Gazelles On Crack Rotating Header Image

January, 2009:

Workout Update

Jan 29th, 2009
by gazelle.
23 comments

Another busy week is 3/5 over. I am not overjoyed about the 5-day work week, but am overjoyed to, you know, have a job and all. So yay!

I am tired & ready for my (2-day) weekend, but guess I have to get through today & tomorrow before that happens.

Things have been stressful in the gazelle/architect household, as well as at work, but I’m trying to remember that exercise is not optional, and a workout will proabbly make me feel better (in the long run, at least) than a bottle glass of wine. January has never been my favorite month – even though I know that the days are getting longer, it’s hard to see the evidence. I know a month from now, I’ll feel great! The time will be changing, it will be light after work again, I’ll be wicked old having a birthday! Things have just seemed so….grim….lately.

But – I have been working out.

Saturday, I hit Bikram for the first time in MONTHS with the Ambitious One.  It was good, and I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t die afterwards. I was a bit sore the next day, but not so bad. I already blogged about my fast run last Sunday with Junk Miles – I was a little sore after that, too – but again, in a good way.  Monday I took the day off, as per my agreement with myself to deal with my new Monday work schedule by working but NOT working out. Tuesday I ran 3 miles in 32:43 (I did a mini-tempo: Mile 1 at 11:06, Mile 2 at 10:31, Mile 3 at 11:06.  Also did some abs. Wednesday was my epic 750 yd swim. It was HARD! I’m still not sure I actually like swimming, but I will concede that it is a good workout, and a nice no-impact workout for my knees, which are still sore from time to time. This morning I was on the bike for 30 minuts, then did upper body weights & some abs.  Tomorrow, I will run. Saturday I’m meeting the Amibitious One & If You Can’t Beat Them for Bikram, and then Junk Miles & I will run again on Sunday.

Weekend challenges will be going out on either Friday or Saturday (I’m unclear as to what’s happening) and then a Super Bowl party on Sunday (I’m pretty pleased that I even know who’s in the Super Bowl this year).

I had to set computer reminders to tell me when to snack – but that’s working, so at least I’m eating on a regular schedule. I ran out of breakfast food at home due to an unfortunate maggot incident, so I had to buy a bagel this morning & will need to figure out something for tomorrow that doesn’t involve buying anything at a coffee shop.

I’m kinda all over the place lately. And just want to apologize for not commenting on blogs. I’m totally reading them! Kind of! But am so busy that I just don’t have time for more than a quick skim. But I still think you’re awesome.

PORN!!!

Jan 28th, 2009
by gazelle.
7 comments

As promised, we have more wedding porn today.

We are going to start with some exciting guest wedding porn. After the last wedding porn posts, skinnyrunner sent me her wedding shoes.

Before posting the shoes, I want to remind my readers (and myself, really) that it’s not appropriate to mutter hateful things under your breath just because someone’s wedding shoes were Jimmy Choos and yours weren’t.

She had two pairs of wedding shoes. Since she had a beach wedding – she had Stuart Weitzman flip-flops for the ceremony:

I think those are so pretty – and so nice for a beach wedding! I love the star fish.

For the reception, she changed into these:

She did say that although the Jimmys were expensive, they are simple enough that she still wears them about – which I think is the key. If one is going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on shoes, then they better be shoes that you’re going to wear a LOT! Which means when I finally get my Christian Louboutins, I will wear them every day. I will take them off only for bed & for running (don’t want to ruin them).

BUT – moving on from my jealousy – I did promise some wedding wedges today – and found five pairs – again with a variety of price points!

In no particular order (and all the shoes are linked to a place you can purchase them for your very own – or as a gift for your favorite gazelle: my mailing address is in the contact information).

These are a very low wedge, but it’s hard to find wedge sandals that are dressy – and I think the crystal-covered rings are very pretty. These are also in bronze, red, black & gold.

These are a more subdued wedge, but I feel that the narrower wedge would decrease fears of ‘stumpy calves’ that some wider wedges can cause. They’re not as shiny as the others, but still pretty, I think.

These are a more neutral shoe, but the heard-shaped cutout is kinda sweet.

These are WAAAY too pink for my taste – I abhor pink. BUT, although they also come in turquoise & green, the pink were actually much prettier than the others. Also, they are Christian Louboutins, and that almost makes the pink acceptable (although even Christian Louboutin can’t make these acceptable – I just don’t quite get it).

I really like these – they are simple & elegant (and not dyeables – I found a LOT of dyeables, but for some reason have a major prejudice against them, so couldn’t post any of those).

So – that was your wedding wedge extravaganza! Questions? Comments? Future shoe porn requests?

Frugal Living update

Jan 27th, 2009
by gazelle.
19 comments

I forgot to take pictures of last weekend’s grocery trip, but wanted to do an update anyways.

I spent $109.43.  (It was $112.69 – $3.26 of the remainder of a gift card that I had.  For some reason, I estimated wrong – I was expecting it to be $99 – not sure what I missed.)

I got:

Produce ($13.86)

  • 1.8 lbs of broccoli crowns, organic ($2.68)
  • 2 bell peppers ($3)
  • 2.25 lbs of tomatoes ($4.42)
  • 2 avocados ($2.50)
  • 2 lbs bananas ($1.26)

Bulk Section ($18.40)

  • 1/2 lb of walnuts ($3.45)
  • 1.1 lbs organic rolled oats  ($1.62)
  • 1.25 lbs of organic pasta ($3.46)
  • 1.5 lbs of organic dried black beans ($2.03)
  • 4.6 lbs of organic whole wheat flour ($3.63)
  • 2.5 lbs of organic sugar ($4.21)

Beverages ($20.42)

  • 1 gallon of Silk vanilla soymilk ($5.79)
  • 1 quart of Silk soy creamer ($2.99)
  • 3 Old Orchard frozen juice ($3.75)
  • 1 lb of coffee ($5.99 with coupon)
  • 2 liter bottle of Fresca ($1.85 + $0.05 bottle deposit)

Dairy ($8.79)

  • 10 Tillamook yogurts (10 for $4 with coupon)
  • 2 lbs of Cheddar Cheese ($4.79)

Meat ($14.96)

  • 3 whole chickens, cut up ($14.96)

Alcohol ($21.49)

  • 12-pack of beer ($12.99+$0.60 bottle deposit) – maybe it’s just me, but I hate seeing ‘age verification bypassed’. *sigh*
  • 1 bottle of Ecco Domani chianti ($7.99)

Other ($4.69)

  • Barilla marinara sauce ($2 – these were 2 for $4, and I would’ve actually gotten, more, but there was only the one left)
  • Generic raisin bran cereal ($2.69)

Non-food items ($9.99)

  • 10 large cans of Frisky wet cat food – YUM! ($4)
  • 2 hotpads that will hopefully protect our hands from hot things, unlike current hotpads ($5.99)

Obviously the hotpads were an irregular purchase – but we did get a LOT of stuff. Total coupons savings – $3.00.

Last week we ate:

Sunday: broccoli & baked potatoes

Monday: cheese sandwiches

Tuesday: Chicken curry

Wednesday: Cheese & crackers

Thursday: Chicken tacos with guacamole

Saturday: cheese & crackers

SO – not an inspiring week…..this week we’ll have

Sunday: Moroccan stew

Monday: Chicken something-or-other (still finalizing menu)

Tuesday: Chicken tortilla soup

Wednesday: Chicken taquitos (homemade)

Thursday: Tuna-noodle casserole

Saturday: Leftover soup & sandwiches

SO – for the month

I made two major trips to the market & spent

$109.43

$97.24

In addition, we made one trip to the weird market down the street & spent:

$8.23  – Flour, Saltines & catfood

The architect also made one (unsolicited) trip to the market for dry cat food (which was needed) and two boxes of cereal (for which he didn’t bring the coupon) and two 2-Liter bottles of soda.

$18.54

So – January total:

$233.44

More than I would’ve liked, but WAAY less that our totals of $100 +/week that we were running before. And all this before I’ve mastered the coupons. I am still having trouble finding coupons for things that I actually want to buy – organic food, produce, etc.

In addition, we spent many, many $$ on going out. That is the area we really have to work on. A lot. I tink if I actually added up all the $$ we spend not just on going out together (and thus coming from our joint account) but also on the lunches & happy hours separately (and thus from our individual accounts), I would be sad. I should probably do that – so I can be sad.

My next market trip will be on Sunday next week.  My goal for FOOD items is $80. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Monday Photo Essay

Jan 26th, 2009
by gazelle.
22 comments

I don’t actually have a lot of photos for my essay today – but I did have two that I wanted to share with you.

The first is the long-awaited (at least by me) photo of the winter party dress.

Those shoes are NOT the shoes I intended to wear (they are, however, my wedding shoes AND the most expensive pair of shoes I’vew ever purchased – they cost twice as much as my wedding dress).  That’s also kind of a strange angle, since we couldn’t find the tripod, so the camera is resting on the kitche counter.  Aren’t we sharp? I do wish, though, that I had a more straight-on photo. My necklace is pretty! :)

The next photo is from the blogging runner get together last Wednesday.

From left to right: The Ambitious One, me, Rocket-Shoes, his wife Running Stories, Junk Miles & our out-of-town guest: I *heart* running. Not picture (because he was our photographer) is Mr. Pi.

Our monthly get-togethers are quite fun! On our run yesterday, Junk Miles & I were talking about get togethers & potlucks,  and determined that we might need to have a runner potluck. I think we might have to, at that.   Something to consider for February!

I know that this is not going to get me any sympathy, but DAMN! it’s hard to go to work on a Monday.

Ass-kicking run

Jan 25th, 2009
by gazelle.
18 comments

This morning, I woke up to just over an inch of snow on the ground.  I was not pleased. BUT, I had my coffee and oatmeal, and then headed over to the Fanno Creek trail to meet up with Junk Miles.

We set out in the cold, and although I knew we were running faster than my usual pace, I was pretty surprised when my Garmin notified me that we’d done the first mile in 9:35. That is wicked fast for me, lately.

Each mile was successively slower – when we finished, her Nike + said we’d done 5.3 miles in 10:40 averages, and I had 5 miles at 11:04 averages. Obviously, hers was more positive :)

I’d be pretty pleased with the 11 minute mile average, though! That’s the fastest I’ve maintained any distance over 2 miles since I started running again in September. I have two 2-mile runs with an under 11 minute mile pace, and my 5K race I did in October was 10:15 minute miles, but that was a race!

So – I’m pretty pleased to know that I can run an under 10 minute mile without dying, and that if we’d started a wee bit slower (20-30 seconds), I think I could’ve maintained that pace for even longer. At 5 miles, I was pretty much done, though – my knee was getting sore, and I don’t want to irritate it too much.

Next weekend, she’s going to come to my ‘hood, and we’re going to do the beautiful park run – I will not try to maintain 10 minute miles on those hills! I love running with people who are faster than me, because it really makes me push myself harder than I do alone – but I do feel a little bad when I can’t maintain the pace.

The rest of the week, I’m just going to concentrate on getting SOME kind of workout in every day – and trying to survive my 1st five-day workweek in many, MANY months. Hopefully I can do it.

← Earlier Posts