running.

I have never liked running, never been very good at it. Somewhere around March/April I decided to start making better life habits. Exercising and eating better were on the very top of that list.

Back when I had my old job in TRF, my dear friend Amy, always was trying to convince me to go out running with her. I had a hard time taking her up on that offer because I just didn't like to run. But when I decided to change a few things, I picked up my running shoes that were gathering dust in my closet and gave it a go. And since then I've discovered, that while I may not be the fastest out there and not able to run 10 miles (yet), I actually do like it. I have a tendency to like instant (or relatively quick) gratification and this is exercising my patience for results.

Running has now pretty much become a daily habit. And in weeks like this one, after a nice tumble outside of work that tweaked an ankle and scraped a knee raw (also smashing my phone screen into a million pieces) not going out has me a bit stir crazy. I've discovered that running is good "me" time. When the shoes go on and the headphone start blaring music, my brain pretty much shuts off. I usually go out with some life issue I want to work out, and after, I realize I never thought about it once but the problem seems less stressful and crushing.

So, today I did something that for me is a bit bold. I signed up for my first 5K run! Yeah, 3.1 miles probably doesn't seem like much, but you got to start somewhere right? I know I'm pretty comfortable already with that distance so this seemed like a good way to venture into the world of races/marathons.

The Fifteen's 5K combines my absolute LOVE for baseball, my new found like/love for running, and my desire to help the world. Twins relief pitcher, Glen Perkins and his wife Alisha, have teamed up with the Minnesota Twins and Twin Cities in Motion to raise money for The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. When I discovered this race I just had a gut feeling that I found it because I was supposed to be a part of it. I mean, how could I not? Hanging out with my favorite team/players, running for a good cause, and a ball game - sounds like a pretty great day to me :)

If you don't have anything going on Sunday, August 12th, consider running too!

Have any advice for a beginning runner? Tips for recovering after an injury? I'd love to hear them.

Images via Pinterest and Facebook.

Every Day Life Goals

From now on I will:

Laugh a bit louder
Smile a bit more
Work a lil harder
Be curiouser and curiouser
Think outside the box
Be confident
Listen a bit closer
Always say please and thank you
Stand a bit taller
Pay attention
Complain less
Dance a bit crazier
Give 110% to everything
Stop over thinking and just do
Have a little more faith
Take a few more risks
Focus on the positive
Run longer
Be happy with what I have
Love more
Never give up

And above all - Simply enjoy the moment


Happy Friday, everybody!


Image via Pinterest

Living in the Moment

Photos taken at the Pioneer Farm in Roseau, MN and on the drive back to southern MN.

I have joined the Instagram bandwage with my new iPhone I treated myself to this weekend. I no longer have what we refer to at work as "a dumb phone."

I think I can count on less than one hand the moments when I know I have truly been living in the moment. Rarely do I recognize it at the time. This weekend was one of them.

I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in a good friend's wedding this past weekend. It was full of cowboy boots, line dancing, country music, and two-stepping. I met some pretty awesome people who know how to get down and have a good time. Even the clean up after everybody left was made into a party. We spent many hours dancing, laughing, taking photos and making some great memories.

The Saturday of the wedding I had no worries about my 6 1/2 - 7 hour drive back to reality the next day. I had no worries about the pile of work that would be waiting for me on Monday morning and all the projects that needed to be finished. No worries of how my paycheck I had just gotten the day before would disappear quickly into my gas tank.

Of course, it wasn't until that 6 1/2 hour drive that I realized all of this - when I put on some good ol' country tunes and watched the Minnesota farmland blow by me for 330 miles. I had a smile that just wouldn't seem to budge...

Because-

"Days like these - they go by way too fast. Days like these - you wanna make them last."

On Being Exactly Where You Need to Be

Current goal: Get back into yoga.

Whenever I go visit my friends Nate and Ashley, I'm always reminded to set goals for myself and really strive to achieve them. I'm always reminded to do a bit more with my life than what I'm doing. I'm brought back down from the clouds and grounded again.

This weekend was the first time in a long time that I really felt I was living in and enjoy the moment. My brain wasn't focused on a million different things. My brain was focused on having a great time with old friends and new friends and soaking up every minute of it. I think one of the most amazing feeling is enjoying yourself so much you don't realize how much time has past...Say 2 hours huddled around a kitchen table playing a board game and another 2 hours enjoying wings at Green Mill with a dozen conversations going on at once with a ton of laughter. On my drive back home I had a good amount of time to reflect and realize how high strung my brain is most of the time.

So tonight, I started doing yoga again to help calm my brain and body. To remind myself to breathe and focus on the here and now. To be a bit more centered and calm.

During one of the routines I did, the instructor said:

Every day you're somewhere different and you're exactly where you need to be. 

I've heard it as many times as I've done the routine in the past but for some reason, this time it resonated with me a bit more. It stuck in my brain. Maybe it's because of how much reflecting I've been doing in the past week or so.

I think it fits right in with another quote I heard elsewhere about taking your life and the situations you're in that you're not happy with and changing you perspective.

So on the good days and on the bad days, you're life is right where it's supposed to be. Just use that brain of yours and shift your perspective a little bit and enjoy the moment- it only happens once in a lifetime.

Reflecting: Good-Bye 2011, Hello 2012

Wow, another year is pretty much gone! What a year, what a year. On my 3 1/2 hour drive home for Christmas and the 3 1/2 hours back I had a lot of time to reflect on 2011. And just even the last two years since college graduation. 

 

 source

2011 brought: 

• New friends
• Grand adventures with new friends
• Grand adventures with old friends
• A pile of ideas and plans for the future
• Learning to make 3D models of itty-bitty computer parts like none-other
• A great new job!
• Indulging in the world of web design, WordPress, and social media
• A start to understanding CSS and HTML
• Lots of new crafts
• Learning to drive in the Cities by myself
• New recipes
• Paying bills...
• Mistakes and lessons learned
• A another year of finding out who I am

source

This year I am not making a formal list of resolutions. Some people say that writing goals down is the best way to make sure you complete them. I'm starting to find that when I look back at that list (after forgetting about it 2 months in...) I am disappointed in those things I wasn't able to cross off. And that tends to be more of the focus than the things that were accomplished. Because many times those accomplishments weren't planned goals.  


For 2012:

• Greet every opportunity to grow and learn
• Keep on track and stay focused
• Enjoy time with friends and family
• Have more grand adventures
• Continue to learn and be curious about the world
• Keep finding who I am
• Enjoy whatever comes my way

So those are my list of resolutions. For the little things like getting healthy or save money or whatever, I am just going to keep these thoughts in mind:

• Challenge myself but start by taking baby steps
• Understand that results don't happen overnight- they take time, patience, and hardwork

Here's to another year ahead. Twenty Twelve- Bring it on!

Reflecting: What's Your Passion?

What are you absolutely passionate about that if it wasn't in your life, you would be nothing? I think about my life and what I am passionate about all the time. Mostly because I am interested in so many different creative things that sometimes I question whether or not I am heading down the right path.

And then I have moments like I did this week where I have been working on a logo for work that was causing me a bit of stress. I put a certain amount of pressure on myself to succeed at a high level, to push my boundaries just a little bit further. After all is said and done, I got word that they love it. I literally threw my hands in the air and pretty much shouted, "YES!!!" in the middle of the office then walked to my office with a big smile on my face. It is moments like that when I realize that I already am doing what I'm passionate about, that I'm headed down the right path for me. (I'm exciting to share this project with you when it's all said and done! It will be awhile though. Just keep an eye out for it.) I think I understand now that the other creative interests are there to keep me grounded, to keep my graphic design eye from getting burnt out.

When I was in St. Cloud this past weekend visiting some dear friends of mine, one of them told me about a speaker he listened to at a conference not long ago. The speaker said something along the lines of, "You can't do anything. In order to find out what you are truly going to excel at figure out where your talent and passions intersect."

Well..On my drive back to Hutch I started thinking about it a bit more. I agree with the last part. I think it's possible to do anything, but it's more of a question of how well you are going to do at it. I asked my boss one day what he thought about this and he said something that resonated with me a bit, "Why waste time trying to perfect so many things when it isn't possible? Why not focus on the few things you are good at and really become an expert on them?"

For the longest time, I've had this drive to change somebody's life through my career. I wasn't ever quite sure how that until now. It kind of just dawned on me that every day I get to live this out by helping people who are living out their dream, owning a business, doing what they love, continue to do this.

Life is short. Live your dream. Wear your passion.

 

P.S. I've decided to hold off on the 30 Day Challenge this month. After looking at my schedule I may be gone more than I think. I want to make sure I don't half ass a challenge so I'm going to wait until I can put a bit more effort into it. 

Oh...Enter the giveaway! You know you want some new art for your walls! With Christmas coming, if your walls are full, it would make a lovely gift! Enter here. Giveaway closes on Sunday! 

Happy Birthday to Me

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes on Facebook :) Here's to another fantastic year ahead!

Happy Hallow's Eve

I think that tonight is going to be a good night to watch Zombieland and/or Phantom of the Opera while handing out candy (if kids show up.)

Hope you have a fun Halloween!

Image from Pinterest

Fall Forever

 

 

  

I want to live someplace where it is fall all year around. A place where the leaves are always red, orange, and yellow and there are plenty of pumpkins around all the time. And somewhere there is a farmer's market every Saturday morning for a great start to the weekend.

Is there such a place where warm apple cider, the smell of cinnamon, and sound of crunching leaves never go out of style?

Images found via Pinterest

Mi Casa

 A few photos from my new home.

A Little Life Update

 

Popping in for a little update. I will finally be getting my internet and cable hooked up next Wednesday so I will be back to posting on a regular basis. Life is boring without the internet, not going to lie. But I have still be trying to keep busy with other things...

 

Snacking while baking. Recipe in a post to follow. 

 

I was inspired to break out my paints because of this: 

 

There is some great artwork that is part of the storyline.  

 

Yummmm... 

 

Broke out the yarn and crochet hooks once more. Working on a blanket I started while up in TRF and started a new one that is brown, orange, and white.  

Its the second week on the new job and things are going pretty well. Really starting to dive head first into some projects. Still working on getting my apartment looking like home. I have so much more wall space now I don't know what to do with it all. So if you have any good ideas on where to find sweet (inexpensive) stuff, let me know! I'm thinking of doing something with type. 

Settlin' In

Hey fine folks,

I'm sitting in the Dunn Brothers Coffee on my lunch break. I am all moved in now. My apartment is great, my new job is a huge culture shock from what I did for the past nine months. But it's going great and it's nice to be doing creative work all day long rather that feeling like a robot. But, I do miss my friends quite a bit.

The first day I moved down, a couple of friends came down from St. Cloud and we forwent the unpacking and walked across the street and saw Captain America. I'm not usually one for comic book movies, but I will admit, it was decent. And The Avengers explains all the comic book movies that have been coming out. The movie world made sense after I saw that.

Last night I went frisbee golfing with a friend from college. It is nice to get out of my apartment a bit and away from Heroes, which I am now completely addicted to.

I won't be getting internet for at least another week. When I do, I'm sure I'll have some photos to post by then. Moving drained my bank account pretty low so funds just aren't there yet. I have a feeling Dunn Brothers will be seeing me a few times a week until then. That's alright with me. I'm glad to be back near one again (and a Target!)

Until next time -- hopefully won't be too far away!

Packing...Cleaning...Packing...

This is pretty much how I feel right now...

It's been a day full of packing and cleaning, sorting and throwing out. For having a box of an apartment, I sure crammed a lot of crap in it. Very excited for my new place!

Last night was my last night in TRF (obviously...) but this is how it was spent...

On the lake...

Hanging with friends tubing, swimming, grilling...The best way to end my summer in TRF.

Tonight I'm heading home for the night to finish packing up some stuff there and then making the move tomorrow down to Central MN. Not sure when I'll have some solid internet so I'll be back when I can! 

I leave you with a song that will remind me of last night every time I hear it:

Have a fantastic weekend, friends! Until next time!