Lovely weekends

I've been feeling very much a homebody lately.  I've always enjoyed relaxing time at home, but it comes in phases (wholly depends on how much traveling I've done).  For the last year, we've traveled quite a bit; Boston for a wedding, holidays at parent's houses, trip to Cuba, preparations for our wedding in Rapid City (takes the cake for busiest time of year), honeymoon in OR, & Steve's cousin's wedding in Sioux Falls...and various other short trips thrown in there.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE traveling, but it can take a toll.

I've been stubborn about being home on the weekends recently.  Not necessarily everyday, all day - going out for a drink with friends is fairly common on the weekends - but I love getting off work on Friday & knowing I have a weekend filled with sleeping in, running, naps, working in the yard, baking, cooking, eating, drinking...

This weekend was one of those weekends.  :)  Saturday was rainy & cold, but I can't say I got much done.  Sunday was a different story.  Baked two loaves of pumpkin bread, cooked a batch of tomato sauce, prepared ingredients for French bread to begin rising on Monday morning, re-potted several indoor plants, & cleaned the chicken coop to prepare it for winter.  Success!  It helps the weather was fabulous on Sunday...sadly, probably one of our few nice days left for the year.

What's this? A blog?

It's been awhile since posting...and for that, I apologize.  It's been a busy summer - to say the least.  Here's a quick recap:

We got married....

I love that our first dance picture so closely resembles our cake topper

We've continued to work on the yard...

This area of the yard does not grow grass very well (so abundantly obvious in this picture), so we're working on maintenance free landscaping (note the rock path, the mulch, & addition of native, drought-tolerant plants).  The V-section between the slate path & the sidewalk will probably slowly become grass-free.  Our plans include semi-permanent "hot boxes" (small moveable "greenhouses" that we'll make using old windows from the house) & continuing to add the maintenance free landscaping.  A work in progress...

We've continued raising our four chickens...

The coop (with hops sitting on top of the weather proofing tarp)

The girl(s) have made us proud & begun laying eggs...  

(At this point we don't know who is laying the eggs, but we're almost positive it's Fenway, the Plymouth Rock White.  The pattern tends to be one egg every other day, although we had two days in a row of eggs.  They're small, closer to the size of a medium egg in the store, but delicious!)

We've been canning...

Apple sauce (with apples from a wild apple tree on one of Steve's project sites) & strawberry apple sauce

Canned peaches & peach salsa (not pictured)...

And chokecherry jelly from the abundantly wild chokecherry bushes around town...

And of course, we've participated in numerous races, both around town & outside the area.  (Sadly, no pictures of those at the moment)

That's our life in a nutshell for the past few months.  Regular blog posting shall now resume!  :)

Workouts

I guess my knee has heeled - I haven't felt any tightness recently.  Maybe just another thing about getting older...the occasional ache or pain?

Sun
Snowshoeing

Mon
Rest day

Tues
30 min "cycling class" (self-taught cycling on a stationary bike)
PowerFlex
20 min yoga DVD

Wed
Cycling class X 2 (I took the morning cycling class & then was asked by the noon cycling instructor to sub due to a sick kiddo)

Thurs
Cycling class
PowerFlex

Fri
Cycling class
Run 25 min w/dogs & Steve at a new gravel trail outside of town
Zumba

Workouts

I'm unofficially rehabbing a tight "something's-not-quite-right" right knee, so I've tried to stay off running.  I've been working out so much recently that I'm not sure if running is the issue, but it's the most high-impact of everything I do, so I figured it was a good place to start.  The hiatus didn't last long & I ran on Saturday.  The knee is still slightly tight; it's possible it came about due to my sudden increase in working out.

Wed
Cycling class
(Nap thrown in the mix because I had gotten up 4:30 am to volunteer for the free community pancake breakfast put on by the Y)
Elliptical 30 min
Zumba class

Thurs
Elliptical 35 min
Cycling class
PowerFlex

Fri
Cycling class
Elliptical 40 min
Zumba

Sat
*Running hiatus broken*
Run 5K
3X 15 30# db swings, 10 dips, 5 back ext
Impromptu 45 min run in the afternoon

Workouts

Sun
Rest

Mon
Run 0.75 mi to Y
Run 2 mi on dreadmill
Cycling class
Run 0.75 mi home
Zumba
~I was a very tired lady at the end of the day...~

Tues
Snowshoeing!  Only for about an hour, but it was an absolutely lovely day
PowerFlex

I'm SO EXCITED to see that one of our local sports stores (the same store that puts on the Bighorn Trail Run) will be having a snowshoe race on February 27.**  Now the question is...do I sign up for the 5K or 10K??  Mind you, I've never done a snowshoe race before & even with all the snowshoe "running" I've been doing recently, it's only within the 1-2 mi range.  My good angel (or maybe in this case it's my naughty angel?) immediately says "Yes!  10K!  Sign up for the 10K!  Challenge challenge challenge!"  The other angel is quietly whispering "6.2 miles on snowshoes?  Are you outta your f***ing mind?!  Stick with the 5K, it will be tough enough."

Most of it will depend on the trails.  As you've read in my recent posts, I was only able to do short bursts of running while on snowshoes.  Today, I was out snowshoeing with the pups, but the trails have become much more packed down due to higher volume of traffic & warmer weather.  I noticed I was able to run slowly for much longer periods of time on the packed trails.  Ah, decisions, decisions...

**Note:  If you happened to go to the race calendar website I posted above, you may have noticed the incredibly odd name they picked.  The local sports store is called The Sports Stop, but they created this race calendar website & called it WASP Wyoming.  Oops.  Um, not sure who decided on the acronym or name, but let's just say they probably would not be able to get away with such a name in any other state...  Welcome to Wyoming.

Workouts

I have plenty of pictures to post, just have not gotten around to it.  Soon...

Tues
Run 5K
PowerFlex class (a free weights strength training class I instruct)

Wed
Cycling class
Zumba

Thurs
Cycling class
Run 400M wu, 4X400M, 400M cd
PowerFlex

Fri
Cycling class
3X 12 dips, 75 squats
Zumba

Sat
Snowshoeing!

Workouts

Fri
3 mi run w/Steve

Sat
Snowshoeing w/Steve (x-country skiing) & the pups...pictures to follow

Sun
Rest


Mon
Cycling class
Zumba!  I'm training into it so I can someday instruct it

Workouts

Sun
Rest

Mon
Run 5 mi (on Dreadmill)

Tues
Row 5K (ugh, I had to take a lot of breaks & it wasn't my favorite workout)
Back squats 5-5-5-5-5
(#105-105-115-115-120)

Wed
Run 1 mi wu, 4X800M, 1 mi cd
25 min of yoga DVD w/Steve

Workouts

Fri
1 hr. riding recumbent bike

Sat
4 mi snowy run w/Steve

Workouts

Mon
4 mi trail run w/Steve & the pups
4X 21 dips, 50 squats

Tues
3.25 mi run
"20's"
3X 20 jumping pullups, 20 walking lunges w/20#, 20 thrusters w/20#

Wed
35 min run w/Steve

Thurs
~20-30 min snowshoeing
4X 25 15# kettlebell swings, 25 stair jumps, 25 crunches

Workouts

I've been working out, just not blogging about it...

Wed
Snowshoeing
Cycling class

Thurs
Strictly Strength class

Fri
4X Run 400M, 20 30# db swings, 10 GH s/ups
Cycling class

Sat
~5 mi run w/Steve

Sun
Rest