Friday Factoids.

Clearly nothing I ever say on Friday is earth shattering but then again not much I say here is EVER earth shattering…  But this Friday I feel so very devoid of factoids to type up I feel like I am at a loss!  So instead, here is a list of things I am loving at the moment! (read: this week, will likely change next)

1.  The Olympics!  No surprise there but I have somehow not gotten to watch much this week because of evening activities so I feel like this weekend will be extra full of them!  Go Team USA!  Plus track & field start this weekend!

2. My bike  I’m so happy that this is finally clicking a lot more for me and I am not struggling nearly as much as I was that first week!  I’m planning to do my long weekend ride this afternoon because my work is closing at 12:30 for our annual picnic (which I am skipping)!  I’m shooting for somewhere over 20 miles – hopefully 25-28 or whatever my legs can tolerate.

3. Ice Tea Lemonade from Starbucks!  It’s especially good with passion tea and I get it unsweetened because the lemonade is sweet enough to me!  Such a glass of summer! (I keep typing Lemonaid.  Really, Kinley?)

Plus it’s a pretty color!

4. Kit’s Organic Fruit and Nut Bars.  I know I said this last week but yesterday I had the Chocolate Almond Coconut and about died and went to heaven.  These things are ridiculously good!!!  Like German Chocolate Cake but slightly healthier!

5. The Stick.  Man, I thought a foam roller knew how to find the knots and sore muscles but man, that has nothing on The Stick!

With my new shoes!

6. The fact that my leg feels SO much better!  I have no idea what happened to make it right itself but running seems to make it go away?? Try to explain that one… I’m at a loss…

7. The following salad combination: Lettuce (obv), sunflower seeds, craisins, feta, and this dressing.  So crazy good together!  I’d been in a serious salad funk and wasn’t finding a dressing that made me enjoy them but this dressing did the trick.  That and finding a Catalina that was semi-decent ingredient-wise.  I am a Catalina dressing addict!

8. Physique 57.  Sister just got this DVD series this week and I did my first routine(?!) last night and it was a pretty good workout.  I’m excited to see if it tones your core as much as it says it will – my core needs to suck it up so I don’t hurt my back again.  I’ve been majorly slacking in this department lately! Although I have never felt like such an inflexible cow as when doing this workout.  I can’t do some of the moves I am so out of shape for that kind of thing… I’m just glad I’m not on video tape doing these moves… that would be um… interesting to say the least.  Although I highly doubt I will EVER be able to do the splits and/or place my leg next to my ear….

9.That it’s Friday!!!  This week went fast so that is a significant improvement over last week!  Bring on the weekend

Tennessee Living.

So when we went to Nashville to run the Country Music Rock n Roll Half Marathon, we quickly learned that Nashville gets over run with runners…it was nearly impossible driving around downtown so sister and I decided to head out to the country and get a different view of Tennessee.  I looked a little online and found a place called Franklin, TN so we headed that way after cleaning up after the race.  Franklin is about 30 minutes from Nashville and the drive was beautiful and very scenic.  I officially want to buy a plantation and live here.

As our luck would have it, it just so happened to be a Main Street Festival in Franklin and therefore not quite the quiet experience we were hoping for but still a far cry from Nashville congestion.  We didn’t do much but walk around and look at a few of the craft tents and then find a nice sunny spot to sit down and people watch.  Oh, also we had a little Starbucks tea/water break!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

The Festival

Coolest building ever!

This water tasted SO good!

A medal photo shoot also took place!

I want to go back to Tennessee soon and explore some more! Life definitely has a different pace in the south and I think I kind of like it

One Wish Wednesday: Week No. 6

Yes, this is a picture of my tree again. Sorry, I really like looking at it

Wednesday again??  I am going to have to start thinking up a new theme for Wednesday’s post because I am running out of things to wish for… this week I had to think way too hard.  But maybe the fact that work has been super busy these last few weeks has kept my mind a little too preoccupied to come up with anything to “wish” for… So in lieu of not having any good ideas for some kind of serious actual wish, here is my “wish”-list for Christmas!

A Garmin.  I go back and forth on whether I want one or not because I don’t want to get obsessed with my pace but I ultimately decided it would be very nice to have to be able to measure distances, etc.  Just no obsessiveness…

Not necessarily THIS espresso machine but just AN Espresso machine.  And no, it is NOT EXpresso… I have seen this type-o at least 4 times in the last two days…

Again, not necessarily this jacket but just a new winter dress jacket.  My other coats don’t fit anymore and/or smell gross…

The rest of the Emily Giffin books I don’t already own (aka Love the One You’re With and Heart of the Matter)  I just re-read Something Borrowed and Something Blue and was reminded of just how much I LOVE her books.  The way she writes is just right

Also, a lifetime supply of Starbucks coffee might be nice!  Especially in the Iced and Latte form… I need a job that is not right across the street from this Joe!

And honestly, I will be happy with any present I get this year.  I actually have always (Ok, maybe just like the last 10 years) liked buying gifts for others and giving them more than actually receiving anything in return.  But you know, since I am wishing here, I can really wish for anything I want right, that’s the point?!?

What do you want for Christmas?

Tuesday Randoms.

• Today Milwaukee was covered in smoke from a wildfire in Minnesota.  The view from my 21st floor office was totally fogged up and kind of creepy :S  It also smells like someone is having a HUGE bonfire… Hopefully the fire crew is able to get this wildfire under control – I don’t recall ever having a fire this size impact us in Wisconsin!

• I somehow ended up with a free iced coffee from Starbucks today for lunch  I don’t think I was supposed to get it for free but you know what, I’ll take it!!  But why does coffee have to be sodarngood??  I give it up periodically because it really does make my heartburn worse but then somehow I get dragged back into drinking this delicious black witches brew every day…..

• I really want to train this boy to run a 5K!  Tonight we started out by running “intervals” – aka 1 minute walking and 1 minute running.  I am sad to say he beat me and was ready for another lap when I was tired… but then again I need to save my legs for Sunday!!! 4 days, 3 hours and 40 some minutes!!!  So excited for some reason  I bet he can do it…

• Whole Foods was on Living Social today and this made me REALLY happy  Also made 1,000,000 other people happy today  Yeepers, that means Whole Foods just made $10,000,000 today.  Jealous.

• I have really missed my favorite TV shows and am sadly excited they are starting new episodes next week (Will Beckett live?  Will Rachel and Finn actually stay together this season?  Is Bones really pregnant??? )

As you can tell by this post. nothing much is going on this week.  But I still hope it goes fast  I’ll be back tomorrow with a post on my sister’s weekly boot camp  BTW – Check out her new blog – it’s still under construction but so cool!