I'm pissed!

Well, it's finally happened. Joey and Ashley were voted off Dancing with the Stars. It's seriously a conspiracy. They've been the most entertaining couple all season but the judges are Nazis and just couldn't give them their props because they're young and Joey was in NKOTB. Their second performance tonight was a little dull, and of course the judges loved it. Go figure. Anyway, everyone knows they were really the best. Out of protest I'm not voting for either of the remaining teams. I hope they both lose.

Other than that I have found my next future job. There's an opening for a machine repairman in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. I was destined to work there and help fight fires and keep equipment in proper working order. Those of you who REALLY know me will know what I mean and understand that's my destiny. And there's two opening so Brent and I can both work there together! Hopefully we'll get a cool ranger hat.

That's it for today!

Rae

Exercise: 1 mile walk with Pippin, 40 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes ab work
Number of times Pippin has gone out today: 6
M&M's :0

Tues in the Hood

It's another Tuesday here in the boring burbs. We finally got some much needed rain yesterday. Most of our neighbor's yards are dead and crunchy, but since we pay someone to come and mow it - crunchy or green - our yard is still green.

Anyway, yesterday was my annual trip to the doc. Since the focus on my blog is all about exercise (mostly) I thought I'd share my dramatic improvements since last year's visit. In a year my blood pressure had dropped quite a bit. It wasn't high to begin with, but the last year's running has made a huge improvement. They were also really surprised at my weight loss, too. I think it was around 20-something pounds. I had already dropped quite a few before last year's appointment. I've lost 34 or so total pounds.

Since you all know how I'm trying to convince Brent to move somewhere more interesting than TN, I took a survey last night to find the best place for you to love. It suggested a lot of places in NJ and TX for me. I'm not sure what THAT was all about. I've been to Jersey, and it's OK and all but not someplace I'd like to live. I think I'm more of a Colorado, Utah, Wyoming type girl. I really like New England but it's so expensive and COLD in the winter.

Well, it's time to wash my face mask off before my face freezes like this forever!

Rae

Exercise: 2/3 mile walk with Pip, 4 mile MUGGY run, 30 minutes Burn & Firm Pilates
Caffeine: None!
Presidential Addresses watched: Zero, who cares anyway????

Silver!!

Hey guys! I know all THREE of you that check my blog are absolutely dying to know how I did in Sat morning's race. I got 2nd in my age group! It was a HOT morning and on the news they had an ozone warning saying you shouldn't do any strenous exercise outdoors. Perfect!! I'm not sure how many racers there were, probably about 100 or so. I was # 125. Anyway, did I mention it was HOT! It was hard to stay focused but I stayed with one particular lady most of the way and we managed not to have a heat stroke together. My time was 27:19, not at all great but I'll take it and the SILVER! I'd like to have a sub-25 time by the end of the year.

After the race we went over to Fleet Feet and I got some new running shoes. Outside of the 2:45's Nike Shox SUCK! I bought some Dendrea's after the CM Marathon and have had nothing but trouble with them. I refused to pay $150 for another pair of 2:45's. The Dendrea's are so unstable and I've had shin problems, knee problems and extra blisters ever since I got them. At Fleet Feet they measured my feet and analyzed my stride. It turns out I'm a mid-heel overpronater. I ended up in a great pair of Mizuno's. From now on I'll stick with Nike apparel and accessories only!

Sat night was rock climbing with Phil and Sara. We had a blast. We all 4 mastered this tough ledge climb where you have to cross your feet over, and then do a little bit of a jump for a hand hold (at least for my non-existant short legs) and pull yourself up on a ledge! Yeah, it's as tough as it sounds. Anyway, we were there for 3 hours and then had a good dinner.

Well, it's been a long day and it's time to get some sleep!

Rae

Exercise:
Sat - 5K Run for Fatherhood, 3 hours rockclimbing
Sun - 3 mile run with Brent, 2/3 mile walk with Brent & Pippin
Mon - 15 minutes ab work (it's been a LONG day!!)

Correct matches in Sat's Powerball: 2!
# of roses Brent bought me today: 12!

TGIF!!!

TGIF!! It's about time!! I think I wait all week for the weekends and then they're over so quickly. Today was a good day. I don't think anyone was in the mood to do much work, so a big group (11!) of us went to Chili's for lunch. I had their new Quesadilla Explosion salad and it was really good. Tonight Brent & I went to Las Palmas for dinner in the 'Boro. Las Palmas is by FAR the best Mexican restaurant in town. The one in the Boro gives you a little more cheese than the one around Edm. Pike/Old Hickory Blvd. After dinner we went to Petland to play with puppies and then to Starbucks.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to do the 5K for Fatherhood, and then tomorrow night we're going rock climbing with Phil & his cute girlfriend Sarah. It should be a lot of fun! There's one wall I plan on mastering, or at least getting past the cliff!!

My new goal in life is to win stuff. All the time you see different sweepstakes you can enter in magazines, etc and who really enters them? I'm a fairly lucky person so I think if I enter everything I see I can at least win a few cool things! So far this week I've entered to win several dream vacations, Ban deodorant, an Ipod shuffle and a free year on Yahoo personals. Of course I would give that one away to friends. I would tell you where I saw all these great offers but I don't need the competition. I even won a free ticket off my lottery scratch-off ticket tonight, so hopefully this is the beginning of my lucky streak!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Times I honked at people today: 3
M&M's: 0!!
Exercise: 1 mile walk with Pippin

Abs of Steel

Happy Thursday! Another week has gone by and it's almost Friday again! The best thing about Thursday is that it's so close to Friday! This weekend we're going to go rock climbing at Climb Nashville with some friends. For Brent's birthday in May I threw him a surprise party at Climb Nashville. It was the first time we (and most of our friends) had ever been rock climbing and it was a blast. It's such a great workout and it's a major feeling of accomplishment when you can climb a tough wall. The one over in Green Hills is awesome. They have a lot of walls and it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Sylvan Park so no one really knows it's there.

Also on Sat morning I'm doing a 5K in Shelby Park, the 5K for Fatherhood to benefit Mercy Ministries. Their event last year was the first 5K I had ever done, and it's not a terribly popular race so I might even have a chance of placing in my age group. Hopefully most 25-29 aged women will sleep in this Sat morning 'cuz I'd really like a trophy.

There's not much on TV this summer, so I'm getting more of my workout DVDs mastered and spending more time reading, which is always a good thing. I am hooked on Lost, though. We didn't watch it during the regular season but we've started this summer as they replay them. That's an awesome show right up there with Alias and 24. We TiVo it every Wed and watch it on Thurs while we eat. My fave is the former Hobbit Merry. There's always some crazy new piece of info that comes out every week that you would never guess. I think it was a big hit this year, but I wonder how long they can keep them on the island????

I'm also a huge fan of Dancing with the Stars. That's really the only 2 shows we're watching this summer. I'm voting for Joey and Ashley every week. The judges totally screw them every time. I'm so glad Rachel Hunter got canned. She looked like an injured deer.

Well, that's enough for today! I'm still trying to convince Brent to move to Colorado! I need to take him back to Chicago for a weekend and get him poisoned on chili dogs so I can wear him down. At least that's how I got Pippin!!

Exercise: 1 mile walk with Pippin, 3.2 mile run, 25-30 minute ab, upper & lower body workout with Carmen Electra & a 10 minute ab workout with Denise Richards
Meatball sandwiches eaten: 0, because that's pretty gross
Fruit eaten: 1 banana, 1/2 orange & 1/2 peach

Wednesday already!

Hey everyone! I've been behind on my posts so I thought I would get all caught up on it tonight. I really don't have much to add since my last post 3 or 4 hours ago, though. We had a nutritous dinner of Long John Silvers and took Pippin on a short 1.5 mile walk. Of course he was exhausted by the end and had to be drug back home, making us feel like the most in shape people in the world. I also did 25 minutes of my Crunch Burn and Firm Pilates DVD. This is an excellent DVD and I highly recommed it. She really keeps you moving and does a lot of repetitions. She uses light weights and really helps get the tension out of your neck from sitting at a desk and staring at a stupid computer all day. I also really like Denise Austin's workout DVDs as well.

I'm also trying to convince Brent to move to Colorado. Why not? You're only young once and I think Colorado is a lot more fun than TN.

See you tomorrow!

Exercise: 1 mile morning walk with Pippin, 1.5 mile evening walk with Brent and Pippin & 25 minutes of toning/cardio/flexibility through Burn & Firm Pilates
Bad stuff eaten: 1/4 piece of cake

Happy Summer!

Welcome to summer everybody! Yesterday was officially the first day of summer, which always depresses me a bit. From here, it's all downhill towards those days where it's dark when you get to work and dark when you leave. I guess I'm one of those glass half full people. It's so nice to be able to head out for an hour run right now and know it won't be dark when you're cooling down.

In other news, I thought I'd share my scary running story with the three people who read this every day. On Sunday around noon I was running my 4-mile path through the hospital when an enormous deer started running full speed toward me, on the path! This was one of the HUGE deer with plenty of horns for gouging you. I have no formal training in what to do when deer attack, and he was a much faster runner than me. So, I did what any rational person would do and I stopped. Then I ran the opposite direction through the parking lot, as fast I could go! When the deer had had his fun with me he ran back into the woods and had a good laugh, I'm sure. I bet he told all his deer friends, too.

Better go, Pippin, AKA Killer, is at the front door barking at a couple who walk their giant mastiff every night. Pippin = 26 pounds, Huge Mastiff = 260 pounds. Obviously they didn't teach him about picking your battles in obedience school.

See ya!

Exercise - Tues - 3.2 (5K) speed run & 15 minutes abs work plus 5 minutes light weights
plus my daily 1 mile walk with Pippin

So people really do go the Sounds games???

Yesterday was another gorgeous day in Nashville. I had a nice hot 4-mile run around noon. Then, we made plans to go to the Nashville Sounds baseball game with our friends Andy & Amy. I've only been to one other Sounds game, and it was DESERTED! Not this time! Maybe Father's day is a big baseball thing, because there were cars EVERYWHERE! For a second I thought we were at a Titans game or even a Predators game. Traffic was crazy and we weren't even sure we would be able to get a ticket once we did get parked. So, we ditched that idea and went to a cool pizza place called Mafioso's on 12th avenue. It was pretty good, maybe a little overpriced, but they have tables outside where we could enjoy the pretty weather. Our waiter sucked, but the food and company were nice.

Today was Monday, so back to work for another week. I can't believe July 4th is just around the corner and summer is almost half over.

Exercise: Sunday - 4 mile run
Monday - 1 mile walk with Pippin, 4 mile run & 25 minutes toning with Carmen Electra
Hershey's Kisses: 2

Dog Days

Today was a gorgeous day in Nashville. Instead of typical hot June weather it felt more like a nice spring day around here. So, after doing some yardwork and grilling out some steaks we took Pippin to Shelby Park to go to the dog park. In a LOT of ways Nashville really sucks. There are only 2 dog parks in the whole city, and neither one of them are all that close to us out here in the suburbs. The Shelby dog park is really nice, it's a big roomy fenced in area where the dogs can run and play. There are always plenty of dogs out there for Pippin to play with. Today there were 2 other Boston Terriers playing. Pippin hung with the two of them for a long time, somehow they knew they were distant cousins. There was also a big bulldog, Lazarus, who took an instant "liking" to Pippin and would NOT leave him alone. It was REALLY annoying and we were VERY glad when they left.

Number of hours Pippin has slept since returning from the dog park: 5.5
Number of times he was molested by Lazarus: 28
Dogs cuter than Pippin at the dog park: 0

No sleep for the Superhero

Ok, if you really are reading my blog you know that I saw Batman Begins on Thursday. Afterwards, we were joking about how scary the movie was and how we would all have bad dreams that night. If only I had known..... I'm just going to warn you, Batman Begins should come with some sort of surgeon's warning about bad nightmares following viewing! Both Brent and I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night due to some wicked nightmares. Mine involved a reality show where you had to find the right head to match against its decapitated body. Really bizarre.

Tonight we went out to an Indian restaurant here in Nashville called Shalimar. Indian food is awesome, I don't understand why some people won't even try it. It's just chicken in a hot sauce.

TGIF!!

M&M's: 8
Krispy Kreme doughnuts: 2, and they were WORTH it
Exercise: 0 (come on, it's Friday!)

Batman really is OK

Tonight we went and saw Batman Begins with a few of our friends. It was actually a pretty good movie. I have to admit I have bought into the hype surrounding Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and am now mildly interested in the movies they're seeking to promote through their bizarre relationship. Anyway, this was a pretty good movie. I haven't seen the other Batmans really, so this one might have actually made me want to see them except I heard they really sucked. It was actually pretty funny, too. I'm not sure how true to the comic book series the story was, but I think I just discovered my father named two of his three kids after characters from the story. My older brother is Bruce Wayne (really) and I'm Rachel, Bruce's love interest. That's actually a little sick, I guess it would be better if she had been his sister. Guess my dad is a serious Batman fanatic. Too bad they don't watch any TV or have any clue what's going on in the world since he would probably like this movie.

Anyway, I give it two thumbs up!

Exercise: None, everyone deserves the night off now and then!
Bad food eaten: A crispy chicken sandwich from some place in the mall - there was much debate about whether or not it was REALLY chicken (seriously)
Other movies I have seen Christian Bale in: Zero

Does anyone really read this??

Does anyone really read this stuff? If you're reading my blog drop me a line and I'll be sure to spice this thing up going forward. Otherwise it's just going to be a boring account of my life.

We went to the park tonight to shoot some hoops. I would have thought the experience would make me feel pretty old and out of practice except the kid also shooting hoops at the park was worse than us. I did win 1 out of 3 games of horse/cow. All in all it was a fun time. Pippin, our adorable Boston Terrier, enjoyed watching the game and all the walkers.

Anyway, see you tomorrow!

Exercise: 3 mile round-trip walk to the park, 30 minutes of basketball, 20 minutes of strength training with Karen Voight's Circuit training DVD (I highly recommend it!!)
M&M's eaten: 0!!
Cookies eaten: 2, & only one of them was worth it

My 1st Blog

Here it is, my very first blog post. I have no idea what I'll talk about since my life as a CPA doesn't exactly produce a lot of exciting stories. So don't blame me if I make up a lot of stuff to make my life sound more exciting.Today I ran 5 miles outside in a nice and balmy 90 degrees in middle TN, which is probably about the same as 120 degrees in Phoenix. It wasn't too bad, I only ate 3 bugs.

Weight: 119
M & M's eaten: 8
Catcalls from blue collar workers: 0