Hey there internet friends. How goes it? Last week was my first week back at freelance life full-time.

I had a great week. I managed to work enough hours to earn what I need to earn weekly (1 down and 51 more to go for a successful year!), got lots of stuff done around the house and also fit in a few short runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Freelance life

Freelance life! Duncan spent every morning from 9am-noon in this position while I worked.

Running in the heat on Tuesday

Running in the heat on Tuesday

Running in the heat on Thursday

Running in the heat on Thursday

Running in the heat on Friday

Running in the heat on Friday while waiting for my hats to dry

Weekend of Sailing

Friday evening I drove out to Long Island with Mr. SOTSS and his girls for a weekend of sailing with his dad and his dad’s wife. We went last year over Memorial Day Weekend and it was a bit cooler.

This guy! He keeps me on course and anchored.

This guy! He keeps me on course and anchored.

We had so much fun and really enjoyed the breeze while at sea.

Me and Mr. SOTSS' daughters just hanging

Me and Mr. SOTSS’ daughters just hanging.

We traveled across the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. It took about 3 1/2 hours. We stayed overnight and slept on the boat and then traveled back the next day. There’s no better way to relax than sitting on a boat at sea. Just sit back and enjoy the scenery. Not to mention I enjoyed the quality time spent with Mr. SOTSS and his family. I love his girls so much. They’re adorable, funny and we have so much fun playing games and being silly. Oh, and his oldest has been teaching me how to swim properly! We worked on me just going underwater without holding my nose. Arms and leg kicks will come next. I was the official hair braider. French braids for his oldest, a pair of pigtail braids for his youngest and a single side braid for me 🙂

IMG_4693 IMG_4643

I didn’t run all weekend but got back to it yesterday with a run/walk. It was in the upper 90s and I figured I’d just take it easy. No sense pushing myself during my non-training season right?IMG_4648

I saw the tallest sunflower in the front yard of a house I ran past. IMG_4645

Then, last night there was a wicked thunderstorm. It blew through quickly but took out my power for about 5 hours but it also left a rainbow! IMG_4695

While I waited for power to be restored I had a few bowls of cereal. Didn’t want the milk to spoil 🙂IMG_4702

Working hard to restore power

Working hard to restore power

This morning I took Duncan to the park for a walk knowing we’re in for another super hot day.

IMG_4720And now I’m going to take care of a few freelance assignments.

How was your week? weekend? Tell me 3 good things.

Woah! How is it 6 days into the new year already? Let’s catch up! How did you ring in the new year? Anything new and exciting planned for 2016?

So the good news is I have managed to break my 10-cookie-a-day-habit but I have been satisfying my sweet tooth with these candy canes I got on the half price rack after Christmas 🙂

IMG_0211Let’s face it—I have no expectation that my sweet tooth will just disappear for 2016 so I’ll do what I can to keep it under control.

I got a new couch and it comes with a classic Sally story. So last Tuesday I met some of my high school alumni at a local bar for our annual holiday get together. It’s always fun to catch up although we keep in touch on Facebook too. I spent 4+ hours there and it was after midnight when I got home. I was expecting my new sofa to be delivered between 6:30-9:30am the following day and knew I needed to get my existing furniture out to the curb. I couldn’t exactly call someone in the middle of the night. Mr. SOTSS’s suggestion was for me to just move my existing furniture into the dining room until he was able to get over to help but I’m stubborn and a little too type A to be able to handle having the old stuff lingering for a day or more. So I just hauled a$$ and got-er-done but I took out chunks of sheetrock, pulled some muscles and bruised myself along the way.

All because I was too stubborn to wait 12 hours!

All because I was too stubborn to wait 12 hours!

But I did it! #stronglikebull #stubbornasamule

But I did it! Down 2 flights of enclosed spiral stairs #stronglikebull #stubbornasamule

There was even a moment that the love seat was literally wedged in the staircase and I couldn’t budge it loose. I almost fell apart and cried but I pulled myself together and slithered under the railing to get beneath and jiggle the love seat free. While I’m still sore and bruised a week later, it was worth it.

And the new sofa? I love it!

IMG_0111It’s big enough for Mr. SOTSS, me and BOTH dogs. This was very important to me since Chester is a big boy and hasn’t been able to fit on the sofa with us without being a “lap” dog =)

we ALL fit!

we ALL fit!

So I thought it would be fun to go month by month and share my most memorable moments of 2015. They won’t all be running related but I’m sure you don’t mind. Gonna go in reverse and start with December first so that I can tell you all about my New Year’s Eve:

DECEMBER 31—New Year’s Eve/Day

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

I spent the afternoon strolling the outlet stores with Mr. SOTSS, his girls and his mom too! We then picked up some groceries at the supermarket for dinner. The girls and I took on the important responsibility of picking out ice cream flavors and before you knew it we had whipped cream, chocolate chips, sprinkles and chocolate syrup! If there’s one thing I know it’s that you need to make ice cream sundae’s to ring in the new year. Mr. SOTSS’ mom cooked an amazing dinner (his aunt and uncle joined us for dinner too!). We then put on our party hats and waited patiently for midnight. The girls played chess and then joined me in working on one of the jigsaw puzzles that I bought them for Christmas.

Matching shirts!

Matching shirts!

The finished puzzle. All glued together and ready for hanging.

The finished puzzle. All glued together and ready for hanging.

Party animal!

Party animal!

Siblings! Always a competition =)

Siblings! Always a competition =)

More »

I’m exhausted from this weekend! But it was worth it!

Let’s see, I already told you about Saturday’s Spring Lake 5 miler that I spectated at. On Sunday, I went sailing with Mr. SOTSS and his family. We set sail around noon and returned in the evening just about sunset. It was so relaxing.

Sailing Sally Selfie

Sailing Sally Selfie

IMG_5726

My sweatshirt was a little big on her but she wasn’t complaining….it got CHILLY on the water =)

mr-sotss-sailing

Nope, that’s not the boat’s anchor….that’s MY anchor!

sailing-shells

Seashells

sailing2

Testing the waters by venturing to the side of the boat.

sunset

That’s a wrap

On Monday I ran the Staten Island Advance Memorial Day Run.

memorial-4-miler3 memorial-4-miler2It’s a small local 4 mile race. I ran it back in 2012 too. They had same day registration so I registered at 8:00am and the race started promptly at 9:00am. I bumped into my friend Cathy at the registration table and then I bumped into my friend Robyn and her son in the corral. I also bumped into this feathered family…

duck-famI held a pretty good pace and I’m very pleased with the finish especially considering my not so stellar start. I was so busy chatting with Robyn I didn’t connect my Garmin and when the race started I didn’t have time to get a signal and the walkers were behind me (with strollers and small children). I finally gave up on the Garmin and turned on my Runkeeper app on my phone but by the time I actually started the race I had to dodge and weave around lots of the walkers. While my Runkeeper has my time at 38:45 which would have been a 16 second PR) the official time was 39:40 which was the time on the clock when I crossed the finish. I guess they didn’t record chip time. It was a small race. Only 859 runners.

memorial-4-miler5

Taking a minute to enjoy the breeze and reflect on a lot.

Taking a minute to enjoy the breeze and reflect on a lot.

I’ve never trained for this race but i’m thinking maybe next year I will. I would like to shoot for 36 minutes next year.

I was interviewed for a blog post over at Fastblr. If you want to see what I (and a few other bloggers too!) have to say about my favorite running shoes you can check it out here.

Have you run any 4 mile races before? It’s a fun distance. 

What are your favorite running shoes?