Virtual G.N.O

Tonight, I'm very excited about my Friday night home alone. I've got TV shows to watch, blogs to write, cleaning to do, and digital scrapbooking to create. Oh, and some homework to do as well.

It's gonna be a busy night. :-)



This week's party question: Did you go to dances while you were in Middle School and/or middle school age?

I went to a few school dances that I can remember. They were disastrous! I was very shy and uncomfortable. Definitely was a wallflower.

What about you? Were you a Dancing Queen? Or a Wall Flower? Or something in between?

Pop on over to Ann Again ... and again... to join in the fun.

Happy Valentine's weekend.

Oops!

Tonight I stopped at two stores on my way home. The first stop didn't have what I wanted, so I hustled on to my next stop.

I had quite a scare while driving through one parking lot. I was on the road that runs through the lot, and a van came speeding up toward me. It did not appear to be slowing at all, let alone stopping. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

I thought, "Come on, white van! Get a clue. It's nighttime. You need to have your lights on!"

And on I went.

As I was crawling through the parking lot of my actual intended store, there was a cop walking out of the store. He motioned to me to turn on my lights. Wait, what? My lights are totally on.

I looked down to my dash, and lo, and behold, my little indictor light was, in fact, not illuminating.

OOPS!!

Flashback Friday: Brr...It's COLD

What's a girl to do on a COLD Friday night at the end of January?

Flashback to a cold, winter night in 1987, of course.

Warming ourselves by the fire.

Hmmm...that doesn't seem to be working...

How about a little wrestling? That's should definitely warm us up.

Now what???

Ok. We look ridiculous!! What were we thinking? Blue thermal top TUCKED into thermal bottoms? Printed socks in the ugliest slippers ever? Red puffy gloves really top it off!

BUT every time I look at these pictures, I LAUGH! Seriously. I've got to publish this post, so I can stop the laughter.

Virtual G.N.O.

I've been a terrible blogger in 2010. In fact, this is my first post of the new year.

I stumbled upon Ann's blog,
 .

This week, I'm totally game!

Her game this week is to discover your inner librarian.

My Librarian's Alter Ego name is: Bubbles Featherbottom

My husband is out at his bi-weekly gaming session, so I'm home all alone. I thought I'd spend the evening...

...Doing some blogging...

...Ripping some music from my old CDs...

...Sorting/organizing my photos from our recent trip to the Caribbean...

Don't forget to visit Ann's blog to join in on the fun!

Here's to the weekend! Whoo hoo!!

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

But I just can't help it!

It's no secret that both Jeff and I LOVE waterfalls, as described here and here.

For me, it's almost even stronger than love. Is that possible? Is anything stronger than love? It is what binds us, after all.

For me, it's almost like a drug. If I'm out for a walk or in a park, and I hear the sound of rushing water, I can't help but go. chase. that. waterfall!! I keep listening and walking...and listening and walking...until I finally find it!

This past summer, I even convinced Jeff to make a pitstop on our road trip to check out the waterfalls in Sioux Falls, SD. You can read about that here.

A few weeks back, I took Sallie for a walk. I heard the unmistakably, wonderful sound of a waterfall, but I couldn't find it. anywhere.

Today, we went out again but this time hiked even closer to the river.

There it was again. An ever-so-slight, but deliciously exhilarating, sound of rushing water. It didn't take me too long to gasp at the beauty as I turned my head.

There it was!! Complete with icicles. Wow.

Now I didn't happen to have my camera with me - just my phone.

If you look real close, in the back center, you can see two streams of water going over the small cliff.

The camera on my phone doesn't have a zoom, so I knew that I needed to get closer.

Down we hiked. Sallie and I.

Closer. But still not good enough to satisfy my need.

Down. Down. Down.

Finally I could get a shot from the front.

This shot was difficult to get because Sallie, does not get my fascination with waterfalls. She was trying her darnedest to get back up the hill. Guess it reminds her too much of getting a bath. Something she does. not. enjoy.

Back at the top of the hill, I tried to capture one last shot of some icicles. Gorgeous!

I realize they are a little difficult to discern (darn no-zooming-camera-phone), but trust me. They are there. Kind of dead center, hanging from the blob of greenery.

We ♥ Tooshies

This is my 1st ever time entering an I ♥ Faces photography challenge. I've seen some friends enter on their blogs in the past but never attempted one myself.

This week's themes, We ♥ Tooshies, was really intriguing to me. I, immediately, thought of this great picture I have of me walking with one of my cousin's daughters. It's SO cute. However, it was taken before digital photography became so prevalent, so it's an actual photo, and not easily uploaded into blogger (as I'd need to find it and then upload it).

Instead, I sifted through my folders upon folders of digital photographs, and found this one.

This is my 13-year-old niece’s first soccer game. ever.

She was awesome, of course.

I love how this photo captures the motion of her run.

Pop on over to I ♥ Faces to find some other fun tooshies.

A New Start

One of the things that I've really enjoyed about being a student again was the flexibility that I have with my sleep. I don't have to set an alarm! I can get up whenever I wake up! I can stay up late and sleep in late!

This past weekend, I came to an epiphany that maybe this isn't the best thing in the world.

I have way too much studying and other things to do in a day that I rarely accomplish all of my goals. This does not lead to positive feelings of self-worth.

So...

This week, I decide to try out something new. My dog, Sallie, generally wakes me up several times throughout the night. I can't give in to her all the time, so I choose to ignore her until after 6am - breakfast time. I used to barely open my eyes, turn on as few lights as possible, quickly put her food in her dish, and crawl back into bed. This week, I decided I'd try staying up after I feed her. Today's my first day; I stayed up WAY too late Sunday night in order to start this new habit Monday morning. :-)

Right now, my eyes are feeling quite heavy, but I'm hopeful of my day. After doing a little blogging, I plan to get my exercising out of the way before Jeff wakes up. That should wake me up and give me the boost to do what I need to do today, right?!

Settling In...

We've moved into our new apartment, and it's slowly becoming our new home. I'll probably post more pictures later as our decorating progresses, but this one showcases my favorite new toy! I've wanted a piano for a very long time. Regular pianos are such a pain to move (and we move a lot), but I've really been enjoying this keyboard. It has weighted keys like a regular piano, plus I can plug in headphones, so my practicing doesn't bother anyone else in our building.

This isn't a very artistic photo, but it does provide a little glimpse into our new home...music and books. :-)

Walking Log

I don't have any stats for this post, but I certainly did A LOT of walking yesterday.

It was my dad's birthday, and we decided to take our annual pilgrimage to the Great MN Get Together. We are all day fair-goers. We arrived at the fair around 7am and left around 10pm.

It was non-stop walking all. day. long.

There were a few pauses here and there as we ate, decided what to do/where to go next, and there was quite a bit of standing.

What there wasn't much of was sitting.

It was still great fun! I LOVE the fair!!

Walking Log

Ok. So, I haven't been very good about updating my walking log.

Truth be told, I haven't been very going about walking either.

The week after my last walking log entry, my family took a trip to a lake up near Ely, MN. It was great fun! I went canoeing, and hiking, and swimming! There were also quite a few moments of relaxation enjoing the beauty of the outdoors.

Here's a few stats:

August 10th (my 32nd birthday)
I was hoping to go for a hike on my birthday, but the sky looked a little ominous. Jeff and I took out a canoe instead. The battery in my Garmin died a little less than half way, but here is what the canoe trip was like before that.

Canoe Time: 1:10:30
Canoe Distance: 3.06mi
Avg Pace: 23:01/mi
Calories: 416

Well, actually Jeff did most of the work; I'm not the greatest canoeist.

August 11
This was the first hike of the trip. I was accompanied by my sister and 3 nieces. We hiked the Bass Lake trail to the Dry Falls. It was very hilly! A great workout! It was quite a busy trail, and when we got to the end, there were quite a few people playing in the falls and swimming in the lake. Not quite what I was hoping for at the end of our hike. It was still great fun to spend time outside with the girls.

Run Time: 1:27:12
Run Distance: 3.01mi
Avg Pace: 43.26/mi
Calories: 139

August 13
This was the second hike of our trip. It was the same people with the addition of my dad. This time we hiked the trip to Big Moose Lake. It was so much fun! The trail was riddled with wild blueberry plants. There was no one else on the trail, and the lake at the end was absolutely gorgeous! So clear and still. We paused for a while at the lake--eating some snacks and dipping our feet in the lake. It was wonderful.

Run Time: 2:23:15
Run Distance: 4.40mi
Avg Pace: 32:32/mi
Calories: 628

Join me!

Dear Friends: I've started the Drop a Jeans Size challenge on FitnessMagazine.com. Please join me so we can be workout buddies and cheer each other on.

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/app/ycdi/?esrc=emycdifriend

P.S. Once you join the Drop a Jeans Size challenge, don't forget to add me as a buddy so we can keep track of each other's progress!

Walking Log: Day 9

Oops! Day 9 was back on July 23. I can't remember that long ago, so I can't tell you anything about my walk.

However, I can share my stats. Thank goodness my Garmin has good history record-keeping abilities.

Today's Stats (from 7/23):
Run Time: 35:45
Run Distance: 2.11mi
Avg Pace: 16:55/mi
Calories: 202

Walking Log: Day 8

Today's walk was really great. This time, I walked down to I-35E and walked along the bike path. I only wanted to do 3 miles today, so I turned around about halfway across the river.

I wanted to try to prevent any major shin pain, so I stopped to stretch at each mile.

Today's Stats:
Run Time: 50:15
Run Distance: 3.06mi
Avg Pace: 16:26/mi
Calories: 322

I also did some Wii Fit Yoga and Strength training today.

Walking Log: Day 7

I decided to supplement my walking regiment with some Wii Fit today. I warmed up with some yoga exercises that targeted my lower body. When I returned from my walk, I did a few lower body strength exercises.

Today, I decided to really push myself with my pace and not go as far of a distance. Normally I have the pace alert set on my Garmin at the walk setting, which is 20:00/mi, but today I set it at the speed walk setting, which is 16:00/mi. I could really feel the difference.

I decided I would only go for 2 miles today. It was tough! After the 1st mile, I had terrible shin pain (this is what keeps me from running), PLUS I was so hot and sweaty (and it's not even that hot this morning). I decided to stop and stretch a little before heading back home. This worked immensely. The shin pain was barely noticeable by the time I returned. I did have a little ankle pain, but no big deal!

Today's Stats
Run Time: 29:21
Run Distance: 1.95mi
Avg Pace: 15:01/mi
Calories: 200

Walking Log: Day 6

I tried to keep it a little slow today, to ease myself into the new week. I'm still working on exploring Crosby Farm Park. I believe I read somewhere that there is almost 7 miles of paved trails within this park, so it may take me awhile to fully explore. If I ever feel brave enough, I may explore the unpaved trails as well. There seem to be quite a few.

Today's Stats:
Run Time: 52:15
Run Distance: 3.05mi
Avg Pace: 17:08/mi
Calories: 291

Walking Log: Day 5

I'm still feeling the burn a little from Wednesday's walk, but I really wanted to see what walking through the park would really be like from one end to the other. I had to take yesterday off because I got a temp assignment for the day. Starting work at 8am just doesn't allow me enough time to go for a walk in the morning. Turns out, it was only 1 mile less than when I did the loop. I did it at a much slower pace today, though. Hopefully my rest tomorrow will rejuvenate my body to begin another week of good walking next week.

Today's Stats:
Run Time: 1:08:14
Run Distance: 3.85mi
Avg Pace: 17:45/mi
Best Pace: 11:35/mi
Calories: 391

Week's Stats:
Run Time: 4:45:37
Run Distance: 16.3
Calories: 1304

Walking Log: Day 4

I am so achy and sore from my LONG power walk yesterday. I could have easily justified taking a day off, but I know that would make it twice as difficult to motivate myself to go out tomorrow. Instead, I decided to try to slow down my pace a bit and only go for two miles.

It was still a tough workout for me! I know the benefits will be great in the long run--if I can stick to it. :-)

Today's Stats
Run Time: 34:42
Run Dist: 2.02mi
Avg Pace: 17:10/mi
Best Pace: 10:37/mi
Calories: 197

Walking Log: Day 3

WOW! My walk today did not turn out to be what I'd intended.

I wanted to walk somewhere different than yesterday. We live close to Lake Crosby, and Jeff and I walked to the lake and around the park a little back in April. That walk had ended with us scaling a wall. This time I wanted to walk from one end of the park to the other.

Here is a map of the park. I entered at the end opposite of where the marker is, and I wanted to come out where the A was.

View Larger Map

It seemed to be taking a LONG time, and I was getting a little frustrated. I hadn't intended on walking nearly 5 miles today! BUT, if you're lost in a park, you have no option but to keep on trekking.

When I finally got to what I thought was the end, I asked someone if I was at Shepherd Rd. He confirmed it, but as we talked, I was informed, that I was back at the point where I'd entered the park.

Somehow going straight (or what I'd supposed was straight) had brought me full circle!

I have now found a map online that shows the trails in this park. I'll need to study it before I attempt tackling this park again!

Today's Stats:
Run Time: 1:15:09
Run Dist: 4.88mi
Avg Pace: 15:24/mi
Best Pace: 8:51/mi
Calories: 428

I was surprised at how many wild rhubarb plants I saw in the park. It's out of season now, but do you think they'd mind if I helped myself next year? :-)

Part of the trail was in a marsh, so it wasn't paved but a boardwalk had been constructed. There were snakes everywhere! I tried to find out what kind they were, but it was too creepy for me to look through photos online to find one that looked that the ones in the park. Also, whenever I caught a glimpse of one, I usually averted my eyes as quickly as possible. I never really knew how icky I thought snakes were. At least I was relatively calm and didn't shriek or anything!

Walking Log: Day 2

Perhaps one day this will become a running log.

Yesterday morning, I decided I really needed to become more active. There are some pounds I'd definitely like to shed. Since I can't run (stupid shins!), I decided that I would begin taking Sallie for a nice long walk every morning.

Day 1 was yesterday. I didn't have any batteries for my Garmin, so I don't have any stats for yesterday's walk. I do know that my walk was nearly exactly 60 min.

Today, Day 2, my Garmin was all set. I went the exact same route, so I'd know how far I went yesterday.

Today's Stats:
Run Time: 47:32
Run Distance: 2.75mi
Avg Pace: 17:15/mi
Best Pace: 12:19/mi
Calories: 288

Do I have a LIFE??

I found this on my friend's blog.

Lists are fun, right? So, I thought I'd check to see how many movies on this list I'd seen. Apparently, if you've seen more than 85 (out of the 237 movies), you have no life.

Let's see how I did. I've marked the ones I've seen.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
(X) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane

( ) The Princess Bride
(X) Anchorman
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates

(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie

( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer

(X) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) Butterfly Effect

(X) 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed

(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(X) Joe Dirt
(X) KING KONG
(X) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber

( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(X) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
(X) Surviving X-MAS
(X) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

(X) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
(X) Secret Window
(X) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
(X) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow

( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
(X) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
(X) Coach Carter

( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve

(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(X) Curious George

(X) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(X) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds

(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After

(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
( ) TheTerminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X-3
(X) Spider-Man

(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
(X) Reign of Fire
(X) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions

( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
(X) Old School
(X) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
(X) Krippendorf’s Tribe

(X) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
( ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
(X) American History X
( ) Three

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension

( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill vol 1

( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions

( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(X) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

Apparently, I have no life.

Of course with only having seen 116 of these movies, I haven't even seen half the list...

That should say something, right?