Old School Blogging: Summer! #OSBlogging

Mixing things up a little bit here at LLRB and joining The Miss Elaine-ous Life in her Old School Blogging.  I haven't done one of these memes in forever and when she put the shout-out on Facebook I said "sure!"  This month's theme is SUMMER. Hard to believe it's already mid-August and up here in Michigan, some of the trees are starting to change.  Le sigh.

Ready to get started?

1.  What was your favorite thing you did alone this summer?  I've actually been enjoying my weekend uber-long runs.  Taking 3 to 4 hours to myself every weekend has been a great time for reflection.

2.  What was your favorite thing you did as a family this summer?  D and K are entering their senior years in a couple of weeks and both of them were very busy with sports and music camps, so we didn't do a family vacation this year.  (We also went away for Spring Break to Charleston, so another trip so close wasn't realistic.)  We did manage a trip out to Lake Michigan early in the summer, plus we went as a family to visit MSU.

Requisite picture in front of a lighthouse.

3.  What books did you read this summer?  Is it bad to say I haven't read much of anything?  I did read The Fault in Our Stars in a single afternoon (through the Kindle app on my phone) and I'm working on a book on running right now.

4.  What do you WISH you had done this summer?  I wish I would have made a few more trips to the beach or hit up an amusement park.  Those are two things we've done almost every year and this year it just didn't happen.

5.  What movies did you see this summer?  In the theater, saw The Fault in Our Stars and 22 Jump Street.  I guess 22 Jump Street was also a "family" activity and I have to say, seeing a racy movie with your teens can be a bit awkward.  I watch a ton of older movies on my computer every week, so those would be a pain to list.

6.  Where did you travel this summer?  I actually traveled a few times this summer.  My favorite trip, hands down, was to Savannah, GA for FitBloggin14.  This weekend with new and old friends in one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen was the highlight of my summer.  I also traveled to Chicago for the day to meet up with a friend for lunch and do some shopping.  The latest trip was a 200 mile "road trip" up the White Pine Trail as part of a 200 person relay :)

Scenes from Savannah

7.  What was your favorite treat (as in dessert) this summer?  Sangria.  Summer means sangria to me.  Since going paleo-ish, I've really cut down on the desserts but if I had to choose, my favorite summer dessert would be ice cream or fro-yo.

Best sangria in Savannah - and I was able to take it "to go"!

8.  What did you celebrate this summer?  My twins turned 17 last week (how did THAT happen???) and in a couple days, I have a birthday.  Not sure I'm celebrating it this year.  Last year I took myself to Disney World for my birthday and anything this year would pale in comparison.

9.  Did you grow anything this summer?  Yep (although the garden really isn't my thing).  Zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, green beans, jalapenos, green peppers, cucumbers and about a bazillion tomatoes.

10.  What is a favorite post that you wrote this summer?  Good question.  I feel like my blogging is in a bit of a rut lately so none of the posts have been spectacular.  My favorite recently was probably my Fred Relay recap that I just posted on Monday because the experience and weekend were so much fun.
11.  What is a favorite photograph that you took this summer?  I took a bunch of great photos in Savannah.  This night-time shot is one of my favorites.

12.  What do you want to do next summer?  I definitely want to go somewhere with the kids before they head off to college.  I also MUST make it to Denver for FitBloggin 15 because I can't go 3 years without seeing my friends again.

Do you want to play along?  Feel free to steal the questions and link up with Elaine.  If you don't want to write a whole post, pick one of the questions and answer it in the comments below!

Old School Blogging - The Fridge Edition

I haven't participated in one of these Old School Blogging memes in awhile but saw this on Jaime and Brooke's blogs this week. They are joining in with Elaine at The Miss Elaine-ous Life.

This month Elaine is asking us to show off our refrigerators. Mine is downright embarrassing so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. (Note to self - clean off the fridge ASAP!)

One side with lots of race stickers and other junk.

More crap on the front. This is really awful! Our family calendar, some pictures, concert tickets to see Hunter Hayes (I know you're jealous), and magnets from Disney.

The top cracks me up.  I have a cookie jar addiction and somehow we ended up with this Dough Boy truck to go with my Dough Boy jar.  No clue about the race car. Since I'm so short, that cupboard is completely nonfunctional anyway.  I think it might contain wine glasses but I'm not really sure.

So there you have it,  a picture into the disaster that is my kitchen.  Sadly, the rest of it looks about as bad as the fridge.

*runs off to start cleaning*

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

11 Random Things...

Just when I thought I was going to miss out on the 11 Random Things meme that's been floating around the interwebs, I get tagged by 4 people last week:  Marie from Why She Runs, Thea from It's Me Vs. Me, Megan from Running Toward the Prize, and Paulette from So Just Keep Running.  Now, there's no way I'm answering 44 questions, so I decided to just alternate down each person's lists until I hit 11 questions.

Here goes:

Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.  


My 11 random things...
1.  We had dogs when I was growing up (a Cocker Spaniel named Candy until I was about 10 and then a Lhasa Apso named Tai Chi for a few years after that) but now I don't really like dogs.  I'll tolerate them and will pet other peoples dogs, but overall they kinda freak me out.
2.  I almost never leave the house without at least some makeup on, even if it's just mascara or tinted moisturizer.
3.  I love southwest decor.  All of our houses have had at least 1 room decorated with Kokopelli, clay pots, etc.

4.  I absolutely love beach vacations, but I'm paler than Casper.
5.  Chicago is one of my favorite cities, but I only learned to use the public transportation a couple years ago and still don't like it.  I'd rather drive through the city, traffic and all.
6.  All of our cats found us and at one time we had 4. We were the "crazy cat people".
7.  Disney World (in Florida) is my Happiest Place on Earth, but running through Disneyland in California a last week was pretty freaking awesome.
8.  I went ziplining in St. Lucia but freaked out on one of the lines and had to pull myself in backwards.  Note to all of you wanting to try ziplining, it's much easier to let gravity take its course and that pulling yourself in is one of the hardest arm workouts you'll ever do.
9.  I can't stand talk radio.  Makes me want to kill people, especially if I'm driving.
10.  I have a scar on my upper lip from my Lhasa biting me.  I was eating in the living room and she went for my food.  I moved the food and she got me.  I was so scared to tell my dad that I basically held my lip together with a washrag for a several hours until he got home.  By then it was really too late to go to the hospital for stitches.
11.  I played the flute in high school and when it was time for our kids to pick instruments we encouraged our son to play trombone (which my husband still plays) and our daughter to play flute.  I can still play, but it sounds like crap.

Answers to Marie, Thea, Megan and Paulette's questions...
1.  Do you remember your first race?  Which one was it? (Marie) I do!  My first race was the 5/3 River Bank Run in May 2006.  I finished in 34:40.
2.  What is one area of your life do you wish you could hire someone to do for you? (Thea) Keeping my house clean.  Or maybe driving my kids to all their crap.
3.  Would you rather be a police officer, fire fighter, or EMT?  (Megan) That's easy, EMT.  I almost went to medical school.
4.  If you could live anywhere regardless of cost/job, where would you choose? This one is hard.  I'd probably pick somewhere in the Caribbean.  All the hurricanes worry me though.
5.  Name 3 blogging runners who inspire you.(Marie)  Kirsten for a million reasons (Tough Mudder on a broken ankle to start) but mainly because she was the first to really encourage me to run a marathon and helped me come up with a training plan that got me across the finish line. Erin because she has talked me into doing a mud run this year and she's currently kicking a$$ on her 1/2 marathon training, and Tiffany because she has raised tons of money for Team in Training and works with kiddos with cancer every day, so sees the need first hand.
6.  What's the deal with time zones? (Thea) I have no freaking idea, but where I live, for the longest time northern Indiana couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be on Michigan time or Indiana time so I never knew what time it was when I was calling my sister who lived down there.  I still couldn't tell you if there's a time difference.
7.  Who is your favorite cartoon character? (Megan) I love Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, but if I was gonna go old-school, I'd pick Bugs Bunny.
8.  What is your favorite race distance to run? (Paulette) Half marathon.  Still hard enough to require serious training but doesn't knock you out for weeks afterwards.  My best race ever (pace-wise) was a 10 miler.  That would probably be my 2nd choice.
9.  What's your favorite pre and post run meal?  (Marie) I don't really have one.  Pre long run, I usually have spaghetti.  After a race, if my stomach is good, I like a big burger, pizza or an Italian sub (hello, salt replacement?)  Also, a beer post-run is always appreciated :)
10.  Someone gives you $5000 no strings attached, what do you do with the money?  (Thea) Take my family back to Disney World.
11.  Cake or ice cream? (Megan) ICE CREAM!!!!! Cake is one dessert I can easily turn down (unless it's in the form of red velvet cupcakes, then I'm screwed).
Bonus question so everyone gets 3: Red wine or white wine? (Paulette) First of all, I'm a beer girl - good, craft beer, Belgian whites, etc.  If I was going to drink wine, I'm partial to sweeter white wines (think Rieslings usually) but lately I've been grooving on this red blend called Wild Girl from South Africa. It's a sweet blend of Ruby Cabernet and Shiraz.  So good and only about $10 a bottle.  Probably a little too good.  In fact, I'm drinking some right now :)

My 11 questions for you...
1.  What's your go-to, pumps you up every time, workout song?
2.  Cat or dog?
3.  Team Jacob or Team Edward?
4.  Beer, wine or mixed drink, and what's your favorite?
5.  Do you have a "good luck" charm of some kind when you race? (a hat you always wear, hair always in the same style, lucky undies, etc)
6.  What's your favorite iPhone or Android app and why should I download it (if it's iPhone)?
7.  Have you always had the same career and was it what you originally studied?
8.  Have you ever run in a costume and what was it?
9.  Who would play you in a movie about your life, and who would play your significant other?
10. Do you have a nickname, and if yes, what is it?
11. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I tag...
1.  Morgan from Caution Redhead Running
2.  Sara from Domestically Challenged
3.  Ashley from Finding My Way
4.  Kim  from Girl Evolving
5.  Tiffany from Tall Drink of Life
6.  Jaime from Life According to Jaime
7.  Barb from Quick Like a Bunny
8.  Andrea from The Love Bug Adventures
9.  Beki from Wild Child Gone Good
10. Mendie from The Little Ladybug that Could
11. Erin from School Teacher by Day, Superhero by Night


This took me longer than I thought it would, but it was really fun.  If you've already been tagged and I missed your answers, leave me a link in the comments because I'd love to read them.  If you've been tagged by multiple people, do like I did and combine the questions.  Or, pretend you never saw this if you don't want to play along :)