5k Day- Restore the Shore: 6-17-17

So, we did it! Our first 5k togehter!  We participated in the Restore the Shore at Moraine State Park.  It was a trail race, which I like much better... and though I am an experienced distance runner (way back in high school I ran Cross Country and track from 6th to 12th grade), this was Brian's first distance race!  I knew what to expect but I think it took him by surprise, in a good way!  It was very hot, humid and downright sunny as hell...our times were nothing to write home about but we ran it and we finished it and we only want to get better!  

 Yes, this photo above has nothing to do with the 5k but it is Bear creeping and it's cute!

We got up bright and early at 6am, ate some breakfast and started on our hour drive north.  We checked in around 8am and the race started at 9am.  There were only about 100 people but we were all really excited and it was a great way to get back into doing 5k's.  Plus the trail was breathtaking with views of the lake and in the woods! 

This is us before the race...

My finish

  Bri's finish

 ...and this is us after :) 

 It felt so good to run again and I really want to do more of these! 

 Oh and yes, Brian won a metal for 3rd place Male in the age category of 30-39!!!  What a great way to end his first 5k! He was on cloud 9 all weekend :) 

I have been having issues with my right knee and my left hip so I want to nurse them back to health and once they feel better, sign up for our next 5k.  The same people that do restore the shore have some fall races too... so ... I think we will aim for that and train a bit more in the meantime.  Well, I'm going to cozy up with my puppers and read some of my current book.  Thank you reading and goodnight! 

Biking 5.5 miles at North Park and so long May!

Well, I can't believe May is basically over.  I really love May and not just because it's my Birthday but because it's always so beautiful in Pittsburgh.  The weather is always perfect and it's not too hot or not too cold - all the leaves and flowers are out and it just makes me so happy to see this!

I want to start by saying that I started a new book called In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park.  I am not finished yet but I can't seem to put it down.  She went through so much and it truly tells you the struggles in North Korea and what goes on in the country we know so little about.  She is an incredible human being for going what she went through and still being such a positive voice.  I am sure I will finish it in the next day or two but I highly recommend this one! 

                       

On Sunday we went to a car show that our friend entered his car into and we had a blast.  They had a wine tasting and beer tasting tent set up where you paid 15$ to taste it all!  You cold get into trouble fast if you weren't careful.  I did get to try something new - a coffee flavored wine!  I bought two bottles it was so so so good!  

Matt ended up winning 1st place in his class and got a trophy.  We were so happy for him!   We then asked that he and his wife Nikki come join us for dinner and a game night- we played all sorts of games and stayed up while we drank wine, listened to music and I even read Matt's Tarot Cards!  

I have a couple of days off of work and have been keeping busy with yard work and little projects around the house.  Brian went back to work today and I have off until Thursday so instead of tackling my 1,000 projects  - I decided to ENJOY the time I have off and not get caught up in the house.  My parents got me a bike two Christmases ago and with planning our wedding last year I wasn't able to find anytime to ride it.  I made up my mind to take it out to North Park today as I was getting sick of seeing it just sitting the garage even though I was going to have to go by myself.  I think a lot of the times I didn't take it was because I had no one to ride with...well today I said "screw it, I want to go and I'm going to!"

I tried to make it fit in my hatchback today.  It may have worked out better if I had a smaller bike but I really fell in love with the vintage ones that are HUGE.  I had to remove the bike seat and wiggle it into the back but I made it!  I made sure to lather my pale self with sunscreen and I was on my way!

 I was halfway to North Park (it's only about a 20 min drive from my house) and it started to get VERY grey outside.  It looked to just be a very small but VERY angry set of clouds but I continued my journey to the park.  It down poured and I was afraid that after all my work to get the bike in the car, I wasn't going to be able to ride it.  The rain only got worse and so did the thunder but just as I thought, it was just a quick summer storm and it moved through in no time.  That made me so happy.

It was hard for me to mentally tell myself to pack up my bike and get to the park without a proper bike rack and having not ridden a bike in... well, years. I struggled to get the bike out of the trunk but I succeeded and attached my seat.  I then started my fit bit on the bike setting and took off!  There was still a slight drizzle and I have to say that it felt so good since it was getting to be about 80 degrees and it was really humid.  

The lake at North Park is 5 miles so I mentally prepared myself to finish it.  I use to run it during high school when I was in Cross Country.  I loved running that lake but I'm 34 now and not in the best of shape, even for a bike ride. 

 Angry Clouds Pictured Below:

 I look so tried - lol- it's the no makeup look!

 Saw a deer:

 See him in the center? 

 North Park is SO BEAUTIFUL!

 Yep- this is after my ride- 5.5 miles!  I was so tired and dreaded putting my bike back in my trunk.  I took the seat off and started wiggling it into place and a guy that was running even yelled over to me, "BARLEY FITS!" At that moment, I decided to go to Dicks on my way home and buy a bike rack.  

 Bike Racks are not cheap and I had to get one that would fit my hatchback.  I also picked up a helmet.  Now I'm broke for this pay but hey- i got the Bike Rack and now I don't have to struggle getting it on my car...right? WRONG- this thing was a BITCH to put on and the instructions are totally so ...vague.   I am so glad I decided to visit my parents on the way home from Dicks so that I could ask my Mom to help out holding tools and extra straps for the bike rack.  My Dad came out and helped me get it on the rack itself - I love them so much for always helping me out!  I'm assuming now that I have it set up that it will be easier get on and off and that since I know how to get it on there and fit SNUGLY it will be much smoother next time... We will see. 

Tho- you know what? Pat on my back for getting shit done! :) 

 I was a little bummed I didn't think to take my go-pro and shoot a video of the lake- I got it out and I'm ready to mount it for next time though (maybe later this week)! Here is a short cell phone clip I shot just to show how peaceful the ride was! :) 

Lastly I just wanted to say I picked up these lovelies at Ulta this week!  I am in LOVE with this brand guys! Pacifica is 100% vegan and cruelty free and that makes it a winner in my book!  I don't paint my finger nails very often but I do paint my toe nails and I have to say - I love that the nail polish (on top of vegan and cruelty free) is 7 Free!  You can read about it on the site here.  No - I am not paid for this- I don't even know if I have readers of my blog...but I am all about good in this world and being vegan and cruelty free is so important to me when it comes to my makeup- I'm still trying to work on the diet thing...but that's another story.  P.s the perfume hair and body spray, Tahitian Gardenia, was my favorite but there was also another one I loved that smelled like vanilla!  

Okay, I'm exhausted! Goodnight all and I hope to have at least one or two more posts together while I am on my little vacation from work!

  I have a very exciting coffee date tomorrow with the woman that read my Tarot Cards at my Bachlorette Party and I can not wait to sit down and talk with her about the cards and magic and eeeepppp! So happy! 

Thanks for reading<3

A Recap

     Welp. I have finally finished my wedding photo album.  HOLY POOP - IT WAS TIME CONSUMING! I can totally see why people pay so much money to have someone else do it! I think partly because it's my own photos so I want each and everyone of them in there! 

Now that it's done, I can focus on editing some of our wedding video and putting together a small album of my Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party and our Rehearsal Dinner and after those are checked off I can start the project I'm so excited about... scrap booking our honeymoon! ICELAND!

     I have been so antsy and really wanting to edit the photos and to put together a better video than I had slapped together right after the trip.  I have so many awesome photos I didn't post when I was blogging over there that I am really looking forward to putting them on the blog!  I am not tackling it currently because I am the type of person who gets overwhelmed way too easily and need to focus on only one or two projects at a time and now that I plan on blogging more... it will just be too much.  

     I have been thinking of some fun things to blog on here! I may do a post on my tattoos soon and maybe a hair tutorial but right now I may just do a weeks recap as things have been pretty busy this past week.  

     Though, I have a really fun project that I filmed a short video for and as soon as I get all the prints edited (I'm on 4 of 12) I will post the video and the prints here and I am hoping to get them in my store to sell! I really wanted to be able to post them today but I couldn't get them finished in time...it will just have to wait (There was 50% on shutterfly, had to finish my wedding album first... can't miss 50%)!

     Ok so on with the post ;) 

   I held my first Easter Dinner and we had both of our parents over! I was nervous and wanted to make it really special so I did my best with the table settings and food! They were also so wonderful to bring some side dishes over! We were able to set up our dining room table that we have on the back porch since it has been so beautiful out! Here are a few photos from our get together! 

 Creepiest cake ...ever. Thanks Dad ;) Love you!

Once everyone left Brian and I had a fire and relaxed, we both took off the following day to get caught up with a few things!

I think Easter turned out lovely! 

April has been very busy and I'm making time for myself lately.  I've been working out since the start of the new year and really learned that you have to give yourself time for it or it will never happen.  I'm really hoping to get into a 5k soon!
I have been trying to control my weight a little better since behind diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. The photos below are a few years ago (I just noticed I don't have any recent ones, I will have to update that) but it gives you the idea of how I fluctuate with my weight. The below photo is a 30 lbs weight difference!  It's tough. But I'm getting to know my body better and now that I have a reason for the weight changes, I'm not as frustrated with myself! 

    My goal is 7-10 more pounds, the same weight I was in the photo on the right.  I have been walking as much as possible during my lunch break and walking an incline or running after work for about a mile on our treadmill.  I like to walk the incline to work my legs and bum and I wear ankle weights (2.5 lbs each foot) to make it a little tougher.  I walk up a 10% incline.  The neighborhood is beautiful that I walk in during lunch with so many pretty homes.  

 and I always have my buddy close by while I'm working out!

     We have also been doing a lot of projects around the house- sorry for all the cell phone photos - I promise to start using my other camera more- sometimes it's just all I have at the moment :) 

     I wanted to paint the front door a pretty color (it was brown).  So I did.  I really love it except we have to power wash brown paint off the lower half of the house.  I will look 100 times better once I do that.  I don't mind paint on the lower half of houses, covering the cinder bricks, but it's just not for me.  We get a ton of sun too and the paint bubbles and peels and is a pain to keep up with.  

Before- brown door- sorry it's a bad photo

During 

After 

We have so much we still want to do to our home and we have the time this year since we aren't planning our wedding! 

They love to watch when we do yardwork

My plant babies! I'm doing okay this year- haven't killed any of them yet!

     We also decided to put a flower bed around the tree in the back after our fire pit didn't work out since the dogs kept getting caught on it.  I am so happy with how it turned out!  We did buy a new fire pit - one we can move...

 I have been crafting a ton to get my store started and hopefully do a craft show.  I dream of someday working from home... really. Anyways... things have been kind of a mess because I have craft supplies upstairs, downstairs, on our porch... everywhere. 

   

    These are some things I have been making.  My monsters are going to be for sale too- each with their own names and reasons why you should adopt them and if they are a good fit for you.  They are 15$ but we will be donating 5$ of each sale to Pets for Vets.  I will explain further once I make some more, take some nice photos of them and post them online.  This is kinda behind the scenes of what's going on... Spike is my favorite so far! 

 also- key chains ... 

     Fold over purses... this was my rough draft purse and please don't mind the monsters arm in the top right of the photo.  I plan on taking some nice photos for the blog of these products and then they will be available for purchase on the link to either Etsy or another site I decide to sell on.  

 Okay- dog photo break- aren't they the cutest!? 

     Below are some of the salads I've been making- SO GOOD! I'm really trying to watch more of what goes into my body and cut down sugar too... I really like to put the fake crab meat on them... I know it's not the best for you but YUM!  Since I've been working out and really watching what I eat, I'm down 9 lbs!

I can't remember what these were called but my Dad made me try them... they were so good! I will have to ask him again! 

     So- before I said things were getting out of hand with my craft supplies, well i just about had it on Saturday and couldn't even think straight.  I went out to Home Depot at about 7pm and stayed up until 3am to put together my craft supply shelving unit in our laundry room.  I just couldn't stand having things everywhere all the time! I can't tell you how happy I am to have this and it freed up so much space upstairs in our spare bedroom! YIPPPIEEEE! 

Well... :) That's all I've got for now- Tomorrow is May! My Birthday month! I will keep posting some fun things on here - maybe not so much any recaps as I think maybe some other things may be more fun ;) Let me know what you think!