The Weekend Report

We have had a wonderfully simple & just perfect weekend for us, so I just wanted to do a little bit of a recap.

Before Adam and I met in person, we were just teens chatting on social media. During one of these chats, I promised Adam I would cook him spaghetti. I'm pretty sure I was just talking out of my butt because I did not know how to make spaghetti at the time. But when we finally met, I made him spaghetti. He loved it, and I used to make us spaghetti almost every Friday night. But since weight loss surgery, I haven't made it much at all because I really don't eat pasta. But this Friday, I decided to cook him some spaghetti just for him as a treat.I got to use our new stove for the first time and he got his favorite meal. That's a real win-win.

After dinner, I watched a movie I had been excited about for a while, As Dreamers Do. It is all about the early life of Walt Disney. It was a little bit of a cheesy movie, probably a little bit too simplistic. But I liked the movie regardless. No different than a lifetime movie or a hallmark movie, and I always stick those out to the bitter end (like the Brittany Murphy Story, so awful!). I enjoyed sticking this one out though.

I signed up for a local 5k on a whim last week. I always wonder why I do this to myself because setting an alarm for 6:30 on a Saturday is so not cool! But I'm always glad I did. It was uber cold on Saturday morning, feeling so much like Fall! Although I was cold pre-race, I knew I would warm up once the race started. This was a smallish race (maybe 70-100). I was nervous as always, worrying my legs would fail me. But they didn't! I finished the race in 44:20! That is 3 whole minutes off my last 5k time!  And can I say that run has me so excited for Fall weather running? Bring it on!

 

Adam did some yard work around the house on Saturday. I love watching my husband do manly, man things (not that women can't do them too, but I'd just rather not).

 

(BTW, I'm lovin' my fuzzy hair, and Carlee our weekend house guest resting on my lap in this picture). Adam recently remembered that he has an Atari (how he forgot this I will never know). So we went to the Athens-Limestone Flea Market to browse some classic video games. He bought a whole bunch of Atari games. He also picked up his favorite Nintendo game, Duck tales, and my favorite childhood game, M.C. Kids. It is a game that was basically made to advertize McDonalds (yes that McDonalds), but it is so fun and surprisingly difficult. We had fun messing around on those for a bit. 

Of course, no fall weekend would be complete without a little Packer's football. This was our first public outing in our cheeseheads this year, and we checked out a new sports bar that we liked a lot! We got a rough start, and the gamed looked awful during the first half, but we pulled off the win anyway! So that's a good game day!

By the way, this is the face you make after celebrating two Randall Cobb touchdowns, just to be reminded your opponent in your Fantasy league is playing Randall Cobb. The cheesehead of shame!

Brittany

Click here! to follow us on bloglovin & keep up with all our posts!

The Week That Was

It has been quite a busy week/weekend around these parts, so I figured it was time for a little life update!

Last Monday, my husband and I finally closed on our home, and I'm so happy that it is now OURS all OURS, it is absolutely perfect for us. Every time we go over to the house, we are just filled with so much joy that it is now owned by us. We can't wait till we can get all the way moved in. Alas, we are still at the apartment, buying our time till move in day. 

Last week was the last week of our summer camp at work. It was rewarding but so much work!! I'm glad for it to be over. We had a great last week though. Graduation Day! Chuck E' Cheese Day! Splash Pad Day! We also had the children reflect on what they learned from summer camp, I loved this response we got. Also isn't that top photo cute? That was the teens we hired to help this summer, taking selfies with my phone when I was out of the room,  I just discovered them today. It cracked me up.

Saturday morning, we got up super early and headed over to the house to paint the guest room. Two of the bedrooms in our new home were children's bedrooms, and they were very brightly colored. So I wanted to switch them up. Neither Adam nor I have ever painted before, so we were somewhat nervous. But I love how it turned out! I decided to go with a darker, less shiny blue. I can't wait to get it fully decorated in my nautical theme! Jana keeps telling me this is her bedroom!  So I told her she will have to make a sign for the room that says, "Jana's Room: Keep Out!" Just as we would have done when we were children.

Saturday night, Adam and I went to my 10 year class reunion. Holy Cow! It has been 10 years. Like what? How has it been 10 years? Our reunion was at the Space & Rocket Center, which was such a cool location. I was nervous having not seen these people for so long, but it was so nice to see everyone. Especially some of my best friends from that time, it was just like old times. And everyone was so nice about my weight loss! I'm proud to be a graduate of Athens High School Class of 2004!

I woke up Sunday morning, and I did a run on the treadmill because it was HOT, HOT, HOT outside. I did 2 miles at a 4.0 mile pace, getting up to 4.2 eventually. I love that I'm speeding up on the treadmill now. It makes me hopeful I can get my pace way up for Disney.  I feel like I have been playing it really careful with my injury, but I have had no extra pain lately, so I'm ready to start amping it back up. I want to be back up to 3 miles by this weekend. Next week, I'm going on a family beach trip, so I'm hoping to get in some pretty beach runs. 

Also, I spent a few hours at the waterpark today. Soaking up some Vitamin D and floating in the lazy river. It was so fun, and it was a perfect ending to this wonderful week. I even got up some courage to go down the big water slide (yeap, that is me gliding on the water), now that was one wild ride.

Have a great week chickadees,

Brittany

Click here! to follow us on bloglovin & keep up with all our posts!

Update

I know it's been over a week since my last post. I have been so busy I haven't even had time to stop and think, let alone post a blog. So allow me to take this time to update and catch you up on what's been happening here in the good ole 'Sip'.

This last week has been spent cleaning and getting ready for the beginning of school to start back. I spent Thursday and Friday in my classroom getting it set up and even though I'm far from done, it is starting to take shape.

 

When Brit received her injury, I made a decision that I would take off too so that we would be on the same playing field. I hate working out and updating her on progress without her being able to do the same. So instead of running this week I used that time to clean out my guest room and FINALLY go through all the boxes that I just threw into the guest room when I moved back last October. Going through them I was able to purge a TON of stuff that I'm not even sure why came with me in the first place. I still have the closet to finish, but that will get done this week after I complete my early morning runs. 

I'm getting excited because in 2 days I get to register for my race. I realized I have a school meeting scheduled at 10am that morning and I have to register at 11am, so I informed my team that I would be excusing myself long enough to get that done. I've read that the race typically sells out in the first 2 hours so I REALLY wanted to make sure that I get registered. I would hate not to get registered and miss out on something I have been looking forward to for months. 

Today I have plans to clean my house top to bottom, complete all the laundry, and get it ready for back to school. Once school starts I won't have a lot of extra time to deep clean it, so I am utilizing the last 2 weeks I have of summer vacation to get it done. We shall see how it all works out.

I hope everyone has a great week and I am looking forward to checking in Tuesday after I register! I can't wait!

Talk to you soon,

Jana

5 miler Repeat

I just realized it has been over a week since my last post and I swore to Brittany that I was going to update weekly about my progress. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my day to day that I don't even have time to get on the computer to update. (I ALWAYS have my phone but hate typing on it) So here I am, to issue an apology to Brittany and our readers and to update everyone on what's been happening. :)

Last week I got to go visit my family in Alabama. Our church does VBS every summer and I was so happy that I was off and able to participate. Sometimes I really miss being at home and so those little trips are meaning more and more each time I go.

 I was in charge of games and face painting. To say I had a blast was an understatement. My "adopted" brother Brody was there and he let me paint him a full beard, which was hysterical in my opinion. I painted mustaches, hearts, crosses, and more Auburn logos than I can even remember. (WAR EAGLE!!!!) ;)

Brody with his "stache"

Last week started my week of 5 milers and on Monday I hit the treadmill and completed them. I hate the treadmill more than anything, so it took me an hour and a half to finish. While it wasn't ideal, I was proud of myself for pushing and getting done. My knees were killing me when I finished so I iced them and relaxed a little bit. Due to the soreness, I was unable to get anymore mileage in last week. With that being said, I'm going to redo my week of 5 milers so that I'll be able to complete them in entirety. (And outside at the track)

While I was home, I got the opportunity to have a beach day with my sister, Chelsea, and my best friend Chandra. When we get together, the silliness that ensues is unbelievable. We were able to enjoy a good visit, a subway sandwich, and some sand, sun, and surf. :)

Girl's Day Silliness

Once I got back from Alabama, I helped by taking part in a friend of mine's wedding. I was one of her program attendants and my job was to hand out programs and have people sign the guest book. I took my duties seriously and at 5pm on the nose, took my seat among the rest of the wedding guests. The wedding was beautiful and the Tiffany Blue and Coral theme was breathtaking. I was so happy I was able to be a part of her big day. 

The Bride and her coworkers

Now to the current week now that we are all caught up. :) 

Today I had the pleasure of meeting one of my new team members for next year. She is very sweet and I'm looking forward to working with her. We had a "working" lunch with my other team member, Charla. We are gearing up for a GREAT school year.

 I also got to tell my parents goodbye as they headed to their trip to Memphis for the next few days. They stayed at my house last night so that they didn't have to drive so far. Even though it was a quick overnight trip, it still meant a lot to me to get to see them. Even though I only live 4hrs from home, sometimes it seems like a lot further.

To end my day I paid some bills, worked on some school stuff, and am now debating on if I want to start tackling my "teacher storage room" or wait until tomorrow. Pretty sure I'm going to at least start tonight, but we will see. 5 miles is scheduled for the AM as well.

I hope everyone has a good week and look for some more updates soon! :)

Happy Monday,

Jana

A Little Running, A Little Yoga, & A Relaxing Weekend

I have had a really wonderful weekend, I,  for the most part took it easy. No big plans, no where to be.  I love to go, go, go. Travel to new places, find little adventures locally. But sometimes I really need a weekend that runs at a slower pace. 

Saturday morning, I woke up around 7 and dragged my butt outside for a 4 mile run. I have to say this was not one of most pleasant runs. For most of the run, I just wanted to stop! But I just kept pushing, I almost feel more accomplished when I push through an unpleasant run, than when I have a really great run. It tests my persistence. I definitely went slower with every mile, but only one mile was outside my Disney pace. So I was overall pleased. 

I think I am going to do another week of 4 milers because I don't feel quite ready for 5. I'm sure after another week of training, I will be ready to take that leap. 

After the run, I took a shower, and drove down to the Athens Saturday Market to buy some fresh produce. It is amazing, how much better vegetables/fruit taste from the market! I got some lovely tomatoes, that I have been munching on for snacks.

Once I returned home, I took a very long nap, and I  headed into the office to finish up some paperwork I had fallen behind on at work. I hate going in on the weekend, but I was alone at the office, and I was able to listen to my podcasts, so it wasn't too bad.  I then met my husband for dinner at Olive Garden. Olive Garden has always been one of my favorite places to pig out. Now post weight loss surgery, I can only stomach a few bites of salad and one half of a chicken meatball. It was still satisfying though, and the company was golden, so it was well worth the trip.

Did I mention I have been buying all the Disney movies on blu-ray? I have enjoyed re-watching them so much. Disney is such a nostalgic thing, I remember the first time I saw all these movies! This weekend I watched Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre dame. I may be watching Hercules yet again, right this very second.

This morning I woke up and did this 20 minute yoga video for complete beginners! I have been thinking about what I wanted to do to cross train on non-run days for a while. I thought yoga would be a good option because it is not overly intense, and it won't make me too sore. In fact, the streching should help limber me up.

For a couple of weeks, my right knee has been sore from running, I assume. It never bothers me while running, but it really bothers me after running. Today, it felt so much better after my short yoga session.

I have always struggled with some of the yoga poses in the past, especially weight bearing ones, and today was no different. I had trouble holding downward dog. But I have bought a yoga block to help me modify some moves, and I am sure I will just get better if I keep practicing. I have to say I felt really relaxed after my session. Which is good for me, as someone who struggles with anxiety almost 24/7.

I hope everyone has a good week,

Brittany

Glow in the Park 5K

As most of you know, Brittany and I are always looking for fun ways to train for upcoming races, so when she told me about the Glow in the Park 5k Foam Run I had to do it. I have a bucket list of races that I'm wanting to accomplish and a foam race was #7 on the list! What better way to mark it off the list than do it with one of my best friends?

The rules are simple enough.

Rule #1: Wear a white shirt.

Brittany and I entered our wardrobes and each found a satisfactory white shirt to wear for the race.

Rule #2: Apply black light activated paint to make the glow more fun.

Rule #3: Put on Glow in the Dark necklaces, bracelets, etc

Each of the runners was allowed to pick only one color of paint out of Green, Pink, and Yellow. Brittany chose pink and I chose green. They go so well together don't you think? We were also given each a glow necklace, a glow bracelet, and two finger lights to wear once it got dark. As you can tell, we didn't wait. LOL!

Rule #4: Show team spirit!

Our team name was ET Foam Home. Pretty creative if I do say so myself!



Rule #5: Masterfully get a picture with the "Honey Moon" on Friday the 13th

Okay, so maybe that wasn't a rule, but the next one won't happen until again until 2049 and that's too long to wait to get a photo op, so we found a good place to stop and took this amazing selfie. Notice how we are donning our glow gear. :)

Rule #6: Enjoy the foam cannon and make sure you get all sudsy!

The foam cannon was located on the top of the biggest hill in the race. I'm proud to say that Brittany and I both conquered this hill running and our reward was a few amazing pictures of us covered in foamy goodness! It was such a blast!

Rule #7: Catch an awesome black light selfie of you and your team.

At the end of the race, there are black light stations along the course so we made sure to stop at one and get the mother of all glow selfies. I documented it using my Nike Run app, so we have a nice little souvenir that we can enjoy forever. :)

If you have ever thought about doing a glow foam race, I encourage you to do it. It is really fun and it is a great time to fellowship with friends and fellow runners. And if you get an opportunity to do the one in Memphis, TN...DO IT!

Until later,

Jana

A Week of 2 Milers & Weekend Recap

Brittany here!

I first want to say isn't Jana's post from yesterday amazing? I love her oh so much.

 

I successfully finished my first week of Summer Day Tx, and it was totally exhausting. All I could envision doing this weekend was sleeping, but I really didn't do much sleeping whatsoever. I kept pretty busy. 

Saturday, I woke up bright and early and decided to go ahead and knock out my workout. I wanted to run outside since I've been doing more treadmill work outs lately, due to the heat. My weather app said it was 73 outside, but it did not feel 73! I was sweating buckets! #humiditykills. After I ran my 2 miles (so happy I'm a little under the pace I need for Disney), I had to lay down on the grass in the shade to cool off before I could walk the half mile home!

After my workout, Adam and I went house hunting. We found some duds and some hits. But it did make me hopeful that there are some wonderful houses out there for us. 

My mom and I had made a movie/dinner date for Saturday night. I was almost too tired to go but I really wanted to see Maleficent, so I decided to suck it up. As we were walking up to the theater,  my mom mentioned there was a tornado warning to the north of us, but I just figured it would all be "OK."

Halfway through the movie, someone stood up in the theater and told us there was a tornado pretty near by. So we walked out to check out the situation, and we were smack dab in a severe thunderstorm, it was nuts! It was storming so hard, it would have been impossible to drive in.  We had to get a refund and wait it out. I thought we were going to be trapped in the theater all night long! Luckily, it slowed up about a half hour later, and we were able to sneak home before the next big storm came. 

We plan on doing a redo today, I can't wait to finish the movie, as it is really, really good. 

Tomorrow I'm trying for 3 miles,

Brittany

Weekend Review :)

Good Morning Bloggers! This is Jana Here!

This morning I was feeling a little nostalgic as I got to thinking that it has been almost 2 years since I started this running journey. This was taken after Brit and my very first 5K! (We had gone to the hotel and showered prior to this picture.) I see so many changes between the girls in this picture and the girls I see now! It's amazing how over time you change.

This weekend was not spent idle. I dealt with a severe situation regarding a very close friend of mine on Friday night. (Think intervention) I was with him until 4:30AM on Saturday morning trying to get everything sorted out and calmed down. For the record, everything is okay and a lot of changes will be coming for him very soon.

I was supposed to head to Alabama with Austin for some weekend fun when he got off work Friday night, but given the circumstances (and the fact that I didn't get home until 5AM) we decided to sleep until 8 and then get on the road. The trip to Alabama was hard because we were both exhausted. I was mentally exhausted and physically tired from the night before. He was tired from working a double shift so we could go out of town. We alternated driving the 4hrs and by the time we reached my parents house, we were done for. We both took showers and crawled into the bed and slept until around 6:30 or so. Mom and Dad let us sleep and bought pizza for us to eat for dinner. We enjoyed some much needed family time with them over the course of the evening and were back in bed by midnight.

We got up around 8 Sunday morning to get ready to head to Chickasabogue Park in Mobile, AL. It's a lovely little park where you can canoe, swim, play volleyball, ladder ball, and corn hole. We were there to have our annual summer picnic with our Mardi Gras organization the Marquis De Layfeyette. (For all of those who know me, you know that Mardi Gras is my obsession and I spend countless months in preparation for a weekend of fun per year.) It was a beautiful day and Austin and I bought in to the ladder ball and corn hole tournaments. We came in 4th in the ladder ball and 3rd in the corn hole tournament. Not too bad if I say so myself. Needless to say, we were active and burned off some of the calories from the delicious BBQ we ate with our Marquis family. Once we finished, we loaded up and headed back to good ole Mississippi.

This morning, I had a miscommunication with a friend who wanted to meet at 8AM to go for a "wog" and I showed up on time only to see her not there. Now bear in mind that I have developed what I like to call "Summer Insomnia" where my body gets confused because I'm not on a normal schedule, so I didn't get to sleep until after 3am. So needless to say, I text her to see where she was only to find that she actually said she wanted to go TUESDAY! Today is Monday...surprise surprise. However the day wasn't a complete wash. I was already at the track so I completed 1.64 miles. I would have done more, but the rain started AGAIN so I had to cut it short. The point was I got out there and did something which is better than nothing.

I plan on spending the remainder of my day spring cleaning my house. I have been putting it off and I know if I don't start soon, it will never get done.

Here's to another great day and another great week!

Cheers!

Jana