Soft Spot

A little old man with a cane, Navy hat, big square glasses, jeans, sweatshirt and sandals with socks just came to my office door asking for directions.  He was a gentleman through and through calling me Miss and thanking me profusely.  I gave him the directions he was asking for, but all I really wanted to do was offer him a ride to his destination, so that I could guarantee that he would arrive safely. 

As he was leaving, he slowly turned around and said “If I was a lot younger, you’d be my gal! Oh and if I need directions again, I’m coming back to ask you!” and winked.  My heart melted and tears welled in my eyes!

I am now sitting at my desk thinking about this little old man and praying that he arrives safely.

I have a huge soft spot for old men…and they have one for me.  Just ask my friends . If there is a cute little old man in a crowd, he will find me.  I’ve been told “I have the look” which I am assuming is the dark hair, fair skin, big smile, classic look.   

I miss my grandpops. A. Lot.

Much love.

Weekend Through Instagram...

Friday night was MURDER MYSTERY GUEST DANCE PARTY NIGHT at Arthur Murray!  It was an absolute blast!  The instructors and actors were amazing!  Major props for all the hard work and creativity that went into the night!  Once again, Arthur Murray showed us a great time!  It’s such a wonderful group of individuals – I’m starting to think of them as my little diverse family and I love it!  Dancers are really quite cool ;) 

Let’s just say that I really wanted to watch the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony that I DVR’d after dance, but my body had different plans.  I was passed out on the couch within 30 minutes of getting home.  All this running and dancing coupled with work being crazy busy has taken a toll on my body.  Sleep was a must and sleep is what I got….until 9am on Saturday!  Ahhh!  Glorious sleep! 

Saturday was pretty lazy…well, the morning was.  I slept, cooked eggs and watched the Olympics.  Gosh, those athletes are absolutely inspirational.  So inspirational that I decided to run at high noon. Bad idea.

So, I’m still a slow, crappy runner, but I am definitely feeling way stronger and running multiple miles is getting much easier for me.  On Saturday, I did a 3 mile run that resulted in a puking and walk/run after that little incident.  The only reason I got sick was because I ran in 90+ degree weather under the high noon sun.  (It was the only time that I had free to run, so I went for it. Won’t be doing that again anytime soon.)  Even with walking, I did 3 miles in 32 minutes.  Not too shabby for just starting up with this running thing.

Saturday night was a spur of the moment cookout, Olympic viewing night with another couple!  Comfy clothing, beer, watermelon sangria (yes, I made it again and it was even better this time), brats, tomato/basil/moz and M&M’s for desert all made for a fun night in.  The boys drank too much.  The girls behaved…pretty typical.  I have had very little desire to drink lately and I’m totally diggin it.  I still love my glass of wine now and then, but it’s becoming less and less frequent. 

Sunday was a J-man day!  Little man and I went to church in the morning.  The homily was about the miracle of the fishes and loaves feeding thousands.  Well, this little boy loves fishing, so he was all ears!  He even told his dad how good Church was later in the day!  After church we came home, watched some more of the Olympics and made a green shake.  Little man was very skeptical about this green shake…he we oblivious to the fact that I put spinach in all his shakes until this very moment.  Normally the strawberries red color overpowers the green, but this time we used peaches, so the green dominated.  He was skeptical, but once I gave him a taste for approval, he wanted more!   

After lunch we all headed to the beach!  The water was nasty looking, but we still went in.  I regret that decision because now I am sick as can be. Ugh.  We still had fun trying to stand on the boogie board, throwing little man, working on kicking with straight legs and talking up a storm.  I got some color, so now I’m not a ghost!  It feels good to look alive again!  Home to shower we went!

Sunday night, little man wanted ice cream, so I told him that if he ran to WaWa, I would let him pick out an ice cream of his choice!  Well, sure enough, he set a 10 minute/mile pace and off we went.  I stayed just behind him and told him which way to turn at each intersection.  He is a good little runner and REALLY enjoyed that ice cream snickers cone!  (I got a vitamin water because I still had to do my real run for the day.)  We walked home and then I went on my real run.  It wasn’t much faster.  I did 2 miles in 19.32minutes.  I’m just happy I didn’t stop at all.  If you put it all together, (0.86 mile run to Wawa, 0.86 walk home from wawa, 2 mile run) I did 3.72 miles of cardio last night.  I’m A-ok with that! 

The night ended with my giving a haircut to my neighbor and a little game of Apples to Apples!  Love that game! 

I hope your weekend was everything you needed it to be!
Follow me on instagram @xsarexbearx

Much love.

Biggest Loser Challenge

My work does 12 week Biggest Loser Challenges.  Anyone who wants to participate pays $10 and then at the end, whoever loses the most Percentage Body Weight gets the pot.  That being said, I decided to join for a few reasons: 1. It’s really hard for me to pass up a challenge. I love winning. 2. Motivation and weekly weigh-ins totally keep me on track. 3. Why not make the winning pot just a little sweeter?!?

As you saw from my last post, I started running and I love it.  Well, now I really love it because since Friday, I have lost 4.4lbs!!  Today is a good day!  I feel sexy!  Oh so sexy!  I’ll keep ya’ll posted on my progress (even though this will probably be the best week I ever have).  I don’t really need to lose weight, but if I lost a few more pounds, I wouldn’t complain. 

Random tidbit…I look really young when I run…and after I run…

A little post 3 mile beach run treat!

(Lir-Lir yawning after my early morning run...something is wrong with this picture.)

Eating healthy is extremely helpful too!

Fresh sliced homegrown tomatoes, cheese and turkey for lunch!

Much love.

Northern Girls in a Texan Town

Let me just say...I didn't take any pictures because I forgot my SD card.  I am sorry...more for myself because I love capturing moments. 

A best friend weekend was totally and completely necessary, so we scheduled one.  Last minute flights are never cheap, but when they are to visit someone special, the money doesn’t seem to matter…

One vacation day scheduled, two flights, one layover in the City of Brotherly Love to grab a Philly soft pretzel of course, one detour around a storm, one embrace and two huge smiles…Happy day!

It had been just shy of eleven months since we had seen each other and it was far too long.  The last time we were together she was getting MARRIED! 

This time we were flying solo, while our husbands were elsewhere, so there was a lot of best friend girl talk happening - some serious topics, some reminiscing about college and weddings, some just plain old random.  Since it rained a lot the 2 days I was there, we drank lots of hot tea while curled up on the couch and chatted.   The Big Lebowski was viewed…it’s a dude flick.  I think I need to see it again to appreciate it.  Or maybe I will never appreciate it because I’m just not a dude, Dude. (If you saw the movie, you’d understand the Dude reference.)

Sarah gets me.  I can be brutally honest with her and she still loves me.  Answering with haste is not her style.  All her responses are well thought out and much appreciated.  She is very intuitive.  I need her in my life and I love that Mr. Grady placed us in the same Honors Triple freshman year of college.  Everything else is history.  Glorious history! 

Thanks for a great weekend Sarah #1! 

Love, Sarah #2

Much love.

Me Run? No Way. Yes, Way!

So, last week I started running in the mornings and I am in love!  I am not a runner, but there is something extremely satisfying and peaceful about getting up early and heading outside before the world really wakes up.  It’s cooler, quieter and is quickly becoming a favorite part of my day. 

I signed up for an 8k Mud Run!  If you know me at all, you know I really don’t run much.  So, the fact that I am getting enjoyment from running is really a breakthrough for me.  I’ve only been running between 1 and 2 miles, which isn’t far, but it’s a start.  Tonight I am going to the beach and running 3 miles!  I haven’t done 3 miles yet, but I am going to even if I am running really slowly.  I. Will. Not. Stop.

I’m a girl that needs her alone time…really needs her alone time.  I love trying new things, being surround by people, being outdoors, working, and being crazy-busy, but amid my hectic life, I need some alone time to stay balanced.  When I say alone time, I don’t mean family time, hubby time, girl time... I mean ALONE time.  Well, my puppy can be with me because she doesn’t talk, so she’s cool.  Serious alone time generally comes in the form of walking, reading, photographing nature, or working in my garden, but now that I am getting up early, running has become my new alone time thing. 

Aside from the alone time satisfaction, another benefit from running is that I am totally dropping pounds like it’s nobody’s business!  Eek! Happy Dance!  I’ve lost 6 lbs since last Friday!  Woop Woop!  I also think that the more I run and the stronger I get, the better I will dance and that right there makes me one happy lady!  Speaking of dancing, I had a great private lesson on Tuesday and I am going to go to DC Freestyles this September!  Time to get my body in motion!  Practice, practice, practice!!

Happy Thursday! 

Guest Post Time

Happy Thursday, the day before FRIDAY!!

{Happy Dance}

Lindsay over at Three Peas In My Little Pod asked me to do a little guest post on hippie stuff with some healthy cooking and dash of me!

Hop on over and visit this very cool chic's blog and my guest post of course! 

I'm stoked to have met her in this wonderful world of blogging!

Much love.

Apologies for Being MIA

I will blog this week.  I have a few posts started, but since I was away this weekend visiting my best friend, was extremely delayed in my return and have had a crazy week at work, I haven't had time to blog.  Oh and I've also been reading a ton.  One book is actually a quality read, the others are more romance novels that are easy reads and allow me to escape from my day before falling asleep.

I wrote a guest blog that will debut on Thursday!  I'll post details later.  Keep an eye out for it. 

Much love.