Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year.*  When else can you dress up like someone or something completely different? When else do people give you candy just for being cute?  It's a great day to shock or surprise people or just make them laugh a little.

I like that Halloween takes a little work and a little creativity.  I like that as adults, not everyone is into it.  It helps me identify "my kind of people" just a little easier.

Really, I know that no explanation is necessary. You people get me.

Jill's Personal Guidelines for Halloween Costume Greatness** 

1. Costumes should not come pre-packaged from the store. I can buy pieces to my costume, but buying the whole outfit is slightly cheating.
2. Following the rule above, the separate pieces of my costume should not cost more than $10-$15 total. My most expensive costume to date was last year's Diet Pepsi that rang in at about $15.  My cheapest costume was the Ipod from 2007, which cost me nothing. This year's costume cost me $1.71.
3. A better costume is one where people instantly know what I'm supposed to be.  This is not a requirement, but it generally makes for less frustrating day.
4. Think outside of the box. Objects are some of my favorite costumes, because they are unexpected.
5. No pain, no gain.  Awesome costumes can end up making it difficult to sit down or cause back or neck pain. It is worth it. Push through it.

What would a Halloween post be without some pictures? To see some of my favorite costumes, past and present, click "Read More."

One Year Ago

A cool thing about keeping up with this blog for more than a year, is that I can look back and see exactly what I was up to one year ago.

One year ago today I ran my first 10 k.  Read about it here.

Today, I could maybe run 1k. Certainly not 10.

That is sad, and it has the potential to get me down.  However, I'm going to choose not to focus on the negative.  I'm going to focus on my training plan. I will get back to running longer distances soon if I am persistent and persevere.

Watch me.

A Delightful New Breakfast

I've recently made a delicious new discovery. Butterball's fully cooked turkey sausage patties* (available in your local refrigerated section). 

Breakfast has always been hard for me. If you don't believe me, ask my mom.  I never liked cereal growing up or basically any other traditional breakfast foods. Somehow I convinced myself to eat Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal with almond milk for the past two years.  It's been mostly good, although it doesn't keep me full for very long, and I've been often tempted to skip it and grab something at a drive through on the way to work.

So for the past couple of months, I've been trying new breakfast options and this new find keeps me full longest, for the lowest calories and is tasty too.  I make two open faced sandwiches with the sausage patties on English muffins (or bagel thins) and give them a quick warming in the toaster oven (Don't worry, I remember not to use a paper towel in the toaster oven. I learned my lesson after I almost burnt down my dorm room senior year. That's a whole 'nother story, though.). Delish.  

Here's the calorie breakdown:

English muffin: 130 calories

One wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese: 35 calories

Butterball Turkey Sausage Patties: 110 for two

Total: 275 calories

There's a reason "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" became a cliche.  That's because it is.. It wakes up your metabolism, gives you energy for your morning and sets the tone for the whole day. What do you eat for breakfast? 

*Jimmy Dean has a similar product, but they were 10 calories more per serving.  

Thankful Thursdays: October 27

Let's get down to business. Today I'm thankful for:

Getting to spend the weekend with these people.

Look at them. Be honest. Aren't you jealous that you're not going with me?  Who wouldn't want to spend a weekend with my mom and dad? Plus, Dad's already promised me to grill out one night!

Halloween is coming up!

Okay, so this is going to be a pretty tame Halloween.  No big plans or elaborate costume, but we are dressing up at work on Monday and having an appetizer potluck lunch. Yum

Running

Yes, I am slow. Yes, I can not run far anymore. Yes, my breathing sounds like I need a puff on an inhaler when I'm done.  But still, there's just something about that feeling of accomplishment when you're done.  It's all about the challenge for me, I guess.

A vacation day tomorrow

I could really use a teleporter to get myself and my darling niece and nephew magically across six hours, three states and one time zone to see my parents.  BUT, in the absence of said teleportation, I will gladly drive six hours on well-used vacation day.

Reading

I've been reading a lot lately, because I had two rather large books come in for me at the library on the same day. I'm under pressure to get them both finished during my two week allowance. It helps that I did finish the first one over the weekend thanks to practically non-stop reading. What can I say? I'm a nerd. (P.S. Said books are the Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. Both are recommended.)

Don't Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Last weekend I was talking with my friend Cindy about how I've been frustrated with my running and I've been allowing myself to skip my lunch time workouts because it's easier to not have to change clothes, get sweaty and then get cleaned up and go back to work all in one hour.

I said, "I wish I could just get up and workout before work. Then I wouldn't have to mess with the lunch time workout."

Cindy said, "Okay, I'll text you on Monday morning to get you out of bed early for a workout."

Come Monday, Cindy upheld her part of the bargain and texted me bright and early. I texted back "I'm awake, but I am not going running. My body just doesn't work like that this early. I don't know what I was thinking.I'll do it at lunch."

Seriously, what was I thinking?

Yes, it would be nice to knock out a workout first thing in the morning. Yes, it would be nice to stay in one outfit all day at work and not get sweaty. But you know what? I am not a morning person.

The lunch time workouts work for me. It's the best way for me to be consistent. Maybe I just needed a reminder of how great it is to not have to get up early or schedule a workout into a busy evening. Or how lucky I am to work about 30 feet from an amazing gym.

While the morning workout experiment failed before it ever really got started, it has helped me find my motivation at lunch time this week.  I've been rarin' to workout this week, and it's all because I fear if I tell Cindy I've been skipping my workouts again she'll start calling me before the sun comes up to make sure I fit in a workout.  And that's just not a pretty thought. (love you, though, Cindy! Let's run again soon!)

When is your best time to workout? Do you rise and shine and run?

The Eat-at-Home Bet

Weekends have always been the days I've allowed myself to splurge. I usually eat out multiple meals over the course of the weekend. I really think that was part of the reason for my success with weight loss. I wasn't on a diet 24/7. When I was doing my best with weight loss, I was strict during the week and allowed myself to go over my calories for two days each week, enjoying good meals, usually in the company of friends.

The problem is that lately I've been eating out more and more.  Weeknights, mid-week lunches and weekends, it was all fair game.  Heck, for the past couple of weeks I've had Moe's (my number one favorite restaurant) at least twice a week and usually two days in the row.  Not healthy.

So when I realized I had no big plans this past weekend - no birthdays to celebrate, no places to travel, no work obligations, no mud to slog through (thank goodness for a rest!), I issued myself a challenge. Could I go a whole weekend without eating out?

The answer: YES!  I actually can't believe I did it.  I was definitely strongly tempted more than once.  But I just kept thinking about all of the food I had in the fridge and about how I didn't want to lose this little bet with myself. I didn't tell anyone about the challenge, but I just didn't want to let myself down

And guess what else? It's Tuesday, and I still haven't eaten out. I'm on a six day streak!  This is so much better for me and for my wallet. Plus, it's given me a slight boost that I set a goal, a tough one for me, and I stuck with it and accomplished it.

Now I'm going to see how many days I can go without eating out. I'm not giving up on eating out forever; I know that kind of deprivation would just lead me to overindulge eventually. But I do want to be better about choosing when to eat out.  Meeting friends for dinner or celebrating birthdays or weddings are definitely  good reasons to eat out.  Grabbing take-out just because I feel like it when I leave work is not.

Thankful Thursdays: October 20

It's Thursday, one of my favorite days of the week. Plus, it's another Thankful Thursdays!

Today I'm thankful for:

Team Ridiculous

I wouldn't have been able to do the Mud Run without them. And without the Mud Run, I wouldn't have had these amazing stories and pictures and one fantastic accomplishment.

Someone Like You

I was hesitant to jump on the Adele bandwagon. Seemed like everyone just instantly raved about her, and I didn't really love her first song, "Rolling in the Deep." But this song came out and it just makes me want to sing along at the top of my lungs.  I also think it should be part of a movie montage.


Thankful Lists
I'm thankful that I've started this weekly ritual.  It's a great way to remind myself to look for the positives on a regular basis.


Battle Wounds

I'm thankful that I have some cool scrapes, but also that I came through the Mud Run with only these few minor scrapes and some dirty fingernails.

A video of the Mud Run

Kristy's husband Joe filmed the last few obstacles for us and edited it into a cool video.  Please keep in mind that the footage you are seeing was taken AFTER we'd been on the course doing similar for obstacles for TWO HOURS. We're moving pretty slow at this point, but you can see some of our awesome team work and a lot of mud.