What I'm Loving Lately

After sharing my favorite running shorts in my last post I was inspired to share some of the other favorites things lately, most have to do with food. Let's face it when you're training for a marathon, you are ALWAYS hungry haha.

One of the things I have always struggled with is drinking enough water. We have a ridiculous amount of water bottles but none that are bigger than 20oz. I found this Contigo 40oz water bottle on Amazon and I'm loving it! I feel like I'm finally drinking enough water to keep myself hydrated during the day. It was only $16.84, that's a steal to me.

I don't know about you but later in the evenings I'm always looking for something to snack on. A few months back I came across the Angie's Boom Chicka Pop Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn. Holy cow, it's AMAZING!!! I'm obsessed. Haha. It's the perfect snack at the end of the day. I don't feel guilty eating it either as 1 cup is only 70 calories. 

One thing I have been trying to do lately is simplify dinners. That's where sheet pan meals come into play. They are life changing! I can throw everything on a pan, put it the oven, and 20-30 minutes later we have a full meal. A few days ago I made sheet pan steak fajitas. They were delicious and so easy. This is the recipe I used and they came out perfect. E loved the vegetables and ate a bite or two of steak (she is not a red meat kinda kid). You can make them with chicken too and they are just as delicious. I think I'm going to test out shrimp next time.

How many of you have ever had rolled ice cream?! I knew about it but had never had it until a few weeks ago. OH! It's life changing haha. Our town recently had a place open and we stopped in to check it out. We were not disappointed. It was so fun watching them make it! If you have a rolled ice cream place near you, run, don't walk there! 

This last item isn't food related! Haha shocker. A few weeks at a July 4th race I noticed that my current running sunglasses broke. I'm not going to lie, I was really upset! These have been with me every step of my running journey. RIP $5 Esprit sunglasses. I needed to find a new pair and finally jump on the Goodr bandwagon that most of my SLAM friends wear. They have quite a few to choose from but I got these. The name of the color made me laugh. I'm happy to report that so far so good! Let's hope it continues.

What are some of your favorite things lately!?

Weekend Snapshots + A Favorite!

One of the things we knew when we came back to NC was that Kyle would be busy. Well, the fun has already begun haha. 

He had to work late on Friday so I wanted to make sure that E and I had a fun day planned. We met up with friends after SLAM to go blueberry picking. Doing things like this were always favorites when we lived in Kansas and this experience was no different. She was so happy running around with her bucket and picking blueberries off the bushes. We were able to get almost 2 pounds for only $2.86! We made blueberry streusel muffins with plenty leftover for E to eat. 

Since Kyle was working late, I knew getting my training run in meant taking E. She is such a good companion and just goes with the flow. Running with a stroller is HARD. I don't care how many times you do it, it takes so much effort.

Since we knew Kyle had to go to work on Saturday we decided to grab breakfast out. We went to placed called Metro Diner. Holy cow, it was delicious!!! Out of everything pictured my favorite item were the grits. I'm a sucker for good grits and these did not disappoint.

After Kyle left for work E and I headed up to Raleigh to do a little shopping. As usual Starbucks was involved and she enjoyed her lemon pound cake haha. This is the face of pure joy.

Sunday was more low key mostly due to my long run. I was up at 4:30am so I could drive to post. I knew that trying to get 14 miles in my neighborhood would be difficult. I felt great right off the bat and then thanks to uneven pavement at mile 3, I tripped and fell. As a runner you figure out quickly that if you fall, you fall on your side and that's just what I did. My knee was scraped but my shoulder and hand took the brunt. I got up, brushed myself off, and continued on. I felt a huge sense of relief and pride at the end of the run. I was proud of my pace and this is what I'm aiming for. I'm a little sore today from the fall but I'll be just fine. 

Yesterday was our nephew, Grayson's 7th birthday!!! How is he already 7!? I can't handle it. We will get to see him in a few weeks and I can't wait. 

Now on to one of my favorite things as of late!! Since I spent the majority of my time in workout clothes, it was so important to me to find a quality pair of running shorts. I usually wore target or old navy but found that they caused horrible chaffing if I ran more than 6 miles. I was finally convinced to try the Run Times Short II from Lululemon. I was a bit hesitant to spend $58 on a pair of running shorts but Kyle reminded me that I'm an athlete and it's important to invest in good products. Well, it's safe to say that I'm hooked! Not only are they comfortable but I have had ZERO chaffing since switching in April. Plus, they come in really fun patterns and colors. SO, if you are looking for good athletic shorts, check these out.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!!!!

Mid-Week Musings

On Sunday, I wrapped up my first week of marathon training! Now I just have 12 more weeks to get through haha. I previously talked about making this training schedule work and so far I've done just that. I think my favorite runs are my early morning Sunday long runs. I get up way before everyone else and just get it done. This past Sunday was unusually cool and it felt amazing. I know it's not always going to be that way haha.

 Speaking of training, I purchased this tank top and it's so accurate. Just give me all the cupcakes!

In the middle of all this training we made a pretty big change in our house. We transitioned E into a toddler bed. We knew it was getting to be that time and we wanted to just get it over with. She looks so tiny in her bed now (which is weird because it's just her crib converted). I'm happy to report that last night was day 3 and she is doing wonderful!!! 

Another transition is about to occur that we also knew needed to happen. Getting rid of the infamous pacifier. She had a dentist appointment yesterday and everything looks great except for her top front teeth. They are farther apart than they should be and the dentist recommended that we wean her off the pacifier. She doesn't want it to impact the growth of her adult teeth. So today begins that process. I'm not about to make her give that up cold turkey. It will take a few days. 

She was happy before the dentist, not so much during the appointment. She has time to forget about it before her next appointment in 6 months haha. 

Kyle's schedule is becoming a little busier with longer days so we are taking advantage of the time we have. On Sunday we took E to one of our favorite places. The Cape Fear Botanical Gardens. We went there several times when we lived here last and it has changed so much! The gardens themselves are beautiful but the walking trails are amazing. E had a blast running all over and picking up sticks haha.

I am taking E to a gymnastics class today, I'm curious as to how she will do! Fingers crossed she likes it, it would be fun to sign her up for classes.

Hope y'all have a great day! 

Home Tour: Part 1

A few weeks ago I promised that I would do a home tour once we were all unpacked, well the time has come! However, I'm going to do it in two parts. Solely because the upstairs is a mess and it will take a bit longer to take photos but I have the downstairs ready. 

So, without further ado, here is our home!

In my last post I shared that we were replacing the pine straw with mulch. We finally finished on Friday night and I'm so happy with how it looks. Next project is to work on the grass. The early summer was really hard on it and scorched it. Time to bring it back to life. 

When you walk in the front door you walk into a wonderfully open foyer. One thing I noticed when I first looked at the house was the wall color and the lack of textured walls. It's a very light gray and smooth, it's such a nice change from stark white or brown tones. I don't have much on the walls in this area because I'm so particular. However, I do have my home sign that I made when we lived in Kansas. Eventually I will add more but for now this works. 

You can go right and enter the living room or go left and hit the stairs or continue down the hallway to the dining room. This is the hallway to the left. We decided to hang our college degrees here, it's fun walking by them and reminiscing. 

Once down the hallway there is a utility closet that I love!! It's nice having a dedicated place for vacuums, brooms, and other random household items. There wasn't an electrical outlet or light in there so my dad installed both when he was here. 

Next to this closet is the powder room. It's the perfect size and has a window, which for some reason I  really like. 

Next up is the dining room. The dining room, kitchen, and living room all flow together. However, to me it feels like there is a division between the different spaces. Our new table fits perfectly and the window add the perfect natural light during the day.

When looking at house one of the things I wouldn't budge on was having a pantry. I had to have one. We didn't have one in our house in Kansas and it drove me nuts! We have a really good size one in this house and it's perfect. 

Next is the kitchen. It's one of my favorite spaces to be in. Between the cabinets and the gray backsplash it's amazing.

 We decided to purchase barstools for the bar and so glad we did. They match the dining room table and it's make everything flow so well.

One of the first things I purchased when we moved in was new living room furniture. Our couch and end tables were finally delivered yesterday. I feel like a grown up now haha. I love how this space looks.

My Dad was kind enough to mount the TV so Kyle didn't have to do that after he arrived. We are still working on the cord situation (Kyle has a plan) but I love my builtins and have grand plans to reorganize. I will get to it eventually. We decided to bring E's teepee down from her playroom. It's awesome because it hides the few toys down here and she loves playing in it. 

Well, that's the tour of the downstairs! I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to share the upstairs with you.

Happy Monday!

This and That

I feel like we have finally found our groove here! It's nice to have that routine of things to do everyday and we are all loving it. One of the big things that I checked off my list was registering E for preschool! She will start in September! It's a 3 days a week program and she will go for 3 hours a day. I think it's going to be great for the both of us. 

We started the weekend on Friday with a SLAM pool party and potluck. It was a beautiful but hot day. E was so happy but was not amused at my desire to take a photo beforehand haha.

Saturday morning it was an early start for us. We headed up to UNC Chapel Hill for a 5k. It was an absolutely beautiful race. The campus is gorgeous and the surrounding area was relatively shaded which helped quell the heat a bit. I felt really good the whole race and was pleasantly surprised that despite the heat I finished in 23:34. It was enough for 3rd place overall female. Kyle as usual was awesome especially since he is the one pushing E.

After we got home we spent the afternoon just relaxing and trying to stay cool. I headed off later that night for first Mom's Night Out here. It was so much fun. We met up for pedicures first which I was so happy about. This place was awesome and actually had a pretty extensive menu of different pedicures. It was worth every penny.

Then had dinner at a pizza place that can only be described as Subway for Pizza. It was amazing!!! I liked it so much that I took Kyle there on Monday haha.

Sunday was more low key and we spent time finally putting together the gallery wall I had been envisioning. I am obsessed with how it turned out!

On one of my many trips to Walmart on Sunday, I snagged this bubble machine for E. It's safe to say that she is obsessed. It easily is hours of entertainment for her.

One of the things that I have been wanting to do since we moved in was get rid of the pine straw in our planters. It was driving me crazy because it's just essentially dead grass and I hate it. We took a trip to Lowe's, got what we needed and got to work. 

Thank goodness for sales because this stuff isn't cheap haha. I am so happy with how it all turned out and now it doesn't bug me when I look at our yard.

E had her first swim lesson yesterday and she loved it. She is a little fish. She goes twice a week for 30 minutes each time which I think is perfect for her.

Now that I've written it all out we have been pretty busy the last few days. I'm not hating it though!

We don't have any big plans for the 4th tomorrow with the exception of a 4 mile race in the morning. I'm sure we will figure something out.

Whatever you all decide to do, I hope you are safe and enjoy the day celebrating with family and friends. Happy 4th of July!!

Making It Work

When I got into the Chicago Marathon last year I knew that training was going to be intense. I knew that I wanted the experience to be drastically different from my first. Let's face it, the first one was awful. We didn't train properly (I don't ever recommend that) and in some ways I took the experience for granted. 

However, now my situation is completely different. Not only do I have a husband that is going to be working insane hours again but I have a daughter that requires most of my attention during the day. I can't just run out the door whenever the mood strikes me to take care of my training run for that day. Obviously, if I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, E will go in her stroller and off we go, but I want to avoid that if I can. I have to really plan and that is going to be the one thing that takes the most dedication. I have to be willing to get up early in the morning or go later in the evening. I am thankful that Kyle is okay with taking care of E's bedtime routine so I can focus on training.  

I sat down yesterday and mapped out my training plan, it was almost daunting doing that. Once I started going over it, I got really excited. Training isn't easy, pulling yourself out of bed early in the morning is not the most fun thing to do but gosh lacing up those shoes and hitting the pavement is exhilarating. 

I'm not going to lie I was really unsure if I could make this work given Kyle's work schedule but he assured me that my training won't suffer, as an athlete who is working towards something pretty significant, that is huge. I also know that I can't let training negatively impact my family life, so there has to be a balance and once we get into a routine I'm confident that all will be okay. 

I am looking forward to this challenge again. I know that it's going to be hard, there are going to be days where I want to give up, but to me that's just not an option.  I will conquer those 26.2 miles and I will do it the best I can in that moment. 

Training begins today and I'm ready! I'm looking forward to sharing this endeavor with you all.