Happy 8

Today is the 8th anniversary of my wedding to J. It’s unbelievable to think that we’ve been married for 8 years (and together for almost 13). Seriously, wow. It’s been a crazy 8 years of wedded bliss. Okay, so we’ve been through a lot. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs and laughs and tears. But on the whole, we rock. Sometimes I am convinced he wants to send me back to my parents for a full refund. Other times I am pretty sure he’s happy I am his wife. Most of the time he just rolls his eyes at my latest adventures, weird ideas, necessary Target shopping trips, and other crazy ramblings that pop out of my head. He’s a good sport. I love him more than anything and I know that even on my worst days, he still there for me—which is no small feat. So, here’s to you, J, and thank you for your never-ending patience, support, and over all good-naturedness. I love you dearly. You are an awesome husband and an amazing dad.

Love,
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Getting my fix...

Um, yum?

So, in my original post, I explained why I love cupcakes. I love the simplistic beauty of them. I am a girl who is fascinated by the Food Network's Food Challenges that feature wedding cakes, cupcakes, cakes, etc etc etc. I am a closet baker who would LOVE to open up a cupcake bakery. I am so not kidding. But, since I am a complete amateur and also, need to make some money, this will just be a pipe dream unfulfilled. So sad.

So, one of my favorite websites on the Internet is Cupcakes Take the Cake. It's a website devoted to all things cupcakes. It's one stop shopping for anyone who is obsessed with cupcakes, like me. I could spend hours on this website checking out their finds. I thought I was a nerd who was fascinated by cupcakes until I found out I am just one of thousands of cupcake fanatics. How fun! You can Google cupcakes to look at all of the blogs out there and if you Google images there are a bazillion images of cupcakes out there.

There are tons of cookbooks devoted to cupcakes, too.

So why am I blogging about this? I dunno. It's better than breaking out a box of cake mix and whipping up a batch of cupcakes to devour. Nope. I am fine with my cyber-cupcake right now, thanks. ha! Although, cupcakes are very WW friendly--instant portion control! Kaitlyn's birthday party is coming up and I am contemplating baking cupcakes for her party--like 60 of them. I just am not keen on all the crap in the store-bought cupcakes and I can make them sooo much better. We'll see. It's a timing issue really. And, a transportation issue. That's a mighty big load of cupcakes to haul.

Gold Medals...and a BlackBerry!?!?!?!?

OK, so I’ve been captivated by Michael Phelps and his 8 new gold friends. Seriously, the guy is a machine. I’ll overlook the fact that he went to Michigan—he can’t be perfect I guess. ;)

How is he capable of being so strong, both physically and perhaps more importantly, mentally? It’s an amazing feat, really, to have the entire world watching your every move 24/7. Scrutinizing just about everything—even how many calories you consume daily—12,000!! What makes him that much more evolved than ME?!

I don’t expect to have the same physical and mental strength as Phelps or Nastia Luikin or any serious athlete, but it would be nice to know that I am capable of small feats—such as this daunting 5k. Seriously, that’s going to be my Olympic trial. Having never run a 5 k (or a 5 block for that matter) this is scaring the crap out of me. I am trying to run more/walk less during my near-daily attempts. It’s almost unbearably hard for me to run at a decent pace and distance. I know it takes time to get used to running and find my stride, but it’s hard. I give up too easily and just walk. Walking is good—yes. But, it’s not running, which is my whole goal right now. I am tired of feeling tired and frustrated. I know it’s getting easier, but for me—the Suzi who wants things now, now, now!—needs to see some results.

Speaking of Olympic sized challenges---the Great Minnesota Get Together (aka State Fair) is starting this weekend. I grew up going to the Canfield Fair, simply THE BEST fair in the world. I love it. All of it. However, my lovely WW leader kindly listed off the “points” values for the Fair Food. OMFG. Really? There’s nothing CORE there, obviously. So, I dunno. How can you go to the Fair and not have a corn dog? Huh? Does not compute. I’ll think of something.

Oh ya, I got a Blackberry. I got this one, the Pearl 8130 by Sprint.

It’s sweet. I am waiting on the iPhone for the next release—or whenever they expand their carriers (ahem, Sprint or Verizon!?)

Stuck in a moment...

I think it’s safe to say that this last week or so have not been the most productive or positive. I’ve been struggling with a few things and I seem to be stuck in the moment, hence the reference to the great U2 song:

You’ve got to get yourself together
You’ve got stuck in a moment
And now you can’t get out of it

I don’t know what’s really tripping me up, but something is. I managed to walk/run the lake path both Saturday and Sunday for a total of about 5.6 miles. I LOVED it. I can’t stress enough how much I love that walking path. I bought new running shoes on Sunday and they really made a difference—they are so much lighter than my other shoes. Tonight I am going walking again after K’s soccer game. But still, I feel fuzzy. You know, like I am not completely tuned in and am not 100%. I keep thinking about all of the changes I want to make and I seem to keep bailing on them. Ask me how many times I bought my breakfast and lunch this week? Go ahead ask. No, don’t. Ask me about my last WW weigh-in. No, don’t. Ask me how my iPhone savings is going? Ya, not so much…

I’ve been plagued with these thoughts all day really and I keep trying to sort out an action plan to make these changes stick—or at least start to stick. I am going to take some drastic measures (well, drastic for me anyway) to help kick start myself.

Goal #1: Stop being stupid about what I am eating as part of my diet and WALK/RUN regularly!
I mentioned this in a previous post. No more buying lunches, etc at work. No need to. I have a perfectly functioning kitchen at home. Puh-leeze. Also, now that I’ve FINALLY found a form of exercise that I LOOK FORWARD TO, keep it up. This running thing rocks now that I’ve convinced myself of that. I feel generally better after these walk/runs. I know it’s the right thing—even if it’s not like going to the gym all of the time like my super awesome hubby does. ;)

Goal #2: Stop buying unnecessary stuff
It’s certainly no secret (at least to my internet friends) that I want an iPhone. I am a big techie at heart and LOVE this thing. I wanted it last year but it was way out of my price range and my cell phone contract wasn’t up until this year. Now, it’s perfectly in my price range (J may disagree!) and my contract is up in October. :)

I need to tweak my budget in order to pay for the increased expense and it’s forced me to re-examine my spending habits. Basically, I suck at being a smart shopper. Big shock. I have a set limit each month I can spend using the credit card and I *mostly* stick to it. However, I’ve been known to go a little nuts. I do that when I am extra stressed or upset about something. I am clearly trying to fill a void or avoid something in my life and Target has become my dealer of choice lately. ;) So glad they just built a brand new Super Target literally right down the street, in my neighborhood, within sight from the walking path… ;(

So…. I am only going to buy the necessities: Kaitlyn’s back to school clothes (and the bare essentials since it’s still warm out—we can add to it later this fall); my WW bill; birthday supplies for K’s party. Really, nothing.

Goal #3: Save my pennies… literally.
I really freaking want that iPhone. Especially now that Best Buy will start carrying it in September—hell to the yeah! I think it’s time for another Craig’s List sweep of the house and see if there’s stuff I can sell. Why not? I’ve sold plenty o’stuff on Craig’s List and it feels good to get rid of stuff to people who genuinely want it. And, it’s cash. Cash is good. Also, start saving my leftover weekend money (if I have any!) and just generally be smart about what I spend overall. This is just good practice that I never do. I don’t save money, that’s J’s job. And, since he is still anti-iPhone, I am on my own. (I’ll get his buy-in eventually!).

So, there you have it: the big 3 for the remainder of August. Any tips that could help make this not so hard? :)

Dear K,

Don't grow up too fast.

You're almost 5 and that is unbelievable to me. You are a fully functional human capable of understanding right and wrong/good and bad. I want your childhood to be full of silly adventures, great books, tons of friends, and most of all--unending love and affection. You've already found your inner diva and have given us a glimpse of your teenage years. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes...not so much. I sometimes feel like we are trying to get you to act older than you really are. Why should you know that if you don't take a nap you end up a great big ball of moodiness that evening? Why should you know that if you don't comb your hair (of have ME do it) your hair will be a monster mess of knots in the morning? Maybe we are forgetting that you are just a little kid and we should be more patient with stuff like this. :) You'll get there.

So, for now, know that Mommy and Daddy love you to pieces and think you rock.

Love,
mommy.
(filing this under "Read when K is 13, 14, 15, 16...")

Run-Forrest-Run!

Tonight is my first official run around the lake. One of the main reasons why we built our house where we did was because of this amazing lake smack-dab in the middle of our development. It’s a 40 acre lake, used to be a sand/gravel quarry pit, so it’s deep. Finally, the paved pathway is complete and you can now walk around the entire lake on a nice, smooth path—about 1.4miles around. So, here I go.

I need to get new running shoes (sorry J, another expense!). My shoes are like bricks and not very conducive to running. So, I’ll probably venture out and get new running shoes (and socks, as recommended by my cool neighbor Erin) this weekend. I think this will be the only running-related purchases I’ll need, right? iPod? Check. Comfy running gear? Check. Now all I need to do is…go. If I can actually set foot out of my house and start running I’ll consider it an accomplishment. There’s a definite “fear” about starting this running thing. Not sure why really. It’s just running—humans are born to run. I’ve never really liked running. I hated track events at school during gym class. I always felt like I was the slowest kid out there. I broke my leg in 6th grade and my doctor said the break left my leg a few millimeters shorter than my other one and running would not be fun for me. Huh? I’ve always had that rattling around in my head—a built-in excuse to not run! Now, I can tell you that I don’t notice any discrepancy in the length of my legs so I am wondering if it was all BS. Or perhaps I made it up way back when to get out of gym class or something and my mind sort of adopted it as a new truth. I can totally see that happening. Regardless, there’s nothing wrong with me.

My goal is to run 3.5 miles non-stop. In time for my 5k on Thanksgiving Day. For someone who hates running down to the mailbox, this will be quite the feat. A feat so worthy of acknowledgement, so worthy of a sizeable reward, something like, oh, I don’t know, a new iPhone maybe?!

Maybe if J ties an iPhone onto a stick and holds it out in front of me as I run I’ll keep going… kind of like this picture, only replace the cake. ;) Or not.

Pure Joy. No Stress.

I sent this picture of Chloe out to some friends and family in an e-mail entitled “Pure Joy”. This is Chloe being tossed into the air by J at our neighborhood pool. She loves to swim. I love the look on her face—she’s in heaven! This picture makes me smile. Don’t you just wish someone would toss you in the air and you could just be carefree for a few seconds? I would love that right about now. Don’t you hate it when life becomes this big pool of responsibility and stress and you feel like you are plunging right into it without anyone catching you? It’s not a bad feeling necessarily, just a real one. :)