The Yin and The Yang

I was SO looking forward to my full day on Sunday and I am happy to say it did not disappoint. I was meeting a friend really early so I grabbed a super quick breakfast of a Whole Grain English muffin with organic peanut butter and some V8 fusion. I decided my fabulous day warranted a fabulous glass for juice drinking!

After breakfast I got all packed up in the Wonderbug to head to Roanoke, VA to meet my friend Kristen for a girly day of fabulousness.

Our “main event” for the day was seeing Sex and The City 2 but we figured it would be almost against the law to see this movie without some shopping first. Now let me just say on the days that Kristen and I go shopping with no plan we end up just buying a little bit of everything. That is why normally we pick a store or a mission like shoes or dresses but Saturday was a super fantastic day of shopping bliss! Do you prefer to shop with pals or alone? I definitely prefer shopping with friends! Here are some of my favorite finds:

new gray shades

love the side detail

We moved on from sunglasses shopping to housewares and I got some fantastic coffee mugs and a matching serving plate.

Next we moved on to my personal favorite.. Shoe Shopping! I had some Macy’s dollars from an unfortunate run in with a rude sales person a few weeks back so I was looking for some fabulous finds.

Lucky Brand "Birna" flats in dusky citron. I have been stalking these all Spring!

Love the detail!

I also got these vintage collection 9 west flats for 1/2 price. I cant wait to wear these this fall with a fabulous gray dress and some tights!

I also picked up an embellished cardigan…

Finally, I picked up a couple of  dresses. The dark pink is very casual and I have plans to pair it with a black cropped cardigan, some chunky jewelry and some random flats or wedges in a totally different fun color. The second dress is my husband’s fave. I have big plans to wear it with some Steve Madden stilettos that I am currently stalking. I was also stoked that the second dress had 86.00 on the tag but came home with me for 9.99!! It was marked down twice and half off. Its one of my favorite styles. So classic and I ❤ the color combination!

After shopping the rain came. Fast and furious and out of nowhere. Thankfully Kristen had a huge golf umbrella and the only casualties were her soaked jeans and our hair. We managed to fight the storm and made it over to Panera for a quick lunch. The storm made me want something cozy so I got some potato soup and 1/2 chicken panini.

We loaded up the car and headed over to see Carrie and the gang in Sex and The City 2!!

Having always loved the show I of course loved the movie. I thought it was really fun. Some of my favorite parts without giving anything away….

• The “take a sip” conversation
• The gold sparkly shoes
• The “Single Ladies”
• The Dior T-shirt outfit
• Aiden (helloooo the hotness)
• A dog in a top hat
• The “Jude Law”

What was your favorite part?

After the movie it was back to the house for an absolute flip-flop for a night of urban camping.The hubs wanted to have the guys over for some camp fire/drinking/smores kind of night. I of course did not want hot dogs cooked on a stick so I had sushi and martinis.  I thought the sitting in nature thing warranted a martini!

Our make shift camp site

Carrie was jazzed for camping!

The hubs making a fire

My kind of camping dinner!

Harlow keeping us all safe!

smores -yum!

NIght Night! (No we didnt sleep outside after all but I gave it a good try)

Weight Watchers was closed today so next Monday will have to be the May wrap up. I think after the weekend of slightly overeating, having too much salt and too much alcohol this is probably a good thing. I have been drinking water today like it’s my job.  It’s funny how things have changed. I am actually looking forward to getting back to working out and clean eating tomorrow. I can tell a HUGE difference in my body when I overindulge. I like the person Im becoming. 🙂 I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!!

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AEP Festival In The Park 10K Race Recap (Sort Of)

So this morning Bryan and I were scheduled to run the AEP Festival in The Park race in Roanoke, Va. There was a 10K and 5K option which I always enjoy. As some of my regular visitors may know, I live about an hour from Roanoke (and these races start early) so time is of the essence. I first want to say this is one of the only races I have done with no email reminder the week of the race with essential information. We had an address given to us when we registered for packet pick-up so that is where we headed this morning bright and early. I started the day with my pre-race  breakfast of a whole grain English muffin with organic peanut butter and a V8 fusion. I think this is going to be my default racing breakfast from this point on.

We drove an hour to the location knowing packet pick up was 6:30-7:30 and when we got there we find out that this was only the location for early packet pickup and regular packet pick up is at the race site. This is not terribly uncommon but we realized we had no idea where the race was. We assumed the packet pickup people would tell us. So after getting out the hubs smart phone we look up the race page on facebook which did not have the information we needed. So, we then looked up the page for the Festival In the Park itself and finally found the address. We plug it in the GPS and I see we will arrive at 7:40. Ahem. The race is at 8:00 so I am thinking worse case scenario we are a minute or two late and we run the 5k instead of the 1ok and The End. We park and full on run to the packet pickup. It is now 7:52. We find a volunteer who is really nice and says” hurry up there so you can catch someone. We are about to start.” So we get to the pick up table to find 1 girl, empty tables, and her basically saying “Sorry we closed down at 7:30” Its now 7:55 or so. So the hubs tries to reason with her (we know now the packets are in her car) and she refuses. So the gun goes off, the race starts, and we are numberless and kind of pissed. There were WAY less runners than I anticipated so that was the one thing that kept me from losing my mind on this poor girl right there. We take some responsibility for being late of course but the information was confusing and it was a “fun run” not the Olympics-They should have just let us run. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures for the blog before the bitterness set in.

Downtown Roanoke

The Race we SHOULD have run. Ahem.

The Park

From what I could tell the event itself was well organized. There were plenty of medical staff, police, etc on hand. The post race food looked good and it would have been a fun area to run in. There is always next year I guess. 🙂 Since I was REALLY upset the hubs suggested we register to run The Uncle Billy’s Day 2 miler in Altavista VA, and The Percivals Island 5 miler here in Lynchburg. I also registered for a 5K on the 19th here in town. My husband won’t be joining me but he will be coming out to show support which is pretty cool too.

End Recap——————————————————————————————————————————–

After leaving the “race” I was feeling down so Bryan suggested stopping in a little town in between Roanoke and home called Bedford for a run. This was a gorgeous park and I will admit it made missing the race a little easier to take.

Bryan has been having some shin issues lately so we decided to do a nice gentle run. Does anyone have any tips for avoiding or nursing shin splints? Even injured the hubs was ready to run with me.

He was even “Running In Pink” (sort of)

Hey pink is pink. It totally counts

After leaving the park we headed home and got showered and changed for an afternoon out. I decided on some black pants, a very Spring-ified ruffly shirt with a cropped cardigan. I of course carried my yellow bag which has been my summer staple. I keep seeing these yellow leather bags popping up everywhere. I choose to ignore the fact that yellow is very in for summer and instead go on under the delusion that it’s all because of this fabulous bag I bought while I was in FL for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon. I also included this shot because I have not put up a full body progress shot in a while. 🙂

We headed to Depot Grill for lunch. I like the atmosphere of being by the river and the train tracks. It has kind of a cool vibe.

I also love that you can write on the tables and walls with the crayons they leave for you. I of course had to endorse my blog and Bryan decided we needed to make sure our names made it on the wall.

We both chose Smoked turkey wraps with fries for lunch. I have been REALLY craving fries so I had some. Its that simple. Tomorrow I am back to clean eating and the french fry craving is gone.

After lunch the hubs wanted to treat me to a cupcake and who am I to turn down a cupcake? (All things in moderation and I havent had one in weeks. ) Soo we headed over to Tasty Selections where we picked up matching Creme Brulee cupcakes to go.

I spent an afternoon shopping where I (gasp) bought nothing and then ran some errands. Tonight is more errand running and dinner out with my hubs.

I am so so so looking forward to a weird combination of activities tomorrow. First up is an extra fabulous day of brunch, shopping and Sex and the City 2 with a girlfriend followed by urban camping with the hubs pals. It will be interesting for sure.  I cant wait to share it with all of you! Have a Happy and Healthy LONG weekend!

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Dear Yoga…

Dear Yoga…I know we just met yesterday but I think I might love you. I had such a great time during our workout and I REALLY worked hard. What’s even better is how I feel today. My muscles feel longer and leaner. I can’t wait to get stronger and more skilled. I don’t want to seem needy so for now I can only commit 90 minutes each Thursday to you but  don’t worry yoga I am pretty sure you are here to stay. It also doesn’t hurt that the hubs thinks youre great and I get 90 minutes in of family time in as a bonus. Thanks Yoga- you rock my socks bare feet. 😉

xo

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Pretty Shoes in the Nest

I am excited about some change that will be coming to the blog in the next few months. I am about to embark on something a little different with my weight loss journey and I will be sharing it very pretty soon with all of you!

I had a great night at home with the hubs last night. While we were watching Glee (our favorite as a couple can both agree on it show) I decided to make some peanut butter cup brownies for him. I bake when I’m happy and right now I am coming out of some personal issues and am feeling better than I have in quite some time. I am not 100% but life is a process and I am getting there.  Of course I had to try said brownies butI managed to stop with one  and bagged the rest up for the hubs. He is running AND doing P90X so he can have the calories. 😉 Speaking of baking and happiness- I find I am nesting a lot lately. I am cooking and cleaning and care giving all over the place. The hubs and I want children eventually but now just isn’t the right time. I guess hubs, and the pups will have to deal with all of this domestic
diva-ness until a tiny running in pink project fan comes along!

This morning I was the one making the “to-go” breakfast sammies with whole grain English muffins, 1 egg, and 1 slice of turkey sausage. I also made one for the hubs but he prefers his with cheese (I don’t charge 60 cents for the cheese like McDonalds does though!!;) I also grabbed some V8 fusion and headed into the office.

Lunch was nothing exciting (which is sad) just left over stir-fry from Monday night.  Work was  work. I was mildly amused to find my boss and I were both sporting the same shoes. We picked them up at the CASA shoe event that several coworkers and I went to last month. She was a good sport when I asked her foot to pose for the blog!

After work (which I left right on time. Woohoo) I headed over to the gym. Wednesday is cross training or as I fondly referred to it today as 60 minutes of cardio hell. I was pushing myself hard. I feel like I have to in order to keep up with the fabulous people around me dropping weight like it’s their job. Maybe the course on self-comparison at the Healthy Living Summit this year will help me stop doing that.

Tonight’s dinner is whole grain spaghetti with loads of veggies and some ground turkey. Do you have a special spaghetti recipe you would share with me? I am looking for unusual twists on common dinners.

Tonight is some husband, puppies, TIVO bonding (in that order) and writing another card to my Grandpa. I always say he’s my original best guy and being hours apart I miss him like crazy. I am sending a get well card out to a pal ala Caring in Pink project as well as planning a little “urban camping” (ie a sleep over in my back yard) for this weekend. It was my husband’s idea and I am warming to it especially when I was cleared to sleep inside if I wished. Torches and s’mores
ingredients are on my list. What else should I pick up for this little adventure?

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Love/Hate/Love

Most people I know have a love/hate relationship with something in
their lives whether it is running, school, work, friends etc. I have a
Love/Hate relationship with The Biggest Loser. I don’t think there is
a single human (besides maybe Madonna who “claims” not to own a TV)
who doesn’t know what The Biggest Loser is. It’s a phenomenon (love)
but its also a terrible benchmark to compare your own weight loss
journey to (hate).

Would I want to go to the ranch and be beaten up daily by Bob and
Jillian? For sure! (love) Especially Jillian .She is such a bada$$.
Would I want to stand up in front of America in tighty tight shorts
and a sports bra? Not so much. (hate). I know the idea is to watch the
weight loss happen but it is a little humiliating (or maybe that’s
just my own demons talking).

I am the ideal audience for this show in that it completely inspires
me to better and stronger and not give up on my own journey (love). I
am also the first one to say this show promotes an unrealistic idea of
what weekly weight loss should be. (hate). I know in my heart of
hearts that 1-3 lbs a week is healthy loss but seeing someone drop, oh
I don’t know 16 pounds in a week makes me die a little inside. I know
these people are working out over 6 hours a day and “real” people are
not meant to shed the pounds that quickly but it is still a huge kick
to the self esteem to feel like you can’t celebrate a one pound loss.
(hate).

Then there are the challenges. I think it is incredible to watch how
strong these individuals become over the course of the game (love). I
like watching them form bonds (love), game play (love), and try to
resist the cupcakes and other various food temptations set in front of
them (love). I don’t like it when the show thinks it’s a good plan to
put them in terribly humiliating positions like that weird slip and
slide challenge a couple of seasons back (hate).

Finally, there is the whole pimping out Subway every other show.
Subway can be a great choice (love) and I eat there when I am in a
pinch but the bread has high fructose corn syrup (hate), there are
some crazy unhealthy options, and frankly despite what Jarred says it
is not really something to eat every single day.

When all is said and done I guess the love outweighs the hate on this
one. Their stories make me smile and cry, their courage to take this
on in front of millions makes me nervous for them and their successes
make me feel inspired. Sometimes we have to take things with the
spirit in which they were intended and I think the healthy eating,
working out, dedication model is a pretty good one. There is no quick
fix sell here. There is no quick fix sell in my life either.

To people who have never struggled with weight this show might seem a
little indulgent. I heard someone say, “Why should they be paid to
lose weight they never should have gained?” Statements like that are
incredibly ignorant/misinformed/sad.  There are a million reasons
people put on the pounds and no matter what their story or the paths
that lead someone to weight gain there is only one way out: Facing
what has happened and then taking it on. It is an incredibly personal
thing to not love what you see in the mirror or like the number you
see on the scale. You are your most important project. Find
inspiration where you can, face your fear, and start the process. You
are worth it. I am worth it. 🙂

Are you a Biggest Loser lover or hater?

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Lost= One Corgi

No worries-little Harlow is fine. I had my weigh in this morning and had a total loss of 1.8lbs this week. I feel like I worked a little harder than that truthfully but I was already prepared for this as my stress level was off the charts last week. So now my weight loss total is (drum roll please)…. 35.4 lbs. YAY! My weight watchers book shows this is weigh in 12. I know I skipped a week or 3 somewhere so I am more accurately at week 15 but I am just going by the book from this point forward since the latter is too confusing to keep track of.  What does this weigh in mean? Well I will tell you. It means:

• I am 2.6 lbs away from my May mini challenge
• I am 4.6 lbs away from reaching 40lbs
• I am 7.2 lbs away from reaching my first personal mile stone

and

• I lost a Corgi!

Yes my little sweet chunk of a corgi Harlow is 35 sturdy lbs. I picked her up today to get a little idea of the weight I used to be carrying around everyday.

Shes heavy and I am certainly glad to be rid of my own extra 35 lbs. However, I think that furry 35 lbs of Corgi can stick around. 😉

I also stayed smiling at the office today because my husband sent me a text of the most random graffiti he found while walking around downtown. Way to bust out the mid 90’s Friends reference there vandals. Heheheh! Plus this is a little bit of a joke at my house so this definitely made me giggle.

My last noteworthy bit for the day is that I have been obsessed with milk and eggs lately. I had some skim milk with my lunch today and it was SO good. Do you ever have a craving you can’t kick?

Tomorrow is a 3 mile run and body pump. I am psyched to get back out on the trail after my awesome run over the weekend. I also left Bryan in charge of celebrating me hitting my first major milestone hopefully sometime in the next 3 weeks. Be sure to check in and see what he comes up with. He’s a creative guy so I am looking forward to it! 🙂

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Colors

Today was another bright and beautiful day in Virginia for the most part. It would have been a great day to run, play disc golf, or do other various outdoorsy type things. However, the hubs and I decided since we are pretty much committed to something for at least the next month’s worth of weekends we were going to relax. I was craving a “good old country” breakfast this morning but was unwilling to spend the average 1,000 calories (no joke i looked it up) this breakfast has at some of the most popular breakfast spots.  So with subbing whole wheat toast, turkey sausage, skim milk, and not inviting butter to the party we were able to have a HUGE breakfast for a reasonable caloric price tag. Not that I would advise this every single morning as it was a little on the high side but it was exactly what I wanted and worth every last calorie!

After breakfast the hubs and I split for a bit. He took care of mowing the lawn, weed eating, etc and I took care of putting away what felt like a century worth of laundry, wiping down the kitchen etc. I did take a break to bust out my new yoga mat which I love. I especially love the color. While pink will always be dearest to my heart I really do heart an Alice In Wonderland blue.  I know nothing about yoga mats though. What should one look for when buying a mat?

After a morning of housework it was lunch time. Since I had such a big breakfast I wanted to skip out on lunch completely however we all know its not wise to go hours and hours with no food so I had a tiny slice of a frozen Wolfgang Puck BBQ pizza. As promised I am slowly collecting some interesting color and pattern plates so you don’t have to look at the same plates everyday. It turns out buying mismatched plates is rather fun.

The rest of the day was lazy and fantastic. It was just what we needed to recharge. Due to some stressors at work and home in recent weeks I felt like I had not slept in months. It felt great to snuggle with with hubs, watch some TIVO, nap, and kind of do our own thing. The hubs plays a lot of video games while I blog, read blogs, and research vacations for us. Anyone else out there a video game widow?

For dinner we decided on a classic combo: salad and sandwich. Dinner was really colorful which I love. The sandwich was built like this: wheat bun bottom, pickles, deli turkey, green apples, 2% cheddar,lettuce, tomato, honey mustard, and wheat bun top. We had this with salad mix from the bag (yes I cheated) dried cranberries, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Also pictured is a side of “sweet midget” pickles (that is really what they are called) and some apple sauce. It felt like a very Spring friendly meal which I love!

My week was so full and crazy last week that tonight is the first time I have thought about the weigh in tomorrow.  I know I ate right and worked hard but I will not be surprised if the incredible stress I was under rears its ugly head on the scale this week.  I will try not to get too down in the morning if it does. There is a new beautiful week in front of me, a 10K coming up, a Sex and the City 2 date with a girlfriend, a jewelry party, and some Alice in Wonderland fun in store this week. How could I not smile? What are you looking forward to this week?

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Spring is Weird.

Hey remember a few hours ago when I gushed about how beautiful today was in Virginia? Just as soon as my little blog was published the sky darkened and the rain started pouring. It’s yet to stop.

Harlow and Carrie made sure to bark every single time there was thunder. You know, so they could scare it off. 😉

When the hubs got home from golf I said that I wished we had our pace from today because “I just feel like it was really really good”. It turns out Bry has an application on his phone that records such things so our run broke down like this:

Moving time: 00:49:21
Distance: 4.47mi
Avg Moving Speed: 5.43mph
Elevation gain: 927ft

Which is an 11 minute mile!!!!! (on average). I am so excited about this. I am normally nowhere near this fast so I was just glowing to get these stats. It really has me excited for the AEP 10K at Roanoke’s Festival in the Park next weekend.

We got ready and headed out for some much needed lunch. I was starved! I chose a 1/2 size chopped chicken cobb salad and 1/2 of a turkey/artichoke/spinach panini. It was excellent although 1/2 way through the meal I decided the hubs plain veggie cafe salad looked better than mine so he switched me. Sweet huh?

After lunch the rain continued to pour and we went from store to store in search of yoga mats with no luck. Either they were really really cheaply made or too expensive for a couple of novice users. We decided to put the yoga on hold for a while and drive over to the dollar movies where the rain continued coming down in buckets.

Post movie I suggested TJ Maxx for yoga mat shopping and SCORE! We both found mats we liked. The hubs started doing yoga as part of the p90x program and found that he really likes it. I got the mat for possibly taking a body flow class plus I think doing yoga together would be a lot of fun. The hubs did mention that he wished he could find a more masculine yoga mat (if such a thing exists!). He picked an army green and I chose Alice blue. 🙂

After our successful shopping spree at TJ Maxx we ran a few more errands (Target, Best Buy, Etc) and finally stopped at the grocery store to pick up some veggies to go with dinner. I was greeted by the oddest produce department ever. All over the fruit and veggies were these creepy adorable “produce people” baloons. I only took one picture as to not look like a crazy lady but I could not stop giggling.

Now I am settling down for a much needed night in. We made a stop by redbox to pick up the entertainment

and we are getting ready to make some of those “fast food swap” organic chicken sandwiches from last weekend.  Have a Happy, Healthy and Snuggly Saturday!

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Run On

Saturday Morning and its beautiful here in Virginia! The hubs and I woke up for the first time in at least a month with NO alarm clock. It was so nice just to ‘sleep in’.  I cant really call it sleeping in because we are pretty much always up by 8:30 these days. That is one of the major things that changed after moving in with the hubs. I used to be a super late sleeper.  But we were up and Bry asked to join me on my run. I love running with the hubs but it was just too hard to get our schedules synced during the week. Sooo, I was pretty jazzed for this morning’s run.

Before heading out Bryan suggested some high fiber oatmeal, bananas, and honey. It is easy for the body to break down, has potassium from the banana, and natural sugar from the honey. It was filling, yummy, and comfy on the stomach during the run. Nothing is worse than eating something and having it feel like rocks in your belly during a workout. This was great.

We went right to the trail where it was already starting to get a little too warm for my liking. We started on the pavement. This is where I normally run so I was in my comfort zone. Bryan said my pace was “really motivating” him to “kick it up” so I was feeling pretty good.

A couple weeks ago I showed you pictures from my paved trail run so today I thought I would show you my little off road adventure with the hubs.

This is one of my favorite runs because of just how beautiful it is. It is one of my least favorite runs because it is crazy hilly. When the hubs and I started running this together months ago we were walking most of it, gasping for air, and generally worn out.  It’s crazy how things have changed. I was still gasping for air, but let me explain.

As you know my hubs is doing the p90x program. I don’t know if it is him getting stronger or just more accustomed to working out but he was out of control today. Bryan does like to coach me a little when we are working out. He biked the MS 150 a few years back and gets really dedicated to his fitness programs. Instead of just jogging today he had me jogging, running, sprinting, marching, stretching, and lunging in intervals during our run.  I am not going to lie it was rough. I was pouring sweat and gasping for air but at the same time it was kind of awesome as well. Id never have pushed to quite that extent on my own.

One of my favorite parts of the run is getting next to the water. Of course this part of the trail is flat so Bryan used this as a reason to torture me push me a little harder!

I am working hard in these pictures so we just wont judge the pained expression on my face. 😉 PS Can I just say I love that the hubs stops mid run to remember pictures for my blog!

The hubs on the other hand was pretty much bouncing off the trees and hopping and running circles around me. In my defense I am not a “nature” girl so its much harder for me to navigate the terrain. But I am getting a lot better. I can honestly say I enjoy it a lot and soon I’ll be smoking him. 😉 (Ok maybe not smoking but definitely improved!!)

What goes down must go back up so we had to climb some pretty steep hills to get out of the trail. Bryan encouraged me to run a couple of them. I felt like I was going to throw up a couple of times but I felt good. I felt proud when it was done.

We did 4 miles and I did not keep track of the time. I guess I need to start doing that but today it didnt matter. I worked hard, pushed myself to my limit, and I am probably just a little stronger for it. It was the kind of run that makes you want to run again! The hubs went to play some golf with the boys and then we are off to buy yoga mats and have some other casual nowhere to be Saturday fun.  Run on friends!! Have a Happy and Healthy Saturday.

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Healthy Living Summit 2010

Happy Friday Everyone!!  The last few days have been extra busy but I am back and ready to blog. My big news is that on Wednesday night I bought a ticket to the 2010 Healthy Living Summit being held in Chicago. Basically, this is a weekend for bloggers and nonbloggers to get together, go to workshops that promote healthy living and just have a fabulous time. Being the nerd planner I am I have already picked out which break-out sessions I want to attend. Right now it looks like I’ll be visiting

• Fueling for Fitness: Perform Well and Recover Quickly from Your Workouts
• The Ups and Downs of Pressing Publish: Getting Real about the Blogging Community
• Yoga
• Stop Staring Over Your Shoulder: How to Avoid the Self-Comparison Trap

The only choice I am torn about is between the following topics. Which one would you choose?

1. Healthy Entertaining:Learn how to be a great hostess while maintaining your healthy lifestyle.
2. Stepping up Your Blog Photography

I am also excited to be rooming with Andrea from Run, Eat, Date, Sleep.  I think its going to be a lot of fun meeting in “real life” all of the people whose stories I follow online. Plus Im going to Chicago. How much fun is that? Any “must vists” for the windy city?? (Remember I heart shopping, good food, shows, and all things fabulous!)

I will be back to some run/food blogging tomorrow. Bry and I have a run planned for the morning and if he’s nice I might make my low cal vanilla nutmeg french toast!!

Have a Happy and Healthy Weekend!

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