Out of Towners

Good morning!

Just a quick post to tell you all about my fun weekend…

My sweet grandparents from St. Louis came into town for a visit at the beginning of last week, and I got to spend some quality time chatting the day away on Saturday and Monday.  Monday was Columbus Day, so the girls were out of school, which thankfully gave us an extra day of visiting before my grandparents had to pack up and head back home.

I am hoping we’ll be able to make a trip up there next summer, I miss them so much!

Sunday was a day I spent with just my girls.  The weather was wet and dreary, so we headed out to the mall to stretch our legs and get out of the house.  We started with a stop at Panera Bread for lunch-

I know it doesn’t look like much, but the bread bowl with bistro french onion soup= awesome.  Mer’s autumn squash soup was also delicious, but a bit more of a dessert than a meal.  Colette ordered the chicken noodle, which was literally gone 2 minutes after we sat down.  Yum-my!

We hopped over to Dillards and walked around the home department, oohing and ahhhing over the Christmas decor and fun gifts.  I loved the Mudpie engraved cheese and butter gift sets.   They would make the cutest house warming gifts!

Not to mention, the basket they were in, was too cute.

I also loved all of the blue and white cottage style dishware.  So pretty.

All in all, it was a fun weekend with the family.  Next weekend will be even busier, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  OK, I’ll give you a hint, there will be wedding bells… 😉

Workout:  As for this morning, I started off the day with a Shred workout, (level 1) courtesy of Jillian Michaels.  I wanted something fast and full body, and that certainly did the trick.  I upped my hand weights to 5 lbs this time, and boy was I struggling on the arm workout.  Ouch!

Breakfast:  After that I served myself some over easy eggs and a slice of caramel apple bread.  If you haven’t tried this seasonal bread(I bought it at Target), you are missing out on some serious awesomeness.  Sooo good.

Source

Alright, that about wraps it up for this girl.  I have some major grocery shopping to do.

Question:

• What did you do over the holiday weekend?

Have a great Tuesday!

Amy

Recovery Run

Good morning all,

This morning’s run was full of focus, determination, and multi-tasking.

After allowing my shins some recovery time (the insides of my calves still hurt a bit), I dove into a very focused first run of the week.  I started with a slow, steady pace, concentrated heavily on my breathing, and focused on keeping my feet moving no matter what.  I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and running has such a beautiful way of breaking through all of the mental blocks and emotional turmoil, and truly clears the mind and frees the spirit.  My body was craving the release, so I gave in… and it felt great.

I ended up with a 1.59 mile run through the neighborhood:  16:33 minutes, 10:25 min/mi,

Splits:  

• Mile 1:  8:59 mins
• Mile 2:  12:15 mins

I think my time was sooo different on the second .59 mile because I walked up the hill on my street rather than running it.  With my shin issues, I read it was best to cut back on sprints and hills, so I’m taking it easy on those for now.

I rounded out my morning with some bicycle crunches, reverse crunches, and arm work using 5 lb weights.

I probably won’t be doing too much running this weekend, as my grandparents are in town from St. Louis until Tuesday, and my great aunt will be here tomorrow as well for a visit.  They are so much fun to be around, and I can’t wait to spend some quality time hanging out with them.

Have a fun, blessed weekend!

Amy