Pushing Limits

 

This weekend I participated in Rugged Maniacs, a 20+ obstacle course stretching over 3 miles. I've never done anything like this before, but I had been training for this since January and so far this has been my biggest goal of the year. My goal was to finish in an hour and to complete every single obstacle.

 

 

Two obstacles in, and I looked to Nelson and said that I thought this was above my fitness level. There were walls several feet high that you had to climb up and over, lots of barbed wire that you had to crawl under, slippery mud that you had to run through, and lots of high beams that you had to balance on.

 

 

But one by one, I knocked those obstacles out! Luckily I had an amazing partner (and an entire team!) who talked me through it all and encouraged me the entire time.

 

 

And even though it is now Wednesday and this is the first time I can actually get out of bed without feeling like I'm dying..... it was so much fun and I can't wait to continue training and to do it again next year!

 

 



And did I mention that I beat both my goals - I finished in an hour and completed every. single. obstacle.

 

Thankful.

 

I started a new job last Tuesday. I left my comfort zone of a case manager position in an office with familiar clients and a familiar desk and a job that I could do with my eyes closed. Five years I had sat at that desk and done the same things over and over and over. Now I am managing a group home for teenage girls.

 

When I interviewed for this position, I was excited about the possibility of something new. I was excited about the possibility of more responsibility and most of all the possibility of a job that didn't leave me feeling so..... bored. When I got the call that I had aced my interview and gotten the job, I was so excited that I almost cried right there at my desk.

 

And then I got really scared. Terrified of the unknown and the reality that I would be doing something that I had never really done before. I was going to be a supervisor. I was going to be in charge. People were going to be looking at me for direction. It was exciting, but scary.

 

As I laid in bed last night, I felt my stomach turn into a knot and I whispered to myself "what have I done?" Gone are the days of napping on my lunch break and not having to worry about anyone else's work getting done but my own. I am the boss now; I call the shots.

 

Change is scary, but as I walked out of my office tonight I realized that I can do this. This is the right path. I got the call back, because everything that I have done up to this point has prepared me for this moment. I am not the naïve girl who walked into her first group home and became a counselor over 6 years ago. I have grown, learned, and I am ready.

 

Life is all about taking chances and growing, growing, growing. I feel as if for the first time in my life, I am blossoming in my career and becoming the woman that I was always supposed to be. And for that, I am thankful for leaping without hesitation. I am thankful for change.

Homemade Peanut Butter, Honey, and Oat Dog Treats

 

I've been really getting into baking on Sunday's and this weekend I decided to treat my pups to some homemade dog treats. These were so easy, so cheap, and are so healthy! My dogs ate them right up and kept on begging for more...

 

(This is the original recipe)

 

I tweeked this recipe to fit what I already had laying around.... and frankly I like my version better so here goes.....

 

 

What You'll Need:

 

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 cups quick oats (I used the instant breakfast kind... 2 packs plain, 2 packs brown sugar, 2 packs apple cinnamon)

1/3 cup agave nectar

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup warm water

 

What You'll Do:

 

[one] preheat the oven to 350 degrees

[two] warm the peanut butter in the microwave for 1 minute (or until easy to stir)

[three] grind up oats in a food processor until a course flour

[four] mix everything together

[five] work the dough into a ball and roll out on a floured countertop or surface until about 1/4 inch thick

[six] cut the dough into shapes

[seven] gently transfer the shapes to a greased cookie sheet

[eight] bake for 10 minutes and then flip cookies over, bake an additional 5 minutes

[nine] let you pups eat a little of the leftover dough ;)

[ten] let cool & enjoy!

 

Weekend Re-Cap

I think everyone can agree that last week was entirely too much and by the time Friday rolled around I was totally drained emotionally. The events in Boston (and Texas) really made me question humanity as a whole and there came a point where I just stopped reading or listening to anything Boston related because it was too overwhelming.

 

On top of that,  I got some news about my god-brother that made me really sad. I donated my kidney to him 3 years ago this month (I was his second donor) and he had another transplant in August. Sadly, he contracted a virus from this donor (not her fault, most people have this virus but my god-brother just couldn't fight it off because he's so sick) and his kidney is no longer any good. He isn't able to get any more transplants because his body just can't seem to keep them for very long, and will start dialysis within the next few days. But, he can't start dialysis until his 102 degree fever goes down.

 

I know that people can live on dialysis and that he will be ok. He's young and he's a fighter so he's going to get through this. But I have this mental image of my grandfather going through dialysis when I was a little girl and every time I picture it, it brings tears to my eyes. I just remember my grandfather being so tired. And angry. I just don't want my god-brother to have to go through that.

 

So needless to say, I was ready for the weekend when 5 o'clock rolled around.

 

This weekend came at the perfect time, because I had more fun this weekend than I have in a long time!

 

I started it off Saturday morning by running Color Me Rad with my friend while Nelson volunteered. We all had so much fun!!!  I was able to beat my 5k time by about 5 minutes and so now I'm doing a consistent 12 minute miles which might not sound like much to runners, but for ME it's a huge deal! I have signed up for almost 1 5k per month for the rest of the year, so I'm excited to get even faster! Here are some pics of the race, if you've never done Color Me Rad I highly recommend it!!!!

 

 

Before:

 

After:

 

The back of my shirt:

 

And my friend Kari took this... how pretty??!?!

 

Andddd she also took this picture of my shoe:

 

After we left Color Me Rad, Nelson and I met up with some friends for Earth Day. It's festival season in Richmond, and this is honestly my favorite festival of them all! Food carts, local beer, local business tents (homemade soaps, candles, yarn, honey, etc), live music.... it's fun!

 

 

 

 

We passed out around 4:30 pm (Nelson had been up for over 48 hours at this point and I was up at 5:30 am)...... then finished off the evening with a midnight shopping trip to Walmart and pizza. Sunday I deep cleaned the apartment (I do this every week because our apartment collects so much dust) and made some chocolate banana bread (soooooo good) and we had drinks on the roof.

 

I woke up this morning and started my new routine of jogging at 6am. It was pretty hard to get out of bed, but once I was up I had so much fun jogging in the city as the run came up. It was relaxing and I feel like I have so much more energy that I usually do in the mornings, so I'm excited to continue this.

 

Alsoooooo...I got a new job! I've been talking about needing a change for almost 3 years now and I finally took the plunge! 5 years in the same office and I'm more than ready to take on more responsibility and a new environment - I start tomorrow and couldn't be more excited!!!

 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Chef Tuesday's: Crock Pot Apple Butter

 

So yeah... it's Wednesday and I've kind of dropped the ball on "Chef Tuesday's" - but I made apple butter from scratch this weekend and I just had to share this super easy recipe!

 

The original recipe that I used is from HERE but I tweaked it a little bit in hopes of making it healthier (less sugar!) and also a more manageable amount considering only 2 people live in our house and I don't have a ton of canning jars on hand. Also, I can't take credit for that awesome apple picture... my apple butter is currently in a non-cute tupperware bowl haha so click the photo and it will take you to the original source.

 

 What You'll Need

• Apples - I used about 8 small granny smith apples, because that's what we had at the time.
• 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup honey (if you don't have honey, the original recipe calls for 3 cups sugar)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 cup apple juice (or you can use water... I might use water next time because this batch came out sweeter than we wanted)

What You'll Do

• Peel the apples and slice up into small pieces (by far the most annoying and labor intensive step)
• Put all ingredients into the crock pot and stir. Cook on the lowest setting, covered, for about 7 hours
• Turn up the crock pot to high and uncover for about an hour (continually stir and keep an eye on it, so that it doesn't burn!)

THAT'S IT!!!! I seriously love my crock pot... nothing beats throwing ingredients into it and leaving it to cook on its own while you're free doing whatever you want! Do you have any good crock pot recipies? I'd love to hear!!



 

Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

 

Our world can be a scary place. Things like what happened in Boston this week happen all the time all over the world and it can be so difficult to not get caught up in feelings of hate and fear. But hearing about all of the good things people are doing in midst of this tragedy are truly inspiring and make me want to reach out and be an even better person.

 

The lesson that I have been learning lately is that bad things are going to happen, even to good people, and you just have to keep pushing through and learning what you need to from the situation and then applying it to your life so that others can benefit from it.

 

Life is a constant lesson, and if you're still living you're still learning.

 

I personally get stuck in the mindset that if I'm such a good person, why do "bad things" always seem to find me? Why can't I catch a break? I think it's so important to remind myself that me being good or bad or anything in between doesn't mean that I have nothing left to learn or change about myself or my life. I am the product of all of the experiences I've had in my life, and when I think about it that way sometimes it's easier to take on the struggles that life always seems to provide.

 

I believe that we are all connected, and that although I may be struggling with things now I am only given these obsticles so that I can pass the lessons along to some one else. I hope that I can be a person who in the event of a tradgedy, reaches out my hands and provides comfort to some one else. I hope I can be that person, because I have had so many people who have been that for myself when I've needed it.

An Anniversary, A Week Early

(us almost a year ago!)

 

This weekend N and I celebrated our anniversary a week early, since he will be out of town next weekend (officially, 1 year will be April 13th). I can't believe it's already been a whole year - so many good things have happened in my life this year and he has had a lot to do with that.

 

Our original plans were to go hot air ballooning on Saturday morning and then camp in Williamsburg that night. I was really disappointed when I called the balloon place and was told that it would be too windy to go, but N quickly planned a delicious brunch out and a trip to a Ghost Tour that was happening near our campsite that evening. Holy crap... that was such an amazing idea and I had so much fun learning about the history of Williamsburg and also some creepy stories about the people who used to live there........ and maybeeeee still make an appearance every once in a while. The best part is that we still have the hot air balloon to look forward to next month, so we got to do both!

 

We spent the entire day Saturday setting up our campsite and hanging out by the fire. I love going camping when it's just the two of us, because we always have the best conversations and it's so nice spending time together without any distractions.We made bbq chicken over the fire and roasted potatoes and onions. I ate about 23457348957 marshmallows. We made goals for ourselves personally and for our relationship.

 

It really was the best weekend that I've had in a long time, and that's saying a lot because when our initial plans didn't work out I was instantly bummed and ready to cancel the whole thing. I'm so glad that I didn't and that we were able to spend that time together. I'm so lucky that I am with a person who is so supportive of me and my life goals, and who is not only my boyfriend but my teammate and best friend. My man really is my personal super-hero and protector and I am so in love with him - every day I am more and more thankful of who he is and all of the things that he does for me.

 

~