Rad in Review

In case you were unaware, I am Rad.

Temporary, I promise.

Also, in case you were unaware, I participated in the Color Me Rad 5k this morning. I had a blast! I was on a team with my friend Leah, her boyfriend Ben, her friend Jenni, and a guy who works out at our gym. I was very impressed with the way the course was done, the organization of the event, etc. I would totally do it again. The only issues I had didn't have anything to do with the actual race, but I'll get to that in a minute. Now for pictures!

Jenni, Me, and Leah, the last time we were clean

Herding us into the pin

We were trying to walk and take the pic at the same time :-)

In the middle
there were 2 unicorns

A color bomb went off as we crossed the finish, so we got in on the next one :-)

I kept trying to tell Leah how much color was on her back so I finally just took a picture to show her. I guess she decided to return the favor.

Blue hair, blue ears

Great time

As I said I only had a few complaints. The first one was the weather! Here in East Tennessee it's usually still warm in the middle of October. But not this year! It has been Fall ever since the calendar said so. So this morning it was overcast and drizzling. Getting sprayed with liquid dye did not help me stay warm! The only other complaint for the day has more to do with the city of Knoxville in that it took me forever to get in the parking area due to poorly timed lights! Oh well.

In case you're wondering, the color came off pretty easily. Noxema got it off of my face and hands (and out of my ear). Body wash and shampoo got the rest. My fingernails aren't even stained or anything. The weirdest thing is that my armpits are stained. I'm wondering if the dye didn't react with my deodorant or something? Oh well, it's not tank top weather, I'll be fine. ;-)

Oh, and as if the race wasn't fun enough, my packet contained the awesome sunglasses I'm wearing in most of the pictures and the most comfortable tshirt I have ever owned. 

Those weeks

Oh goodness. The last 7 days has been on of those weeks. I have been trying to write a blog post on cravings for 5 days now. I finally had write it out in a notebook just so I wouldn't forget what I wanted to say. Obviously I still haven't typed it up, but here's hoping I get to it this week. :-) Ah! I have lots to say and post, but right now I should get to bed because I have and early and long day tomorrow. 

Rest well everyone. Matthew 11:28

Living and Active: Week 3

Today marks the beginning of week 3 of the Peak313 Living and Active Challenge. I have really loved being a part of this challenge so far. I'm not going to lie, week 2 was a little more difficult as far as getting my exercise was concerned. I told you my week was a little wonky. I did manage to get everything in though.

Fitness
My fitness regimen was a little catch as catch can. I got 2 doses of WiiFit, 2 classes, and an at work workout. I was SO EXCITED about the fact that I got to go to the classes on Friday. I was a class junkie before I started working at the gym, so getting to make it to 2 whole classes was awesome! Yes... I have a problem. I was able to go to Ride and Core and I totally felt it afterwards. It was awesome. :-) As for my at work workout... I picked up an overnight shift at another club. My gym is open 24/7 and we have 7 clubs in our district. Every once in a while we'll get asked to cover something at another club. Anyway! Part of the duties of the night shift is to re-rack any weights left out. Let's just say that took me more than the required 25 minutes, and I definitely felt the burn on that one.

Accountability
I didn't do as well checking in with Amy this week. I felt bad! She was injured last week and I almost felt like I was rubbing it in that I could workout and she couldn't. I know she didn't feel that way, but I still didn't want to bug her. I did tweet a few things about my progress, though. Now that I'm done with the blanket, I'm hoping that I'll be able to post more regularly this week.

Looking Forward
This week's title is "Craving Conquerors."

For everything in the world -- 

the craving of sinful man, the lust in his eyes 

and the boasting of what he has and does -- 

comes not from the Father but from the world.

1 John 2:16

She mentioned how we all have cravings, and not all of them are bad. It's what we crave and why we crave it that determines if it's bad or not. She also mentioned that when we crave something, it is a sign that something is missing. I've read a couple of articles about how when you crave certain foods it's because you are missing a nutrient found in that food. That makes sense to me! And I can see the truth in how that applies to non-food cravings. I know when I feel like I really need a hug, it's because I feel a lack of closeness. When I feel like I need a compliment, it's because I'm feeling a lack of self-confidence. I'm looking forward to studying more this week.

I intend to take my Ride and Core again this Friday, and we'll have to see about the other 3 workouts. I need to try to run at least a few times because I have a race coming up on October 6! I kinda sorta keep forgetting about it. But seeing the nature of the race, I'm not actually expecting to PR or anything. I'm really just going to have fun.

That lame-o

That would be me! I'm sorry y'all, I've been a bad blogger this week. There have been many times this week that I wanted to post... but it we're being honest, this is the first time I've even opened my computer since the last time I published a blog post.

The main reason I wasn't able to get online is because that meant it would take precious time away from this:

sent from the recipient's phone bc
I'm a goob and forgot to take a pic

It's a little hard to see, but I modified the pattern from delia creates. It is probably one of my favorite finished products. But because I decided last week that I needed to start over, I didn't really have a spare minute to even open my laptop. In addition to that, I ended up covering a night shift at another club, and that threw my sleep schedule into a tailspin. I'm still trying to recover from that.

Does anyone else notice that they eat worse when they are sleep deprived? I'm not just talking about eating junk food to try to stay awake. I mean that they eat worse over the next few days while they are trying to even out? Ever since Wednesday night, my eating habits have gone down the tubes. Although, now that I think about it, I think that I'm just still sleep deprived and therefore not able to make sound judgments with my food consumption. I have big plans for a nap this afternoon, so maybe that will help. It also didn't help that yesterday was spent between a baby shower and a football party... yeah, I'm not looking forward to getting on the scale tomorrow.

Believe it or not, I've actually done really well on my Peak313 challenge. I need to workout today, but that's it. I'm hoping to convince Greg to take a walk with me this evening, but if I can't, then I'll do the WiiFit again. I should probably do that anyway. I want to maintain it regularly. I may go online and look for more fitness games if I think about it. And I have done really well with my Soul Food. that verse has spoken to me a lot this week.

Alright lovelies, I'm exhausted, so I think it's time for that nap I was talking about. I'll try to post more late!

Peak313 LA Challenge: Week 1 Review and Week 2 Preview

Today is the last day of Week 1 in the Peak313 Living and Active 5-Week Challenge, so I decided to write a review of my week.

Fitness
I am pleased to say that I did get in at least 25 minutes of exercise 4 days this week. Monday and Wednesday I took Diesel for a walk (40+ minutes each time), Friday the truck order came in and I spent about an hour restocking the cooler and putting the (heavy) excess away in the closet, and today....

Today I decided to break out the ol' WiiFit. I did not realize, but it had been 87 days since the last time I played it. I knew it had been a while, but that's pretty much the whole summer! I had intended to do it on a more regular basis since I was working more hours at the gym (meaning I didn't want to stay after my shift), but apparently that didn't happen!

Faith
I have read the Soul Food for the week on a daily basis. I put one on my folder, and I used the smaller one as the bookmark in my bible. Since I am also working through a plan to read the bible in a year, I have had to move it each day and therefore read it each day. I'm pretty sure that I have it memorized. :-)

Accountability
I have tweeted and Instagramed different things I've been doing. I have also checked in with Amy on a near-daily basis, texting each other as or after we were completing our exercises each day. I think knowing that I had someone specific, and someone who could come find me if needed, to talk to really helped me stay on track.

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Week 2
Clare posted the Week 2 information while I was posting this, and I'm pretty pumped. Again, I like the the Soul Food for this week.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6:34

She has challenged  us to to ask God for strength, grace, and wisdom on a daily basis. She mentioned that we tend to try to save up strength for later. We ask for it when we need it, but as soon as we feel like we're ok we stop asking. That is too true of me. I call out when I struggle, but I forget I still need help every day.

My fitness plans for this week are the same as last week. My schedule is a little wonky this week, so I may have to shift some things around, but Diesel is getting used to being walked regularly, so I don't think he'll let me start slacking off on that.

I'm ready for week 2! I can't wait to see what happens.

Leave it to me

This has been a pretty good week. Today is the last day of week on of the Peak 131 Challenge. I'm glad to say that I have been able to exercise 3 days this week. I'm supposed to do four, and today's not over yet. :-) I'm planning to take Diesel for a walk later this evening. I may even break out the WiiFit.

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I don't know what it is about football season, but it always makes me want chili or soup or something in a bowl. I think because I can eat it curled up in the chair, watching the game. Yesterday was no different. What I wanted was Panera's Summer Corn Chowder, so I turned to the internet for a copy cat recipe. Wow. There were a lot! After reading through several, I got a basic idea of what to do. And so I present to you my version of:

printable version

Let me know what you think! And this is my first attempt at linking to a pdf, so let me know if that link doesn't work! :-)

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As I have mentioned before, I know several people that are pregnant right now. As a matter of fact, I have a baby shower to go to this Saturday. So what does that mean? Only that I just decided that I hate the project I was originally working on.

Leave it to me to wait until 7 days out to completely scrap something and start over. I swear, I have a thing for working on last minute projects! I started it last night while I was watching the game. I got about a quarter of the way finished with the body before I decided my wrist was going to drop out... I might have gotten a little aggressive with my stitches in the second half. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to finish it off before Saturday. But I should be working on it instead of typing. Have a good afternoon!

Walk it out

As you know, I am participating in the Peak313 5-Week Challenge. Part of the challenge is that we have to exercise at least 4 times a week. This is definitely challenging for me since I'm lucky if I find the time to workout once a week. For shame, I know. But this week I looked at my work schedule and decided when I could make it work. The simplest thing for me to do was also staring me in the face (literally): Take Diesel for a walk.

"Stop taking pictures, let's go!"

God bless him, this puppy was made to run. He is a Bluetick Coonhound, which means he was bred for hunting and being out and about. I have definitely failed him is this arena lately. So, Monday morning I decided I was going to be a proper pet parent and take him for a walk on one of the trails near our house. Oh boy. He was SO EXCITED when he heard me pick up his harness. He started dancing around the house to the point where I couldn't get it on him! I made the mistake of putting his harness on before I put on my shoes so he picked up the end of his leash and headed towards the door. It was almost like "well, I'll just walk myself, lady!" We finally made it out to the car.
I forgot how funny he is in the car. He paces in the back seat and gets annoyed at me when I have to stop and the wind is no longer blowing in his face.

"Why'd we stop??"

Today I decided to do the same thing, but we went to a different park. There are lots of little paths all over town, so I really have no excuse not to take him for walks. Anyway, while we were on this walk, I saw one of the neatest things.

It was a prayer request box. It was across the street  from a local church, so I guess they come and collect them periodically. I just thought it was really sweet. I know that sometimes when I'm walking I start thinking about anything bothering me. I've had some pretty big things come up when I'm out with time to think... I thought it was a nice ministry.

I'm going to go with Diesel again on Friday morning. Then I just have to figure out the fourth time I'm going to work out. I really need to do strength training at some point. I'll have time this weekend though. I'll make it work!