Recurring Series – Page 102

A Weekend in Pictures

Every now and then, I have one of those weekends that are full of adventures and exciting memories I want to keep and share with the world. Since coming home from my last cruise (and in between Cruise 1 and 2), my weekends have been low-key and quiet. And I love those weekends. But weekends where I get out, enjoy the beautiful Florida sunshine, and explore my passions are really the best.

Friday night started off with me at Target at 7:30, perusing the puzzles. Who says puzzles are only for kids and old people? I bought a 550-piece puzzle and my mom and I got to work on Friday night. We managed to get the edges all pieced and some of the inside before we had to call it quits. Puzzle-making is hard work!

This is how Dutch likes to let me know it is time to get up on late mornings. He cuddles me around my head and licks my face until I’m forced to get up and take him out. It’s a good thing he’s adorable. (And my bedhead was insane on Saturday. Whoa there.)

The highlight of this weekend was meeting Allison! We’ve been reading each other’s blogs for a while now and she’s really been a big sister to me, offering me advice and tough love when I need it. It was wonderful to finally meet her face-to-face, as she was in Orlando for a diabetes conference. We spent the afternoon out at the pool. It took me a while to warm up (I’m so nervous & shy when I first meet people, even bloggers I know!), but I think I came out of my shell? Maybe. Well, for me, I did.

It was a seriously gorgeous day. Sunny and hot, which made our dips in the pool so refreshing. But there was also a nice breeze to make the weather not seem too unbearable for July in Florida.

THIS is why I love Florida so darn much. We may not have seasons and it may get miserably hot in the summer, but the gorgeous days far outweigh all the bad.

After a few hours in the sun, we ventured out to Downtown Disney for dinner. We walked around until we found a yummy restaurant where we were given an awesome seat outside with the above view. We got to watch the sunset as we ate and chatted. Sadly, I had to leave after we ate to make the long trek back home but it was SO nice to spend time with Allison. Blogger meet-ups are a lot of fun! I need to do them more often. 🙂

Sunday was my mom’s birthday! We celebrated in a very low-key way but it suited us. This is definitely our most flattering picture ever.

A delicious birthday brunch. And yes. I took a bite of my bacon before taking this picture. IT WAS SO GOOD! I love bacon. So much.

How was your weekend? Who was the last blogger you’ve met?

Categories: Recurring Series

Everyday Moments: June 2012

1 – Finishing the Spartan 500 Challenge (50 jump squats, 100 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, and 200 burpees. Most people were doing the Spartan 1,000 which is all of that… doubled.)

2 – Making it through a tough boot camp, my mom making me cookies when I felt down

3 – Movie date with my brother, another successful #twookclub chat!

4 – Choosing to listen to my heart and not my head and having peace with that decision.

5 – Friends being there for me for my neurotic text messages and lengthy emails when I needed them the most. They are rock stars. <3

6 – A visit to the vet for Dutch after some weird behavior from him (having accidents in the house, vomiting, etc.) and him being okay! He ended up having a UTI and a “touch of colitis” but nothing major, all quick, easy fixes. YAY!

7 – Starbucks for breakfast. So yum!

8 – Seeing an alligator during my run! So awesome.

9 – A long, glorious nap, my nephew singing the Barney “I Love You” song to me

10 – Seeing “What to Expect When You Might Be Expecting”. Much cuter/funnier than I anticipated!

11 – Another great, killer boot camp. I could really get used to these!

12 – Tootsie is back after a long vacation!

13 – Starting a new Sarah Dessen novel

14 – Cruise shopping, Panera for dinner

15 – A quiet night in after a stressful day at work. Much needed.

16 – Being productive around the house, shopping for new running shoes

17 – Lunch with my grandparents, a quiet afternoon spent napping, reading, and getting some writing done

18 – Starting a 3-day work week. Woo!

19 – Bonding with my boss more and more. I’m really settling into my role here, even as it keeps changing and growing.

20 – Treating myself to a Starbucks frappuccino before work. Yum, yum!

21 – Boarding the Carnival Paradise

22 – A calm, relaxing day at sea

23 – Zip-lining and shopping in Cozumel, lunch at Senor Frogs

24 – A lazy day at sea. Due to crappy weather, we spent the day napping, reading, and playing board games. And playing putt-putt golf in the rain! Hardcore!

25 – Making it back to Tampa safely, reuniting with Dutch

26 – Making more 2012 travel plans: Georgia in September, NYC in November.

27 – A quiet lunch alone

28 – My triumphant return to Weight Watchers & receiving a lot of love and support from my Leader

29 – The start of the USA Olympic Trials for gymnastics!

30 – A new haircut that feels a lot more “me”, a night spent with my nephew & brother

Categories: Recurring Series

Five For Friday

1. The US Olympic Trials for gymnastics started yesterday. I haven’t really been following any of the other Trials because holy moly, there are a lot. I actually started looking at all the different swimming and track & field options and started freaking out. (Yes, I take the Olympics very seriously.) So I decided I’m just going to watch the gymnastics portion of the Olympic Trials. That’s all I can handle right now. (And can we please talk about the size of Jake Dalton’s biceps? PLEASE? He looks like Popeye. Heyyyyy there.)

2. I have a haircut scheduled for tomorrow. I’m still debating whether I want to chop it into a shorter style (closer to chin-length) or start growing it out again. I found this hairstyle on Pinterest which I love… but I’m not sure I could make it look like that every day. Oh, decisions.

3. Coming home from the cruise was quite the experience! The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was shut down due to the high winds, which is the bridge the cruise ship goes under to get back to Tampa. So the ship had to drop anchor in the middle of the ocean around 4:00AM and wait it out. We ended up not getting back to Tampa until 10:00AM (when we should have been back at 6:30) and I was four hours late for work. It was a crazy day, for sure! But I’m also so happy that Carnival took so many precautions for our safety.

4. I’ve been looking more and more into taking a long weekend in NYC for my birthday. I went as far as signing up for flight alerts on Kayak. I’ve been perusing hotel prices, looking into what I’d want to do, and trying to piece it all together. It’s just so much fun to plan and envision what you want out of your dream destinations! (And yes, NYC is a dream destination for me. I am not well-traveled at all, if you didn’t know.) The sad thing is that I’ll probably spend just as much (if not more) for 3 days in NYC as I did on my 6-day cruise. That, my friends, is why I love cruising oh so much.

5. I’ve been having a lot of regrets lately. I’m not a stranger to them, but the feeling that I may have screwed up something really good for my life because I let my fears get the best of me is not a fun emotion at all. (And how’s THAT for ending my Friday post on a bummer note?)

Categories: Recurring Series

Looking Forward (v.1)

I’ve seen these posts on Lisa’s blog from time and time and I thought the day before I left on a fun cruise would be the perfect time to do one of my own!

Today, I am looking forward to making it through my “Friday” and spending the evening packing and preparing to leave on my second cruise of this year. There is something extra special about that day-before-vacation feeling and I’m going to try to not wish today away, as I know Monday will sneak up on me and it’ll be back to real life.

This week, I am looking forward to my cruise! (That was an easy one!) I am so looking forward to spending a long weekend on the ship. I plan to spend a lot of time reading, journaling, and relaxing. With an earlier dinner time, my mom and I also hope to catch more of the nightly entertainment. (We’ve only had the late dining option on our past two cruises, which means we miss a lot of the nightly entertainment.) This is my last big vacation of the year so I want to soak it in and enjoy the moments.

This month, I am looking forward to getting back on track with healthy eating and exercise – as well as completing another “30-Day Shred” Challenge in July. I’ve fallen completely off the wagon with healthy eating in the past few weeks. My scale is not my friend. But I’ve started making plans and figuring out ways to keep me motivated to live a healthier lifestyle when I get back from my cruise. One of my better ideas: another “Thirty Day Shred” challenge. I did this in May 2010 with so-so results, so I figure combining the challenge with more exercising and eating better? I should see much better results this time around.

I’m just ready to stop playing around with my health and get serious. I’m really growing tired of being disappointed in myself and annoyed at my reflection.

This year, I am looking forward to moving to a new apartment and my 25th birthday. My mom and I have been planning a move since we signed our lease back in September. We’re not happy with our apartment management but with my new job, I was hesitant to move somewhere new. But we are ready for a new place, updated appliances, AND FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY A WASHER/DRYER IN OUR APARTMENT. I’m excited about apartment hunting and moving. (Yes, I’m a weirdo who actually enjoys moving!)

And also, my twenty-fifth birthday. A big part of me wants to spend a long weekend in NYC because hello, it’s my 25th birthday! But I’m not sure I can really afford NYC and all the travels I want to do in 2013. So I’m still pondering what I want to do. (Blogger weekend anybody?)

What are you looking forward to today, this week, this month, and this year?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five For Friday

1 – This week has been one for frantic texts to blog friends turned real-life friends, constant prayers for clarity, and eating my feelings. But it’s also been a week where I realized that I’m not as broken as I thought I was and I’m turning into an independent and smart woman. I’ve lived so much of my life being afraid to stand on my own two feet, being scared to acknowledge my own feelings. It’s quite fun to see how I’m coming into my own. Twenty-four has really been a great year so far. And I’m excited to see what the second half of this age has in store for me.

2 – I went to see a podiatrist last Friday. I’ve been experiencing excruciating pain in my ankles and arches when I run and I wanted to get my feet checked out, to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on. The verdict? I spent $60 to be told I need to stretch better. I’m pretty bad at stretching my calves and ankles after I run or do any type of physical activity so my problem lies in my super tight muscles that are having to overcompensate and use muscles from other areas of my lower legs when I run. And because of all this, my knee hyper-extends when I run which is causing further problems. He gave me some strengthening/stretching exercises to do (and I plan on buying a foam roller soon!), but I’m also thinking of getting a sports massage to ease out all the tightness that’s built up over time. Except people on Twitter scared me of how painful it would be. Question: Is it worth it? My mom has had multiple sports massages before her races so I know they work. But would it help my issue, or would more frequent stretching be good enough?

3 – Today is the fourth anniversary of Minnie’s death. She was the first dog I ever had and one of the best dogs to ever exist. (Yes. In the world.) Last year, I wrote a commemorative post on her so hop on over to read it, if you’re so inclined. I never thought the day would come when she wouldn’t be an everyday fixture in my life and I can’t believe it’s been four whole years since I last saw her face. When we took her to the vet after feeling a strange lump by her throat, I never imagined she would be given a death sentence. Just six weeks after that appointment, she was gone forever. (And it was a horrible six weeks of watching her quality of life diminish so rapidly, we knew the most humane thing to do was put her down. Worst day of my life.) Pets, man. They completely destroy you in the best possible way. 🙂

4 – Remember how I used to complain about hating my long hair and how I couldn’t wait to cut it short again? Well, now that it’s short, I’m regretting cutting it. I look at my pictures with my hair when it was longer and get sad. I think part of my problem is I’m not a fan of the cut (the shorter layers barely reach my chin, which I hate) so I’m hoping once it grows out a little, I won’t hate it so much.

5 – A reminder to #twookclub-bers! The poll for our July book chat (to be held on July 29) is going up on Sunday night. A variety of books have already been suggested by a handful of you, but if you haven’t been on to suggest something, do so before Sunday night! We have a few frontrunners so it’ll be interesting to see what you guys choose for July!

Questions for you: Should I get a sports massage to help with the tight muscles in my ankles? Do you prefer your hair long or short?