Happy Birthday to me! :) I love birthdays. It's one day a year that (can be) all about you. My birthday is my own personal holiday, and since I've started working in "the grownup world" I've tried my darndest to not work on my birthday. So thankfully I was able to get today off work. Nothing extravagent planned, but that's fine with me. I get to relax (and do homework/study) and then have a fun dinner planned tonight with friends. Perfect day. So in honor of beginning my 25th year I have a list of 25 (quite random) things for you today. A kind of "catch up" and random thought day! (**Warning, picture heavy post!**) Enjoy. 1. As I said above it is absolutely imperative (maybe a little extreme :) ) that I don't work on my birthday. Getting to wake up this a.m. and cuddle with these two fur babies... perfect 2: In honor of fall and other cute things these pinterest boards: Cinnamon & Spice Sweet Comfort - - holy yumm. Fall Recipes - -again holy yum. And this Too Cute - - because for real most of the pictures/posts are too cute. 3. Change! I am going to be moving back home in approximately 2 weeks. Crazy!! which leads to... 4. A new job! I am very sad to leave my amazing co-workers and crazy but normally fun-filled days with OhioHealth, but am excited for new opportunities and a chance to save a little doh (aka pay for school) while living at home. I will be working for a PT company called OptiHealth in Findlay and BG. 5: This blog post about being happy with where you are now. Refreshing and a good message to just enjoy the day. I needed this after a weekend of busy and stressful thinking about school and all to come in the future. 6: Two of the cutest little boys I know. I believe my life would be much duller without them 7: This story that circulated the internet several weeks ago about a 96 year man writing a love song for his wife of 75 years who had recently passed away. Such a touching love story and great video<3 8: I get to see THIS guy this weekend! Can't wait!! 9. NOT (hopefully, fingers crossed, any other voodoo you believe in) spending my birthday in a neck brace. Haha... Hoping for a much more subdued 25 compared to 23.. And my older brother isn't in town to save the day anyways ;) 10. My third cutie-patootie nephew, who I believe is going to make one crazy triad with the two rugrats in just a couple years 11. Race training!! My last race was in May and I've been thinking about wanting to do another one, and my friend Heidi talked me in to doing the Hot Chocolate 5k with her in November! Yesterday marked 8 weeks from race so today is the start of training. I'm hoping to improve my time (I can stay pretty consistent at a slower 10 min/mile pace) so I have my plan on my calendar and ready to kick butt! Here. We. Go. 12. I had an awesome and busy summer that I planned on blogging about (but surprise, surprise) I haven't yet ;) 13. One of the adventures was a trip to VA with my Mom and Sister Danielle to visit my middle sis Alicia! We spent an extended weekend there and had a great time visiting and exploring places around VA and D.C. 14. Going back up to reference 3&4, I am going to miss Columbus. I have lived here for the past 5 years and have loved it. There is still so much in this city to experience and maybe someday I'll get to come back to live here to do so! 15. Schoooool! School is back is session. *Think excited, nervous, and stressed all at the same time* This quarter has a lot of classes that are outpatient/orthopedic based and I love it. I have 4 classes, 3 of which have pretty intense lecture and lab portions, but here's to hoping for a good quarter! 16. Another almost week-long adventure/stay-cation in August. Dust and I got to spend almost an entire week together hanging out and doing things around columbus. It was lots of fun and quite relaxing.... can I go back? 17. This video of two cats trying to play "patty-cake" hilarious.. just watch it.. do it. 18. The new garmin watches. I want. But I certainly don't need. I got my garmin just 2 years ago and it has a lot of life left it in which is very good for my wallet, but I still can't help but drool over the pretty colored bands and colored screen of the new ones. 19. Feeling the love from friends and acquaintances old and new. Seeing all the Happy Birthday's on facebook, texts, etc from everyone makes me think of all the good times I've shared with them. It's just nice to feel the love some days :) 20. Dustin always being able to make me smile and make my day better :) Just got a knock on the door and delivery of the prettiest flowers. I am the luckiest girl in the world. 21. Ooooh.. New Tea and Beer! I went to world market (dangerous idea) yesterday and got two new teas and a "pick your own 6-pack". The teas are: Hot apple cider tea (caffeine free to enjoy on cool fall nights before bed and Cocoa Coconut tea. Super excited to try the chocolate one, I already had the apple cider last night :) And of course couldn't leave without grabbing a 6-pack of all different pumpkin/fall beers. 22. Referring back to #5, another great post, faith-filled about being more present and happy with where you are. I'm constantly thinking about whats to come, planning, listing, everything and these posts/reminders are great for my soul. 23. Getting to spend a weekend with Dust's Family celebrating his cousin's wedding. It was a gorgeous weekend and a great time! 24. And according to my mom I am "a half of century" :) She got her terminology messed up when my middle sis turned 25, and I just can't quite let her live it down yet ;) 25. Whew! I made it! 25 things for 25 years... Can't believe how time flies. Here's to hoping the next 25 are just as good (the 25 after that, and 25 more if I'm lucky!). Thank you to all who are in my life, you shape who I am and the person I strive to be. I can't imagine my life without my family and friends and don't want to. So Cheers! to everyone and I hope you all have a fantastic day also! Peace & Love, BK P.S. And because I love pictures and I have the most amazing family and friends here are a very random compilation of pictures from the past couple years :)
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You thought I was going to say envy? Okay maybe not, but I can think you did and that makes me happy :) Before July kicked off (how is it almost AUGUST already!?) my sissy told me about this Green Smoothie Challenge... I've had a green smoothie or two, and they normally turn out pretty good, but I'm not too creative in mixing/matching ingredients, so I figured I'd check it out. Simple green smoothies (Jadah & Jen) is a awesome blog started by two awesome ladies just looking to add some health back in to their day. I decided what they hey, I'll give this challenge a try.. and ohmygoshi'msogladidid! I was traveling the first week of July, but started it mid-way through and have been going strong with it since having 1 if not 2 smoothies a day. Most of the recipes make at least 2 (16 oz) servings. Drinking them in craft beer/specialty glasses - even better tasting ;) Jada and Jen make making green smoothies so simple sending an email before the week starts with your grocery list and also the recipes for the week. On top of that they have a ton of recipes also on their blog that you can substitute if you're not a huge fan of the ones for that week. Take this week for example, it was melons. I love watermelon, like lurve it, but in a smoothie I'm not so sure and while I like musmelon and honeydew I don't lurve them, and wasn't too sure about the smoothies. Sooo instead of wasting good fruit/veggies I just re-made some from last week and some from the first week that I didn't get to, due to starting late. Crisis averted. Oh and I also made this one last week with honeydew and I couldn't drink it... just wasn't my cup of tea.. so another reason I averted from a whooooole week of melons. But back to my catchy (read cheesy) title is that I feel awesome. I mean yes, I still get tired if I don't get enough sleep, but overall I feel great inside and out. I have energy in the morning (with no cup o' joe) and throughout the day or especially after a workout (I've had one to replenish my soul once or twice now). I've also started a workout regimen again (seriously fell off the wagon.. like woah) and I knew I would be sore (I was), but I had no drag or feeling ka-put from doing it. Granted it is a less intense program and it ramps up as it goes, but either way. I seriously don't think I would feel as good as I do if I wouldn't have been drinking the smoothies prior to starting. I'm totally sipping on the kool-aid. You may think I'm crazy, and that's fine, but I challenge you to try a green smoothie (start with one with spinach) and if you don't like it then I'm cool with that, but I think you'll love it :) Jada and Jen have great starter tips and very simple-inexpensive recipes, so give it a try. Okay okay I promise I'm almost done raving about green smoothies. Here are some pointers/random info that I realized about my past green smoothie adventures and now:
Exhibit A: Oh an incase you can't tell, I live my life one day at time by sticky-note to-do lists :) I so have to say thanks to my awesome sister for recommending this challenge to me. She rocks :) Annnnd that's all folks. Now go try a green smoothie :) Oh and Happy Summer :) This is what mine has consisted of this week, pool and school work - it could definitely be worse ;) Peace & Love, BK February flew by, it's only 2-3 days shorter than the other 11 months of the year, but it just feels soo much shorter. I'm quite proud of myself for keeping up with my workouts (1 or 2 weeks I had a couple days off in a row, but I doubled up to make up for it other days) and I finished the Jillian Michael's Body Revolution program! 12 weeks, done. I honestly feel so much more comfortable in my skin and all around stronger. I highly recommend this program, it is one of those you have to buy and the initial $$ is kind of expensive, but I'll be using the videos for the rest of my life, so it was worth it to me. It starts out low intensity and then progresses every 2 weeks. It's also set up to not work the same muscles everyday (mostly.. that gets a bit blurred towards the end with the higher level intensity workouts). The set-up: 6 days a week of workouts each 30 minutes long. You can start on any day of the week you want to begin, but then that stays constant t/o the whole program. I. loved. it. I may repeat it eventually, but for now I'm on to the next fitness goal... Half-Marathon #2! I've {finally} started running again! It's been months, like I don't even know how many months since I've last run. It felt good, and I definitely had soreness after running 2 days in a row. It's always amazing to me doing one exercise that you feel is so full-body encompassing, but then you do something different and you find "new" muscles that weren't being worked as much. My PT brain is yelling at me... I know, I know ... specificity of training - it really is oh so true :) I'm signed up for a half-marathon mid to end of May and last week marked 12 weeks till the big day. {Above: A picture of me prepping for one of the JM workouts. I was home for the weekend and just packed a couple different workout clothes and didn't realize it was all the same color :) I love it :) } I also did quite a bit of cooking and prepping for meals in February. I want to get better at prepping this month, but it's a work in progress. Well I'm off to do some studying then putting in a longer {4-5} mile training TM (it's still somewhat snowing and cooold out so I'm staying inside) run in for today. I'll leave you with more food/ fun/ workout pictures from the month! Ciao <3 - BK
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." - Lao Tzu I am lucky enough to live in a city that has an amazing abundance of food choices. Not only are there hundreds of unique and delicious sit-down restaurants, but there is also a growing number of faster service/semi-sit-down all-natural/organic restaurants also. One of my all time favorites is called Northstar Cafe. The food is a little more expensive then most faster-ish food restaurants, but I will pay for it (most) any day when I know I’m getting a great quality and deliciously cooked food. The menu has the main categories of soup/salad, sandwhiches, pizza, dessert, and a few misc. But there is hardly anything on it that I wouldn't order. So much is so so so so delicious, but one of my all time favorite meals to order is their Square Meal It has brown rice at the bottom with sautéed red onions and red peppers mixed in, topped with spicy black beans, an avocado, and tortilla strips. It is so tasty and so filling. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Another one of my favorites from there is their chocolate truffle cookie. It’s huge, chocolately, with a melt-in-your mouth/almost gooey middle texture with chocolate chips mixed throughout. I didn’t get it this time, but you can bet I’ll get it next time! I can’t wait to eat my leftovers.. I think I’ll go have a bite now. Cheers! BK |
Brittany
Hi! My name is Brittany. Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, it's constantly a work in progress :)
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