Friday, March 29, 2019

Friday Five: 5 Things I’m Loving This Week

I went all day yesterday thinking it was Friday so now I'm glad it's actually Friday! We have an in-service day for work and I am actually looking forward to a quiet day that consists of a Google training and IEP writing time. Fingers crossed the day flies by because I have a busy yet fun weekend ahead of me! Tomorrow my precious nephew, Tommy, turns two and he is having a Cars themed birthday party to celebrate! Most of my Saturday will be spent with him and then Sunday we are meeting with our officiant {a family friend} in the afternoon before heading to a Phillies game. I'm tired just thinking about it all, haha. Before I head out to get this in-service over and done with, I'm sharing some things I've been loving this week!


1. Torani SF Vanilla Syrup
I picked this syrup up back in the fall so I could make my DIY London Fog {insert heart eyes here}. This past weekend I realized I should be putting this in all of my tea drinks. Let me tell you, total game changer! I've been putting a splash of vanilla syrup in my morning tea all week and it honestly feels like I picked up a fancy tea drink from Starbucks. The best part is, this brand offers a BUNCH of different flavors {both regular AND sugar free!} so there is an option for everyone. I'm currently eyeing up the SF chocolate chip cookie dough, SF s'mores, and SF cinnamon vanilla flavors!

2. To Do Lists
This might sound goofy, but I've really been loving to do lists lately! I can tend to be a bit scatterbrained when life starts getting busy, so to do lists are a must to keep me in check. Lately I've had a list for everything {the wedding, home, work, etc.} and the greatest feeling has been checking off items. I love feeling productive!

3. Free Nights
This one might sound silly as well, but this was the first week in what feels like months that John and I didn't have a jam-packed schedule. As much as I love keeping myself busy, it felt so good to come home most days and not have to hurry from one place to another. This gave me time to get some random housework done, do some wedding planning, and most importantly, RELAX!


4. Wedding Planning
I know my list is a lot of non-tangible items this week. That wasn't intentional! Due to our free time in the past week, John and I have gotten a good amount of wedding planning done and it's been all fun stuff. I won't lie, not all of the wedding planning process has been super fun for me. As much as I'm a planner, it can just get stressful at times when you have so much to do and can't figure out how to prioritize these items. Luckily, I'm at the fun part where I'm just piecing together some stuff and it has been so enjoyable!

5. Warm Nuun
Every day during my prep period, which is around 1:30 pm, I make a cup of hot tea. It's just that little extra boost I need to make it to 3:05. On Wednesday, while going in my desk drawer to grab out a tea bag, I saw my Nuun Immunity tube and had a brilliant idea: mix a tablet with hot water for a warm orange citrus drink! I've heard of people mixing the ginger lemonade flavor or the Nuun Rest with warm water so I figured why not. Well let me tell you, it actually tasted pretty good! I made some on Thursday, too, and I loved it. I want to try it with other flavors eventually.


Question of the Day: What is something you're loving this week?


Wednesday, March 27, 2019

2019 Goals: March Update

Let's just take a moment to acknowledge the fact that April is literally right around the corner! As I sit here typing up this update, I'm completely mind blown that March is already almost over. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty ready to get this school year over with and get to August so I can have my wedding and go on my honeymoon, but it needs to slow down just a tad. In typical last-Wednesday-of-the-month fashion, let's talk about how my 2019 goals are going!


Goal 1: Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
At the end of February, one of favorite bloggers, Carlee McDot, shared 4 different 30-day challenges. One of my '19 in 2019' items is to complete a 30-day challenge, and also I obviously have a goal of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so this was perfect. I chose the crunches and push-up challenges and as long as I get through the next 3 days, I will have completed both! My running has been pretty on point this month. While it's not as rigorous as when I am marathon training, I feel as if I have been pushing myself a lot lately. I've been surprising myself with the distances I've been running even on the days I have to force myself to even put on my running shoes.


Goal 2: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
I started collecting my old mascara wands for Wands for Wildlife. This was an organization I had known about but completely forgotten about until I cleaned out an old make up bag. I'm going to try and collect a few more before mailing in! Something I realized I've never acknowledged that I do to reduce the use of plastic is by bringing real silverware to lunch. Yeah, it would be easy to grab a plastic fork from the lunchroom and then toss it, but it's just as easy to bring my own fork and wash it when I get home.

Goal 3: Reduce Phone Usage
Although I don't have any real 'proof' that I am doing well with this goal, I still feel as if I am slowly reducing the amount of time I spend on my phone. I am planning on playing around a bit more with the Screen Time feature on my iPhone in the next few weeks so hopefully I'll have that to talk about in my April update.


Goal 4: Try New Recipes
I bought tzatziki sauce this month, which I incorporated into a few different lunch recipes. I made homemade pita chips in our air fryer that turned out super delicious! With the warm weather finally approaching, I am looking forward to trying new recipes on the grill.

Goal 5: Give Back
It hasn't happened yet, but this month I signed up to volunteer at my first race! I am also toying with the idea of volunteering at an ultra marathon I hope to run in the future. I just have to look at my schedule and plan it out.

Goal 6: Save Money
This actually hasn't been too hard of a goal considering I never have time to go out and spend money, hahaha. Couponing has helped me save a lot of money on groceries, allowing us to save that extra money to put towards the wedding.

Question of the Day: How are your 2019 goals coming along? Have you completed anything on your 19 in 2019 list, if you made one?

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Phillies Charities 5K Recap

On Saturday I ran my first race of 2019 and my first 5K race in almost a year! To be completely honest, I forgot how different it was to do such a shorter distance race, but more about that later! A few months ago, I stumbled across an ad for the Phillies Charities 5K on Facebook. I mentioned the race to John and he actually seemed interested! A little preface about John and running: he has a love/hate relationship with running and races. A few years back, he would run with me a lot. He has completed a good amount of 5Ks, one 10-miler, and one half marathon. He may or may not have ran the half without any real training... So once I realized John actually might want to run a race with me, I jumped on it! After some research, we realized the perks {a cool race shirt, tickets to a Phillies game, a medal, and more!} that came with running this 5K were great and John was convinced!

Snappin’ some selfies in the car while we wait!
Okay, now that I've rambled on enough, let's get to race day! The race did not start until 9 am and it was less than a 20 minute drive for us, so John and I were pretty pumped to have a later wake up call. We woke up about 45 minutes before we had to leave. I pretty much just woke up, got dressed, and sat around. I normally don't eat anything before a run that's shorter than 6 or so miles, but because it would be awhile before I started running, I ate a few fig newtons as my breakfast. We arrived at Citizen's Bank Park {home of the Phillies baseball team and the location of the start/finish} around 8 am. Knowing it was super windy out, we sat in the car for awhile to soak up the heat. Finally, around 8:20, we sucked it up and got out so I could use the bathroom. Man, oh man, was the starting area CROWDED! John overheard someone mention the race was sold out and I 100% believe that. There were a ton of port-o-potties to use so I was thankful!


So many people! We hid from the wind in between all these crowds!
After waiting around, and squeezing through the crowds to block the wind, for what felt like hours, it was finally time to start. John and I had discussed our plans for the race that morning and both of us had agreed to stay together in the beginning, but if one of us wanted to get ahead, we could. I had woken up super congested, so I planned to just take it easy and assumed we'd probably stay together. Once the gun went off, we had to weave through the crowd to find some open areas. From what I observed, this seemed like a race that many people came to walk. That wasn't a problem because it only took a few minutes to break away from that crowd of people.



John and I stuck together until about a mile in. He wanted to slow down a bit but somehow I was feeling speedy, so he told me to go ahead. I'm still not sure what got into me, but I was keeping a pace between 8:30-9:00 and I was feeling great. Maybe I was trying to finish as fast as possible to get out of the wind and cold? Probably. To be completely honest, I don't remember much of the race. I know that a few parts of the route were an incline and that was when I really pushed my pace. I skipped the water station around mile 1.5 because I wasn't really thirsty, I didn't want to slow down, and mainly, my hands were so frozen from the wind that I couldn't either fathom the idea of cold water spilling on them. I wasn't really looking at my watch so I didn't even realize I was almost to the finish until I saw the 3 mile marker. All I kept thinking was "wow, I feel like I just started!" 

When I crossed the finish, I took note that my time was less that 29 minutes on the clock. That made me feel great because going into the race, I just wanted to run a good race. I never thought I'd be able to run sub-30 minutes on such a windy day while I was feeling sick. I walked a little past the finish and then stood off to the side to wait for John. John was only a few minutes behind me! He told me that he only had to walk a few times which I find successful considering he has only ran once in the past few months. He finished with an official time of 31:09 and my official finish time was 28:32.



We continued through the chute to get our medals. After looking at it later, I realized the medal has a magnet on the back. So cool! There were water bottles, bananas, and prepackaged soft pretzels for post-race fuel. I'm always happy when there are soft pretzels at the end of a race! We kept walking with the crowd which lead us into the stadium From there we did a cool down lap on the stadiums warning track. It was super cool being able to walk right on the field! We were able to see both dugouts and get an up close view of what those look like. Of course John and I stopped and took some pictures!



Once we exited the stadium, John and I went to the car to grab the ticket vouchers so we could go redeem them at the ticket windows. Each runner received a ticket voucher that gave you redeemed for 4 tickets to a baseball game on one of the selected dates given to us. Between the 2 of us, we got 8 tickets for a game this Sunday! The only downside was that we had to wait in a long line at the ticket windows while the wind blew and chilled us to the bone! I wasn't sure I'd ever thaw out after that!



We both agreed that we were hungry and exhausted after that. I found it funny that I felt so tired after a 5K when I've ran much longer distances and felt better. It must've been the wind and the fact that I was sick! Since we were in Philly, we stopped for Geno's cheese steaks! Instead of sitting outside in the wind or eating in our car, we made the decision to bring them home to eat in our warm house. After that, we took a much needed nap :)

Overall, the Phillies Charities 5K was a great race! It was very well organized and I was happy that my watch and the route lined up pretty much exactly mile-wise. The goodies were received and the experience we had made the price worth it! 

Monday, March 25, 2019

My Week in Pictures XIV

Happy Monday, everyone! It's hard to believe that we are entering our last week of March. Didn't March just start?! Anyway, last week was a mix of relaxing and busy. Follow along to see what I was up to all week!

Our week started with some relaxing on the couch with some Netflix and popcorn.


I felt sick most of Tuesday and woke up feeling work on Wednesday so a sick day was necessary. After a doctors appointment, I picked up a bagel to eat in bed while catching up on This Is Us.


Dexter helped me feel better with his snuggles!


I felt good enough to go get our free water ice at Rita's for the First Day of Spring ;) It really helped my sore throat!


Thursday (March 21) was Rock Your Socks Day for World Down Syndrome Day. My {goofy} students and I participated!


We went to dinner at John's parents on Friday night so I went for a quick run around our old neighborhood before we ate.


Saturday John and I ran the Phillies Charities 5K! It was John's first race in awhile and we both had a blast!


Afterwards we had to take advantage of being in Philly and stopped for a Geno's cheesesteak!


After a long Saturday afternoon nap, we finally went and booked our honeymoon!! We'll be going to Riviera May!


We met up with my sister, nephew, and brother at Barnes and Noble for a little bit after we left the travel agent. Next stop was dinner with my grandparents at Olive Garden. Never ending stuffed pasta bowls?! Yes, please!


Sunday was a lazy yet productive day! We finally picked the tuxes for the wedding and I am so excited to see them on the guys! So many wedding things this week :)



Questions of the Day: What is your sick day remedy? 
If you've gone on a honeymoon, where did you go? If you haven't, where is your dream destination?

Friday, March 22, 2019

Friday Five: 5 Things I’m Loving This Week

TGIF! Actually, this week seemed to fly by so I can't complain. Maybe that's because I took a sick day on Wednesday, which I spent the majority of sleeping/watching TV in bed. Tonight we are going to dinner at his parents and then tomorrow John is running a 5K with me! I'm pretty pumped that it's our first race of 2019, but it feels so strange to run such a short distance for a race. It's been a looong time since I've done a 5K. I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned! Keep reading to see what 5 things I've been loving this week!


1. Nuun Rest
I finally got my hands on some Nuun Rest and it does not disappoint! To start, both flavors {Blackberry Vanilla and Lemon Chamomile} are delicious. I'm not even sure I could pick a favorite. I've had a glass of Nuun Rest almost every night since I've received it and I definitely feel a difference in the way it relaxes my body. It almost feels like it is calming me down, allowing me to fall asleep quicker than usual. After reading up on the info sent to us Nuun Ambassadors, I learned it contains magnesium, tart cherry, sodium, and potassium which supports the body's natural relaxation responses by calming the mind and relaxing the body, reducwa inflammation and muscle soreness, aids in fluid and nutrient retention, promotes muscle relaxation, and prevents cramping. I'd have to say this is true!

2. Tzatziki Sauce + Pretzel Crisps
While throwing my lunch together one day this week, I had the idea to pack tzatziki sauce instead of hummus to dip my pretzels in. What a great decision it was because the two flavors together is delicious! The crisp cucumber flavor cuts the saltiness of the pretzels and just has a great taste!


3. Pineapple
My mom somehow ended up with a ton of pineapples and as always, offered some to me! While I was over on Sunday, I used her fancy pineapple cover remover/sliced thing  and brought myself home two containers full of fresh pineapple slices. They have been a delicious addition to my lunch this week as my go-tos lately have just been apples and clementines. 


4. Pita Chips
I bought some pita bread for lunches this week so I could make chicken gyros. I got an idea the other night to try making my own pita chips in the air fryer and they turned out sooo tasty! After some internet searching, I ended up cutting the pita bread up with a pizza cutter, brushing them with a tad of olive oil and sprinkling on some Himalayan salt, preheating the air fryer to 360 and popping them in for 10 minutes, shaking the basket twice during the 10 mins. While they were super good, they were a bit too crispy so later I tried it for about 5-7 minutes and they were even better. I highly recommend!

5. Earrings
For years now, I’ve been pretty set on wearing the same earrings every day, without worrying about changing them (read: I’m lazy). Last year for my birthday John even bought me amethyst earrings that were real silver so they wouldn’t turn my ears green after awhile. Ever since I switched up my earrings for a party a couple weeks ago, I’ve been loving changing my earrings each day to dress up my outfit. I’m not one to get super dressy for work so the earrings help me feel a bit fancier. 

Question of the Day: What is something you're loving this week?

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

My Spring Bucket List

Happy First Day of Spring! I hope everyone is celebrating this day with some free Rita's or whatever cool spring offers you have in your area! To celebrate this wonderful season, I thought I would make a bucket list of all the things I'd like to do throughout the next few months. I'm really betting on some good weather so let's hope that is the case!

Run on Trails
It's not much of a secret that I am dying to run an ultra marathon. Unfortunately, a majority of them are trail races. As much as I love running on trails, I am not very experienced and I've heard that experience is necessary to go out and run 26.2+ miles on one. I am hoping to dedicate as many runs as possible to trails in my area to start preparing myself.


Eat Dinner on the Patio
When we moved in, my grandparents thoughtfully bought us a patio set. The thing is, that was back in September and the weather hasn't been too warm since then. As the warm weather starts the make it's appearance, I'm looking forward to using the grill we have and sitting outside to eat some meals.

Do Work/Read on the Patio
As you can tell, I love being outside. Once it's warm enough, I can't wait to sit at the table on my patio and do work for school or just read a book!

Go Hiking
John and I love exploring new trails. Living somewhere new should give us a lot of new options for hiking!


Bike on Local Trail
Our town has an awesome program where you can rent bikes for FREE! While training for Philly back in the fall, I was always eyeing up the bike rack where they're kept, dreaming about a nice bike ride on a spring day. Hopefully that happens soon!

Organize the Garage
This may seem silly and not so fun, but it needs to get done. Since moving in, our garage has become a dumping ground for all things we don't have a place for {read: things we can get rid of!} or garage items that desperately need to be oragnized. I am hoping to organize the garage during the springtime while the weather isn't super hot. Also, organizing and decluttering is actually enjoyable to me, silly as it sounds!

Try a New Restaurant
Moving to a new area means lots of new restaurants to try. Maybe we will even find one with outdoor seating so we can enjoy the weather!


Question of the Day: What is something on your spring bucket list?

Monday, March 18, 2019

My Week in Pictures XIII

Although the morning were rough due to daylight savings, being light out longer made me feel much more productive this past week. It was definitely a quieter week over in my world and I am a-okay with that! Continue on to see what I was up to last week. I hope everyone is having a great Monday :)


A vanilla chai tea was necessary on Monday morning!


A thoughtful student gave me a whole bag of Irish potatoes that her family made.


Later sunset = a later run once I'm done all the work I wanted to get done around the house.


Tommy came over on Wednesday to go to the park near my house. Afterwards, he had a blast playing with his favorite cousin!


Thursday was Irish potato ball making night. Tommy was such a big help!



Friday night was our food tasting at our venue. We brought our maid of honor and best man. Everything was so tasty! I think our guests will be happy :)


Mahi Mahi with mango salsa and a delicious rice mixture!


After the tasting, we tried out the ice cream stand in near our house that we kept hearing about. I tried a cannoli sundae and man was it yummy!


John had a work training Saturday morning so I woke up early and played with Dexter for a bit. Lately he's been loving his tennis ball.


I went out for a run, then wasn't feeling it, so I planned to stop after my 3 mile loop. Next thing I know, I'm finishing a 6 mile run. I feel like non-runners wouldn't understand this situation haha.

On Sunday, I couldn't believe how nice it was out, so I went out for another run! Afterwards, we went over to my parent's for St. Patrick's Day dinner!


Question of the Day: Did you take advantage of the nice weather last week? If so, what did you do?

Friday, March 15, 2019

Friday Five: 5 Things I’m Loving This Week

What a week this has been! Daylight savings really kicked my butt each morning but then I made up for it by being super productive at night. This week actually flew by for me which I was a-okay with! Tonight I am going for a good tasting at my wedding venue {yummmm} and then tomorrow I have a first birthday party for John's cousin's baby. It should be a good weekend! Before that happens, though, read on for my Friday Five!


1. Irish Potatoes
St. Patrick's Day seemed to sneak up on me this year! I'm not Irish, but I still enjoy wearing green and putting up my little shamrock door decoration. I also reallllly enjoy eating Irish potato balls/candy {everyone has a different name for them}! If you've never heard of them, Irish potatoes are a concoction of coconut, powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. These ingredients are mixed up, rolled into balls, and then coated in cinnamon. Delish! On Tuesday, a student surprised me with a bag of them. Needless to say, they didn't last very long. On Thursday, my sister and I made a couple batches using the recipe my mom has always used. Sooo tasty!

If you've never heard of Informed Delivery, you need to listen up! Informed Delivery is an account you set up through the Post Office that let's you see what mail you should be receiving each day. In the morning, all the mail is scanned, so you will receive photos of the outside of the envelope. This has been great for John and I as we are able to see what we'll be getting that day and also know if we are missing something. It's also nice to know if there is even any mail in our mailbox without needing to run across the street to check our mailbox!


3. Ello Mug
I got this mug at Target a few weeks back for a steal of $3 and I've been loving it ever since! Ceramic mugs are my favorite so to find one with a travel lid is a win-win! I like to use it at work because I can bring it to class as a travel mug but then at my desk take the lid off and it's a regular mug.


4. Bigelow Green Chai Tea
I picked this tea up at Christmas Tree Shops over the weekend because the idea of my two favorite teas together sounded too good to be true. I've got to say, it's pretty dang tasty! The tea has the mellow taste of green tea with a little kick of chai spice. It's been my little afternoon pick me up all week because it has just enough caffeine to wake me up, but not too much that it keeps me up all night.


5. New Boots
While at a mall last week with my friend, I found these boots for only $15! I have never been able to find nice, high boots that fit my wider calves and for such a cheap price. I've been getting my money's worth wearing them lately and I'm really loving them!

Question of the Day: What is something you're loving this week?
Have you ever tried an Irish potato ball/candy? If so, do you like them?

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

My Go-To Snacks

Between teaching, running, and having a social life, I find myself constantly busy. When I'm busy, I don't always have time to sit down and have a full meal so snacks are a necessity! Today I am sharing with you some of my favorite go-to snacks I always try to have on hand.



Pretzel Crisps
These are my go-to when I'm craving something salty. I think these pretzels are better than any other pretzels because they hold up when it comes to any dip. Plus they look bigger due to the flatness of them so I feel as if I'm eating more!



Homemade Granola Bars
Back in December I got a mold to make my own homemade granola bars. I know, I know, I could've just made them in a pan but we all know that they can be a pain to cut up once they've baked. I've been making my own granola bars for a few months now, using a variety of ingredients such as cereals, honey, crushed pretzels, and chia seeds. I like to make my granola bars as simple as possible.



Homemade Granola
I love granola, but with a nut allergy I'm limited to what pre-packaged granola I can have. Instead, I just make my own! I follow the Ginger Molasses Granola recipe from Run Fast, Eat Slow and it is to die for! I alter the ingredients a bit but I still follow the base of the recipe.



Hard Boiled Eggs
Thanks to my egg cooker, I've been enjoying hard boiled eggs almost every day! They are so easy to slip in my lunch bag {as long as I know I'm putting it in a fridge} and eat sometime during the day. I also find them to be pretty filling.



Dry Cereal
I've loved dry cereal as a snack throughout the day dating back to high school when I would bring Ziplocks of it in my backpack to eat during class. My usual choice is Cheerios because they don't produce as many crumbs so less of a mess.


Question of the Day: What is your go-to snack?