the impossible

We had a free Redbox code and I needed to blow off some steam/stress/goof off so we watched The Impossible last night.  Jonathan picked it out and brought it home and I had no involvement in the deceision whatsoever.  That was fine by me, so please don't think I'm complaining. 

I sobbed almost uncontrollably from the beginning right up until the very end and Jonathan kept passing me tissues and saying, "I'm sorry I picked this.  It's all my fault."

It's based on a true story, the story of a family dramatically impacted by the 2004 tsunami and the movie has won a lot of awards, especially the young actor who played the oldest son, Lucas.  I expect to see him again.

This movie isn't for everybody and I think you'd know it if it's one you shouldn't watch, but I loved it.  I recommend it and I just thought I'd spend my 15 seconds of free time this afternoon letting you know that.

links i love

This one combines my love of technology, graphic design, typography, and running.  Triple LOVE. Student creates typeface from his runs.

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My dad shared this link with me and I thought it was interesting enough to share. 31 Charts That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

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Permission to leave work early most days? Thank you, I believe I will.

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We are trying to get our number of followers up on our personal beach condo page on Facebook.  If you would be so kind as to head over to Facebook and search for Myrtle Beach Condominiums and "like" our page I would be so grateful.

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Heather's Dish has been tickling me to death lately.  I'm impressed with her ability to convey a lot of what I think but can't ever write.  I'm impressed with her photographs, her genuine and bare heart, and her recipes. Check out this one for Chicken and Leeks with Spicy Plum Chutney. Mmmmmm....

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This little bit about How to Stay Motivated has resonated with me since I read it more than a week ago.  I just went back and read it again and .... just wow.  Take a quick minute to read it if you've  been lacking some drive or debating about committing to something.

by the numbers

• 8 days of school left
• 60 miles run in May so far (my lowest month this year)
• 2.6 miles we hiked on Saturday

• 4 days until my DietBet is over
• 3.5 lbs left to lose in order to win this one
• 2 days of testing this week
• 4 doughnut holes my son ate after dinner Sunday night
• 2.56 seconds it took him to eat them

• 66 minutes is my goal time for my upcoming 10k
• 10:30 is that pace per mile (making it a lofty goal for me)
• 3 miles my seven year old ran yesterday at the Memorial Day Fun Run

• 9 weeks (roughly) until I get to meet my new niece
• 2 baby showers coming up next month for my sister

up to

missing - my friend Arika who I trained with for the last half marathon

counting - the days until school gets out... Thirteen, baby. Thirteen.

eating - blackened salmon, sauteed veggies, sweet potato fries during date night with Jonathan and chicken salad and fruit at the teacher appreciation lunch

praying - for the people of Moore, Oklahoma

singing - Show Me Your Glory by Third Day (see praying)

reading - Tigers in Red Weather, Run for God, and Runner's World magazine.  Apparently, I'm not the only one who hates hills.  Ahem, STACIE!

commiserating - with my daughter who lost television priveleges this week because she committed an unspeakable act

learning - about the tablets that Guilford County Middle Schools are being issued for next school year

laughing - at my kids when they eat Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans

 

 

around the www

This student artwork is so impressive.  Also, fitting for the Centennial Celebration of Winston-Salem.

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You can now send money via Gmail? Cool.

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It's been a while since I shopped at GAP but Mir says that you can get 40% off sale prices right now.  I'm gonna take a look.

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Now that the weather's warming up I'm looking forward to trying this recipe and this one too.

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25 free instant mood boosters - because somedays you just need 'em!

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For all you you trying to survive the last few weeks of school: there's this. 

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I love this look.  And the blog is pretty helpful too!  Check it out.

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Stay tuned because I've got a little Chick-fil-a giveaway coming up in a couple of weeks.

now that it's Wednesday I'll finally tell you about my weekend

It was such a nice weekend.  We went to the Centennial Celebration for Winston-Salem on Saturday.  First we watched the parade and then went to the Party in the Plaza for a bit.

 

 

We bought a bottle of the Hundred Foot beer specially made at Foothills, the local brewery.  Good keepsake.

We saw this funny license plate in the parking lot.  I said, "Look Jules! I'm a Jonathan Tucker fan!" and she replied, "Why not a Julianna fan?"

We also grocery shopped and cleaned on Saturday, plus I got to run with my training group Saturday morning.  I had a health and wellness screening after the run and I found out that my BMI is down to 25 which puts me back into a normal weight category instead of overweight.  My cholesterol was incredibly good (110) and blood pressure great having come from a run (129/75).  I was thrilled with the results and motivated to get even better numbers in six months.

I also got to cook some yummy things which made me really happy.  I tried out Gina's recipe for BBQ Zucchini Chips and I made a clean Nutella Banana Bread recipe that I found on pinterest.  Both turned out excellent.  You can tell I snatched a bunch of zucchini chips after they came out of the oven.

Sunday we had church and then a Mother's Day lunch at our house.  Jonathan grilled burgers and I tried out a recipe for black bean turkey burgers that I found on Foodnetwork.com.  Topped with corn salsa and sliced avocado it was wonderful!  Here was my Mother's Day lunch:

We played ball in the yard a bit, watched Julianna's "bow and arrow show" and took a few pictures.

I got to go run with a friend Sunday afternoon which was all I really wanted for Mother's Day.  It couldn't have suited me better.

I hope you all had equally amazing weekends!  Make the rest of this week a good one!

nature box

I'm so frustrated because I had this post all typed out and there was one picture that I wanted to edit out some of the clutter in my house that was showing up in the background and then I came back to insert that one dumb picture and accidentally deleted the entire post.  GAH!!!!  Anyway, here goes try number two!  I'm only re-doing this whole thing because I love Nature Box so much.

My second NatureBox was delivered sometime early last week.  You can read about my first one here.

It was a very long day at work and for whatever reason we got home around 7:40 and I went straight to putting the kids to bed.  Jonathan came home in the middle of that and as soon as I had the chance to change into PJs and flop on the couch, I saw down and tore into my package.  This is the picture that Jonathan snapped and subsequently the one that I wanted to edit before I posted it.  See all that junk in the background? Yeah. Please ignore that.

This time I tried customizing my box and I picked the following items to be delivered:

• Firecrackers
• Blueberry Nom Noms
• Barbacoa Peas
• Southern BBQ Sunflower Kernels
• Wild Berry Bunch

Guacamole Bites were also included in my box as a Bonus snack but I didn't pick them.  NatureBox folks were just kind like that.

So I got two of each snack and loved all of them but the Firecrackers which didn't have much flavor to me.  Here's what they all look like.

the Bluerberry Noms Noms were my favorite this time, really soft and fresh like a blueberry clif bar

Barbacoa Peas, crunchy and flavored and not like something I've ever had before

BBQ Sunflower Kernels, will be great on salads

Wild Berry Bunch, LOVE, will use in salads, homemade granola bars, and eat by the handful

Guacamole Bites taste a little like Chili Cheese Fritos, nice size and good crunch

 

Twelve good sized snacks that are yummy and good for you is not bad for twenty bucks!

You can sign up too and save $5 by using code "HEALTHY" for a discount off your first NatureBox! If you sign up, I'll receive a referral credit too so please consider using this link: http://fbuy.me/bvaz

NatureBox also donates a meal to Feeding America for every box they ship so you help others a little bit too when you place your order.

I'd love to know about it if you decide to place an order.  I'm going to stick with it for at least another month so I'll keep updating when I get my boxes.

It was a nice idea...

I think I'd like to make this a regular series here on A is for beautiful.  I'd love to know about your nice ideas as well.

• It was a nice idea to get up early and get my run in before work this morning but sleeping in sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to buy chicken, kale, salad greens, squash, sweet potatoes, and quinoa at the grocery store this week but since I haven't had time to cook getting take-out sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to go to the library last week and check out two new books to start and twenty new ones to read to the kids, but since we haven't had time with the kids lately snuggling on the couch and talking for a few minutes before bath and bed sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to plan on a lazy weekend at home this past weekend, but with all of the events going on in our town Saturday and Sunday going to local celebrations sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to try to lose my last 15 pounds quickly so that I could meet my goal by summer, but losing the weight slowly and making sure I'm letting my good habits stick sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to think I could clear out my feed reader by the end of the weekend, but just marking all remaining posts "as read" and spending time with my family on Mother's Day sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to think I'd go back and watch all of this season's Survivor episodes online and get myself caught up, but watching Breaking Bad on Netflix with Jonathan each weekend sounded better.
• It was a nice idea to try to do Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 for thirty straight days, but one or two times a week sounded better.

Please play along! Leave a comment and tell me what was a nice idea you had lately that didn't pan out?

top of the list: he doesn't mind grocery shopping with kids

a few of the many reasons I love my husband

• he still fixes coffee for me every morning
• he cuts my toenails
• he's learned to love running partly because he knows I love it
• he willingly visits my grandmother
• he serves in the nursery at church sometimes when I can't do it
• he picks on my mom the same way he picks on me sometimes
• he offers to take the kids to school or pick them up on days when I'm late
• he listens to my dad
• he likes chocolate
• he takes care of the car issues
• he randomly bought me a subscription to Runner's World after he saw one of my tweets
• he takes care of annoying insurance problems
• he reads good books and recommends them to me
• he has learned to eat pimento cheese with me
• he goes to the kids' school things
• he doesn't make committments without asking me first
• he puts up with my mood swings

running totals for april

I tried to run every day in April and then that one stinkin' nap made me sorta forget the last few days.  I still think I did pretty good though.  Here was my mileage for April: 73.4.  Certainly not what I was hoping for, but decent I guess for a month where I wasn't training for anything in particular.

I ended up running every day except for April 24, 26, 28 and 29.  Kinda tanked there at the end when I got that dumb cold.

In retrospect, I probably won't try something like that again because it really hurt my legs more than I thought it would.  I actually think it would have been easier on my body some days to just do an eight mile run on day and then take a few days off as opposed to running two miles four days in a row.

It also made me start picking up my speed more since I was running shorter distances and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it did make me feel like I HAD to go faster each time which sort of sucked the joy out of it.

Finally, it got my body accustomed to running one or two miles instead of my usual three or four mile mid-week runs.  No, thank you.  I want to get back to doing three or four miles several times a week and then six or seven on a Saturday.

Plus, I kinda want to prove the Family Circus kids wrong.

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