Peanut butter rules

So, today is payday (thank you begeesus!) and for the last few days we've had very little food in the house. Now, I'm pretty good at finding something to throw together, but this morning I think I hit a new low. My breakfast was a hot dog bun toasted with peanut butter and honey on top, and a handful of raisins. I didn't take a picture. You're welcome.

For dinner on Wednesday I had a can of green beans and couscous. And, because I've really been big on having something sweet after meals, my desserts the last two nights have been a spoonful (or two or three) of peanut butter with chocolate chips.

Heaven on a spoon!

I was starving when I got to work this morning. I tried to stop at Harris Teeter on my way in to get food for the day, but they were closed for floor refinishing. For crying out loud!!

I normally steer clear of the vending machine, but I couldn't take it anymore. I bought a Pop Tart. Yes, they taste just as dry and horrible as they did when I was a kid. But at least my stomach didn't feel like it was going to implode. About an hour later, an email came through that said one of the classes in our building had leftover breakfast for whoever wanted it. Heck yeah! What was it composed of? Grits, some kind of bread with cranberries in it, and an egg casserole thing. Finally I think I'll be good til lunch, where again I have no idea what I'll eat.

I have serious anxiety when I don't know what my next meal will be, especially when I don't have any snacks lined up. Since I'm basically hungry all the time, I snack a lot. I'm sure people at work think I'm weird, but that's ok.


Last night I finally broke down and decided to snatch up a piece of my own merchandise.

I'd been eyeing up this gem since I made it. I'm wearing it to work today. It makes me feel...raawr ;-)


Do you get anxious when you don't know what your next meal (or snack) will be?

Like me, would you eat peanut butter like it was water if it weren't so fattening?

Tired like Friday

(This post isn't about how I'm tired, but I am tired. Like, getting out of bed this morning made me want to cry, tired. It's only Wednesday, right? :-/)

Since yesterday's workout, which was supposed to be a 4-mile run, turned into a gigantic fail, let's discuss creepy gym people. Always a fun subject.

After putting my things down to begin my workout yesterday, this dude walked past me barefoot. I actually did a double, triple, and quadruple take because I didn't actually believe that what I saw was actually what I saw. I think I almost gagged. Of ALL the places to walk around barefoot! A few minutes later I looked over and he was on the stationary bike....barefoot. When he left the gym, he was wearing bright red Crocs. So, he'll walk around the gym barefoot, where everyone's nastiness is just everywhere, but he won't walk outside to his car barefoot. No, because that would be gross.

Not only are they hideous, but apparently they have magical
germ-repelling powers.

And then there's this kid who is at the gym pretty much every afternoon that I'm there. He never does any cardio. He lifts weights and lifts weights and, well...lifts more weights. These people irk me. "I want to be strong, but die of a heart attack if I ever had to run away from something". This kid is sure to be a creeper when he gets older. He's probably five-feet tall, has a head full of blond, curly hair, has huge arm muscles which just look really out of place on someone of his stature, especially since he looks to be about 16 years old, and I can always feel him staring at me. Oh and he drives a motorcycle. Trying to compensate for something? Yeah, I'd say so.

What's the creepiest thing to happen to you at the gym?

And now, on another subject, I'd like to thank Kara and Kari (whose names are eerily similar) for being my first customers! When I got home from the gym, I made a couple more headbands and collars to replenish my stock, and wrapped up their orders to be mailed today. Exciting! I still can't bring myself to take one of the headbands for myself or one of the collars to Pippi. I'm very strict. So far, my farm animal design seems to be the favorite :)

I was wondering...anyone with a dog, are you (or would you) be interested in holiday-themed collars?

My mom was wondering if she could buy something and pay me some other way besides PayPal. I suppose I could make an exception for the woman who gave birth to me ;-)

She's not playin'

Yo. Pippi here. In case you didn't know, my mom opened up her Etsy shop, FINALLY.

You see, she's been getting all these little packages in the mail and opening them before she even pays attention to me. (Don't worry, I make sure to jump on her and scratch her with my claws. It usually gets her attention.) And then, instead of spending all her free time playing with me, she's been sitting at the table playing around with some strange noisy machine and lots of other things she won't let me chew on. It's getting extremely frustrating.

So, please, whatever you do, DON'T buy anything from her shop. It may look cool, and you may want to buy it all, but don't. The more you buy, the more she'll have to make, and that's bad news for me. Poor, attention-deprived me. Don't let the fact that I'm snuggled up on her bed, in her blanket, on her pillow, fool you. I'm deprived. She won't even give me one of the collars. Something about "making a profit".

Wait, what did you say? You're going to buy something anyway? You're going to buy LOTS of things?

Don't make me call my peeps. We'll lick you to death.

Yo.

Running is expensive

I have been pretty much MIA for the past three days..physically, digitally, and probably mentally as well. I had a three-day weekend, and a busy one at that!

I took Friday off because my dad was supposed to come to visit for the weekend. He didn't end up coming, but since I had already planned to go to the shooting range with him, my brother, Amanda, and our friend Tom, I kept the vacation day. (My brain was SO HAPPY about sleeping in!) Yes, you heard that right. I went to the shooting range. And shot guns! PLURAL! Here's a little tidbit for you. I have my concealed handgun license. If you've never gone to a shooting range and took it out on a target, you totally should.

Friday night was the Kenny Chesney concert. SO AMAZING! (Yes, I listen to country music and I like it). Plus, Kenny's hot.

(Kara, I took this video is for you :)

I wore my SPIbelt to the concert to hold my ID, some money, and my phone. Best idea ever! Also, I learned what SPI stands for. "Small Personal Items". Now I don't feel so dumb for using it for something other than running.

At the concert, we ended up eating a good amount of the soft pretzels. I got mine unsalted and decided it was "carb loading" for my run on Saturday (I can talk myself into eating just about anything). Also, Tom was sharing his beer with me. Carb city!

Amanda, mid-pretzel chew

Jeremy, still chowin.

Tom and me. Scary picture: check.

We got home around 1am and by the time I took Pippi out, calmed her down, and got ready for bed, it was probably 2am. I then slept until 9am Saturday morning, which is extremely late for me. Amanda had expressed an interest in going to the gym with me and she wasn't up yet, so I got breakfast and vegged out for a while. By the time we ate, let our breakfast digest, and watched a couple episodes of Rocco's Dinner Party, we didn't get to the gym until after 11am. (God bless the treadmill, because the humidity of this weekend was killer).

I want one of my own!

I had a pretty great four-mile run. I definitely felt good about (and during) this one, and am hoping today and tomorrow are good running days as well. In the middle, this dude came up to me (making me take off my headphones), to say, "you're going to wear that thing out" (meaning the treadmill). I wanted to say, "You obviously haven't met Kari." :)

Amanda and I then went to Fleet Feet because I wanted to find a shoe similar to my Sauconys since they didn't make my version anymore. I'll be honest, I felt like a fool walking in there, but it didn't take long for that worry to subside. The experience was way better than I ever expected. I was "fitted" one other time for shoes and it was a terrible experience. It was at a running store in VA. I will never ever ever ever be going back there!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

The girl who was fitting me, Natalie, was a-mazing at her job. AND she didn't seem disgusted at my already sweaty socks. In fact, I learned that I was not wearing the right kind of socks. Socks with any kind of cotton are, apparently a huge no-no and are most often to blame for blisters. Did you know that? I sure didn't but since I'd been getting them in a few places, I was game to try to $11 Balega running socks.

Since I like fun colors, I decided to go with blue. They had
other colors, but I decided I'll try them out before stocking
up.

Natalie then asked me why I am a Saucony wearer. I told her that I've tried other brands and wasted a lot of money over the years on the wrong shoes. She asked me what brands I've tried. I told her Nike (huge fail many times over! and also the brand the other running store put me in. Jerks), Asics,
and New Balance. She had me walk barefoot a few yards and she watched me walk. The verdict is that one foot is landing just right and the other is rolling funny. The side that I've been having knee pain after running is the one that rolls. Interesting. She asked if I'd be interested in trying other brands. I basically told her, dude, YOU'RE the expert, teach me!

She brought out a pair of Mizunos and a pair of Brooks. The Mizunos already felt better than my Sauconys. I was sure these would be the shoes I'd end up with. And THEN I put on the Brooks. It was like the heavens parted and I could finally see clearly. Verdict? All these years I've been an idiot.

My plan was to find the shoes I wanted and then order them online. I ended up buying them at the store for two reasons: it was tax-free weekend in North Carolina, and I was so thankful for Natalie and her expertise (and for touching my stinky, sweaty feet without flinching).

Time will tell, but I guess I'm a Brooks girl now.

Being the nerdy designerd that I am, I couldn't help but document the cool
design in the Brooks icon on the side. Can you see it?

As I was waiting in line to pay, this male employee came up and asked me if I'm training and what for. He had these amazing blue eyes that were kind of mesmerizing. I think I was producing coherent words, but I'm not positive, as I was in a trance. He was telling me about a couple of running groups, one of which meets up just a couple of miles from my gym! This was good news. I wanted to ask him if he runs in the group. And if he could run with me...in front of me, running backwards, without sunglasses on...

I will hypnotize you to run faaaasst....

The rest of my weekend was spent doing laundry, giving Pippi a bath, watching Mad Men on Netflix, taking pictures of collars (!)...and wishing I could have another day to the weekend.


How often do you replace your running shoes?

Did you know running was so expensive before you started?
I really have no extra money to spare, but since I've committed to running now, and I don't want to injure myself, I've decided the money is necessary, and worth it!

Do you wear running socks?