Week in review

It's been a great week overall...even though it didn't always feel like it!

First:  I finished my 2 summer classes!  6 more credits finished, which puts me at 12 total so far this year.  I spent almost 8 hours working on stuff Wednesday but it's ALL done.  I'm not sure I'll make to the 20, I've heard that the class I'm registered for this fall is really tough.  But, I'm more than halfway finished with this goal which is HUGE.  P.S. I got As!

2nd:  I am completely moved in, though not entirely unpacked and organized.  Things are moving slowly in the right direction.

3rd:  Another new restaurant!  We went to Iron Horse in Westwood, NJ on Wednesday with a friend of Officer BF's from the army.  It was a good time and the food was good.  We had sandwiches (yummy Reuben!) and the boys split wings.

4th:  I made it to the gym 3 times and went running this week!  I went to spinning twice and cardio kick-boxing.  The kick-boxing is fun and a great full body workout, I think.  I am back on track and have officially lost all the weight I gained on vacation and then some.  Yup, that's right, I'm officially down 10lbs.  That's the halfway point!!!

We're leaving in a bit to go upstate to spend some time with bf's family.  His nephew is getting bigger by the day so I'm looking forward to some baby time while he's still a baby.  There's a pool at his mom's house so I going to work on my tan as much as the upstate sun will allow.  My running stuff is also packed and ready to go....can't lose momentum on the workout streak!

Have a great weekend!

Last Full Week is DONE!

The end is in sight!  We have finished 170 days of school and have 1 full day and 9 half days left.  And, in a humid building without air conditioning...this is a VERY big deal.  Oh, and this building is filled with 2300 students from 6-8th grade so it smells amazing.  Love Spell, Axe and that special middle school scent...yuck!

Anyway, it was a very good week at school.  We watched Drumline with the band and Fame with the 8th grade chorus.  I think the kids liked the movies and some of them might even have found the idea of continuing music beyond middle school a good one.  I like that they both show how much work it can take to be successful, how reading music is important and that sometimes there are sacrifices that need to be made to achieve your goals.

Office BF is off to the army this weekend and I'm looking forward to a quiet day at home tomorrow.  I have to head to the gym and make a cake for a family BBQ Sunday but otherwise I don't have anything to do.  Catching up on DVRs, cleaning, playing fetch with Hazel are all on my list of stuff that I want to do.

Sunday morning we're heading out as a family to run across the GWB to help fight cancer.  We're running and walking in support of my brother-in-law Greg who is currently fighting melanoma.  It should be a good morning, though I am not looking forward to getting up at 6am!  Grossness!!  Then again, I shouldn't complain about getting up early with everything that cancer patients live through, I have it pretty good overall.  Guess it'll be early to bed tomorrow night...

And just in case anyone who reads this would like to lend their support to our cause, check out my website.  I love their idea that we can cure cancer and celebrate more birthdays, which is a reason for more cake!  And we know how much I love cake, more specifically, the icing.  There's an awful pic of me running (sort of) as inspiration, haha!  DetermiNation: Running to Save Lives!

I love the weekends!

What a great weekend!!

Friday night was dinner at Garrison's in Montgomery.  (One more new restaurant!) Paddy, Heather and I shared homemade fried pickles and soft shelled crabs as appetizers and I had a very yummy skate wing for dinner.  It was accompanied by basil pesto mashed potatoes that were out of this world!  All the food was absolutely delish and made the hour drive well worth it.

Saturday was my morning to lounge and I did just that.  TV, fetch with the cat, good coffee.  I'm very easy to please most of the time!

I did a bunch of errands Saturday afternoon, bought a new nose ring, got a mani-pedi (french toes to spoil myself a bit), stopped at the farm market for some fresh produce and did a mini-workout.  Had to keep it easy to prep for Sunday morning's 10K.  Which I did...and then ruined by going out with Megan, Linda and Heather for dinner at The Captain's Table in Monroe and ended up being out until midnight!  Silly girls!  But, had a good time and even got to see some of my friends from Orange Cty later that night at the Right on Red show at GW's in Chester.

Sunday was 10K time!!  I did alright, thought not as well as I'd hoped.  It was the Marisa 10K at Rockland Lake, the proceeds go towards finding less damaging cures for cancer.  I ran a 1:11 which is a bit slow but better than not running at all.  I guess the 1:08 was really more like 6 miles even, not 6.2.  Possibly the best part of the race was when I was finishing my first of two laps and got passed by a flying green tank top....the man who won.  He ran the whole race in the time it took me to do the first half!!!  Totally insane and something I'll never be able to do, but I do admire that talent in others.  I often say that I'm not a great, fast or naturally gifted runner, I'm just stubborn.  BTW, who came up with mid-race photos as a good idea?  I look like death in all of the ones taken of me!!!

Sunday night officer BF came back from his weekend in the reserves and we had dinner with friends in Port Chester.  Can't tell you the name of the restaurant, but it was great!  It was Spanish-style cuisine, so we had ceviche to start and some stuffed clams and my chicken with mushrooms had tostones as a side.  I love those things!  Officer BF had a perfectly cooked steak with blue cheese sauce...heavenly!!  The company was excellent, we always have a good time with Will and Michelle.  Side note, looked up the name...it's Brisa Marina Bar & Grill.  I highly recommend it!!!

Today it's back to work.  It's a short week and I'm going to see Bon Jovi Wednesday night so hopefully it will go quickly.  Long weekend here we come!!

Another loss and something gained

I'm down another 1.6lbs as of this morning!!  I was nervous getting on the scale and I think I actually said "Yes!" out loud when I saw the numbers.  Yes, I talk to myself and the cat when I'm home alone.  It's dorky but it keeps Hazel and I happy. 

Hazel woke me up in the middle of the night with an upset tummy, gross!!  I hate it when I get woken up because it's so hard for me to get back to sleep.  My mind starts spinning and I can't turn it off.  Anyone out there have that same issue?  Any suggestions to make it stop??

I've been working hard the past week to stay on track with food which is my biggest weakness.  I love it!!  I've tried to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies and avoid the bad stuff.  This was made more challenging by birthday parties, leftovers and social gatherings.  But, if I keep up with the workouts some of the little slips seem to be forgiven.  So, not as big a loss as last week, but still a very respectable number.

I had another shooting lesson and I'm really starting to enjoy it.  It's amazing what success will do for your confidence level.  I'm lucky to have a very patient teacher in Officer BF.  I'm not a good student because I get frustrated easily when I don't have immediate success.  He keeps me focused and has really helped me feel more comfortable with what I'm doing.  I'll be honest, I love the Sig!

I'm working on finishing up my last paper for my 2nd graduate class.  Educational Supervision and Accountability is a real challenge and trying to write from the perspective of an administrator as opposed to a teacher is proving tough.  I'll get it, just need to keep plugging away at it.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with this degree when I finish it I'm hoping that I'll get some clarity as I keep working.

Off to finish off my school day, teach a lesson and then hit the gym.  It's rainy and gross so I'm hoping for a nice run tomorrow.