A week long break and 11 things

Whew. This week has been a little crazy to say the least.

and in the midst of it all I ended up taking a break – from blogging, and from running. I didn’t even look at my work out schedule this week. The only workout I did was Zumba on Tuesday since that’s a class I’ve paid for, and it’d be silly to miss it.

And I’m feeling great! I really needed the break I think. I wasn’t planning on it, but it just sort of happened and I’m really glad it did.

I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself over the past couple weeks to exercise enough, eat better, blog more consistently, etc. Frankly, it was making me completely stressed out, and this transferred to me just feeling unhappy and down.

This break was needed, and it was great. We all need that sometimes I think right?

I decided to get back into it this evening when I got an email that I was tagged in 11 things! So without further ado…

Thanks Kathy from Life, Really for tagging me!

The jist of 11 things is, post 11 random facts, answer the 11 questions from the blogger who tagged you, and then tag 11 more bloggers.

11 randoms about me:

1. I took dance lessons for 11 years through elementary, middle and high school.  I took mostly modern dance with some lyrics, ballet, jazz and hip hop mixed in. I LOVED it.
2. I never, ever, ever, ever, ever thought I would be a “runner.” Ever.
3. My husband and I met online. Thanks okcupid.com!
4. I actually enjoy doing laundry, though I wish it didn’t take as long as it does.
5. Very few TV shows or movies make me laugh out loud. The only ones that do are Friends and Modern Family.
6. The gingerbread house I made in December is still sitting on top of our TV stand. Whoops… I guess we should probably pitch it.
7. My favorite color is PINK!
8. Lately I can’t stand running on the treadmill. I didn’t use to mind it as much as I do now.
9. I don’t use credit cards and neither does the hubby. It was a decision we made when we got married.
10. I find grocery shopping cathartic.
11. I love buying my kitties toys when I go to a store that carries them. Usually they don’t even play with them.

11 randoms from Kathy from Life, Really:

1. What do you think is the most annoying blog trend? Yogurt messes with tons of stuff mixed in. I just don’t really get it. I like yogurt, I like it with granola sometimes. But I don’t really get adding oats, cereal fruit, chocolate chips, chia seeds, etc all mixed in as well.
2. What is one thing you wish you liked, but just don’t? Mushrooms. Yuck. But liking them would make food choices so much easier.
3. How long were you friends with your best childhood friend? Until she moved from town when we were in elementary school. We weren’t really friends for too long but we got close.
4. How many blogs do you read on a consistent basis? There are 50 in my google reader. Some are updated more frequently than others though.
5. What’s your favorite fro-yo topping? Fro-yo isn’t really a fad where I live yet, but I would imagine I would looove the oreo cookie pieces.
6. Did you go to college? If so, where and why that school? I did. I went to Juniata College in small town PA. I went there because I wanted to leave my hometown for school and I liked that it was a small school since my high school was huge. I also really liked that it is a liberal arts school because it forced me to take electives in a lot of areas of study, which I feel made me really well rounded. When I took the campus tour I loved the campus, and I knew it was where I wanted to go to school, and it was the only place I applied. Whew. that was a long answer haha.
7. What’s your all-time favorite TV show? Friends!
8. Did you have an invisible friend growing up? Not that I remember.
9. Is there any social media that you refuse to adopt? Foursquare. Its too creepy stalkerish for me.
10. What is one thing you see other people doing that makes you say, “You couldn’t pay me enough”? Eat meat. I really have no desire to. When I tell people I’m a vegetarian they always ask “but don’t you miss [insert food here]?” And honestly, no, I don’t.
11. What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? Check my phone to help me wake up.

I think a lot of people have already done this so I’m going to break the rules and just tag a fw folks. I’m tagging Girl Gone Veggie, Eat Live Run, Happily Ever After, and Just Call Me HaHa. And you ladies can just answer the same questions I did and then tag some folks. 🙂

Enjoy your weekend!!!

I need a break

For the past five weekends I have been super duper busy. House shopping for a day, a trip to South NJ, a trip to Philly, a weekend at the cabin and a trip to North NJ. This weekend promises to be no different.

Most of it has been fun stuff – seeing family, seeing friends, parties. But I feel like I am ready to jump out of my skin. I am going crazy. I’m exhausted. I’m a complain-y.

To make matters more crazy, we have no vacation planned until the end of October. Until then its just crazy busy weekends on the ends of full work weeks.

And even though my current work schedule lets me alternate between having Friday’s off and working half a day on Friday, I spend that free time running errands, getting groceries, running, cleaning and doing laundry. Not exactly relaxing or rejuvenating.

So I’ve decided that this Friday, which I have a full day free from work, I am doing NOTHING. I’m going to sleep in and then I’m going to be lazy all day. T-4 days and counting.

Lets do the Friday dance

Its friiiiday! My favorite day of the week!

Any good plans for the weekend?

The hubby and I are going to take it pretty low key – we have to clean the apartment hard core, I’m hoping to get a run in (since it’s been a week – ugh) and maybe go for a hike. I’ve been feeling much better – my energy levels have been higher and I haven’t been as groggy. I still haven’t run since last saturday because I wanted to give myself time to recoup properly. I had yoga yesterday for an hour and that’s been it exercise-wise. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into exercising tomorrow. I really just think I needed the time off, so I listened to my body and did it.

Sometimes it’s really hard for me to stop and take a breather. I put a lot of pressure on myself to exercise frequently (and do other things in daily life), and I’ve realized I need to relax with it sometimes. I need to remind myself that if the dishes sit in the sink overnight it’s no big deal. If I don’t feel like running so I skip it, it’s no big deal.

I did book my hotel for the Hershey Half Marathon today (55 bucks for one night – SWEET. gotta love the middle-of-nowhere PA!) so that was a nice way to pump myself back up and get back on the exercise wagon.