A Little Pampering For Me Today (Aug.27, 2021)

It's Friday!

My favorite day of the week, especially in summer when I have Fridays off!

I woke up when Jason headed out to work so I got up, made a coffee and found a movie to watch.

Cruella.

It was pretty good.

Freya has slept over last night - she woke up part way through the movie and came out and watched the rest of it with me. 

When the movie was done, I gave her a bath and then began the daunting task of brushing out her hair.

She just hates having it brushed.

I had to take a picture of the tangles to show her so she'd let me do it.

It looks so good when it's done though.

She even let me put it in a pony tail.

It only lasted for a minute and she had it out.

Posing for me - she's so silly.

It was so nice that we got ready and headed out for a walk.

This guy dug up his whole lawn to fix some issue he was having then he sanded and seeded the whole thing and she has to stop and dig in the dirt every single time we walk by.

I finally convinced her to continue on and she took off running.

I called out to her and told her to slow down and she turned around and said "I can't Grandma, I'm wearing running shoes"!

Ha ha ha - she cracks me up.

I took her home because I had to run to Whitecourt for a nail appointment.

I got his little dress for her at the second hand store and I think it is so adorable.

When you are wearing a dress, you just have to twirl.

Sometimes you fall when you twirl but then you just get back up and go again!

I got to Whitecourt a bit early so I got my shopping done then I picked up some stuff for lunch and headed to Rotary Park to eat it.

I was kind of wishing I could have brought Freya with me, she would have liked it here.

See that rainbow coming off the fountain?

There were tons of people out enjoying the water tubing slide - I've never tried it - I'll have to make a plan to do that one of these days.

I had an appointment for a pedicure and picking out a color is always so hard for me.

I changed my mind about 6 times.

23E was was I finally settled on.

I love being pampered.

This is the first pedicure I've gotten this summer which is amazing - I normally get them much more often but I've been trying to save money and pay off debt.

As you can see, I changed my mind on the color again and just went with this pale pink and I love it.

I had leftovers for supper - we are trying to eat up everything in the fridge before we head out on vacation again next week.

Another cute idea I'd like to try.

I did not make this - I saw it on an Instagram page - Do Dodson Designs I think.

I didn't fit a run in today but I did get all of my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Figuring Out My New Running Routine (Aug.26, 2021)

It was another gorgeous day out there - I sure do love me some sunshine!

I got out there for a walk to the road this morning.

It was so nice and clear, the sky was looking beautiful.

Our tree has tons of berries on it this year - it is looking so nice.

After work, I got ready and headed out for a run.

I completed 5.8k today.

The exercise details.

My average pace and splits.

It felt good to get it done.

Now that I'm back to working at the office, things aren't as flexible so running at lunch isn't as easy but I'm still making sure I fit it in.

I'll get a new routine soon enough - if I could do early mornings that would be ideal but so far I can't seem to make myself get out of bed in time to do that.

Sweaty selfie - front view.

Side View.

Back view.

I saw these little pumpkins on Instagram and thought they were adorable.

I'm going to see if I can find some of the chunky yarn they are made with so I can make a couple for myself.

That is all for today, until next time, be happy!

Belated Birthday Present and Back on Track! (Aug.25, 2021)

 It was back to the grind for me today (for 2 days anyway), but first, the reckoning on the scale.

I weighed in at 187.2 this morning which was no surprise.

That's up exactly 5 lbs from my last weigh in and around 8 lbs from my lowest.

I really just ate whatever I wanted over this past week and I was travelling all day yesterday which never bodes well for me on the scale.

Thank goodness for the running every day or else I think this would have been far worse.

Time to button down the hatches now though and really track and stick to the WW plan.

Jason and I talked about it and we decided that we are not going to go so sideways off plan for our next trip.

We'll be gone for 19 days and that's just too long to be off track - we'll have a couple treats but for the most part, we are going to do our best to follow the WW plan and track every day.

I had a parcel waiting for me at my office when I got there.

It was the Love Diana doll I'd ordered for Freya for her birthday.

She just loves watching Diana and Roma, it's just a YouTube channel of a girl and her brother mainly opening gifts but Freya just loves it.

It was nice out so I got out for a walk to the road this morning.

I really wanted to make sure that I got out for a run so after work, I changed into my work out clothes and headed out.

I don't know about anyone else but there is always all this negotiation going on inside of my head when I head out for a run.

I was thinking I'd like to do at least 8k which is my normal route but then I thought if I could at least do 5k I'd be happy with that then once I got out there and was feeling good, I thought maybe I could go for longer.

It's all this back and forth, like I'm making deals and compromising with myself.

In the end, I got 10.5k done and I felt really good about it.

I added in the abandoned trailer park in town - not sure why I've never run there before but it was nice. 

My exercise details.

My average pace and my splits.

I think they are trending downward which is great.

Some sweaty selfies when I got home.

Front view.

Side view.

Back view.

I had mixed up my favorite salad kit, Everything Bagel, for lunch and added some white canned tuna and I finished it off for supper.

I ate lots of fruit today and I tracked all my points on WW so I was super proud.

Later in the evening, Kody brought Freya by for a quick visit so I gave her the gift that had arrived for her.

Belated Birthday present.

I think she liked it!

She wanted to stay overnight but Jason and I both have to work tomorrow so I promised she could come stay tomorrow night instead.

My body was feeling kind of sore and achy all evening, likely from the long run.

Some days are worse than others - today I just felt so stiff like I could barely move.

Not going to let that stop me though - I still want to run that marathon and I still am going to make it to my goal of half my starting weight!

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

The Sun Came Out Just As We Were Heading Home (Aug.24, 2021)

 It looked like we were going to finally have a nice day today out there and we are heading home today, go figure!

After our morning coffee, we got ready and headed out for a run.

Seeing the sun is such a natural mood enhancer.

There are so many deer around - saw this big group while we were out running.

I did the route backwards again today and I was so looking forward to running down the long steep slope but when I got there, I suddenly had the urge to go to the washroom so I had to stop and walk which was so disappointing.

I tried to at least make it to 3.5k but I couldn't even do that.

Once I have the urge to go, running seems to just jiggle everything around and I'm so afraid of having an accident that I just have to stop and walk, which really helps.

The exercise details.

Average pace and splits.

Wasn't a long run but better than nothing I guess.

The deer were back for a visit in the yard again this morning and this time Randy got in the picture with them.

When we got back, we cleaned up and packed up.

The owner had left instructions for us to wash all the bedding and linens that we'd used which was so unusual.

We did our best but there was no way we could wash and dry all the bedding from four beds and check out on time at 10 am so we just did our best.

Then we hit the road.

We barely saw the sun at all our whole trip which was so disappointing but it was out in full force today!

These mountain views never get old.

We stopped at Saskatchewan Crossing for a snack.

It is right in this valley with mountains on every side.

So gorgeous.

Randy and Crystal ended up stopping in there as well while we were there.

We used the bathroom, got snacks and hung out and waited to see if any of the others showed up but they didn't so after a bit, we headed out again.

We couldn't call them because cell service isn't available here.

We decided to stop for some supper in Rocky Mountain House.

We had done some research and found a ramen place, Bang's Bistro so we went there.

Turned out they didn't have ramen anymore - nothing really appealed to me on the menu so Jason just ordered a noodle dish that he really enjoyed.

Then we found another place to go for me - Chi'Mac.

Their specialty is fried chicken and then they have all these different kinds of sauces to put on it.

Waiting for our food.

My handsome honey.

We ordered the chicken and got half with their white creamy onion sauce and half with their Yum Yum sauce which was a hot and spicy korean bbq sauce.

The waitress told us that the Creamy Onion is a favorite and it was definitely our favorite of the two we tried.

Although the chicken was a bit on the pricey side, it was fantastic and I'd most definitely get it again.

We stopped in Drayton Valley to get a few groceries on our way and I'd say it was close to 9 pm when we rolled into town!

We didn't have the best weather on our trip so couldn't really take advantage of being so close to the lake but overall it was a great trip and I look forward to going back to the area again next year hopefully.

I'd like to make it an annual trip for sure.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!