A Day In The Life

First of all, pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips in them are quite possibly the best thing in the entire world. Pumpkin muffins are pretty damn good all on their own, but add those chocolate chips and it becomes a whole new food group.

Breakfast.

Lunch.

Dinner.

Dessert!

It's amazing. Just add a bag of your favorite morsels to my pumpkin muffin recipe.

Secondly, y'all need to go see No Strings Attached starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. I mean, it's great just for the eye candy alone, but the movie ain't too bad either. Boyfriend and I did a date night last night and saw it. I'm definitely buying it when it comes out on DVD, I was laughing so hard at some of those lines!

Thirdly, it took me all day to motivate for my run this evening. Sloth was the name of the game today. It was glorious and I still managed to finish my list! Except for number 19, added by boyfriend this morning: "cuddle." I have to wait until he gets home from work for that one. And yeah, we're always that sickeningly cute.

On my run I employed Heather's logic: when you don't want to do it, do it faster because the faster you run the faster you're done. I ran up the road towards the mountain and enjoyed the sun cresting the treeline and the balmy 45 degree weather. My first mile clocked at 11:05, which is impressive considering my sloth, lack of motivation, fact that I'm terribly "out of shape" and it's uphill. My second mile was faster at 9:56, and I finished my last mile with a screaming 8:59, running at full tilt (breaking 7 minute miles) at the end.

Now I'm done. Hooray!

What's that you say? I promised you photos? Are you sure? Oh all right. I did promise.

This is a cute headband I knit for my sister. It was pretty simple, I cast on only 70 stitches, I really needed more like 100. Oops. Anyhow, cast on 100, work in k4 p4 for 10 or 12 rows then did knit and purl for for the center at about 3" and then k4 p4 for 10 or 12 rows. I did some McGyvering with the ends to make them longer, but my original idea was to sew the short ends together.

The flower pattern I found here and it was super easy. The pattern called for beads in the middle, but lacking beads and having the center be a little loose, I threw a button in the middle. Super cute!

This is a bag I'm working on at sewing group. The pink is the handle at the top and a band on the top. The polka-dot-owl combo will be pleated and then sewn together hobo-ish. The flower pattern you see peeking out there is the lining. I'm excited to have it finished! I did some work on it today, making pockets and ironing backing and stuff.

So there you have it folks, the promised pics. I'm off to make myself less sweaty, hope you have a wonderful week!

Ciao,
kc

TODAY: 3 miles
YESTERDAY: 7 miles

Shoes

I love shoes. Have I mentioned that I love shoes?

You might have noticed when I dedicated an entire post to these:

Or when I posted TWO photos of these:

I can't help myself. I love shoes. There are so many reasons to love shoes.

1. You can get perfectly good shoes, gently used, at thrift stores, garage sales, second-hand shops for very little money and not have that weird gross feeling that I get when buying clothes at those places. I still do it, but they require a couple washings first. Shoes don't require that.

2. Shoes always fit. Even if you gain weight. Even if you lose weight. Even if your boyfriend dumps you, they are still there for you.

3. They will never leave you. They won't be offended if you box them up and put them in the back of your closet for months at a time only to pull them out to wear them once and return them to the back again. They don't mind if you stop wearing them in lieu of a younger, sleeker model. They don't mind if you consider them frumpy, dumpy, sexy or smart.

4. You can never have "enough" shoes. It's not like cars or jeans or sweatshirts. There's always a drastically different pair to be had.

5. I'm sure there are more reasons, TELL ME SOME OF YOURS.

Basically, I love shoes.

Even these shoes:

These shoes support me even at 7 a.m. this morning, when the moon was still out in the lightening sky and while my body wasn't quite awake, my brain was courtesy of the espresso I had before hopping in the car to go rouse my lovely running buddy to go run 5 miles, 3 of which were fast, one of which was sub-9. They support me even then.

Coming soon: moving news, fall favorites (recipes and more!), tea party preparations, and lots more running and fashion.

Ciao,
kc

THIS MORNING: 5 miles, tempo
YESTERDAY: 4 miles

So the trick is...

New shoes.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: When you're running, you just gotta protect those kickers. After a week of my knees bitching and complaining, I shrugged it off — ignoring, I might add, the lack of tread on my soles. It wasn't until the shin-splints started acting up that I knew.

The Cold. Hard. Truth.

It was time to replace...my shoes.

Sigh. It's only been since May! Mom kept saying things like, "I'm so proud of you for going through a pair of shoes in such a short amount of time!" and all I was thinking was, "That's great and all...would you care to finance the next pair?"

Because running shoes, as we've discussed, don't come cheap.

I mean, if I were prepared for such a short turn over I would have been browsing websites for good deals. I suppose it makes sense when I actually think about it, as you need to replace them about every 300 to 500 miles, closer to 300 — kind of like changing the oil in your car — and we've been averaging probably about 18 miles a week, ranging from 15 to 25. 18 miles x 17 weeks ~= 300 miles. All on paved roads which wears 'em out even quicker.

That's a lot of mileage.

Holy crap.

What was I thinking?

Oh, right...I like the way I look when I'm in shape. "I'm in shape. Round is a shape," just never had the right sort of ring to it. Things fit better when I'm in shape. And I'm actually a six, not just wishing I were. Not just pretending I were.

Well, off to do important things. Or something. I've written an article about running for the publication I work for that goes to print next week. I'll post the links when it gets uploaded. Something to look forward to, my dears!

Ciao,
kc

THURSDAY:  5 miles — tempo run
WEDNESDAY: 3 miles, light strength & conditioning