Ready To Party

Happy New Year! 2011 has been a crazy year around here. We are ready to celebrate and move forward. Bailey has her party shirt on, which conveniently doubles as a workout shirt so tomorrow she can get down to business on her New Year's resolutions.

The Daily Bailey

That big bundle of stuffed Bailey was our Christmas gift from Kurt's Mamaw. She saw it at the store and had to get it for us because it looked just like our dog. I'm surprised she didn't run in the other direction when she saw it since the only time she ever met Bailey it resulted in Bailey knocking her over and her cutting her leg on the end table.

Merry (Belated) Christmas!

I didn't get around to posting Merry Christmas before the actual holiday, but since I am striving to feel the love and joy of Christmas always, here is our Christmas post! Plus, it can be a bit of a let down after Christmas when all of the excitement suddenly ends, so I'm just trying to keep it going a bit longer.

Wes, the family photog, taught me how to use more of my camera's features so I can be a mini paparazzi like him. Sorry in advance to all of you who will be my subjects/victims. Bailey is already tired of it.

Our sweet little tree.

This ornament was a wedding gift and makes me smile every time I see it hanging on our tree.

Homemade gifts are some of the most meaningful gifts to give and receive, so this year I attempted to be more of a Martha (Stewart). I made snow globes for our nieces and gingerbread syrup for all of our family, along with a few other yummy treats. It was delicious, but turns out syrup takes a while to boil and then boom! boils over. Our stove has a few battle wounds.

Hoping you all had the happiest of happy holidays!

Workin' On Her Fitness

I set up my yoga mat and when I came back in the room, Bailey had claimed it.

Baby Steps

Between Kurt and Bailey each getting sick, both of my running buddies are out of commission. With the two of the them leading the fluffy life for a while, I found an alternative to our running schedule. Me and my new friend, Jillian Michaels, have a regular 30 minute date in our living room. I will say it is nice not to go out in the cold, but it doesn't exactly make me feel awesome when I am struggling and she points out that 300 or 400 lbs people can do this, so I should be able to also. However, some of her motivation is a little more inspirational. My favorite is...

"Transformation is not a future event, it is a present activity."

It is really easy to think to myself, tomorrow I will exercise or eat better (as I have a big bowl of Whirley Pop in my lap and am making it a priority to Keep Up With the Kardashians). So I am trying to keep in mind that every little decision adds up to a greater result. Small goals. Baby Steps.

(Clip from the movie "What About Bob")

Study Buddies

Finals are quickly approaching and luckily Bailey makes an awesome study buddy. They divide up the reading and she gives him the cliff notes on her chapters. She just needs to learn how to get through them without falling asleep.

Way.Too.Much.Food.

Well can't say we did much life other than eating over the Thanksgiving holiday. A few walks, but like Bailey, we pretty much led a "fluffy" life. And it was wonderful. But since we don't have many "Do Life" things to share, we will just share a few adorable pictures.

Bailey and her best buddy doing some research. She was supervising.

Two little monsters on the loose. Dads make great jungle gyms of course.

Thankful

Well our "Do Life" training plan got a little bit derailed these last few days because our best running buddy, Bailey, gave us quite a scare. After not being able to keep up on our run last week, she got progressively more lethargic and refused to eat. We took her to the vet on Friday and they diagnosed her with Immune Mediated Hemolitic Anemia, meaning her immune system was destroying her red blood cells. After 5 days at the vet hospital, we are so thankful to have her back with us.

She won't be able to continue our training program with us, as she is under strict orders to lead a "fluffy" lifestyle for quite awhile. However, we are also glad to say we got in a run today before we picked up our fluffy muggins.

In honor of tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast, here a list of foods for your dog to avoid courtesy of the vet: grapes/raisins, onions, chocolate, stuffing, and... pennies made before 1984 (the copper in them can potentially cause anemia).

Happy Thanksgiving! We have a lot to be thankful for this year.

A Little InSPURation

The fabulous card Susan sent for encouragement before the cosmetology boards this week. So true.

Do Life: Day 2 & 3

Day two of our Do Life adventure did not involve any running, but it was a big day nonetheless. I took my apprenticeship exam for the Kentucky State Boards. We celebrated with some free Qdoba chips and queso, because for the next few days (at least here in Louisville) if you donate 3 canned goods that's what you get. Conveniently I had quite a few canned goods I was trying to get rid of anyway.

The web site for the test results turned out to only be compatible with Internet Explorer, and since we both have Macs that don't support that web browser I had to trot over to the public library today to jump on the internet there. It was just me and a few elderly men surfing the world wide web together. Good news, I passed. I think. The web site was, of course, very confusing because everything about this process has been complicated. But I think that was the result.

Day three, we got back on track with the training schedule and pounded the pavement. Turns out Bailey isn't as excited about it as we thought. For the first time ever, she didn't drag me along on our run. In fact, I had to drag her and we ended up taking her home then heading back out. I think the rainy weather makes her lethargic. Unpredictable Fall weather.

The Riders Do Life: Day 1

I saw an inspiring story this morning about a man who took back control of his life, health, and happiness and it all began with his decision to run. The video link is below, as well as a link to his blog, Ben Does Life (http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbXgQqbOoU

We have been off and on runners for years, always plateauing around the same mile mark and losing our commitment. It is a cycle we have been trying to break, and Ben's journey is motivating us. So we are starting our own journey, The Riders Do Life. We have a 5K training schedule to get started, one we have used in the past and have success with it. Here is a link to that as well.

http://halhigdon.com/


Today was our first day and we successfully completed our first Do Life run. Bailey is pretty excited about it.