Home sweet home......we bought a houseeeeeee!!!

Ok....after lots of talk of home-buying we finally jumped the gun. We've been looking for houses (with no money haha) since July and have had interests in quite a few. Throughout this process I've realized how picky/snooty/particular I am about home buying, especially for someone who was making zilch for income. On my list of must-haves were
1) 3 car garage: we want 3-4 kids someday and that means lots of bikes, basketballs, etc! We also already have 2 cars and hubby is about to get a company car. A 3-car garage is a must!
2) 3 full bathrooms: see #1 about the kids...and if we have all girls....yes...3 full bathrooms is a must
3) Large master: see #1 about the kids...and you'll see why I need somewhere to retreat later on to "get away" (its also conveniently on the second floor in case I decide I need to jump out a window or something)
4) Close to Mom: Again...see #1 about how many kids I want and you too would want to be as close to help as possible

So that doesn't seem so bad right? Welllllll.....after making that list and going to look at some houses....the list got more specific
1) 3 full bathrooms that must all be on the second floor (unless there is a first floor master). I don't see a point in having a full bathroom on the main floor if there aren't any bedrooms there. Who wants to shower and then run up a bunch of stairs in a towel to get to their room?

2) I decided that I want the option of having a pool someday. I grew up a swimmer and lifeguard and the water is a part of me. Also..its a great entertaining option for 4 kids. This makes homebuying difficult because there are neighborhoods with community pools that won't let you put your own in. Also you must have a yard big enough to accomodate a pool.

3) I really want a morning room for our kitchen table. Again...4 kids someday = LARGE kitchen table to fit everyone. Many houses just come with a small dinette area to put a round table.

4) I'd love to have separate walk-in closets in the master as well as separate sinks and vanities. I'm sick of sharing with the hubby....hahahaha

5) all of a sudden 3 miles seemed way too far from my Mom...I can't send the kids to Grandmas to walk 3 miles when I'm ready to pull all my hair out...

So as you see...this became quite a process. But in the end we found our dreaaaaaaam house and we couldn't be more happy!!
4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms (3 full, 2 half)....morning room for our kitchen table, 3 car garage, large backyard with some trees too and a patio! bonus....finished basement....HUGEEEEEE master bedroom with sitting room and 2 walk in closets, 2 vanities/sinks....and are you ready??? 0.8 miles door to door from my Moms house!! Could it get any better than that??


So here she is......(I'm going to take some better pictures next weekend)...












We close December 30th...we have no furniture...haha. There are 10 rooms to fill + a basement. Eeeeeeeeeeek! All we have is a king sized bed, a freezer, and some baby furniture. Not good...not good at all....haha

Little Monster

Heres a little peak at the monster that is growing inside of me
Belly & legs
Skeletor!

Its a cute lil thing huh? Long legs...for sure! We still didn't find out what were having....yay! I'm glad we were strong!! Also I started work Monday....Monday was pretty rough. I actually had to stay an hour late on my first day. Today definitely made up for it...I got done an hour early :) And things went a lot smoother. Its going to be such a crazy transition...not to mention while I'm 5 months pregger and trying to buy a house. AHHHHHHHHH! Why do I do this to myself?

Still been managing to stay very active. Hubby and I walk 1.5 miles together everynight and then I walk an additional 2-3. Baby has been kicking me like crazy. Its such a weird feeling...and the worste is when he/she uses my bladder as a punching bag.

So thats the update :)

18 weeks preggers

Heres a pic of me at 18 weeks!!! wahooooo! Almost half way done :) Kid...if youre listening...feel free to come out a few days early!

Went for quite a few 3-4 mile walks this week. Tried to get to prenatal yoga...however punched in the wrong address and got there late. I'm going to re-attempt tomorrow evening. I HAVE TO START WORK IN A WEEEEEEEEK! Lordy lordy...that means no more lounging around...no more chatting with friends all day....no more nothin. Full days of working on my feet, knocking patients out, waking them up, sticking needles in peoples spines, eeeeeek! Can I please have another week off? Just ONE more weeek? I swear God, I'll be ready after that. I don't want to be a big girl (looks down....points to the baby)...yeah I know..too bad!

I refinished a dresser that was used by my hubbys Grandmother when she was younger. His Mom then used it...then hubby...and now baby. We painted it white and it looks gorgeous. We ordered some starfish knobs to go along with our beach theme! I'll def have to post some pictures when its all said and done.

Still working on buying a house...one of these days...just look for a big post saying...NO LONGER HOMELESS! It's bound to happen in the next few months.

I'll post some pics of the kid after the ultrasound....don't forget that were not finding out the gender. So that will stay a surprise until the end....(kid refer to the top about coming early).

Hope life is well with everyone else :)

Hibernation

It's not quite winter yet, but somehow I've been hibernating...or hidernating (hiding)..whatever you want to refer to it as. We had an amazing trip to Alaska...check out the pictures here
http://alaskancruisemoore.shutterfly.com
We saw Lions, Tigers, and Bears OH MY! Wait....Whales, Eagles, and Bears was more like it. We also saw harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters etc. We went salmon fishing and had 27 lbs of salmon shipped back to Ohio! It was just an awesome trip but you really have to see the pictures to get an idea of how great it was. So stop reading this boring thing and go check them out!!!

After we got back from the trip it took a few days to get used to being on Eastern time again. I wanted to write a blog summing up the trip and all that good stuff, but there was some depression looming over me. Everytime I would sit down to write, all I could think about was the fact that in a few days, it would be a year since I saw my Dad last. So then I decided I really needed to write something about that and just how fast a year goes by. And how crazy it was to hear the horrible news...and how hard it was to go back to the unstable life I was living moving around the country as an anesthesia student away from all my family and friends. All the ups and downs I had the entire year...but nothing could bring me to actually sit down and write about it. I wrote the blog post in my head night after night after night...laying there sleepless. Yet somehow I couldn't make my fingers type it.

So I waited until all that passed...then I went on a trip to North Carolina for my cousins wedding. And now I'm back...bumming around...waiting until October 26th to come so I can start my career and get on with my life. But truly....bumming around has been great! I've gotten massages, hair cuts, spent time working on my charities, spent time with my little puppy, taken a lot of long walks, gone to the gym, talked to friends....I really don't ever want to go back to work. CAN I PLEASSSSSSSSE BE A STAY AT HOME MOM??????? PLEAAASEEEE??

Oh yeah...the Mom thing....that's going well too. I've gained 3 lbs so far (as of last week) and I'm quickly approaching 18 weeks. I get my ultrasound next week (hiding my eyes so I don't accidentally see a hot dog or hamburger if you know what I mean)...and the baby is doing just great. I would post belly pics....if I had a belly at all. People make fun of me since I'm not showing at all...even the massage therapist said to just go ahead and get a regular massage laying on my back/belly instead of the prenatal one on your side. I can tell though....that little belly is just waiting to start popping any day now.

Workouts: ahhhhh yes....the main reason I started this blog. Workouts have consisted of 2-5 mile walks. Usually I end up squeezing in 4 times a week....sometimes more. Sometimes I lift a little...sometimes I dont. I would love to start jogging again....maybe I'll start some walk/jogging. Jog a few minutes....walk a few minutes.


So thats the update on me...I'm done hiding.. :)

Just Peachy....

Starting tomorrow I will have a peach in my belly. Weird to think that I'm growing a little peach in there...but exciting at the same time. We got to hear the heartbeat on friday.... 164!! Some say that means it will be a girl....most say its a wives tail. My Mom just keeps referring to the baby as Kinsley as shes almost certain it will be a girl (then she admits shes almost dead wrong every time she guesses). I will laugh so hard if the doctor pulls out a Carson. She has already bought Cleveland Indians cheerleading outfits..haha.

Other exciting news....I GRADUATED!!!!

Even more exciting news... I PASSED MY BOARD EXAM!!!!

The best news ever.....we leave for Alaska on Thursdsay!!!!

The life saver....I have 5 weeks off!!!

Life is good...I feel so blessed. We think we have found "the house" different from the other one I showed on here. I'll wait until its for sure ours before I post anything....but its perfect. Life is really flying at lightning speed now but everything is so darn exciting I can't contain myself.

Oh running? hmm...haven't done a whole lot of that. Shoooot! Maybe I'll go now..haha

The Angry Buck...

And I'm not talking about the ohio state buckeyes almost getting beat by Navy. Thats a different angry buck...

So I decided to go for a little trail run the other day after re-discovering some nice trails by my house. I get about 400 yards into the woods and I see a large buck about 4 feet away from my trail. I have never been nervous around deer in my life as I see about 5 a day in my back yard, but I have heard that they will attack if they feel threatened...especially during this season. They never bother me except I have never really been running this close to them. And something about the horns....the girl deer don't really freak me out. But I could just imagine those big horns being jabbed into the little peanut in my stomach. Apparently mother instinct is already kickin in.....


So I make it past the huge buck and look back and hes still making eye contact with me. I look directly to my left and theres ANOTHER buck. This guy only had one little nub horn though...so I thought...eh...that can't do TOOO much damage. But then I looked down and he had his leg up like he was ready to stomp his hoof. I thought " this must be a warning that he's about to attack". So I got big horny buck (that sounds bad) behind me...and little nubby buck in front of me ready to stomp me. I could feel my heart rate pick up a bit as I wasnt sure which way to turn and my tree climbing skills haven't been put to the test in a while. I kept waiting for little nubs to put his hoof down so I could pass....but he wouldn't. Finally I see him take a few steps akwardly and I look down....little nubs is a little nub in more than one way. THe deer has 3 LEGS!!!!!!! THe leg I thought he was holding up to stomp me...was really only a half of a leg. He slowly gimped away and I kept running. Then I get home to find out I just spotted the famous "3 legged deer". Apparently hes been in the newspaper before.

Boy did I feel stupid for being so freaked out by a 3 legged nubby dear. It was a good little run anyway....


Hope ya'll had a great Labor Day Weekend! Only 2 more days of clinical everrrrrrrrrrr!! Yeeehaw!!

They never tell you this...

No one really ever explained before I got pregnant that I would have....
-back pain
-weird sexual dreams
-heartburn
-migraines
-dizziness
- worry endlessly
- the urge to urinate every half hour
- dry mouth so bad it feels like you smoked a pound of pot
- that nine months of being pregnant feels like 9 years.....and the weeks creeeeeeeeep

Nooooooo....they never tell you that stuff. Because if they did...you would NEVER get pregnant! Who wishes that upon anyone..let alone themselves?? They tell you alll about how wonderful it is...and without going into detail but how "everything" is worth it in the end. The only thing they really complain about is labor. SO you think....ehhh...anyone can deal with one day of horrible pain. But you never really think it's going to be 9 months of hell........because everyone forgets to mention that part.


Haha...done complaining. Just kinda funny though. I think I'm allergic to babies in my belly because I pretty much get all the symptoms except for leg cramps and peeing my pants (not yet anyway).

This week was better...I'm getting my energy back. I have one week left of the first trimester. Monday I went for a 2.5 mile walk, Tuesday I went to the gym and jogged 2 miles, Wednesday I went for a 45 minute bike ride and a 20 minute walk. Saturday I jogged 2 miles at the gym.

Friday night we went to the high school football game and sat in the pouring rain. Yes I love football that much! My family has had season tickets since I was a baby and its something my Dad and I really enjoyed doing together. It was weird to go there for the first time without him....but we still had fun! Im glad my hubby was a good sport and wanted to go sit inthe rain with me. I could watch football everyday of the week. Also the Browns won AGAIN!!! Crazy!! I know its only pre-season..but they were still exciting to watch. We went to a fun family reunion last night....it's weird being the only one not drinking. Well me and my sister in law...we are preggers together. It seems like at all parties we kinda gravitate towards each other. Except shes in her second trimester...so eating is fun...and I'm still in the ...."can't even look at food" trimester. Ughhh!!
Heres a few lil snapshots..Me, my sister in law, and my brother
The main reason for the party was to give this velvet elvis picture to my uncle. It was my Dad's (no worries....we kept it in the basement)....and it was a big joke in our house. When my Dad passed away my uncle said he wanted it. So we threw a big party...and hung it in his house (which is immaculate....perfectly designed down to every detail, picture,mirror, etc) and he walked past it about 10 times without noticing. Finally we were going to have all the guys take a picture inside so we told them to line up on that wall and he FINALLY noticed it. It was pretty funny!

pick up the pace Duff!

Ok so I'm starting week 10 of being preggers....and I'm startin to feel a little better. WAHOOOOOOOO! Still haven't really started working out much....but I think today is the day. I've been doing pre-natal yoga and walking a few miles a few times a week. A far cry from my usual work out schedule, but I've also been trying to listen to my body...and almost everyday my body says TAKE A NAP! hehe

Today will be pre-natal yoga again..then later we are going to the pre-season Browns game!!!!! I'm super excited even though they are terrrrrrrrrible! Should be fun though, and hubby is lucky that he has a DD for the next 7 months!!!

Also my best friend is stoppin by with her new baby Madeline...I swear everyone is poppin babies these days. I had a dream last night that we're having a girl. What do you think? Boy or Girl??

2 weeks and 3 days left of clinical forrevvverrrrrr! You have no clue how exciting this is to me. I've been getting treated horrible everyday this month...HORRIBLE...I didn't even get a lunch yesterday and I'm pregnant! I almost passed out! While my preceptor sat in the hallway and was just talking to other people as I did his job all day. 2 weeks and 3 days....I can do it!

Feelin Icky...

Well I can honestly say that I've never felt so crappy for an entire week in my life. My workouts sum up to a 30 minute bike ride with my mom ONE day. Thats it! Ive been so exhausted/sick/weird feeling all week that I literally collapse into bed when I get home. No joke...I hit the sack at 5 pm today and just woke up now for a short intermission.

On the flip side..got to see another sneak preview of the babes yesterday. Hubby got to come to...and it was his first "girl doctor" appointment. He did great though and really enjoyed it. The doc made him stand in the corner of the room so he was watching the ultrasound...not the giant penis-look-a-like ultrasound probe. Baby is doing great and I'll be 9 weeks on Monday. Official due date: March 22nd. I'm sooo excited! I even picked out the bedding....


Its nice and modern and gender neutral. I love the fun colors. Now I just need a house...........ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I went and looked at one the other day and my mom said its "the one". I'll give you a little sneak preview of that too!! But we can't buy until February ish....great timing with a junior on the way in march...NOT!

Luckily for us its a "short sale" which means looonnnnnnnnggggg sale. Makes sense right? Not really. But for us its a great thing since we need a few months of me working (shucks...who said I want to work) before we can have a down payment. Supposedly a few peopel put in offers but it takes the banke like 3 months to decide if they accept the offer or not and people can't wait that long and give up. Luckily for us....we have infinite time...since were living with Momm-O! (thanks mom!!)..sooooo maybe its perfect?!? we'll see!

Keepin it real...with the wild banchee

So things have been steadily moving along here in pregger duffer land. This week I got my a$$ kicked by my trainer (who is doing great things like helping me build up my back for when I have a hefty front load)....and I also did some yoga, some running, some biking, and walking. All in all...I aim to do at least 30 minutes a day. I've been dealing with some intense nausea and sleepiness.

I have another ultrasound this Thursday to check on the peanut. We are NOT finding out what we are having...so ya'll will be in for the long haul and a big surprise at the end. However we DID decide on names...

Carson for a boy
Kinsley for a girl

I'm excited...I really love these names and have for a long time. I had to coax the hubby a little bit (ok..so I had to put Carson with his Dads middle name..but hey..whatever it takes). Also my sister-in-law is preggers with a boy and they are naming him after my Dad. SUPER exciting!! Dad Jr will be born in January...and RunninDuff Jr will be born in March.

Other news...I never really talked about...but my Mom has cancer. I sorta avoided making it public on my blog, but this all happened when I drew that picture of rollercoasters...as far as ups and downs in my life. The rollercoaster ended up pretty good because I got my first choice job offer...but that was followed by the biggest downhill ever that flipped my stomach literally when I found out about my mom. She will be starting radiation in a week or so...and after that..she should be good to go. But then of course...the rollercoaster goes up hill again when I found out I was preggers. Welcome to my life...its a rollercoaster called "The wild banchee". Anyone wanna ride?

Current Craving....

English Muffins and Chocolate Milk!! Helllloooooooo fructose corn syrup :)

On the other hand...caffeine is about out for good now. A few little drips here and there. I promise I will never start drinking Diet Coke again. Promise Promise Promise...PROMISE! Its just too hard of an addiction to beat.

Little peanut is doing fine so far! I got to see a little heart beat the other day..and will be going back to see the doc in another 2 weeks to get a final due date. EEEK! Keeping my fingers crossed that everything is still going really well!


Also were kinda starting to decide on names......I know its early...but I'm one of those people that has been thinking about baby names since I was in my moms womb. Like I said..I know its early...but I think were going with Kinsley & Carson for now. Obviously that could change.

Had a nice workout yesterday...did 20 mins on the elliptical, ran 20 mins, and lifted a bit. I was thinking about maybe building up mileage and doing a half marathon in october? Maybe walking a lot of it..but just something fun to accomplish while I'm preggers. What do you think?

The follow-up: Hubbys Reaction

So I take the test....Preggers x 3! Believe me..I probably would have finished off the box of 5 if I could..but my Mom hid them from me. Meanwhile hubby is in New York visiting his brother (pitcher for minor leagues). Eventhough I was so excited that I wanted to run a marathon (no not really..)...I knew I had to wait until he got home. So the long wait began....and the wheels began turning.....

I laid awake all night on Sunday dreaming up baby names. I mean ALL night. I think the only way I got to work on Monday was on pure adrenaline...(esp since this lil peanut took away all my coffee). I decided to go over to old navy and get 2 little outfits one that said "I'm handsome like Daddy" and one that said "I love my Mommy & Daddy!" and figured I would put them in a bag with the test that said P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T! (or all 3 for that matter)

Hubby comes home frm the trip and I immediately ask "wheres my t shirt?" Of course he was a little offended that those were the first words out of my mouth...(he'll get over it). So he gave me my new brooklyn cyclones shirt and then I told him I got him a shirt too.

I hand over the old navy bag and he pulls out the first outfit. He has a strange look on his face and then says "so are we stocking up or something?"....pulls out the second outfit and looks at me like "wheres my shirt?"....pulls out the pregnancy test and says "Is this one of those tests girls take to see if they are pregnant"

At this point the lightbulb goes off........."WAIT!! IS this YOUR pregnancy test?" And he immediately turns bright red....and I had tears dripping down my face. I wrote him a nice little card about how its still early and just realize if you decide to tel people...that something bad could still happen (As I manage to share the news with the whole world!).

So Life being pregnant....
TIRED!! VERY TIRED!!!
I think about baby names 75% of the day
Stomach hurts...a lot...
Booobs.....they should be free pregnancy tests....who needs pregnancy tests when you wake up one day and feel like your boobs got in a fight with each other?
Also I never feel alone. Its the weirdest thing...but I got in the car this morning and starting jamming to a song and I looked down and thought "Baby..you like this song too?" Whenever I get really really excited I think...uh oh...Baby is probably getting excited too. It sorta feels like you have a little shadow with you at all times. A shadow that will eventually make your own shadow double in size...ughhh....yipppeeee...bring it on!

I'm PREGNANT!!

oK... since I'm terrible at keeping secrets!! Heres the news.......baby jumping bean in the belly...due to come out March 22nd. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I know I mentioned that I wanted to start trying to have a family soon...however as I was typing that I had no clue that I was already preggers. Crazy...heres the story..

To not completely gross out the guys..I'll say this....the normal thing that girls do once a month...I haven't really done in about 2 years. Ok..maybe 5 times in 2 years...but I know one thing...SOMETHIN aint right!! My doctor ran a bunch of tests and prescribed me fertility drugs for whenver I wanted to start trying. My Mom took 5 long years to get so lucky with me (when I say lucky....I mean SUPER lucky...:) So I really thought that hubby and I were going to have some "fun" trying for a while (sorry Mom). I mean really...who's not up for that challenge?

So I take my board exam (See below)..partied my brains off (see below)...and apparently made a baby right after. I honestly don't know how it happened (Ok...wait..I know how it happened..I don't need the birds and bees talk)..but I really didn't think I could get prego for a WHILE...at least until I began taking fertility drugs and made myself more regular. This is truly a miracle!!!

So all of a sudden my girl parts starting hurting real bad (no not my yahoo....the twins upstairs). Every time I rolled over in bed I would wake up in pain. I went for a nice hard run..and thought my ta-ta's were going to fall off. I also seemed sorta sleepy....but I had just started taking some new medication and thought it could all be side effects. I don't know what...but something posessed me on Sunday to take a pregnancy test. I really did not think I was pregnant at all..but just wanted to entertain myself on a Sunday afternoon (Oh come on people...don't act like you don't ever get bored on Sundays and take pregnancy tests to add some adventure to your life). So I'm on the phone with my friend..and look down and these words stared me in the face
P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T....what?????? theres no way...theres no stinkin way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So of course there were some profanities........and shock...then I chugged a glass of water and peed again...
P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T! HOLY COW!!
So there it is! Today I went to the doctor and saw the little peanut through ultrasound...even got a glimpse at a heart beat. Peanut is 6 weeks along..and I'm due around March 22!! CRAZY right??? I hope it all works out..however I know its SUPER early. Keep me in your prayers...and hold on to your seats for this new adventure..(like I needed anymore adventure in my life..)

Meet Yogi Duff

The things you do when you dont want to run....
1) skip dinner....skipping dinner = not running....calories in - calories out...if you do the math..a lot of times skipping dinner is the same as not running
2) Trying yoga! Huh? Runnin Duff does not do yoga....we all know I can barely touch my toes and that is why I failed to win the presidential fitness award in elementary school..
3) Lots of power walking...I almost even talked myself into "walking" a half marathon...wtf am I thinking?
4) Bike rides to go scope out the housing market...hey...multi-tasking at its greatest


So I think its about time I sign up for a half marathon this fall and strap my running shoes back on. One more week on the road....and then it's go time. For now..you can find me on my hotel floor doing downward dog! :)

Walking through life

Literally..haha. Somehow my cravings for pounding pavement and stinging sweat dripping eyes has seized for the time being. It's been replaced by nice walks with the dogs, nieces & nephews, and walking to get errands done. I went for a nice 4 miler last weekend (run that is)...and my pace was as slow as a turtle and I felt completely out of shape...becuase I am. Right now I'm working an hour and a half away...working 13 hour days...and its just not really feasible to be the runner I used to be. But for now...I'm enjoying this new identity. Its relaxing....and will help me make babies (whoops...did i say that? shhhh)...I only have about 7 weeks left of clinical..and next month I'll only be about 40 minutes from home which makes working out much easier. I can see the light shining...I am ready to close this chapter of my life and move on to the next....houses & starting a family...(oh yeah...and my career..you can see where my priorities are). I know I have gone through these cycles before of not running...and then getting addicted to it...then slowing down..etc. So I'm sure you are used to it by now. If I've learned one thing in the last few years is that you have to roll with the punches and listen to your body. A hobby is not a hobby if you are no longer enjoying it...however staying active is always a necessity. It may change forms at different times...but its not something that can be ignored.

Still alive...focus on the prize

Hey friends! Yes I'm still alive...and no I didn't kill myself over the death of Michael Jackson. My rollercoaster got a little crazier after I made that last post....(personal stuff)...and then I made the long trip back to Ohio from Atlanta. I had a nice week off (not really)...to prepare myself for the board exam. Whos frickin idea was that??? Who the hell wants a vacation to study? I'd rather just bust my balls whenever I can and enjoy a week of freedom.

The board exam was un-eventful. It was 3.5 hours of my life that I rather forget...oh but wait....I pretty much did. Because then this happened...

Oooopsies! A bunch of friends joined me for a few celebration drinks......and then this happened...
We won a lobster!!!! Think vending machine with claw that usually wins (if youre lucky) a nice pink stuffed rabbit....but a LOBSTER!

LIKE THAT!!!
So we named him Lewie......short for Louis.....and had some fun.


Yes I'm smoking the lobster claw......
Then a few more drinks..


and bedtime!!! What a way to erase 3.5 hours out of your life.....
So here I am.....got a job....took the board.....only have 2 more months of clinicals!! What is a girl to do??? Well don't be fooled....clinicals are kicking my arse this month. The hospital is an hour and a half from home...so some days I've been driving there (have to be there at 6:30..do the math on what time I set the alarm for)...and other days I get a hotel. I can't wait to be done!!!

Sunday night I noticed I could no longer chew on my left side. I thought maybe all the pop I had been drinking to get me through boards gave me some cavities. I was almost positive I needed a root canal......so today I went to the dentist. Turns out I have TMJ (tempomandibular joint pain) from all the stress I've been under. Apparently I go to bed and clench my jaw to the point it's sprained now..and they put me on a soft foods diet! (pshhh....does that mean cookies?!? ) You think this is funny right? Turns out....its more common than you think...esp since the recession has gotten all these loonies stressed about their house, job, 401k, bonneville sittin on 24 in rims...etc My dentist had an article about how the dentists have seen an alarming increase in patients with TMJ in the last year from all this bulllllllllsheeeeeeeeet we've had to put up with. Final conclusion: Stress is real biatchessssss!

Rollercoaster

Wow..this week has been the biggest emotional rollercoaster I have ever felt. Seriously. So I decided to draw a little picture to depict it all for you...CLICK ON THE PIC TO MAKE IT BIGGER

Basically after getting the offer I got on Friday...I knew I didn't want it. So I put out an S-O-S call to the places I really wanted to work....SW & SJ....giving them a deadline of next Monday. SW was my first choice...but I hadn't heard a peep from them since the interview. I had sent them references and thank you notes and stuff and didn't hear a word. So I sorta expected to not hear from them....SJ was my first choice all along (until I got hood on it and started interviewing everywhere)....and they knew that. However...they told me in February they would call me during March to offer me a job...and it never happened. Its now June...and they kept stringing me along. I get the offer from SW...and I couldn't have been happier. I ended up making a verbal commitment right then and there (shoulda waited...silly duff...). I'm hoping to not hear from SJ until Monday so I can just sorta say they didn't meet the deadline and I had to decide. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO they want RunninDuff bad! I just felt so bad because I didn't want them to think I was being insincere all the times I said I was interested. In the end I got 3 offers...got offers from my top 2 choices...and I couldn't be more thrilled. I earlier had a hard decision of ranking them based on options

Option A: work more (lots of nights on call)....make more $$$...and 8 wks vacation
Option B: work less (no call..done by 3:30 everyday)...make less $$$...and 6 weeks vacation

I ended up chosing option B for quality of life. In my field...being gauranteed to leave by 3:30 is priceless. I feel chosing family/friends/working out over $$$ is something I'll never regret. I know whats important to me....and thats what I invested my decision in. Also I don't start till November 2nd (I graduate Sept 13) so that really gives me a lot of time to get myself together before starting my career. I'll probably never have another chance to have a break like this in my life...without being preggers etc. I've done so much in my short little life so far and have never taken a break. The boards are June 27....then its cruise to the finish.....the only thing missing out of this ordeal was my Dad. Nothing like landing an amazing job and being able to call your Dad (Dads little girl)...and talk numbers. He helped me decide where to go to grad school when I couldn't decide and I know he woulda been a big help in deciding this. I'm confident that I chose what he would have wanted me to choose. I just wish he was here to experience it all with me and be happy I moved home...

I hope this rollercoaster comes to a complete stop soon...I'm ready for an easy life

p.s. didn't get into the NYC lottery....was thinking of maybe doing Vegas marathon? Or maybe re-visiting Disney. But I think its always good to do new ones...any thoughts?

real quick

OK..only got a few minutes. I'm staying at the Hood Roof Inn Deluxe..and their internet went down so they sent me next door at the Hood Roof Inn...

baby names for the day..
Holden
Reagan
Charles


One was 2 lbs...one had club foot..and the other had an afro.

Got the job.....and another job....and had to go through the stress of telling the one no...after i kept expressing how much I wanted to work there. I still have to reject one more place...and I feel fortunate to be in this position...yet devastated when I have to tell these places no.

Tomorrow ill be back at Hood Roof Inn Deluxe and I can go into more details..but right now the manager at the downgraded Hood Roof Inn is giving me the evil eye..and he looks like he could be a terrorist.

TTYL!

Continuing

It seems as if you guys are lovin the baby names I'm seeing...so heres the list for today...

Carson (my favorite name..however is becoming WAYYYY too popular)
Sydney
Arabella (and they couldnt think of a middle name..so I said to name her after me...Arabella Christine...sounds good right?)

So far so good..but boy do women freak out when people stick needs in their back. We tell them to stick their back out like a mad cat....but then they get all mad and start squirming around and crying. I'm thinking 2 minutes of having a needle in the back can't be half as bad as hours of labor and squeezing a watermelon out your yahoo! But what am I to know?! And all the pregger women seem SHOCKED that I haven't had a baby yet. Not because I look old..but I think they figure if we are sticking needles in their pregnant heiny..that it was a prerequisite to have one done ourselves. And they also don't realize that while they are freaking out and carrying on...it definitely doesn't make me want to get preggers anytime soon.

Ran 2 days in a row...only 2-3 miles...I was getting a little melted and figured I'd head back to my Hood Room Inn before I ended up melted on the sidewalk. Tryin to figure out the rest of my race schedule after this board exam...find out about NYC marathon on Thursday !!!! whooo hooo!!! Also supposed to find out about a job I really really really want today...(didnt get any sleep last night thinking about it).

Randy Random

Delivered 3 babes today....a Crawford, a London, and a John that they plan to call Jack. Why not just name him Jack? ....crazy people...

For those of you runners out there (aka everyone that reads my blog)tomorrow is national running day So Im sure many of you are wondering what exactly this entails? Well for DD and I....it meant this...

Dear (Insert Boss's name here)

As I'm sure you're already aware, tomorrow is National Running Day.


http://www.runningday.org/pdf/National%20Running%20Day%20press%20release_final.pdf (press release)

http://www.runningday.org/index.asp (website)



I was just wondering if the runners of (insert company name here) are being patronized with a free day off? It seems as if I run for 4-5 hours on a Saturday for training, that maybe I should be granted 8 hrs to run for National Running Day. Please let me know your thoughts.....

Sincerely,
(insert your name here...or your least favorite co-worker who would never be seen running unless a vegetable were chasing him)

Feel free to use this template to try and get a free day off. If your boss doesn't seem amused...NO FEAR!!! Just wait till September when National "Run AT work Day" comes around. At least it involves the word "work"...you may have a better shot with that one.

Also we are now open to suggestions for the "theme of 2010". So far the only suggestion has been "The rest is still unwritten..." coming from the lyrics of this song...
Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield (aka theme from "the hills")
I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten


To me that seems like a perfect theme for 2010 in which we will be leaving our theme of "being hood" behind. I know..everyone is just as sad as we are to see it end....but i think 2010 will be about going above and beyond hood. Things that we can't even imagine right now while were still running the ghetto. If you have any other suggestions for what the theme of 2010 shall be...leave it in the comments section....but I see it being a year of opening doors...trying new things...living the rest of our lives...leaving the hood ...getting clean.... :)

Hotlanta

So this weekend I concluded my two month tour of Cleveland with a nice job offer. I promptly packed up and headed south to Cincinnati to visit one of my bffs (Dani). We had a great time sipping wine on her bf's rooftop deck and enjoyed delicious sandwiches brought by Mama Jill. I had to get new stents placed in my heart after suffering a broken heart due to the cavs big loss..booo hooo. I then made my way down to HOTlanta where the temps were in the triple digies....eeeeek! No worries...my hotel is not ghetto this time. I will be spending a month here familiarizing myself with why I don't want to have kids (AKA OB rotation delivering 60 babiez a day).

Still trying to decide what job I want....the saga/stress continues. I've gone into what I call "de-conditioning"...(aka getting out of shape) while studying for my boards. Only one month left of this hell...thank the lord. I do plan to start running again while in Atlanta. You may find me melted on the pavement...I wouldn't be surprised.

2 year anniversary

I can't believe its been 2 years since I got married!!! (The actual day is the 27th..but we celebrate it Memorial weekend..since it fell on the 27th the year we got married). I'm sure some of you remember this disaster from last years anniversary. No worries..I didn't try to re-create our cake again. This time we went out to dinner at this fabulous restaurant called Pier W. Its literally hanging off a cliff over Lake Erie with beautiful views of Cleveland and excellent food to accompany it.


Food was phenom! Hubby had filet and alaskan king crab legs..it was to die for. A lot of their fish from Alaska was caught the day before. Usually it takes about a week for the fish to get from Alaska to the diners mouth. Luckily our chef had a connection :) Here are some pictures of us before we left...




So I guess as the tradition was started last year...I'll follow up this year with what we've accomplished during our second year of marriage

1)Finished up first year of graduate school
2)Sold the mustang convertible and bought an Acura (since I decided to move back up north...convertibles dont go in snow)
3)Took a trip to Denver, Colorado and ran the skirt chaser rac3
4)Started my first grad school rotation outside of Savannah
5)Lost my Dad..picked myself back up..and continued moving around the country every month by myself to do clinicals
6)Moved all our belongings from Savannah to Ohio
7)Hubby transferred to Ohio with his job...yay!
8)Ran the disney marathon
9)Ran a bunch of races in Georgia...got 2nd place in my age group for one of them :)
10)Hopefully in a week I'll be able to tell you that I got a job..haha
11)Spent more time away from each other than we did together..... :(

The second year of marriage has definitely been crazy...but then again so was the first...haha. I'm hoping the third one is much more calm with some rewards for all the hard work we've been doing.

Heres a few wedding photos :

read this

Read this post from Ericas blog. It's amazing...


Its all the words in my head that I can't get out on paper without sounding like a weirdo. When engineers try to get "deep" it can produce some pretty scary things..so I leave it to other people. All of this is so true..and I often find myself stuck in these ruts. Ever since losing my Dad..I've been much better about having the right focus in life. Its so easy to sit and tell you to enjoy life, enjoy people not things..focus on others and you will find that you have much more than when you focus on yourself..etc. ..etc...etc... I can say it over and over again..but until you go through something life changing...you don't get it. Even I dont get it...or sometimes I forget. Its so sad that it takes losing something to cherish the rest of whats left...but God works in mysterious ways. Take some time to have a little purpose in your life.....


I took care of a guy yesterday who lost his 36 yr old wife to a garage fire in January. He has 3 small children...and his wife was the good smaritan of the town. She actually died while trying to start up her snow plow to plow all the neighbors driveways that morning. They had 3 young kids..and I'm sitting there telling this guy the ins & outs of anesthesia..and he starts telling me about his wife. I completely understand this because I found myself telling all sorts of strangers about my Dad...for some reason some people it helps them to talk about it...and others would rather not. I felt so helpless...that all I could do was put a little "cocktail" in this guys IV to make him forget his pain for a few hours. I was lucky I could even do that...

...I wish there was more I could do.....but putting someone out of their misery for a few hours and taking away fear and pain is a great thing.....I have a good job

You can take the runner out of running...

But you can't take the running out of the runner! Wow..are you confused? so am I! Anyway..last week I didn't make it out to run for 4 straight days. By the 5th day I realized that I needed to get out and run or I was going to kill myself. I had gone on a few 2+ mile walks...but ughhh..not the same as pounding pavement. Luckily I recognized how big of an issue it was before committing myself to a mental institute. Even though my runs right now are just enjoyable little 3 milers...it keeps me sane. I crave it.. I need it...I can't function without it. I need the sunshine, the breeze, the smell of fresh cut grass...the feeling of hitting the pavement...heavy breathing...sweat dripping...etc. It is who I am..and I cannot be without it..for more than 3 days.

These next 6 weeks are going to fly by...then God will kindly hand me my life back. MY life....of course it will be a completely different life than the one I used to have...but as long as its completely different than the one I have now..I'll be happy. I'm so focused on this board exam and figuring out where I want to work that I can't imagine what it will be like to be a real person again. Ive been in college 7 years now...S E V E N. I hope I don't have the same reaction to "not being a student anymore" as I did to "not being able to run."

How Bout Them Apples

So Friday we did "trampoline night"..a.s I had mentioned previously. This weeks episode included different dance moves on the trampoline including the lawn mower, walk like an egyptian, the funky chicken dance, electric slide, and macarena! I know...you are so sorry you missed it! hahaha

Saturday I got a call from the hubby saying he was at my Dads favorite bar (Stop 45). A few hours went by...and Mom and I decided to go "bust him" like we used to do to my Dad. So we walked to the bar (1.5 miles)with the puppy and busted him with his friends. While we were there, it seemed like fun watching the Cavs game, so we decided to walk back home and change clothes. Only to walk back to the bar again....you get the drift. Once we got to the bar we had a few drinks followed by an Irish car bomb. I saw some people I knew from high school (I live in a small town..all the bars are like a high school reunion on weekends)...and proceeded to get pretty smashed. We decided it would be best to walk home....and sober up haha. We told funny stories about my Dad the whole way home..shed a few tears...drank many glasses of water..and headed to bed. It was best for everyone that we make it to bed by midnight with some hydration on board. I just think its funny that we walked to and from the bar TWICE. The neighbors were looking at us strange since we had completely changed outfits...

Hoping to make it out for a nice little run today. Sadly my mileage is like 3 miles a few times a week. But I'm just glad to get out there and breathe some fresh air. I should start a countdown for Boards to be over....or will that make it seem to creep by?

Golfers are lucky

I'm sure youre thinking "yeah...golfers are lucky...they swing the shit out of a stick and then get carted around beautiful country clubs to go find the ball". Rough life right? Well the golfers at this hotel are ESPECIALLY lucky! I seem to keep forgetting that this hotel is at a country club. More importantly...I keep forgetting that eventhough I am taking an elevator to my room...its really eye level with the golf course. So everyday when I come blasting through the door and can't wait to change into comfy clothes (bc scrubs are soooo uncomfortable..!?) I rip down my pants and look up to see a golf cart flying by...or some old man tryin to put the ball. EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!! Thank god most old man golfers have cataracts or I'd be in biiiiiiiiiig trouble mister!

Its all about picking yourself up

I had a nice little weekend that included a LOT of studyin! I was anxiously dreading awaiting my new rotation that starts today. This new rotation is about an hour commute as I had mentioned before....and the first day at a new hospital always sucks ass! Well last night I ended up having nightmares alllllllllll night about when my Dad passed away. It was a pretty traumatic event in my life..but I have NEVER had nightmares like this before. I obviously don't want to go into detail...but there was one good point to it. In this re-hash of the tragedy...I actually got to say goodbye. I hugged my Dad over and over again and told him what a good Dad he was and how much I love dhim...something that I never got to do the first time. I'm not sure what you believe..but some people feel that when their loved ones come to them in dreams..that it's really their spirit. If thats the case...I actually woke up feeling like I got to say goodbye....yet that good feeling was definitely washed out by all the other horrible images/feelings from the dream.

So I pulled my butt outta bed at 4:30...got ready..and got in the car. I cried the whole way to the hospital...and literally all the fear I had in me whenit all first happened...came right back. It was almost like re-living the whole thing again. I was afraid to reach down and pick up my cell phone...for fear that someone was going to grab my arm from under the bed (no jokes...this is how i was the first time around..i thought there were boogie men in every corner). I was afraid to open the door and let the cat in..for fear that someone was going to run in the house and kill me. All these feelings that I was so happy to get rid of during the healing process, came right back since I basically relived the whole event the night before.

I luckily got to the hospital 35 minutes early and drove straight to the drug store. I bought all new make-up and sat in the car for 20 minutes wiping the black streaks off my face and reapplying eye shadow, foundation etc. It never makes a good impression when you walk into a hospital (and potential job opportunity) and looked like you just got hit by a mascara truck. I blew my nose..probably would have put cucumbers on my eyes if I had a tiny bit more time...and pulled myself together to walk into the new hospital. I busted my ass all day taking care of patients, learning the new routines, figuring out where they keep the supplies, and keeping my head up. I skipped breaks...didn't get to eat lunch...and just kept plugging along with a big ole fake smile on my face.

WHen I finally got to leave and get in my car for the journey home..I realized how strong I am. I thought about the endless times I've had to scrape myself off the pavement and put on a smiling face for these stupid clinicals. To stand there at the hospital in the midst of strangers that haven't a clue about what I'm going through. Each time I think of how many people would have quit...would have just turned the car around this morning and said "fuck it"...and I felt proud to be who I am.

It's so easy to criticize yourself...oh I need to lose 10 lbs...eww..I have a zit...I'm not good enough..etc. etc. etc. But when the world chews you up and spits you out...and stomps on your face...do you get up with a smiling face and say "Good morning JOhn...I'm Christine from anesthesia..I'll be taking care of you today!"....I know I do....and I do it with my makeup still perfectly applied :)

Cardiovascular Physiology & Anesthesia here I come

Ewww..I'm going to try to get through all my cardio stuff this weekend as far as board studying goes. I also hope to run and lift both today and tomorrow. Starting Monday I am at a new hospital that is about 45 mins- 1hr away (ughh). HOWEVER...I pricelined a hotel for $50 for two of the nights to cut down on commute time and increase studying productivity. I was pleasantly surprised that the quail hollow resort accepted my bid! What a treat for $50 a night!!! Now I'm kinda excited and might do that for all 4 weeks I'm there.

Also lately we have been enjoying walking to my brothers house (he lives on a golf course about 2 miles away) on Friday nights. I think we might make this a new family tradition..but we walk over there...wait for it to get dark...we all wear those glowing neon bracelets and necklaces and jump on the trampoline with the kids. Of course there is alcohol involved as well for the adults. Then after everyone is all tuckered out...we order pizza and my hubby & brother jam out on the guitar. I feel like traditions are what keeps a family together sometimes. ANd what a FUN summer tradition? Friday night Pizza & Trampoline fun! Unfortunately last nights weather spoiled it for us..and my hubby is out of town.

Also.....keep my buddies running the Flying Pig Marathon in mind this weekend! Danielle is going for a BQ time! Leave her some encouraging comments...shes going to rock it out!

Scrap that.....

Just went for a 6.5 mile run by the lake....beautimous...

so little time

I haven't had much time lately to update...whoopsies! But life has been busy with baby shower planning ( & executing)...studying...scheduling (my schedule for next month changed about 7 times in one week..final verdict..I'll be in Cleveland next month)...job searching...etc.

Notice you didnt see running in there? I have only been running 3 days a week to do al the other extra curricular activities that have taken over. It happens to all of us...we get obsessed...then life gets in the way. No worries..when June 26th comes around I'm about to punch the daylights out of "life" and bring back running...bringin sexy back! But in the interim..I'll continue updating just so you know I'm alive :)

FRIES DAY...FOTOS

Finally..Friday at last! This week was filled with open heart surgeries, lots of studying, not as much working out, and not enough sleep. Heres how I capped off the week...

Ran 1.5 miles to my high school...ran laps around the track with running up and down the bleachers 8 times in between the laps...then ran 1.5 miles home. The weather was absolutely glorious and the run was great. Then afterwards...I took Bentley to do this!
How refreshing! This week will be filled with studying, running, lifting, slides. I swear my life is like doing repeat runs..or living re-run television shows. No worries though..as soon as June rolls around I will be exciting again :)

In other news..I got floor seats to take my 12 yr old niece to go see Taylor Swift for her Birthday. I know I know..I'm the best aunt eva...!! :)

Change of gears

My life has quickly changed from running mode to school mode. Our board exam crept up on me like a little quiet mouse and will be taking over my life for the next couple months. Running will be ramped down to a few 3-4 milers a week to keep a base. Maybe a longer run on the weekends 5-10 miles. I'm continuing to lift..however I might try to go to higher reps and less weights. My arms are the size of texas and are starting to scare me.

I also got some bloodwork done and found out I have over-active thyroid?!?! WHAT??? This thing I was always jealous of other people having...I suddenly have and don't want it! Anyone else looking for an overactive thyroid? I have one...free to a good home...must pick up. (No worries..I got the anesthesia part..you just need a knife).
Make it go away...I don't want to get it zapped with radiation. Maybe thats the reason my neck grew an inch? Maybe I'm growing a HUGE goiter...ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Happy Birthday TO meeeee

So today I turned 25. YIKES! I'm a quarter of a century old..I'm halfway to 50..I'm now officially part of the "mid twenties" club..and officially get a car insurance discount. (However that doesn't mean that I drive any safer..so look out). I had a great birthday..the weather was beautiful, I got out of work way early, had dinner with my Mom and Hubby, went for a two mile walk in the beautiful sunshine with my pup..it was just perfect. The only thing missing was my Dad :( I had the cutest voicemail from him last year saying "I wanted to sing you a little Birthday song..if you want to hear that song..give me a call back!". Somehow after he passed away I managed to delete that message..I have NOOOOOOO clue how because I had been saving it for dear life. However I still have a random message from him telling me that Hubby's car is blocking his in the driveway...haha.

So there ya have it..I'm now an Old runninduff! Older & Wiser :) Lookin forward to the weekend..been gettin my butt kicked at the hospital all week. Daylight savings is crampin my style because I can't go to bed at 7:30 anymore..its still light out :( haha

My first DNS...and a fat neck..

Well I woke up Saturday to 35 degrees and 40 mph winds. Despite that..I still got up early and got myself ready for the race. I completely under dressed...just wearing some puma pants and tech shirt and sweatshirt. When I got to the race everyone was dressed like eskimos with hats, mittens, scarves, ...basically all I could see was their eyes. Ok but first...I drive out to the race. Its 35 minutes away and I gave myself an extra 15 minutes to get there. This was a very small race held at the local Metroparks...and when I pulled up to the location there was no parking to be found ANYWHERE! I ended up driving about 2 miles away to find the closest (Safest) parking place and then sprinting the 2 miles to the starting area.

Upon arriving to the race area, I see many runners with numbers similar to mine. PHEW! I made it! I'm standing there alone and freezing (this is the norm since I always run all my races by myself....running buddies? anyone?? ) and the race director says "The 5-k is starting in 10 minutes!!" So I look sorta confused but then look at everyones numbers standing around me and they are exactly the same. You know when you are by people with the same numbers that you can safely assume you are running the same race. WRONG! Turns out the half marathon had already started. BUMMER! So I start heading back to my car all bummed out at my first "DNS" "Did not start"...and I get halfway to my car and realize I should have ran the 5-k. I quickly turn back to see if I could make it to the start...and realize that had already started as well. In the end I got a COLD 4 mile run to and from my car and an hour and 15 min drive out of the deal...oh wait..and a crappy sweatshirt I'll use to ditch at my next race. SWEEEEET!

So to make a long story short...no I didnt run the half marathon. Yes I did try...very hard. It wasn't meant to be :(

Well after coming back to my beloved gym in Ohio...they decided to recheck all my measurements. A quick little background if you havent been following...I got suckered into getting a personal trainer at my gym in January. It is then that I decided to start lifting weights (and quickly got obsessed).
Since January 19
My body fat went from 20.5 to 18.4!! SWEEEEEEET
But my neck grew an inch????? Thats a lot!
Biceps grew .25"
Calfs got smaller?!?...I swear those suckers only keep growing..esp with running and NOW lifting with legs...but apparently they are shrinking?
Everything else was pretty much the same
WEird though..maybe my head got bigger and my neck had to grow to support it?
Next thing you know I'll start gettin these....

EEK! I sure hope not! But I plan to take a nice buff picture sometimes soon to scare off any potential blog stalkers. :)

One last thing..I'm sure you all remember this disaster when I tried to bake a cake for my anniversary!? Well I'm happy to report the situation is getting better...check it out

Should I stay or should I go...

Theres a lil half marathon thing-a-ma-bobber in town tomorrow. I paid for it..got the shirt...all that jazz. However..the weather is not cooperating here in the hood aka Cleveland. I became a spoiled brat when running in the South and decided to not do races that have bad weather. Thats no fun right? I know..I know. Either way I'm treating it like a fun training run since I havent been running long distances lately. The longest run I've done is 6 miles...and I've been focusing more on speed. I thought for $25 it would be fun to get out there and run a half mary with friends and just up my mileage and go nice and easy. Sooooooooo the question....should I stay or should I go??

Straight up gangsta!

Ok..this post may make you laugh...may make you cry....may even make you pee your pants....worse case scenario...it may make you bust out your old crack pipe and dust'er off for a lil smokey smokey.

Danielle and I (also known as hot pants) have often had themes for our years. The first 8 years we were friends...we used the theme "Sexy Twins". See below.


Then...that got old. We grew up...we finally actually knew what "Sexy" was...we were sick and tired of trying to please others and declared 2008 the year with the theme "ALL ABOUT ME!!!!!!" All year long we decided to not give an eff...do what we want...say what we want...buy whatever we wanted...if you dont like us...then go away! See below.


Here we are seen with shopping bags galore...in which we together bought 7 pairs of shoes that weekend as well as some designer jeans and whatever the hell else we felt like. ALL ABOUT ME 2008!! ALL ABOUT MEEEEEE!

Well...lets get one thing straight...this theme failed MISERABLY! Maybe it was Gods way of punishing us for being selfish, but not gonna lie, 2008 was the worst year ever for BOTH of us. Bad relationships...Bad moves...Big losses...Stressed..Broke...Unfulfilled...Unhappy...ain't nothin good about 2008. OK fine..some good things came out of it too...like running my first marathon, half marathon, 5k, 10k, getting an awesome tri bike, starting a blog, meeting some new friends and surviving. I'll repeat...*surviving*. Between the two of us we moved 7 times and lived in the following: Chicago, Sarasota, Cincinnati, Savannah, Atlanta, Cleveland & Gainesville. Then 2009 came along...what next? I mean we did th sexy twin thing...did the "all about me" theme...what could we possibly do to change things up and ensure an awesome 2009?

I know were a little late on our theme...not exactly. We've been doing it all along..just never went public with it. But now its time to keep it real!.....so here it is gang.

2009 is HOODRATS FOR LYFFEE! GANGSTA!!!
You got it...down right ghetto hood rats with gangsta names and all. See below.


Here we are seen as "Double Deezy & Chizzle Nizzle"...please refer to us as this for the rest of 09.

Why hood you ask? Well...we work on a hood point system. When we do something "hooood"...we get hood points. Obviously there are different amounts of points depending on how hood it is. Lets say for instance...I drive by a car that is purple on 25 inch rims..I take a pic of it..send it to Double Deezy..and she writes back saying "HOOOD!" 2 points! Where else can you get points for doing things like skipping out of work, ditching your running group, sagging your scrubs in the OR, and drinking too much? Really its a great system that rewards you for things you might otherwise be embarassed about.

So I know everyone has a lil hoodrat in them. What have you done that's hood? Check here to find out your gangsta name and leave it in the comments section (FYI..Deezy's name is really Cow-Tippin Monkey Hunta..shhhhh)

Pretty funny...we try to outdo each other all the time. We even hope to run a race together with our gangsta names..and maybe even take some shot bloks!! SOOOO HOOOOOD! Basically when life gets us down..we get hood on it. We get our gangsta lean on and keep going....during races, jobs, training, dating, marriage, etc. Basically hoodrats make it through the toughest of situations. They may not always make it look pretty...but they forge ahead and when all else fails..they get downright dirrrrty! So really...being hood is a great way to live...unless you end up with a cap in yo ..nevermind.

Disclaimer: This is not an attempt to make fun of anyone. Its a joke on ourselves. The truth is..we are not hood at ALL! I had to photoshop out the backgrounds of our pics since it included things such as wine racks, candles etc. We are probably the least hood people on the planet of the earth... Either way...we be keepin it real...in 2009

Coming Clean

OK! I'm finally facing my own worst enemy......myself! I decided to CUT THE CRAP and start eating CLEAN! I used to be soooooo good about it and maintained a 25 lbs weight loss for 5 years flawlessly. Then a bunch of stress, unfortunate life events, therapy through exercise has turned me into a food monster..

So I decided enough is enough! The more I worked out...the hungrier I became (wow! really?..)..and I was overeating for the amount I was burning. Running and lifting has boosted my metabolism sooo much that it just makes me ravishing all the time. Not necessary a bad thing...but the bad part was the food choices I was making. Processed, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, frozen, microwavable, carbs, carbs, carbs, coookies in the lunch room etc. DONE-ZO! NO MORE! Luckily I have discovered some awesome food bloogs in the process which have given me some amazing ideas of how to incorporate veggies. Yes I'm like a child..you have to essentially "sneak" them into food.

So here is what a NEW typical day of food has been looking like
-Oatmeal & Coffee (surprise surprise) (1/2 c oats, 1 scoop protein, 2 Tbsp PB powder, Dash of granola on top)
-Tomato Basil wrap with egg whites, spinach, 1 Tbsp hummous, cheedar cheese
-Basil Pesto Tilapia, Baked sweet potato, Piece of sprouted rye toast

The conclusion? Its amazing....when I eat clean..I stay more satisfied! DUHHHH! I know all this stuff about food but I just choose to ignore it to let myself grab twelve one more cookie! But I'm back on the wagon..If I want to get better at racing I need to fuel my body with the proper nutrients. Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels..thats my story and I'm stickin to it. No more dirty..clean eating for me. (No that doesn't mean I can only eat cookies that haven't fallen on the floor)

Other news...with my recent coffee obsession I decdied to get one of these for my B day
When I decided to start liking coffee..I also declared that I was a coffee snob. I could not deal with filters, grinding, etc. I immediately turned into a starbucks girl that had to have fresh brewed coffee at an instant with no mess. This little Keurig guy was the PERF solution. Instant cup of coffee in 30 secs...any flavor I want..any time..and I can even grind coffee and put it in there if I don't want to use a K-Cup. (Ok..like I would really do that..after all this is why I got it in the first place). Even my mother who was all "Anti"..became suddenly obsessed when she realized how late for work she was and she could get an awesome cup of coffee in the blink of an eye. LOVE IT! Costco has a great deal on them...check it out!

And other sad news...I didn't win the san fran womens marathon lottery :( :( BOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO! I didn't win the lottery that makes you pay if you win! Maybe NYC will turn in my favor? Or maybe I'm meant to tackle a 70.3? my fate is in the hands of the new yorkers....SCARY! haha

Smell the roses?

It's spring break but there are no roses! However...my allergies are still insane! I thought it would be better in the O-H-I-O..boy was I wrong.

So I'm sure you're all DYING to know what I'm doing for spring break right? Too bad I spent 10 hours driving in the WRONG direction this weekend (from South TO North). But I was so excited to see my family and puppy that I couldn't wait to get out of Georgia. I have a little list of things I'd like to accomplish this week..so I'll put it on my blog and that way I am kept accountable

- Finish inputting my case logs for school (this will take forever)
- Get my chapter summaries done for next month
- Create my next senior seminar presentation
- Job interview on Tuesday...
- Program spare key on new car
- Get new license with new last name with new age (scary!! I'm turning 25 very soon!)
- Finish switching all my other stuff over to my new name
- Celebrate hubby's b day
- Possibly run a half marathon (weather depending)
- Workout everyday
- Take puppy to the Dog Park (hopefully when its not SUPER muddy..bc then I'll have to add Puppy Bath to this list)
- Visit my Dad...we have some long overdue chats..and I missed him on St Pattys Day..never too late to celebrate :) Maybe I'll drink a green beer with him at the cemetery..haha..how funny would that be?
- Enjoy some relaxation, sleeping in, & middle of the day chats with hot pants

So there ya have it! A week goes by quick..hopefully I can accomplish all of this haha I better get started now!

p.s. add this...mail in my evals from last month

You know you are a runner when...dot dot dot...

The plumber comes to fix your toilet...and says
"Have you been running lately?"

I give him a weird expression and say... "My toilet's running!??"

He then looks around and says "No..YOU!..."

Of course there are scattered race numbers, "City Sports" bags, running shoes, age group medals (60 & over..yes!!)...scattered all over my room...so I quickly respond "Yea..I do a little running here and there"

EEEK!! What do you have in your room that labels you "runner"? I even have a box of safety pins...Aleve...water bottles...protein bars, drinks, etc.

Anyway...I'M DONE WITH PEDIATRICS!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOO! Did NOT enjoy this rotation AT ALL! I dunno what it was...but I didn't like it. The kids were cute though...not cute enough to make me ever want to work at a Childrens Hospital. Tonight I'm going to go workout..finish packing up my stuff..then Homeward bound.

And one other big thing!! ITS SPRING BREAK!! I get a week off...be jealous :)

The little oat girl...

So this girl did some strange things while in Atlanta. When I come home...my family is going to think someone kidnapped me and brainwashed me. While living in this lovely city for a month...I indulged in 2 things that I completely despised my entire life!
1) Oatmeal
2) Coffee

How weird is that? And its not like I just tried it once or twice and decided it wasnt soooo bad. I freakin ate/drank it every single day! How does that happen? You go from HATING despising something...to feeling like you absolutely positively cannot go a day without it.In fact....I finished an entire can of oats while I was here..and broke my rule of "No More Grocery Trips Before I Move" because I was in a panicked state that I couldn't have oatmeal. This is freakin nuts! Has this ever happened to you? I mean I know they say "its an acquired taste" but seriously?

Also the allergies have been absolutely insane here! I can't breathe, my throat is raw..i wake up everytime I have to swallow..my head is pounding. For proof that I'm not just being a whiner...this is what was next to my car this afternoon...


POLLEN ATTACK!!....so because I've been feeling so miserable..I took monday and tuesday off running and today I only did 2.5 miles. Tomorrow I plan to do 5 miles no matter what..and make myself suck it up even if I'm not feeling well. OVER IT!

Only 4 more days....

So as most of you know..I haven't seen my hubby or puppy since February. I have been living a solitary life in a hotel in a city in which I don't know anyone..working at a hospital in which I don't know anyone...and running races secretly as a 60 yr old...again...where I know not a soul. Why does it turn out that when I have 4 more days here...I find out I knew someone here...who was also running DIFFERENT races...by herself? WHY? Why do things work like that? A girl from college happens to be in Atlanta doing her pharmacy rotations here this month..and just so happens to have run a different 5k last weekend. Neither of us knew we were here..until of course...the month was about over. Ughh! Also I just NOW found where the good running trails are...just NOW found where a track to do sprint workouts is....and can finally get to the hospital and gym without my Garmin. Of course...now its time to go. I guess its good I'm coming back here in May & June because I now know how to rock out the ATL!


Also..I'm trying to finish out my last 4 days on whatever groceries I have left. Things are about to get verrrrrrrry interesting in this little hotel of mine. Things I have left to work with
- celery (eek..its a little old..)
- cheese
- few Tbsp of peanut butter (yes I went through a whole small jar in one month)
- Strawberry preserves
- Cinnamon/Raisin mini bagels
- Egg & Cheese lean pockets
- Oats
- Milk
So today I tried PB & J Oatmeal! I'm sure many of you eat this all the time..but being a newcomer of oatmeal (hated it for 23 years)..it was new to me! Also for breakfast I had PB & J on a cinnamon raisin mini bagel! Life will come to a hault when I finish up those last few Tbsp of PB..I will then be eating celery and cheese on a mini bagel! EEEEK! (this may be a good diet trick....)

One other thing...I mentioned earlier that I threw my name in the hat for some lotteries (San fran 1/2 marathon, NYC full marathon). Well...depending on the results of these lotteries..will decide my fate this fall. I was tossing around the ideas of those two races as well as a possible half ironman in November (Beach 2 Battleship). I think my plan is to see if I get into any of these events...and if not...the 1/2 Iron is ON! So...I'll know very soon about the san fran...won't know until May about NYC..but either way I couldn't jump FULL force into Iron training until after I take the board exam (June 28th). So all of this timing works out! Also my plan with tri training is a little different and was wondering if I could get some opinions. I was going to swim 2500 m once a week (I grew up a swimmer...swimming comes easy to me..however I have a shoulder with 6 screws in it..and so if I swim too much..I'll be hosed..) And then I was planning to do one long bike a week..and one brick a week. So essentially I would be swimming once, biking twice, and running 4 times. I feel like this is probably the only way the training would work for me....but will this work for the race? Any suggestions welcomed...all you hard core triathloners!

You have GOT to read this...

So...if I told you I was 60 would you believe me??? Keep that question in mind....

The Operation Homefront 5K run for the troops....Race Report...Extravaganza..Disaster..Triumph...Victory....Defeat...

Those are the words that describe todays race..sounds interesting right? Keep reading!

I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night wanting to forfeit the race..I was exhausted...sore from all the weeks workouts...sleep just sounded sooo much better!

Despite all odds...I pulled my butt out of bed (with a little help from the bursting bladder)...and figured if I was up to go to the bathroom...I might as well be up to run a 5k! Easy enough right?

Driving there made me realize right away a sub 25 would not happen. My car was complaining to me about the hills...so I knew my lungs wouldn't be happy either. In the end...as long as I could get a new PR I would be happy.

We walked up a hill to start the race and then took off. You would think that walking UP a hill would mean a fast start going downhill!?! Wishful thinking right? Somehow we started climbing right off the bat. I did my best to power up the hills and let my self recover a little bit once I got up them as to not completely whack out my heart rate. This one girl with a goarmy.com shirt passed me and I decided to just draft off her the whole race...then with about .5 mile left I passed her up on a hill. With about .25 left this girl passed me and looked like she was going strong..and I thought "Awwwww helllll no you dont! You will NOT pass me in the last .25 mile!"...and I just took off like a bat out of hell and sprinted past her and kept sprinting till the end. My splits were as follows :
8:31
8:33
8:45
Finishing time was 26:31 for a pace of 8:32 which is good for a PR by 36 seconds (which is GREAT considering that PR was set on a flat course) I decided to stick around for the awards since I didn't see too many girls ahead of me..I thought there was a chance I might win something.

I could hear all the chatter on how tough the course was...and talk about the hills..and traffic (they warned us multiple times about the traffic and risk of dying on the course...sweeeeeeet! The race was to benefit wounded soldiers..however I felt like they were trying to recruit wounded runners). We then planted a tree in honor of all the wounded soldiers and dumped coffee, water, gatorade, baby formula on it. I wouldnt be surprised if the tree is dead tomorrow.

So we get to the womens age group of 20-29 and they call the third place girl with a time of 28:30...Inside I get all excited thinking "YES!! I got 2nd in my age group!" 2nd place girl with a time of "25:40"....wait..what? Did they just skip me? Wait..what age group are we in again? HOLD UP PEOPLE!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?

So I start talking to myself..Do I say something? Do I walk up and make a scene? Do I care? What do I do??? Then I started thinking...this isn't fair. I'm not fast enough to EVER win an award..and I have a blog..where I could post the picture of me and my award...ahhhhhhh...so I decided to step up and say something. The guy acted like it was a BIG deal that they messed up..and I kept trying to explain it's not that big of a deal..and I quietly disappeared back into the crowd. I figured once they finished announcing the women that he would announce the mistake or something..nope nothing...finishes the guy awards...even finishes the DOG AWARDS!!!..and no mention of runninduff :(

So then I was annoyed..this guy KNEW he messed up...tried to cover it up and let it slip through the cracks..(funniest part..his company was called "Exact Timing"...riiiiggghhhttt)..so I decided to say something. He was able to scrounge up a 3rd place age group medal for the 60 & Over! AWESOME!!!!! (being super sarcastic here). Never announced it to anyone.....and I had to ask to get my picture taken with my 60 & OVER medal! ANYONE could get 3rd place in the 60 and OVER group! Ughh..so frustrating. So by the end I felt extremely stupid...for making a big deal out of a stupid 5k...but at the same time I felt sooo slighted. I know if he would have admitted the mistake to everyone I probably would have walked away and never thought anything of it. It was the fact that I never got ANY recognition for poppin lungs out there on those hills....

Ok....and secretly the worst part. The girl who walked away with MY medal was the girl that I decided to beat this time because she wore tights with stirrups on them and running shorts over them. The whole combo was making her out to be some super duper professional runner..and I just KNEW I had to beat her. The best part...I never even saw her as I finished 2 minutes ahead of her...but wait...who has the medal? She does! I think that made it worse....

So...here it is...in all its glory!! My 60 & Over award....



Am I sad I didnt break 25 minutes? Yes..however this was NOT the course to do it on. The 20-29 GUYS division first place winner ran 25:56 only 30 seconds faster than me. Does it make me want to run a sub 25 on a flat course even more? Yes!...I can't wait to get back to O-Hi-O and do it! I need to check this goal off the list. Did the world stop since I didn't conquer my goal? I don't know...my clock is still ticking...so I guess not haha.

I will post the final stats when the race results are up.....although I'm sure they will be all screwed up and say I ran a 3 hr 5k..so much for "exact timing"...they didnt even use chips...what a joke!

Foto Friday

Heres a lil pic from the last race I did! I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite the rainy weather. I am crossing my fingers to run a sub 25 tomorrow....can I do it? Will the world end if I don't?? Stay tuned to find out........hahaha


Also..I have had interest in the protein bar wrapper, a taker for the 2 pink highlighters, and a question on the quench gum. Anyone want the half used deodrant or anesthesia book? Come on people!!! These are GOOD Giveaways! Especially for all you runner anesthesia students out there ;)

Another week down...one week left until I get to move back to Ohio and see my family again! I havent seen the hubby since the end of February...same with the puppy :(

Since I titled this "Foto Friday" I will leave you with some fun and silly pics of me through the years...