Yes

Brie shared something on Friday that was truly amazing and inspirational.

All your life you are told the things you cannot do.

All your life they will say you’re not good enough

or strong enough

or talented enough;

they will say you’re the wrong height

or the wrong weight

or the wrong type

to play this or be this or achieve this.

THEY WILL TELL YOU NO,

a thousand times no,

until all the nos become meaningless.

All your life they will tell you no,

quite firmly and very quickly.

And you will tell them Yes.

But today I told them yes. I told myself Yes. Yes I can, and Yes I will!

Today is the day that I ran a full 3 miles without walking. And managed to keep a 12 min mile the entire time, that is until the last 3ish minutes where I bumped byself up to a 10 minute mile. I was so happy I could have cried. I hope everyone saw my fist pumps as I did my cool down.

It is possible to push yourself even when you think you can't. I definitely needed this today after coming from a rocky couple days of grueling shin splints. I was convinced that registering for the race officially had jinxed me and it would all be downhill from there. But all it takes is one good run. One good run to restore confidence and make it all worth it again.

Restoring faith in yourself is empowering and necessary in this journey because it's hard. Really, Really hard.

Note to self: Self- you need to go get more ice packs. Soon.

I'm a Reader

1. Finger Lickin' Fifteen- Janet Evanovich

2. The Lace Reader- Brunonia Barry

3. Julia's Chocolates- Cathy Lamb

4. Knit the Season- Kate Jacobs

5. Garden Spells- Sarah Addison Allen

6. The Sugar Queen- Sarah Addison Allen

7. Full House- Janet Evanovich

8. Full Tilt- Janet Evanovich

9. The Help- Kathryn Stockett

10. Memoirs of a Shopping Addict- Avis Cardella

11. The Girl Who Chased the Moon- Sarah Addison Allen

12. Out of Eden- Beth Ciotta

13. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin

14. Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert

I knew I forgot one! Number 12 was Out of Eden by Beth Ciotta. Just a fun quick read that I picked up because of the cute cover. Red heels, red dress, and a red apple on a blue park bench. Didn't even read the back of it before I grabbed it. And I finished Eat, Pray, Love. It wasn't so bad actually. I quite enjoyed Italy, and Indonesia as well. India was a slight struggle but only because if I had to read any more Sanskrit words I was going to cry!

Up next is Born to Run. I'm really excited for this one!

It's Official

Everyone can start praying hard now...

immediately please.

Fill in the Blank Friday

1. The most adventurous thing I've ever done is white water rafting… twice. Such a rush and a ton of fun! Last trip we actually got “trapped” while surfing a rapid and stayed there panicked for more than 10 minutes trying to get out. Luckily there was another raft that came to bump us out. Currently, the most adventurous thing I’m doing is training for a half marathon. It really is an adventure to me because it’s testing my mind and body to accomplish something that is quite easy for some and unthinkable for others. (I’m in the latter group)



2. If I were a pair of shoes I would be I should say running shoes given my current situation, but really I’d likely be a pair of black flats with a flower accent. A bit girly and dressy, but functional in all types of situations.


3. My preferred mode of digital communication is calling, or texting, or twittering, or facebooking. I’m pretty much a digital nutcase and have minor heart paliptations if I don’t have some electronic device nearby.


4. I feel happiest when I’m home in the coma chair watching movies and knitting with Mr. Buckeye 9Please note: I do the knitting, he does the watching of the movie- I do the listening) Please also note- this is best when it is a cool rainy autumn day- grey skies and perfect weather to just be a hermit.


5. A little dream I have for my life is to be the best wife, daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, aunt, etc. I possibly can be. (Please note I left “mother” out of this as I know my OWN mother reads this and would give me hell from now until Christmas if I mentioned it, so I’ll just leave it out.)

6. The one modern convenience I could NOT do without is toilets. I can’t do the dig a hole thing. No. Just no. (If we are talking TRULY modern, I’d say a toss up between cell phones or computers… it would easily be cell phone if I had a smart phone!)


7. Music, movies, TV or books: if I could only choose one to enjoy I would pick OH! This is a tough one for me. I suppose movies because there is always music in movies and you can read the credits? I really do love books though. And sometimes throwing on some “old school” (i.e. 80’s and 90’s) can just lift your spirits up so high that everything in the world doesn’t matter.

Happy Weekend!

Simple Heaven

I've finally made some progress on that Simple Shawl I started back on July 26th. It has grown by over 100 rows and now has 2 rows of lovely eyelet lace.
Pretty right?

Close up of the eyelets.

I'm in knit heaven with this. I can't wait to get it finished and blocked. I'm sure it will be a staple in my fall wardrobe.

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce

Needles: Knitpicks Harmony- US 4

My Ravelry Project Page!

PS. 5 miles tomorrow! Wish me luck! (had to take today off... again. major sore and tight legs.)

Chloe

She's just as addicted to blogging and The Real Housewives of New Jersey as I am...

Here is where she sat while writing last night's post. (it takes her a while to post with her lack of posable thumbs. you know how it is... so of course I had to help) She remained front and center, perched in my lap- biting me at the drop of a hat, until Caroline told Danielle that when she called her trash, she meant it.

Chloe perked up and was all up in the drama! Thank goodness for that. My arms are not deli meats!

Slacker

Holy wow, I've been a slacker blogger lately. My super apologies.

The weekend was here and gone before we knew it. I took off work on Friday in order to prepare for our annual P-fest this weekend. There was a mountain of laundry to tackle (success!) and cleaning and errand running to be done before the troops arrived on Saturday.

After a highly productive Friday, I woke up Saturday and went out for my long distance run. A personal distance record for me! 6 miles! IN. THE. RAIN. and did I mention it was uphill? My calves and shins were screaming at me for the first 2 miles and I wanted to give up. Luckily I was on a loop so there was no where to keep going except further!

I wish I had photos to share of the party, but alas my camera stayed hidden. But it was a great time had by all. The basement reveal went awesome and everyone was impressed with the 180* change that took place since last year when they visited. I'll be able to reveal here soon. Promise!

Sunday was spent at the shop and I got in some quality knitting time followed by a 3 hour nap. I definitely needed it!

Monday was another 5k during lunchtime and tomorrow I'm looking forward to girl's night. Hosted Chez Buckeye. Luckily the house is already clean from the weekend :)

Catching up on some DVR and bedtime!