Memorial Weekend Recap…

Oh I love LONG weekends but I loathe when they’re over:(!!!

So in proper recapping fashion here it goes:

Saturday

Saturday was an AWESOME day!!!!  Shortly after Mike and I were up and about, he checked the mail and found this…

Back towards the end of January I wrote to my local Walmart and asked for a donation to Team Challenge.  Well I never heard anything from them so I figured it was a lost cause!  I could hardly believe it when I opened the check they sent me to see they gave me $500.00 freaking dollars!!!  I was SOOO happy because I was still $120.00 away from my goal and that meant that I would of had to personally donate the rest, but thanks to Walmart I now have it covered:)!!!  I also got these in the mail…

My new glasses:)  Thanks to zennioptical.com I got a stylish new pair of prescription (why do people always ask me that, I don’t wear glasses for fun) glasses for only $15.99!  If you haven’t used this website DO it!!!!

Mike and I then ran some errands and then decided to go on a quick run.  We drove down to the tow path near our home.  It was HOT but we managed to squeeze in a 2.5 mile run. We were sweaty beasts when we got done so we came home, showered and relaxed until it was time to head to Whiskey Island in Lakewood for my BFF Jilly’s 28th bday…

Sunday

On Sunday I woke up bright and early and headed to my last Team Challenge group training:(!!!  I can’t believe how these last 16 weeks have FLOWN by I have meant some amazing people and made some great friends;)!

Since the race is only 5 days away our runs are starting to taper so yesterday we ran for 60 minutes and I got in 6 miles exactly!  We had a brief meeting after our run to discuss the upcoming races details and thanks to our awesome coaches we all got bondi bands that say “Crones Sucks” on them:)  Our team is having a cook out tomorrow to celebrate the upcoming race as well so I’m looking forward to that!

Last night Mike and I celebrated having today off by going to the movies to see…

We both LOVED this movie and laughed our asses off!  Seriously if you need a good laugh do yourself a favor and go see this movie… now!

Today

Today was sunny and hot so being outside was a must!  Mike and I loaded up our bikes and headed to the tow path.  We rode 5 miles out stopped to take some pictures and then rode 5 miles back in.  Enjoy:)

All in all its been a pretty fantastic long weekend!

If you or your love ones are or have been in the armed services thank you for your service!

Adele live in Royal Oak…

So sorry this post/review is a couple days late buttttt I couldn’t not celebrate my blogs one year anniversary and yesterday we had a huge storm come through.  So like I posted a while back the hubby got me tickets to see Adele way back on Valentines day and the day had arrived… May 23rd in Royal Oak, MI:)!!!

Since Royal Oak is about a 3.5 hour drive for us, Mike and I took a half day off of work Monday and then all of Tuesday off.  My mom hooked us up with a hotel Monday night so the hubby and I had mini vacation:)

We got into Royal Oak around 5pm and the doors opened to the show at 7pm so we decided to check out the town and get some dinner.  Royal Oak is a really cute trendy town and we ended up dining at Mr. B’s Pub.  Their food was delicious!!!

After dinner we walked around for a bit before making our way over to the venue.  Walking to the venue we knew we had alittle bit of a wait ahead of us once we saw this…

The line was about a mile long but moving pretty quickly so we ended up getting inside around 7:45pm.  We quickly found a good place to stand since it was general admission and no one had “assigned” standing spots (there were no seats).  We killed time by snapping some more photos.

The opener for Adele was this guy called, “Plan B”.

He really wasn’t our cup of tea, but I commend anyone that gets up on stage and performs to a sold out show.  Plan B finished around 8:45pm and then Adele’s crew quickly set up the stage for performance.  At 9:15pm the lights dimmed and then we heard Adele’s amazing voice start singing, “Hometown”.  And we saw this…

Her set was awesome as well, it was covered with lamp shades.

She sang numerous songs off her first cd 19 as well as her latest cd 21.  She talked alot in between songs and explained why she wrote a lot of the songs as well as what they meant for example:

“My Same”- She wrote this song about her and her best friend.

“You said I’m stubborn and I never give in
I think you’re stubborn ‘cept you’re always softening
You say I’m selfish, I agree with you on that
I think you’re giving out in way too much in fact”

“Set Fire To the Rain”- She wrote this song about her lighter while smoking a cigarette.

“But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touched your face
Well, it burned while I cried
‘Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name”

“Take it All”- About the latest love of her life who broke up with her.

“But go on and take it,
Take it all with you,
Don’t look back,
At this crumbling fool,
Just take it all,
With my love,
Take it all,
With my love”

She played a little over an hour and a half and every song was perfect!  She sounds spot on to her CD if not better.  I lovvvvvvvvvve her and CAN’T wait to see her again!!!  This was truly the best gift Mike could’ve of gotten me, plus it was fun celebrating “Valentines Day” 4 months later!  If you ever have a chance to go see Adele do yourself a favor and GO she’s amazing:)!!!

Even though the picture quality on this video we took blows… it gives me goosebumps to hear all the people singing!  This was her last song and the crowd was so into it!!!

Happy Birthday to….

My Blog:)!!! Today is my blogs first birthday!  Its hard to believe I finally got the courage to start sharing my life, thoughts and dreams one year ago today!  Reflecting on the past year….

My first post title was extremely creative, Hi

Fortunately for me and you my posts got more creative!  I wrote about my bff Jilly…

I took a short sabbatical to get married …

I joined Twitter as @constantlyunwin…

I shared with you all about joining Team Challenge to complete my first 1/2 marathon which is in TWO weeks:)…

I’ve inspired my hubby to start running and we recently completed our first 10k race together…

I have met some amazing “blends”, read some inspiring blogs and have given a piece of myself to my readers.  So thank you to YOU and all my readers and here’s to another year of constantly unwinding:)

Tune back in tomorrow for a FULL Adele concert review it was AMAZING:)!!!

Playing catch up…

I feel off the blogging wagon this week.  But I’m back:)!!!  The last few days have been BUSY but fun.

Last Thursday…

I meant up with some lovely ladies for a couple glasses of wine:)

Friday night…

The hubby’s band had practice, so us girls sat outside and chit chatted the night away.  It was finally warm and beautiful out!

Saturday….

Mike and I worked in our yard ALL day!!!

And today…

I woke up this morning NOT wanting to drive to do my Team Challenge run.  It was POURING rain and the forecast did not show signs of it stopping (it did of course right after we finished our run)!

Anyways I got my butt in gear and went and had the BEST RUN!!!! I ran a little over 8.5 miles and had NO digestive issues during OR after my run:)!!!   Becky, one of my fellow Team Challenge runners and I decided to snap a picture of ourselves to prove how crazy we are for running in torrential down pours… yes were smiling:)!!!

Even though its Sunday and I’m always sad to see my weekends come to an end I am extremely excited for tomorrow because Mike and I will be going to see this lovely lady LIVE:)!!!

Spring Cleaning

This rainy weather is driving me CRAZY and work has been SO slow this week (not that I’m complaining).  So I have been putting all of my down time to good use…

Yesterday I did an overall on my home office.  All mail, documents, files, filing cabinet were completely gone through and anything that wasn’t absolutely important was shredded and tossed!  When Mike got home from work we ate dinner and then sat down and worked on a new and improved “family budget”.  Between my raise and Mike getting a new car our budget needed a re-vamp.  Finances tend to be is an issue with a lot of couples… basically because they never talk about or only one partner has all of the control and Mike and I refuse to let finances be an issue in our marriage so staying on the same page and communicating with one another is important!  It’s not fun but its reality:)!

Since today’s weather and work load was the same as yesterday I decided to use my lunch break and brave the on and off rain and take care of something that needed ALOT of cleanup… our garage!  We have an older one car detached garage and the previous owners left a lot of crap behind.  I seriously should of taken before and after pictures because it now looks like a new garage.  I organized everything, threw a TON of stuff away and swept it out.  You can actually park a car it now and not worry about a rake or leaf blower falling on your hood!

I also transformed our little shed in our backyard into my “garden shed” (happy mom?  it was her idea).  I was able to sit in the shed and get all of my plants planted in pots.  I planted four flower pots full of Dahila’s…

Two of the flower pots sit on our front porch and two sit on our back deck step.  I also planted a pot with Gerber Daisies that sits on the side entry way to our home…

Now when the sun finally comes back on Friday & Saturday Mike and I can replant our hosta’s, plant the ivy we bought, re-mulch and FINALLY cut the grass… it’s a jungle out there!!!

Tomorrow it’s back to the grind and RUNNING!  Yesterday was a planned rest day but I forgoed my workout today to continue my spring cleaning spree…

What’s your FAVORITE spring cleaning “chore”???

Rite Aid Cleveland 10k

Today was an awesome day!  Today was the day my hubby and I ran our first 10k together:)!

This was Mike’s first race ever so he was pretty anxious and excited.  We got downtown around 6:15 am and parked in a lot near Medical Mutual.  Since our drive downtown was over 40 minutes I had to pee SO bad by the time we parked.  The race started down at the Brown’s stadium and those were the ONLY bathrooms.  They were NO porta potties!!! By the time I found the bathrooms… inside the Brown’s stadium, I then had to wait in line over 10 minutes.  The half and full marathon was starting at 7am and runners were freaking out trying to use the rest room and make it down to the start line on time.  With over 19, 000 runners signed up for all the races and you figure all the runners friends and family the bathroom situation was very poorly planned in my opinion.

After using the restroom Mike and I and my parents made our way down to the start line to see the half and full marathon runners take off.  It was incredible to see all the people that were running.  By the time they all were off Mike and I said bye to my parents and lined up.

My parents walked up the stairs of the stadium to take a picture of all of us runners, can you spot Mike and I?  Were right in the middle and I have my arm in the air!

We started at 7:20am luckily the weather was holding out, it was foggy and misted rain a tiny bit but overall it was extremely comfortable for running.  The run took us through the city and then out on the east side of town.  The scenery was pretty blah, but it is Cleveland so I wasn’t expecting palm trees and sandy beaches:)  The first water stop was at mile 2, Mike and I both grabbed water but kept our pace.  There was only one set of porta potties on the course and they were right after the turn around, around mile 3.5 Again the bathroom situation seemed to be an issue for people because many people were stopping to pee behind houses, dumpsters, in bushes.  Thank the lord above I didn’t have any stomach issues because I would of been S.O.L.  I can’t speak for the half or full marathon course but the 10k needed more porta potties on the course.

Around mile 4 it really kicked in what a great run I was having and how happy I was to be running with my husband.  He was doing AWESOME and having a great run as well!  At mile 5 there was Powerade stop, I passed but Mike grabbed some and then we told each how close we were and really picked our pace up a bit.

The last half mile the crowd was great and there was a small band playing and near the finish line Mike and I sprinted and crossed the finish line holding hands:)!!! (Look for Mike’s bright yellow shirt!)

We finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes unofficially which meant we kept a 10 minute mile pace throughout the race:)  After crossing the finish line we grabbed a banana…

And pretzels, chocolate milk and water… we both felt great!

We didn’t stick around long after we finished but we had a great time and it was awesome to see my hubby accomplish his goal and to run together!

This race definitely siked me up for my upcoming half marathon!!!  3 more weeks!!!

Jar of Hearts featuring our cat Davina

So many of you already know my husband plays guitar in a band but what you may not know is that I LOVE to sing.  I was in every choir there was in high school and even into college and have even sung in a few weddings.  Our cat Davina also LOVES music and every time Mike plays guitar or I sing she likes to be right up in the action and rub her head on us… weird I know but kinda cool.  We decided to share a song we learned!  Hope you enjoy and Davina does make a brief cameo:)!

Busy bee…

This week has flown by and due to the BEAUTIFUL weather I have been so active!  Last night Mike and I went for a bike ride on the trails where I typically run.  The weather was SO nice so getting out in the sun for awhile was a must.

Our bikes BLOW so we now have them up for sale on craigslist so we can buy some good bikes that we can ride for longer than 30 minutes without wanting to quit!  My bike is worse than Mike’s 1980′s ten speed so I tend to complain more… and he complains how slow I am and how much I complain:(!

We rode 4 miles out and then took a breather to take some pics and then rode 4 miles back to our car:)

Today I woke up knowing that I had to get my long run in today instead of Sunday with Team Challenge because this Sunday Mike and I will be running a 10k in Cleveland at the…

I am VERY excited because not only will this be Mike’s first race EVER but it will also be the first one we have ran together:)!  My parents are coming in town to watch us run and it is also there anniversary so this weekend is full of fun plans!

Anyways, this is our “peak weak” as far as my training for the half marathon so missing a long run was just not an option.  So around lunch time today I gathered all my running supplies and headed out to complete a ten mile run… alone:(

The verdict?!?!?

Once again my run rocked today:)  I ran 10.3 miles total and only stopped once at 6 miles to refuel and stretch a bit!  My stomach was good, my mind was clear and my feet were fast.  Whatever issues I had last week are gone and I have never been so excited to run this weekend with my hubby and in a few weeks with Team Challenge!  Life is good:)!

Tonight I am heading to a wine bar with some of my girlfriends for some MUCH needed laughs and delicious glasses of wine!

Can you believe tomorrow is already TGIF!  Have a great night everyone!

Let Go…

Tonight I had the run I have been needing to have the last two weeks… the kind of run that reminds you why you run!

After working nearly 2 hours from home today and making the long drive home I knew I could not let this beautiful day pass by without getting a run in.  Mike and I already had planned to run when he got home however I decided since it was SO nice out that I would start my run early and get some extra miles in.  I drove to the towpath and ran 3.25 miles alone and then Mike came straight from work and joined me on another 4.25 miles.  So total for today I ran 7.5 miles:)!!!  That is the longest run I have put in without my training team.  And NO tummy troubles!!!  I always have better workouts later in the day and I only drank my Gatorade (watered down) on the second half of my run and when I was finished!  I also ate some pretzels when my run was over (a tip from my coach)!  So whatever I did tonight worked!  I also find that since my hubby is a new runner every time I run with him I am more concerned on how he is doing so I tend not to self reflect as much… probably why I love running with him so much.  How can you not love this face!?!?

Any time my mind would start to spill negative thoughts into my head on my run I just started repeating…. “Let Go”.  Meaning let go of these negative thoughts, concerns, worries!!!  I WILL finish this half marathon even if I have to crawl over the finish line and any other worries are just a waste of TIME!!!

Today I felt like a runner… today was a good day!

It’s still shining…

The sun has been shining for almost three whole days now!  Finally it seems as if spring is here to stay!

This past weekend was so much fun so I will recap!

Friday night Mike and I drove up to West Park in Cleveland to hang with some friends.  After enjoying drinks and munchies we eventually ended up at a club called “Stir”, where there was quite the array of people.  Most of the time we just sat and laughed while people watching.  The “dj” would play a song and then act like he was the artist by mouthing the words and fake playing a guitar so naturally we made Jill ask him for a picture with her…

They also had a band playing so we all got up and danced to, “Living on a Prayer”!!!

Saturday…

Mike and I slept in and laid around the house most of the day.  We spent Saturday afternoon over at Mike’s brothers house celebrating Mother’s Day with his mom.  I don’t have any pictures because I left my camera at home (fail) !!!!

Sunday…

I woke up to BEAUTIFUL weather for my weekly long run with Team Challenge.  I was SO anxious though:(!  After feeling like death after my 90 minute long run last Sunday and having a horrible week of running I was not looking forward to the 110 minute run planned yesterday.  I hydrated like crazy Saturday and woke up an hour earlier than usual yesterday.  I also added a half of a banana with my peanut butter toast.   My entire drive to the run my stomach hurt because I was so anxious about having issues.

We had a guest speaker before our run, she just ran the Boston Marathon after trying to qualify 7 times!!!  Her story was very inspiring but the more we stood there and listened to everyone talk the more I anxious I became.  I forgot my gel to eat in the middle of the run and right when we started my Garmin watched died.  I haven’t run without my watch in over a year and a half!  So the start of the run was very difficult.  But the more we ran the better it became.  I did stop to walk 4 times but for only 1 minute each time so I ended up running a total of 106 minutes.  So I figured I got in a 10.25 mile run!  My stomach did OK, much MUCH better than last week so I’m going to stay positive and stick with the changes I made this week!

I got home after my run and took a nice LONG shower and then my hubby took me out to delicious lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Akron.  I ordered spaghetti and meatballs and only could stomach a little less than half of it but it was SO good, plus I ate my weight in bread!

After lunch we cruised around and then ended up taking Scooby to go get ice cream as a little treat!  It was so nice out and so nice to spend a little one on one time with Mike, it was a perfect Sunday!

Later today I am heading to my parents.  I have to work close to their house tomorrow, so I’m excited to see my mom and what the flowers look like that I sent her for Mother’s Day last Friday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and mother’s day!