Day Before Crazy Weekend #2

Hello everyone!!

Before Steak Night, Melissa, Erin and I went and got our toes did. The other ladies got full pedis, where as I just got a color change. I was over my chipped hooker red and was envious of Erin's electric blue toes, so that's what I got. Blue is my favorite color, btw, if you didn't know. Please excuse my Hobbit feet.

Steak night was everything I was hoping that it would be! I didn't take any pictures b/c we were by some weird neon red sign that made everything look like it was funny colors but you can see what steak night is all about here. I only had 3 cookies. I had to try one of each flavor! Duh!

I saw this on the way out the door! :)

Here are the pictures of the goodies from my Walmart trip that I promised you. Yumm-O!

Also, yesterday I got my awesome deal compression socks by Zoot in the mail!!!! I ordered them from www.runningwarehouse.com and they were regularly $60 but on clearance for $20 and I found a 10% off code online to bring them down to $17 something! One awesome thing I learned about RW is that they have free 2-day shipping in the 48 states! No one does that! Or so I think. Since I have ginormous calves that are 17" around, I needed a size IV and I got the blue and white ones b/c I figured that would be better looking than my black old man socks. I tried them on last night

I think it's funny that they have a L and an R sock. I guess I thought I could figure this out on my own, but maybe not? I tried them on and they didn't feel like they were squeezing the life out of my legs that I sometime feel with the old man socks. So what did I do? I slept in them! They were heavenly and I'm looking forward to wearing them on my long run + 5K tomorrow.

With that, tomorrow I have the start of my Fall Race Madness. I have a 5K this weekend called the Dash for Cash which is a fundraiser for the local United Way. I'm hoping for a good time b/c I'm going to warm up for it with a 7 or 10 miler, depending on how saucy I feel in the morning.

Saturday night, Jackson Blue, my friend Laura's band, is playing at one of the popular live band bars in Moscow, ID called John's Alley. I'm trying to get as many bodies in that place as I can!

Sunday, I've decided to take a chill day at least for the afternoon and have an Emma Stone movie marathon at the theater. I'm going to see 'The Help' at 12:00 and then see 'Crazy, Sexy, Love' at 3:30. I can't say this was an original idea b/c I totally stole it from Cely @ Running Off the Reese's.I will be going to the movies with her in spirit b/c Texas is too hot and too far away!


After the movies, I'm not sure what my plan is but maybe just to relax b/c the new first year students come to town and start TA training on Monday. *evil laugh* It's definitely a right of passage but ends up being a poopy jam packed week of stupid crap to do and then you get to start the craziness that are classes. Yay grad school!

What are you doing this weekend? Any races out there?
I'm officially T- one month until I get to go home for my first real vacation away from P-town in about a year and a half and my first 1/2 Marathon with my mom!!! I hope I can be productive in this next month and maybe get my paper done and make bossman happy before I leave. :D

Produce Explosion!

Last night after work, I hurried home, let Heif out and changed my motorcycle boots for flip flops and met my friend Kara for froyo in Moscow. I would have taken a picture but I ate it before thinking about the whole picture thing. I had the cake batter/pb swirl with graham cracker dust, yogurt chips, strawberries, raspberries, mango, brownie bits and topped with marshmallow cream! It was quite a masterpiece!

After chatting for a while, I went to the Rosaur's (a grocery chain) 13 hour Produce sale and scored big! Here's what I got...

bananas .37/lb

strawberries 1lb for 1.47 x 3

corn 3/.99

green bell peppers 3/.99 x2

2lb bag of sweet onions 1.47

red and green grapes .97/lb

peaches .97/lb

KIND bars 1.67 x4

Coconut water (to try) 1.99

bag of spinach .97

bag of tri colored coleslaw .97

califlower .97/lb

pineapple .87/lb

5lb bag of potatoes 2.47

2 lb bag of carrots 1.57 x2

all for $50.... with a savings of $46!!!!

I came home and chopped up the peppers and strawberries and some bananas and put them in the freezer b/c there would be no way that I would eat all of it before it went bad. I need to chop up the pineapples tonight. I'm going to make mashed califlower and need to boil some corn tonight. I think the peppers and onions will make great stir-frys or fajitas.

After all my goods were put away and/or chopped, I ate my last zucchini boat and watched some SYTYCD. I'm excited for the finale next week. They have some really good dancers this year! And thankfully, Mary Murphy was covered last night! I channel surfed for a while and waited to hear from Erin b/c she was in a movie and we had some stuff to talk about and wanted to meet up. She forgot to text me when she was in Pullman, so I met her at Shari's, which I would somewhat compare to Perkin's and we had some of the best pie and I had a cup of tea. We split slices of chocolate pb and a s'mores pies. They were heavenly! I think the choco pb was better!

What are Erin and I plotting do you ask? We are working on planning a trip to Vegas during Oct. 14-17 to go to an EPIC rock concert that is brand new and called the 48 hours festival. If anyone out there is interested in coming to Vegas and joining in on the fun, we are going to stay in Erin's parent's timeshare condo and would be happy to split the cost. :)

This is going to be a busy weekend! But I think I'm going to start it by hanging out at home and kicking back with some redbox b/c I got a code for .50 off a rental! Any redbox suggestions? Since the weekend is going to be so nuts, I'm planning on doing my long run tomorrow morning so I have enough energy to bounce around at the concert Sunday night!! There might even be a chance that we can hang out with Adelitas Way b/c Erin might have gotten us an in! :D I will keep you posted!! (I am taking my memory stick out of my computer now, so I don't forget it again!)

What fun things do you have planned for the weekend? Any races going on where you are?


Anyone want to go to Vegas with us?! :)

Being an Adult

Last night my legs were tired from running the night before, so I didn't run. I don't know how you people can run every day b/c my legs just can't take it! Since I knew I wasn't running, I went ahead and made myself dinner when I got home. I made a grilled chicken & cheese on Ezekiel bread with muenster and that fancy French cheese that starts with a G that I can't seem to spell right.

Mmm! Grill marks!

After dinner, I went to the WallyWorld to get my contribution to the party tonight. There is a going away party for John b/c he's leaving for a few months to do research elsewhere. We are having Sangria among other things, so I bought a gallon of the cheapo white stuff and a bottle of lemon-lime pop to mix with it. There will be fruit and fruit juice added to make it refreshing! :)

NOTE: I will not be drinking anywhere near as much as was consumed a few weeks ago... because I am going to try and "be an adult" and not go overboard. Also, I'm going to go to the Farmers' Market tomorrow if I have to drag my sorry self out of bed! I didn't go last week and am having withdrawls! Walmart produce just isn't the same!!!

Getting back to the title, I have been working on overhauling my CV all blessed day long at work today! I am hopefully less than a year out from graduating with this thing they call a PhD and need to find something to do after this. In order to apply for anything, you need a CV, like a nerdy resume, to give to people so they know your history/experience with things. I hope I get some nibbles with this thing!

On a happier note, I emailed one of the profs that I did summer research while I was an undergrad asking her if she would be comfortable being one of my references and she said she had a position available if I was interested! Super cool! It's probly not for me but is only an hour from home and is an offer!!! :D

I'm gonna go home and continue being an adult and eat a good dinner before imbibing but I'm sure you can expect some fun pictures from the festivities.

I'm planning on getting in at least 10 miles on Sunday! If anyone wants to call/ email/ tweet and harass nag at  encourage me to make sure I'm going to do it, let me know! All kicks in the butt are welcome b/c I've been needing to get my long run in and it hasn't happened!

57 days until my Half Marathon in Akron, OH!!!!

What fun things are you doing this weekend? Since it seems to have cooled down in the east compared to what it was, we are getting it this weekend with temps nearing 90. I will have to be up at 4:30 to run before it gets sweltering. 

Fro yo's Anonymous

My name is Cortney and I am addicted to fro yo! Yes! I went again last night! This would make it the 3rd time this week! I tried a new combo and it was delicious! I had vanilla and strawberry lemonade yogurt with granola, strawberries, raspberries and marshmallow cream!!

This was my reward for completing my suck-tastic 4 mile run! I felt like I was pushing extra hard but was only really going my regular pace. I think I had a case of the "cement block legs". But I got it done and then ate my feelings in fro yo with Erin!

Then, I actually went home and had some dinner. I made a shredded bbq chicken wrap with a Laughing Cow blue cheese wedge spread on the tortilla and some peas and carrots! It was quite yummy. I sat and watched about a half hour of tv and then decided I was done for the night. I was in bed by 10:30. Wow! I'm getting old!

Tonight, I don't have anything fun planned but am hoping for a new episode of Friday Night Lights and maybe a new Dateline. I'll be up early tomorrow morning to go to the Farmers' Market with Laura and then I have a late Bastille Day BBQ with the Frenchies. I think I'm going to make baked brie to be all festive. 

Oh! I updated the "concerts" and "races" tabs b/c I have bought tickets or paid race entries or will pay race entries for these races. If you are in the Eastern WA area and plan on going to any of them, let me know! I'd love to meet up with you!

What fun plans do you have this weekend?

Here are some pictures of Heif with his new toy that I bought him! Hilarious!

I like to shake, shake it!!

Play with me!

Happy boy!

I'm so cute!!

I Don't Do Mornings!!!

Well, I did it!! I was up at 5:30 this morning to make an attempt at my first ever SUPER EARLY morning run. I was out on the road by 5:50 and ended up doing the little loop but thought I'd mix things up and go the opposite direction. I was good until about mile 2 and then a lung giggled loose and I was a coughing machine and slowed to a walk. It wasn't very good after that so I slowed it to a speedy walk the rest of the way home. I think the loop in this direction is harder but I was taking a hill in a different direction. Maybe it was just different.

Regardless, I have felt tired and sluggish all day. Maybe this will mean that I will fall asleep early and sleep like a rock? I can only hope!

Last night, I was planning on running when I got home but the skies looked like rain and then I fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up, I convinced myself that I was destined to have to get up in the morning and do it then. When I got off the couch, I made my delicious chicken and vegetable medley that I made before but this time I added red potatoes and zucchini from the Farmers' Market that I needed to use up and fresh Rosemary from my garden!! It ended up being a whole lot of food and took 45 min at 400 degrees to cook! But now I have eats for the weekend and a good thing too since Payday isn't til Monday (::insert poor Grad student comment here::)

The Goods with added ingredients.

Heif drooling over my dinner -- the flash went all weird

Thursday has turned into a pretty lame night as far as tv watching goes. I might have to start renting from the RedBox to amuse myself or just go to bed at 9 when SYTYCD is over. I do only have 20 channels, so it's not like I can watch any of the cool shows like Hoarders or Extreme Couponing at home! :)

What do you watch on Thursday Nights?

Rented anything good from the RedBox lately?

What are your plans for the weekend? I'm going to the Farmers' Market with Laura and then watching her band perform in a local bar *WEEEEEEE* on Saturday. On Sunday, I'm hoping to get 10 miles in depending on how my coughing situation is going. Someone suggested it might be allergies since it's been going on for 10 days now. So, I might try allergy meds and see if that does anything. If not, I think I'm headed to the University Clinic on Monday. Run or no run, I'm planning on "Bake Attempt #2" for Sunday afternoon. I will be more stealthy with my sunscreen application this time!

If anyone likes Mission Skincare products, Schwaggle from Active.com is having a deal for $25 for $50 worth of products and then you qualify for free shipping! You can find the deal HERE. If you take up on it too, let me know! If the link doesn't work, I can fwd you the email.

Have you ever used Mission Skincare products before? Skinnyrunner had recommended them to me, so they can't be bad! ;)

It's not easy being GREEN

I did it!!! I got in not only the 1.2 miles I needed last night, but pushed a little extra and got 2.2 miles in last night. I also learned something. It wasn't 150 miles that I was striving for since March 1, but 155 miles! Never in a million years would I have ever thought that I would run that much EVER, let alone in 4 months!!! Now the next color to get to is BLUE and will be more of a challenge/ longer to get to b/c I need to run more than 620 miles for that one. I think if I step it up, I might be able to do that by the end of the year.

A goal has been set!

After I got home from my little run, I made some toasted tomato sandwiches with basil and miracle whip light. They were wonderful and light but the toasted bread had a little disagreement with the roof of my mouth. No matter. It was still good!!

I spent the rest of the night trying to find something good to watch and found that Thursday night tv in the summer is kind of disappointing. I ended up with Glee at 9, watched a bit of the 10pm news and then went to bed early. I figured it wouldn't hurt since I feel like I still sound like a man with all of the congestion. 

Today is a big day in the Nash Group. We have one of our own graduating!!! Today is Travis' PhD Defense day! Everyone in the group has brought breakfast stuff and after his defense we are having a lunch bbq in a park. I'm so excited for Travis but sad to see him go. I just hope that my big day isn't too far down the road...

Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to hit up the Farmers' Market in the morning and then Erin and I are going to get our crisp on! We are going to the small water park in Moscow to try and get some color. Don't you worry, I will be wearing plenty of my waterproof spray on SPF 70 sun screen b/c I hate being burnt!!! Hopefully I will upgrade from pale to some light shade of brown instead of lobster red!

Not really sure what's up for the rest of the weekend but I'm hoping to get another 'long' run in on Sunday. I'm not sure what long means at this point but it all depends on how I'm feeling.

Have a great Holiday Weekend everyone!!