weekly workout report | week 4

Monday | May 21, 2012
As my sister mentioned in her blog post, tonight could not have been more gorgeous and perfect for a bike ride. So, when Cory got home from work, he and I (and another friend who just bought a road bike) hit the road. I was totally disappointed when I realized my phone was down to 20% battery, knowing my MapMyRide tracker probably wouldn't finish because of a dead phone. I was right (died at mile 14), but luckily the friend who came with had me put her phone in my bike bag (for lack of a better word) so I got my full stats from hers since it was with me! It was such an awesome ride. I don't know if it was because I felt that much better [than the last ride] or because I wasn't trying to catch up to Cory the entire ride like I usually am. (Since we had a newbie with us, Cory wasn't kicking butt.) But I felt like I could have ridden another 22 miles. Love when that happens! For the second real ride of the season, not too shabby.

22.2 miles
1 hour, 35 minutes

Dinner: Turkey, spinach, avocado, provolone sandwich with a side of cooked zucchini.

Seeing hot hair balloons will forever be fascinating. Perhaps we'll see the view from one some day!?

Tuesday | May 22, 2012

Today I hit the treadmill for a quick run.

3.04 miles

(25 min. run | 10 minute warm-up/cool down)

35 minutes

+

.79 mile walk with Lucy

13 minutes

Dinner: Sushi. And it was delicious! Our go-to order: One California Roll (this is our "palette cleanser"), one Winter Roll, one Negihama (yellowtail and scallions, so good!! My favorite.), one Hamachi Sashimi (for me, another favorite), one Hamachi Nigiri (for him). 

Wednesday | May 23, 2012

Another treadmill day. I know a lot of people hate and dread the treadmill (or dreadmill as my sis calls it!), but I have really been enjoying it. It's in our basement so it's nice and cool, plus we have a giant TV down there so I watch movies while I run. I get engrossed in the movie which makes the time fly by. And I also just love to walk on the treadmill and watch movies. It's so effortless. As much as I enjoy it, I want to get used to running outside again too because you can't really go wrong with that either. :)

5.14 miles

(30 minute run | 30 minute walk)

60 minutes

Dinner: Grilled mango curry chicken, sweet corn and sweet potato fries (homemade in the oven)

Thursday | May 24, 2012

With the rain, I hit the treadmill again today. 

5.15 miles

(35 minute run | 25 minute walk)

60 minutes

Dinner: Baked herb salmon, asparagus and cooked carrots.

Friday | May 25, 2012

I slacked today as I was engrossed in a book (50 Shades of Grey—more on that later). I could not put it down and even missed dinner because of it. Finally, at about 8:30p, I brought Lucy for a walk around the block. Yes, this is how I spend my Friday night at the ripe, old age of 29, when my husband is working. :)

.78 miles

11 minutes

(not sure this can even count!)

Dinner: Like I said, didn't really make anything. Just random stuff and then a chocolate DQ shake on my way home from Target! Yum.

Saturday | May 26, 2012

I squeezed in a walk with Lucy in the morning before the down pouring ran hit, and before I had to help with my neighbor-friend, Michelle's, wedding. (I did her make-up and also laced up and bustled her dress)

2.52 miles

36 minutes

Dinner: Wedding meal, drinks, and a delicious cupcake. :)

My handsome wedding date & I. :)

We went across the street to the St. Paul Hotel/Grill for a cocktail after the ceremony.

[a blurry] View from above at the Landmark Center.

Wedding Reception | Landmark Center

Sunday | May 27, 2012

Slacked off again. :(

Dinner: Turkey burgers sans bun, grilled asparagus, mushrooms and sweet corn. 

Week's Totals

Run+Walk | 17.42 miles | 3 hours, 36 minutes

Bike | 22.2 miles | 1 hour, 35 minutes

Less time this week, but more running than last week. This week I hope to log more miles of both running and walking and also hope to get on my bike more than once!

weekly workout report | week 3

I think I did a little better this week as I did something active every day (and Lucy got lots of walks so she loves me even more!). Of course I could do much more which I am working towards... I am still debating whether I want a CorePower Yoga membership or a CrossFit membership. I'm sort of waiting until I'm making a regular paycheck again before committing to a membership bill every month. Until then, I have a pair of running shoes, a treadmill, a bike, and the open road in which I can access for FREE! :) I am also listing my dinners (below) mostly for my own purposes. I can look back at the blog posts when I want ideas for dinners and it's also nice to write it down in an attempt to keep things under control and healthy. I told Cory the week proved how fabulous of a stay-at-home-wife I would be... healthy dinners every night when he got home from training (not to mention, a clean house too)! (If only it was our usual schedule to have him home every night.. wishful thinking!)


Monday | May 14, 2012
Walk with Lucy
2.07 miles | 30 minutes
+
Bike (my first real road ride of the season!)
13.58 miles | 53 minutes

Dinner: Steak on the grill (Seriously, our first time ever grilling steak for ourselves! We never buy steak for some reason.), sweet potatoes and corn on the cob (grilled as well).

Bike ride scenery through the Woodbury/Afton countryside.

Steak dinner!

Tuesday | May 15, 2012

Walk with Lucy (and neighbor, Michelle)

2.68 miles | 58 minutes (it was a casual stroll looking at houses and landscaping!)

+ 

Walk with Lucy

2.41 miles | 34 minutes

TOTAL: 5.09 miles | 1 hr. 32 min.

Dinner: Quinoa spaghetti. This was a totally made up recipe. I made my usual homemade spaghetti sauce and then mixed it in cooked quinoa, added some cheese, and baked it for awhile. It was good, but quinoa mac&cheese is better!

Wednesday | May 16, 2012

Walk with Lucy

2.51 miles | 37 minutes

Dinner: Homemade pizza. (mozz, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach, fresh basil)

Thursday | May 17, 2012

Treadmill

5.07 miles | 70 minutes

Ran 20 minutes | Walked 50 minutes

+

20 squats (random!)

Dinner: Grilled turkey loin marinated in a homemade garlic balsamic marinade, grilled asparagus (drizzled in olive oil/salt+pepper), grilled sweet corn

Friday | May 18, 2012

Walk with Lucy

2.03 miles | 30 minutes

Dinner: out.

Saturday | May 19, 2012

Today, two of my cousins and I hit up some garage sales in the area (I scored an awesome mid-century chair for $1.50!! Just need to paint it and recover the cushions.) We went out to lunch and enjoyed a cocktail and then another when we got home. :) No real workout today... just a casual/slow bike ride around the neighborhood before the rain hit.

Dinner: Last minute pasta with butternut squash sauce. (I try not to eat pasta but occasionally do and usually it's because there is nothing else to make in the house!)

Sunday | May 20, 2012

Treadmill

5 miles | 60 minutes

Ran 31 minutes | Walked 29 minutes

Dinner: Apps at Kierans after a photo shoot in mpls.

Week's Totals

Walk+Run | 21.77 miles | 5 hours, 19 minutes

Bike | 13.58 miles | 53 minutes

It's gorrrrrrgeous out right now and I think a bike ride is on tonight's agenda! Hopefully I'll get Lucy out for a walk later as well..

let there be light

The first light fixture we wanted to update in the house was over the dining table. We were in love with the light we had in our old place so it was sad to part with it, especially since we scored it for half price! As a Hubbardton Forge, we never would have bought it without the discount.

In the new place, I was determined to find a light similar to it. We have a thing for drum shades so that's what I was after. First, I brought home a large white drum shade pendant from Crate&Barrel only to be told that the shiny metal hardware doesn't match the brushed nickel of the other fixtures in the house which was a no-no. Returned it. Second, I picked up yet another drum shade pendant, again from Crate&Barrel. This one was a textured, plaid type pattern of greys, tans and browns, with brushed nickel hardware this time around. Cory wired and hung it up, but when we flipped the switch on, it instantly bothered me. The pattern of the shade changed so much when it was lit up and quite honestly, I thought it was ugly. If I was going to make it a point to keep the light off because I liked it that way better, what's the point of having a light, right? So, back to the store that one went too. We also weren't fond of the loose cord that followed the wire that hung it up to the ceiling. Talk about chintzola.

By this point, frustration had set in. We just wanted a light! My third attempt was found at West Elm. A large, light grey, felt drum pendant, on sale for about $50. But they didn't have the conversion kit in stock. Go figure. I bought the shade anyway and put my name down for a phone call when the conversion kit was back in stock. After some thought, we realized this wasn't the right light for the space either. Instead of returning this one, I have another idea for it's new home.

After all the light fixture failures, it was unanimous.. we would pay the extra money and get what we knew we'd love. A light that we knew would look nice (not chintzy). As the focal point of the entire main level between the living room and kitchen, it was important to have something that we love... the Hubbardton Forge light, like the one we had in our old place. Plus, we got to pick all the colors including what hardware we wanted.

We patiently waited for weeks and finally got this beauty:

Isn't it pretty!

We instantly loved everything about it, except the shades seemed crooked. We came to the conclusion, that yes, they are warped (the curse of the dining room light!!). Plus, the diffuser is rounded, not flat. Our first light like this most definitely had a flat diffuser and on the Hubbardton Forge website, it's certainly not rounded either. There was no way we were going to be satisfied with warped shades for the price we paid.

I'm just now realizing I spelled diffuser, "defuser" in this photo (what was I thinking??)! And, I am not going through the trouble of fixing it...

The wide angle lens really warps this photo!

After a phone call to Muska Lighting, they were extremely understanding and said they'd call the manufacture and have them send new shades ASAP, no questions asked. Unfortunately, the manufacture insists that this light is suppose to have a rounded diffuser and always has, so they aren't able to send us anything different. We hope we are able to have some frosted glass cut on our own so we have the flat option down the road as well.

Image from website (note: no rounded diffuser!)

Overall, we absolutely love it and couldn't be happier with our choice to get this fixture! The outside grey shade suits the space perfectly and the inside white shade keeps is clean and modern looking. We also love that we chose the black hardware which has a nice contrast against the grey shade and matches our black curtain rod in the living room, as well as the black hardware on our cupboards.

Next up, we (well, I) hope to get rid of the giant "boob" light above the sink (you can see it int he left photo above), and replace it with another recessed can light. I am dying to swap out the island pendant lights for something a lot more fun that suits our style too. There are also, at the very least, eight more boob lights around the house that will need replacing!

More house postings to come as there are a group of men outside, as I type, painting our house! So excited to see what it looks like and crossing my fingers that we like it! We are also hoping to have our fireplace project complete this week which will make a huge difference in the look of the living room. Before&After photos to come once that is done!

weekly workout report

This definitely wasn't my strongest week in workouts but I'm going to hold myself to this blog post so that I can strive to do better each week. We went to Hallock to surprise my parents for the weekend (Thursday-Sunday) so the workouts were limited (which is my own fault!).


Monday | May 7, 2012
The day kind of got away from me, so I squeezed in some exercises in the evening..

20 jumping squats
100 mountain climbers
20 sit-ups
20 lunges (right leg)
20 lunges (left leg)

Tuesday | May 8, 2012

Treadmill walk/run

57 minutes

4.5 miles

+

15 minute walk with Lucy

I must say, the only thing more annoying than the dreadful spinny ball on my MacBook, is the spinny ball on the AppleTV during a movie while running on the treadmill! What should have been blissful exercise turned into frustrating anger at the TV. I got through 30 minutes of the movie (No Strings Attached) during my 57 total minutes. Perhaps I should get my run on outside next time. Here crossing my fingers that the nice weather sticks around and the rain stays away this week!

Wednesday | May 8, 2012

No proper workout in today. I did, however, walk around Mall of America for awhile. :) Later, my sis and her bf came over for an evening of fun – grilling and hanging out. My sister and I may have done this to humor ourselves for awhile as well...

iPad camera self portraits. Sorry, Sis. :)

Thursday | May 9, 2012

Today I got outside for a walk with Lucy. I went on, what has become, my go-to route but I don't know the distance. I will have to mapmyrun it this week..

Walk outside

37 minutes

Friday | May 10, 2012

Like I mentioned, we were in Hallock over the weekend. Today my mom and I got out for a quick walk with the dogs. 

Walk outside

1.5 miles (?)

Saturday | May 11, 2012

My mom and I (and Lucy!) participated in the "Just for the Health of it" 5K event in Hallock, sponsored by C&M Ford and the Kittson Memorial Healthcare Center. Our finishing time was 49 minutes which included two brief stops. 

3.5 miles (5K, plus we walked to the start of the event and back home after)

49 minutes

+

Quick 1 mile (?) walk with Cory and Lucy in the evening.

Sunday | May 12, 2012

We woke up early to attend church with my parents and grandparents for Mother's Day. I know nothing makes my grandma and grandpa happier than seeing Cory and I at church when we are home for a visit. After church we had a fantastic breakfast all together, including mimosas to toast the amazing moms. 

Grandpa telling stories!

Cory & I with Grandma & Grandpa Klegstad :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

Our afternoon was spent in the car, driving across the state. Pretty sure all three of us felt like this the entire drive home, hence no workout for the day:

It's absolutely gorgeous spring day and the men are finally here doing our driveway (yay!) which means I can leave. Time to hit the pavement! Lucy's gonna be pumped...

freedom

Financial freedom, that is. The other day, I followed this advice:

Instead of spending the money on something frivolous, I happily and proudly made a large payment on a credit card to officially pay it off in full. By doing so, it meant Cory and I are debt free!! Well, technically, we still have some debt... our car payments and our mortgage. But that. is. it. It is such an incredible feeling! To have no debt from our wedding and honeymoon less than a year ago (that ended up costing much more than anticipated), no debt after having to pay a large amount back for taxes this year (oh the joys of being a business owner!), no student loans, and no credit cards with a balance, makes me one proud young lady. This is something I've/we've been striving for for the last few years so to finally be at this point in our lives is a huge relief, especially since we are new homeowners.

Being new homeowners also means there are a lot of expenses involved. And they aren't necessarily "fun" things that are needed. Boo. And, they aren't cheap. Double-boo. We are prepared and hoping to do most of the projects with the money we have available, without going into debt...

1. Gutters. Seriously, these should come with the house when you buy it!


2. Underground fence for Lucy. 
Although this doesn't keep out the scary coyotes from the back yard at night, which means I'll continue to worry for my dog's life. I have so much as googled how to keep coyotes from eating dogs and one thing is wolf urine. Sign me up! I'm totally going to do it. Cory things I'm nuts, but I don't care. :) Did you know that coyotes will/can jump an eight foot fence or dig under it if it wants what's on the other side bad enough? They are not nice.

3. Landscaping.
Plants, trees, edging, mulch, rock, retaining wall.... yikes. We want to do it right the first time so aren't going to skimp on this project. Cory plans to do it all himself. I know he'll do a great job (as the perfectionist that he is) but I hope he knows what he's getting himself into!

4. Spinklers. 
We've been told this is a must and we'll be glad we did it.

5. Deck. 
Sadly, we probably won't be able to build one this year. It's going to kill me to look out to our backyard and not be able to go out onto a deck all summer!

6. Central vacuum.
We had this in our old place and I'm struggling to get used to a regular vacuum at the new place. (call me spoiled) Having to unplug it 45 times while vacuuming is not my idea of tolerable. Central vac will make life easy and vacuuming fun again!

7. Crown molding. 
Something I definitely want to do asap and it actually will be fairly inexpensive. We'll start by doing our main level and then eventually do upstairs etc.

Other projects (some considered fun!) for the future:
1. Change almost all light fixtures (one is done so far—more on this later).
2. Ceiling fan in living room instead of ceiling light.
3. Paint. Paint. Paint.
4. New mirror in 1/2 bath. (and in other bathrooms, actually)
5. Window treatments (have living room and guest bedroom done).
6. Shutters for windows by front door. Need asap!
7. New hardware on cupboards.
8. Firepit/patio.
9. Paint front door. (some type of reddish-magenta)
10. Hang pictures and all that good stuff. (it's so hard to decide where to hang things.)

There is always something to pay for, it seems, and it's really hard to get ahead. But I know that being debt free is a step in the right direction and I will thank myself for making that payment.

What am I going to do today that my future self will thank me for?

Bring Lucy for a walk.

What are you going to do?

weekly workout report.

I'm following suit with my fabulously inspiring sister, erin, and doing a weekly workout blog post too. :) Although it may not be much, it's something, and something is better than nothing! And, if I do a weekly workout report, chances are, I'll feel more obligated to get a workout in. So, without further ado, my weekly workout report—

Monday | April 30, 2012
Tonight I worked at a Ducks Unlimited banquet at my uncle-in-law's restaurant so was on my feet selling tickets to a bunch of men, who will drop hundreds of dollars on stuff I wouldn't spend $5 on, from 4:00-9:30p. That was considered my workout of the day. :)

Tuesday | May 1, 2012
Run/walk
60 minutes | treadmill
4.5 miles
While watching part of one of my favorite movies, P.S. I Love You.

Wednesday | May 2, 2012
Run/walk
60 minutes | treadmill
4.17 miles (less running than Tuesday!)
While watching the rest of the movie.
+
casual 8.85 mile bike ride with Cory around the neighborhoods, paths, and lakes in Woodbury. I love these rides! And I love living here.
+
Quick 15 minute walk around the neighborhood with Lucy.

Being able to see things like this while biking makes it all worthwhile!

Thursday | May 3, 2012
Friday | May 4, 2012
Not sure what happened, but I did not get a proper workout in either of these days.. Boo.

Saturday | May 5, 2012
CrossFit Woodbury. My first time. My neighbor, Michelle, has been trying to convince me to go now for about a month and this Saturday I had no excuses. As nervous as I was that I was going to fail miserably, she assured me not to worry and that people don't judge. CrossFit is all about doing what you can do and not worrying about what others are doing, and everyone is super encouraging and welcoming. We started with a quick warm-up.. arm circles, stretches, high knees, butt kicks, bear crawl across the gym and back (this is when I started to get warm!), and six sprints across the gym and back.

Then the WOD (workout of the day):
10 pull-ups (modified version if need be. and yes, it was needed.)
20 push-ups (on my knees, yes.)
10 jumping squats (no modifications here!)
20 sit-ups (here either)

12 minutes | as many rounds as you can do

I did, as it's described in CrossFit, 3 rounds + 2 sit-ups. Which means, I did 4 rounds of everything except only 2 push-ups in that 4th round. (make sense?) I surprisingly was not left in everyone's dust and kept up pretty well!

After the WOD, I definitely was feeling a little light-headed and just off. Having conversation was somewhat difficult. And on the drive home, I embarrassingly had to ask Michelle to pull over because I was pretty sure I might puke. Although, I didn't until I got home. Yes, I puked. I like to think it wasn't only because of the workout, but because the water in my water bottle had a funky taste that messed with my mind+stomach and I had a couple drinks the night before(?).

Needless to say, I was one sore woman yesterday!! It hurts so good. :) Still a little sore today but at least I can walk like a normal human being again.

I really do want to go back to CrossFit and become a member, however I'm weighing my options. I also really want a CorePower Yoga membership and unfortunately, I don't have hundreds of dollars to throw at gyms just to workout ever month. Neither membership is cheap so I need to decide which is a better fit for my life right now...

Sunday | May 6, 2012
Does doing figure eights around the kitchen island and living room coffee table 50 times count as a workout? I was so full from spaghetti dinner, I had to move. I knew I should have just gone on a quick walk around the neighborhood but we didn't get home until nearly 10p so I just didn't feel like it. I had no idea how full I was until I finished eating. Big mistake. I hate when that happens!!

Today's the start of a new week! And you know it's going to be a good week when you wake up to this next to your pillow... :)

I wouldn't trade this dog for the world!