Enjoying the weather and final countdown...

My sister and I took advantage of her recently finishing finals and my finally not working until dark last night, and went out to the beautiful lake (which I've posted pictures from my runs) by our house where we could use our mother's fancy expensive camera and take some photos in the glorious setting sun. Allie had just spent the day getting her hair cut for donation, and looked really cute. I had just spent the day running around getting flustered, and had changed out of my dress for some more comfortable lounging clothing....so that's why I don't look as cute as her! Yet I think the natural light and lack of editing captures the day's beauty on it's own. Here's a couple of my favorite shots!

Next time I won't be so lame and I'll be sure to dress up a little bit. 

As for now, I am two days away from my half-marathon. At this stage before CLE, I was at the Expo, getting ready for the big day with an entire city at my side. This time, I don't know anyone else who's doing the race, and the only person who I will know at the race will probably be my mom. I'm hardly geared up for it like I was for Cleveland, but somehow I expect that I might be helped rather than hurt by that. I think today I will do an extra light couple of miles, or maybe just a mile, just to keep everything loose and ready for Sunday. I think tonight I'll be relaxing and hydrating, and probably watching "Zero Dark Thirty" again--loved it when I saw it in theaters and ready to watch it in the comfort of my sunroom! 

I definitely need to unwind after this week of work--I know I've hinted at the tenuousness of it almost everyday this week and I think a lot of that has been because I've made the leap to (almost full-time)--I clocked my first 35-hour week this week. I know I've not really been explicit about what my job is, but it involves a lot of work with kids ages 14-18 who come from very poor households. Today at work I was just sitting and thinking about how much I love the job. Many of my coworkers are less happy with the unpredictable hours and recent organizational distress, but I absolutely love it for being able to work with the teenagers. I know I still AM a teenager for about 8 more months, but this seriously is the most rewarding thing to me and it makes me smile and look forward to going to work everyday. I consider myself very, very lucky.

It also might be time to go shopping for the ingredients for the Lemon Tarts I chose for Father's Day desert.