Things I can't live without

1. My children.  I have three sons, Jordan 21, Marcus 20, and Zachary 11.  They are my pride and joy, each one has a different quality that makes them unique in their own way.  Raising them has not been easy but I would not change a thing about them.

2. Candles.  I am always burning a candle.  I love the way they look and smell.  I particularly love the ones from Bath and Body works.  Right now I am loving their pumpkin caramel swirl.  

3. Internet.  I love the internet.  I can keep in touch with family and friends, conduct business, and explore endless opportunities to create new things.

4. NUUN.  I absolutely drink too much of this, but it is delicious.  It is a drink for active hydration and it comes in a variety of flavors however my favorite is the tri-berry.  What is better than this, being an ambassador for their company!!!!!!

5. Running.  I love running.  I actually hated running when I was in the Army.  How did I get into it?  Chasing suspects down.  It was like this awesome high when I could catch someone younger than me.  I always said "suspects run for freedom, police run to catch."  Suspects have more to run for.  I won't even tell you the hell a suspect would go through if I caught them.  I would use my age, sex, the fact that I was carrying at least 25 pounds of extra gear to taunt them.  I then realized that running could possibly save another officers life if they were in trouble.  So I always stayed in shape.  I started to run competitively in 2012. Now I run for sanity.  

6. Nature.  I enjoy anything nature.  Trail runs, birdwatching, walking in the woods, the smells, the sounds, the peace.  My father loved to be outside. I am a lot like him.  When I was younger I would spend as much time outside with my father as I could.  This was difficult because he was disabled from cancer when I was younger.  He instilled all my great values.  I miss him everyday, however feel like he is with me when I am outside.

What are your favorite things?

Have you tried blogging?  if so what is the name of your blog?

What motivates you?

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy arrival of the New Year.  Unfortunately I fell asleep.  From what I was told it sounded like a war zone outside the house, and  I slept right through it.

I spent most of the morning getting my race schedule planned for 2015.  It also marks the official start of my ambassadorship with NUUN!!!  This is my favorite flavor tri berry.

December was a great running month I increased my mileage significantly with 181 miles.  I am going to keep track of all my miles in 2015 and am setting a personal goal of 2500, which is totally attainable.

My first race is on January 3, 2015, it is an eight mile hilly run.  I am looking forward to it!!!!  My next run after that one is in New Orleans on January 25, 2015 a full marathon, I have never been to New Orleans so I am very excited.

I was going to cook a traditional New Years good luck dinner, however, I am sick to my stomach today.

Sad news about the guinea pig, it passed yesterday, we cried a little, but know it is not suffering anymore.  This is the third one to die on us.

I am really looking forward to reaching many personal bests this year running. I plan on staying out of the hospital, I plan on finding happiness every day.  I am going to work on my blog, no body ever comments on it, so I am not sure if anyone is reading it, or if anyone actually likes it.

Enjoy your New Year!!!

Lots of baking, NUUN ambassador

c Happy first day of winter!!!!

And for my fellow runners

I miss the snow from Pennsylvania, it makes Christmas more fun, just my opinion.  It would be perfect if it snowed from December 21-December 26. That would be just perfect.

Baking was in full swing until the heating element melted, so bummed I was so close to being done, now I have to wait to tomorrow afternoon.  Mind you I have to mail these to family. So far I have made:

  Chocolate chip normal/chocolate white chocolate chips

  Mexican wedding cookies

  Ginger cookies aka "crack cookies"

  Almond sugar cookies

  White chocolate covered pretzel sticks

  Oreo balls

  Peanut brittle 

  Reindeer munch

I have to make vanilla crescents, Italian anise cookies, pfefferneuse and that should be enough!!!!

I was selected by NUUN to be an ambassador. Which basically means I endorse and promote their product and I get free stuff.  I was really praying for this to happen, because I drink LOTS of NUUN. 

This week has been a great week for running, I have surpassed my fifty mile a week goal, by twelve miles.  I am starting to feel confident again, I had seriously doubted if I would ever get back to where I was.  It has not been easy, lots of tears, lots of pain and a lot of kicking my own ass.

I donated so much lately and it makes me feel so good to do it.  First I donated my hair to locks of love, took two bags of puzzles and personal hygiene items to the VA hospital (mental ward)  and last stop was Goodwill with various items.  It makes my heart sparkle when I do nice things. 

Have a great first day of winter!!!!

Do you bake around the holidays? Or all the time?  I bake all the time

How to you donate items?  I do it all the time

Are you ready for Christmas?

Great run week!!!

This past week was my best week running since March. I got in 46 miles and have noticed improvement, which I am very grateful for.  Have you ever had a rough spell with running?  It feels like it took forever to get back where I was.

Went to my favorite restaurant today, Eat Well in Bartlett.  They have the best sushi and seafood trio. The seafood trio has real scallops, shrimp, and the oh to familiar fake crabmeat.  I manage to piss everyone off by leaving the "crabmeat."  To them I say only the strong survive, suck it up buttercup."

Getting ready this week to start Christmas shopping.  Unfortunately it seems that as your children age, the joy of Christmas diminishes. So I have decided to donate some toys, and share my "sparkle," with everyone I see.

Thank you to Academy Sports for a great grand opening. They really got the community involved by offering many "freebies". I managed to get a free pair of crocs, a free tackle bag, free t shirt and 45$ in gift cards.  So they have a customer for life.  They also sell Nuun for a lot less than their competitors. 

Have you started Christmas shopping?

Do you have a favorite place to eat? Where? 

What did you do thus weekend? 

Free Friday-Happy Halloween

This morning Academy Sports opened their doors in Cordova!!!!  For the first 150 customers they issued a voucher to win a gift card. I woke up at 0500 hrs and went to Academy Sports, where I was the 10th person!!!!  When they let us in we went and drew gift cards. I got $25.00. Stocked up on Nuun hydration tablets. I will be using a lot of Nuun while training for my Ironman.

Halloween officially starts the holiday season.  I am ready for the trick or treaters. Thank God my children are not as bad as my brother and I were.  I remember waxing cars, running to the same houses twice, and eggs on Halloween😁

I finally taught myself to flip over eggs without using any utensils. As Julia Child once said while she tried to flip eggs, "you've got to have courage in your convictions."  My favorite movie is Julie & Julia.  It is about cooking and blogging two of my favorite things. I have two copies just in case one gets scratched.

Have my workout plans for the weekend: biking and running.

Do you have Halloween plans?
What are your plans for the weekend?
Are you willing to sit in the cold for a freebie?

Weekend wrap up

As usual the weekend flew by, however I got a lot of stuff accomplished.  We went to Eat Well, score for me !!!!!!!  I used the small plates this time so I would control myself which worked. I was full but not miserably.  I tried every sushi they had it was delicious.  If you are ever in Memphis I highly recommend it.  Finished a thousand piece puzzle with my son.

Got up early on Sunday hit the gym with a quick 8 miles in under an hour. I also did spinning for thirty minutes.  Went home and had a cinnamon raisin bagel with Chai latte.  I helped a friend with his new job and got treated to lunch at Young Avenue deli.  I just had a large garden salad which was alright.  When I went into the office of his new job, I noticed a huge bowl of trick or treat candy, I must say I am already impressed with this place!!!!  And yes, I did trick or treat two pocketfuls.

Picked out a pumpkin for carving which Krogers had for $3.99 awesome deal. Thanks to my friend Jennifer Chaffin for a monster munch recipe (to follow tomorrow)  Sports Authority sent me a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $75. I took full advantage. Zachary needed new shoes which were $50. The other $25 was for socks and Nuun which were free after the coupon. It was too good to pass up. 

Tomorrow is a special person's birthday, the big 40!!!! I am making an Oreo cheesecake.