MSU vs Michigan Game

A few weekends ago was the Michigan vs MSU game. We headed out to Cleveland to Missy's house to watch the game with her boyfriend Brad, her parents and two of her friends. I woke up early and ran in our neighborhood with Bear. I LOVE our neighborhood, it has the perfect amount of hills to run in.

Like last year, there was a ton of food so much food that we didn't even bring any except for some Miller Lite because we barely dipped into everything. We had pulled pork sandwiches, veggie pizzas, these little sausages, grape salad, beer dip and a pasta salad. I was actually really proud of myself because I didn't over indulge, I ate what I wanted and felt satisfied when we left. It was a great game considering the outcome {MSU won} but overall the game was kinda boring.

I love that Cleveland is only 2 hours away, it seems like a lot but when you normally have to drive 4 hours to get home it makes two hours seems like nothing.

Handle with Care

A friend of mine gave me a bag full of books. I really love to read but books can get really expensive especially since you only read them really once maybe twice if it's really good.

It takes me a while to read a book because I get busy with a lot of things and then at night I can get about a chapter or two {if its short} before I fall asleep. In college I realized that I cannot lay down and try to read or do homework, 90% of the time I would fall asleep, book open, pencil in hand. I have to be sitting up or in a chair in order to read for lengths at time.

My first book I picked of the bunch with a Jodi Picoult novel, same novelist who wrote My Sister's Keeper. She writes these pull on your heart string novels that give you different character perspectives of the up front issue but also more of a behind the scenes look into a families life. I started reading Handle With Care the end of September and have about a quarter left to read. The book is about a family with has a child, Willow, with osteogenesis imperfecta and the harsh realities they have had to face with this disease where the child could bump into a table or slip on the floor and break a bone. The family is presented with the ability to file a lawsuit against her OB-GYN who is also the mom's best friend. She talks about the issues the family has faced, the scrutinizing from everyone and how this trial has torn the family apart.

One of my favorite parts in the book was one with Willow and her mom...

"You don't have to say I love you to say I love you," you said with a shrug. "All you have to do it say my name and I know."
"How?"
When I look down at you, I was struck by how much of myself I could see in the shape of your eyes, in the light of you smile, "Say Cassidy, " you instructed. "Cassidy."
"Say...Ursula."
"Ursula," I parroted.
"Now...," and you pointed to your own chest.
"Willow"
"Willow"
"Can't you hear it?" you said. "when you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth."

The hardest question that gets raised is if the parents would of terminated the pregnancy if they would have known what they know now.

I can't imagine that thought. Obviously we don't have children yet but we have been thinking about starting one in the near future. I really don't know what we would do if that was us in that situation. I know the realities of having a child with disabilities, not that I've seen it first hand, but I've been around it and heard about it to know. My mom works with children in public schools that have some sort of disability one way or another. Some of them are more drastic and others are smaller but still there. Some things are preventable, you make sure you take your vitamins, no drinking or smoking, but some things you can't predict and are left with this choice whether it be at birth or later in life.

There was a boy that my mom worked with that was delivery newspapers one morning, step out behind a vehicle and a car hit him, paralyzing him or the boy that was test driving a car and went full speed ahead into a telephone poll. Yes, it's amazing that they lived through these ordeals but it also puts things into perspective. I was reading blogs on Thursday night and came across this one about a mom and her child who was born with a rare skin disease, Epidermolysis Bullosa, where anytime something touched his skin, a blister forms. My heart stopped when I read her story about her "perfect pregnancy" and "perfect delivery" only to be shocked moments after the delivery of her beautiful baby boy who has this incurable disease. THis little boy by the age of 2, has faced with the "trach in her babies throat, the feeding tube, the corneal abrasions and eventually losing his vision, the mouth sores, constant infections,  etc etc.". Until reading about this, I never had heard of this disease and am blessed that I clicked on this and read more about it. My heart truly goes out to her and her family and other families that have these disease.

I know I like to think of ourselves as immune to such things but the reality is whether it's us or a friend or a family member we will be know someone who has something {the wrong word to put there but it works for now}. This world isn't perfect as much as we would like it to be and I truly understand when someone says that they just want their baby to be healthy because that is more important than anything else. It's weird how all of a sudden I can understand that thought whereas before I thought it was just something every mom- or dad-to-be says.

Extra personal thoughts
I don't want to/can't think about these things and I don't think anyone should until you are presented with things. I think we just need to take the right precautions and do everything that we can to ensure the baby we bring into the world will be healthy and take things one at a time. Brian and I need to start to take better take of ourselves, not that we are over weight or eat crap, smoke or drink all of the time, but I think it's more about being cautious and in-tune with our bodies. I think it's us staying less on the couch and in front of the TV and being more active. I think it's more about the two of us and building a stronger relationship and bond for whatever the future holds. Now more than ever I've been thinking about our future and where we want to be and go, it's weird how life can change like that as we grow older. Plans can change but I think it's having that foundation of what you want that make it's important. Our worst fear is that we can't have babies, I know isn't what we should be thinking about it, but is a percentage of the reason why we want to start trying. That "what if" presents itself again, it's hard to get away from it...

Moved in

{Work Out: 45 minute Yoga Fitness TV work out this morning; I can already feel it in my legs}

Two weekends ago {October 1} Brian, Bear and I moved into your first home {well we're still renting but it's a house not an apartment}. I spent the week leading up to the move packing everything, Brian helped a little bit but his packing it somewhat limited. It's hard when you still have to live there and need to use things so it's always last minute.

With our cars packed Wednesday night, we went to go sign our lease on Thursday all excited to make the move. Unfortunately, our landlord didn't think the same thing so we kept everything packed in our vehicles and drove back to the apt. Friday after work Brian's mom {Kathy} drove in from Michigan to help us. It was great having three cars to fill up and take stuff over. Bear hated it. He was under our feet, crying, trying to get out the door; we felt so bad for him. We took two full car loads over Friday night and then stopped to watch the Tiger's playoff game and eat some pizza {a staple food for when you are moving}

Saturday morning we wake up to rain, not just a drizzle but at points a down pour. We loaded up the TVs in mine and my mother-in-law's car because to Brian TVs are like his babies. I sometimes think he loves TV more than me. We were able to get another load over to the house while Brian stayed waiting for the movers to show up. Meanwhile, I some how sliced my pinky and was bleeding. Kathy and I get to house, I go to unlock the door and realized that Brian only gave me 1 key to lock on the door knob, not the dead bolt and had the garage door remote in his car. My mother-in-law drove the 15 minutes to and from the apartment. Just as we start unloading and Brian calls to say that we need more bags. I run up to Kmart only to get back into my car and scrap my leg up right on the bone {the pain}.

The movers are packing up the van and Brian tells me that they made us take our clothes out of our drawers {we were told to keep them in there} because it was raining Ok no big deal except for the fact that Brian literally grab the clothes out of the dresser and threw them into the clothing boxes the movers provided us. To top it off, not all of my clothes fit into the clothing boxes so we'd have to make a couple trips back {all of these trips to and from the apartment, things not fitting into boxes makes we wonder if when we do move back to Michigan if we'll have to rent a semi to get us there}.

Kathy had pretty much finished putting the kitchen together and we had moved things into some of the rooms. The movers showed up and the cable guy about the same time, it was chaos and Bear was stuck in our extra bedroom crying.

By 3:45 the movers were finally done and the cable was hooked up and we were exhausted. I may of taken my exhaustion out on my mother-in-law when we got talking about moving back to Michigan and how it's expensive to live out here. It drives me up the wall when people tell me I'm wrong when I know that I am right. Brian does it to my a lot because he thinks that he always has to be right. I know that I can be wrong but when I know something is true and people are saying it's not, then I get fired up especially in regards to moving back to Michigan.

We met some friends {Matt and Emily} out in Southside for both of their birthdays. We had dinner at Nakama and then walked around to random bars til about midnight. Sunday we woke up on a mission to find an area rug since our family room is tiled. We went to Target {bought some additional items and food for the week}, Home Depot {looked at lawn mowers, a chain for the toliet and a piece of wood to put in our sliding door}, Petsmart {pooper scooper}, Levins {nada} and finally Kohls where we purchased our rug. By the time we hit Kohls we both were totally over shopping and with a house full of boxes I just wanted to get home to unpack.

I spent a good portion of the day putting our bedroom somewhat back together with clothes in our drawers and closet, I was exhausted by the time we made dinner, but I still had to pack to go on a work trip to Dallas {Monday-Wednesday}. Brian, of course, did minimal unpacking, but honestly I didn't expect much. If there is one thing I wish I could change about him would be his drive. Sometimes it's great but most of the time it's lacking. He never thinks so let me cook dinner or hey Kristen has been going up and down the stairs, maybe I should help him instead of having her ask me and then me getting mad. Tonight {10/10} is Monday Night Football Bears vs Lions and the Tigers are playing so you know you're going to get nothing done so why not help a little bit more. Unfortunately for me, he woke up feeling sick and when Brian is sick he is probably going to die. I have no sympathy what so ever when it comes to being sick. I had the stomach flu a few weeks ago and then a mild cold in which I still have this stupid cough yet I still kept on trucking.

Anyway, back to the subject otherwise I'll get all riled-up. On Saturday I spent 4 hours cleaning our old apartment but damn it looked good by the end {minus those god awful stick bugs}. Sunday we hit up Ikea and found a brown leather chair for $200 to stick in the corner of our family room, new duvet cover and sheets, shelves to put our bedroom tv on and a rug for our bathroom. We both love our chair and glad we spent a little more on something that looks really nice. Bonus part was we only have to put the legs on the thing. Last night I finished up a lot of unpacking and feel like we are in a good place.

These next couple of weeks are big-
-Tonight Monday Night Football, huge since the Lions haven't had a MNF game in ages plus they've pulled out some great wins this year so it's exciting to watch. My dad is down at the game with my Uncle Ed and probably Uncle Dan. Barry Sanders is out of the field and Tim Allen is in the audience.
-Saturday heading to Cleveland to watch the Michigan vs Michigan State game at Missy and Brad's place. I'm thinking about making Buffalo Chicken Bites, first time making them so I'm a little nervous

-I have next Friday off to head back to Michigan. That weekend is Shea's 2nd birthday, my brother- and sister-in-law's Finding Out Party {I have to work on games for this party} and then Brian and I are going to the Lions game
-Then we have Halloween which Missy and Brad might come visit
-The first weekend in November I might have to travel for work OR my mom is going to come visit us in Pittsburgh
-Brian's mom might come out the next weekend, then we get a weekend here then it's Thanksgiving

I sometimes love having so much planned especially if we aren't traveling home and people are coming to see us.

tired eyes

this morning my alarm went off for an hour before I actually woke up and now it's 7:04 and I could honestly get in bed and go to sleep for the rest of the night. I'm not really sure why I'm so tired. Maybe it's cause my body is still trying to fight off this cold or because I didn't fall asleep until 10:30 and didn't really feel tired because I drank caffeine at 6:00. It's hit or miss how caffeine hits me but last night I could tell I wasn't ready for bed because of it.

I literally had 1 glass of Coke Zero with dinner yesterday and today I got 1 plastic cup with Diet Coke for lunch--I was so craving it today but once I tasted it, it wasn't that good. I'm trying to cut back on my Diet Coke intake, not that it is over the top but I could chill out a little. Normally when I get a pop at work it's a fountain pop and I fill it up or when I go to the vending machines, it's always the large one.

I never was a big pop drinker but since I've moved in with Brian I drink it a lot more. When I lived at home, I drank more water than anything. Dinner was served with milk or water and I think in school I just drank water but I honestly can't remember. Brian and I are going to try to buy 1 12 pack of pop a month, if we finish it before that then we are SOL. As hard as it might be I think I need to switch over to regular pop, if I know that there are calories in something, I end up drinking less. Totally a mind game but it seems to work. Lately, I've been trying to get products that aren't Reduced Fat or Fat Free unless it's dairy products, it's a really hard habit to break but I'm trying to take baby steps.

There's a girl at my work that has probably lost close to 15 lbs, my coworker had asked her how she did it and she said that she cut out sweets and junk food and is working out but not a crazy amount. My other coworkers told me that his friend cut out alcohol, junk food, fast food and maybe something else but he didn't work out and lost 60 lbs. It's hard to cut things like that, there is a lot of peer pressure from others directly and indirectly. I've been really good with not getting frozen yogurt at work. Even though people calm it's healthier, I've read that there are a lot of hidden things that are put into frozen yogurt and it's almost better to just get regular ice cream. A year ago I kept up with my work outs and eating healthy up until I start my job. Then once the holidays hit, I plateaued to a size I hadn't been in 2 or 3 years. It was heart wrenching and the worst part was I couldn't get it off.

Not that I tried to super but I remember trying to watch what I ate and work out but there was no budge on the scale. I remember weighing myself and telling Brian we needed to change the batteries because I thought something some wrong, nope it was just me. Since we went on our honeymoon 5 months after the wedding, I wasn't in my wedding shape anymore. I wish we could of gone somewhere so I could of seen myself in a bathing suit in my best shape. I was okay on our honeymoon, but I didn't feel super sexy and some of my clothes didn't fit me right.

I feel like my hips have grown the most, which I'd like to have more curves but I think it's more than that. I want to get it good shape again, just to feel better about myself an the way I look in clothes especially in my arms. I know I can do it, I've done it before, I just have to do it. I know I need to eat better because eating better and regularly working out will give me more motivation to do anything and not be tired at 7:00. I'm hoping when we move into our new place and I don't have to take Bear out to go potty for 20 minutes and I don't have to worry about people below us, I can fit in a quick work out in the morning.

GOAL: I'd like to be in good shape to start off the holiday season and then maintain or improve throughout next year. So I'm going to start off working out 3 mornings a week, twice a week during the day and then a good work out on Saturday and then going to Zumba on Sundays.

10k

Today I ran my first ever 10k {6.2 miles} at the Great Race in downtown Pittsburgh, probably the most miles I have run since cross country senior year in high school.

I wouldn't saw that I really trained for this event, I ran every once in a while all summer long and didn't up my training for this race like I said I would.

It's been rainy here and I honestly don't like to run on the treadmill, I'll do it but I max out at 30 minutes. I ran over 4 miles about three weeks ago and then since then --nothing--. Two weeks ago I got a nasty flu bug that kept me out of commission of a week, bounced back from that to start the feelings of a cold coming on. {When the season change my body doesn't like to keep up with it so the enviable cold comes on}. I've been fighting it though but also told myself that if I didn't feel 100% Sunday morning then I wasn't gonna run.

Last night I babysat for a family out here. It was legit babysitting since the kids didn't go to bed until after midnight and the little boy wasn't even in bed when the parents came home. The mom told me not to fret if the children don't go to bed right away so I didn't. It's interesting how I've come across different parenting styles of the years. This family's style that was relayed to me was-- nosh on whatever you want throughout the night {I figured that we would order pizza or have a meal at home since it was 6 o'clock when I should up, I was way off and ate Lucky Charms for dinner followed by Junior Mints, Wheat Thins with these fake looking cheese stuff and Cool Ranch Doritos}, the kids could take their naps for however long they want {kid#1 woke up 20 minutes after I had been there kid#2 woke up an hour and half {he was the one who wasn't tired at midnight...hmmm I wonder why}}, when I asked what's their bedtime routine the mom looked at my like "ummm whenever and whatever", they don't brush your teeth {oo my sister in law would be so mad, I don't care that I'm the babysitter, you should always brush your teeth}, had SO much processed junk food {now I love Cool Ranch Doritos and wheat thins and Oreos, but we don't always have all three in our cupboards. I really believe you need to instill good eating habits with your children young so they can continue it later in life.}

I know in the mom's mind that having a babysitter is something special so the kids could eat whatever they wanted, but at the same time I don't mind having to keep a routine in check for them. The family came home at 1 am and I came home with $70 extra dollars in my pocket.

I was up at 6:45 this morning checking to see if I felt good to run. After a glass of water to help ease my dry-throat I told myself that I can do this. I printed out directions to get downtown because lords knows I am still so unfamiliar with that area and hate getting lost when I have somewhere to be at a certain time. A girl at my work, Jackie, was suppose to run with my but has been battling a sinus infection so opted out. Another coworker was running the 5k which started at 8 {10k started at 9:30} so we couldn't car pool together. Good thing my husband came home after driving to and from Columbus to drive me and cheer me on.

I had to take a a bus from downtown Pittsburgh out to Shadyside {an area Brian and I had looked at for houses/apts when we first moved out here so glad we didn't do it, it would of been really far from work}. The Great Race had about 8,000 people running the 10k and 4,000 people running the 5k. You can imagine the lines at the bathrooms. I finally made it to the start area about over 1,00 people in front of me; I tried to weasel my way in closer but after a while I just stopped. From the time the clock start it took me 7 minutes to get to the actual start.

Pictures taken by the hubby

And then I hit the ground running, never looking back, no walking, no potty breaks {although I had to pee the whole time and by the end I must of peed out of my sweat cause I didn't have to go} and no water breaks--I just kept running like Forest Gump.

The race was mainly downhill, some uphill, some long stretches of flat running but overall a half way decent course. I will say that I hated the first water station, it came out of no where and everyone stopped but people were still running. I almost ran into 5 people and I wasn't gonna stop.

I started off at a half way decent pace and worked my way to be under 9:00 mile except for the 4th mile where I must of hit my breaking point so I slowed down a bit {at least that's what my Garmin is telling me}and turned on my music although I had to put it on shuffle and some lame running songs were playin.

The official race results were posted by the time we got home and my official chip time is 00:56:15, average pace was under a 9:00 minute mile.

STATS

• Out of 7,864 10k particpants, I placed 3,239
• Out of 3,946 women, I placed 1,105
• Out of 836 25-29 age bracket, I placed 258

When I ran my 5 miles of the 5th leg of the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay Race in May, I ran it in 00:42:18, but I was hauling it the entire way to make up for our 3rd runner never showing up. I was so sore and had the worst stomach problems because I literally ran at a pace of 8:33.

For the last two races I've done, Brian and I have made it a traditional to get Mexican food afterwards, I love traditions and this one takes the cake and gives the full meaning for I RUN FOR FOOD

I need to buy a really bright shirt so Brian can see when through the crowd of runners and get more action shots of my passing people left and right

{Side note: I'm pretty proud of myself for going through with this race. I know that sometimes I think these things sound great and I sign up for them or plan to do something and then when it comes time to do it, I don't follow through.  Checking this day off of the bucket list}

let me introduce myself

For those who already know me this is my third blog, not sure if there is a limit on these things but I'll test it. I first started a blog when I started planning my wedding {inspire} and had come across so many great blogs that keep chronicles of the process upon getting married and moving to a new city, finding a new job, missing my friends and family I was holding onto this blog like I didn't want to let go of the fact that I needed to be happier with where I was at. In came {from ruffles to sneakers}, although my passion for blogging fell through the window as summer quickly approached and I stopped and never really liked this blog. {Side note: you probably can't see these because they've been blocked...by me...for no reason at all but privacy}

Life has changed {in small little ways} and I want to look back at these and see them more as letters to myself to remember what I did, where I was, who I met, how I felt. So here is it Letters of Life, Letters of Love, Letters to Myself.

I'm not from Boston but just a recent picture from my 1 year wedding anniversary with my husband