How my attitude toward homeownership has changed

Posted in Lessons Learned, Life's Adventures by

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I read back through one of my notebooks this morning while I was drinking my morning coffee, in my effort to stay away from social media. It’s a notebook I have to just jot things down as I think of them. More often it turns into to-do lists and appointment dates, but every once in awhile I write a few pages of whatever is on my mind.

At the beginning of this notebook was some writing from when we’d first moved into our house. I was amazed reading about how overwhelmed I felt at the time. I felt like everything was going wrong, I felt like everything needed to be done all at once, and I felt like I needed a bunch of stuff.

I wanted new things and nice things. I wanted things to not be broken. I wanted the new house to feel like it was my own, and not a hand-me-down filled with hand-me-downs. I had such high expectations for how my home should look.

It’s amazing how my attitude has changed so drastically in the past year. I now know that things will get done when they get done. And not everything is a dire emergency. Some things will just have to wait because we don’t have the money and other things come up that were not even planned. And whatever is in my house is not the source of joy or happiness.  Continue reading →

Finding My Voice

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Last night, I had a dream that I was a student. Fairly typical, classroom-style setting. There were about 20 students in the class and the teacher was calling students up one by one to speak about a topic they were passionate about. I was sitting in a chair, dreading the moment I would be singled out to speak. I was finally called up and all eyes were on me. I stood in front of the class and turned toward my fellow classmates, their expectant, eager faces looking up at me.

And I had nothing to say. 

I had zero ideas. There were no words that I could summon. Nothing.

And slowly, the teacher’s face turned to a look of disappointment. The students were mocking me. They all had great ideas and opinions. And I had nothing.

Continue reading →

On challenges and making lifestyle changes that stick

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There’s just something about a challenge. A goal with the end in sight. The lure of accomplishment. The feeling that you are joining the ranks of others who have accepted the challenge. The camaraderie amongst those who have achieved the same goal.

At the beginning of January, I decided that I wanted to dive right into some of those goals that I talked about. So I took on some month-long challenges.

These 30-day challenges are supposed to help us jumpstart something hard. If we can make a change for 30 days, then that change is likely to stick with us beyond one month. 30 days can make an impact, even if we can’t stick with it long-term.

While there are lots of month-long, 30-day challenges out there, I ended up dabbling in three that I felt were priority for me. I decided on an Uber Frugal Month, a month of yoga and a month of 5 daily workout moves.  Continue reading →

2017 Reading List: In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

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In a Dark Dark Wood, by Ruth Ware

My mom lent me this book after the holidays and said it was pretty good. We generally like a lot of the same books, so if she says I should read something, I take her advice.

This book is set in England and follows the character, Nora, aka Lee, as she attends a bachelorette party for her estranged high school friend. The bachelorette party is – you guessed it – in a dark, dark wood, at a mutual friend’s family vacation home. Nora isn’t sure why she’s invited to this party since she hasn’t spoken to the bride in ten years, but she decides to go anyway with  her friend Nina. There are six of them staying in the house out in the woods, and it gets creepy from there. And even though Nora soon finds out why she was invited, she’s still not sure she belongs there or why she even came.  Continue reading →

2017 Reading List: vol. 2

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Today’s review is coming to you a bit late, because I finished this book so fast and then got wrapped up in my next book. For my second book of the year, I thought I’d stick with the Harry Potter theme.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

This book is actually a play, based on a new short story. Nineteen years after the last Harry Potter book, Harry and his friends are back, with kids and careers in tow. Harry and Hermione work for the Ministry of Magic and Ron runs the Weasley joke shop. Hermione and Ron are married with kids. Harry and Ginny are married with kids. And all the kids are headed off to Hogwarts.

Continue reading →

2017 Reading List: vol. 1

Posted in Reading List, Uncategorized by

Happy Steeler Sunday, friends! It’s the middle of a long weekend and I have been thoroughly enjoying it, doing what I love most – working out, reading, sipping wine, and hanging out with my hubby and my greyhound.

I was thinking towards the end of last year that I want to focus more on the books that I read. I read a lot of books. I read so many books that I often forget what I’ve read or I forget what the book was even about. And that certainly doesn’t mean it was a bad book. I just get really caught up in what I’m currently reading that when someone mentions something else, my mind goes blank. I’ve been trying to keep a list of the books I’ve read and 1-2 sentences about each one, so now I can pull out my phone, look at the Notes app, and it all comes back to me.

During 2017 (and beyond?), I want to give you all the rundown of the books I read. I’ll give you a super short synopsis and some of my opinions, which are not right or wrong. I’ll try not to give anything away 😉 Nothing brings people together like a good book, right?

Without further ado, my first book of 2017… Continue reading →

Minimize

Posted in Lessons Learned by
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This is what matters. And I will never get tired of posting wedding photos. 🙂 

Today, I ran a quick errand to the mall to return a shirt.

Or so I thought. It wasn’t quick, because I spent more time driving around looking for a parking spot than I did in the store. And I even browsed and bought something with my store credit after my return.

The entire mall parking lot was full. I parked far away, in some kind of overflow area that still had snow covering all the spots, because it probably wasn’t meant to be used as parking.

Guys. It’s 13 days after Christmas. Haven’t you gotten everything you need? Don’t you have it all? Haven’t we all been shopping, shopping, shopping for months?

What does it take for us to be satisfied?  Continue reading →

How To Be Better Than Before

Posted in Lessons Learned, Life's Adventures by

Last year was amazing. 2016 was the year to beat. And it probably won’t be beat for a long while.

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I’ve written about New Year’s with a different mindset every year. I remember years when I was so sick of the way my year had gone and so hopeful that the new year would be the one full of change. I remember years knowing that it was the end of something wonderful and the next step was yet to be determined. I remember years that were great and I couldn’t imagine how it could be beat. This is one of those years.  Continue reading →

Pittsburgh 10 Miler Race Recap

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I have officially completed a 10-mile race. Without walking or having to use the bathroom. I never thought I would be able to say that.

Yesterday was a perfect day for a run. It was cold in the morning, but warmed up a little by mid-morning. The sun was shining and the sky was clear and bright.  Continue reading →

Thoughts Before a Race

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Tomorrow is the day. All the training or lack thereof comes down to this.

I took two long walks today, mostly to get the dog out but also to calm my nerves and stretch my muscles. I came home and I tried to relax on the couch, and I had pasta for dinner. And suddenly, as I stood in my bedroom laying out my race shirt and my leggings and my socks, it hit me. I was taken back to those times in my life years ago. I realized that I am familiar with this feeling. The feeling you get when you’re about to do something hard. When you’re about to stretch your body to its limit, and you’re about to put your heart and soul into something that you never thought you could do. The thoughts, anxiously jumping around in my head, the butterflies in my stomach. I am taken back to nights of pacing and packing, checklists and doublechecking. Writing down my goals and visualizing the beginning, middle and the end. Trying to anticipate victory but wondering if I’m just getting my hopes up for failure.

This feeling is not unlike the feeling I had before a swim meet. Which surprises me, because this whole process has felt nothing like swimming at all. I felt so comfortable swimming, so at home in a pool. It was predictable and safe and easy.

But these past few months of running have been hard. It’s been mentally tough to get myself back in this game of practice, practice, practice. It’s been full of ups and downs as I figured out how to deal with sore knees and flat feet and blisters. I was convinced in the beginning  that I would be able to create my own training schedule and stick to it. I figured I’d be able to build up slowly but surely and that by the time this race came around, I’d be a pro.

But every day was a struggle, mentally and physically. After we adopted Sadie, I began walking 2 miles every single morning. That was great, but walking is not the same as running. I knew I needed to run and train, but after waking up early to walk and being at work all day, I came home and felt like I’d already done my workout, and I didn’t want to go out again. Forcing myself to get back outside, to put on my third pair of socks for the day, and to finish up with another shower before falling back into bed was hard.

I didn’t run as much as I wanted to or thought that I would. I ran mostly on the weekends, when I had more time and more daylight. I ran enough to be able to run the next time.

And then it got cold and dark. And that was hard.

I feel like a fairweather runner – literally. I wanted to run during the mid-morning, when it was 67 degrees, sunny but not hot, and definitely not raining. I wanted to have eaten something, but not so much or so recently that my stomach got upset. And I wanted my knees to not hurt and my legs to feel great the whole time. Guess how many times that actually happened. Right.

But there was one night, about a week and a half ago. I got out in the neighborhood after work, before dinner. It was a little cold, getting a little dark. I had planned to run about 3 or 3 1/2 miles and not worry about speed because I knew I’d be tackling the hills in my neighborhood.

And as I crested a fairly steep hill, I saw the pinks and golds in the sky as the sun set over the houses, and it was like a switch flipped. I didn’t have to stop to catch my breath. At that moment and for the rest of that night’s run, I actually felt like a runner. Not a swammer trying to run, but a true runner. I felt strong, my knees were okay, and my heart was pumping. I suddenly felt like my legs could take me up and down those hills and I would be fine.

That night, as I ran, I felt like I was flying.

I came home after 4 miles and I said my run felt easy. And I never in a million years thought I would ever say that about any run.

So tomorrow I am hoping to fly. I am trying to keep that amazing run in my mind and have it carry me through the next 10 miles. I’m going to go through the motions to prepare tonight like I did so many times for hundreds of swim meets.

I’m not going to be nervous, because this can’t be any worse than a 200 meter fly.

 

Also – remember this?!