& everything changes

Technically, Jon Alan and I broke up a couple weeks ago.  Today, I finally figured out what is best for me.  We’re going to stop talking for a while so I can take some “me time” and figure things out.  I’m not going to go into detail right now, and I may never; however, there was a lot of unhealthy things that went on in our relationship that I need to get past.  It wasn’t necessarily one person’s fault.  It was just a mixture of everything. This is for the best. I’ve been going through a lot of changes lately and they’re going to keep increasing.  I’m learning how to learn about myself.  I lost who I am and I’m trying to find that out.

This is the new Sammi.

Time to focus on being happy & healthy!  Woohoo!

I was going to have a girls night with my sisters tonight; however, I took WAY too long getting ready & now Jordan’s tired and Jessie’s still at work lol.  Looks like I’m on my own tonight! 

Tomorrow morning, I’m taking an abs & more class with Jordan and then an hour spinning class with Jordan and my mom! So excited!  My foot is feeling a million times better, so I’m really not worried about it.

 

Umm… I really need to clean my room.  Like, I can’t find my camera because my room is so messy. sorry! I’ll have pictures for you all once I get around to cleaning my room!

 

Time to go get in some “me time” See ya!

I’m a mess

I’m so sorry how up and down the blogging has been lately.  My emotions are going haywire right now and I have way too much on my schedule.  I promise things will be better this summer!

My to do list:

• Take my state taxes (this year and last) to the courthouse
• Clean my room
• Paint my room
• Statistics project
• Accounting assignments
• Accounting project
• Corrections on a statistics test
• Call CNU about my advisor
• Make an appointment with the advisor
• Go get the lady in the office at my school to correct something for me
• Figure out what I actually want
• Go through with whatever it is I want
• Try not to have a mental breakdown

Seriously, I don’t even know where to start. The worst part is, I’m so stressed with everything that is going on in my personal life, that I have zero motivation or energy to do any of the things on that list.  I’m tired of crying.  I’m tired of having to answer questions. I’m tired of not knowing what I want.  I’m tired of not knowing what is best for me.  I’m just tired.

The x-ray on my foot came back normal.  This either means that the bones are fine or it means that it’s too small to see with an x-ray.  My foot is feeling better though 🙂

My appointment with my therapist is tomorrow and I swear, it couldn’t have come at a better time (well, a few days ago probably would have been better… lol)

Unfortunately, the battery on my camera is d.e.a.d. right now.  I will have a few yummy pictures though in my next post 🙂

I need to spend some quality time with my stomach.  Meghann made something that I absolutely have to try, so I’m going to go make that right now!

 

Good News: I think I did pretty well on my statistics test today.

Limping – not good (aka- really bad)

Rain, Rain Pain Pain go away come again another day never.
K? Thanx.

Well, remember how my foot was hurting after my run the other day?  It’s worse.  A lot worse.  Tremendously worse.  Last night, I had to work which was probably one of the worst things I could have done at the time.  I started out okay, then I started limping, and finally it hurt to even limp 😦

I went to the doctor’s office this morning and got an x-ray.  They said they’ll call me either today or tomorrow to let me know what it shows.  I’ve been instructed to take Motrin, apply heat, rest, and elevate it as much as possible. 

So far today, my foot isn’t hurting too badly.  I have been keeping off of it as much as I can though.  For my doctor’s appointment, I took one of my dad’s vehicles so I wouldn’t have to use the clutch.  That car’s dashboard lights don’t always work anymore (the dimmer control is on the fritz) so I can’t take it to class tonight.  Looks like I’ll have to man up and take my own.

Monday night:
 

Ate spaghetti while watching Surrogates.  The movie was actually really good.  I wanted to see it as soon as I saw previews for it and I’m glad I finally got to watch it!  There were quite a few twists and turns, some of which I saw coming, some were surprises.

Tuesday morning:

Whoa! What’s that thing?
Since I couldn’t run, I dusted off the old bike to ride with my dad while he ran.

A helmet was an obvious necessity.

Pretty hardcore ;) 
The distance was around 5.6 miles and the speed was pretty slow for the most part since I was sticking back with him.  He did beat me up a hill though!  Hills are TOUGH on bikes! haha

Immediately upon arriving home, I slathered some peanut butter on a banana & enjoyed.
Breakfast  part 2 was a burrito with scrambled egg, cheese, steak, onion, and ham.  I  chowed down on it on the way to my statistics class.

It looked just like that. (minus the plate, plus a paper towel)

When I got home from school, I was really in the mood for a green monster.  Unfortunately, we are all out of milk and yogurt so I got the [not so] bright idea to try cottage cheese.
 
Into the blender went: spinach, a frozen banana, & cottage cheese.
 
I ended up adding in half & half because the ingredients weren’t working too well without an actual liquid.

Pretty, huh?
 
Too bad “pretty” doesn’t make things taste “good.”  The cottage cheese ended up being somewhat overwhelming.  I ate about half & then stuck the rest in the freezer.  Maybe it’ll taste better as “ice cream?” lol

This morning, I ate a boring ol’ fiber one bar on the way to the doctor’s office.  I thought about eating a boring ol’ frozen burrito when I got home; however, the thought of Caitlin’s grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich creeped into my mind and I couldn’t resist!

 
I buttered the sides of the bread that was going to touch the pan and then peanut buttered the other sides.  Sprinkled cinnamon on one, topped with 1/2 a banana on the other & cooked.

I’m pretty positive the words “Caitlin is a genius” came out of my mouth at least once while eating this.

This will definitely be consumed again one day!
I ended up loading up the other half of the banana with peanut butter, as well 🙂

It’s safe to assume that this picture means that I ate some cake.
I had a slice last night at work & then I ate half of this slice after lunch today.

Hello, my name is Samantha and I have no will power when it comes to sweets.

I got a 100% in my business class!  Woohoo!  No surprise there though 😉 lol.  He gives out 100’s like men in vans give out candy.

Tonight, I had a macroeconomics quiz due 😦
Tomorrow, statistics test.
Tuesday, statistics project, presentation included.

Ew.

I can’t wait until May 14th! (graduation from my community college)

& by the way, did I mention where I’m going on May 15th?

Oslo, Norway 🙂
So, so, so excited!
There’s more details about the trip; however, things are never really set in stone when it comes to me taking airplanes, so you’ll just have to wait for the rest!

So close! [Kind of]

Happy Marathon Monday!

To qualify for Boston I would have to run 26.2 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes.  That’s an average pace of 8 minutes 23 seconds per mile.

My run this morning:
2.63 miles (hm, that decimal place needs to move over!)
22 minutes 36 seconds
8:36 average pace (almost there on the pace!)

The last .63 miles was at an 8:11 pace!  Woohoo! Now I just need to work on keeping that pace up for umm… 26.2 miles 🙂

Happy with the time, not happy with how my foot is feeling now. I’m icing it, so hopefully that’ll help.  It didn’t start hurting until about an hour ago and I’m not sure why it hurts.

Back up to yesterday…

I finished off the rest of the gnocchi (fried in vegetable oil) paired with sweet pepper sauce and the rest of the home grated parm cheese.

I can’t believe I waited so long to open that package of gnocchi!
Then, to satisfy my sweet tooth:

The bottom of my chocolate Easter bunny with peanut butter

I miss the chocolate bunny!

 
ham, cheese, and onion omelet with two pieces of buttered toast and a bowl of strawberries and 1/2 a banana


I ended up adding homemade strawberry jelly to one of the pieces of toast 🙂
       
Jon Alan and I took a walk into town to get me some ice cream.

I got the “razzle” with cheesecake flavored soft serve and oreo cookies! Yum!  I wanted to get the reese’s cups instead of oreos but they were out 😦 Optimistic: That means I just need to go back asap 😉

Check out all those buttercups!

A delicious wrap was in order upon arriving home.



Cheddar cheese, onion, steak, chicken, & ham.  Meat lovers wrap anyone?

My foot is numb now.  At least in that spot.  Lets hope it doesn’t start hurting again once I can feel it!

P.S.- I just walked downstairs and ouch.  It’s still really painful to walk.  The ice is back on for now.

Recap, recap, recap

Last night, I was not in the blogging mood.  Blog reading- yes. Blog writing- no.

My stomach was giving me problems from mile 4 of yesterday’s race, up until I went to bed last night.  So far, it seems to be better today, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Let the recapping begin!

Starting with Wednesday, April 14th. 

Eggs in a basket.

Runny yolks = love.

April 15th
 

Gnocchi.  This time, I pan fried it and the results were so much better!  The sauce was the rest of our barilla marinara sauce + barilla sweet pepper sauce. Then, I topped off the dish with fresh parmesan cheese.

Delicious.
That ended up being a meal with a purpose because shortly after consumed, my dad and I went on an epic run.
Distance: 9.32 miles
Time: 1:32:59
Avg. Pace: 9:58
The splits:
Mile 1: 9:32
Mile 2: 10:33
Mile 3: 10:01
Mile 4: 9:47
Mile 5: 9:54
Mile 6: 10:07
Mile 7: 10:01
Mile 8: 9:34
Mile 9: 10:12
Last .32:  9:54 (pace)

Our objective was basically just to enjoy the run, while trying to reach my 9 mile goal.  Check & Check!

By the time we got back, it was already 5:15 pm!  Whoops!  I had work at 5:30 so I really had to hustle.  Even though I got ready as fast as I could, I still ended up being a tad bit late.  By a tad bit, I mean about 20 minutes! Oops!

My right leg was killlling me after that run & work did not make it any better.  Icing was a must before going to sleep.  It was pretty much my first time ever icing and it definitely did the trick 🙂
(P.S.- I’m the type of person that fits the lyric, “she likes the christmas lights all year round,” as you can see from my sheets.)

April 16th

Strawberries with a [big] hint of yogurt + ham & cheese omelet

My dad and I walked around to check out the spring blooms on the fruit trees & such in our backyard.

 

Gorgeous flowers or weeds?  I’m going with the fist option 😉

 
Kiwi plants
 
& now onto apple trees


 


Make a wish!
 
Pecan trees are followed by pecan pie.


Lexi was loving walking around with us. Plum trees in the background.  I love the gorgeous purple color of plum trees 🙂

Spring is most definitely in the air!

After spending some quality time with the lawnmower and my dad’s ipod (I really do love the old billboard top hits:19xx cds!  Have you ever listened to the words of “surf city” by Jan & Dean?  I guess I never had because I was kind of shocked by the whole “Two girls for every boy” part.  I think I just never noticed because I was pretty young the last time I heard it!  What dirtbags 🙂 lol
Still love the song though!

Prior to leaving for Richmond, I munched on cheese, turkey, mayo and spinach sandwiched between an everything bagel thin.

Christina and I headed out to The Lucky Buddha shortly after I arrived.
She is friends with the owner so we got hooked up 🙂

Christina order the “Spicy Tuna Roll – Tuna, spicy mayo, cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts & toasted sesame seeds,” while I gave into to “DB Burger – Teriyaki burger with pineapple, spinach and red onion on a burger roll served with [waffle style] sweet potato fries.”

I tried a piece of Christina’s sushi and she helped me finish off my meal.  From what she said, I’m pretty sure she had a bit of entree envy ;)  The burger was absolutely amazing!  The pineapple was such a great add on!
Part of the perks to knowing the owner involved us getting a huge additional order of sweet potato fries!  That may have been what caused my stomach to get so upset though.  I probably wouldn’t have changed how many I ate considering how amazing they were.

After dinner, we headed out to watch the flying squirrels play against the Reading Phillies. 
  
Best part of the game?  The fact that the tickets were free 😉 thanks to her connections at work.

The man riding the pink flamingo was throwing out free hot dogs and the flying squirrel was happy to help.

Then a limo drove by with a girl shooting out free t-shirts.
There was a competition against the different sections of the audience where the section with the best/most dancers would get free pizza!
 
We won 😉 In order to avoid confusion, I didn’t dance lol.  I’m kind of shy when it comes to that sort of thing!  Christina got up & did her thing though and then she ran out to snag a box for us.  I had one piece & when we were done, we handed the rest over to some kids so they could fight over the rest. 
Later on, some guy two rows ahead of us left and gave his bag of peanuts to Christina’s friends who were sitting in front of us.  They were nice enough to share.
 
We love free stuff! haha

April 17th – race day
Splits:
Mile 1: 8:23
Mile 2: 9:22
Mile 3: 9:23
Mile 4: 9:20
Mile 5: 9:40
Mile 6: 10:06
Mile 7: 9:13
Mile 8: 9:08
Mile 9: 9:19
Last .4: 9:33 (pace)
Total distance: 9.4 miles
Total time: 1 hr 27 min 49 sec.
Avg. Pace: 9:20 (I believe it was 9:18 right after the race)

The pace from the last .4, the total time, and avg. pace are up a little from the actual because my garmin started up again after the race for a few seconds before I noticed.

 
Post race, Christina made us both egg omelets with cheese + ham + onion + peppers & we each had a banana on the side.
My stomach was giving me some trouble, so I decided to head on home rather than going to the chili cookoff with her.
On the ride, I devoured a nice and juicy pear.  I love when they get bruised!  It makes them so much more juicy!
After the pear, I really wanted to reach in the back and grab one of the pudding cups I got at the race.  Driving safely beat satisfying my craving, so I waited until I got home.

It was worth the wait.  I love pudding and this was the first time I have had it in months.
 
Of course, pudding didn’t fill me up.  Grilled Cheese & tomato soup was a must!  I ended up adding some baked goldfish 🙂

Yum!

Dinner was steak with A1 😉 + sweet potato with buttah and cinnamon + broccoli.
Nom nom nom.  I finished everything minus a couple bites of the steak.
A few pieces of unpictured chocolate and peanut butter was also consumed.
My dad and I went on a walk with Lexi, which didn’t end so wonderfully because of the stomach issues. 
Before falling asleep, I snacked on an excessive completely necessary amount of Ginger Snaps to try and make my stomach feel better.  It’s feeling fine today, so I’m guessing they did the trick 🙂

Okay.  Question: If my stomach is feeling fine now, then why did I just eat like 5 more ginger snaps while taking this picture?

2 fried eggs (runny yolks = a must), steak, 2 pieces of buttered toast

Strawberries and banana for some fruit 🙂

 

The end!

Today’s going to be a rest day.  Work at 3 😦 grrrrrross. I am thinking about doing some push ups and ab work… maybe, just maybe 🙂

Crossover Challenge 15k

What a race!

Christina and I woke up around 6:45 this morning, but neither one of us started getting ready until 7:00.  I had my usual, oatmeal, before heading off to the race.

We started to worry a little on our way to the starting line.  It started to rain right when we left her place!  Thankfully, it stopped raining by the time we got there 🙂

Registration was from 7:00-7:45 for the 15k & I didn’t preregister.  By the time we got there, it was already 7:50!  Thankfully, the time wasn’t an issue and I got registered right away.  Then, I headed off to the porta potties. 
Bad News: The line was super long and our race was about to start.
Good News: Everyone else in line was doing one of the later races so they all let me cut in line!

This may be TMI, but if you’re a runner, I’m sure you’ll understand.

My body refused to let me go to the bathroom before the race.  This wasn’t the first time I’ve had this issues; however, it was the first time it caused a problem during the race.  Around the 4 mile mark, I really had to go.  I really didn’t want to stop, but right after the 10k mark, it got unbearable.  We were running through a park at this point, so I picked a few trees and left the course.  I stopped my garmin while I was doing my thaaang so I would see the actual running time in addition to my official time.

Unfortunately, my stomach is still very unhappy.  It’s been giving me problems ever since the race :(  I’m not sure exactly what I did to make it so angry, but I’m sorry!

Garmin time: 1 hr 27 minutes 59 seconds (I’m pretty sure that’s what the seconds were.  My garmin started back up again sometime after the race though, so I’m not positive.)
Clock time: ~1 hr 29 minutes (I’ll have the official time when it’s posted)

The post race food options were pretty good considering how small the race was.

• bananas
• halves of muffins – a few different flavors
• halves of bagels
• pudding

I had half of a blueberry muffin & grabbed 2 pudding cups + a lot of bananas.  They were loading us up with the extra food right before we left & we love our free food so we both stocked up!

 

I’m going to go relax for a little while and possibly ice my legs.  I’ll have a recap of the past couple days next 🙂

Preview: Christina and I really do love free swag & this weekend, we got a lot of it!
+ I’ll be posting about the practice 15k that I did with my dad a couple days ago!

p.s.- I didn’t take any pictures at the race.  Christina got a picture of the two of us after the race that I’ll be posting once she sends it to me.  Also, a photographer is going to send us a picture that he took of the two of us during the run :)  I can’t wait to see it! I’ll probably look completely ridiculous, like I usually do while running!

Camera fail

What kind of blogger allows her camera battery to die and then forgets to charge it?
*raises hand*

Yesterday, I went to take a picture of my lunch and the camera told me to charge the battery.  Not wanting to walk upstairs while my food got cold, I decided I would just charge it when I was finished with lunch.
Because I’m a failure, I’ll just post pictures of what things could have looked like, but they didn’t.
Lunch was a frozen burrito (that looked nothing like this picture)

that I tried to make pretty for the blog.  Which meant, I surrounded it by scoop tortilla chips

and then drizzled cheese dip on the chips. 

It probably just looked lame and my camera was doing you all a favor by being dead.
Then, I went out to a local mexican restaurant with my dad and realized that I forgot to charge it again!  Gaaah!  Thankfully, I ate more boring food 😉
Dinner was a cheese quesadilla (yum!)
 
, bean burrito, & rice. 

So, there ya have it.  I also ate more of my chocolate bunny

while procrastinating on my homework (*cough*and.watching.90210*cough*)

As I believe I have mentioned before, this teacher wants us to have at least 3 sources for each question.  Ridiculous considering how many questions he gives us for the tests.  Last time, I did one source for each question and got a 100%.  This time, I did one source per case (there was more than one question per case for most of them).  He always responds to you when you submit the test, probably to let you know he got it.  Last night, I had an email saying “nice work…” (he always ends emails with “…” so don’t worry about that! haha.  So, I guess my sources were sufficient?  I’m just waiting to get the grade back now.  Honestly, I’m pretty sure it’ll be another 100%.

 

I am doing a project in statistics and I would like to survey you all!

Out of the following activities, which do you prefer?

1. Dinner
2. Movie
3. Television
4. Golf
5. Swimming
6. Reading a book
7. Playing tennis
8. Attending a football game
9. Attending a baseball game

The project includes surveying guys and girls and comparing the gender preferences; therefore, if you have a husband/boyfriend/boy-who-is-a-friend/random male stranger who is sitting in the same room as you/whatever, I would really appreciate it if you ask that person as well 🙂

 

Peace out.

Postponed

This morning’s run:
2.79 miles
28 min 11 sec
10:05 avg. pace

Colby just started running, so we kept the pace on the slow side.  It was so nice to be able to run without any expectations about my performance.

I know I was planning on doing 9 miles today; however, my dad will be available to run with me tomorrow, so I’m going to just wait.  It was either that or run the other 6ish miles by myself, which I don’t feel safe doing.  Or I could have driven to the gym, but I’d rather run on the road in preparation for a road race (and in general, I hate the treadmill!)

It’s probably for the best since I have that business test due today! Eek! 

Time to get crackin’ on that!

Sorry for the lame post.  I would love to procrastinate and write a nice long post; however, that would not be the best idea right now with my homework.

I do have a couple pictures for you though!

Sandwich!
 
My wheat bread contained:

• mayo
• 2 slices american cheese
• spinach
• 1 slice turkey
• a layer of smoked brisket

What’s your favorite thing to put between bread?

Guilty as charged

I have been doing some major snacking over here.  My body’s way of making up for not getting in as much food as usual lately?  I just now closed up the peanut butter jar and wrapped up my easter bunny.  Unfortunately, I already put quite a dent into both of them in the past two days.

Other snacks include strawberries with peanut butter, peanut butter with peanut butter ;), tortilla chips, baked goldfish… hm…

& some pictured food:


Chocolate and peanut butter = amazing 🙂
P.S.- Note the band aids.  I was refilling salt and pepper shakers at work and one of the salt shakers was shattered where you have to twist the top off.  My middle finger noticed, then my thumb, and finally my eyes noticed.
  Grilled cheese, tomato soup & baked goldfish

Goldfish love swimming in tomato soup, just to let you know.

Moving onto today… I had scrambled eggs with cheese + an everything bagel thin (lightly toasted).  One side with butter and then the other side with…

Apple butter and peanut butter   

My dad picked me up some Gnocchi on one of his trips to Germany, so I decided to finally try it out today 🙂

I don’t exactly know German, so I googled the directions.  It was quite easy.  Boil the gnocchi in water for about 2 minutes, until the gnocchi rise.  Drain and serve immediately. 

+ marinara sauce + homegrown asparagus + freshly grated parmesan cheese
I think I may have cooked the gnocchi too long.  It was a little on the chewy side.  Next time, I’m going to try frying them instead of boiling them, I think.  
 

 

Onto running:

I usually don’t run at night; however, when Jon Alan agreed to run with me when I got home from accounting last night, I was not about to pass that up.

Distance: 1.9 miles
Time: 16:18
Avg. Pace: 8:35

Whoa.  I was having a pretty hard time keeping up, to say the least.  Don’t you hate when people that never really run are faster than you?
He actually broke away from me at the end and I didn’t even get my hopes up about catching up.  Thankfully, he stopped to walk and cool down before he got to the driveway so we actually got home at the same time. 

Question: What is your theory on refueling after a run?  Meaning: what types of foods do you refuel with and how long do you wait to refuel? 

I normally eat right away for the pure fact that I’m usually extremely hungry as soon as I hit the stop button on my Garmin.  We got into a discussion about how soon you should eat after exercising though, and I would like to hear some more opinions 🙂 & personal preferences.

& racing:

This weekend, there is a Crossover Challenge 15k in Richmond that my friend Christina wants me to run with her. I really want to; however, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.  As you can see from my most recent runs, I haven’t been doing too well.  The distances have been tiny compared to a 15k and I’ve never ran more than 8 miles before in the first place. 
It’s hard for me to pass up races though and it would be really nice to get to see Christina again!  Right now, I’m trying to figure out if I can get someone to take my Friday night shift at work, so I can see if it would even work out to do the race.

In preparation (and to help figure out how I would even do), I’m going to try for 9 miles tomorrow.  So far, I have enlisted my god-brother, Colby, to run the first 3-4 miles with me in the morning and then I guess I’ll just do the rest by myself.  There is someone I’d like to ask to run the rest with me; however, I need to get in contact with her first.

 

Unfortunately, I have a business test due tomorrow that I need to work on. Wish me luck!

Guess who’s back

Well, my life still feels like it’s a mess; however, things will get better.

Right now, I’m kind of just taking time for myself.  I’m trying to learn who I am.  For the past few years, I’ve been going through a lot of life changes, but I haven’t given myself the time to figure things out.  Now, that’s changing.  I’m giving myself the time and attention I need.  I try to put others first even when I shouldn’t and I’m done doing that.  It isn’t fair to always try to please everyone else, while neglecting myself.

I’m going to start seeing my therapist again and I’m really excited about it!  Before, I went because I was going through some depression and stuff like that (back in my early years of high school), but now I’m going to be going in order to figure out myself.  I’m sure talking to her is exactly what I need 🙂

I wish I could discuss things on the blog; however, some things need to be kept private and I’m sure everyone reading this can understand that.

 

Yesterday, I realized that I haven’t been taking any pictures of my food. I thought I had been every now and then, but I haven’t been at all!  Whoops!  Don’t worry, it hasn’t been very interesting anyway. 

Jon Alan and I went for a run yesterday. I’m getting back into the swing of things and he’s just now starting to run after not really running much for the past three years, so it worked out for the both of us to keep things short.
1.89 miles
17 min 39 sec
9:20 pace
Not bad, not bad.

Before running, I had a little bit of oatmeal. 1/4 c oats (dry) + sliced strawberries.
Post run:

An everything bagel thin + spinach + spicy cheese + turkey + mayo

This morning I had another everything bagel (toasted) with ham, 2 scrambled eggs, american cheese, spicy cheese, and spinach.  I have decided that I prefer this bagel untoasted.

Today’s agenda:

• Homework – accounting
• Cleaning
• Shower
• School at 5:30
• Nail painting(?)
• Dog park with Lexi(?)
• Running(?)

Plus, food.  Of course 🙂
My weight is slowly rising again. Which is for the best.

 

I’ll leave you with some nature pictures I’ve taken recently:

I hope it’s beautiful wherever you are!