Confessional Friday

I'm linking up with "A Blonde Ambition" for the first time for "Confessional Fridays!"

1. I haven't run since Saturday (ran a 10K and still recovering from it) My half marathon is May 20th. I feel very guilty about having taken so many days off, but honestly, I've also kinda loved it! Hoping to get in a quick run tonight before bed.

2. We're leaving on a 13-hour road trip tomorrow for North Carolina to visit some dear friends who we haven't seen since their Key West wedding in October!

Such a fun destination wedding!!

As much as I love a good road trip, I'm dreading being in a car for that long! I'm hoping the scenery along the way will help pass the time :)

3.  My Starbucks addiction is getting a little out of control. I think I need an intervention. Now that the warmer weather is almost here, I'm going to try and just drink water or maybe iced green tea (homemade) But it's just so gosh-darn yummy!!!

4. I have not had a pedicure in a very, very long time (read: 6 months) The weather in NC this weekend is supposed to be HOT! Which means I will not be suffocating my feet in closed-toed shoes. Need to remedy this ASAP!

Ok, I think that's all. Happy Friday! Don't forget to link up at "A Blonde Ambition" 

Fun Fridays!

I am totally slacking on my blog lately!! I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted!!

First I want to share some pictures of a few projects I worked on this week with the help of my wonderful parents!!

They came over on Wednesday so my Dad and Brandon could finish putting insulation underneath our 3-season porch. While they were slaving away in the 80-degree heat, my Mom and I were working on beautifying the porch itself. The porch had kind of turned into a dumping ground for furniture and odds and ends.  We decided to move the futon from the guest room onto the porch and we put my old mattress and frame into the guest room. So now our guests can sleep on a real bed when they come to visit!

Not the best "before" picture, but you get the idea.

And I switched out the dark brown duvet cover for a lighter one - it is summer after all!

We used an old duvet cover for the futon so the mattress underneath stays cat hair free!

Luna approves! (Doesn't it look like her outstretched paw is giving a thumbs up??)

We had 2 sets of tables and chairs out here before and decided to just keep one and my Mom happily took her set back!

My plan is to take the coffee table from the living room and add it to this room. Or maybe just a smaller, low table - who knows! The possibilities are endless! I am already envisioning this as my new reading room!

I also need to finish stringing my sets of small white lights around the curtain rods - hopefully this weekend!

The other project, that has been about a year in the making, was to refinish some patio furniture. Last summer I worked at a pool & patio store and at the end of the season, there was a table and chairs set that needed to go back to the manufacturer, because the paint had started to peel (The people that owned this set before me lived near the ocean. Salt water + certain kinds of paint = peeling!) The manager said it was mine for free as long as I could get someone to transport it to my house!

Here's a before picture of one of the stationary chairs.  (The set came with 4 stationary chairs and 2 swivels).

(They had to spray paint them with white "X's" so they couldn't be sold again)

We scraped the chairs that were peeling pretty bad - mostly on the arms/seat. I used an attachment on Brandon's drill

Here's a decent "before" picture of the table:

A before pic of one of the swivels:

You might be able to see a slight difference in color between this chair and the one above. That's because I had started to spray paint it with a brown textured paint. The more I looked at it, the more I hated the color. So I switched to shiny black instead and here's the result after 1 coat:

 I bought 12 cans of glossy black spray paint at $4 each and we've only used 6 cans so far. I think this whole project will come in under $40 if I do a 2nd coat on the table/chairs. Not bad for a free patio set!

This picture was actually taken from inside the porch looking out, because it's raining today, but I realized I never took an "after" picture of the table, so I had to improvise :) If you look closely, you can see there's an inner circle in table - it's a Lazy Susan!! Such a great feature! I can't wait to add the umbrella/base I bought a few months ago, that is, once it stops raining!

Ok, so now back to our regularly schedule blog hop! I'll keep it short:

• Tonight I have ANOTHER gig with the band - that's 5 in 8 days!! It'll be nice to have 2 weeks off before our next show :)
• Tomorrow morning I am running my first 4.8-mile race! Monday I ran my first 4-miler and was pretty pleased with how I did, even tho I was a complete sweat-ball when all was said and done:

• Tomorrow afternoon we have our nephew's 6th birthday - I can't believe he's already 6! When he was born, I was in Ireland with my parents on vacation and I remember calling Brandon long-distance to find out if his sister-in-law had the baby yet. Time flies!
• Sunday we're having a little cookout with friends - so far the weather seems pretty good! Can't wait to have them try out our "new" patio furniture too!

Happy Friday everyone!!! Don't forget to link up at Jen's blog!

Fun Fridays!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!!!

This weekend is full of music, running, and relaxing!

- Tonight will be full of music as I have a gig with the band at a local fair (we're the headliners - woohoo!) and we'll be playing there again next Friday!

- Tomorrow looks to be full of relaxing since there's nothing on the calendar!

- Sunday will be a combo of relaxing and music: hanging out with the hubs for most of the day, then a 3rd of July Fireworks gig with the band!

- Monday will be a combo of running and relaxing: I'll start my day with a 4-mile road race and then head down to Plymouth, MA for my grandma's annual 4th of July party - can't wait!!

Don't forget to link up at Jen's blog!

Target Tuesdays!

Haven't done this blog hop in awhile but I have lots to share today for this Target Tuesday!

If you want to join in, head over to Tara's blog and link up!

Now that the warm weather is here and I'm planning to do a lot of running/races during my vacation, I decided it was time to stock up on shorts/tanks/etc. Thankfully, Target has a pretty decent "activewear" section in their stores and I've found quite a few "staples" for my running wardrobe:

I have these shorts in black and a darker purple than the color above. I love them because they have a littler inner pocket where I can put my key or my iPod shuffle, and they also have built-in underwear! I know that might sound strange, but let me tell you, it's the best thing ever! Sweaty underwear = gross!!

Just bought this same tank (same color) and I can't wait to wear it! It's super comfy and I like that it doesn't have big bulky straps either!

Speaking of thin straps - my favorite sports bras are from Target too. Again, these are extremely comfortable and also come in a wide variety of colors (if you're anal like me and like to color coordinate your outfits!!)

I can't find a picture of these online, but I just bought some socks at Target that are both functional and fashionable! Over the weekend I ran a 5K with a friend, and she let me borrow a pair of her socks so I could add more purple to my outfit (the 5K was a fundraiser for a woman who passed away and her favorite color was purple). After wearing these socks, I was hooked!

They are made by the Gold Toe company, and come in a variety of colors. They sell them in 3 packs in they're about $7. Made to wick away moisture and keep your feet nice and comfy - score! I bought them in white, turquoise, lime green, fuchsia and purple! 

(I decided to just take a crappy iPhone pic of them - you get the idea!)

I'm planning to supplement my running with exercise videos/hand weights. I got these the other day at Target and used them last night with this DVD:

This DVD has 3 sections - a yoga part, strength training, and a booty blast. You can do all 3 or just choose which ones you feel like doing that day. I've never watched RHofNY but Bethenny's pretty funny! I'm also a big fan of her Skinnygirl margaritas!!

I also snagged a jump rope (for $5!) because I've heard it's a great cardio workout - tried a bit last night - was exhausted after 2 mins of jumping!

Yay Target!!!

Don't forget to link up at Tara's blog! 

Fun Fridays!

I've missed this blog hop the past 2 weeks because we've been doing a lot of house stuff on Fridays so my blogging took a back seat!

(Wanted to post this earlier, but we were having internet issues, so I started cleaning the house!!)

Kind of a low-key weekend:

Today I'm going to tackle our closets and bring some clothes/linens to Goodwill. I love paring down our stuff and giving it away!

Meanwhile, my Dad, Brandon and his friend Tim are busy outside putting up the panels for our new fence! Here's what the accomplished last week:

This is just one side of the yard - all the posts are cemented in!

Tonight I have a gig with my band at a new bar/restaurant

From last year's 3rd of July Fireworks show

Tomorrow (as of right now!) we have no definite plans, which is nice! I will probably spend a good part of the day on Pinterest.com, my latest obsession! 

I'm also going to post about my June Birchbox which came yesterday. Here's a little preview of what I got this month:

Sunday I'm running a 5K, just a few miles away from our house - I think it's the closest 5K I've ever run! The forecast is calling for rain :( But it's supposed to be in the 70s, so it might not be too bad

Only a week and a half left of school!!! YIPPEE!!!

Don't forget to link up at Jen's blog: 

Running in the Rain

I told myself when I got home from school today that I needed to go for a run... I have another 5K on Sunday and I haven't had a decent run in weeks...

But it was drizzling...so I had very little motivation..besides the fact that I'd get to wear my new running jacket

As soon as I got outside, I realized it was barely raining, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all?

I decided to try a new route to change things up a bit..I also made sure I didn't push myself, because I wanted to have a decent run

As luck would have it, on the last mile of my run, the heavens opened and it started pouring..but instead of taking the quick way back home, I just kept going, keeping a steady pace, trying to avoid the puddles...which, of course, was pointless after awhile. Running in wet socks and wet shoes was quite an experience, to say the least..

I forced myself to keep running all the way home and was grateful that the laundry had finished so I could put on warm socks..best feeling ever!

I honestly had no idea how long my run was until I logged onto www.mapmyrun.com. The longest I'd ever run before today was a 5K, so you can imagine my surprise when I plugged in my route and realized I had just finished 4.23 miles!!!! Makes me think running a half marathon in October might be a realistic goal :)

And not that I'm an advocate for running in the rain, but it definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...I just wonder how long it'll take for my sneakers to dry out...yuck!

It's Marathon Monday!

Every year on the 3rd Monday of April, the city of Boston hosts one of the most famous (is that even the right word??) marathons in the country. My uncle (who was a MA state trooper for 20+ years) used to run it just about every year. Part of the race weaves right through the town I teach in, and I know several of my students will be lining the streets to catch a glimpse of the runners.

Now, I am by no means a marathon runner or even a half-marathon runner (yet!) but I am gearing up for my 4th 5K this coming Saturday. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be motivated to run 4 5Ks in 4 months, especially since I have never been the "athletic type." Although I danced for 12+ years growing up, I only played one year of softball (and literally stood there with the bat, scared out of my freaking mind!), and always thought of running as "Oh, I don't do that..it's way too hard." My family is not big into sports (playing, watching, anything!) so I'm sure that has something to do with it.  But don't get me wrong, I definitely admire those people who excel at basically whatever sport they try (you know the ones I'm talking about!) I was just never one of those people!

So while I probably will never run a 26.2 mile race, I am content in the fact that I have accomplished something I vowed I would never do.  And regardless of my time on Saturday, I know I will finish that race feeling proud, invigorated, and ready for my next one...