2013 In a Nutshell.

2013 was a whirlwind year of adventures and accomplishments for me. I've been thinking back to all of the things that have happened in the last speedy yet action-packed 365 days.

The Hot Chocolate 15k shared this on Facebook. I think it's a good mantra for 2013, and to keep in mind for future years :)

1. I got accepted to the Luxembourg Study Abroad program with my university.

2. I rowed a tremendous spring season with some of the sweetest girls that I've met at college. We rowed an amazing race together at SIRA - which was my first time at that regatta as well. 

3. I started a blog :)

4. I finished my first year of COLLEGE.

5. I donated my hair to someone who needed it more :)

6. I completed my first half-marathon and learned loads about running :)

7. ...and fell in love with this distance, so I did 3 more!

8. I got my first "real" job and worked with inner-city youth.

9. Became a triathlete!

10. Began my second year at college as a Scholar Leader.

11. Celebrated four years with this [edited to add:] boy  guy :) (And watched him run a 3-hour marathon and get a BQ.)

12. Caught up with this girl, who I only get to see once a year (or less)! (Sorry for the REALLY old photo...this is the most recent picture of just us together...circa 2010.)

13. Hung out with family that I rarely get to see...

And a lot lot lot more :)

I know that 2014 will be even more adventurous! 

Happy New Year!

Time with the grands and more tread milling.

A big reason of why we came down to Atlanta was to visit with our grandparents, who we do not see very often. We were glad to get some good time with them.

Found this mug in their house...sometimes this is how I feel about our family too 

(though I'm sure we all do at times :))

Proof I was on the treadmill again this morning (45 minutes this time!).

Found this article on some good indoor workouts for triathletes. They discuss good running and cycling options for the winter and have some suggestions of actual workouts to try. I might do one on my last treadmill day tomorrow! The only thing I didn't like was their suggestion to run in parking garages. That is dangerous on many levels.

Homeward-bound tomorrow!

More from Xmas Eve and a treadmill run!

  I realized that I'd forgotten to post this picture of the luminarias that get put up every year by our church around Christmastime. No one sees who does it, they just appear! Sort of a nice "magical" tradition. 

I was really excited about my Christmas Eve outfit so I laid it all out pretty-style.

Plum GAP sweater, felt J. Crew skirt, silver bangles, herringbone tights (all items purchased on-sale over the years!).

Alex accompanied us to church for the Candlelit Service. We are photogenic :)

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In other words, we are in Atlanta! We came in late last night and had dinner with our family at their house before getting settled in.

I've been wearing my Madewell "Happy Socks" that my sister gave me for the holidays. Socks are one of my favorite gifts, especially cool ones like these. They're also very warm!

This morning I did a little more than a 7-mile run on the treadmill. I'd meant to do 30-min to 5-miles, but actually LOVED the treadmill so much that I kept going! I was able to watch animal planet the whole time right on the treadmill screen - no more throwing my iPod on the ground during workouts! It was a sweat-tastic workout and I did it at a 1% incline because that's what HRG, treadmill guru, taught me to do. I think I could do a higher incline in the future to make it even more realistic to running outside. 

Afterwards I cooled down and had some water and then did 8-minute arms (because there was a full set of weights in the hotel gym, meaning my 5-lb ones were available to use). My arms are already sore, I need to do that more often! In total I had a 70-minute workout.

Now we're off to meet some family and my BFF to hang out - talk to you tomorrow!

Xmas con't & another indoor workout!

Christmas morning started out with a 4-mile run (I wore my Santa hat & Santa Shuffle shirt) through the freezing weather. I wanted to be able to run with that hat on and knew that was the perfect day to show it off. 

Next on the agenda: cinnamon rolls! 

The day was filled with lots of family time (with the extended family, too) and lots of good food and a little bit of relaxing. 

We did get dressed up for dinner!

The holiday festivities are just going to continue this weekend...tomorrow we are jetting down to Atlanta to visit my cousins and grandparents! 

I have a beautiful new backpack that I was able to use to pack everything in...

We're staying in a hotel that will be equipped with a gym for early-morning workouts (hello, elliptical time :)) but I like to have options just in case... and a friend sent me this great indoor workout this morning! 

I think I'll definitely check that out, especially if the gym is a little crowded. I'm really not sure what a "jack knife" is but I guess I'll have to try to find out.

Hopefully some good ATL posts coming up :)

Merry Christmas (Eve) :)

Well, it's been a busy couple of days! Getting ready for the holidays is always one of my favorite points of the year but is sure to be jam-packed with lots of things to do.

First, a run-through of my workouts!

Saturday: 30-minute run
Sunday: 40-minute run, 8-10 mile bike & 8-minute abs
Monday: 30-minute run
Tuesday: 90-minute hot yoga & 8-minute abs

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I'm sure this is actually how Santa Claus gets around on Christmas Eve ;)

Yesterday was full of activities, including the dentist, making of stuffed grape-leaves, and visiting with our grandmother and cousins. I also made the chocolate crinkle cookies that I'd been wanting to.

Apron selfie

Our local Starbucks is closing on Thursday, so I took the opportunity to try a peppermint mocha this week while I still could. Didn't like it - too sweet, oddly enough!

I discovered a secret way to get all of the pomegranate seeds out in 30 seconds... it's like magic!

Now let's look at this comparison...

Weather Sunday:

Weather today (2 days later):

I'm so glad it's going to be a white Christmas... 

After hot yoga today I ventured to the grocery store and to get some last-minute gifts for people... after that there was lots of house-cleaning, shoveling, and cooking preparation for tonight!

Meanwhile I've decided that I'm never going to be too old to use the "Santa Tracker"

We're having guests for dinner and then the Candlelit Service...and then BED. It's been a busy 2 days!

Baking to-do list and winter training tips.

Today's workout:

-10 minute "warm-up" on the erg

-25 minute spin

-Indoor workout (x1)

-8-minute abs

Total: 50 minutes

Wore my team t-shirt and school-spirited shorts in hopes it would remind me how to row! The 10 minutes wasn't bad at all.

My post-workout lunch was a yummy kale salad...I'm now obsessed with kale! Definitely prefer it to a plain spinach salad.

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I'm not really planning on doing heavy mileage over the winter, but I found some interesting tips here - made me think of my 13.1 miles through a snowstorm last weekend! I might keep these in mind for future winters. Check out this article with suggestions on how to divide up long runs throughout the winter! 

Love this quote... keeping this in mind will be good motivation to keep moving throughout the winter even though I don't have any rowing or running races in sight!

On my baking to-do list...

I hope to make these happen over my break.

These too!

And these! Sort of like the Trader Joe's ones that I'm addicted to.

Important to remember, especially around this time of year (in my opinion). 

11:17 PM seems like a perfectly appropriate time to organize your drawers...right? Well now thanks to my quick re-arrangements I can see all of my t-shirts AND they all fit in my drawers. This way none of them get left-out (if I'm only wearing the ones I can see on the top). 

Definitely time well-spent! 

Rest time is over & pretty holiday sights.

Well today I did my first workout since Sunday's half-marathon! I did 25-minute spin, my indoor workout, and 8-minute abs, which all came up to about a 40-minute workout. It felt really good to get moving again and get my sweat on. Somehow when I'm really busy and the weather's bad (i.e. finals week) it's really easy to skip workouts but when I'm bored and/or supposed to be resting I get so impatient waiting for my "rest" to be over! Interesting how the perspective turns!

My legs definitely felt it for the first few minutes of spin but I went easy and my legs warmed up eventually. I think I'll abstain from running for another few days and will keep foam-rolling, but I hope to do some easy running on Sunday (one week after my half-marathon) while the weather's warm. I like it to be all white for the holidays but I'm not going to pass up an opportunity for a non-slippery run if it comes my way!

After my workout I went with Alex to visit old teachers. I donned my wool cream-colored skirt. I bought it WAY on sale with a gift card to J. Crew and am loving it. It's very thick and kept me nice and toasty and is definitely going to be coming to Europe with me!

Later on in the afternoon I did some work for the rowing team's Endowment Campaign and then caught part of the Sex and the City movie on TV so I watched that for a little while. That movie is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me...though I'll admit I prefer the edited TV version! 

Our house was freezing so I wore my snuggly socks from Alex...

...and even ended up putting slippers on too! (See our xmas tree in the background?)

This evening I went to back brownies with Alex. I've been driving by a beautifully lit house and really giant Christmas tree all week and really wanting to take pictures! Finally I pulled over and snapped a couple.

Can you see their front door? It's the pretty part. I think I should probably get out of the car next time...it was just too cold!

Stuck my hand out the window for this one! So pretty!

Relaxing and race photos!

Let's begin today's post with...(drumroll) a race photo!

Here's one of me cheesin' for the camera. 2 seconds before the picture I believe my words were "this sucks" but my race buddy (a veteran marathoner) reminded me that I should at least smile for the camera. Luckily I pulled it together for those few moments!

Started yesterday with a wintry outfit...I tried a new sweater dress and my "grandma sweater" (that's what Alex calls it). Wish the colors showed up here better but it's dark green!

Does anyone else still eat chocolate advent calendars? I hope my mom will still get them for me every December until I'm a million.

I was a bit under the weather yesterday, which wasn't fun but it was also fine because now I have nothing to do with myself for the next few weeks! I relaxed with a movie and lots of books.

Clearly not enough to choose from...I might need another bookshelf!

I ended up reading some library books on one of my favorite subjects...the Tudor family! Since I was about 10 or 11 years old, I have accumulated a wealth of (probably useless) knowledge on this particular part of the royal family and always welcome more literature on them. One is a novel and one is a biography - the perfect mash-up!

And another race-photo to end the day!

Here I'm pictured with the buddy who ran with me for 11 miles!