lifeisgoodlifeisgood

Life is good.

I love life.

Life is good.

Life is good.

I LOVE my dog. LOVE HER. She WILL be a better QUIETER dog tomorrow. She MUST be.



Mantras work...right?  I need some major positive energy STAT and am hoping some finds me and fills me up while I sleep.

Will post today's eats tomorrow morning...it was a very successful day as far as the challenge goes!

maia

So apparently Maia is being a bit of a brat at puppy daycare....

love me some dunkin

Thanks to the wonderful Leah, I was up at at 'em early this morning and got in a quick 3.75 mile run, followed by a 1 mile run/pulling war with Maia before I had to head out early to our interviews.

Maia isn't quite sure of this running business...and I got quite the evil eye when we got home. :)



I was glad I was able to get out with Maia in the morning, but I knew it wasn't enough - so Nic and I dragged her out again this evening. Our walk with full of cooling off breaks and a nice dunk in her mini pool afterwards.



Today's workout::


mile 1 - 7:47
mile 2 - 8:07
mile 3 - 8:05
mile 4 - 8:36
mile 5ish - 10:33

Our evening walk with Maia was about 2.5 miles.

Love me some dunkin'::
Dunkin' dark blend coffee + soy milk = the best iced coffee ever.



Today's eats::



It seems like today's theme when it came to meals was "dunkin'" (not just for coffee!) For lunch, we dunked veggies into hummus and cheese toast into pasta sauce, my snack was apple slices dunked into peanut butter, and I did a little bit of dunking at dinner with my veggies and fabulous chana masala! I followed this recipe and will for sure be making again!

{and just for the record - McDonald's coffee sucks and we were forced to do our first interview there [classy, I know!] because the owners of the local coffee shop are on vacation. Gotta love small town living!}

Body Image::
Fact - I have lost a lot of weight in the past year. I am much healthier than I used to be and I eat much much better. {see the post below with the photos!}

So - why do I still think that I am fat? My love handles jump out at me whenever I look in the mirror and I don't have the flat stomach that I think I should have.

Granted - I've been taking it easier these past few weeks because work has just been crazy, but still...

I clearly have poor body image, not all days, but enough days to annoy the crap out of Nic.  Need to work on that - I LOOK DAMN GOOD.  :)

yoga + morning walk challenge

As I sit here during my "me time" (Nic is in bed) I am feeling quite lazy. So I've decided that during my me time every night, I am going to start doing some yoga. I've heard of the site yogadownload.com and they are some free 20 minute classes that I am going to try out.  I think this will be a nice way to wrap up the day.

And to start the day - I've got to get back in the habit of waking up just a wee bit earlier and taking the pup for a walk...she is getting pretty restless during the day without a morning walk. And a restless dog = not a productive day at work for me.

We'll see how long this lasts...

happy earth day!

But Earth Day should be every day, right?! This year, to celebrate Earth Day (or really just because we wanted to), we signed up for our first CSA. Starting tomorrow we will be getting a majority of our fresh produce from no further than 30 miles away! And to top it all of, it is organic produce.

I was a little hesitant at first, because I thought we could really just get all of our produce from the farmers market if we really wanted to "be green," but thought it might be fun to be forced to try some new and maybe unusual produce by signing up for the CSA.

Our first box will include the following:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Lettuce (red, green & romaine)
• Cilantro
• Sweet baby carrots
• Beets
• Chard
• Kale
• Cabbage

I guess I'll be looking up some ways to prepare beets, chard, kale and cabbage in the next week. Any suggestions??


Here's a good article on what produce you might consider buying organic, and what stuff you don't need to shell out big bucks for.

And in an effort to post some more photos...my breakfast today was amazing as usual. :)

Ginger peach tea with a bowl of: apples, raw oats, yogurt, almonds, organic jam, almond butter, chia seeds, ground flax & cinnamon

Looks like this weekend we'll spend some time washing our windows...they look pretty dirty, no?

fun at the dog park

Lunch was so easy today and so delicious!  I love these days when you just throw things together and the end result is amazing.  I made wraps with all of yesterdays leftovers from Oasis Falafel and a few other random items from the fridge.  In the mix:

• falafel bites
• baba ganoush
• tabbouleh
• wild rice
• broccoli
• mushrooms

A beer spilt between the two of us made the meal complete.  Note that Nic is trying to watch his calorie intake and decided to just have a double shot of Land Shark...or maybe that was me! :)

After lunch we spent hours breaking down daffodil boxes that have been sitting in our garage for a while now and then headed to the dog park!  Tons o fun is always had at Sunset Dog Park!  Especially when there are three puppies there just begging you to take them home. :)

poor maia

We dropped Maia off at Lucky Pawz last weekend so she could get some quality puppy playtime.  Yes, we spoil our dog.  When we picked her up, we noticed she was limping a bit.  Poor girl, we took her to the vet and found out she had blood blisters under the pads on her front paws. :(

Doesn't she look pathetic?

After two weekends of travelling to Minnesota, Nic and I are looking forward to a weekend at home.  On the agenda, not much!  I've got to get in a three-mile run today and an eight miler tomorrow.  Going to be an early day Sunday - waking up before 6:30 to join a few other local runners.  I've lived here for over four years and just now found out about the running club...better late than never I guess.  :)

SQUIRREL

The plastic has come off the windows and winter is being aired out of our house.  Welcome Spring!  (Well not officially until March 20th, but I'll take what I can get!)  Do I think winter might make another appearance in the next few weeks, well yes of course, but as long as this first round of Spring hangs out until after next week, I will be one happy happy camper.

With temps already in the 50's today, and Nic on the road until late tonight, I hope to squeeze in a nice long run sometime this afternoon.  A reward perhaps for finishing up all my last minute daffodil stuff.

We can tell the weather is getting much nicer as it is taking much longer (and more treats) to lure Maia inside.  SQUIRREL!  (have you seen the movie UP? haha).  This morning Maia decided to have about a 45 minute face off with a squirrel.  Seriously, in that 45 minutes, neither creature moved...just stared, seeing who would be the first to move.

merry christmas eve

winter wonderland

Well someone in our family likes the snow!  But even for Maia, it is too cold to be outside for too long!

just like christmas

Most parents look forward to Christmas morning, right? A morning to see their kids full of smiles and joy. My parents - just wanted 5 more minutes of sleep. Although that might have had something to do with Maddie and I trying to get them up at 5AM. We clearly couldn't contain our excitement for just three more hours.

For those that replace kids with dogs - the third annual Washington Dog Park Doggie Paddle was just like Christmas. Here are just a few photos from the event. For WAY more, you can visit the Dog Park's blog.

County Parks

My parents are staying at a resort on Lake Okoboji this week. It's a beautiful area and where I believe the glaciers all melted because it reminds me of a Minnesota lake. The lakes near Washington are all wonderful, but a lake from a dammed up stream is not the same as a 100 foot plus deep lake.

Since I cannot explore the Okoboji area this week I decided to just head east. Kier, Maia and I have been to all the Washington County parks, a few of our favorites very often, and I have wanted to hike and see some of the Louisa County parks lately. Louisa County is "Bordered by the Mississippi River and with more than 15,000 acres of parks and natural areas..." I have canoed one of the wetland areas before and am looking forward to one of the upcoming paddling events the county puts on, the Full Moon Paddle.

Today Maia and I went on an hour hike just south east of Columbus Junction that took us through the forest and along a corn field at the Chinkapin Bluffs Recreation Area. It's amazing how many good trails you can find locally and how well the conservation departments manage them, I just seems that we are the only ones using them.

A taste of our weekend

So Nic and I had a very busy weekend to say the least! Here are just a few photos.

Okay, so not from THIS weekend, but still...look at how cute they are! Nic has turned into a bookworm since we have gotten rid of our TV.

Just a few of the saplings we planted this weekend. I pray that Mother Nature is good to them and they grow!

Peas! And I was worried I was a terrible gardener!

Elyse. Look at those cheeks!

Emma - the reason why I don't need kids! Like I say, I will just spoil my friends' kids.

Elyse loves me, can't you tell? Seriously though...she does.

Emma at the RFL 5K

Just finished a sub 8 minute mile 5k! Woot...go me!

Experimenting with my camera, trying to make the most of it. Believe me, your point and shoot can do more than you think!

Maia - the other reason why we don't want kids.