Elusive Ink

Currently Listening
Seven Day Mile
The Frames



My life tends to be a leisurely chaos. Sure, I have stuff to do...but somehow there's always time for spontaneous dance parties, and nice long talks with people I care about. This is something I am very thankful for.

I had a really nice week, although it has left me with an abundance of little things to get done. I am ashamed to admit that I haven't been to the gym, or been running in almost a week. And now it's November. (20 days to 5k) I've gotta find a way to re-motivate myself, but it's just not there right now.

November is usually one of my favorite months of the year, however, this year it has been raining for weeks and I'm really having trouble getting in the mood of things. The leaves are gorgeous, but everything outside is soggy and bleak. For Christmas, I know how to get myself in the mood (Wandering Tyson's Corner with a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha and exploring my favorite holiday inspiration: Williams Sonoma.) For Thanksgiving, it's just not that easy. Especially since last Thanksgiving my sweetheart was here visiting from California, and this year he won't be able to. Despite this fact, I am holding out for things to pick up and already planning for my Thanksgiving feast. Every year I proclaim sometime around September/October just as the warm weather is dwindling out that "maybe I won't make it this year, I don't feel like cooking." I always change my mind.

I'm looking particularly forward to my two holiday feasts this year, because I have designed a really nice spreadsheet that allows us to have the family favorites, without duplicating them or having anything too terribly unhealthy in either meal.

But for now, I'm focused on the next two weeks.

So, I was really disappointed and discouraged the past week or so, because I didn't feel like I was seeing any physical change as a result of my working out. This weekend was very crazy with a photo shoot, and enjoying some time with friends, and then hanging out with Molly and Tay so that Mom and Dad could have a mini-vacation and I haven't had a chance to work out. Despite that fact, I finally got up the courage to step on the scale yesterday. (Scales make me really nervous...because if I hadn't lost any weight, I didn't want to feel more discourage because I know even if there is no change, I'm still working towards a healthier lifestyle.) To my surprise, in the past 2-3 weeks I've lost 6 lbs! It was just the motivational push I needed, annd, today I'm going to go out running because the weather is the nicest it's been in days. *grins*

Despite the awful weather, Ron and Amanda's photoshoot went fantastically. I've known Ron for a long time, and have always enjoyed his conversation/company, but I felt like I really "clicked" with Amanda and we have a ton in common. Nathan and I are planning a trip up to PA to spend some time with them in March, I'm already very excited. It will be nice to have another couple to spend time with. Saturday was pretty great, after the photo shoot we drove down to Woodbridge and played laser tag, and grabbed some dinner. Very relaxing day.


Yesterday was pretty quiet, spent most of the day just watching/playing with Molly, then enjoyed a bit of Rock Band with Taylor and some great conversation with Nathan afterwards. I had trouble getting to sleep though, because miss Molly snores like you would not believe. I knew I had to keep the baby monitor up loud enough that I would wake when I heard her this morning...so I was also listening to her snore, and then the heater in her bedroom would come on and start making really loud white noise through the monitor. Haha. I 've got plenty of coffee this morning, though - so I should be good. Maybe I'll take a nap this afternoon. If my crazy week doesn't inhibit that.

This week is certainly looking to be insane. I have a ton of little things I've been procrastinating that really need to be done: go to the bank, send out some forms, send out a few boxes, build forms for KitchenKids, get ready for the consignment fair this weekend and finish everything I need for my KitchenKids/ElusivePhotoDesign booth (and pray my new business cards for EPD get here in time.), study for and finish my second assignment for HTML class, and...who knows what else?

Now I'm off to conquer my day.
-Lindsey

Today I went to the gym, and took a 25 minute core training class, ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill, biked for 20 minutes, and did a bit of strength training. The weather has been nasty, and I'm ready for it to clear up.

I am officially a Coffee Fool. Pure kona = blissfully smooth, sweet, fresh happiness in a mug.

Tomorrow, I will make my favorite banana cookies, and try out my apple-sweetened gingerbread muffin recipe, to go with my amazing coffee.



I'm really going to sleep now.

Today I did not work out. It was glorious. Kind of. Part of me wanted to move, to do something, and felt guilty for my 12-hour hiatus. Another part of me recognized that my constant exhaustion + sore muscles needed a day to recuperate. I'm looking forward to another day of 5k training in the morning.



I have been a bit discouraged regarding my progress towards my fitness goals, and am so frustrated at my lack of physical change, even after a few months of consistent exercise, portion-control, and balancing my meals now. Normally when I start wanting for physical change, I get a haircut, but I'm growing my hair out right now, with plans to get it cut, highlighted, and lowlighted before I go out to California in January. Sooo...I'm trying to focus on being healthy and not get discouraged. Regardless of what the results are for me, I'm doing this to be healthier and more active, to be able to conquer goals I've had for a long time (learning how to rock climb, going water skiing), and I'm doing it for my future husband and children.



Plus, yesterday was Biggest Loser night, which I love because it is basically just "motivation night" for me. To watch these contestants working together, especially Abby this season, who has been through so much, and always is pursuing things with the right motivation. Although, I'm ready for them to kick off Tracey. I don't want to be judgemental, or mean, because I don't know her in person - but the producers of the show are obviously playing her loco game to it's capacity just to stir up drama. Let's get away from the separation, and get back to the team-building, motivational, inspirational show that it was at the beginning. It's a game, but there's no reason to play dirty, and I'm fairly sure I would like this season a whole lot better if Tracey was gone.

Aside from the fitness stuff, I had a relatively good day. Interesting conversation with the Turkish student I am tutoring in conversational English, today she wanted to talk about politics (which I generally avoid as a conversational topic at all cost, but today I went along.) and we had a really good conversation.



I (skeptically) downloaded Pete Yorn's new album feat. Scarlett Johannson, and was very pleasantly surprised. I love Pete Yorn, but a whiney female can ruin the best of songs. S.J. has a pleasingly mellow voice and I'm looking forward to giving this particular album a bit more attention.

I had more I wanted to say...but it'll have to wait until tomorrow because I am very tired, and have big plans for a batch of apple gingerbread mini muffins in the morning. :D I also have good intentions to get the pictures from Molly's pirate party up soon. Along with the rest of my to-do list, bank, post office, UPS store, drop off children's ministry volunteer application, drop off 5k registration, send out invitations for my pampered chef "grand opening" in Nov., order bulbs for my studio lights for my photo shoot with Ron and Amanda on Saturday, finish up a temporary KitchenKids site to put up, finish a couple of paintings, and go to the gym.

Right now I'm going to sleep. We'll see how much of that I actually accomplish tomorrow. Hah.

Today I ran 3.1 miles in 47 minutes. Which was very frustrating. I went out intent on beating my Sunday time (46 minutes) and ended up being one minute over. Grrrrrr. I'm trying not to make excuses. I have a whole slew of 'em, but I'm going to try to just accept responsibility and push myself harder on Thursday. Tomorrow is cross-training at the gym.



I have really been enjoying the fall weather the past few days, makes running outdoors much more enjoyable. The only con is that I get too cold to wear sleeveless shirts and running shorts which means I get less tan. Molly and I went outside and played in the leaves yesterday which proved to be a really fun autumn photo shoot.



I finished my first assignment for my HTML class today. It was technically the first day of class, but I read half of this week's material yesterday, finished reading today, created and uploaded my assignment. (I feel so productive.) I also had a fun conversation with a Turkish student I tutor in ESL, she had discovered the magic of acronyms and was so very excited at how efficient they were! Fortunately for her, I love acronyms and was able to passionately share her excitement. She also gave me a bit of a challenge, in asking for me to define the words "would," "should," and "will." :-)

Now, my sweetheart has signed into IM and I am going to spend the rest of my evening chatting with him and doing a bit of picking up/cleaning.

-Lindsey

Today I ran 1.3 miles in 20 minutes, weight trained for 30 minutes, then biked for 10 minutes. Now I have no motivation to do anything else. I am so. sleepy.


Today day was completely overcast, until just now. It seems to be clearing up for the last couple of hours of daylight. I'm really enjoying the reading I'm doing for my HTML class. (Meta tags are not a magic solution.) And trying to muster up the motivation to make some dinner. Fortunately dinner should be pretty easy, baked chicken with apricot mustard sauce, brown rice, and asparagus.

-- 10 minutes later --

Dinner is in the oven, and now I'm sneezing my head off because I inhaled a big breath of cayenne pepper. Whups.

I am just dragging this evening, I didn't sleep well last night and I think it's finally caught up with me. I'm not irritable, just...TIRED. For no good reason, as I haven't done much but study and gym today.

Oh, and this...


Good day.

More tomorrow. :-)

-Lindsey

Today I ran 3.1 miles in 46 minutes, the weather was nice and I was able to run almost the entire 3.1 miles, with the exception of hills.

I am very excited (and nervous) to be running my first 5k in 40 days. I have been running for a few months now pretty consistently, but I still can't really consider myself a "runner." I have this bad habit of doing great for 5/6 days in a row...and then craving a cheeseburger and brownies.


I always appreciate motivation and encouragement from anyone who wants to offer it, I certainly couldn't reach my fitness goals on my own and I am so appreciative for the support of my family and friends. (In other words, keep it coming --- I'm not there yet!) Asking me how I've done with my goals for the week always gives me a good opportunity to reassess my progress and make adjustments accordingly.

Right now, my main goal is to get my 5k time down to 33 minutes for the 5k. Not great time for a seasoned runner, but I will be very proud of myself if I can do that well after only seriously training for a bit over a month. Especially with all of the other exciting projects I have taken on lately.

I am...

...taking a programming class through the International Webmasters Association starting tomorrow.
...getting NoVA KitchenKids built and scheduled for this fall including running a KitchenKids table at a local children's consignment fair.
...tutoring foreign students in conversational english through Royal Language Training.
...becoming a Pampered Chef consultant.
...advertising more actively for ElusivePhotoDesign, and looking forward to some fun photoshoots.
...trying to get my paintings into some local galleries.
...volunteering with the children's ministry in our church.
...working on some secret Christmas projects.
...editing and illustrating a children's story I used to tell Taylor when he was little.

Lots to do, and I'm looking forward to getting back into blogging and having a visual history of my progress towards my fitness goals. Now I'm off to go see if I can find something to eat for lunch.

-Lindsey