Seriously, I need a month to get my house back. (Sorry! I must sound like a broken record!) Last night my power went out for a few hours so I couldn’t do much. Then I had to get ready because I was heading out to dinner with friends so I used my handy dandy LED lantern so I could at least put some make up on.

The Glow Worm look!

Today I went back to Operation PURGE….I tackled the cleaning products under the sink and the toiletries and medicines in the bathroom. I’m starting to think that my mousse and my hair spray multiply in there. Oh, and I threw out someTylenol that expired in 2008.

I’m sad to report that my original bedding purchases arrived and I didn’t like them. I returned both….But I did keep the cute pillow from Pier 1.

The black and white bedding was a scratchy fabric and the teal bedding was really washed out looking. But the pillow was PERFECT!

Today started with a morning walk in the woods with this guy:

Good morning!

And then I tackled the sink and bathroom clean out.

Then came the fun stuff! A trip to Home Goods where I got a few cute things.

Yes! Cookies make me SOOO happy!

And then I stopped at the beach to get in my long run. 8.35 miles.

Finished just before sunset. My fingers were frozen.

Holy F it was windy. Watch this:

Now I’m back at Operation Cleanup and in a little bit I’m going to head to Target. Thank god I’ve got one more day off. Rest in peace Martin Luther King. Thanks for being worthy of a national holiday.

Hope you’re enjoying your long weekend.

Question: Anyone go skiing this weekend? Run a race? Toss some expired meds? Shop at Target?

Snowbody knows just how much I love the snow more than me. Really, I don’t know what my fascination with it is. It causes inconvenience in commuting, my back to ache from shoveling and it’s even canceled my flight twice. But I am a snow bunny! I love snow!

Yesterday, I shoveled a bit and then trekked in to the office. I was one of 5 people who made it in. While I waited for the bus, my hair, which was still wet froze. I could turn it upside down and it would still stand straight up.

fro yo hair!

ici-curls

I worked like a busy bee and then ran to my bus stop trying to make it back home before dark so the dog could have some snow time. But the bus took a LONG time to arrive. It was 11 degrees and I had on boots that didn’t keep my feet warm at all! (I’ve already started searching for better ones… L.L. Bean Sale anytime soon???)

NYC sure is the gritty city.

It was dark when I got home but luckily it was so cold Duncan really didn’t want to belabor the “process”. He got straight down to business…

this pee picture was actually from the night before so just imagine the snow is about 8 inches deeper.

I shoveled some more, had dinner and passed out on the couch. Thank god it was Friday. I was S.P.E.N.T.

Today I waited for the temperature to warm up so I didn’t go for my run until 2pm. (It was 5°F in the morning but warmed up to 25°F by the time I went. So Duncan got a little snow play action around noon…

a doodle’s nemesis….snowballs! he chews each one off when we get home

And then I opted to drive to a National park by me to do my run figuring the neighborhood streets and sidewalks would be messy. I just assumed they would have plowed the running path. I was wrong! But I ran anyway. 4ish miles total…some in the snow until I realized it was really hard and then I moved out to the road praying my new sneakers wouldn’t get destroyed (thankfully they didn’t….not a dirty sludgy salty mark at all). It was so beautiful though. I only saw 2 other groups of people….an older couple walking and another couple cross-country skiing! (Now there’s a good way to enjoy the non-plowed running paths!)

just before i started when I looked “fresh” lol!

I got to wear one of the new Columbia jackets from my shopping spree a few weeks ago today. It was AMAZING! I wasn’t cold at all (even with exposed legs). And to think it was originally $130 and I got it for $49.99 WOWSAH! SCORE!

So now I’m eating chinese food and staying cozy for the rest of the night.

I was too RUNgry to take a pic of my first serving which included the same + 2 dumplings. lol.

Tomorrow I’m off to the annual Little Christmas party that my friend throws each year. Everyone comes in PJs, brings a contribution toward dinner and we exchange “wrapped crap”. Oh I can’t wait to give you the recap on Monday. It should be a good time. And I’m bringing the S’more’s Crack Dip! I made it once before and it’s definitely worthy of an encore…

S’mores crack dip

did i mention i made it just for me? (I WISH!)

Okie Doke, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Question: What’s your favorite Chinese food dish? I can never eat enough dumplings!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking photos at a top secret photo shoot.

It was for a friend of mine and her husband, the cutest most adorable couple I’ve ever really met. It all started a few years ago when they asked me to take their engagement photos and I’ve been their go to “photog” ever since. Well this year they asked if we could do a little shoot for their holiday card. I’m excited I can finally share some of those photos.

the most beautiful sunset left beautiful pink light.

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Yesterday was day two of working a full day and then taking files home to continue working until the wee hours for this big push to complete a job by tomorrow’s deadline. Needless to say exercise and decent eating habits have become a distant weekend memory…but i took back control of the ship last night (well maybe I took back control of the blow up raft…hey ya gotta start somewhere). The dog and i both needed some forward motion. I leashed him up and we started gingerly walking up the slicy (slushy and icy) road for about a half hour.

I love when the snow gets to be the same consistency as coffee cake crumble….ya know…like butter and sugar mixed together?! MMMM who knew dirty snow could make my mouth water =)

my walking buddy

Some areas were unplowed and the powdery cover gave better traction than the slicy spots letting us pick up the pace to a jog which was nice. I was wearing boots and a coat on so I don’t know that I would consider this a true workout but i warmed up enough to get sweaty and mentally i felt a whole lot better.
The dog was in his glory peeing on every telephone pole and digging in snow drifts. he also decided it was a perfect time for a snow facial. Exfoliation anyone?

Our destination was to my car that i had driven to the bus stop in the morning on my way to work. Once we arrived I let the dog jump in the car to warm up while I scraped the windshield (4 minute upper body workout!?)

take your time ma.

I continued the upper body workout when I got home as I spent 20 minutes in the garage breaking up cardboard boxes and bundling it all up to be recycled. I know the technical term for functional fitness is activities that prepare you for your every day life, but i like to think of it as the reverse…doing everyday life tasks to fulfill a part of your fitness. And the run a million and a half miles to fulfill the remaining fitness quota =) Oh and there were a couple more packages at the door tonight.

First , Duncan’s birthday gift delivery from Petsmart. I opened the box and let him sniff around.

birthday loot

So one of the gifts is a laser light. I thought it’d give him a good indoor workout option for days when we really can’t get outside.

The other cool package was a surprise gift from my sister-in-law. She must read my blog because she got me a running ornament for my tree!!!!!

Running Chick

Tomorrow ill finally get a run in. I’ve been running basically twice a week-Thursdays and one weekend day. It’s quite a different world for me. But in about 3 weeks that will change and ill be back to 4 days a week when I start my NJ Marathon training. Speaking of….on the NJ Marathon Facebook page, they posted a photo and bio of Brian, the pacer for the 4:40 group. That’s my guy! He has quite the marathon resume with 100+ marathons under his belt. I can’t wait to meet him and hope I can hang on to finish in 4:40. (I tried to stay with the 4:45 pacer at the NYC marathon but at mile 16 couldn’t keep up. It was a harder course though, so I still feel confident I can do this.)

Question: Do you have certain everyday tasks that you consider exercise? When I go grocery shopping I don’t use a shopping cart. I take 2 handheld baskets and as they fill up I do bicep curls in the aisles. And then I carry all the bags to my car as well with no shopping cart. It’s one of my favorite ways of sneaking in some upper body strength training.