Hard Copies..

Well it looks like we are going to Illinois again! Kris got his hard copy orders yesterday and that means barring any unforeseen event with the navy .. we will be reporting to Illinois no later than Jan. 8th!

I have say I am looking forward to it mostly because we will be closer to the east coast and have more chance of seeing family! Another huge reason is we will have a bigger house in Illinois than we do here.. a MUCH bigger house and Air Conditioning!

So in a little over 5 months .. we will be once again packing up and making a move.. I will miss the ladies that I have made friends with here.. but I am looking forward to meeting some new people and seeing some old friends.

7 years ago

I married the love of my life. Times have been rough here and there but times have been good too. We have worked hard on our love and will continue to work on it in the years to come. I wouldn't have it any other way.

There are so many things that happened after we first met to draw us to one another. Because of all of those random occurrences I cannot believe anything else but that everything happens for a reason.

This was our very first picture together.. so young!

That was almost 9 years ago.. and I am happier today than I have ever been.. even with all of the random problems that we go through I would not change anything.
I love you Angel! Always!!

This one is from back in Jan. but it is still a good picture.. :)

Runners Expo!

A friend of mine told me about a runners expo in Seattle on Friday so of course I was interested in going. Especially since I really needed some headbands for the 5k next month. It was the Rock -N- Roll Expo for her Half Marathon which she TOTALLY ROCKED btw!

So Mystry and I got ready and met Photina & her girls at the ferry terminal.. we barely made it onto the boat.. we had to high tail it down the ramp to get there on time.. it was rather amusing..lol..

The trip was quick over to Seattle, then we walked over to Qwest field.. and other than some super slow walk lights made it there fairly quick.

Our first stop (other than the bathrooms.. haha) was Hippie runner for some headbands.. I was very happy to find some matching headbands for Mystry and I to wear during the See Jane Run 5k next month..:)

Our awesome headbands! The two on the left are the ones we are wearing for the race..hehe..

Also with some nudging from Photina I got some great protein bars.. PR bars have great taste and with 15g of protein and only around 200 calories.. that makes me happy!

Now I am looking forward to the See Jane Run Expo next month even more since I know what it is all about! I look forward to taking some time to look all around it..and of course next time I will bring a camera.. lol

Discovery...

I have gone running with my niece twice now since she has been here and I have discovered something important... I absolutely have to give myself a goal.

When we went running the first time I just turned on my tracker and went.. and ended up giving up around 2 miles or so.. but when we went out the second time I put the timer on for 45 minutes.. and ran the entire 35 minutes that I was supposed to run.. The other 10 minutes were warm up and cool down time.. but we ended up going 4 miles!

I need that goal set saying I have made it half way.. telling me to keep going and push myself to finish .. otherwise I just give up..

So.. timed runs it is.. :)

Still Healing..

It has been beautiful here in Washington this past week.. Unfortunately I am still on the mend from my surgery so no running for me.. I did get out and go for a walk with Kris one of those beautiful days.. That was nice..

I have been having issues with my legs hurting pretty bad lately as soon as I slip on my flip flops and head out the door.. Hmm.. I am starting to think it is the shoes that are causing the problems.. I need to find more supportive "flip flops" ?? Do they even make such a thing.. maybe they have insoles for them.. I could try that and see if it helps.. after all.. it did help with my boots..


So far my boobs have only lost a very minimal amount of their size, so they are still pretty big to me.. I am very happy with them though.. the pain has decreased a lot in that area also.. as long as I don't accidentally squish or bump them that is..

My stomach hasn't changed any since the last time I posted a blog.. but I am hoping that will change in the weeks to come. I saw my doctor on Thursday and she was very definitive on her belief that my stomach is going to shrink a lot more.. I hope she is right!

So for this duty day I am just sitting around doing nothing.. and resting... Yesterday I took care of most of my errands so now I get to relax.. Very soon my nieces will be here and I will be posting about them! :)

I am also going to be posting in my photography blog as soon as I am feeling better about some Friendship Photo shoots I will be offering.. so keep an eye out for that my Wa. friends!

Before and Now...

That's right.. before and now.. cause I am not yet to the after stages..lol.. In case you don't know, I had micro-body sculpting (laser lipo) and a natural breast augmentation done. Everyone has been asking me for before and after shots from my surgery.. so I took some today since today was the first day I have removed my compression garment to wash it and to take a shower..

The shower would have been great if I hadn't suddenly gotten dizzy and nauseated.. it was bad.. had to sit down with a quickness.. oh well .. this too shall pass.. anyway.. to the point..

The doctor said it will take a month for all the swelling to go down so these pictures are just what I look like for now.. I don't know what i will look like a month from now.. or even 4-6 months from now as she said that it takes 4-6 months to see the final results! So without further ado.. this is my 4 day post op and before pictures... you don't get to see my boobs though.. sorry.. those are only for Kris..haha..

Front View

Side view..

I will post more pictures in the weeks to come as I progress and the swelling goes down..

Picking Orders

We have been looking at orders for a few months now. Kris put in orders twice and we got turned down both times.. We are trying to get closer to the east coast but the navy doesn't want to send us anywhere.. sigh.. I would really like to be some where warmer and I really REALLY do not want to go back to Ca. and I don't want to stay in WA either. Don't get me wrong, it is really beautiful here.. but I could use less hills, less rain, and more warmth .. especially for my running.

I would really like to be able to move forward with my running but not having a treadmill or any flat road to do it on is hard.. it makes it even harder when 90% of the time it is raining here.

I haven't given up.. especially since I have found a love for running.. it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment that I have never felt before..

So back on track.. We will be putting in orders again in a few days.. maybe this time we will actually get accepted for some.. at least I hope so.. because other wise it means the navy will be choosing orders for us and we get no say.. and I will be pissed if we have to spend shore duty in CA! God please let us at least get to the Mid U.S. somewhere! The west coast is definitely not the place for a laid back Florida girl.. lol..

I have enjoyed being able to experience different places and I would be glad to experience another place that I have not yet been.. I just want away from the west coast..lol

2 more days....

That's right.. only two more days until my surgery... For those of you who don't read this blog much.. it is an elective cosmetic surgery.

I am having micro-body sculpting and natural breast augmentation done. I will probably post before pictures tomorrow.. as I don't have any on this computer.

I have been looking forward to this surgery for a long time to get rid of my muffin top.. I am working on eating right also and I run 3 days a week.. so I am not only doing the surgery.. but I am definitely ready for it!

My body just hasn't been the same since having Alora so it will be nice to be comfortable wearing a form fitting shirt again. Even my "baggy" shirts or should i say shirts that are supposed to be baggy around the middle show my muffin top.. it is seriously frustrating..

Other than that.. I am doing daily affirmations.. as per my sister's advice.. Whenever I begin to say that I hate something about my body... I change it to I love my body.. and then I tell myself the reasons why.. For instance, my body allowed me to run for 3 miles today! I love my body! I have to admit it is helping me to look at myself in a better light..

So that is about it for now.. I am excited!! :)

Running!

For the first time in a long time I feel like I have accomplished something. I never in my life thought that I would be able to be a runner. Much less run for 25 minutes straight! Yesterday proved that it can be done and I can do it! As anyone who reads this blog already knows I have been doing the C25K program and preparing for a 5K in July. Well I am meeting my goals!

My main goal was to be able to run a mile in 15 minutes. Yesterday my time not including when I was walking for my cool down stayed around 13.40 minutes per mile! I have exceeded my goal! I ran 2.68 miles yesterday and did it in 38 minutes.. I am confident that I will be able to run my 5K in less than 45 minutes and that makes me very happy.. even more happy that I believe I will be able to run the entire time!

I will have a bit of a set back next month as I am having elective surgery on May 12th.. but I should only be out of commission for 2 weeks.. No strenuous workouts are allowed for 10 days after the surgery.. so I will be taking it easy and just doing some walking..

I will still have almost 2 months to train before my July 17th run. So I am more than confident that I will be able to keep up with my training and make my goals if not exceed them!

So that is where I am today.. I had been running Mon, Tues, & Wed, but now that I am running for longer I need a recuperation day. So I have changed my schedule to Mon, Wed, & Friday.. gotta give my legs a day of rest to get used to all ... my legs are sore today, but not as sore as they were after my very first 20 minute straight run.. it is different doing intervals than straight runs.

I find that when I am running in an area with a lot of hills that it is better for me to do intervals. I can run faster doing intervals in areas like that. If I am on flat land I can get better time running constantly.. So here is hoping that the 5K that I am going to run does not have any hills to run up.. haha.. I am not so good at those.

See Jane Run Training

In case you don't remember I am training for the See Jane Run 5K..I have been doing my running to get ready for the 5K in July 3 times a week.. My walk/jog usually takes about 35 minutes and I do a little over two miles each day.

I even went down to a running store at the advice of Photina @One Guy in a house of girls to get fitted for an actual running shoe.. since my sketchers were making my arches hurt..

The people at Poulsbo Running were very nice and extremely helpful.. the guy there helped me try on a few pairs of shoes and watched how I walk and run to give me the best fit. I left feeling confident in the type of shoes I wanted to purchase.
I decided on the Asics 2160.. which gave me the most comfortable fit.

However, they shoes are $99 .. which is more than I have EVER spent on shoes before.. so I didn't buy any that day. For the next few days I discussed getting the shoes with Kris and scanned the internet for deals.. Finally I was able to find a coupon and get the same shoes shipped to me for only $75.. not bad.. $25 less is definitely a good amount of savings! I suppose it would actually be more like a savings of $32 after you include tax on the regular price.. so YAY! In case you are wondering I got the coupon codes on Retail Me Not! It is a great site to check out if you are ever purchasing anything online before you hit the buy now button!

So come this tuesday I should have a brand new nice pair of running shoes... I have to say that I never imagined myself as a runner.. but it feels good to get out and accomplish something. To be able to say YEAH! I can walk/run 2 miles without passing out.. haha.. I can now run for 8 minutes straight.. I think I may be able to do more but that is all the C25K program has required me to do up until now.. but I have a 20 minute jog coming up.. and I have to admit I am a little apprehensive.. I hope I can do it without stopping..

The hardest part for me has been that around my neighborhood where I run.. there are a lot of hills.. a lot of STEEP hills..haha.. those make me want to stop.. and walk up them.. they make my calves ache and my breathing harder.. but I am working on it.

I was going to the gym for my runs in the beginning.. but that fizzled out when I had to go by myself and got bored with it.. but I can run around my neighborhood without having to get in my car and go anywhere.. so i like that. Plus I feel like I am doing something instead of just running in place. I imagine I could do much more running in place than I could actual running outside. Smooth flat surfaces are good for that.

Well that is pretty much it on my running update. I am keeping up with my program and doing it slowly, but I am doing it none the less. :)