A little Inspiration

So I stole this quote from Kind Over Matter.  It's really been my thoughts lately for the most part.  I have been so motivated lately to use every last bit of my day and it feels AMAZING!  Ever since I moved to a steady day shift a month ago, I've been getting so much done.  I go into work at 8am and get home at 4pm.  As soon as I'm home, I try to get to the gym followed by a run.  Some days I throw in a swim or Zumba and now Dodgeball on Thursday nights.  Most nights I'm not getting home until 9pm and in bed by 10pm and by that point I'm so beat tired that as soon as I lay day, I pass out!.  The weekends have been just as filled too! Fridays I've been using as somewhat of a relaxing day.  Saturdays have been filled with house hunting and some friend event that keeps me outta the house all day long.  Sundays I spend playing soccer about an hour and 15 minutes away from my home.  I stay up in that area because I have Basketball games at night at the same place so my Sundays are shot too.

All this craziness may seem like a lot, but I'm actually enjoying it.  I'm getting in shape and eating right and having so much fun.  And because of this, i've been actively looking for new races to run.  I've compiled a list of races that I would like to run in before I die.  So I included my bucket list of runs:

Broad street run in Philadelphia, PA (hoping to get this checked off this year)
The Color Run- this is a 5k where you wear a plain white t shirt and at every k or mile they spray a paint color on you and by the end of the run you're covered in different color paints
The Rock 'N' Roll Marathon- they have rock bands set up throughout the race
Marine Corp Marathon
The Pajama Run- you run the race in your PJ's!
The Disney Marathon- my friend did this one before and you can take pics with the characters throughout the run as you run through all the parks
Krispy Kreme Challenge- you have to run 4 miles in under an hour and at mile 2 you have to eat a dozen donuts!!
The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon- they provide the beer for you during your run

I just thought all these runs sounded really freaking awesome!! We'll see how well I do in the half marathon in August.  I'm hoping I do fairly well because I really do eventually wanna do a full marathon.



Photo a day challenge today was self portrait. I snapped one at Dunkin donuts with my nephew.

past three days....

I've been such a slacker and not feeling like posting my photos because thats just how lazy I am! HAHA nah...really I've been pushing myself really hard with the gym and running so by the time I get home and realize I need to upload my photos.....I don't feel like getting out of bed to grab the camera, plug it in and hit UPLOAD.
So here's the past three days of the photo challenge.

Day 7- Buttons....I tried being really creative instead of JUST traditional buttons.  I really wanted to take a photo of buttons on a stuffed animal, which I have a ton of stuffed animals, but none have any friggin buttons on them! So I went with remote buttons

Day 8- the Sun. this one is fairly boring but I did get some sun flare in there.

Day 9- Front Door.  Again, I'm trying to be more creative than the literal sense here.  Instead of just the plain front door.....I did the front door of a toy car   =)   I really wanted to find a toy car where the doors open, but in me nephew and nieces toy box that they leave here...I couldn't find one car/helicopter/plane where the doors opened up




I've had all these great ideas to blog about, I just haven't had the damn time!!! So, stay tuned I should be posting something better than my photos or normal ranting, this weekend.  Also, if you haven't checked out my last post, please do ! It's about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a foundation that raises money for pediatric cancer and I would like you to donate to my fund if possible!!! Thanks!

Alex's lemonade!

So tonights blog is about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation ( I am too lazy to upload my photos for the past two days for the photo a day challenge)

Two summers ago, I read,  in a magazine, about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.  The foundation started with a little girl by the name of Alex Scott who had cancer.  She wanted to raised money for kids with cancer in hopes to find a cure.  Alex had succumbed to her cancer and became one of God's angel's.  Before her death though, Alex had held a lemonade stand to raise the money.  Ever since, her family has been carrying on the tradition of the lemonade stand on the lemonade days, which usually occur around the second weekend in June.  The family opened up their idea to the rest of the world, and encouraged the world to host lemonade stands throughout the year to help raise more money towards cancer research.

To date, I can't remember how many stands we have held in the past two summers, but we have raised over $6,000.  This summer, we plan to hold various events to be able to double our money raised thus far.  We're shooting to raise $6G in one summer.  To do this, we have a few ideas: car wash, guest bartending night, lemonade stand, and coin cans.

The reason we do this is because in high school, in our small 90 person class, we had two classmates with cancer, who eventually succumbed to their cancers.  They were Johnny Sorensen and Rosemarie Miller, both of whom I knew personally.  I worked for Johnny's family during the summers and was close friends with him.  Rose and I became friends during the end of junior year and through senior year.  We hung out for a majority of our senior trip in Italy.  So, anything to do with raising funds and awareness for cancer.....I'm there!

Our funds are being placed towards my team lemon page for the foundation.  Although, right now, I am the only one running in the half marathon in August for team lemon out of our friends, we are all collectively raising money and awareness together!!

So that being said....if you would like to help us out and reach our goal of $6300....you can follow the link and donate directly to our page
http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/80383

....ORRRR you can text Lemonade E80383    to 85944 for a $10.00 donation.

ANY little bit HELPS! Even if its a few coins its more money towards cancer research for the kids!!

If you would like to host an event to raise money, simply go to alexslemonade.org

Just another Manic Monday

Pretty dreary day at work today. Once again I feel like the angel of death and I can't get the smell of human body organs out of my nose. I sat in on an autopsy today and thought it'd be a lot worse than it was. It was actually pretty damn cool once I got over the fact the it was a human body. I've dissected several animals in college since for two years I was a biology major. It wasn't much different other than the organs being much bigger than a pig, snake or frog. I couldn't get the smell outta my nose though. Everything smells like organs today....blahhhh!!

Moving on: today's photo a day challenge was dinner. My BFF Ashley made some delicious chicken enchiladas and some rice for dinner totaling 14 points.
Here's my photo:

Weekend of Photos

So I went on a food binge for the weekend....threw my diet out the window Thursday night and am getting back on it tomorrow.  Reason being I went on a mini vacation with my friends to the Poconos for a ski trip, and Ro Ro was cooking all weekend, so I couldn't resist the cooking of my second mom!!  Plus this allowed me to indulge on a few things i've been dying for....like girl scout cookies and we even hit up dairy queen on our way home today.  

The weekend was awesome as usual! Got to Ro and Tom's house Friday night for a fun filled night of drinks and dice.  Saturday morning we hit the slopes followed by a relaxing night of nothing since we all decided not to go snow tubing.  This morning we woke up to some delicious pancakes that Ro made for us.

On top of the awesome weekend......I did manage to get photos for my photo-a-day challenge! so here they are:

Friday was day 3 and the theme was hands:

Day 4's theme was Strangers.  We were at the ski resort and I figured it would be the perfect time to snap a photo of a stranger.  Only problem was....I felt like such a weirdo taking photos of random strangers!! But I did it! I snapped a photo of a complete stranger!

Day 5's theme was 10 a.m.  Lately I've been an early bird....early to bed early to rise.  So when I fell asleep at midnight while my friends were still wide awake playing drinking games, I fully expected to be awake well before 10 a.m.....and when 10 a.m. rolled around, everyone still asleep.  Everyone was awake and mom (Ro) was cooking breakfast.  So here's my 10 a.m. (and it was delicious!!!)

Now for some fun questions:

Something most people don't know about you?

I can play the piano....i'm not very good at it since I haven't seriously played in several years, but I can still read basic sheet music and can play a handful of songs by heart still.

If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?

A giant prime rib and some gnocchi's

How may kids do you plan on having?

Three would be nice, but i'll settle for two.

Favorite song to sing?

anything by Michelle Branch

What color are your bed sheets?

They're turquoise

Last vacation?

Besides the Poconos this weekend, Disney World at the beginning of January.

Favorite pizza topping?

 black olives

How much cash do you have on you?

Currently have about less than $5 since I never carry cash on me.

Thankful Thursdays

 Photo a Day Day 2: Words
I had just enough time to snap this in before having to get ready for the Flyers game.  In the spirit of the month, it being women's heart month and Valentine's Day, I figured Love would be most appropriate for the words photo.

BTW....Friday, Saturday and Sundays will be posted on Sunday most likely since I'll be away until then!


I am so thankful for a lot of things this week.


First off I thankful my Dad cooked dinner for me all week!! :) thanks Dad!

Thankful for my job this week because it foots my expensive Flyers season ticket bill that is allowing me to go to the game tonight.

I am thankful that tomorrow is Friday and I get to spend the weekend away in the mountains with my friends!  I will be thankful for the helmet I am renting this year after the concussion I got last year snowboarding.

I am thankful for my good health that got me through my workouts this week!

I am also thankful for my awesome Rachel Ray purchase from QVC coming in the mail today!! I get super excited for my purchases for my future house.  I got a great deal last week at Ross.  My friends and I have been drooling over the Rachel Ray bubble and brown dishes and they usually run about $50.  I found the large dish, in purple (the color I wanted) for $25! Then, like two nights later, QVC had Rachel Ray on with her specials.  I bought about a $115 8 piece set for $50 some dollars.  Plus I bought a turkey dish to cook some thanksgiving dinners for half price.  I love buying kitchen stuff because I can't cook, but it makes me want to learn and start experimenting.



Fun question time:

Favorite sports player?
Danny Briere!


What can most people do that you cannot?
 Whistle....although I have been working on it and I can somewhat whistle but not very well.

Pirates or ninjas?
tough questions.....pirates usually find treasures so I'll go with pirates.

Pet Peeve?
When someone has the windshield wipers on too high or on with no rain.  Can't stand that annoying noise the wipers make!

Photo a Day and some others

This month I'm starting a photo a day challenge.  Basically I hafta take a photo each day of something in particular on the following list:

So, today's photo was to take a picture of my view.  Well, for the most part of my day, I was at work, without my camera so I snapped a picture of my desk since....well....that was what I looked at all damn day.  Here it is:

Pretty damn boring huh? I'd say so! So When I got home from work I started to brainstorm when I could possibly fit a photo in of my view.  I had the gym planned and a run planned and by the time those were done it'd be dark out and not ideal lighting for me to snap a photo.  So I went to the gym and when I got home, the sun was setting...prime time to take a perfect sunset picture of the path I run on.  SO! since i was about to go for a run, I ran to the beach along where I run, snapped a quick photo before the run.





THIS! lovely guy is what I get to run next to everyday!  Your vacation is my home :)






Other than that, I am really getting pooped lately! Sunday I played in two soccer games ( played the full 44 minutes of both back to back) and played in one basketball game.  To say the least, I was sore and beat Monday morning.  Thank goodness Mondays are my days off.  Yesterday was filled with workouts galore!  I was asked to do Zumba with one of our secretaries so I agreed, but i still needed to get a run in and since I didn't weight lift Monday, i needed to get that in too! So, the crazy self that I am got home late from work, hit up Zumba, which was my first Zumba experience, came home, dinner wasn't ready so ran to the gym for an hour, came home ate dinner then went out for a 3.5 miler.  That was a crazy day!  Today should've been just as crazy but i'm kinda glad it worked out the way it did.  After work, I hit up the gym for about 45 min then went for a 2 miler and ate dinner  Dinner wasn't ready in time for me to make Aqua spin since I skipped it tonight.  Tomorrow i'm hopefully waking up early for a 3.5 miler because i'm hitting up the Flyers game after work!

I know im really killing myself this week because later this week i'm going to the mountains to snowboard plus i hafta get a 5 miler in this weekend too.  BUT all this hard work is paying off.  I gained two pounds last week but i'm almost positive it was muscle.  My eating habits have been superb in the last 3 weeks plus I def notice a little definition in my arms so I'm getting super excited seeing this!  But most of all! This hard work will payoff in the end when I finish the tough mudder and the half marathon later this year!!!

Now for some more fun Bio questions:

At a movie theater which arm rest is yours? 
Left side dominate but I'll try and take both if I can!


Do you test the water or dive straight in?
Definitely test it first! If it's cold and I wanna go in, I dive right in!

Favorite Childhood toy?
Polly pockets and barbies.  I had a crap ton of both and think I may still have my original polly pockets when they were pocket size and not these big ass amusement ride size polly pockets they make now!

Do you believe in love at first sight?
 Nope! Love takes time to build.  Lust at first sight maybe....but not love. You can't love someone on their looks.  You need to know the personality to fall in love with someone.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I love this question because it's definitely not what I am!  I wanted to be a professional soccer player like Mia Hamm.  I still play soccer but i play for fun.  It would've been cool to play professionally but I think it also would've taken the fun out of it too.

Do you have any scars? If so, from what?
I don't have any cool scars and I'm surprised I don't have more! But the only scars I have are on my hands.  I have two on my left hand from when I sliced the back of my fingers open and had to go to urgent care.  I was putting away Christmas decorations and carrying a tub into my closet and sliced my hand right on the metal shelving.  I was fine until i pulled on my skin and realized just how deep the cut was and almost passed out!  My other 2 scars are also on my left hand...they are from old warts that I finally got rid of.

Last time cried?
Sunday night.  I had played basketball against my younger cousin.  Her and her family don't speak to us and haven't spoken to us since my grandmom died.  Before then...we use to hang out in the summer all the time when we were younger.  I don't really know why they all of a sudden stopped talking with us, I know we did nothing wrong, and I'm pretty sure my cousins don't know why they deleted us on facebook n stopped talking to us.  It wasn't a cry because she didn't talk to me.  It was the fact that I was thinking about how different everything would be if mom were 100% better and grandmom was still alive.  It was how they were the glue of the family and how much I miss them!