Beautiful Sunday!

WOW!! What a Gorgeous Day!! February 27th and 80 degrees out. AMAZING!! On top of all the beautiful weather the great day had been planned. One of my Best Friend's birthdays was today. So we met for lunch (4 of us), went for an AWESOME bike ride in the sunshine (5 of us) and headed over for frozen yogurt (2 of us). Ohh and then we went and got fun stuff for the pups at the Pet Speciality store down the street from the yogurt place. Came home and took the pup out for a walk and a play date with his friend.

It was so nice out that everyone, and I do mean everyone was out and about. It was so nice! All the kids were out playing, parents and adults were out talking, walking, biking, and running. So so so so AMAZING.

Ohh and just for amusement purposes: Jenn pumping up her bike tires in Special Bike Attire...as in check out the boots! No she did not ride with those boots on, but cycling shoes make it hard to hold the pump and pump up bike tires.

End of an Era...

Today I said goodbye to a long time friend. I've had this friend almost since I moved here to North Carolina. I'm a little sad, but as they say life goes on. My 1999 Honda Civic found a new home with some guy from West Virginia. I'm told he's going to change the engine out and keep the rest of the car intact. Nothing I could say to my poor green friend, except enjoy the ride!

BYE BYE Civic....we had some really good years together. I'll remember our long drives from North Raleigh to Greensboro and back (on a daily basis). Our fun trips to the beach (that didn't happen often enough), and riding around in the early days like we were footloose and fancy free. It was the first new car that I bought on my own. It was a big step for me. It's been good to us through the years, even taking J back and forth to Chapel Hill for the last 3 1/2 years. I'll miss you little buddy.

This is the last picture of the Civic....after we went to the UPS store to get the title notarized.

Tue/Wed/Thur

COLD COLD COLD

Tuesday- Cold day, long day at work, dental hygiene meeting, home, sleep.

Wednesday- AWESOME fundraising day- Lot's of people (including me) went and ate at Moe's- who donated 20% of the purchase. Plus I sold some more stuff off Craigslist. I also did some INSANITY with J.

Thursday- Cool morning, work..work...work.., swim, Special Olympics, Wine Club, home, sleep.

Venteux Vineyards- made a special trip out the Bedford Clubhouse, Yummy Wines from a vineyard in Napa Valley. 5 great wines that we tasted (Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Syrah, Estate Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon).

Ohh I love the SUNNY days!!

Saturday....RUN. 11 miles (well it was 10.5 miles)....with good friends! Chris/Kim/ and of course Jason. Kim and J did 6 miles and Chris stayed with me for the whole run. It was a beautiful day...a wee bit windy...up to 30 mph. Sunny days just make me happy. My feet and ankles were SORE after the run, "new" (recovered) orthotics, and new shoes.

Sunday... Bike. A nice "easy" ride with my ubber cyclist friend Ruth. She truly is a ROCKSTAR on the bike, and lot's of other things too. We rode around Jordan Lake, doing about 20 miles. Averaged about 17 mph. Easy for me to draft off her!!*smiles* The sun was out...it was a little cooler, but I had layered the right way. After getting off the bike we did a quick run (about 15 minutes), and then went and grabbed lunch ($1 taco's at Qdoba)...nice!! So happy to get to spend time with my super busy friend.

Monday...swim. I got in the pool for the first time in a long while. My shoulders were a little tight after that. Then I got to HANG OUT with my Friend whom I got to swim with some more!! It was a miracle. I hadn't seen her in what felt like MONTHS...and probably was, and I got to spend 2 whole days with her. WOW. We went to the Mall...I know, so not my thing, to look for goggles, and return/exchange some things for her. Then off to get some lunch. YUM...had some Panera. After all the fun of hanging with my friend I went to meet someone to sell more stuff off Craigslist. Turned out great and more money towards my fundraising! WOO HOO! Then I went and did the nOg run. Nice warm night to do it. It was SOO AWESOME.

Forgot to take pictures of all of this. HA! That's what happens when you are just living the moment sometimes!!

Tuesday brought back the cold weather...BOO!! 30 + degree drop. Brrrrrr!!

Beautiful Weather = Less Posts

Sorry about the void in posts this weekend. I'll update soon. I've been out enjoying life. The weather has been FANTASTIC!! I've been out riding, running, riding, swimming, and running...I've also had some personal revelations that have made me feel more like me! It's been an OVERALL GREAT WEEKEND!! I'll update soon...but it's time to get some shut eye now.

Friday, Beautiful Friday

What a difference a day makes.

I woke up this morning feeling a million times better. It's amazing. I took the sweet pup to the dog park, where he played and had a good time.

I came home and changed plans to meet up with someone to buy stuff from Craigslist to 11 am rather than 4:30 pm. It was nice to meet Lisa, who is a Lymphoma survivor. She bought a lot of my stamps and was so nice to talk and share her story with me.

Then I went and met D for lunch at Qdoba. It was nice to catch up and hang out for a bit. I was supposed to meet another friend there as well and get some Girl Scout Cookies from her daughter. Except her daughter was home sick with stomach issues so she didn't make it (No Girl Scout Cookies, for me yet).

D and I then met up with E, T, and V. Don't you love using peoples initials for their names? Well D and V use them all the time, and I call E, E...but I'm not sure anyone else does. T...well, T is new to me. But he has a great blog! We did a little ride (about 18 miles). It was an easy ride, as it's been awhile since most of us had been on a bike. It was really a BEAUTIFUL DAY....77 degrees and sunny. We had to go and enjoy. Afterwards V had brought some melon to share (none for me, I'm allergic) and we chit chatted for a bit. I got T to take a quick pic of the girls.

I drove back into town and went to pick up my orthotics...all recovered. YES, I'm super happy about this. You can see that these look completely different, but they are so AWESOME!! My support is the same, but everything else has been replaced. Look here to see what they used to look like.

When I got home I took my pup for a walk, we stopped at one of his friends houses and he "played" in the back yard with him while I talked to my friend/neighbor. Her daughter came up with a cool new fashion trend. I told her she should walk around the neighborhood like this: (Alex pulled her sweatpants up and took the tie and put it around her head, then went inside to get her glasses...all the while I got my phone out and took this little gem). She's actually a very attractive teenager who was being quite silly.

I LOVE LIVING MY LIFE! TODAY WAS AWESOME!!

This Past week...YIKES it's been awhile..

So...what to say. I had a pretty NASTY sinus infection. One that threatened to kill me. Well probably not but it felt like it. I had an Amazing Monday (Valentines Day at that), where I took my second sweetheart Scout out for a mid-day run in the turning weather. It was like 60 degrees out at 11am. It was a great run, even though Scout got a little pooped out, but it was a REALLY WINDY run. The winds had picked up a ton. I also did 2 INSANITY workouts (Pure Cardio, and Cardio Abs) both of which were pretty tough. On Tuesday my world was blown. My sinus infection had stepped it up a couple of notches (probably from running in the crazy wind). My green snot would not stop flowing. I worked all day, and then I went to the pool where I DID NOT swim (I didn't think the rest of the people swimming really wanted this particular strain of infection) but I did coach our Special Olympics athletes in their first workout of the season. Then I stopped and got antibiotics. Took my first pill on Tuesday Night before I went to bed. Wednesday came and though I felt more tired that normal and a little dizzy I moved on with my day. I got the garbage out and took the recycling to the curb (I also hit my head on the pedal of my mountain bike and dented my head). I was planning on getting a run in before going to the chiropractor and getting a massage. Well I started a run (it was 31 degrees out) in which I took the most adorable dog in the world (I'm talking about Scout, not your dog). Yeah, not the most stellar of plans. I should not run with Scout in the morning if I have not taken him for his normal morning "walk" first. Scout was great, but needed to smell and pee on everything and once his "business" was done, he was ready to come on home. My nose was running non-stop, and the drainage going down my throat was terrible. After a mile of trying to make it work, Scout and I came home. I took a shower (it's important to be clean people) and went to the Chiropractors office. I came home and vegged for a little bit before going out to meet a potential craigslist buyer for some of the craft stuff I'm selling (and donating the money to my fundraising). I met my person and sold all my dies (for making die cuts) for $160, probably because my head was cloudy....should of asked for $200.

Ohh well. I don't really remember Wednesday Night...that's probably not good. Thursday I got up and went to work, but it was a HUGE struggle. I had a hard time focusing and staying awake during my morning routine. I made it to work, but I didn't feel right. I thought if I just got going I'd be fine, but I really wasn't. After working on 2 patients, I asked if I could call off the rest of the day. The schedule allowed for the combining of patients without to much hassle and I went home. I ZONKED out for a 4 hour nap/pass out. I got up to take care of Scout and pretty much vegged until I went to bed. Sleeping was hard, but I finally did.

Scrapbooking Fundraiser for a friend!

What an AWESOME day today was!!

I wasn't sure what to expect today when getting to a special fundraising crop today at Achievers. LA, a friend from when she worked at Scrapbook Plaza (a local scrapbook store...that is no longer in business) and to this day (she now works at Achievers...the mega scrapbook store). She and her husband is adopting a little girl from the Ukraine. She was fundraising for the expenses to get over there etc (the whole adoption process). They fell in love this 10 year old little girl when she came for a visit, and they got to meet her. They weren't originally planning on adopting from out of the country or adopting for a little bit. I believe they were planning on fostering a child here in N.C., but they fell in love with this little girl.

I arrived at Achievers at 11 am (the start time for the crop) I set me stuff down and got signed in. I had a great project to work on (one of my friends recently had a baby and asked me to work on an album for her) and I was ready to get started on it. None of my usual suspects were able to come crop with me today so I wasn't sure what kind of people would be at my table with me. I hoped for happy good natured people, but you never know. Well as luck would have it the 3 ladies who sat at the table with me were AWESOME. They all knew each other and they usually had another one in their group, but she couldn't make it...so I was "Becky" for the day. (a little joke). They were happy scrap partners.

This crop was $25, and it included a paper pack (you got to choose what you wanted for a grouping of them), snacks (dunkin' donuts munchkins, cupcakes, trail mix, pretzels, cheesy puffs, mini snickers bars), drinks (water, pepsi, diet pepsi, diet coke, sierra mist), and door prizes (which a ton of stuff for you to pick through as your table was called...WHAT?? Yeah it was WILD). Then you could buy raffle tickets for some "bigger ticket" items that were laid out. Raffle tickets were 1 for $1 or 6 for $5. I had an extra $10 bill, so I got 12 tickets. Let's just say I more than got my money's worth. WOW! I spent $35 for the crop ($25 for the crop, $10 for the raffle). I also bought an album at the store ($30) but I used a 30% off coupon, and I had a store credit so I spent less then $8 for it. The album is for the project for my friend.

So you wanna see the LOOT from my day of scrapping (sorry no pics from my actual work, 7 pages done, it's a private album that if she chooses to share she will). Check it out: (and sorry for the yellow pics...not sure what the deal is with that):

The Whole Sha-bang!

Speciality Paper Pack, Alphabet Pieces, paper, paper packs, frame, stickers, page pebbles, brads....

add...more stickers, paper packs, snowflake brads, buttons, more stickers, mini envelopes....

add..idea book, paper flowers, sticky titles, scrap pack, more letter stickers, tag labels, chip board letters, cork board frames,...

add...mats, pre-done paper bag album, ribbons, fibers, and tags....

So if you are one of my scrapping buddies...sorry you missed this! It was AWESOME! There is another one coming up...Sunday March 27 (11-6 pm), mark your calenders and let me know if you wanna come. I can see if LA has room for ya!

Saturday!!

Started my Saturday by sleeping in. Well sleeping in for me, 7 am. I took Scout out for a walk through the neighborhood. It was a nice relaxing morning. Then I got my stuff together for an afternoon run. I went over to Millbrook Pool to work with my Special Olympics Swimmer at the starts and turns clinic (with the premise that I would not get in the water this time...no more sinus infections). I love working with the athletes, and had a great 2 hours of working with them. After doing the clinic I came home changed my clothes and got some lunch. My head was pounding at that point. I didn't really want to go run, but I had promised my friend Jess to come do her last long run before her marathon with her, and my friend Chris was ready to go run as well. So I went and picked up Chris and we headed over to the start point, where we met up with Jess. "We" (read I) decided to run a different route (one we could bail out of if we needed), instead of the normal loop that we do. Once we started running I started feeling better...which was AWESOME. Jess did her 12 miles and Chris and I did almost 10 miles. That felt AWESOME after not doing anything all week. It was a nice day (with a lot of wind) to go for a run!

No Pics, because my head was on straight to take any pictures. So Sorry!

Cool Morning Walk....

Ohh the JOY'S of finding a tennis ball on a walk! Scout found this tennis ball 3 doors up from our house today on the way back home from our walk. (I think the tennis ball is probably from our next door neighbors yard...and got moved by another dog up the street) When Scout saw the ball he stalked it, and pounced on it. It was Adorable! So I kicked the ball and watched up jump on it a couple more times as we made our way back home! He's still a puppy at heart even though he'll be 8 years old next month.

Valentines day Pup!!

Scout got a special Valentines gift from one of his best friends grandmother's. Yeah...it's a cool M&M bandanna. He is a ROCK STAR now!! It fit perfectly and although he doesn't love wearing bandanna's like his friend Ebony...he does look pretty darn cute in it!

Cold and Hot weather in one day....

Yesterday morning...the snow started coming down, but by lunch time, it was sunny and the snow was all gone.

UCK!! Sinus Infection!!

I hate having sinus infections. I seem to get them all the time. I get them especially if I swim in one particular pool (which I know, but swam in anyways last weekend). My head is stuffy, my energy is drained, my body is sore. The last thing I want to do is be around people (even though I worked yesterday and was fine being around people). I also am having a really hard time working out. I'm not exactly sure what the protocol is. Some people say you can workout when your sick, as long as it's not blank or blank.....other people say you should always rest. I usually can figure out what's going to be best for me. I'm feeling like I really want to go for a run today....but I'm not sure my body is going to let me. ARRRGGGHHHH.

I have lot's of stuff going on this week and the weeks coming up. Lot's of meetings, events, and work. I don't have time to be sick (even just a little bit). Special Olympics starts next week, 1/2 marathon training is supposed to be in full swing, Dental Hygiene Association responsibilities are picking up..........life is busy. I'm going rest today in the hopes that I'll be feeling better and better....so I can enjoy the weekend (ready- be able to run and scrapbook)

Ohh and SNOW tomorrow....yep starting tonight and into tomorrow there is a 70% chance of snow. It's supposed to be less than an inch....but SNOW shuts down our little Mecca...so we'll see what happens!!

RANDOM PICTURES:

Me and the Old Guy from "UP" at the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon (October 2010)

Scout looking out at one of the green spaces in the neighborhood on a cold morning.

My new bike seat (saddle)...with a leopard print and white butterfly (not what my old saddle looked like, but I guess when you get a saddle replaced because of defect in it you just get what they give you??)

Saturday Fun....turns into Monday not so much fun.

Saturday was a Fun and Fantastic day! I started my day off by going to help out with Special Olympics (swimming) doing the breast stroke clinic from 10-12pm. The athletes and their parents/care-givers are amazing. I love being a part of this program. I however do not love the pool that the stroke clinic was at. Thankfully the normal workouts are not at this pool. For some reason every time I swim at Millbrook Pool (in Raleigh) I get a nasty sinus infection. After Special Olympics I went to my friend Jenn's house to hang out with her and her fam. I spent a really nice afternoon hanging out with my friend, her two boys, and her hubby. After all that fun I went to a Girl's Night at my friend Kim's house and drank a lot of wine.

Yesterday was Super Bowl.......and normal Super Bowl stuff happened....watching of the game and eating of yummy food. Jason made stew! SOOO GOOD!!

Today, I woke with...guess what??....a really nasty sinus infection. Dang that pool. Missed out on my run today, but hopefully will back into the swing of things again soon. I did get out and took Scout to the dog park, and I dropped my orthotics off to be recovered. Then I came home and slept and blew my nose a bunch.

Help me raise money by eating at Moe's!

Please print this flyer and bring it to Moe's

Welcome to Moe’s

When: FEBRUARY 23, 2011…All Day!

Where: These Moe’s Southwest Grill locations:

*127 Weston Pkwy., (The Arboretum) Cary

*7850 Alexander Promenade Pl. (Brier Creek) Raleigh

*6807 Fayetteville Rd., (Renaissance Center) Durham

Why: I’m training for the Alaska Marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s mission to fight blood cancer!! Please go to any of the Moe’s Southwest Grill locations listed above and have lunch or dinner, turn this in at the cash register, and 20% of your purchase will be donated toward my fundraising goal.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELPING ME TO SAVE LIVES!!!

Chrissy Harlow

Help me raise money buy eating at Moe's!

Welcome to Moe’s

When: FEBRUARY 23, 2011…All Day!

Where: These Moe’s Southwest Grill locations:

*127 Weston Pkwy., (The Arboretum) Cary

*7850 Alexander Promenade Pl. (Brier Creek) Raleigh

*6807 Fayetteville Rd., (Renaissance Center) Durham

Why: I’m training for the Alaska Marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s mission to fight blood cancer!! Please go to any of the Moe’s Southwest Grill locations listed above and have lunch or dinner, turn this in at the cash register, and 20% of your purchase will be donated toward my fundraising goal.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELPING ME TO SAVE LIVES!!!

Chrissy Harlow

10 mile Cold Rainy day run.

WOW!! It was EPIC today. Cold, rainy, yucky morning. In fact there was freezing rain. So, so, so didn't want to run this morning. Not even a little bit. But I had told Jess I would meet her for the last 10 miles of her 14 mile run and I knew I had to be there. Jess and I texted a little bit in the morning, her not wanting to really run, me saying I could just go back to bed...etc etc etc. But in the end we met up at 9 am (or shortly after because of traffic woes), and started off on the big block (10 mile run). It was COLD. Really, really cold. I'm glad I had my rain jacket (it's a bright yellow cycling jacket). The run was good, cold, hard at times, and EPIC!!! Good for us getting out there and doing this run.

These pics are from our brunch at IHOP afterwards.

After brunch (and coming home to take a warm shower, and load my bike up) I ran around and got stuff done. I went to Trysports and got re-fit on my bike with the new saddle. I was going to buy shoes there too, but they only had last years model (the ones I trained in all last summer) and they wanted me to pay full price for them. Ummm no. Sauvy shoe shoppers know, that running shoes actually lose their support (in the foam) from pounding the pavement, but also from time spent on the shelf. If you want me to pay full price for a pair of sneakers, they better be new...as in this years model, that hasn't been sitting on your shelf for the last 6 months. (Okay that rant is over) Then I went to my old foot doctor's office to see about replacing/?? my orthotics. Turns out they can re-cover them for about $45. It takes a week and a half to get them back....but $45 as opposed to $500! SCORE!! I should of just left them, but I'll take them in on Monday! I'm excited about it!

When I got home from all that I went to take the Pup out for his walk, but it got cut short because my right knee was killing me. So I came home and put the ice pack on it. It's feeling a little bit better. We'll see as the day/ weekend progresses.

Edit: in the first mile one of my great friends saw us running while she was driving home from the vet, she pulled over and came running up to us. I love the support of my wonderful friends!! YAY!! I got to come over and love on her sweet pups ( a couple of Scout's best friends) before we went off to finish the run!

Sunny Windy Wednesday Run!!

Wednesday Weather was Fantastic!! 70 degrees, overcast (I know that doesn't sound fantastic, but it was). I met Jess at Trysports and we did a seven and a half mile run. It was AWESOME. This has been a really cold winter. So the break even though it was only 1 day, was so great! I wore shorts, a tank top, and a lot of sweat! It being overcast was good because at least the sun wasn't beating down. The only downside was the wind. It was really really windy.

7.45 miles, Average pace: 10:20, Fastest pace: 8:34, Climb: 144 feet, Calories: 761