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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Happy Hour Part Deux

Check out Mrs. Juice's Happy Hour #2.
I'll talk more about the dry shampoo and rapid dry top coat next week, but I just wanted to let you know that I love both of them. I definitely recommend you check them out.

The shampoo is less than $3. Can you beat that? No. You can't.
Top coat is typical Essie price. Around $8. Boo.
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Monday, February 27, 2012

Pain of Absence

Source
 Infertility never gets easier. Ever.

I thought that facing rejection each month was making me a bit tougher, and that I was getting better about taking it. This month, I even started thinking about what our lives would be like if we never have children. Never in my whole life have I thought about it just being me and Josh forever. When I looked forward and saw my 30's I saw lots of kids. Lots of them. Now I feel like I look forward and they're not there.

I actually didn't have high hopes for this month at all. I started my second cycle of Clomid, and when I saw my doctor for my mid-cycle ultrasound, she wasn't thrilled. She acted like things were better, but not the best they could be. I left my appointment a little deflated, but continued my home ovulation kits. I went in for my lab work to confirm ovulation, and it came back positive. I was shocked when I talked to the nurse and she told me it was positive.

This was the first time in my life that I ovulated (that I'm aware of. I feel confident in saying the first time ever). So I starting thinking that things were looking really good because of the timing of everything. I started feeling like crap, my runs started sucking, I was tired and emotional, I must be pregnant. Must be.

It's that situation where you want it so bad that you talk yourself into it. That thing where you start to Google every symptom to see if you're pregnant (you know, because Google totally knows). When in reality, every symptom of pregnancy I had is also consistent with PMS. But I didn't want PMS, I wanted a baby.

How can you get used to that?

I find myself writing something and then deleting it half way through the sentence. I can't come up with words to describe the pain of losing something that never was.

I can't say it better than this:
For those who deeply want children and are denied them, those missing babies hover like silent ephemeral shadows over their lives. Who can describe the feel of a tiny hand that is never held?"  -Laura Bush

 I was considering taking a few weeks break of worrying about getting pregnant. I was going to relax for a while, refresh, and start again. However, I mostly wanted to do that because I didn't want to go back on Provera. Since I ovulated this cycle I won't have to, so I'll start my next cycle of Clomid in a few days. Hopefully this time next month I'll have better news and won't be all weepy and poor me on you. If you're new around here, click here to check out my post where I came out of the infertility closet.

I'm really interested to hear anything you have to say.
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Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Bad Run

Anyone ever have a bad run? How about a bad run week?

Monday I was back and forth really bad about whether I was going to the gym, running at home, or both. I finally put my foot down and said I was going to skip the gym, but run at home. My regular route for running at home (yes, I know. As an undercover FBI agent I should switch up my route every day because someone could be watching me. That is just a risk I'm willing to take.) is four miles long.

On Monday I got a half mile from home and said "Screw you guys, I'm going home". (Say it like Cartman.)

I technically got one mile in since I had to walk that half mile back to my house. It was awful though. I was all geared up to go. Had my new phone pouch on my arm. My heart rate monitor on my other arm. My iPhillips tucked into the back pocket on my new tights and everything. I was set up for a four miler. Once I got going though, my legs said "screw you" and wouldn't go. My lungs were mad too.

It was all together an awful run.

So I decided to chalk it up to a bad run day, and not worry about it. Last week was a very high mileage week for me, so I won't sweat it.

Tuesday I went to the gym with every intention of running. The same thing happened to me though. I started going and I just couldn't. My legs and lungs wouldn't cooperate. I swear it was like my first week of running. I know I can do better than this, but for some reason this week I couldn't. After Tuesday I decided to take two solid days of rest. It turned into three. Today was my first day back in the gym, but I didn't try to run. Ingrid and I walked an hour and lifted an hour. It was a pretty good workout.

No idea why my running suddenly went down the drain though.

Source


I basically need this water bottle.

Speaking of dessert, I just made the most fantastic chocolate cake.

Ok, fantastic is a stretch. It's really good. For what it is.

Let us be honest. Diet cake will never be fat cake. Nothing will ever be as good as fat food. It's just the truth.

At the gym today I decided I needed to get chocolate cake at the store, and somehow forgot it. I wanted to make a Diet Coke cake, but we didn't have any Diet Coke. As Ingrid and I already talked about, I do have a stockpile of cake mixes so this was not the problem.

I bought just about everything else Kroger has to offer except the pop. That's right. I said it. Pop. Call it soda if you wish, but this is my blog. It's pop.

I was standing in the kitchen looking for something to eat and realized I forgot the pop. Ingrid told me to walk to the vending machine across the street to get one. I wouldn't have gone even if I hadn't found the Coke Zero and Chocolate Cake Mix. It just wasn't happening.

Here is the recipe she sent me:

DIET COKE CAKE
(version of recipe put into Community Recipe Swap by KJR1963)

1 box cake mix - any flavor
1 can diet soda - any flavor

Variations I've seen:
chocolate cake w/ diet coke
yellow cake w/ diet lemon-lime
use your imagination for the combinations! Oh the possibilities!


Mix the dry cake mix with 10-12 oz of diet soda. (Do not use the egg or oil listed
on the box). Spray a 9 x 12 cake pan (or cupcake tin) with non-stick spray and
bake according to package instructions.

Some have said an entire can of pop makes the cake TOO moist ... 10 oz. seems
to be the least I've seen suggested. Experiment yourself to find the best amount
for your taste.
--

Tip: Make sure to let the cake cook completely before you try to cut it. Because you aren't adding eggs, the cake will be tender and can tear if you cut it while it's warm. Some people have started adding 2 egg whites to the mix. It doesn't raise the points any (less than 1 point) but they report that the cake is firmer and rises better.


It's pretty ugly, but still pretty awesome. I don't do Weight Watchers Points, but I do believe if you eat this you get some of your points back. Just sayin'.

Have you experienced a week of the No Good Awful Bad Run? Do tell.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Meet Mrs. Juice

My husband and his friend have started their very own podcast. They call it "Juice & Plop's Happy Hour" and they sit together for hours every Sunday, smoking cigars and discussing comic books.

Every week my husband (Juice) puts a "Quickie" video on YouTube discussing what they talk about in their podcast.

I like comics as much as the next girl, but I have a hard time staying interested in the entire podcast. Sorry guys. It's true.

I decided a few days ago to make my own "Happy Hour". Check it out.



And tell your husbands (or you, if you're interested) to check out Juice & Plop.


Tune in next week (to me) for my nail polish pick of the week and my other random ramblings. Something may have been mentioned about a wine review, but only taping after the wine has already been consumed.  Get pumped.

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

That was nauseatingly cheesy, wasn't it?

Big news (not) this week I cut most of my hair off. Seriously.

This was me around Thanksgiving.
 This was me last Thursday. Yes, in the doctor's office. Obviously if she had been faster I wouldn't have had time to mess around and take photos.

I went on Monday to The Loft. (It's in Fort Wayne. Go if you live here but let me know first. If you go as my referral you get awesome free stuff. Go to Melissa Alter. She is amazing.) Anyway, I went Monday and I donated this 13" braid. Check it.
 And now I look like this. Someone at work said I look younger and then someone else at work said I look older. Whatever.

So now I have this issue when I work out. It is a bit hard to tell here, but my hair is in my old standard ponytail with a headband. Headbands are the world to me. Side note: You are witnessing photographic evidence that Fort Christy did at one time exist. We had lots of empty boxes at work one day and decided to stack them around my insanely OCD coworker. She was not pleased. 

A while ago I saw where Brie at Brie Fit posted about Bondi Bands. I'll be honest, I basically ignored how she said they were so wonderful. I can't wear those elastic headbands that most people wear because they flip off my head. I'm totally a behind-the-ears only-on-top headband kind of girl. I can't do the whole head thing. It's irritating. She said how they don't move, and on and on.

This winter, Ingrid and I got two head wrap things for outdoor running. (No, they don't match. They just happen to be the same colors. And we might happen to sometimes wear them on the same days. But they aren't like matchy matchy. Ok. They are.) I was running on my own the other day and started thinking about how I was going to control my hair now that its short when I go running. I went back to Brie's blog and then went on to the Bondi Band website.

I got this in the mail today, and went out for a run. I have to say, it is fantastic. It only moved slightly, but not enough for me to complain about. I was under the impression it was going to be a cotton headband, but it's a much thinner, wicking material.  I am thoroughly impressed.

And it looks sooo cute. Ok, maybe not, but I really love it.

While I'm ranting (or am I raving?) about things I love, check this out. I have extremely curly hair. Like Irene from the Real World. Ok, not like Irene, but curly. I have some products that I used to call my "go-to" straightening products. They are pretty expensive so I figured the quality I got from them was as good as it gets. Wrong. Big time wrong.

Ingrid told me about these products, (my new "go-to) so I got them, just used them, and looooooove them. I used that many "o"s in love and haven't even had any wine. That means it's for real.
I was instructed to use a dime size of each on wet hair, dry, iron, and then use a dime size of the shine. I will be completely honest and say if you have curly hair, and have never used these products, you have no idea what you're missing out on. Side note: If you work for Pureology I'd love for you to sponsor and throw free products my way. Just sayin'.

Speaking of awesomeness...
I use Daily Mile to keep track of my mileage. Yeah, it's awesome to have ran 56 miles this year, but what I'm really excited about is that I've burned off 56 donuts. I love donuts. I have yet to make it around the world, but I have ran for 13 hours. Wow. I have never, ever done that before. It feels amazing.

How do you control your hair during exercise?
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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Well, Hello Again.

Most of the time when I post about birthdays it is a recap of mine, or a cake photo from someone else's birthday. 

However, today is my birthday.

I'm 26.

Trust me, I'm not going where you think with this. I'm not sitting around thinking about how old I am right now.

I had a doctors appointment this week. I went in waiting for the big reveal of how much weight I've lost. I'm down a pant size. I run a least twice a week. I lift at least twice a week. I'm on the magical chocolate cake diet. But I'm down a pant size.

Somehow I've only lost three lbs since November. Three. I don't know how this is possible, but I'm trying not to flip about it. I don't weigh myself at home since we don't have a scale, so the only time I get weighed is at the doctor.

This is what my face looked like when I got weighed.
Source 

So what does one do for a non-monumental birthday? Go to the gym of course.

And after the gym, I'm going to eat Chinese food. Why? Because I want to.

On Thursday, Ingrid and I made it to 20 minutes of running without stopping, which also ended up to be a mile and a half without stopping. We went slow, but it's the longest and farthest I've ever ran so far without stopping. It felt really good. I'm ten minutes away from getting that jacket I want. I only have $9 in my jar though, so I better get on that.

What do you do for your birthday? 


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