Woot Woot!

I accomplished one of my really BIG goals for this year, paid off all my credit card debt! I know financial stuff can be somewhat of a taboo subject but during 5 years of marriage we were always talking about trying to pay off credit cards and never did it and just racked it up. I just became numb to the number on the balance every month. After getting divorced I realized it was all up to me. I was left with quite a bit of cc debt. After many hours of overtime I finally did it. My goal was to do it by the end of the year and I did it in 8 months! I've had this sign hanging on my "goal board" in my closet all year.
It was a pretty motivating statement to look at every morning! I have a completely different outlook on money now. If I wanted something before I would just throw it on the credit card. Now I really think about every purchase I make. I definitely think about hours of overtime that I have to put in if I choose to make a purchase that I don't have room for in my budget.

One recent splurge was a trip to Victoria's Secret. I was pretty excited about the deal I got with this. First I found a new perfume that I fell in love with. It's called 'Tease' and it's got black vanilla, frozen pear, and blooming gardenia according to the label. It's not a scent that I would typcially wear, a little less fruity and a little stronger than I normally get. I got a free lotion with the perfume. I had a coupon for $10 off $50 and the perfume was $45 so I grabbed a $5 travel size lotion that is beachy scented, and the coupon also included free undies...so after the freebies and discount my total for everything was $43 after tax. I was pretty happy with that!

Also had a trip to Target where I had $30 in coupons to use. It's been awhile since I took the time to print coupons so I was glad I took the time to do it before I went because they came in handy! The dogs are happy because I brought home a ton of dog treats. For aall the above I had $8 in coupons total.

For the glade items I scored big with $7.75 in coupons between manufacturer coupons and Target coupons. It was $12 total for them all before coupons, so saved over half, making them all $1.06 each! The Target cashier asked if I had any coupons to use and I just laughed and said "Uh yeah I have a stack of them" and handed them over!

Yay for saving money and paying off credit cards! Now I'm making my State Farm Visa work for me with State Farm dollars. I will still use it to make purchases but then go home and immediately make the payment online so it is just like I'm using it as debit. That way I can rack up the dollars. :)

Hitting the Pavement

Caylea's first day of 7th grade! Can't believe it's that time again for school already.

I was excited to get this at work on Saturday. I thought it would be great for running in the winter. And I need to be running in the winter if I'm going to be ready for running this half marathon in Februaray.

I've never really eaten anything during my runs before. I've had Gatorade which definitely helped on a long run. So after reading a lot of running blogs I thought I'm really going to need to figure out what works for me as a little pick me up during a long run. Something that won't send me running straight to the bathroom. So I picked up a few things to experiment with. The packs above are like gummy bears. Haven't tried them yet but Stacy said they are good.

Jelly bellies that I have an excuse to eat during a workout? Um, that sounds do-able.

Shot bloks...haven't tried these yet either.

My basket full of things to try. I've read one girl who takes PB&J sandwiches with her, don't think I could handle that. Other people take the gel packs, I have some of those too. I have tried a few in the past and they pretty much have the consistency of snot. So when you already feel like you could throw up, that may not be the best thing to try to get down. Just saying.

Today I knew I wasn't going for a long run and really didn't "need" to re-fuel during my run but really wanted to try one of the items, so jelly beans won the toss up. I found the little bags that spare buttons come in worked perfect to carry just a few with me. I took the fruit punch flavored ones. They were pretty flavorful. They weren't "take me to the movies" good, but decent.

I bought a new iPod Touch. Last night I spent a couple hours adding all my songs to it and some apps. I must say I love it! Wasn't sure I would like running with it based on the size but it was really light. The only thing that bothered me was that it was hard to see the screen when I was trying to switch songs. Have you seen that saying, "I like every song on my iPod except when it's on shuffle." Yeah, that's me. I'm still trying to figure it out....I would put it on Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland and as soon as I start running it would flip songs like I was shaking it up like a magic 8 ball.

So with iPod, beans, and watch I was ready to go.

Finally, I was ready to hit the pavement and go for a run again. Smiling, exciting to be heading out....

And this is how I felt afterwards. Like. Complete. Crap. My first lap was great but my second lap sucked.

-Time was terrible

-blaming it on the hot sun. Why did I think it was a good idea to run at 10:30 am in an area with no shade?

-Jelly Beans didn't give me any magic boost. Although I did only eat 4.

-And the rest of the day I've had a terrible headache and had to take a nap

-Laying in bed now with the heating pad on my neck, still feeling nauseous. Made it 3.5 today,
need to be able to do 13.1 in 6 months. Got a ways to go!

After I got done running I thought that since the jelly beans didn't work why not try frozen yogurt? They say chocolate milk helps with recovery. I figured raspberry yogurt with strawberries, raspberries, and cherries couldn't hurt! I definitely have a long ways to go to get to where I need to be again but at least I got back out there again today. I'm hoping for cooler weather soon. I never have been able to run well in the heat. So it probably wasn't the best idea for me to go out today in the blazing sun.

I need to be studying for my CPCU so I really wish I didn't feel so bad all day after running. I'll just have to make up for it studying throughout this week. Pretty sure I'm taking tomorrow off running!

Quotes

A longer update to come soon on Sunday....been working long hours and working tomorrow. Sunday plan to finally get a run in, study, and update the blog! Until then here are some quotes I found that I liked.

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take you will go stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful." Mark Victor

What every girl dreams of becoming...

But few will go 13.1 to become. February 27, 2011 I will be participating in this:
I have a long way to go and a lot of training to do between now and then! But the challenge excites me! I'll be running it with Stacy. I figure if I'm going to attempt to run 13.1 miles why not have Mickey and Pooh along the way to cheer me on and a reason to stop for a few photo ops!

Last weekend Missy and I had a great time at the concert in Chicago!

First I had to stop to see her little princesses. They don't have to run 13.1 to get the princess title, they already have the dresses.

Last US show of The Circle Tour. How much fun was it to to two concerts this year!

The blue shirt with the blue eyes...whew! And those arms would not quit!

Our awesome tanks. I said I wouldn't get married again but you know, that didn't include Jon. Tonight I watched She's Out of My League. I thought it was hilarious! Been a long time since I've seen one that's made me laugh like that.