Self-Portrait Saturday/Triathlon Training/Birthday Weekend Super Update!

Let's begin this massive insta-update...

1. Saturday Self-Portrait: Birthday Weekend Edition

In case you haven't noticed, I'm the happiest when I'm playing outside. The first picture is from after a training run. The second is from lounging around on the grass with my lil' Nipsy. 

2. Camping! Summer is on, it's SO ON.

Playing outside with a plastic bat and a super ball followed by tetherball. My friends are the best.  

Guitar singing followed by reading the dirty parts of Fifty Shades of Grey around the fire with emotion. 

Pods!

One dog. One string of drool. No towel. 

Attempting to use one of our dogs as a pillow. 

Ladder ball in the dark.

Wet cooler birthday cake! Ah well, it's the thought that counts. And what a sweet thought it was.

Hannah Bear dug a spot under the trailer because she had too much camping fun.  

Toffee almonds and sister love. I ate almost the whole bag... worth it.

I did not get to swim across Rose Lake this weekend. Between the white caps and the boat traffic I decided I wanted to live to celebrate my 30th birthday. ;) I've got all summer!

3. Training Update: Week 5 of 6

Ahhhh! We are one week out from the tri!

Monday: 21 minute swim, 42 minute bike- Got it done thanks to D-Webb, the best training partner ever. 
Tuesday: 23 minute run- Done on a trail. I think I'm going to keep trail running on Tuesdays. It just flows, ya know? "Trail Run Tuesday?" I ended up running for 35 minutes. It was just so beautiful outside!
Wednesday: 77 minute bike- I rode to the lake by our house, practiced in the open water, and rode home. The swim was about 15 minutes long and the bike took 80 minutes. I also did something embarrassing that you can read about here.
Thursday: 31 minute run, 39 minute swim- The run happened outside in 88 degree weather. Whew!!! The swim happened inside and it was fabulous. 
Friday: Off- I didn't do anything on this day except take a nap, eat a vegan oatmeal whoopie pie, and see The Hubs play a show later in the evening. It was a great Friday!!
Saturday: Off- I ran for 35 minutes around our camping area. It was hard to want to run once I got to the campsite and saw my cooler sitting there and calling my name. However, I did it!
Sunday: 39 minute run- This didn't happen. It was rainy and blah outside.

Monday: 14 minute swim, 28 minute bike- Part of this happened. I practiced open water swimming for 20 minutes. Much more refreshing than sweating in 95 degree heat! And guess what?!?! I'm 29 now!!!! WOOOO!!!! This is gonna be the best year ever!

The Plan: Week 6 of 6 AKA THE WEEK BEFORE THE TRI!!!!!!!

I am attempting to taper this week. I've never tapered before and it seems odd to cut way back but I'm going to try it out so I don't injure myself. I want to ensure that I'm totally ready. 

Tuesday: 30 minute run

Wednesday: 46 minute bike, 14 minute run

Thursday: 19 minute run, 30 minute easy swim

Friday: Relaxing and eating some carbs (any suggestions on night before race meals?)

Saturday: IT'S HERE!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! I'm so excited.

Sunday: I'll be resting from kicking so much ass. 

Two weeks left until the end of the school year. I am about to be crushed by a crazy mountain of grading. I need to mentally prepare myself for the amount of grading I'm about to do. On the bright side... by the end of the week I hope I will be able to say that I finished a sprint triathlon! Woo!


Now I need some help: What do you do to get ready for a triathlon? What do you eat the night before? For breakfast? What is something I need that I might not know I need?

Self-Portrait Saturday... Sunday Edition

Yesterday was a reminder of how awesome life is, so my Self-Portrait Saturday post is a day late. 

Worth it!

Saturday's self-portrait is sprinkled in between a few other pictures of my awesome day. Yesterday, I woke up early to take full advantage of a gorgeous Michigan Saturday. I headed to the farmer's market with family, got my produce (and some goodies) for the week, hit up a few garage sales, and got breakfast. 

Never mind taking photos of the kale, spinach, mushrooms, and fresh eggs I purchased from the farmer's market. I got a soft molasses cookie and some great garage sale records. Day complete.

Four different kinds of benedicts: Homemade corned beef, ham, bacon and spinach, tomato and artichoke.  We titled this picture "Benedict Porn." 

Then I headed home to do laundry, grade, and clean. But why do chores on a 88 degree day in May? I said "pissshhawwww" to chores and headed to Lake Michigan to indulge in sunshine, microbrews, sand, and ice cold lake water.

I was dog sitting Gaia while my babies were out of town.  She can barely move today but we had a blast!

Beer portrait: Just one Short's Controversiale and I'm a happy girl.

I got home from the lake with 20 minutes to spare until my prom dinner date with Danielle. I quickly rinsed the sand off, curled my hair, slapped on some lip gloss, and headed downtown to chaperone the prom.

Self-portrait: A slight duck lip makes my hair look better, right? 

I may be a jeans, converse, and t-shirt wearing gal but I LOVE getting dressed up-- prom was the perfect opportunity to wear my cool H&M dress with nude heels. One of my students said, "You look like you belong in a Nicolas Spark's movie." Compliment? I'm going to take it as a compliment because that means Ryan Gosling is somewhere in the mix and that makes me happy.

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Reminded me of the lace on my wedding dress. Can't wait to wear this again!

Classic dress. Classic balloon arch.

A bird's eye view of prom, although I wouldn't want to be an actual bird stuck in the mass that was the dance floor.

Want to relive your prom? No? You can have a piece of the class of 2012's. 

All in all, it was a charmed day. Weekends like this make it hard for me to get anything productive (chores, grading, decision-making, and lesson plans) done. However, I would argue that I was extremely productive at having a great time.

Self-Portrait(s) Saturday

This weekend we are out of town visiting family. This means that I am hanging out with the Niece and Nephew AKA The Kids Who Made Me Like Kids.

I've got a series of pictures today for Self-Portrait Saturday:

Hanging on the floor with my dog children. Oh my, I love them so much.

The dogs had a tough week. After years of us knowing that we should invest the money into a dental cleaning, they finally went in for a cleaning (thanks a lot, tax refund) and came home minus some teeth. Let me explain what I mean by "some" teeth. I mean that Hannah (the one in between my legs) had two teeth taken out-- one was broken and one was rotten. Nipsy had SEVENTEEN of thirty-six teeth taken out. The vet said every time he poked one he noticed there was puss coming out of it or the dental tool just sunk right into it. When we rescued Nipsers, we knew that she had been abused, running around homeless, and malnourished.  I had no idea her teeth were so bad and I feel horrible for not getting this taken care of sooner. Poor babe. They are both on soft food while their gums heal. I wonder if Nipsy will be able to eat her regular dry food now that she is missing half of her teeth?

Now for my favorite children on this wonderful Saturday: Niece and Nephew

This Saturday night, we babysat for a few hours and I attempted to put Niece to sleep for the first time. 

I put on my She & Him Pandora station, gave her the bottle her mama left for me, and proceeded to rock her to sleep. It only took ten minutes!

My kid skills are improving. I hope I put her diaper on correctly and Mom and Dad don't wake to pee leaking out of the sides of her diaper. 

After I Googled "how to move a sleeping baby into a crib" and "which side do babies sleep on?" because I really don't know, I got up and just set her into her crib. She curled up into a little ball with her butt sticking up in the air, sighed, and was fine.

Then I spent some time with my lil' bestie, the Nephew:

This is after I resorted to us playing with my iPhone because I was so tired. How are people parents?

This little guy always makes me feel so good about myself. He makes up songs about me, follows me around, laughs at everything I do, and always ensures that someone pulls up a chair for me next to his high chair. Sure, earlier that afternoon we had to work through three meltdowns where he was being cray for no reason, but he still loved us by the end of the night. I like being an aunt.

I'm still not ready to be a parent and I don't know if I'll ever be but I think you just do stuff and you figure it out along the way-- all while hoping that you don't mess up too badly. I'm happy just holding kids, playing with them, making them say silly things, and then giving them back.

I started this post when it was Saturday and now it's Sunday. In light of this motherly post, happy Mother's Day to all pet moms and people moms, but especially to my Mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and the lovely moms-to-be (whether it's a matter of hours, days, or months) in my life.

Hi Mom, thanks for being the strongest.

Self-Portrait Saturday

Inspired by Dana at Wonder Forest, I've decided to participate in Self-Portrait Saturdays. To me, this means that when I remember to take a picture of myself on Saturdays I will do it-- no matter what I'm wearing, how my hair looks, or where I am.

 

Today's self-portrait is coming to you from our couch after I watched The Office instead of vacuuming, grading papers, writing lesson plans, or doing laundry:

Confession: I didn't wash my hair today. Whatevs.

I finally had a Saturday to myself without a school activity and I spent it eating samples at the first Farmer's Market of the season, hunting for deals at a huge neighborhood garage sale in town, scoring free and cheap swag at a runner's expo, on the couch weighing the pros and cons of finding a new job, and cheering on my friend Alana at the roller derby. I love free time because I fill it with a bunch of other stuff to do besides work and cleaning.

A glimpse into my fun-filled Saturday: I got a sweet new Michigan running shirt, flowers, my 5k race bib, and some Jelly Belly Sport Beans with caffeine.

The couch felt great after all of the aforementioned activity.

Tomorrow is my first 5k since knee surgery in 2008. I hope I finish without effing something up. I'll never forget the sound of my patella tearing. I'm aiming for finishing under 30 minutes. Six years ago I was clocking in at around 24 minutes. Maybe I'll get there again someday.

I'm off to bed to rest up for tomorrow! After I finish the 5k I'm going to ride my bike along the half marathon path until I find my inspiring runner friends and scream lots of encouragement at them. 

I'll leave you with a picture of my new favorite gift-- another item I found in town on my very productive Saturday: Men Crying Magnets. 

Enjoy. I don't know what it is about a man crying that cracks me up so much, but I think these are hilarious:

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Goodnight!