Making Myself Better

After receiving several messages on my new blog from people who didn't realize it existed and that's why I wasn't posting here anymore, I decided to share it one last time.

It's not quite like betternikki- not much on the health/fitness front besides run posts and occasional intuitive eating thoughts. Lots of Ryland, some food/recipes. some hair posts, some life posts, some photography.

I'm not begging for everyone to come follow me. I realize that many won't want to because it's not as fitness-oriented as this one was and because I don't look awesome and inspirational any more. That's okay. It's kind of nice having regular interaction with about half of my followers instead of about 5% of them.

I don't really get to treat myself any more. I only get to go shopping when I have b-day or Christmas money. Even when I was working, the only spontaneous purchases I would make would be from thrift stores or Target's clearance rack.

I pretty much always do cheap shopping. Even when I shop at nicer stores, I still hit the clearance racks. I guess that's why my "style" is so hit-or-miss.

I did used to like to buy the high-end make up from Ulta when they would have the "value" sets.

Today at Old Navy, I tried on 2 XS shirts. One was just $3.99, but it was so tight  in the arms that I couldn't put my arms through the sleeves all the way. It fit perfectly in the body, though, so a small would've been too big.

The other was a button-up chambray shirt that was a little snug in the shoulders and chest but fit great in the waist/stomach area, so I went ahead and got it instead of trying on the small. I've been wanting a chambray shirt for a while, so I got it even though it wasn't on sale (that's a pretty big deal for me).

I've never had an arms/shoulders being too big problem. It's always been my legs that are too big for pants that fit in the waist pants that can't handle the awesomeness of my legs.  I guess that's what happens when you're a mesomorph pushing a jogging stroller.

Pictures from my visit with my family last week.

You can see that Ryland did get some spaghetti in his mouth.

He had a great time. He really liked the male shih tzu, Ein (you can't see it in the picture). When we first came in, both dogs were barking, and Ryland was a little scared. A little later, he decided it was funny when they barked, and he would follow Ein around laughing at and talking to him.

The last time we traveled with Ryland (during the holidays), he got really fussy and wasn't eating well by the end of it. This time was so much better.

Oh, and my smushed calves in the test shot:

After my run yesterday

Last Tuesday:

First, I ran a timed mile just to see what I could do. The conditions weren't ideal (humid, 90ish, after a lunch-time binge), but I ran it in 7:41.

I ran some more after walking to recover. I felt pretty good.

Friday

This was in my parents' neighborhood, which is 3 times higher in elevation than Montgomery and much hillier. I ran 3.41 total miles in 32 minutes. The first half-ish was slow and warm, but there was a rainbow to view and a good bit of shade. Then I had a bathroom emergency while 0.61 mi. away from my parents' house. I walked back as quickly as I could manage, since running makes it worse. Then I ran some more and got to enjoy some rain. I was able to run so much faster in the rain even up a looong (for me) hill. I could've run more, but it was Mom's homemade spaghetti time!

Monday

This one wasn't great, but wasn't too bad, either. I ran almost a mile, but got pretty bad lady cramps. I walked for a while until they went away, then ran some more. My Garmin died right after I started walking, but my total for the route was 2.82

I know I haven't done any updates I said I was going to do or checked on my dash in a while, but I need opinions. I'm going to ask Jeremy, too.

The two dresses are the exact same cut, size (4, so that means I'm not as big as I think I am), price ($22!!!), and fit. I have 2 questions.

1. Do they even look good on me?

2. If so, which one? I have a lot of blue stuff, but I'm not sure about the orange near my face. The lighting was terrible, of course, but I tried to show it the best I could.

Full weekend recap & run recaps (I've had two good ones that I haven't mentioned) will come Monday-ish.

At my parents' house until Saturday.

I decided to do something different this week instead of my crushes.  All of these women inspire me in running in one way or another. I had thought about talking about them individually, but I didn't want people to not check out their blogs (though you're probably already following all of them) because you don't like my descriptions.

Now, in the order in which they appear in my following list, I present:

fromlazytolively

activealways

shrinkingmomma

angeldrinkstea

happyhealthycook

chelsearuns

easybeinggreene

I was even feeling good decent about my stomach today.

That doesn't mean that I will let this become a bad day. My days are not good or bad because of my food choices. Eating a ridiculous amount of pizza is not a crime.

Yesterday I decided not to go with my usual jeans & graphic tee for running errands and put on one of my favorite shirts instead.  

First, we had to go get a new tire. A few weeks ago, we got new struts on the front, but we still felt a wobble while driving.  Jeremy took it to get the wheel balanced, and the shop found out that the tire was actually separating and there was a knot in it.

Friday, I took it to the shop from which we got our tires because they were still  under warranty. After looking at it, the owner (someone we used to go to church with) said that I'd have to come back Monday after lunch because they didn't have my tire.  He said that after they took off the old tire and broke it down, they'd be able to tell if it was covered by the warranty, but that I'd still have to pay some because they prorate it. He also said to drive as little as possible on it. We went in Jeremy's truck all weekend.

Yesterday when I went in, it ended up ALL being covered! We got a new tire for free!

After that, Ryland & I went to Walmart, Publix, and Winn-Dixie. I always scope out the ads online to see what to buy from which grocery store.

Oh, and the thing I needed to tell:

Yesterday, on the way to the body shop, I picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry's because I had a coupon. I was eating it in the car. Then I realized that I didn't really like the flavor and threw the rest (about half) away! This is big, big, big for me! Usually, I'll just keep on eating even if I'm not enjoying it. During our other errands, I kept thinking about picking up some fast food, but I realized that I wasn't hungry, so I never got any! We were out about 4 1/2 hours!

marathonmelissa replied to your post: Oh, you know, just finished r...

Look at those shoulders! Ryland is good weight lifting! ;)

ashesofheroes replied to your photo: Oh, you know, just finished running my second set...

Lovin dem shoulders, woman. ;)

Oh, you know, just finished running my second set of sprints in my backyard.

This morning I did 8 sets of sprinting to the fence and walking back to the yard.  I mapped it out as 0.04 mi. each way, so that was 0.32 total this morning while Ryland napped. I couldn't do more because I needed time for a shower, too.

Just now, I did 17 more, so I could have a total of 1 mile. This time, I used my Garmin, but just for timing the splits because it's not accurate for such a short distance. They ranged from about 5 1/2 sec. to just under 7 (between 5:00 pace and 5:40).

Did I earn my "fitblr" status back?

We had a good weekend.

Friday night was a really rough night with Ryland. I was up from 2:45-4:45 straight because I had trouble going back to sleep after he ate the first time and was still awake when he got up the second time. Then he woke up to stay at 5:45. Once Jeremy got up and hour later, I went back to sleep until 10. I was so tired.

In the afternoon, we went to a playground with Ryland. The play surfaces were too hot to let him crawl around, so we mostly just carried him from place to place and let him swing a little. He did get to play in a little sand: 

That night, we went to a Birthaversary party for our close friends.  Her birthday comes first, their anniversary is the next day. and his birthday is the following day- three days in a row. I invented the word birthaversary for them. She made him a red velvet cake and it was SO good. Her mom bought her a DQ ice cream cake. It goes without saying that it was also SO good.  We fed Ryland beforehand because he was really hungry, but while he was there, he ate 2 pineapple chunks (he loved that he could take his own bites), half a tomato slice, a black olive, a green olive, and some watermelon.  No cake for him. He'll get it for his 1st b-day. It's hard to believe that's only just over 2 months away!