[Late] Grateful Sunday

I realize that it's Tuesday, but I still wanted to do my Grateful Sunday, even though it's a few days late. So, here goes!

• I'm thankful for best friends that understand you backward and forward, inside and out, upside down, and pretty much every other way you can imagine. That handsome kiddo up there is my best friend and without him, I wouldn't be where I am.
• Birthdays! We celebrated Sam's birthday last night, but her actual birthday is today. Happy Birthday Sam! She's officially 19 years old. To celebrate, we went out to dinner at Oreganos (the best Italian restaraunt in Flag) and topped the night off with pazookie, but not after an adventure!
• Relationships. With people, with God and with the world. It's a beautiful thing.

What are you grateful for?

Inspiration

I've decided that in addition to this being a place to discuss my day to day life, I want to share my half marathon training experience.

Lauren and I did a mile and a half run tonight--the farthest we've gone in Flag! We definitely feel accomplished. I love love LOVE my new running shoes. Getting closer to our 3 mile goal. The rest of my week (training wise) looks a little like this: Wednesday- Step class and weights; Thursday- Aqua Sculpt; Friday- Swim; Saturday- run. I'm loving feeling in shape, or at least reaching my goal of being fit by the time I turn 20 (which is a few weeks away...scary!). The show "Biggest Loser" really inspired me for our run tonight. I do not want to end up looking like any of the contestants on the show, so watching it is a great motivator for my workouts!

So tell me, bloggers...What motivates or inspires you to push on when your workout gets rough?

Battle

you know you're exhausted when you're debating between cleaning up your side of the room, or showering and going to bed early. my room is a mess, but sleep just sounds oh-so-wonderful. i did some running today (like 1.16 miles, nothing intense unfortunately!) and some weights in the gym, in addition to carrying two somewhat-heavy boxes halfway to my room before a couple friends saw me and were willing to help. thank you, jesus, for strong and beautiful men! now if i could only find one to keep....

anyway. i think i'm gonna do a bit of cleaning up, and then hit the shower before going to bed by 9. i like this plan- a lot!

i hope you all had an amazing day!

[i say you all, when i'm pretty sure there are only a handful of people that actually read this. oh well.]

My new kicks

Long story made short, I'm training with my friend Lauren for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon on January 17, 2010

Here are the beauties that will help me accomplish that:

Asics GT-2140.

It's like a love thing. I took them out on a run for the first time yesterday afternoon. No pain my knees or ankles, which is such relief from my Nike crosstrainers I was initially wearing to run. Not to mention, the colors are pretty.

Like I said, it's a love thing.

Grace.

I'm currently praying that God will give a particular set of parents and family (not my own) grace and understanding in hopes that they'll back off just a little bit. It's just one of those things where I feel like screaming from the very top of the San Francisco Peaks (12,633 feet in elevation!), "I'm important too, damn it!"

Only, the hike is super difficult and I don't have the energy right now, not to mention the vocal capacity to be heard in Glendale. But I think you get my point. I'm irritated. I want to be considered important and adorable. Sometimes I feel like asking for the first (I could care less about the second, but that'd be nice too) is so much to ask, but all the same, is it really?! Not at all.

Just be praying for me, please.

Grateful Sunday

A family friend of ours, Jennifer, started doing this thing called Grateful Sunday on her blog awhile back and I really love her idea. Consider this stolen, Jennifer!

Today, I am grateful for:

• Having the opportunity and privelage of living in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. Yesterday, we took a hike to the Inner Basin (which is near Mt. Humphrey's) and we experienced nothing but beauty. Beautiful friendships, beautiful creation and beautiful weather.


• Being surrounded by incredible people in my life, both in Flag and at home. These people make me laugh day in and day out, and we always have the best of times together. (Lauren and Beth, middle)


• Babies. My cousin had her twin girls, Allison and Emmily, this past Thursday. It's so often to easily forget what a blessing children are in our lives! In addition to Allison and Emily, I'm grateful for my niece, Susannah (pictured above). At 7 months old, she's growing like mad but is still the sweet, adorable baby girl that I love and adore so very much.

Wishing all of you a blessed Sunday!

Fighting the Distance

I've never been in a long distance relationship with a guy, or a relationship with any guy other than a friendship, for that matter. I've quickly learned how much I hate distance; hate having miles upon miles separating me from the one person who has ever understood me backward and forward.

Allow me to explain:
Kurt is in Idaho going to school, and it's been a month (as of today, actually) since I last saw him. While this breaks my heart, I know it's the right thing. That doesn't make me like it any more, however. It's hard to have someone that you care so much about be so far away. Not getting to see them on a weekly basis, or hear their voice, or feel their strong arms embracing you...It's tough.

The first week or two was pretty difficult for me; I was really missing him. The past couple weeks have been easier. We text on an as-constant-as-possible basis, aka when we're not in class or doing something like it. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world; I'm glad we get to text so frequently. It doesn't make it any easier. In fact, I feel like the past week has been even harder. There are things that I want to share with him, but can't. I see pictures and get an ache in my stomach just because I miss him so much. It sounds completely lame, and almost like I have romantic feelings for this specatacular friend of mine. There are none, though.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not as important to him as I used to be, and to be honest, that scares me. I don't want this friendship to fall apart. I won't let it. But when your best friend is 800 miles away, it's difficult not to worry about things. Like whether or not he'll find a new best friend up there, or if we will change dramatically in being apart for so long and not knowing what to say to each other when we're together again....It's the little [stupid] things like that that I worry about.

So, to those of you who have mastered the art of long distance relationships, CHEERS to you. I'm still learning.