Monday, April 29, 2013

Five words I never thought I'd say

Enchiladas were a bad choice.

Work was a little hectic today, so a few of us girls decided to escape the madness for a late lunch at Mexican Inn. 

 

I love this place and everything that it stands for. 
Liiiike personal little bowls filled with greasy corn chip deliciousness. MMM.

Fast forward about three and a half hours to the gym where I set out to run a quick 4 miles on the treadmill and OMG I could feel the enchiladas bouncing up inside of me with every.single.stride. I made it a mile before I had to stop because I honest to God thought I was going to blow sour cream enchilada remnants all over the damn treadmill. So I stopped to walk about a quarter mile where I realized I just needed to burp. Like 62 times. I know, I really am super attractive. Sorry guys, I'm taken. 

Anyways, I managed finish up a little bit of a run without puking. Which is good, because my gym has a strict "no puking on the machines" rule.

NEVER. EVER. AGAIN.

I was planning on getting in four miles, but with the walk break I only had time for a little more than three before Body Pump at 6:30. In case you haven't noticed, I'm on a bit of a group fitness kick lately. In the past, I've kinda hated group fitness because it requires skill and concentration and those are two things that I simply do not possess. Plus I always feel like people are looking at me and laughing at the noob that I am. But I'm really trying to be a grown-up and take advantage of some of the really awesome classes my gym has instead of just using my membership for cardio machine access. I'm so so so glad I went to Body Pump tonight because I absolutely LOVED it. I've gone to two classes before, but I think tonight was the first time I felt like I was catching on to everything and was able to get into a groove. 


See how excited I am? Told you I liked Body Pump. 
Also I am in love with my new Under Armour headband. IN LOVE. 

Three more random Monday facts:

1. I am really grateful for KISS FM's commercial free Monday because it reminded me of how much I love this song.

You can't deny it's an oldie but goodie. 

2. I love presents from co-workers. Especially when they are edible.

Notice my non-chipped nails. I've really gotten my act together these days.
I hardly even recognize myself anymore. 

3. If you love New Girl half as much as me, this video that one of my besties sent to me will definitely make you smile.


Happy Monday! Only four more days till the weekend!

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Hurry up payday and a small relationship victory

(I am most likely going to have trouble sleeping tonight because I am rekindling my obsession with Law and Order SVU re-runs, which really is a terrible thing to watch after 8pm. Or ever. But also it's just so good.)



Important things that happened this past week:

1. I went to my first spin class. 

Ow.



I would just like to say that spin class was the absolute hardest workout I have ever had in my entire life. Not  kidding. I mean really not kidding. I mean I feel like I can run for hours, but I swear to you I was begging for mercy thirty seconds into the warm up. Yes, the warm up


It was the most brutally painful 45 minutes of my entire life. Spin class is hard. I knew it was hard, I'd heard it was hard, which is why I'd managed to successfully avoid it for the first 23 years of my life. But, I really want to adopt good cross training habits on my off days from running, and I've read about 27 million articles on how spinning improves strength and speed, it just does. 

So Wednesday I woke up at 4:20 and made it to the gym for the 5am spin class that had a grand total of about 8 people in it. The instructor was so sweet and extremely helpful and to be honest a little too chipper for the wee hours of the morning but hey someone has to be. She helped me setup the bike and complimented my headband, which is the way to my heart, and so surely I thought we were going to be besties. But no, halfway through the class (in between her screaming to "go harder" and me wondering if it was physically possible to puke into my water bottle without anyone noticing) I was convinced that I'd never hated anyone more in my entire life. I hated her more than I hated FOX for canceling the O.C. That is a lot of hate people. But, the important thing to note is- I survived. And I was back home in my hot shower by 6am. And that felt pretty good. So good in fact, that I decided to do it again on Friday. I know, I don't even recognize myself anymore. It's okay though, because this one was the 5:45am class, so I totally got to sleep in (not).

Verdict: I'm going to start going to spin at least once a week, but really aim for twice. Those two classes have shown me that even though I occasionally feel like a badass, I really am incredibly weak. Even though I was convinced at numerous times that I might actually die on a stationary bike, I love how intense it was for being such a low-impact workout and it didn't leave me too sore to run. So it's kindove perfect. The two classes I went to work great with my schedule. I usually like Wednesdays and Fridays to be my cross training days anyway, and spin is a great way to knock it out early and be done before I head off to work. 

2. Torchy's Tacos

I'd never even heard of Torchy's until like a month ago, and when I started admitting that to people that they looked at me like I'd said I hate puppies and America. Actually I love America, puppies and definitely tacos. But roomie thought my lack of Torchy's was pretty disturbing too, so she took me there Thursday for our weekly happy hour date.


Y'all this was the best queso I have ever had. I know that's a strong and extreme statement but if you don't believe me I am prepared to back it up by taking you to Torchy's. Let's go right freakin' now.


I ordered the vegetarian taco with fried avocado, refried beans, cheese, lettuce, and pico with a side of poblano sauce. I wanted to beef it up a little so I added grilled shrimp on top of it (I am really obsessed with shrimp tacos) and it made for a massive taco that had deliciousness spilling out of the sides. Oh so good. 

3. LOTS of shopping

For some reason, Tater and I were in a money spending mood this weekend. 

Early Saturday morning started out with Starbucks and some very successful garage sale-ing with my friend/coworker Bryn and her adorable puppy (see I do like puppies).



I managed to score a new purse, a mirror, and some cute bookends for thirteen bucks! Not bad.

Bryn did really well and bought the adorable corner shelf in the picture above, a few smaller miscellaneous things, but most impressively- a nearly new elliptical for $40! She is pretty good at garage sales. 

When I got back, Taylor and I decided we wanted to take a trip to the outlet mall so he could look for some new dress shoes and I could hit up Great American Cookie.


I also managed to snag some really really great deals at the Gap outlet. EVERYTHING in the store was 50% off. I can get down with a discount like that. And Taylor was sweet and decided to buy me lunch and a present at Under Armour. 

Goodies goodies everywhere!
This morning, we still couldn't shake the shopping bug, so we followed up our usual breakfast at Shipley's with a trip to my home away from home-Target. Which is where something huge happened. 

4. Taylor bought new bedding. 

Y'all. For four years I have been begging, pleading, and praying for him to throw away his disgusting and hideous pink sheets, lumpy pillows, and plaid-ish disfigured comforter. (I really should've taken a  before and after picture but I was really distracted by my excitement.) I never thought this day would come, but it did. It finally freakin' did. I used advanced psychological technique so that he would think it was his idea but really it was mine I promise. So after an hour of testing out pillow firmness and comparing sheet softness, we walked out of Target with new sheets, pillowcases, pillows, comforter, and a bonus two new towels. 


Tater escorting a full shopping cart out of my favorite store. 
I've never been so attracted to him in my entire life.

So, lesson learned this weekend: If you are willing to wait around for a few years, you may be lucky enough to see the efforts of your nagging pay off. Natalie-1, Taylor-372. 


I've got some catching up to do.

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

You had me at "Wow House"

Came home tonight to find this on my door:

I'm intrigued...
Props all around to the Wow House crew for such brilliant marketing strategy. I mean, it definitely made me want some lo mein. If I ever open...well any type of establishment, remind me that I want to name it "House of Wow." It's not cheating because I bet you anything that Wow House isn't copyrighted yet. Also, you're welcome Wow House for all the free advertising.

Tonight I decided to bust out the new shoes for their first ever run.

PURPLE PURPLE I LOVE YOU PURPLE. Also sorry for my sweaty pit photobomb. That was rude.

I think the treadmill and I are rekindling our romance. It was pretty mad at me there for awhile cause of all the outside run cheatin' but I'm back baby.

After my lovely little run, I had a nice cool down stroll at my favorite place in all of the land:


I thought now would be a good time to preach to you about the one thing in life that I do not cheap out on...

TOILET PAPER.

I don't care if that's too much information. I could be living in a cardboard box and I would still overpay for my TP. Cheap toilet paper SUCKS. And if this Tuesday bluesday has got you down you should watch this video right now for Ellen's similar stance on toilet paper that is so cheap it also doubles as party streamers.


This is no time to celebrate!

Because I indulge in fancy toilet paper, I often buy in bulk. Probably around this time last year, I was hanging out with some friends when I went on a (perhaps drunken) tirade about how people just need to suck it up and buy the fancy toilet paper because if you buy the fancy toilet paper you actually use less so really it's more expensive to buy the cheap toilet paper because you have to use half a roll to really accomplish anything. Well apparently my speech did not go unheard because for my birthday last year I received what I'm sure was the greatest gift of all time- a massive 48 pack of FANCY TOILET PAPER! Best present ever. To celebrate, I invited everyone over to use my toilet.

So, I'm not kidding when I tell you that I haven't bought toilet paper since June of 2012. Not kidding people.  But the time did come, for more toilet paper.  


Everybody loves the sweaty girl with a cart full of bananas, milk, and a cumulative 47 million feet of heavy duty quadruple ply. Sexy, huh?

For dinner, I almost dialed up Wow House, but I decided to stick with my beloved Pasadena salad and a sweet potato that wasn't actually very good but I ate it any way because I'd already made it. 


Yes, that's a mixing bowl full of salad. I thought you might not believe me so I also took a picture of it in relation to my computer. 


And y'all I'm not even full. 

Now I need to get out of my sweaty gym clothes and into the shower/bed because I somehow managed to talk my boss into doing a 5am spin class with me. I don't know what I was thinking, because he agreed, and now I have to show up. 
I'm terrified. 

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I have good news and a late 5k recap


I have good news for you.


Well not yet, but almost. The exciting sentiment is there so you get what I'm saying.

Let’s start with the amazing and always-necessary pictures of what I ate today.

Deliciousness all over the place.
 I’m sorry. I have an oversharing problem. It’s a syndrome. Like turrets, but with iphone pictures. I’ve tried getting help but my insurance doesn’t cover ridiculousness.

Confession: I’ve only run twice this week. Usually I like to run 3 times during the week and once on the weekend. That seems to be the perfect amount for me, but this week has been chaotic and just rough in general so I gave myself a pass. Anyway, tonight’s run was a good 5 miles on the treadmill. I decided to fight boredom by playing with the speed. That was fun. Well, as fun as running fast can be. So medium amounts of fun. I don't know why I'm still typing really.

Confession part 2: I am secretly in love with Avril Lavigne's new song.(Well I guess it's not a secret anymore. Please don't judge me. I'm the only one allowed to do the judging around here kay?) 

But also can we please just talk about this cover?


Avril it's been TEN YEARS! COOL IT ON THE SMOKY EYE!

Even though she is a massive Canadian B, I have this song on constant repeat. 
Avril-1, Natalie-0. That's embarrassing.

With all the craziness of Monday I forgot to do a little mini recap of the Victory Over Violence 5k this past weekend. I know you've been sitting around biting your nails just waiting for me to remember so I won't make you wait any longer. I'm sweet like that. 

Friday night Taylor and I had a really exciting drive through date and then just hung out at his house on the couch and went to bed early A) because I was tired and B) because I was forcing him to wake up at 6:30 and drive me to the 5k.


Saturday morning we headed out bright and early and arrived at the 5k right around 7:45 for the 8:30 start. I waited in line for the porta potty for about 35 minutes and then headed to the start line.


Okay. So. This race took place in the same location as the 10k I ran in December. It's a relatively small area, so I was expecting a similar turnout, just a couple hundred people. UM, NO. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. People everywhere. About ten minutes before start, they vaguely announced over the loud speaker how they wanted people to line up, your basic "if you are fast go to the front if you are slow or walking go to the back." Except for NO ONE LISTENED. Which made the first mile less of a race and more of an freakin' obstacle course. 

I told Taylor he was on photog duty. He did a really fantastic job of getting the guy who came in first with a time of 15:56...



And a really terrible job of capturing me, his girlfriend. 


Oh hi there I am walking after I've already crossed the finish line. Definitely frameworthy. NOT.

Anyways, Taylor is officially fired from picture duty because he's just not very good at it.

I mentioned last week that I'd kindove forgotten about this race so I hadn't given much thought to my "strategy" and decided I'd probably just run as fast as I could for as long as I could and call it a day. Which is precisely what I did. Finish time: 24:23, average pace of 7:51. My MapMyRun app showed my splits as 8:21, 7:32, and 7:19. Overall, I'm really happy with that! It would've been nice to see what my time would've been if I hadn't spent the entire first mile dodging in and out of the woggers, but oh well. 

The other piece of good news is that this race did an AWESOME job of post-race festivities. There was SO much food. You would've thought we'd just finished a marathon. 
26.2? 3.1? Safe diff. Hey- I don't argue with free food. 


Restaurants that had a tent at this race were L'Madeleine, Corner Bakery, Mrs. Bairds, and about a million more I can't remember. So freaking happy.


After the race Taylor and I headed about a half a mile down the street to Luke's Locker where I picked up a new pair of shiny and beautiful Mizunos. 


I'm sooooo excited to have a new pair of shoes. I haven't run in them yet, but I'm thinking I'll bust them out for a run probably next week. I just wanted to be sure and get a new pair before I started training for the Jalapeno Half in June. Mission accomplished. 

Weekend I am ready for you!

(Serious side note: This has been a rough week. First Boston, and now the devastating explosion in West. I’m feel totally helpless and at a loss for words. So let’s all just do what we can. If you can give blood, give it. If you can donate money, donate. If you can pray, then pray hard.)

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I might be a little bitter

Ask me how I feel about Crossfit. Please, ask me.

Fine. I'll just tell you.


I like this for two reasons. One, WE GET IT. And two, in this scenario, I am Batman

Truthfully, the main reason that I find Crossfit so obnoxious is because I'm jealous of anyone who has any extra $$$ at the end of the month to blow on a membership at "The Box." WTF. Box?! GYM. We common poor people call it a GYM. Really, I don't understand. If you can afford both your rent and toilet paper than you probably aren't doing your twenties right. Just sayin'. 

I might be a little bit bitter. 

It's probably a good thing that I can't afford anything besides running and pushups in my living room because my relationship with heavy lifting looks a lot like this:


TOO DAMN HEAVY.
I'm going to hop off my soapbox just long enough to tell you about the delicious dinner I made tonight.


Oh wait, that was my lunch.


Nope, that was my appetizer.


There we go. Found it. Sorry but I take a lot of Iphone pictures. 
Spinach+shrimp+bacon+warm greek vinaigrette+garlic bread= I AM REALLY HAPPY. 

In social media news, (and in keeping with the overall theme of  "really sporadic and nonsensical") whyyyyyy does Justin Bieber insist on being creepy and posting stuff like this??!?!!

Let's all just pretend this is totally normal.
This is the primary reason I don't follow the Biebs on Instagram. Trying to decode the meaning of all his outrageous posts is a full time job. I would never get anything done.


Neither do I, Miss Kay. Neither do I.

So, to sum up: 

1. I am now accepting donations to directly benefit the "Natalie should probably be doing Crossfit because her arms are becoming flabbier by the minute" fund 
2. Chocolate chip cookies for lunch! Forever. 
3. Miss Kay is brilliant. Seriously. MISS KAY FOR PRESIDENT!

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat




Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Little Bit Stronger

I can't seem to shake Monday off. While half of me wants to rattle on about eating Reese's in bed, the other half of me can't ignore what has happened and subject you to my ridiculousness like it was any other day. So I'll keep it brief.

Like so many, I watched with excitement yesterday morning and cheered (quietly, from my desk, while simultaneously working, of course) as the elite crossed the finish line with times that I can’t even fathom. 


And just a few hours later, I watched in horror as we were flooded with gruesome and terrifying images of the finish line explosions. 

For so many, running is a safe haven. It brings solitude and peace in a world full of constant chaos. So my heart aches for the city that is dealing with the aftermath of such a horrible act of hatred and violence. My heart goes out to the runners, who were robbed of the joy of their accomplishment, to the crowd of spectators filled with family and friends, and to the brave men and women who were the first responders.


“There’s no reason for her to do it. There’s no competition or payoff or award. It’s just a quiet, solitary triumph over the idea that she couldn’t do it...The fact that other people can run this far makes us believe we can run that far. It’s a happy thought. It makes us all feel a little bit stronger.”

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Weekend in Pictures

Pictures are good when you are too tired for words.

Friday


Date night, drive-thru edition.


Saturday

Victory Over Violence 5k





Starbucks for an iced white mocha and Luke's Locker trip for new Mizuno's!


Eat fresh-ish.


Ridiculous bluebonnet pictures



Working on the boat vs. working on the tan. I win.



Fajita dinner with friends! 
  

Guacamole labor of love


Sunday

Lake day!


  

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...