G is for... Gardening

By the name of this post you might think that I was going to express my extreme love for gardening, or what I plan on doing for gardening this year, etc. 

Truthfully, the reason I selected this for a post title is because I really want to start gardening! I have never ever ever had a garden of my own, but it is something I have always wanted to do. I don't know if I really have a green thumb (no prior experience to support or refute), but I think it would be fun to try.

Our neighborhood is full of pesky stray cats and my biggest worry is that they will dig up anything that I do get planted... Not to give myself worries or excuses before even starting, but just being honest.

Anyone out there who is reading this have any tips? Any good plants that I could plant here in the early spring time? I need all the help and advice that I can get!

**This post is for the April A to Z Challenge!

F is for... Favorites

Today I wanted to share some of my favorites...

Favorite movie... My Best Friend's Wedding

Favorite color... Blue

Favorite sport to watch... College Football

Favorite sport to play... Volleyball

Favorite actor... Bruce Willis

Favorite actress... Julia Roberts

Favorite album... Yourself or Someone Like You - Matchbox Twenty

Favorite song... Push by Matchbox Twenty

Favorite dinner food... Salmon

Favorite television show... Friends :)

Favorite candy bar... Milky Way

Favorite drink... white mocha

**This post is for the April A to Z Challenge! 

Kick-Ass April Week 1

I am linking up with Kick Ass April over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I am a few days behind, but today I decided to get caught up! I am now on track. I am hoping that this is easier for me to keep up with than the last couple monthly fitness challenges that I dropped the ball on.

This challenge is focused on strengthening and firming up our (pardon my French) asses and surrounding areas! Each day with the exception of Saturdays I will be doing squats, burpees, and wall-sits.

For example, day 1 looked like this... 10 squats, 30 seconds burpees, and 15 seconds wall sit.

I will be keeping track of my progress here on my blog and will be keeping a tally of squats completed, minutes of burpees completed, and minutes of wall sits completed.

Here is the schedule for week 1 (Sunday April 1st through Saturday April 7th)

Sunday - 10 squats, 30 seconds burpees, 15 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Monday - 10 squats, 30 seconds burpees, 15 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Tuesday - 13 squats, 30 seconds burpees, 20 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Wednesday - 15 squats, 40 seconds burpees, 25 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Thursday - 15 squats, 40 seconds burpees, 30 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Friday - 20 squats, 45 seconds burpees, 30 seconds wall sit - COMPLETED
Saturday - Rest

Total Stats:
- Squats = 83(for week)
- Burpees = 3 min. 35 sec (for week)
- Wall-Sit = 2 min. 15 sec (for week)

Half Marathon Training Run 3.19

I decided to drive to the gym, do two miles out and then two miles back for a total of 4 miles. My gym is near Minto Brown park so I decided I would run into the park and onto one of the many trails. Which was a very nice idea and I enjoyed the change of scenery. I was doing really well until about 2 miles in. Then I started having a little bit of digestive issues. Apparently lasagna leftovers for lunch was a bad idea. Sorry for the tmi. So for the second half I did a mixture of jogging and walking. In the end when I was jogging I was doing an 11:30 pace so I am thinking this run would have went very well in terms of pace if I didn't have the digestion issues. A question for those of you reading this, how do you prevent these sorts of issues? And if they arise, what do you do? I was wanting to do some weights after the run and I did do a little bit, but I still wasn't feeling so great so I didn't do everything.

Todays' stats: 4.00 miles in 53:00

E is for...Education (and the importance thereof)

My topic for today was a no-brainer.

Education is one of the most important things in my life.

Obviously.

After 21 years of school out of almost 26 years of life, that is something that should be obvious to anyone.

Education is extremely important. It opens so many doors.

And even more important is just being educated in general. Maybe you didn't do great in school and math wasn't your strong suit. That doesn't mean that you cannot be educated or benefit from education.

Education is more than just in the general classroom sense. Think about things you do in every day life, medications you take, products you use... What makes you use or persuades you to use them?

I would assume that some of it would be through what you have learned about it, through educating yourself!

Education does not begin and end in school. It is a lifetime process. I love to learn and I hope to continually be learning in my life every day. 

**This post is for the April A to Z Challenge! 

D is for...Driving

After a lot of thought, I determined that today I would discuss driving.

A little something you may not know about me is that I did not get my driver's license until the day before I turned 20 years old.

That's correct. I was almost 20 years old.

In Oregon an individual can get a driver's permit at the age of 15 and can then get a driver's license at the age of 16.

You may wonder why I waited so long. I wish I had a good answer. But I don't.

It's not that I wasn't smart enough to pass the tests, I definitely was. I just wasn't motivated. In all honesty I don't think I cared much.

Obviously I liked the idea of being able to drive, but that was pretty much where my interested ended.

I was involved in a lot of sports and extra curriculars at school and honestly I didn't really have a need for a license. I grew up in a small town and we always lived within walking distance of my school. The necessity for a license just wasn't there.

It kind of changed when I was in college because I suddenly had more desire to be independent. However at that point I was dating a guy who had a license and was willing to drive me pretty much wherever I wanted to go AND I didn't really have the time to study for the test (or so I would say to justify my decision).

Things finally changed when I started dating Joe, who is my fiance and who I have been with for almost 7 years. Joe did not want to be my chauffeur. I don't blame him. He pushed me and prodded me to get my license.

I decided I wanted to have a car first, so I ended up purchasing my very first car, with cash, before getting my license.

A couple months after that I took my driver's test, in my car, and passed. I have now had my license for close to 6 years and I have never been happier of the freedom and ability that having it has given me.

I no longer have to wait for rides. I no longer have to rely on others or feel like I am a burden. It is such a freeing feeling.

**This post is for the April A to Z Challenge! 

Half Marathon Training Run 3.18

Today I had scheduled 4 miles, but I couldn't quite do it. I almost didn't run at all. I did 0.25 running, 0.25 walking, 0.25 running, 0.25 walking, 0.25 running, 0.25 walking, 0.25 running, 0.25 walking. I tried to up the pace on my running portions and was averaging a 10:30-11:20 pace on each one, which if you have been noticing my training is quite a bit faster than I normally run. If I keep on track for the week I should still be able to put in 20 miles this week.

Todays' stats: 2.00 miles in 26:40

Half Marathon Training Run 3.17

Today's run was a bit rough again... I don't know what it is, but I feel like I've been in a bit of a slump the last couple of runs. I did 2 miles, took a brief stretch break, then did the other 2 miles. Afterward I did some core work and some weight training. Tomorrow is another 4 mile run on the schedule so I am hoping it goes better!

Todays stats: 4.00 miles in 49:04

C is for...Courage

The courage to step up and take your fears head-on.  

Courage is something that I like to think I have.  

Courage is something I continually try to work on.  

Courage is one of the most important attributes for a person to have (at least in my opinion...)

There are so many things in the world that people can be afraid of. The world is a scary place. If you don't have courage, it makes it hard to go out and face things, even normal day to day tasks.

Before I was afraid of speaking in front of crowds.

I obtained courage to do so by going out and speaking. I spoke at my high school graduation as one of the Valedictorians. I sang in the talent show during my senior year of high school. I participated in a scholarship pageant in my junior year of high school. I did as many things as I possibly could to push myself out of my comfort zone.

I couldn't have done these things without courage.

In law school I participated in Moot Court, competing in 2 trial competitions, and I participated in the Intensive Trial Practice course which culminated with a full on trial in front of an actual judge and jury.

I will admit that I still get butterflies in these situations, I doubt they will ever go away completely. But do I know that I am capable of doing these things? Yes, I do.

I am confident in my abilities and I wouldn't be able to say that if I didn't have the courage to step out and take these fears head on.

To close I want to share my most favorite Bible verse which relates to having courage...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

**This post is for the April A to Z Challenge! 

B is for.... Bar

No, I do not mean the place you go for alcoholic beverages and high calorie snacks.

I mean THE BAR EXAM.

The epitome of my lifetime of education, 21 years to be exact.

Why is so much emphasis being put on this exam by me, you might ask?

Because I have to master it (or at least "PASS" it) in order to do what I have spent my lifetime in the pursuit of. Becoming an attorney. My dream profession.

I have taken the Bar twice now and I am currently awaiting the results from my latest attempt in late February. I have a little less than 25 days to go. Yes, I am counting down.

While I feel like I did better, I still am not 100% certain whether it was "better" enough. I suppose there is nothing I can do about it now, right?

If you are reading this, please pray (if you feel so inclined) or even just think good thoughts for me, even if you won't take the time to leave a comment (which I assume is many of you since my "A" post had 20 views and only 1 of you commented)

This post is for the April A to Z Challenge! 

Just Closed... [The Litigators]

The Litigators by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book a lot. Again I think John Grisham is a fantastic author of legal fiction books. This book gripped me in from the very beginning. The skeevy law firm of Finley and Figg was a funny look into the firms who are in fact "ambulance chasers." This book made me want to root for these little guys as they took on a big major medical corporation.

View all my reviews

A is for... Amen, again and again

Today is the 1st of April and the start of the A to Z Blog Challenge! Each day, except for Sundays, I will have a post on a letter of the alphabet, going from A all the way through to Z. For example, today's letter is A, tomorrow's is B, and I will continue through to Saturday which will be F. I will not post next Sunday, but will then post again on the following Monday beginning with G. It may sound complicated, but I promise it's not!

As of right now I do not have a theme to use for my posts, but would rather just use what comes to me on that particular day. Many bloggers participating in this Challenge will use themes, but many like me, will not.

Welcome to new and old readers. Those of you who are visiting from the Challenge, please leave word so that I can come and visiting your blogs as well and read what you have came up with for the day. 

Feel free to go to the Challenge website here, to see what others are writing about!

For me today's post and idea was easier given that today was Sunday, a day for church and worship. Not that I don't worship or pray or read the Bible on other days. Sunday is just more of a "well established" day, I suppose I could say.

I had a GREAT morning before church, I ran 7 miles (in prep for half marathon #3) and I ended the week with 20 miles. Amen. I haven't logged that sort of mileage in years. No joke! It is beyond nice to be getting my running fitness back where it was before I let things slide... ie. law school, bad habits, bad life choices, etc.

Church was great this morning too. The topic was mainly living in the light versus the dark, but it also touched on "addiction" another "A" word, eh? Not too shabby! Amen.

The pastor focused on how we should live like it's day time, all of the time. Even in the dark and at night. This dichotomy really struck me because it is very interesting to look at how not only the light (or absence of light) changes from day to night, but so do so many people. These same people who are "good" during the day, may turn to bad habits, choices, or "addictions" at night. And it's not even night, these same people could be living in the dark because they have turned their backs from God's love, they have decided to pursue other things, some may say as a substitute. Whether it be alcohol, or wine (which is so readily referenced in the Bible) or even internet usage, Facebook addictions, pill addictions, food addictions, etc. Really anything that a person could be addicted to. While addictions are rough and obviously can't just be cured by going to church or spending time with God, it is encouraging to think about the good that could be done for those who are suffering through hard times if they were to take the time to spend with God and to spend in prayer or worship.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Amen!

Half Marathon #3 - Training Week #5

Week 5 (Monday March 26th - Sunday April 1st)

Mon - Scheduled = 0 / Done = 4.05 miles in 47:53

Tues - Scheduled = 4 / Done = 0

Wed - Scheduled = 3 / Done = 3.00 miles in 36:45

Thurs - Scheduled = 4 / Done = 4.01 miles in 47:52

Fri - Scheduled = 0 / Done = 0

Sat - Scheduled = 2 / Done = 2.07 miles in 24:47

Sun - Scheduled = 7 / Done = 7.01 miles in 1:29:17

Weekly Total = 20.14 miles

Half Marathon Training Run 3.16

It started out rough... I was going slower than I had anticipated and wasn't sure I was going to even make it the entire run. I am glad that I decided to stick it out. I took a brief "pause" at 3.5 miles to consume a GU gel (vanilla bean) and to drink some water... Once I did that I began again and I actually sped up a bit for the second half. I hit 6 miles at 1:16:40 today and last week when I did 6 miles I finished at 1:17:09. That shows me that even though I felt slow, I was actually keeping a little quicker pace, even with the extra added distance of todays run versus last weeks run. I also hit 20 miles for the week. Another accomplishment for me. I am looking forward to another successful running week!

Todays' Stats: 7.01 in 1:29:17