Spring Break 2016

Spring break 2016 you have been good to us. Sunny Clearwater Beach has provided us nothing short of soft sand, the salty ocean, $2 mojitos, and at this point our sun burns are very manageable. 

Future note to self: be sure to not use the spray sunscreen on your very Irish husband. The man will be left with large red spots all over his upper body and fingerprints on his face. You will then be guilted into rubbing aloe on said spots each night until they subside. Which is fair by the way since you were the one spraying the sunscreen that first day. 

Other than the minor sunburn issue the rest of our trip really was wonderful. We stayed right on the water and each morning as we grabbed our coffee we were greeted with this beauty. A bustling beach resort but absolutely beautiful. 

As far as my running goes, each morning I was able to lace up my shoes and get in between 4-5 miles. I would run from our hotel, along the beach, over the Clearwater bridge and then back again. This was my view from the Clearwater bridge. These runs were gorgeous but when you run in Florida you have to plan for it. The humidity is no joke. Each morning I would come back to the hotel and look as if I jumped in the ocean! Needless to say we drank a ton of water. 

While each morning began with the view above, our days ended with this gorgeous sunset. Everyone on the beach would stop what they were doing and take pictures of this sky. We were always shocked by how quickly the sun actually went down once it started. 

Our last day in Florida we had to check out of our hotel at 11:00am and our departure flight wasn't until 9:35pm... So, what did we do for ten hours?? Well, we spent a good chunck of that time exploring Tampa! We found the river walk on accident and followed this route along for quite aways. 

We came to a point in our afternoon where we were both ready to plop ourselves down and be done adventuring for the week. So, we found ourselves at the airport eating trail mix, catching up on some reading and awaiting our flight. 

This week back at work should be interesting (Edited to say: I don't even remember Monday - I'm pretty sure I slept walk throughout my entire day). Is anyone actually prepared to dive back into work after vacation? I need to remember to give ourselves at least a 1 day bumper between vacation and real life. 

Life Lately

How are we 9 days away until Christmas already?? I feel like I was just getting ready for Thanksgiving break. I remember last year I was counting down the days until winter break at school and this year has flown by way too fast for me to even keep up! 

My kiddos are crazy. Like so excited about what's going to happen around this time next week they can't even stand it. After they finish their work I'll turn and find them sharing elf stories, writing their next letter to Santa, or choosing Christmas books from our library. If something is not Christmas themed at this point there is no hope for engagement. 

3 more days. 

Actually, really just today and Thursday. Friday we will be hanging out in our pajamas watching The Polar Express, sipping on some hot cocoa and getting ready for our winter parties that afternoon. 

2 more days. 

On another note, a running note! I have been running lately - not as much as I did marathon training but I am trying to get back at it. With the 70 degree weather here in December I have to get outside! When will see this again? I'm hoping that we won't have to pay for it later on with a snowy March or April. 

I'm trying to choose a half for the spring that I can train for. Apparently, the last race that I ran was actually longer than a half! The race ended up being 13.25 instead of 13.1. I had my fastest time on that race so does that mean that I can shave even more time off of it? 

I saw that Rock n Roll has some fantastic discounts on races. Great idea for a gift for a runner that is looking to sign up for half or full next year!

Runners: Have you ever ran a race that was actually longer than expected?? 

Teachers: Favorite way to keep your kiddos calm before the holidays is....

Yoga and Wine

Sunday  night already? Where do these weekends go? These past two days went by fast and furious and were chalk full of fun events.

After a relaxing Friday night with take out and the newest episode of Shark Tank I unintentionally woke up bright and early. Winston, our dog, has no concept of what a Saturday morning is. We wake up at 6am Monday-Friday so why on earth would we do any different on a Saturday morning?

Ahh but alas there is always a silver lining. Wake up at 6am = 7am yoga.

By 8:30am I could check my work out off of my to do list, and even had time to swing by the grocery store for some snacks for our afternoon excursion to Oktoberfest in Hermann! 

It was a perfect chilly fall day. We brought blankets, ate brats, drank wine. It was glorious. 

An all day wine and brat event on Saturday meant a slow slow start to our Sunday morning. I loved waking up to clear skies and sunshine this morning. Winston was definitely a fan too.

After some much needed coffee and water I laced up my shoes and headed out on a 6 mile run. I have to soak up as much of this perfect fall weather as I can! 

The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping, a quick trail walk with the doggies, and grading papers. 

Oh and we were booed tonight! How fun! So, tomorrow afternoon I will need to stop by the store to pick up some goodies to boo another family in our neighborhood! 

This is going to be a busy busy week. We have our Girls on the Run practice 5k, parent conference scheduling, meetings after school almost every day. Did I mention Halloween is this weekend? Yep, this will be a totally chill normal week at school. 

How are you soaking up this fall weather? 

How do you balance work and life?? Anyone have a magic formula?

Change Your Mindset in 30 minutes or Less

As a second year teacher I know that I am just beginning to embark on my career and have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. Although, some days I really feel like I am on a roll and in a groove and think hey I am totally cut out for this teaching gig. While, other days I find myself consumed with the never ending to do list, new material to learn, teach and assess, and therefore wondering what in the world am I doing?!? 

Gahh. Stress. Frustration. Gross. 

I know there are highs and lows with every career so it's important for me to find a healthy outlet for those days, like today, where I am just a little exhausted. After talking with a friend tonight I know that everyone experiences these same feelings in one way or another. She happened to just be finishing up with a yoga class and sounded on top of the world, while there was me on the other end sounding very similar to Eeore from Winnie the Poo, pathetic. After some brainstorming we both decided I needed to do something with my night to clear my head and relax so that tomorrow I can be rejuvenated with a new mindset because mindset is everything.

Here are some ways to change your mindset/attitude in 30 minutes or less: 

1.) Call a friend: talking to someone that will just let you vent is 100% necessary for your mental health even if you do sound ridiculous. Whether your venting is rational or not we all need that person or people that will just listen to us go on. Keeps us sane. Feels good to get all that out! 

2.) Take a yoga class: if you can't make it to an actual yoga class, get on youtube and search yoga. This might be an even better option some times because this way you can do some deep breathing and stretching in your living room in your pajama pants if you want to! Pajama yoga? Ahh I feel better already. 

3.) Run: 1 mile, 2 miles or even 3! Keep going if you can! Really doesn't matter how fast you go or how far. Give yourself that time to be outside, on your own, with fresh air and double points if there is sunshine!  Have you ever seen someone after a run in a bad mood? Give yourself sometime outside and you are guaranteed to be in a better mindset when you finish. 

4.) Bath time: warm bath, good book, lavender scented bath soap? If this doesn't relax you then I don't know what to tell you.

5.) Write: in a journal, on a blog, twitter, instagram, so many outlets, maybe too many! Either way, get your thoughts on their so they stop cramming your brain! 

How do you de-stress after a long day?

Cup of Joy

Can you believe it's already the end of Tuesday? Where has this week gone! I'm sitting here, after a full day of school, sipping on some seasonal pumpkin spice tea of course. How cute are these tags?

Isn't that just the sweetest? 

Anyways, I started this blog quite a awhile ago but up until just recently haven't really put too much time into it. Although, a lot has been going on over this past year a little injury has side lined me from my usual after school outlet: running. I love to run but I know that if I want to get 100% better I need to give myself sometime to rest and truly recover.

Will this be tough? Oh my gosh yes! I have tried to take a break multiple times before but I just stinkin love to run! But alas! That is where this little blog comes in. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I can pour some of my extra energy and time into this little guy.

Just as my tea note says today: choose joy. I have the choice each day to choose to be frustrated or to choose to see this as an opportunity to switch things up for a bit, change my pace, and come back in a few weeks feeling stronger!

Day 1: Positivity at it's finest. Let's see how tomorrow goes!

Have you ever been injured? How did you recover? 

Fall Festivities

Happy Fall Ya'll!! Clever right?? I just love that little saying. Fall is my favorite season. There are just so many things to enjoy: the weather starts to feel a little crisp (although this weekend was in the 80s), leaves begin to change to their respective orange, red and yellow hues, everything is flavored with pumpkin, and you just can't get any more perfect weather for running! To say I'm a fan of the fall is an understatement.

Plus this weekend was our college homecoming!! 

We started the festivities Friday night by meeting up with some friends to walk around Greek town at House Decks. These are little skits the fraternity and sorority's put on. They're Lways super cheesy but kids love them. My husband always likes to visit his old fratnernity house too. Oh the college days.

Saturday started out with a 3 mile run to soak up some of this perfect weather. We had plans to check out the parade downtown but then decided having a late breakfast and slow morning sounded a little nicer. 

Later that day we made some of these cookies to bring to the tailgate. Pumpkin snicker doodle cookies. I'm telling you anything pumpkin I am all about lately! 

Any fall festivity post wouldn't be complete without a trip to the pumpkin festival would it?! 

Our fall filled weekend ended with a run on my favorite trail. I just love seeing the leaves beginning to change. Perfect running weather.

Favorite fall activity?? 

Favorite running season? 

DIY Fireplace

We have been doing big house projects pretty consistently since May. When I say big I mean floors, new kitchen cabinets, tearing walls out and then putting them back up. We still have a few more big projects (master bath, stairwell, and carpet) but for now we're taking a break and trying to knock out a few smaller projects that can be started and finished within a weekend. 

Our project last weekend was this little gem that needed some serious updating. Oak? Green tile? I don't know anyone who is a fan of the oak and green tile combination. So we had some work to do. 

After searching on Pinterest for how in the world to redo a fireplace without breaking bank we decided to paint it!! 

I like to jump right into the project so when my husbdand reminds me that we have to tape everything I think it's the worst! It just takes a little bit of extra time and sometimes I am just not in the mood to be patient. But of course I still do it...

Once that was over with we primed the wood and even the tile with a basic white primer. 

After letting this primer dry we began to put our first coat of black paint over it. We ended up painting three coats letting it dry about three hours in between. 

We took the tape off as soon as we finished painting the final coat and.... 

There it is. A few coats of paint later and we have a brand new fireplace! 

Check that off the list! 

Last diy project you did?