Little

 

 

These are the Coconut Lime Cupcakes I made for our neighbors Cinco de Mayo party.  Technically, it's Once de Mayo, but that's beside the point!  I cut a lime into LITTLE pieces to use as a garnish.  They turned out really cute!

Light

 

 

Can you see the LIGHT breaking through the clouds?  I love when the clouds are so big and then a burst of light breaks through and shines down on us.  I believe that when that happens, it's a sign from the Lord that he is watching over me and is with me.  It's very comforting.  

Laugh

I was caught LAUGHING at CrossFit TPA during the 5K Gone Bad we recently hosted.  I was a "judge" at the event and was going over some strategies with one of the competitors who happens to be one of my favorite people to WOD with!  I'm laughing because I truly have no business strategizing with anyone!!!  It was a funny moment.  I am not a CrossFit judge....I just play one on TV!  

Love

 

Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly LOVE.  I ran a marathon there and loved it.  In light of the recent cancellation of the Pittsburgh Rock and Roll Half Marathon, I am considering running this one instead.  It's a very cool city, it's relatively flat, it's filled with a lot of history and it has the museum where Rocky runs up those infamous steps!!! 

Kiss



My car dashboard:  one of my favorite radio channels that I listen to often...

KISS FM 96.1

Knowledge

As your body grows bigger 
Your mind must flower 
It's great to learn 
Cause knowledge is power! 

It's Schoolhouse Rocky 
The chip off the block 
Of your favorite schoolhouse 
Schoolhouse Rock!

 

Great memories from when I was younger.  As soon as I saw the word "knowledge", this theme song popped into my mind! When my son was in 4th grade, he had to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution.  I downloaded the School House Rock video for him and he learned it in no time....These were the highlights of Saturday morning cartoon watching!

Kid

 

 

This is my one and only KID, Sammy!  He is the love of my life and I am so very proud of the young man he is becoming.  I love how he painted his name on the wall....



Kettle

 

 

 

What a coincidence!!!!  My CrossFit workout just happened to include KETTLE bells today!  I love having the kettle bells in my workouts.  They really make my shoulders ache!  Truly enjoyed the WOD this evening.

Journey

 

 

One of my all-time favorite 80's bands:  JOURNEY

 

My favorite songs on this album are "Separate Ways", "Ask the Lonely" and "Be Good to Yourself".  Other songs I like include "Stone in Love" and "Feeling that Way".  I love Steve Perry songs, too.  Who can forget "Oh Sherry"????? I wish they'd get back together for a reunion tour, but I'm thinking that's not likely.  I think it's neat that a lot of their music is still popular today.  Who doesn't know the words to "Don't Stop Believin'"?

Jam

 

On our way to our first Ragnar Event we got stuck in a traffic JAM right outside of Baltimore, MD.  We were headed to Reading, PA.....what's wrong with this picture????

 

OOOPS!!!  Wrong turn!!!!  This little driving mishap caused us 5 hours of extra driving!!!!

 

Good times......

Jump and Joy

 

 

I still laugh when I look at the pictures from our latest Ragnar excursion.  This was taken in Key West by the most talented photographer ever....Cyndie DeLucia!!!!  That's me and the girls JUMPING in the middle of one of the streets.....and I will say for the record....there was no alcohol involved.  These girls trips bring me such JOY!!!!!  I love running and I love this group of girls!!!  We have so much fun together just laughing and acting silly......

 

Next stop:  Garden of Eden!!!!!

Ink

This is a picture of my dear friend, Dave who came to visit and help Sam with some wiring.  It's a great shot of his INK!!!!!  I don't have any tattoos because my father would kill me....(yes, I'm 42) but I think I might like a little one on my ankle.  I would probably do something with running, but I'm not sure.  

Idea, Ice, Indigo

I will begin by saying that I will try very hard to be more creative next week.   This has been a busy work week and I'm having a tough time getting all of my blogging in.  I agree with Cyndie,  this work stuff is interfering with the things I love to do!!!

That being said, my husband was kind enough to be my "model" this week.....Sam had an IDEA (note the light bulb above his head) to ICE his injured ankle while wearing INDIGO socks!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Wow....I am such a loser..... :-)

Home

 

HOME is where the heart is......



Half

Here, Here....

Habit

I require at least TWO cups of tea with honey per day.  I drink my first cup first thing in the morning, either while I'm getting ready for work or just waking up and prior to exercising.  I drink the second  cup AS SOON as I get home from work or sometime after 2 PM if not working.  Lately it seems that I've been sneaking a third cup in there....usually after dinner.  With the amount of honey that I put in my tea, I would probably lose 10 pounds if I simply cut out my daily HABIT of tea and honey, but I am just not willing up to give up this treat that  I love.....As the musical group Chicago said:  It's A Hard HABIT To Break!!!

Healthy

This is a HEALTHY meal that I eat once a day.  It's my Shakeology mix, unsweetened coconut-almond milk, half of a banana, nonfat plain greek yogurt with PB2 peanut butter powder and some flaxseed throw in for good measure!  Blend it all up and.......DEE-LISH!!!!

Gentle

 

 

GENTLE clouds......

 

This was taken yesterday at North Park right before my long run.....

 

Beautiful sky!

Glass

We purchased these GLASS prism cubes when we were on vacation in Hawaii about ten years ago.  They are absolutely gorgeous and change colors depending on how the light hits them.  I remember how we debated and debated purchasing them when we were there, but we are so happy we did.  Not only are they beautiful, but they always bring back happy memories from that wonderful vacation.  AND as a bonus....they kind of fit our "GEOMETRIC" word as well!!!

Geometric

 

 

This is the GEOMETRIC pattern on my winter coat.....it will hurt your eyes if you stare at it long enough!  

Goth

 

 

My attempt at turning my back yard into a GOTH scene.  I  believe that it would be perfect if there was a raven or crow in there.....I bet Cyndi could add one in with all of her special editing she can do!!!  

Fly

Disclaimer:  Taken with phone in the evening....not the best quality!!!

I was in Grove City yesterday evening meeting a dear friend for dinner and in the field across from where I was parked, there were multiple black birds with a red patch on their head FLYING all around the field and into this one tree where there was a nest.  You could hear them "conversing" with each other.  It was very neat to watch, although almost impossible to get a picture of them!  I was fascinated....my friend was getting cold and not as intrigued as I was!  HA!!!!! 

Last day of vacation.......BLAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Flowers

 

Yesterday I went to a place in Pittsburgh called Paint Monkey with a group of friends.  I had never heard of it before, but it sounded like fun so I decided to try it out.  Wine, munchies and painting with friends....whats not to like?  On the wall were many pictures of FLOWERS.  I thought they were pretty good!  

 

 

Here is my picture. I think it's called "Seasons", but I could have totally just made that up! I look forward to going again.  We had such a fun night!  I'm really enjoying my vacation and will be sad when I have to go back to work next week!



Fire

OK....be a little open-minded with this one!!!

So I have been going to Crossfit for a little over a year now and have not been able to master the double under.  Needless to say...they are DIFFICULT.  I went to Crossfit yesterday and the WOD was a beast of a WOD.... including 50 double unders.  If you couldn't double under, you were to do jump tucks which are no fun either.  I refuse to do jump tucks which just makes my workout significantly longer, but that's OK.  The 50 double unders were the first exercise.  3-2-1 GO!!!!!  I proceeded to do 29 double unders in a row!  I was stunned.  Tammy, my coach came over to me with this look of pure excitement for me.  I then finished up the last 21 strung together as well and just like that I was done with them!  Tammy looked at me and said, "Girl....you are on FIRE"!!!!!  I was so excited, I can't even tell you!!!  A simple thing like getting double unders!!!  It made my whole day!  I am somewhat laughing as I write this blog because for one, I was on fire for the double unders, but almost passed out while I did the next 50 wall balls and then 50 burpees because I couldn't catch my breath and two, because I have absolutely NO idea how I did them.  I wonder if I will get them again!!!  Also, please don't think me vain....I am usually never on fire for a CrossFit anything  and I usually never post things like this, but it was too coincidental that the word was FIRE and I was told I was on FIRE.....so I couldn't resist!  Thanks for indulging!

Fabulous

Yesterday I had a FABULOUS day!!!  I am on vacation this week....so no work, which is fabulous enough really!  I had an awesome run in the morning followed by a tough spin class.  I got to try out the new spin bikes purchased by the YMCA, which I liked.  They were a much smoother ride, but much tougher.  Then I met a bunch of my favorite girls for lunch at Aladdins Eatery.  I ordered the Tawook Salad which was delicious!  Then I spent the rest of my evening home with the family!  Let's see if I can repeat that fabulous day today!  The sun's already out, so looking good!

Eye

I like this quote....

Electric

LIFE CHANGER:  An ELECTRIC dog fence!!!  No more wandering the neighborhood by Pikachu Poloyac!  No more standing outside for twenty minutes in the pouring down rain or the freezing snowstorms while waiting for the dog to poop!  No more random rings of the doorbell while yet another neighbor brings the dog back home!  No more chasing after Pika as he runs after a neighbor walking their dog past our house.  Yes, a definite life changer!  My only question is why didn't we have this installed 8 years ago when we first got Pika????

Exercise, Entrance, Excitement

I get very EXCITED for anything that has to do with EXERCISE.  Truly.  My two favorite exercises that I participate in are running and crossfit.  I have been running forever and have been doing crossfit for just over a year. 



This is the ENTRANCE to North Park where I've done many, many training runs and races.  Just driving through the entrance gets me excited to get out there and run!



I ran the March Mad Dash in North Park last year.  It was a beautiful day!

 This is the ENTRANCE to my CrossFit Box.  I could confuse excitement with sheer panic prior to walking into the box, but whatever!

 

WOD including Wall Balls....

Delicate

These are the first flower buds of the season alongside my house.  They always seem so DELICATE to me....What a gorgeous day!!!! 

Double

I am going to make this Cauliflower Crust Hawaiian Pizza today for the first time....I'm hoping it's going to be so delicious that I'll want a DOUBLE serving!!!! I'll let you know!!!!

Dangle

Holy DANGLE earrings, Peggy Finnegan!!!!

Disorder

My son's room.....enough said....now I will just close his door and forget what I just witnessed....

Distant

This is a DISTANT view of the Carnegie Mellon Institute in Oakland where I work.  I had just watched "The Dark Knight Rises" this past weekend and one of the major scenes in the movie was shot there.  It was really neat to see it on the big screen!  This was snapped on a warmer day last week....too cool....

Culture

 

 

This is a microscope's view of a CULTURE of neurons.  My husband does research in strokes.....

 

I thought this would be a different view of looking at a culture!

Color and Calm

So I realize it's fast approaching the end of another week and I am once again behind on my photo postings.  That being said, I am going to think WAYYYYY outside the box here and post two words with these two pictures.  Today I went to my hair salon and got a little bit of hair Color and a Keratin treatment which really CALMS down my hair. 

 

Before Keratin

 

 

 

After Keratin......CALMING!!!!

Cold

One of my favorite shows to watch....COLD Case.....Unfortunately the series ended in 2010, but it doesn't stop me from watching the reruns. I also enjoy watching "Without A Trace"....huh.....Do you see a pattern here?

Coffee

Today I met my favorite group of girls out for some coffee at Starbucks.  OK....that is technically a Nonfat Chai Latte, but you get the gist.  Chai is a "C" word...right?  I had a wonderful time visiting, laughing and catching up!  We need to do that more often.  I got talked into running a trail run......oh boy.....

Bubble

Inspired by my son.....BUBBLE

Blur

This month is a BLUR.....I'm not sure where all of the time goes, but I need more of it!!!

Beneath

This is my puppy, Pikachu Poloyac (Pika for short).  He loves his toys and is often seen resting his head on them.  This is his toy BENEATH his head!  He loves his dolphin toy.....