I'm BAAAAAACK!!!

I recently ran into an old friend while camping who told me I needed to update my blog, which has gotten me motivated to get it going again! (Thanks, T!)

I never intended to stop writing the blog, but unfortunately, life got in the way. That shiesty little sucker....

Grad school and work kept me beyond busy for the rest of the school year. I wasn't making it to the gym as often as I wanted to be (only 1-2 times a week) because I was staying up too late trying to stay on top of all of the homework!

In July I completed the color run. Turns out, the girls that I was doing this with hadn't been doing much training either, so we wound up walking most of the course. It was SO much fun, but it did take me at least three days to get all of the dye out of my hairline and off of my skin! I definitely plan on doing it again next summer, time to start training for next year's color run!

I recently went tent camping for the first time on my own for two nights. I went up to Ludington (my home away from home) and I even managed to get a site in the State Park. The weather was good, it rained a bit my first night, but the weather during the days was absolutely beautiful. My parents also came up to Ludington during that time, but they stayed at a hotel. Chumps.

We went out to the beach the second day. We tried to just lay out up in the dunes, but the black flies would not stop biting our legs! I had several places that I wound up bleeding from because of those stupid little buggers!

After a bit, I decided to go for it and stick my toes in the lake. After running in and out a couple times, and standing next to the water with my dad for about five minutes, I finally decided to go in (almost!) all the way. I wound up going in about waist deep and then dropping down until it got to my shoulders.

That. Water. Was. COLD.

Not just cold, but more like, you-don't-go-completely-under-because-it-will-take-your-breath-away-and-you'll-gasp-for-air-and-instead-take-in-water-and-you'll-wind-up-drowning-because-it's-too-cold-for-someone-to-go-in-and-save-you cold.

It didn't take long for my toes to go numb. I didn't even last 5 minutes before I was losing all feeling in my extremities.

Thankfully the sand and sun were warm!

While coming back from Ludington, I made a stop in Clare at Cops & Doughnuts. Awesome little bakery that I have wanted to go to ever since I first heard about it on the news several years ago. My parents have been there a few times (without me, I might add) but I had yet to go. Decided on this trip that I was finally going to stop in. It is a really neat place, with a neat back story. If you ever get the chance, you definitely need to stop by and pay them a visit!

Week 10

It is 2 for 1 weekend here at This Bridge Won't Burn! Due to last weekend's MASSIVE assignment, and the way this past week has gone, I am posting for TWO, count 'em, TWO weeks of blogs in one weekend!

You lucky ducks, you...

Ahhh, Monday. You are one day I look forward to least of all. It's not your fault, I don't imagine you asked to be the most loathed day of the week, yet here you are again. I wound up staying up too late on Sunday, watching the Oscars. In all reality, the only reason I stayed up was to watch Idina Menzel perform "Let it Go". Naturally, she wasn't on until well after 11. I participated in many the facebook discussions about the outfits, the winners, the performances, the selfie that broke twitter, and Travolta slaughtering poor Idina's name. Slate.com has created a "Travoltify Your Name" generator. It's kind of awesome.

So naturally, I didn't make my workout on Monday.

I would like to interject what is probably the BEST video I have seen from the red carpet. Kevin Spacey is interviewed by BuzzFeed, and the interviewer asks him the types of questions that the female celebrities are often asked. His responses are hilarious. I will warn you, he does drop the f-bomb twice at the end of the video (it is bleeped out), but it just cracks me up none the less. Probably because of his reaction at the end.

Tuesday came around, trying to make up for Monday's shenanigans. I went to the gym and had a pretty typical day. Nothing too extraordinary happening today. Even though it's Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, it was a pretty typical day. I've hand a punzcki once, maybe twice in my life. I've never been overly impressed by them, and I can find several other things that I like a lot better that I'd be willing to maw down on to get the calories that I'd get from a punzcki. I figure, if I'm going to eat that many calories in one sitting, it better be something that makes it completely worth it. And I just don't feel that way about punzcki. Met up with my parents for dinner. We had tried to do dinner at the local steakhouse a few weeks ago, but we didn't consider the fact that it was a weekend, and that's the only decent restaurant in town. So we went tonight instead. I wound up getting a burger. I know, I know, who gets a burger at a steakhouse? Apparently this girl!

And then came Wednesday. This isn't just any Wednesday, this one's Ash Wednesday. The kick-off to Lent. I didn't make it to mass, because I finished my dinner after 7, and then thought to look at what time mass started. It started at 7... so I was ash-less this year. I decided this year that I am giving up social media (such as facebook, instagram, twitter, and pinterest [which I know isn't really "social media", but it is so tempting to look at and waste time on!]) and tv. So today started my absence from most technology.

It is HARD!

I actually clicked on both facebook and pinterest in my firefox browser Wednesday night. I exited the browser before the pages could fully load. I listened to probably a good 5 chapters in "Allegiant" before finally going to bed.

Thursday was another morning meeting, so no workout. I had to fight the temptation several times to not check out what was happening on facebook, especially when I was getting the notifications on my phone.

I swear, I NEVER get this many notifications from facebook in one day. I blame you people, who claim to be my friends but are sending me links, and messages, and tagging me in posts. You can't even let me make it two days?! You. Are. Jerks. (but I love you anyways).

Friday, I made it to the gym. Today is parent teacher conference day, so that makes it a short day for the kids, but a l-o-n-g day for us! After I got home, I had some dinner and jumped on the computer to do my discussion homework for school. While I was sitting in the silence, debating curriculum and standardized testing, I kept hearing a noise.

At first, I thought it was my blinds moving a bit. I should have known better.

I quickly realized that I was hearing mice scurrying in the walls of my apartment. I hate hearing them, because I worry that they'll somehow figure out a way into my apartment. These buildings are a bit older, and you never know if everything is as sealed as it should be. I decided the best thing to do was to share my misery, so I turned the volume up on my phone, and recorded a video of my wall so you can hear the mice running around, and I sent it via snapchat to my cousin with a description.

I feel that this was a productive use of 2 minutes of my time.

Saturday I got up and made my workout. Then came back and crashed for a couple of hours. Got around and did some things in the apartment that have needed to be done. Decided to go see Frozen, since it's still playing in Flint. Got cleaned up, dried my hair, and then laid down for a nap for a little bit. Wound up waking up 2 hours later - an hour and a half after my alarm was supposed to go off! Apparently my body decided that I was going to get accustomed to the time change in its own way! Got around and made it to Frozen just as the previews were starting.

Week 9

**I realize that I am nearly a week behind in posting this blog. I meant to get it last weekend, but with my project for school (read below) I just didn't have time to get to it on Sunday. And throughout the week, I couldn't seem to find a chance or focus before now.**

I have to admit, last week was just an off week for me. I didn't make it to the gym as many times as I would have liked. I don't think I am ever going to get accustomed to 4 AM workouts...

Monday, I wound up sleeping in. I wound up not getting to bed until late on Sunday, so I over slept on Monday. Don't get me wrong, the extra bit of sleep was nice to have, I just wish I had been able to get myself up and moving like I wanted!

Tuesday I was up and at the gym. I'm not sure which is better to walk/run to, my workout mix of songs, or the final book in the Divergent trilogy (Allegiant) on the Audible app on my phone. I've been listening to the book on the days where I don't plan on doing as much running because my ankle is bothering me or whatever. The music I find tends to be a better motivator for the running, because I have fast paced music saved for my workouts. Eventually I'll get around to posting the list of songs. I'm always happy to take suggestions, as my current list gets me through about 2-3 workouts before starting over again.

Wednesday and Thursday were rest days, because I usually have morning meetings. But both of those meetings were cancelled or rescheduled. I still slept in, just for the pure ability to do so. Even though I missed Monday, and I should have used one of them as a make up day!

I had an appointment Friday, so I took the day off from work. I wound up staying up late on Thursday in an attempt to complete my homework, so I could actually have a weekend.

I should have known better.

So I didn't make my workout on Friday, because I slept in. Then I was up late on Friday and Saturday in an attempt to crank through my Capstone A project so that I could submit it on time (on Sunday).

I'm wondering at what point in my academic career I will realize that procrastination is NOT a good idea?!

Some of you know, when I was at Siena, I had a public speaking class. One of the speeches we had to give was a "how to" speech. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with something that would be fresh and fun, because a lot of people had done things like, "How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich" or "How to Tie Your Shoes". These were meant to be easy speeches, but I wanted something that hadn't been done before.

I'm pretty sure you can guess as to where this sucker is going...

At what wasn't quite the last minute, I came up with probably THE MOST brilliant idea ever. I was going to give a speech on how to properly procrastinate. I'm pretty sure that this was literally the best speech I have ever given in my nearly 30 years on this planet. I could give a speech on this topic like a professional. I had a flow chart for my visual (and not just any flowchart, this bad boy had PIZZAZZ); I had a breakdown of the time frame in which everything happens before a large assignment is due; and I even made a point of starting off my speech by putting up my flow chart and then telling the class that I figured it was pretty obvious as to what my speech was about, but I had unfortunately procrastinated so much that the flowchart was the only thing I got done. Among the slightly nervous, maybe even unbelieving laughter of my classmates sat my professor who's jaw practically hit the floor.

Again, I have to say, the best speech I've ever given, because you just can't make that up.

Week 8

Monday: Had the day off of work, drove down to my parents' house and spent some time with them and my sister. Was going to do dinner with my mom and sister, but the snow really started coming down. I wound up driving back to my place in near white-out conditions. Took back roads instead of the expressway, wound up losing control of my car at one point and started spinning into the oncoming lane.I was able to correct it, but not until I spun back to the right and then to the left one more time before getting my car straightened out!

I discovered last week that the screw driver I purchased to finish building my vanity was the biggest waste of $15 I've ever spent. I'm hoping to be able to take it back to the store and get my money back. My dad gave me his old screwdriver, and I was able to get my vanity finished tonight! Literally took me about 10 minutes to finish up. If only it hadn't taken me a week to get what I needed to finish it up!!

Tuesday I went in and worked out. I've still been taking it easy with the running, just because every once in awhile my ankle will still act up so I haven't been pushing it too hard. I'm hoping to get more of the running in next week! I've been alternating between listening to audio books on my phone and my workout mix on my iPod. I've been listening to the Divergent series, and I'm now on the third book, Allegiant. I really liked Divergent, and Insurgent (the second book) was also really good. So far, Allegiant has promise, although I think everyone I've talked to who has read it hates it. I'm holding off judgement until I finish it, but the way it's written is different, alternating between two main characters narrating. Normally, I don't mind that, but what bothers me is that it's COMPLETELY different from how the first two books were written. It kind of threw me at first, I'm still not 100% sure of how I feel about it.

One thing that I have discovered, listening to these books is that it's definitely not a good idea to listen to them before going to sleep. You also don't want to listen to them before going to bed after watching several episodes of The Walking Dead earlier in the day. Those two things do NOT mix in the sleeping mind!!

Thursday and Friday I didn't make it to the gym. Friday, I woke up and checked out facebook for a few minutes before getting up and getting ready for work. I found out that a teacher I had worked with while subbing in Swartz Creek had passed after being diagnosed with cancer a couple months ago. It absolutely breaks my heart that he has passed, but I take comfort in knowing that he's no longer in pain. He was a good man, and will be missed by all who knew him.

Friday after work I went out with a couple of friends that I used to work with. It was great seeing them and I definitely needed to have some good laughs with friends.

Today, I spent my day working on a final paper for my grad class. I was hoping to get it done early enough to get out and at least go for a short walk since the sun was shining all day. Unfortunately that didn't happen. My paper is nearly done, but I had to take a break on it since I'd been working on it all day. Normally one paper won't take an entire day, but this is the final paper for this class, so it's considerably longer and more in-depth. I'm planning on getting up pretty early tomorrow to get it done so that I can start working on my Capstone project - which is due soon. Right now grad school is pretty stressful, because my new class starts on Monday, so I'll have a couple of papers due next week as well. It's kind of frustrating having so many big things due within a short time span (final paper for one class, Capstone project, and two papers for my new class). I would have liked it if they would have put the Capstone part way through the second class so that it wasn't coming at the same time as several other things.

I have no social life. Grad school is my social life!

Week 7

Well, this week has been fairly uneventful. My workouts were pretty routine, I thought by this point that 4 a.m. would be a bit easier to get up and get moving to. It's not.

I don't think anything will make me a morning person. No matter how hard I try, I just feel that 4 in the morning is a time that should not exist.

Ever.

Those of you that are morning people, I have a lot of respect for you! I don't know how you do it!

This weekend we had a 4 day weekend. It has been a beautiful thing! I had my unit plan and a paper due for class yesterday, so that took up a lot of my weekend. It was nice getting an extra day to work on it on Friday!

Here's a sneak peek of next weekend's blog: the vanity is done! :o) I'll wait to post pictures until next week.

Week 6

I have learned that no matter how old I get to be, my klutziness will continue to persist. After twisting my ankle a few weeks ago while playing volleyball, I was finally getting to a point where I felt like I didn't have to wear my ankle brace as often.

Then Wednesday I slipped on some melted snow in the gym and fell. This caused my ankle to flare up a bit, I landed on my knee, which is scraped and slightly swollen, and twisted my back.

I am a walking disaster!

So I've been going to the gym, but I've just been walking until I get back to 100%. It's frustrating though, because I have always been a klutz, but I just figured eventually I would outgrow it. I'm staring down 30's arrival, and I'm still injuring myself in stupid ways!

When I was a kid, I was in the ER so often due to stupid injuries that I had my own Emergency Room Fast Pass type of card. The first time my parents gave it to the nurse for one of my trips, she was surprised, because usually the hospital only gives those to old people!

Here's an example of how my life has gone: I once took a nose dive out of our pop-up trailer as I was walking out the door, because my shorts got caught on the door handle. I completely destroyed the door handle, my shorts, and my pride!

Yet to this point, the only thing I've ever broken has been a toe. I've gotten strains and sprains, but luckily that's about as bad as it's gotten.

Last night after I finished my homework, I started putting together my vanity that I picked up last weekend. It's been pretty easy to put together (despite the instructions looking like something from Ikea),

but I ran into a couple of snags as I was putting it all up. Like, the company doesn't send enough washers (I'm short two, even though they package the exact amount shown in the list of items. Just when you look at the directions, it calls for two more than what is sent) and I snapped a screw in half while screwing two pieces together by hand.

So I had to pick up a drill this morning (It's small, and it's pink!) (I'm such a girl), which is charging now so that I can put a new screw in to finish putting everything together.The only thing I have left to put together is the mirror stand and the mirror. I can't do anything more until I finish screwing the two pieces together in the mirror stand.

I'll post some updated photos once the vanity is completely done. It's bright yellow, which I LOVE!

Week 5

Saturday, I was up again at 4, made it to the gym. Then went back to my apartment and finished up some work before heading down to my parents' house. I was finally giving the grey berry back to dad and getting Reba (my car!) back. It has been so nice being able to drive my own car again!!

Sunday, I definitely overslept and didn't make it downstairs at my parents' house to get on the treadmill there. I had intended to, but I woke up at about 7:45 and I had to get around and get ready for church. That afternoon my mom and I went to a benefit dinner for a teacher that I worked with while subbing a few years ago. We got to see a lot of old friends, and even visited for a bit with my fourth grade teacher.

Monday, I accidentally overslept this morning, so I didn't make it to the gym. This is what is going to be the downfall of my workouts... sleep! I did stop at Meijer today to pick up the vanity that I ordered online. I figure I'll count getting that sucker up three flights of stairs as my exercise today. It weighs at least 40 pounds, then when you throw in packaging, I probably carried a good 45 pounds of awkward up the stairs. I had to laugh when the clerk asked me if I wanted help getting it into my car. Puh-leeze. I had to haul it up to my apartment by myself! Getting it into my car was the easiest part!

I have to admit, I didn't really get a lot of workouts in this week. Grades were due on Friday, and I wound up being up late almost every night trying to get those finished up. I always tell myself every quarter that I'm not going to allow myself to wind up in that position, yet it winds up happening every time!

I'm currently watching the Superbowl. Not really sure why Denver is "playing". This game is ridiculous! At least the Broncos finally wound up with 8 on the board!

Not a whole lot to post this week, but I promise next week I'll be more exciting!

Week 4

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I didn't make it to the gym. I had planned on going Monday, but that injury during the volleyball game kept me crippled up. I finally managed to get out of my apartment and picked up an ankle brace. My ankle almost instantly felt better once I had some stabilization!

Tuesday, I managed to get up and get moving. I made it to the gym... I realized that 4 AM still sucks. I had my dad's car, "the grey berry", as mine started messing up last Friday. Not to mention, his doesn't have automatic start, which means that 4 degrees felt REALLY cold when including wind chill!

Today's been a downer kind of day. Just feeling sad, tired, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. This time of year is tough to begin with, but this mess with my car and then some of the songs that have been on the radio today have really gotten to me.

Wednesday: I lucked out, no meeting this morning. But I was up too late last night, so I slept in a little bit today. Didn't make it to the gym. Still driving dad's car. I don't know how he drives that thing in the winter, it's awful! I feel like I'm in an over sized roller skate on ice!

Thursday: we didn't have a meeting again this morning, so I did manage to make it to the gym. I have discovered that you can learn a lot about people when you're at the gym. For example, I happened to over hear one time a woman talking about how she set up her best friend and her boyfriend at the time to hook up and cheat on her so that she had a "reason" to break up with her boyfriend. What?! Who does that? Although, she did forgive her best friend, so it's all good.

The things you learn...

Week 3

So I'm looking at how this is going to work out now that I'm in the full swing of work and school. Instead of attempting to do this daily, or keeping track of it daily, it will probably be best as a weekly update. This way, I'm not falling behind, and I'm still keeping myself on track with workouts and blogs.

This past week, I made my workout on Monday & Tuesday. Nothing too special to report with that. Wednesdays and Thursdays are going to be my rest days, as I have meetings at 7 a.m. and it's too much rushing around trying to get work outs in and be at work on time for the meetings. I tried that last week, and wound up running in the door at work at about 6:29. I hate that.

Yesterday I hit my workout again. In the afternoon we had a staff vs. student volleyball game. I played, and had a great time. Unfortunately we lost to the kids two games to one. There were a couple of staff members who were playing with the kids and helping them out, because they were just standing there and watching the ball go by them! (Clearly, we need to teach our kids how to play volleyball....)

I wound up injuring myself during the first game. I dove for the ball (stupidly, I might add, as I didn't have knee pads - mistake #1), and wound up twisting my ankle pretty badly in the process. Instead of taking myself out of the game and propping it up for a little bit, I played through the pain (stupidly, again - mistake #2). I'm not even sure how I twisted my ankle, but I am still limping around!

Didn't make it to the gym this morning. Between being up late working on homework for school and my ankle, there was no way I was going to be there at 4. I thought maybe when I woke up a bit later that I could today, but my ankle is still pretty sore, so I'm going to rest and let it heal up before I get really going on it again.

Nothing like getting injured this early in training for the 5k. But I guess maybe I would rather get injured earlier as opposed to closer to the run, where I have less time to recuperate and get back on track.

Yesterday while driving home from work my traction control light came on along with a message telling me that it needed to be serviced. I called the garage that I normally take my car to, they told me that it probably wouldn't be a big deal and how to fix it. That was great, because they could have charged me an arm, leg, and my future first born, but they didn't.

Well, it looks like I'll be parting with one arm, leg, and my future first born after all. The light kicked on again today as I was driving to a birthday party, and a third time as I was driving home.

Money is overrated anyway...

Week 2, Days 2, 3, & 4

So as I get into the work and school mode, I unfortunately won't be able to post daily like I did last week. I love it, but I take so much work home that has to be done. Combine that with homework almost daily for grad school and I don't get much time to myself to do what I want!

Take for example my guitar. I've had it for years, and I just don't get to practice it like I wish I could. I would love to really be able to practice it and get good at playing it, but I usually don't have an hour a day minimum just to sit down and practice.

Maybe I should start getting up at 3 AM so I can practice my guitar for an hour every day... HA.

I didn't make it to my workout on Friday, I woke up at 4 with a major headache. So I decided to forgo the workout to take care of my headache before it got any worse. We had professional development, so I was able to go in a bit later. It was nice getting to sleep in a bit longer than I normally do!

Saturday I did make it to my workout. I got 40 minutes in on the treadmill, running 6. Did get some weights in as well. Nothing too eventful there, it felt so warm compared to the frigid temps we had last week, I was tempted to wear shorts!

Today I made my workout again. Time on the treadmill, skipped the weights today. I wound up going out this afternoon to attempt to bust up some of the ice around my car in the parking lot. It is so horrendously thick, I couldn't get much up. I did manage to chip at the top of it, and that gave me a little bit of a grip, so hopefully I don't wind up falling on it tomorrow.

All I have to say is if I fall again, I'm going to be ticked. I wound up falling on the ice outside my apartment the Friday before Christmas and it messed up my wrist. This past week I felt like I was finally able to take off the wrist brace that I wore for about 2 weeks!

Week 2, Day 1

Today was the first day since I've started this that I've actually had to go to work after my workout in the morning.

Last night I slept in my work out clothes. I would have gotten out of here a bit faster if I hadn't gone back to sleep for a few minutes after my alarms went off.

It was a dangerous game I was playing this morning.

Because we had a staff meeting today, I wound up only being able to get in 30 minutes on the treadmill instead of my usual 40. But, I did run 6 minutes and minutes 3-4 were at a higher speed.

Now, onto something that's been on my mind today...

Hashtag workouts.

You know what I'm talking about. If you have a twitter account, or instagram, or facebook, or any other number of social media accounts you know what the hashtag is.

If you work out and you have some sort of social media account, you my friend, are probably guilty of participating in a hashtag workout.

I too am guilty of this ever popular crime. I've shared a couple of hashtag workouts via my instagram account. But my hashtag workouts have been fairly toned down compared to some that I tend to see. One that seems to be gaining popularity is the #Beastmode workout.

WHAT??!!

I'm not sure in what universe a #beastmode workout is a good thing. If you are in "beastmode" I don't think that I want to be working out any where near you. It sounds slightly terrifying. I mean, if you're in "beastmode" are you going to try and rip my face off? The last thing I need is to be working out near someone on bath salts who feels like beastmode contains an acceptable level of adrenaline and endorphins.

I push myself in my workouts, but for me my hashtag workouts are more like, #TryingNotToKeelOverAndDie or #IThinkImStartingToSeeTheLight. Perhaps even #MyLegsFeelLikeJello #IDontKnowIfBillCosbyMeantThatInTheJelloCommercials #ImPrettySureIHaveLostMyDamnMind.

Hashtag.

Week 1, Day 7

I survived!

My first week down, many more to go. :)

My alarm went off at 4 and I jumped out of bed. After three days of not getting out to Snap because of the weather, I COULD NOT get myself moving quickly! Part of that was because I discovered the last time that I went out there that working out on an empty stomach was an almost sure way to lead to passing out. I didn't actually pass out, but it was closer than I was comfortable with!

So I popped a Special K breakfast sandwich in the microwave, and sat and ate that for a few minutes. The sausage, egg, & cheese is crazy good. Although, I take the cheese off, because it's cheddar, but other than that, it actually tastes better than those greasy, calorie-laden sandwiches that you get from a drive-thru. Plus, doing it this way, it prevents me from getting a large pop, which is my go-to drink in the mornings when I stop to get breakfast.

If I learned nothing else today, it's that I need to sleep in my clothes for the gym so that I can get out of here more quickly. I do NOT move fast in the morning, I have a proven history on that one!

Today I finally took my Christmas tree down. I took the ornaments off the other day (with the exception of the one I accidentally found while taking my lights off last night!). I loaded up the tree and storage tote of lights and ornaments to put into my storage unit. Got to the unit, and my lock is frozen. Solid.

I'm not happy about this.

So I went back to my apartment, grabbed my lock de-icer that I have never actually used until this point, and headed back to my storage unit. Clearly, my lock de-icer is only meant for car locks, as it did NOTHING for my padlock on my storage unit. It wouldn't even fit into the lock. So that was a wasted trip. Since I finally got my tree and decorations down and out of my apartment, I was NOT hauling them back up the stairs to my apartment to try later. So currently my car has room for exactly one person, because I have a Christmas tree in the back and a box full of decorations riding shotgun.

Tomorrow's a new day, hopefully there's not a Grinch around tonight or tomorrow who feels the need to steal all of my Christmas items!

Week 1, Day 6

Today was ridiculous.

I went up to the corner again, I had a couple of bills to pay and I was out of stamps. Yes, I am one of those people who still pays bills via check! I do most online, but some I still pay the old fashioned way.

I had to dig my car out - again. Not because of the wind, but because the plow buried half of my car yesterday when he was cleaning the apartment lot. So I dug my car out... for the fourth time in three days (or was it the fifth? I've done it so many times, I don't even remember any more!), and I helped dig a neighbor out as well. Ran my errands and drove to the other end of town, mostly to see how the main road was in case I have to go to work tomorrow.

It was not exactly fun. Besides my tires spinning every time a red light turned green as I tried to get through the intersections, I wound up literally inches from getting into an accident.

I turned into walmart's parking lot right next to their gas station and as I was pulling in, a guy that had Jesus looking hair/beard was pulling out of the first drive of the gas station, looking completely in the other direction as he pulled out. Right in front of me. I laid on the horn, hit the brakes and proceeded to slide (because even though the drive had been plowed, it was covered with snow) right towards the front end of Jesus-look-alike's car. He slammed on his brakes and I was able to slide just past the front end of his car by cranking the wheel with one hand while still laying on the horn with my other hand. The whole time I could tell that he was yelling at me as I managed to get past him with probably no more than a couple of inches between our cars. I should also note that I was also yelling at him through the whole thing! I felt kind of wrong yelling obscenities and rude names at Jesus-look-alike, but not too wrong since I know that he was yelling at me.

I popped into the store (where I did purchase a 22 oz. soup mug that is PERFECT for hot chocolate!) and wound up making my way back to my apartment, without any more interesting events occurring.

I swear, I just need to stay inside. There are too many stupid people in this world!!

Planning on getting back to Snap tomorrow, I don't foresee having to shovel any more snow! I never thought I'd say this, but I am looking forward to it!

You can't really tell, but my face was red after being out in the sun/wind/cold this afternoon!!

Week 1, Day 5

I am done with my good deeds for the day.

I don't know how people in states that get dumped on every winter for a good part of the winter do it! I wound up digging out and clearing off my car again last night after I posted. I did help one of my neighbors clean off his car, as I was finishing up and getting ready to head back into the warmth last night, I saw that he was trying to clean off his car and he didn't have a hat or gloves on. I couldn't go in without helping him get in from the cold as quickly as possible, so I helped him out.

This morning I decided to walk up to my corner grocery store, as at least one person had gotten stuck trying to get out of the apartment parking lot.

BAD IDEA

I wore my glasses, and couldn't see a THING. Not to mention that when I started up there I was trying not to walk in the road. Wading through knee-deep snow with snow boots and jeans is not a great idea. I had leggings on to provide some extra warmth to my legs, but I knew that it wouldn't be long until both my jeans and leggings would be soaked through. Once I waded my way to the next driveway, I stumbled my way to the road and sludged through the car tracks to get to VG's.

Coming back I could only look down at the ground at my feet in an effort to block the wind as much as possible. I felt like I was walking through a snow storm. It was so windy, and there was so much snow flying around, that it took all my effort to continue walking into the wind. It felt like my face was being exfoliated by the snow!

Then I had to dig my car out for a third time. I had my car running for a bit in an effort to keep it running as the temp drops, and I realized that I needed gas. So up to the corner I went again, this time in my car. I had to stop for the light, and once it turned green, I was sure that I wasn't going to make it around the corner to get to the gas station. Somehow I managed it, and I was able to get back, although I didn't have to stop at all on my return trip which was definitely a good thing!

Started clearing snow from around my car again, and I wound up having to help a couple of neighbors push their cars out as they were trying to get out and got stuck.

The grand total of time I was outside in the snow for today is about 2 1/2 hours.

I am so exhausted, I had to have done at least three days worth of workouts in the past 24 hours, right?

Week 1, Day 4

Yesterday I felt like everyone was being ridiculous by bombarding the stores to stock up on their groceries because of the oncoming storm.

I may have been wrong, this snow is crazy! I went out to clean the snow around and off from my car. I measured the snow on the hood of my car, and we're currently at about 6.5" and it's still coming down!

Last night, I couldn't sleep AGAIN. Throughout all of break, I've been on a fairly decent sleep schedule. Going to bed at a pretty good time and not sleeping in too late. Then the past few days, I've been unable to get to sleep, and then I'm up insanely late and sleeping in in the mornings.

So at 2 AM I finally went to bed. I was going to go earlier, but I was in the last 30 minutes of "Jarhead" and I wanted to see how it ended.

Two hours later, I was up again with my alarms. I don't know if it was the prospect of getting to go back to sleep, or the fact that I only slept 2 hours, but I was awake and ready to go!

Jumped out of bed, checked outside and decided that I wasn't going to risk it. There was plenty of snow that had come down during the night, and I figured the roads were going to be a hot mess. Not that I was worried about running into traffic on my trip to Snap, since I take all back roads and there's nobody around anyways at that time of day, but I didn't want my car to get stuck either.

So back to bed I went. Not that I was entirely disappointed in that option...

Once the plow trucks were done in our parking lot today, I went down to dig my car out. I figure this will make up for my lack of traveling to the gym this morning.

A before picture of my car... it's on the right.

After... I cleaned it, I swear!

The "official" measurement of snow. About 6.5 inches on my car.

Week 1, Day 3

Today the 4 am wake up hit.

Holy. Crap.

I am not ready to go back to work next week! I was sorely tempted to hit the snooze button on both of my alarms when they started going off this morning, but I just had to sit there and stare at them for a minute, reminding myself that I would accomplish nothing if I hit the snooze.

So I hauled myself out of bed, got dressed, and headed out. I didn't make it to Snap until almost 4:30. I'm going to have to work on that if I'm going to be doing 40 minutes on the treadmill every day before getting ready for work!

Compared to yesterday's sub-zero temperatures, it was downright warm this morning going out to my car. It was so nice! (Mind you, it was 15* F.)

I need to start taking my iPod when I work out, yesterday the music playing was pretty good. But it wasn't anything decent to workout to today. And naturally, the tv by me wouldn't work, so I was stuck watching a replay of the Orange Bowl across the room, or the weather channel on a tv farther down the row of treadmills. Naturally, I couldn't really hear either one.

When 4 AM rolls around, I need whatever I can get to keep me awake. Yellow headband and neon pink shoes! Note: I'm still pretty excited about this!

Week 1, Day 2

This morning marks my first 5k training workout. I went to bed at a decent time last night, I even had my workout clothes on, so all I had to do was roll out of bed and go.

And. I. Couldn't. Sleep.

After tossing and turning for about an hour without even dozing, I got up and watched some tv until I felt tired. Which was right around 3 A.M. Considering the fact that I was getting up at 4, it felt pretty pointless to go to bed at that point. Anybody who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person.  So to go to bed for an hour would defeat the purpose of working out, because I wouldn't get up and go.

So at 3 AM I hauled my warm, happy self out to the frigid, hell frozen over, arctic air. Although, I guess I shouldn't really refer to it as "arctic" air, as it was a balmy 3* Fahrenheit.

My thought process went like this:
Well, I can't sleep. Starting to get tired. Won't wake up in an hour. Might as well go.
Start the car, THANK YOU MOM AND DAD for the remote starter you gave me for Christmas!
Grab my shoes, don't forget the water.
Oh, Dear God it is cold out!
I really should scrape the windows, but I only have to drive about 2 blocks.
Hmm... I really should have scraped the windows...
Well, 3 am workouts equals excellent parking!
2 blocks away means that it's still insanely cold!
First time I've ever been here and nobody is here, I could get used to this! Any other time I've been here, it's been too busy for my liking!
How the hell do I set up one of these automatic treadmills?
*Starts pushing buttons*
I guess that works.
Dang, this thing is slow!
*Pushes a few more buttons*
Too fast! Too fast!!
*manages to find a happy medium*

Got 40 minutes in on the treadmill. I had a total of 5 minutes running, and I wasn't breaking any land speed records, but I managed to accomplish the hardest part of my workout: getting to the gym!

Hopefully tonight I make it to bed at a decent time, otherwise, tomorrow's post is going to be pretty much the same!!

This is probably due to lack of sleep. At this point, it was about 4:30 AM and I still hadn't slept!

Week 1, Day 1

So today I signed up for my first ever 5k run.

Holy crap.

But I have plenty of time to train (it's not until July 12). I could have signed up to run in the Kzoo race in April, but, I don't know what my schedule for school looks like yet and that gets to be a busy time for work. And traveling for that would take an entire weekend that I just don't think that I have. Doing the race in July allows me to get things done for school ahead of time, and I won't be working during that time. Plus, it's closer, so it won't take up an entire weekend.

I've paid for registration, so I'm doing this - no matter what! At this point, I'm excited. We'll see how long that feeling remains once I start training for this sucker. I plan on beginning tomorrow morning unless I count my walking over to the office to pay my rent in this snow storm as my initial training...