but feel it is something with me, because I can’t seem to break this pattern. I thought maybe it was the quality of guy and how we were meeting. Which is why I decided to go to more reputable place like eHarmony and give that a shot. But I’ve gotten the same outcome.

I will keep going. It’s what I do. I don’t want to not try. I signed up on eHarmony for six months. Which puts me to the end of October. We’ll see what happens. What I do ask is for your happy thoughts, prayers, spirit fingers…whatever it is that you do, please send them towards me. I realize it is something small, but it is also something that I want. So I’ll take whatever it is that I can get. It can’t hurt, right? For now, I'll keep doing what it is that I'm doing, because truly that is all that I can do. Trust, believe, have faith, that everything will happen exactly as it should.

treadmill 40min
elliptical 25min

crazy girl head

it is now 10:40pm at night, and i have been up since 5am. their are two very obvious wrong things with that picture. one, it is about an hour past my normal bedtime, and two, i am not a morning person and 5am is super duper early for me. why the early start and the late night? oh c'mon, it should be obvious. a new guy of course! we'll refer to him as J. i'm trying to be cautious about the details even though out in the real world i've thrown caution to the wind. but for now i'm not going to disclose the who, what, when, where, why, and how. ..maybe eventually all the good details will be known.
for now i'm trying to be cool calm collected cool chick april. trying to enjoy this new experience, relish in the fact that me and this dude just might be on the same page. it is very new. we've only been dating for two weeks, but overall it has been great. i'm working on not getting carried away like i usually do when i find myself actually liking a guy. i'm looking forward to a "normal" week this week, as the first week he was in the picture my mom was in town, then last week he was out of town for four days. so this week is the first week where nothing but our normal schedules are there for us to work around. plus we've gotten over the initial jitters, and are more comfortable with each other.
i'm working on taking a step back, and trying not to rush into anything. honestly as much as i want to have certain conversations, at this point in time, it just isn't the right time. lately i've felt like i've become this serial dater, and i don't like it. J is a relationship kind of guy, and hopefully that is where this going, because i am definitely ready for that. until then crazy girl april needs to relax. not over analyze everything, and trust that in due time, things will happen just as they should.
....oh if only that were easier said than done!!!

elliptical 30min
treadmill 30min

more cleaning

today i did my bi-annual closet clean out. i gotta say that doing this over the past couple of years is very refreshing. each time i get rid of a ton! because my clothes keep getting too big for me. obviously this is a very good problem to have! i still have to go through the closet in my spare bedroom which holds all of my dresses and skirts. which i think i'm going to have to get rid of majority of what is in there, because i couldn't find anything when i got ready for mother's day brunch last week.
i cleaned out so much that i have five huge garbage bags of too big for me clothes hanging out in my garage right now.
in addition to cleaning out my closet and switching clothes to spring and summer (now only colorado needs to catch-up!) i also cleaned out my linen closet down stairs.
i've easily put off this tast for at least 3 or 4 four years. ...yes, i am a procrastinator. i went through this closet and got rid of a ton of coats, sweaters, jackets, etc... plus, i did some cleaning and organizing. the feeling is just so refreshing! it was amazing to try on some of these items. i had one jacket that was a 3xL, and another that was a 24W. come next fall, i'll need some new stuff!
here is the finished and cleaned outcome of my linen closet.

all of the items going to goodwill.

i have so much space now! in my linen closet, in my closet in my bedroom, in the drawers in my bedroom. it's great!
on friday night i had an old navy coupon and did some more spring shopping. i got a pair of jean shorts, a skirt, and a bathing suit!
i'm officially set for summer!

strike! 60min

the facebook book

book review
the accidental billionaires
the founding of facebook: a tale of sex, money, genius, and betrayal
by ben mezrich

i realize i haven't done a book review in awhile. mostly because i feel my book reviews aren't really all that great. usually i don't have anything too enlightening to say, regardless if i think a book is great or bad. when i read a book i usually tell myself to make mental notes of things i would bring up in a book review on my blog, but when i actually finish the book, all those mental notes are long gone! but i liked this book that much to write about it. not much the book, but the movie too.
i saw the movie back in october. the movie was great. to be honest the whole facebook world to me is quiet fascinating. this whole online social-networking thing is really just weird. it's crazy to think of how this website came to be. prior to the movie i had no idea it was a book. so the book was a pleasant surprise.
if you've seen the movie you know that it has a very specific attitude throughout the whole thing. and what's amazing about the book is that the book as the very same attitude. i loved the style of this writer. very dry, but funny, and lots of personality. i've never thought of a type of writing to have a specific type of attitude, but the way it was portrayed on screen is exactly how you would imagine it to be. which to me is pretty talented. the writer did repeat himself at times, but i think that was part of the betrayal part. the fact that you don't want to believe you are being betrayed. so you continue on in denial, until what was in your gut was happening all along.
unlike most book to movie adaptations, the movie actually had more details than the book. the movie went into details of the lawsuit against facebook and mark zuckerberg, which the book does not.
both the movie and the book are very entertaining. i would strongly recommend both.

treadmill 30min
elliptical 30min

~all kinds of crazy~

image*

i love the smell of

lavender blossoms.

lavender in general

for that matter.

********

not too sure what's been up with

blogger.

but this post is technically for

last night's workout.

********

i did two

(count 'em 2)

squat pyramids this week.

the first was to 15.

last night

21.

helloooooooo

cupcakes!

********

i love pizza.

********

i've been super spacey lately.

it's embarrassing the things i've done (or haven't done).

monday i left my water bottle,

chi flatiron,

and big curling iron

at the gym.

i didn't even realize this until tuesday morning

when i woke up and saw i had nothing to do my hair with.

thankfully all items were at the gym for me to pick up

tuesday afternoon.

********

the next few days are gonna be

looooooooooong.

not looking forward to it.

********

i'm doing another first tomorrow.

i hope i survive!

********

i got some free

baby shower decorations today!

well technically yesterday.

********

what a big relief!

i just got my verbal offer

to keep my job!

woooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

*******

thank goodness too,

because yesterday i booked my summer trip

to RI!

********

strike! 60min

mom's visit

alright, you've been patient long enough. now for the details of my mom's visit.
first let me say, that i was so ready for a couple of days off. i think total this year i've only taken 4 days off from work, 2 of which were yesterday and friday. so having some time off from work was well deserved.
thursday i only worked a half day to prepare and finish cleaning my house for my mom's arrival. once she arrived we went home, changed, and headed to strike! what a trooper my mom is. this class is intense, and she kept going the whole time! she even did a few mountain climbers! i was super impressed.
friday was all about food. we ate a lot. we started out at turley's in boulder. this stuff is good. all organic and homemade goodness. yum yum and yum. just as we were finishing up our meal my mom decided to get a banana walnut pancake to share. again ~ yum!
after turley's i registered for the BolderBoulder! i can't believe i'm really gonna do this race! no backing out now.
the adventure in boulder continued with a hike around wonderland lake. it was beautiful out, and created a great atmosphere to have some good quality mother/daughter talks.

wonderland lake, boulder, co

after our hike we enjoyed an afternoon snack at ripple. now i'm not much of a yogurt fan, but this stuff is some amazing frozen yogurt. it more so tastes like ice cream. you get to make your own frozen yogurt creation with all of the toppings you could imagine!

i <3 me some ripple!

after our day in boulder we ran home to get ready for a night out at ocean prime a brand new seafood place downtown. some more quality conversation was had about my life, and what's in store next. my mom is very much so connected to what is about to happen in my life, and throughout our conversation we were close to tears as to the change coming.

mom and i at ocean prime

a-mazing dessert ~ peanut butter mousse cake!

saturday was a pretty lazy day. we slept in, had a good breakfast, played a round of miniature golf in the afternoon, followed by some shopping at old navy.
sunday started off with the mother's day 5k. mom and i did this race last year, and decided to go at it again this year. the weather was beautiful. perfect running weather. for some reason i can't seem to get past the stupid 39 minute mark for my 5k. i know i can push myself harder, and get a better time. mentally i just don't do it. i don't know why, but i need to work on it. although i will say that i'm proud as i compared this year's time to last year's time. and last year's time was 42:54, this year's time was 39:13, so almost a full 4 minute difference.

mom and i @ city park for the mother's day 5k

after the race we went to see my friend milena and her newborn baby boy, who is just 2 weeks old! so precious.

mom and gavin

after the race we went to elway's for some mother's day brunch. this restaurant is super nice and inside the ritz-carlton hotel in downtown denver. first class all the way around.

nothing but the best for my mom

after brunch we did some more shopping, then went to go see "water for elephants".
monday morning was jam-packed. we started the day at the mixx! this was perfect time as this is sarah's last mixx class pre-baby T-nuts. after class we got ready and had some brunch with sarah and other mixxer's. then sarah and i went for a pedicure while my mom got a manicure. perfect timing just to head off to the airport.

my mom is beautiful inside and out, and having her here for mother's day was perfect. we had a great time!

barbell strength 60min

one more

one more short post. i promise to fill everything in soon.

today in random words via bullet points.

• the mixx
• good food and better company
• chocolate toes
• lots of driving
• warm beautiful windy weather
• iris garden's
• mcguckin's
• pearl street
• salt
• a happy night

the mixx 60min

~something i love~

my beautiful mom
mother's day brunch at elway's

i absolutely love it when my mom comes and visits!
she's been here since thursday afternoon, and leaves tomorrow, and we've done lots and lots!
when she is here i get absolutely spoiled!
hello two new pair of shoes! or how about a some new spring clothes!
denver has had some fabulous weather over the past few days, and when i reached my lowest weight in october, i have found that i don't have any spring/summer clothes that fit me all that well. so we've done some shopping and some good food eating out.
along with some quality girl time, we've worked out, done lots of talking, even went to go see a movie.
such good times for a great mother's day!

5k 39min

to remember

have you ever had one of those perfect days? a day where everything goes perfect. happy people, good food, memories created that you know will last you a lifetime?
for me that has been my week, and i haven't even gone anywhere! how awesome is that? it started last sunday and has continued through today and everyday in between.
my mom is here right now, and i have so much to write about. however, right now i just have a shortage of time. i will of course catch you up on the activities over the past week, but for now i just want to document this happiness. the blessings and hopefulness that i feel.
to be continued...

hike/walk 75min

~all kinds of crazy~

image

have you ever had fresh
from hawaii
pineapple?!
it is so
good. seriously.
i got some on tuesday!
everyone is going to hawaii except me.
this
must
change.

********

mom is here!
and
she survived STRIKE!

********

if you don't know already,
but
if you come visit me
i am gonna take you to the gym.
this should be obvious.
just sayin'.

********

i work catty corner
from the federal reserve bank building,
and when you walk by noises come from the below the sidewalks.
usually in the morning i hear
barnyard animals.
either horses
or
cows.
it's weird, and i can't help but think there is some weird reason behind the noises.

********

i have seriously had one
of
the
best
weeks
ever!
and it is just going to get better!

********

i love it when the missing sock
suddenly reappears.

********

this weekend denver
is finally
going to feel like
spring!

********

i am so behind
on all of my TV watching.

********

glamorous

the 2011 met gala was last night. i have know idea what this event is for except for wearing extravagant dresses. wearing something out of this world, and over the top hot. i have some favorites and not so favorites.
first is hottest couple. i seriously just want to eat them they look so tasty!

Josh Duhamel and Fergie

this woman gets best dressed from me. i love this dress, and her whole style is beautiful. she literally shines!

Jennifer Hudson

she is gorgeous.

Ashley Greene

gotta love a glamorous cute baby bump.

Jessica Alba

worst dress:
she looks like a spider web.

Christina Ricci

everything looks bad. sorry.

Kirsten Dunst

barbell strength 60min

happenings

Sunday lunch with my good friend Sarah and her two super cute kiddo's!

Chloe

Ian

Lots of eventful things going on with the past couple of days. First I’ll start with the basics.

Can you believe it is already May? I am honestly having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. I usually try and stay very conscious of my time. But lately time seems to be flying by. What frustrates me about this is that I still have 20 pounds to lose. This time last year I could have swore to you that by now I would 100% be in maintain phase. Be happy, and proud at my goal weight. Be DONE! But I continue to keep on fighting and I know that I’ll get there eventually. I suppose another reason that it doesn’t seem like May, is that it doesn’t feel like May. I am so ready for warmer weather. To bring out my spring and summer wardrobe and not wear my peacoat everyday. In reality snow happens a couple of times in May in Denver, and we did get a little bit of snow Friday. What’s news is that yesterday Albuquerque got snow! I can’t ever remember it snowing in Albuquerque in May. It was the main topic of discussion between all of my friends in the 505 on Facebook yesterday afternoon. Crazy.

Moving on. I know I talk a lot about firsts, well this morning I had a second! For the second time ever I got up this morning and worked out before work. And well actually that is a first, because I’ve never done that before. The actual second was getting up so freakin’ early to go to the gym. The first time this happened was with my cousin Kari when I was home for Christmas 2009. She got up me up to go workout with her at 5am. We got there before the gym even opened! In general I am not a morning person. I have to get my 8 hours of sleep, and I believe the early morning hours are meant for sleep not being awake, and surely not being active and going to the gym! But this morning I made the exception for a few reasons. The main reason is well I have a date tonight (more on that later). Other reasons are the past two weeks I’ve only worked out four times. I do not want this to be my norm, so I’m starting my week off right! Also since getting this idea (working out before work) I’ve formulated a post in my head about said workout. Which is what I’m writing about now! So I just had to do it, even though I was up at 2am and didn’t fall back asleep until an hour later, when my alarm went off at 5am I immediately set it to 6:20am, my normal wake up time, and got ready to go back to sleep. But then immediately I started playing head games with myself, and I knew I would have beat myself up had I not gotten up and out of bed and to the gym. So that’s exactly what I did. I was doing cardio this morning 5:30am – 6:30am. Holy cow, I can’t believe I did it! I saw April there, she was in a little bit of shock because I had told her I would meet her one day last week and I didn’t. I was glad she saw me, as she is now the proof that I was there at that god awful hour!

Onto some good stuff. I have a date tonight. And as much as I would like to dish all of the details I’m not. It is just too soon. I will say that I’m excited. This guy just might be a good one!

Now about last night. I come upstairs to get ready for bed, and I hear the news. bin Laden is dead. Obviously there are lots of views on this. What I will say, and what I believe is that by this man’s actions almost 10 years ago changed our world forever. Do we still live, happily, and freely? Yes. Does it affect the time we spend in security at the airport? Yes. But for those 3,000 families affected it was a lot more personable. It was a human loss of a loved one. Probably someone they still think about every single day. So I can’t help but feel that the family and friends of those 3,000 people probably slept a little bit sounder last night. Hopefully a little bit more at peace. Now I hope and pray that there is no retaliation. That we can move forward with our Fight Against Terrorism so that we can continue to live happily and freely. Thank you to the military men and women who allow us to do so. I salute you and am proud that you represent the beautiful country in which I live.

elliptical 30min
treadmill 30min

who done it?!

another VIP celebration to share with all of you! this time in celebration of brandi's birthday coming up! she planned a Murder Mystery Dinner party! twentyseven of us came to help brandi celebrate and find out who killed the victim! majority of our "group" had never done one of these murder mystery dinner's, including myself (another first for me!) and with the element of surprise we were all excited to do something different. we all got dressed up for a night out on the town!
the dinner itself was a little bit cheesy and the actors were corny, but a good time was had by all.

the group

we took up 3 tables at the place
our table

brandi herself had called ahead and had requested that her husband be called in as a prime suspect! little did she know that denise called to have her be included! it was such a surprise, that when the detectives came to get kevin she was in shock when she got called up as well!
the other surprise was the cake brought out just for the birthday girl! yummy!

mr. and mrs. smith...aka kevin and brandi
the birthday girl and her main man!

during the reception we were all told to make up a name and story to tell and mingle with the rest of the "suspects". my name was tiffany, my parents named me that because they like Tiffany jewelry, and i work at Tiffany, making the Tiffany blue color, and my favorite movie is "Striptease"!
it was a lot of fun! we never have a shortage of celebrations and this one was a blast!
happy early birthday brandi!!

strike 60min