Happy Fourth of July!

What a great weekend it has already been!  Fourth of July is a favorite holiday of mine, but I can't really pinpoint why.  I love the festivities, fireworks, the food, and the spirit.  Ok, did I just pinpoint it??  Yesterday we spent the day at the pool, which was completely fabulous.  We then came home, grilled some hotdogs, and ended our evening downtown St. Charles by the river.  We rode the ferris wheel, got ice cream, and watched fireworks.  I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much more American than that!  Happy Fourth of July!

The pool was wonderful.  Yes, those are my toes.  :-)

We rode the ferris wheel and it went SO fast!  It was also a very tall ferris wheel!  It was fun and we definitely felt like we got out money's worth.  This isn't the greatest picture ever taken, but it was the best we could do from a phone on the wheel!

This little tent was selling homemade ice cream.  They churned it using these little John Deere motors.  Cute.

And St. Charles puts on a spectacular fireworks show.  It is just as good as anything you could see in a big city, and there is something very special about seeing SO many people watch the display and get so excited.  I love it. 

I'm Baaaack!

At the request of my favorite French teacher, I will update the blog more regularly.  I'm not going to "catch you up" on what has happened because that's boring.  This weekend was fun though.  I hosted a department bridal shower for Diana in our English department.  I provided the location, the chocolate fountain, and some little extras.  Everyone brought a dish, and it was a great afternoon.  

I made my first attempt at making cookies with royal icing, and made diamond ring cookies as party favors.  I was pleased with them for a first try.  

The dessert for the party was a chocolate fountain!  I bought one at Target, and it was an excellent investment!  That fountain is always the life of the party!  

This was a shower of "firsts".  I also decided to make the paper carnations I first saw here and they were SO cute!  Everyone loved them and I received so many compliments!   

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Update

No, I have not failed.  I have not eaten meat yet.  I have eaten one meal with fish, and I have been very successful in cutting out a good portion of dairy. 

I am feeling great, and lost 2.8 pounds last week!  I was so excited. 

This week is a 30 mile week for running (12 down, 18 to go!), and it is going well.  The half marathon is only 15 days away and I am so excited about it.  This Saturday is my longest run before the race (12 miles) so I am excited/nervous about that. 

Now for the down side...we are supposed to have the coldest air of the entire winter over the next two weeks.  It is supposed to rain and snow into Saturday (my long run day), and more snow is supposed to come Monday.  This does NOT help my running.  But I will push through somehow.  :-)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day weekend!

We will be heading to the Lake of the Ozarks tomorrow for our annual Valentine's Day weekend trip.  We started this three years ago, and go every year.  It is always such a nice weekend.  We just go down to the house, take Lexie, relax, and go to a nice dinner at HK's at The Lodge of Four Seasons.  It is extremely low-key, and we like it that way.  :-) 

A quick update on this week:

1. It has NOT been a good week with running, eating, or anything in between.  This week was supposed to be my week of the most mileage.  It was a 30 mile week.  I have done..................6.  My foot completely shut down on Tuesday and I knew I needed a cortizone shot.  So I couldn't run Tuesday, got the shot Wednesday, and he told me I can't run until tomorrow.  Yikes.  I am going to run 6 (maybe more) after school tomorrow before we leave for the lake.  
2. I can't run at the lake...which means my 12 mile long run gets pushed until Monday.  Hopefully I survive.  
3. I gained a pound according to Jenny Craig.  This frustrates me.  I have lost a lot of inches, and feel really good, but the number on the scale still bothers me.  
4. I hate not eating meat.  Yes, I will just throw it out there.  I hate it.  Now, I don't eat all that much meat anyway.  I probably only eat meat in 4 meals a week.  However, I want to be able to have it!  So...yeah.  I guess I am just going to keep trying to eat healthy, and I am going to just try to limit my dairy.  I know it is nasty and bad for me.  :-(  

Here's to a good run tomorrow, a great weekend, a fantastic long run on Monday, and a better week next week.

The half marathon is 23 days away.  OMG, and holy cow...

Have I failed?

NO.  I am going to try (again) to keep up with the blog.  I think my main problem is that I feel like I have nothing to blog about.  I am not great (or even good) at home decor.  I am not a great chef.  I don't have kids to tell funny stories about.  I run...but that is pretty boring as an every day update.

Currently though, there is something exciting happening in our little world: healthier eating.  Rick and I eat fairly healthy, but after reading skinny Bitch, Skinny Bastard, and The Kind Diet, we have decided to really get serious about it.  I am going to make an attempt to be a vegetarian (partial vegan...if that's possible), and Rick is cutting back on meat.  We are going to eat more whole grains, fresh vegetables, and really try to make our minds, bodies, and spirits a lot healthier.

I will update on how that is going...even though I don't think that is terribly interesting either.  Tomorrow's menu for me:
Breakfast: homemade granola with soy milk
Lunch: a salad shaker from Whole Foods...delicious!
Dinner: Crispy tofu slices with orange dipping sauce, and Cold lemon, basil and tomato

Tomorrow night I am baking the vegan equivalent of peanut butter cups!  I will give a full report!

~Libbi~

2010 Resolutions

Okay, I know I am a little late, but better late than never, right?  I generally don't "do" resolutions, but I decided to try it, AND put it on the blog in an effort to hold myself accountable.  I got the idea from a fantastic blogger at allthingsgd.blogspot.com and I thank her for that!

1. Continue my Jenny Craig plan and achieve my goal weight loss.  I started JC about 6 weeks ago and have lost 5 pounds.  That's decent, but it's not my goal.  At this time, I am not going to share my goal, but I definitely need to keep going until I hit it.  I really hope/need to have this goal met by March or April.

2.  Run 500 miles before December 31, 2010.  I have started logging my runs on a free website and I am doing pretty well so far!

3. Find a church Rick and I both like and attend it semi-regularly.  This is going to be tricky, but it is really important to me, and I need to make it a priority this year. 

4. Take more pictures.  I know this might sound silly, but I feel like I don't take enough pictures of random family events, outings with friends, etc.  I need to make an effort to take pictures all over the place!

That's all for now.  Four resolutions is a lot in my mind.  Here's hoping I can accomplish them all.  :-)

Run Libbi Run!

A little over a year ago, I decided to start running.  Looking back, I really have no idea why I decided to do it, but Rick and I decided to start running.  As motivation we registered for a 5K (the Undy 5000).  I remember the first day we ran: we ran for 2 minutes, then walked for a minute.  This is proof that it really does take time, but if you build a little at a time...wow. 

Neither of us ever ran track, cross country, or anything of that nature...we just decided to be runners.  So we went to Fleet Feet, got our shoes, got our gear, and got started.  And we completed the Undy 5000!  It was really cold and rained the whole time, but we had a BLAST! 

So I quickly looked for other 5K races to register for.  I found some, and did them.  They were fun too.

Then one day, in a doctor's office, I was flipping through Redbook magazing and I saw these words: Disney Princess Half Marathon.  In my own weird brain, I had thought how awesome it would be to complete a half marathon, but after seeing this particular one, I knew it was meant for me.  It was practically calling my name.

So...after never having run anything more than a 5K, I signed up.  As of today, my longest single run is 8 miles (WOW!!), and I am staying strong with at least 15 miles a week.  Again, this may not seem like much to "real" runners, but for me, it's pretty fantastic. 

What's even better than just running the Princess Half Marathon, is that my awesome sister Katie is going with me and we are making a trip out of it!  The run is March 7th, and we will leave for Orlando on March 3rd.  What's even BETTER than Katie just going with me, is that she decided to run the Royal Family 5K on March 6th!  Of course I signed up with her and am so excited.  I know, I know...what's even BETTER than all this?  Well, the race weekend is to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  A sweet little boy we (my family more than myself) know has just been diagnosed with leukemia.  He is sweet, adorable, and only two years old.  We will be running for Carter that weekend, and we hope and pray that Carter is out of the hospital soon.

So friends, that is a brief history on the running.  Whew!

This is us after the Undy 5000 (for Colon Cancer) last March.  Notice the rain!  We will be participating again this year.  :-)