Playing Catch Up

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever. I want to, and it's not like I don't have time, it's just that I don't know exactly what to write about. So, I thought I'd play a little catch up and just brief you on what's been happening around here lately.

Lauren and I made the trek over to Target and Ikea last week. We spent less than ten minutes at Target because their dollar spot journal stuff was a bust. However, we made up for our lack of Target purchases at Ikea. We each bought a handful of picture frames (I bought 9 just for myself!) and we've been happily looking up art wall ideas. We also picked up several candles; we hardly ever agree on candle scents, so when we do it's like we have to buy them. Plus, having a more decorated and organized apartment makes our living space more "us". The extreme coldness and urbanization of big-city living has made us a little homesick for warm, suburbanite California. So having a mini Ikea shopping spree sure made us feel more at home.

I've been slowly (and I mean super slowly) learning how to use my DSLR camera. I've really just covered the truly basic stuff, like a few of the different camera modes. But I've been loving playing around with the aperture.

I spent all of yesterday in the hospital; being the bestie that Lauren is, she tagged along for the ride without complaining. Apparently when I'm really sick I get bossy. I experienced my first ever dose of morphine and CT Scan (weird!), and after picking up my medicines, I'm on the mend. I slept almost all day yesterday and I'm still awfully tired. Even though sticking to my marathon training schedule is important, resting during sickness is even more vital. Even if I have to miss an entire week of running, I know that I'll be able to pick up where I left off once I feel 100% like myself again.

Since I basically slept all day yesterday, I had a burst of energy this morning where I suddenly wanted to be super productive. This could also be due to the fact that Lauren cleaned the bathroom and kitchen (all after going to the grocery store) all before going to class and work today. I guess I wanted to channel her productive outlook. So, I decided to meal prep (for just half the week). I didn't actually cook any of the food since I like my meals to be as fresh as possible. But, I did cut up all the veggies and fixings. So now all I have to do is pop open that Pyrex lid and pour it all in a pan and turn the stove/oven on. All of the busy, tedious work is already done. I'll see how much time/energy this saves me in the long run, but I've actually enjoyed Monday Meal Prep. Also, I made the most delicious roasted sweet potatoes, just saying.

Besides being sick and having to take time off, running has otherwise been going pretty well. Lauren and I have run outside only twice in 2015 because it's so dang cold here. We decided to make an effort to brave the cold and get an outdoor run in at least once a week. Initially we were completing all of our runs on the treadmill which got pretty boring. Listening to music helped, but my ear buds won't stay in my ears! I've been doing some research on ear buds for petite ears, but until then, I'm music-less. Then it came time in our schedule for the wonderful fartleks. I actually really don't mind fartleks; they just seem scary. We thought it would be a lot easier to run fartleks on the indoor track rather than having to keep changing the speed of the treadmill. The indoor track did end up working well for the fartleks, so much so, that we have been doing all of runs on the indoor 1/12 mile track since. Yes, we've even run 8 miles on the track at one time. That's 96 laps! And yes, it is very possible to get dizzy while running literally in circles.

We have some fun plans coming up this weekend! At least I think they sound fun. And looking even further into the future, I'm so looking forward to Spring. I can't wait until it's warm enough to wear just pants and a sweater outside and not freeze. My family is coming out for a week long visit in March and I really hope they bring the warm weather with them! I guess the below-freezing temperatures give me even more of an excuse to knit though. We shall see though!