decisions, decisions

hey y'all!
i had to make a tough decision a couple of days ago, and i was really bummed, but much better now :) as some of you may know, i signed up for the cherry blossom 10 miler in dc for april 5. i have been training for the past 3 weeks, and really tried to lower my pace. unfortunately, i have not been able to bring it down to the 14 minute pace that is required. i have decided to switch over to the 5K run-walk. i was really bummed and pretty much depressed on sunday when reality hit that i would probably not be able to finish a 10 mile race with a required pace. as hb said, i'm mentally there, but physically not. i am overweight, and i haven't really exercised in a really, really long time, so the 10 miler was not a realistic goal for me. i was pretty sad about not doing the 10 mile run for these past couple of days, but now, i'm motivated to run the best darn 5K anyone has ever seen :) i have so much support from friends and family, and now i am going into this with an even better attitude. i will eventually do the 10 mile race, but for now, i'm gonna start on the path of becoming a bonafide runner!!! y'all, i'm so excited about the 5K, and motivated now more than ever! i won't let y'all down!!
in other news, hb & i got a wii fit! we had a budget of $50 to spend on each other for v-day, and hb saw it at target and suggested we get this for each other. we decided that would be good to help us keep in with our goal for this year - reducing your behind in 2009. it's such fun y'all! it calculates your bmi, and also let's you know how your balance is and gives you tips on how to improve. we tried it out for the first time last night, and i'm obese!!! of course, hb is in the normal range, but i am motivated to kick his butt on all the exercises! they have a cool hula hoop game as well as some yoga moves so if y'all want to come over and give it a try, y'all are more than welcome!!!

the good, the bad, the ugly

hey y'all!
hope everyone had a great weekend!
my weekend was pretty good, but i must admit, i would have had more fun if the terps would have won at cameron indoor.
the ugly - the final score was maryland 44, duke 85...it was really ugly y'all! duke has some amazing athletes, but it seemed like they were playing with the local high school instead of with an acc team.
the bad - y'all, the terps did not come to play, it was incredibly sad to see only one player (my fave - landon milbourne) give it his all through the whole game. it was so sad to see that more than the final score. another thing that was kind of bad was that we weren't allowed to carry signs into cameron. boo! i made a sign that said "marry me milbourne" and then "go terps" underneath it. i was bummed y'all!
the good - the road trip up there and back was so much fun! we were all chattin' it up, singing along to music and just generally had a great time! we were so excited going up there! i felt like hb & i really got to know missy a lot better, and we are so thankful to have such a great friend here in atlanta! also, the duke fans were so unexpectedly nice! one older gentleman saw us with our maryland gear on, and asked about maryland, where we were from, directed us to the will call. so incredibly nice! after the game, another guy was next to us telling us how he thinks that gary williams (the maryland basketball coach) is a great coach and that he just didn't have players. everyone was so great!
if y'all ever get a chance to see a game at cameron indoor, take it! it's a great place to see a game. there is literally no bad seat in the whole place. we had an amazing time! it would have been better with a maryland win, but i can see why duke has such a home court advantage.

january madness!

hey y'all!
my weekend starts in approximately 20 minutes, and i'm so excited! i will be in durham, north carolina for part of the weekend to watch maryland play duke at cameron indoor! i honestly never got into college basketball until i met hb. i would watch the march madness because i filled out a bracket, but nothing more. i was more the college football type. in fact, when hb & i started dating, i went to a lot of maryland football games and asked him when they were going to start winning! i was used to seeing LSU play, so y'all can understand my query. well, he told me - wait until basketball season, the acc has some amazing basketball! that year, the terps made it to the N.I.T, and wouldn't you know it LSU makes it to the final four, and also beats duke! we made j.j. reddick cry - bless his heart! over the years, i've grown to love terps basketball, and i will be rooting for them in cameron indoor this saturday! i can't wait to show y'all pics!! the game is on espn, i think - look for me! my sign will either say "MARRY ME MILBOURNE" or
Everyone
knowS
terPs
wiN


GOOOOOOOOOOOO TERPS!!!

treadmills and crushes

y'all, i have a secret - until yesterday, i was so SCARED of running on the treadmill. i would usually use it for walking and put it at like a 2.5 speed. well, yesterday, i conquered my fear! it was way too cold to run our 3 miles outside, so hb & i decided to go to the gym. unfortunately, the machines were pretty much taken, so i got on an elliptical and kept an eye out for a treadmill. after 7 minutes, one opened up, and i bumped it up to 4.5...y'all i was running on the treadmill!! i followed our normal, run 3 minutes, and walk 1 minute routine, and i got through 3 miles in 46 minutes!!! it sounds terrible, but i was able to get closer to a 15 minute pace more than ever. i'm hoping that the pace will only lower from here!

another secret - i have a crush. i've had a crush on this person for the longest time. it's gail simmons for top chef. i have told hb that i am "gay for gail" so many times, so you can imagine my sadness to know that she got married! so now, i'm lookin' for a new girl crush! who is your crush? i am taking all suggestions :)

here is a picture of gail in case y'all don't know what she looks like. isn't she so cute?!!!

bride wars

hey y'all!
this weekend included a viewing of bride wars with missy. y'all, if you are lookin' for a mindless chick flick to go see, this is it. i don't know why, but i am a sucker for this type of movie. i got a little teary, had a couple of laughs, and that's about it. i found it worth my $8. next movie i want to go see is gran torino with hb. we were supposed to go see it on saturday before our run, but couldn't find the movie theater!! speaking of our run, this was the first time that i just hit a wall. i was really not into it, and i just wasn't feeling it. that being said, i regained my focus on lap 7, and finished the last 5 laps with more focus and a better attitude! i hope the run tomorrow goes a lot better! i also got a haircut y'all, and i really like the gal that cuts it. her name is valerie at the new talents salon at van michael's in buckhead. it feels a lot shorter, and i think next time, i'm gonna tell her that i want to grow it long. for some reason, longer hair is lower maintenance for me, and i am really not happy that i have to blowdry my hair everyday now that it's short.
anyhoodle, hope y'all had a great weekend! happy mlk day, and don't forget to watch cnn tomorrow for the inaug. coverage :)

guilty pleasures

hey y'all! an update - we ran 2 miles yesterday, and hb & i finally broke the 16 minute/mile pace, we ran a mile in approximately 15.5 - could have been the cold!
onto the guilty pleasures!

• gossip girl - y'all have to watch this show! it's so insane and i'm hooked!! i wish i was blair waldorf!
• real housewives - y'all i've been watching this on bravo since they had the orange county ones. they are currently doing another orange county ones, and OMG - drama! these ladies are so competitive, but what cracks me up is how they try to cling to youth. you really get the stereotypical california woman on this show.
• peppermint cremes from williams sonoma - to DIE for!
• top chef nyc - i am loving it more that toby young is part of the judges. btw, leah should have gone home last night! and i hope fabio never leaves - his accent cracks me up :)

what are your guilty pleasures?

pet peeve

those of you that know me, know i LOVE to clean. i think that cleanliness is next to godliness, and i'm okay if others aren't that clean, but here at work, i feel that people should put forth the biggest effort to keep areas clean. for instance, if you drop napkins on the floor, pick them up! your mom doesn't work here, so she's not here to clean up after you! if you spill creamer when you are making up your coffee, clean it up, wipe the counter! i just don't get why people are so dirty! am i being to OCD on this?!

reducing my behind in 2009

hey y'all!
just a quick update on the running - yesterday i ran 3 miles!!! woohoo!! in 52 minutes - not so good, but i am working on endurance this month, next month i will focus on my time.
in other news....next weekend, i'm going to see maryland play duke in raleigh! i hope the terps come to play. although they beat ga tech last weekend, they did not play very well. GO TERPS!
also, did i tell you that my friend alice is coming for a visit??!! i'm so excited! you can read up on her adventures here - http://aliceblogs.blogspot.com

recap

today is monday, and i am ready for the week to be OVER! well, just the work week.
i'm actually looking forward to running this week in the cold! i know, i know, it's not as cold as other places, but i was beginning to enjoy the nice 60 degree weather we had at the beginning of last week here in the atl.
hb & i ran 2 miles on saturday, and then did our cross training - it was so nice y'all! i can now say that i got through the first week of training for the 10 miler! we did six miles last week, and we are doing 8 this week. i feel like the next 10 or so weeks will be full of running - with some visitors thrown in :)
this weekend was spent chilling and running - and watching tons of football! i was hoping that alice's giants would pull it out because for some reason i find donovan mcnabb annoying. plus, i think eli is cuter. i am soooooooooo extremely happy that the chargers lost - one qb that i really despise is rivers, ugh, he's so arrogant! i am especially pleased that the ravens won! joe flacco made history y'all! he's the first rookie ever to win 2 playoff games- yay joe flacco!
what did y'all get up to this weekend?

another january birthday!

happy birthday to my future s.i.l.!!!!

here she is with the new sweater we got her for xmas!

birthday shout out

happy birthday to my dear friend steven!

what a night!

so for the past couple of nights, i have had a bit of trouble going to bed. last night hb told me that after the run (yay for 2 more miles completed!), that i for sure would be able to fall asleep. so i watched a bit of the game (SEC is obviously the best conference!), and then got into bed at about 930pm. sure enough, i feel asleep quickly and looked forward to staying that way UNTIL i wake up with this loud banging! i turn to hb and say what is that?! i was a little scared until i heard "oh god, oh god". i was woken up by my upstairs neighbor doin' it!!! they continued on for 10 more minutes with the gal continuously saying "oh god, oh god" and "just f* me god dangit!". needless to say, that was not something i really wanted to hear at 1230am. still, it led hb & i to question - if we can hear them, can they hear us??!!!!

rave

hey y'all!
so yesterday i made it through 2 miles...in 34 minutes! i definitely have to get my time down, so that i don't get picked up by the paddywagon, but i am very proud that i got through it. also, my goal for this month is to run my miles without stopping. hb and i ran the 2 miles by running for 2 minutes and the walking for 1 minute. at this point, i'm sure that if i keep up with the training i will get to my goal. i'm certainly motivated to attain them, and it only gets easier from here right??!!!

work rant

ugh! today was a pretty good morning, but this afternoon has me with a bit of anger inside. i need to "keep it medium" as jim zorn would say. so i'm posting a bit of a rant - first let me preface by saying that at work three of us sit in a lab that has banks of computers, and that work is kind of a hurry up and wait thing so when we do have assignments, we need to hop to it. well coworker x decided it was kindergarten today because x took a nap!!! at work! in the middle of the day! and was snoring! ugh, that annoyed me beyond belief, but i tried to keep cool. thing is we got an assignment and coworker y and i started on it and really tried to get a lot done today. coworker x acted like an assignment was never sent out and did zippy work! that really chaps my hide!!! i HATE that he doesn't appreciate his job when there are so many people in the unemployment lines. jeez! so with that being said, i'm off on an anger fueled run - 2 miles! wish me luck!

resolutions

hola peeps!
i wasn't very good at keeping my resolutions from last year, but perhaps i will be able to do it this year. i decided to write them down here, so i can be accountable to them!

• eat less pizza, cookies, ice cream, etc - less of the bad stuff in general :)
• eat more green veggies
• eat at home more often
• look up healthy recipes, and cook more so that hb can take a break from cooking!!!!
• put my face on (southern for put make up on) every day with the bare esentuals stuff i have at home
• follow my 10 miler training everyday - NO EXCUSES!!
• save more money
• do 100 pushups by the end of the year

what are you resolutions??

christmas & nye

hey y'all! hope y'all had a great new years and xmas! hb & i had a great time. my brother flew in on xmas day, and i made some spicy shrimp that i marinated in chili garlic paste (i even got to use the new martha stewart grill pan that we bought at macy's! thanks sarah!!!) as apps. i also made some salmon cakes courtesy of barefoot contessa recipe, some lemon basil potatoes (giada), and some brownies as our dessert. it was definitely not a traditional xmas dinner, but it was good!! the next day we went to taco mac for pint night, and after dinner hb & my brother went to the pink pony (the forecast called for scattered panties that night). we had a pretty chill time, and once my brother left on sunday, jess and her husband pili came in to pick up their things from storage. we decided to take them out to taco mac (jess LOVED the death wings and hickory burger there, so we decided to go for old times sake!)

here i am with my bro at taco mac


with jess & pili at taco mac

nye was awesome this year! hb & i went to the chick fil a bowl game here at the georgia dome. we could not have asked for better seats - although we were NOT on tv, we were very thankful to have been there to see the tigers beat georgia tech. bless their hearts, i think they thought they could actually beat us ;) the final score was 38-3. i love it when we win, and i am truly hoping that we do a lot better next year now that we know that jordan jefferson will be our qb.

here i am ready for the game! thanks b for the tattoos!!!


here is how close we were (gotta thank the LSU Atlanta Alumni Association for these!)

after the game we went over to a party to ring in the new year! all in all a great time and a great way to start off 2009.