Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's one of my favorite days of the year! We usually have a restful morning and exchange gifts at home and then we go off to visit family and come home later tonight.

Last night we spent the night exchanging gifts with my husband's family. It's a yearly tradition that it always so much fun.

I will hopefully have more time now to post, so, stay tuned!

Have a nice day with friends and family!!!

What are some of your family traditions?

Still Here

So we are only days away from Christmas and I haven't had a moment to catch up on anything! I wanted to start a new book this month, but that's not going to happen. I have also been slacking on my workouts, and I can totally tell that I need to get back to the grind.
Almost all of the Christmas shopping is done and it has all been wrapped. We just have a few more last minute things to pick up and I need to buy some stocking stuffers. Hoping to get back to a regular schedule soon.

Does anyone else feel like this year the holiday feels rushed??

Busy, Busy, Busy

The holiday season has officially begun! I have been so busy this month and it's only a week in. This weekend I haven't even had time to relax.
Friday night I went to my work Christmas party and didn't get home until very late. Then we had a family get together on Saturday. Today I went to a cookie swap and missed a lot of football.
Although it has been busy I wouldn't trade it. This time of year is always busy but it's so much fun to see family and friends!
I kinda slaked on my workouts this past week but I hope to get back into the swing of things this week. I have lots of cookies at the house from the swap today, so I need to be good this week!

What fun get togethers have you been to so far this season?

Bad Day

I woke up this morning with good intentions of having a great day. Unfortunately the day didn't work out that way.

Without too much complaining on the matter, work was terrible. I tried so hard to keep my positivity up, even tried to give myself a pep talk in the bathroom mirror. Nothing worked.

I feel so blessed to have a job and kept reminding myself that today. I just couldn't wait to get home tonight and relax.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

What do you do when you're having a bad day?

Family Tradition

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great day with family and friends!
We started off the day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This has been a tradition every since I was a kid. My favorite part is the Radio City Rockettes. I also wanted to be one when I was younger. I ended up not being tall enough though, but a girl can still dream! Once the parade was over we got ready to leave the house.
We had dinner at my parent's house and ate way too much! It was so nice to have a day off and just relax.
Every year we go to the movies after dinner. To make if fair, we each write a movie down on a piece of paper and then my mom draws one. Whichever movie gets drawn is the one we see. This is a fun little tradition that we've had for many years. This year we ended up seeing Last Vegas. It was really funny so it wasn't a bad pick.
After the movie my sister came to our house and we all took a nap before heading out to do a little shopping. We got to our local mall at 1:00 am and I was surprised to see that most of the stores were open. Usually it's just the bigger stores. I was hoping to find a Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer but really didn't find the deals I was looking for. I did get some Blu-Rays at really low prices, which is always good.
After the mall we swung by Wal-Mart but didn't really find anything great. We had some food and then headed home. We didn't get to be until after 4:00 am and boy was I tired. We ended up sleeping in quite late, which was to be expected.
In the afternoon a took out the Christmas decorations and put up the tree. Hubby goes bowling on Friday nights so this is my time to get the house ready for the season. I also have a Christmas movie marathon while I put the tree up.

Now it's time to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Stay safe and enjoy your weekend!

What are some of your family's traditions? Do you go Black Friday shopping? When do you start decorating your house?

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone is having a great day giving thanks and spending the day with their families!
The hubby and I will be spending the day with family and then heading out to the movies.
This is a tradition that we have had for many years, since before we were married.  My sister and mom usually come with us too. We each pick a movie and write it on a piece of paper and one of us draws it out of a hat. So I don't know what we are seeing yet. This is one of my favorite traditions that we have.
My hubby, sister and I will also probably go black Friday shopping tomorrow but we like to spend today with family.
Have a great day! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Lazy Sunday

Since I completed my long run yesterday, I decided that I would take it easy today.  Hubby went off to a bowling tournament so I have been catching up on housework and resting these legs.
I had a little bit of a geek fest this morning.  I was up super early so I decided to watch Iron Man 3 and then moved on to Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.  Now it's football time!!
I have also been working on my crocheting.  I had started an afghan a while ago but I tend to not work on any crocheting in the summer because it's too hot.  But now that it's getting cooler I can start working on it again!!
Happy Sunday all!!!

Running Update

So I have been severely lacking on my blogging!!

I have been busy training for the half marathon like crazy!!  Tomorrow will be my 11 mile run.  I can't even believe that I will be attempting it.  It will be the farthest that I have gone.  Ever.  It's unbelievable to me.  This has been a long journey for me and I can't believe that race day is almost here.

I also have some new running swag that I got this week.  I stopped buy my local running shop and picked up a new pair of running shoes.  I have always been a Nike girl but I thought that I should try something new.  I am so happy that I decided to go and speak to a professional.  I found out that I have been wearing the WRONG size shoe!!  Can you believe it??  I have been having some foot pain and had assumed that it was because I had increased my milage, but now I know it was because of my shoes.  By the way I ended up getting a pair of Brooks and I love them!!
I also put in an order on Sunday at running skirts.com.  I ended up getting a red athletic skirt, with white polka dots, and a pair of green compression socks.  They are so cute and I will be making more purchases from them.  I placed the order on Sunday and I received the package on Thursday.  Such fast shipping!

So wish me luck on the long run tomorrow!

30 Day Challenge- Update

So, I began my 30 day challenge on Tuesday and I have been going strong for 6 days!  Here's what I've done so far:
Planks:
Day 1: 20 seconds
Day 2: 20 seconds
Day 3: 30 seconds
Day 4: 30 seconds
Day 5: 40 seconds
Day 6: Rest

Squats:
Day 1: 30
Day 2: 50
Day 3: 75
Day 4: 60
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: 60

Pushups:
Day 1: 5
Day 2: 5
Day 3: 5
Day 4: 7
Day 5: 10
Day 6: 10

I also got back on my running schedule, after a week off.  I ran 4.05 miles on Saturday and 3.88 miles today.  Hopefully this week continues to be great!

30 Day Fitness Challenge

I LOVE PINTEREST!!  It gives me some really great ideas.  The newest idea, the 30 day challenge.  I found three different 30 day challenges that I am going to start tonight.  I am going to combine these with my running and core work to have a lean, mean, fitness machine by the end of August.
I will be updating this blog each Sunday to post how the challenge is going.
So, the three challenges are squats, planks and pushups.  I am really excited for this next month and I hope that I'm able to reach the end and come out a healthier, fitter person!
Have you tried any 30 day challenges?  How'd you do?

The Wolverine - Review

So I didn't have time this morning to write my review before work this morning.  Sorry for that, but here is my thoughts on the movie.  Don't worry, no spoilers.
As I said in my previous post, I am a huge Marvel geek.  The X-Men have some of my favorite Marvel characters and Wolverine is at the top of that list.
When I first saw the trailer for this newest Wolverine movie I must say, I was confused.  I think it was the whole traveling to Japan thing that I was unsure about.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how the film turned out.
It had it's ups and downs and slow parts, which every movie has.  I mean, you can't make everyone happy.  But I enjoyed the story and the action was amazing!  I don't really want to give anything away but I liked the fusion between the normal Wolverine style of fighting and the Japanese ninjas and samurai.  There is a fight scene on a bullet train that was really exciting.
Don't forget to stay after the movie finishes through the credits because there is a scene that hints towards the X-Men movie that comes out next May.
Did you see the movie yet?  What are your thoughts?

Movie Time

Tonight is the night!  It's movie premier time!!  I love going to midnight showings of new movies.  In my little neck of the woods we have showings before midnight so I'm going at 10:00. Tonights movie is The Wolverine and I cannot wait.
I have loved Marvel since I was a kid and have always loved the X-Men.  I have read some really good reviews about this newest Wolverine movie so I have really high hopes about this.
I will hopefully have a review up tomorrow, probably in the morning, after I have a little bit of sleep.
Are you planning on seeing this movie this weekend or another movie?

The Doctor

Late last week I was introduced to Doctor Who.
I know, I know, I'm a little late to the game, but let me say, it's amazing!  It's a really hard show to describe but for those that have watched it there is no other.
I started it last Thursday and I haven't been able to stop watching it.  I am already on season three!!
I am on the tenth Doctor, who is my favorite so far.  David Tennant is just brilliant!!
I love the whole idea of the show and the character relationships are wonderful!

Have you seen the show?  What are your thoughts?

Foam Rolling Joy

So, since this morning was too hot to run I decided it would be nice to do some core work and foam roll.
New to foam rolling?  I was a few months ago and now I can't imagine my routine without it.  Foam rolling is basically a really nice deep tissue massage for your muscles.  You use a foam roller, which you can find at any sports store, and you roll your body over it slowly.  It looks sort of like a bigger pool noodle but is firmer than one.
I only use it on my legs so I don't know how well it works for arms.  I like to use it after my runs and when my legs are feeling tight.  It's really good at loosening my muscles and my legs are so happy afterward.
I was having really bad IT Band pain while running and walking and after about two weeks using the roller I had no pain.
My roller came with a list of stretches that you can do but you can also find some by searching the internet or my favorite site, Pinterest!
A word of caution though, the first few times you use it, it really hurts.  I like to tell people that so they aren't surprised by it.  I am really glad that someone told me because I would have stopped using the roller and wasted my $30.00.  It does get better though.  The more you use it the better you feel.

Go check it out and let me know how it works for you!

Reading Machine

So, another one of my favorite things is reading.

I have always loved to pick up a book and escape into the world that the author wrote.  When I was much younger I used to go to a local bookstore and sit in there for hours reading the back covers of books dreaming of the huge library that I would have in my house.

Now the library is a couple of bookcases and my beloved Kindle.

What's better than being able to finish a book and instantly have the next book ready to read without having to leave your house?  

But I also love real books.  I love the feel of the pages and the smell of the paper and ink.  To me each book has it's own distinct scent and I LOVE that!!

I just finished a book tonight and downloaded the next one in the series so I can start that later tonight or tomorrow.

I am reading The Mortal Instruments series.  I just finished City of Glass and let me tell you, Cassandra Clare is amazing!!  Once I finish this series I will be reading more from her.  If you haven't read The Mortal Instruments yet I recommend that you pick up the first book, City of Bones, and get reading!  Plus the movie adaptation of the book comes out next month so you can have something to compare it to.

Hazy, Hot and Humid

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only active person that hates the phrase "Hazy, Hot and Humid".  For me, when I hear that I just want to lock myself in the air conditioned house and not come out until fall.
But when you're training for a race you have to brave the elements and get outside.  I woke up a little earlier than I normally would have just so I could run before going to work and before it got crazy hot today.
I must say, it still was hot but I pushed through.  My workout today was 52 minutes long and I ending up going 4.33 miles.  Not bad if I do say so myself!
My next running workout will be 54 minutes long and will have a lot more running.
I use a run training app on my phone that tells me when to run and when to walk so I can build my running base up.  It's working really good because I've never gotten this far into the program before.  I usually give up and start running on my own, but I figured that I needed to be prepared a little better this time around.

Happy Running!!!

It's Training Time

Hi all!!  I'm Kara and this is my first ever blog post!  I am going to start using this blog to talk about my running and we will see where it goes from there.
A few months ago I signed up for my very first half marathon (eeeekkk)!  I am so nervous but I thought if I could talk about my experience training then maybe it wouldn't be that bad.
The race is in November and it's in my favorite place, Disney World!!  It's the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  I will be running the race by myself but my husband will be waiting at the finish line, as will a large drink! ;)  I thought that if I were going to finally run a half marathon the best place to start would be Disney World.
I made it my resolution this year that I would run a half marathon because each year my distances have been getting longer.  Starting from my very first 5k back in 2010 I have run a total of 5 5ks and 3 10ks. My only issue is that once I sign up for the race my training tends to fall by the wayside but I try so hard to be better.  This race is different because it will be my first race where you have to finish in a certain amount of time.  I want to finish this race and I want to try and run the whole thing!
Currently we are having a heat wave up here in the Northeast so the running has been a little slower for me.  I've had two days off but I will need to run tomorrow morning so I don't get too far behind.  Let's hope all goes well in the morning and I can get my running butt out the door!!